How Should Mental Health Professionals Respond to Outbreaks of Mass Psychogenic Illness?

2011 ◽  
Vol 25 (4) ◽  
pp. 235-239 ◽  
Author(s):  
Robert E. Bartholomew ◽  
M. Chandra Sekaran Muniratnam
Keyword(s):  
Public Health ◽  
Mental Health ◽  
Mental Health Professionals ◽  
Health Professionals ◽  
Health Issue ◽  
Public Health Issue ◽  
History Of ◽  
The Media ◽  
Psychogenic Illness

The management of episodes of mass psychogenic illness poses a challenge for mental health professionals who have a history of inadvertently exacerbating episodes. This article identifies the two major presentation types (anxiety vs. motor), discusses their significance as a public health issue, and offers guidelines for responding to outbreaks and addressing the media.

Revisiting goa's mental health

2011 ◽  
Vol 26 (S2) ◽  
pp. 573-573
Author(s):  
A.E. Ribeiro ◽  
M. Santos
Keyword(s):  
Public Health ◽  
Mental Health ◽  
Primary Care ◽  
Mental Health Professionals ◽  
Physical Symptoms ◽  
Mental Illnesses ◽  
Health Issue ◽  
Public Health Issue ◽  
Care Providers ◽  
Major Public Health Issue

Despite Goa's privileged economic and environmental position, research has demonstrated that mental health is in fact a major public health issue in this Indian state.Besides learning difficulties, child abuse, and high suicide rates, depression and anxiety seem to affect more than one third of the patients in primary care attenders. Medically unexplained physical symptoms are common clinical features, frequently misdiagnosed by the primary care physicians. Alcohol consumption has always been an integral part of Goan lifestyle, with alcohol dependence being a major public health issue. Drug abuse, in particular heroin and more recently LSD and ecstasy, are of concern in the coastal areas, and foreign influence might not be the only explanation for this fact.Goa has one of the most extensive health systems in India. Private psychiatry is also relatively well represented, and fortunately there are some NGOs working in this field, providing care in areas where government services have been inadequate.Despite those facts, the majority of persons with mental health disorders have never come in contact with mental health care providers. Persons prefer to consult non-mental health professionals, and frequently continue to seek help from Religious and Spiritual Leaders, Informal Counsellors, priests and Gurus with healing powers. Many of such practices are unregulated, expensive and potentially dangerous.Priority mental health issues in Goa include sensitizing health workers to mental illnesses, and improving access to care in existing health services.

scholarly journals Psychological Impact of the COVID-19 Outbreak on Nurses in China: A Nationwide Survey During the Outbreak

2020 ◽  
Vol 11 ◽  
Author(s):  
Yan Liu ◽  
Youlin Long ◽  
Yifan Cheng ◽  
Qiong Guo ◽  
Liu Yang ◽  
...  
Keyword(s):  
Public Health ◽  
Health Professionals ◽  
Psychological Impact ◽  
Nationwide Survey ◽  
Living Alone ◽  
Health Issue ◽  
Public Health Issue ◽  
Second Line ◽  
Front Line ◽  
Major Public Health Issue

Background: The COVID-19 pandemic is a major public health issue and challenge to health professionals. In similar epidemics, nurses experienced more distress than other providers.Methods: We surveyed both on-duty nurses caring for infected patients and second-line nurses caring for uninfected patients from Hubei and other provinces throughout China.Results: We received completed surveys from 1,364 nurses from 22 provinces: 658 front-line and 706 second-line nurses. The median (IQR) GHQ-28 score of all nurses was 17 (IQR 11–24). The overall incidence of mild-to-moderate distress (GHQ score > 5) was 28%; that for severe distress (GHQ score > 11) was 6%. The incidence of mild-to-moderate distress in the second-line nurses was higher than that in the front-line nurses (31 vs. 25%; OR, 0.74; 95 CI, 0.58–0.94). Living alone (OR, 0.62; 95% CI, 0.44–0.86) and feeling supported (OR, 0.82, 95% CI, 0.74–0.90) independently predicted lower anxiety.Conclusions: During the COVID-19 pandemic, the psychological problems of all nurses were generally serious. The interviewed second-line nurses face more serious issues than the front-line nurses.

