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Biomedical subjects

S Priebe

Publications and source records attributed to S Priebe.

At least 109 records · Page 6Linked to original sources
PubMed1993

[Psychiatric disorders in emigrants. II. Follow-up over six months and attitudes of the patients].

In the first part of this study we investigated people who had left East Germany and sought psychiatric help within six weeks after their move. 94 patients were re-examined approximately six month later. Meanwhile 40% had found an adequate job and 44% satisfactory accommodation. 65% stated that some of their original hopes had remained unfulfilled in the west. However, in general patients viewed significantly fewer problems associated with integration in the West, than in the first interview. Symptoms were clearly improved according to clinical and self-ratings. Only three patients reported an overall deterioration. Sociodemographic and clinical variables as assessed in the first interview--including diagnostic classification according to ICD-9 and DSM-III-R-, allowed only a limited prediction of different outcome criteria.

Acculturation↗
PubMed1993

[Psychiatric disorders in emigrants. III. Follow-up after two and a half years].

In the first and the second part of this study we reported about first examination and a six month follow-up in patients who had left East-Germany in 1989. In this third and last part, findings of a two and a half year follow-up in 52 patients are shown. 92% of the patients reported further improvement, 87% stated to have an adequate job, and also 87% to have satisfactory accommodation. Frequency of complaints and level of psychopathological symptoms were clearly reduced. This positive change was not due to psychiatric treatment.

Acculturation↗
PubMed1992

Prediction of hospitalization within a psychiatric community care system--a five-year study.

Within a comprehensive community care system, we examined which patients became hospitalized during long-term treatment. We studied 60 consecutively admitted, and mainly chronic psychotic patients over 5 years. Full and partial hospitalizations were assessed by means of a hospitalization index. This index was significantly lower in the 2nd to 5th years after admission than in the 1st year. Sociodemographic and clinical characteristics failed to predict hospitalizations during the 1st year. Patients' age, gender and last occupational status were related to hospitalizations in the following 4 years. A better prediction of hospitalizations was allowed by treatment data obtained during the 1st year. It is suggested that long-term prognosis should be based mainly upon experience with a patient in a given care system, rather than on a patient's history and characteristics as known before treatment.

Adult↗
PubMed1992

[Evaluation of psychiatric treatment by patients--a study of assessment and stability over time].

The principal results and methodological problems of the Anglo-American research on patient's satisfaction with psychiatric treatment are summarised. This study aimed at investigating whether simple quantitative and qualitative methods to assess the patient's view of treatment yield similar results, and to which extent that view changes over time. 53 patients in a community care system were questioned on their view of treatment twice with a period of 20 months between the two interviews. Visual analogue scales and open questions were used for assessment. On the average, the patients' views of treatment as a whole and of different aspects were positive. There was no significant correlation between the patients' views at the two points of time. Patients' view was related to psychopathological symptoms and changed along with changes of symptoms over time; patients with more severe symptoms expressed a more negative view and wished more changes of treatment. Consequences of the findings for assessment of psychiatric treatment via the patients' view are discussed.

Adult↗
PubMed1992

The therapeutic system as viewed by depressive inpatients and outcome: an expanded study.

In an expansion of a previous study, we examined in which way depressive inpatients' views of psychiatrists' and significant others' attitudes toward the severity of their illness were related to outcome. Fifty-six patients were asked a two-part question--"Who regards your illness as being more severe: (a) you or your significant others; (b) you or your psychiatrist?" Two subsamples of patients were identified: those who viewed the psychiatrists' and significant others' attitudes as similar and those who viewed them as dissimilar. Both groups showed substantial and significant improvement during hospital treatment; but the group that viewed the attitudes held by psychiatrists and significant others as dissimilar had significantly fewer depressive symptoms by the end of a 3-month followup period. The findings were consistent with those of the original study, and with the hypothesis as derived from the Mental Research Institute brief therapy principles.

Adult↗
PubMed1992

[Psychological symptoms after immigration: a comparison of various groups of immigrants in Berlin].

In a postal questionnaire we examined three samples of persons seven and a half months after their migration to Berlin: 1. 512 people having left East Germany, 2. 90 Germans who had left Poland, and 3. 283 people who lived in western parts of Germany before. The present study was to investigate social integration and psychic complaints in these groups. In general, all groups reported increased frequencies of unspecific symptoms like inner restlessness, irritability, nervousness, rumination, and sleeplessness. In people from the GDR symptoms decreased significantly during the first seven months after migration. Symptoms of people who had come from western parts of Germany increased within this period. Generally the course of symptoms was more favorable, when people found a satisfactory job.

