Depression, Homicide and Diminished Responsibility: New Scottish directions

2003 ◽  
Vol 43 (3) ◽  
pp. 195-202
Author(s):  
Philip Collins ◽  
Thomas White

In a recent Scottish Appeal Court opinion ( Kim Louise Scarsbrook or Galbraith v. Her Majesty's Advocate, 2001) it was successfully argued by the appellant that her conviction of murder was unsound inter-alia on the basis of overly restrictive pre-existing definitions of diminished responsibility in Scottish law resulting in unduly narrow directions being given by the trial judge to the jury in her case. We felt it timely to present a revised overview of the defence of diminished responsibility in Scotland and to consider the issues surrounding its applicability in cases of clinical depression. The psychiatric literature regarding depression and homicide is reviewed.

2010 ◽  
Author(s):  
David M. Stein ◽  
Emi Sumida ◽  
Sarah Stevens ◽  
Alyssa Miketa

2021 ◽  
Vol 11 (1) ◽  
Author(s):  
Juan Francisco Roy ◽  
María Luisa Lozano del Hoyo ◽  
Fernando Urcola-Pardo ◽  
Alicia Monreal-Bartolomé ◽  
Diana Cecilia Gracia Ruiz ◽  
...  

AbstractDiabetic patients have increased depression rates, diminished quality of life, and higher death rates due to depression comorbidity or diabetes complications. Treatment adherence (TA) and the maintenance of an adequate and competent self-care are crucial factors to reach optimal glycaemic control and stable quality of life in these patients. In this report, we present the baseline population analyses in phase I of the TELE-DD project, a three-phased population-based study in 23 Health Centres from the Aragonian Health Service Sector II in Zaragoza, Spain. The objectives of the present report are: (1) to determine the point prevalence of T2D and clinical depression comorbidity and treatment nonadherence; (2) to test if HbA1c and LDL-C, as primary DM outcomes, are related to TA in this population; and (3) to test if these DM primary outcomes are associated with TA independently of shared risk factors for DM and depression, and patients’ health behaviours. A population of 7,271 patients with type-2 diabetes and comorbid clinical depression was investigated for inclusion. Individuals with confirmed diagnoses and drug treatment for both illnesses (n = 3340) were included in the current phase I. A point prevalence of 1.9% was found for the T2D-depression comorbidity. The prevalence of patients nonadherent to treatment for these diseases was 35.4%. Multivariate analyses confirmed that lower diabetes duration, increased yearly PCS visits, HbA1c and LDL-C levels were independently related to treatment nonadherence. These findings informed the development of a telephonic monitoring platform for treatment of nonadherence for people with diabetes and comorbid depression and further trial, cost-effectiveness, and prognostic studies (phases II and III).


2021 ◽  
Author(s):  
Nicholas J. Santopetro ◽  
C. J. Brush ◽  
Alec Bruchnak ◽  
Julia Klawohn ◽  
Greg Hajcak
Keyword(s):  

2021 ◽  
pp. 136571272110022
Author(s):  
Jennifer Porter

The common law test of voluntariness has come to be associated with important policy rationales including the privilege against self-incrimination. However, when the test originated more than a century ago, it was a test concerned specifically with the truthfulness of confession evidence; which evidence was at that time adduced in the form of indirect oral testimony, that is, as hearsay. Given that, a century later, confession evidence is now mostly adduced in the form of an audiovisual recording that can be observed directly by the trial judge, rather than as indirect oral testimony, there may be capacity for a different emphasis regarding the question of admissibility. This article considers the law currently operating in Western Australia, Queensland and South Australia to see whether or not, in the form of an audiovisual recording, the exercise of judicial discretion as to the question of the admissibility of confession evidence might be supported if the common law test of voluntariness was not a strict test of exclusion.


2021 ◽  
Vol 10 (4) ◽  
pp. 647
Author(s):  
Viktoriya L. Nikolova ◽  
Anthony J. Cleare ◽  
Allan H. Young ◽  
James M. Stone

Recent years have seen a rapid increase in the use of gut microbiota-targeting interventions, such as probiotics, for the treatment of psychiatric disorders. The objective of this update review was to evaluate all randomised controlled clinical trial evidence on the efficacy of probiotics for clinical depression. Cochrane guidelines for updated reviews were followed. By searching PubMed and Web of Science databases, we identified 546 new records since our previous review. A total of seven studies met selection criteria, capturing 404 people with depression. A random effects meta-analysis using treatment type (stand-alone vs. adjunctive) as subgroup was performed. The results demonstrated that probiotics are effective in reducing depressive symptoms when administered in addition to antidepressants (SMD = 0.83, 95%CI 0.49–1.17), however, they do not seem to offer significant benefits when used as stand-alone treatment (SMD = −0.02, 95%CI −0.34–0.30). Potential mechanisms of action may be via increases in brain-derived neurotrophic factor (BDNF) and decreases in C-reactive protein (CRP), although limited evidence is available at present. This review offers stronger evidence to support the clinical use of probiotics in depressed populations and provides an insight into the mode of administration more likely to yield antidepressant effects.


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