Psychobehavioral Disorders

2019 ◽  
pp. 277-292
Author(s):  
Shawn Hersevoort ◽  
Stephen Hurwitz ◽  
Stephen Thornton
Keyword(s):  
Mental Health ◽  
Emergency Medicine ◽  
Drug Interactions ◽  
Mental Health Professionals ◽  
Health Professionals ◽  
Suicide Attempts ◽  
Emergency Medicine Physician ◽  
Medicine Physician ◽  
History Of ◽  
Severe Shortage

Emergency departments (EDs) have seen an increase in patients presenting with psychobehavioral emergencies in the past 20 years. Some of this increase is due to the severe shortage of mental health professionals across the country, and some is due to an increase in the incidence of psychiatric disorders. Patients can present to the ED themselves or can be brought in by emergency medical services or law enforcement under an involuntary hold. The presentations range from intentional ingestions and other suicide attempts to depression, psychosis, and medication interactions. Substance abuse is also common in this population and can exacerbate underlying conditions. Patients who present for other medical complaints and have an underlying history of mental illness are usually taking psychiatric medications that can have drug interactions. It is imperative that a practicing emergency medicine physician be aware of the multitude of drug interactions and side effects.

What it says in the papers: an audit

2001 ◽  
Vol 18 (2) ◽  
pp. 68-71 ◽  
Author(s):  
Alison O'Connor ◽  
Patricia Casey
Keyword(s):  
Mental Health ◽  
Mental Health Professionals ◽  
Health Professionals ◽  
Print Media ◽  
Psychiatric Patients ◽  
International Studies ◽  
International Literature ◽  
The Past ◽  
The Media ◽  
Over Time

AbstractObjectives: There have been concerns in the international literature that the manner in which psychiatry and psychiatric patients is portrayed in the print media is negative and sensational. If correct this has serious implications for the stigma and prejudice that our patients will suffer. This study was designed to evaluate the content and tone of articles relating to psychiatry. It was compared with a broadly similar study published in 1995 and will form the base from which to measure changes in psychiatric coverage over time.Method: All the daily broadsheets, one daily tabloid and three Sunday broadsheets were examined for a six month period in 1999 and all articles, letters or headlines incorporating psychiatry-related material were examined. Using specific definitions, articles and headlines were examined for tone and content as well as for the contribution of mental health professionals.Results: Overall 0.65 articles per newspaper per day were found. News items and feature predominated, with forensic issues receiving the greatest attention. The tone of the articles was either neutral or positive and the improvement in the tone of articles in the tabloids was particularly noticeable when compared with an earlier study. This is very different from the findings of international studies. However, the headlines were more sensational in tone than the contents of the articles themselves. Increasingly the opinion of health professionals was sought but contributions from psychiatrists remained low, writing just two articles and constituting 15% of health professionals whose opinions were sought. Nine per cent of items constituted misuse of terms.Conclusions: The Irish print media are not hostile to psychiatry and there has been an improvement in tone and type of article in the past five years. Greater involvement of psychiatrists in the media and particularly more direct engagement with editors is required if there is to be a shift from coverage of forensic matters in favour of informative articles as well as improvement in the headline tone.

Reaction to Severe Stress and Adjustment Disorders After the September 2017 Earthquakes in a Psychiatric Emergency Department in Mexico City

2019 ◽  
Vol 13 (4) ◽  
pp. 686-690 ◽  
Author(s):  
Ana Fresán ◽  
Rebeca Robles-García ◽  
Claudia Becerra-Palars ◽  
Manuel Alejandro Muñoz-Suárez ◽  
Omar Rangel-Cupa ◽  
...  
Keyword(s):  
Public Health ◽  
Mental Health ◽  
Emergency Department ◽  
Mexico City ◽  
Mental Health Professionals ◽  
Health Professionals ◽  
Psychiatric Emergency ◽  
Adjustment Disorders ◽  
Severe Stress ◽  
Disaster Victims

ABSTRACTObjectiveEarthquakes may lead to a reaction to severe stress and adjustment disorders (RSSAD). On September 7, 19, and 23, 2017, Mexico was struck by many severe earthquakes. The aim of this study was to examine whether there was an increase in the number of consultations and RSSAD in a psychiatric emergency department in Mexico City after these earthquakes.MethodsWe studied retrospectively the diagnosis and triage assessment from a Mexican psychiatric emergency department database from September 1 to November 30, 2017, and analyzed RSSAD and the number of consultations after the earthquakes.ResultsA total of 1,811 psychiatric emergency consultations were registered from the period of study. A total of 141 consultations represented RSSAD. There was a significant increase of RSSAD after the September 23, 2017, earthquake. The triage assessment revealed that the urgency of the consultations was higher immediately after the earthquakes.ConclusionNatural disasters, such as earthquakes, may trigger diverse RSSAD leading to increased emergency consultations, especially when those disasters are repetitive. Mental health professionals should be adequately trained and sensitized for possible acute disaster victims. (Disaster Med Public Health Preparedness. 2019;13:686–690).

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