Acculturation↗
PubMed1991

Political change and course of affective psychoses: Berlin 1989-90.

In this study, the political change associated with the fall of the Berlin Wall in November 1989 was examined as a shared life event for the population of West Berlin. Its influence on the course of affective psychoses was studied in 67 patients in long-term treatment. Recurrences from November 1989 to March 1990 were compared with the same period 1 year before. While patients with bipolar affective psychosis did not show a difference in recurrences between the two periods, patients with unipolar depression had a significantly better and those with schizoaffective psychosis a significantly worse course of illness after November 1989 than in the year before.

Affective Disorders, Psychotic↗
PubMed1991

Synthesis of the enantiomers of reduced haloperidol.

Reduced haloperidol (RHAL) is the best known metabolite of haloperidol (HAL), having been identified in humans, rats, and guinea pigs. Since RHAL contains an asymmetric center, it can exist in two possible enantiomeric forms. However, the enantiomeric composition of the RHAL formed from HAL in vivo has never been reported. As a first step toward the enantiomeric analysis of biological samples, we have developed an efficient and stereospecific synthesis of (+)- and (-)-RHAL from readily available commercial materials. We have also identified an enantioselective chromatographic method using a chiral HPLC stationary phase which can detect as little as 1% of either enantiomer in synthetic samples of RHAL enantiomers.

Chromatography, High Pressure Liquid↗
PubMed1991

[Guidelines for interaction by the therapeutic team in inpatient treatment of patients with chronic neurotic disorders].

In treatment of in-patients with chronic neurotic disorders we tried both to reduce distress in the therapeutic team (doctors, nurses, other therapists) as usually caused by those patients, and to improve outcome of treatment. Therefore, three to five guidelines on how to deal with the patient were given to the therapeutic team, and illustrated by possible literal statements to the patient. The guidelines aimed at a general interactional approach to the patient and did not determine specific therapeutic interventions. They were set up following principles of Brief Therapy as developed at the Mental Research Institute in Palo Alto. Results of our intervention in treatment of ten patients are reported. The therapeutic team rated the guidelines generally as positive. The therapeutic outcome varied greatly. A comparison with a matched pair control group showed a favourable tendency. Initial ratings by the team of the prescriptions predicted eventual improvement of the patients.

Adult↗
PubMed1990

Expressed emotion and auditory evoked potentials.

The expressed emotion (EE) of key relatives has been shown to predict the course of illness in psychiatric patients. In this study, we examined whether there might be physiological correlates to the EE index in nonbiological key relatives of patients with affective psychoses. High-EE and low-EE relatives were compared concerning their slopes of the amplitude/stimulus intensity function (auditory evoked N1/P2-component). We found that the slopes were clearly steeper in the case of low-EE relatives. In comparing the slopes of all key relatives with those of an age-matched control group without psychiatrically ill partners, we could find no differences. Therefore, the slope differences between high-EE and low-EE relatives do not seem to reflect differences in the illness of partners. We speculated whether a steep slope as well as low EE could be associated with an action-oriented, impulsive communication style, which would prevent the development of an affectively tense communication pattern.

Adult↗
PubMed1990

External attributions and outcome in depressive in-patients.

Thirty-four voluntarily admitted depressive in-patients were asked by their clinicians in the first interview why they came into hospital and what they expected there. Some patients expressed external attributions referring to other persons who were viewed as being responsible for the admission or for improvement under treatment. External attributions of this kind were found to have some negative predictive value for the outcome of treatment.

Adjustment Disorders↗
PubMed1990

[Psychiatric disorders in immigrants. I. History, symptoms and diagnostic classification].

155 people who had left East-Germany and sought psychiatric help within six weeks after their arrival in West Berlin, were examined. History, living situation and psychopathological symptoms were studied. The disorders were diagnosed according to ICD-9 and DSM-III-R. 85% of the patients reported that they had already suffered from similar complaints in East Germany. 50% stated they have had symptoms before they had made the decision to leave. On average, that decision had been taken 22 months before the actual leaving. Most often patients complained about sleep disturbance, nervousness, and headaches. According to ICD-9, 55% of the disorders were classified as reactive and 39% as neurotic or personality disorders. The most frequent diagnoses according to DSM-III-R were adjustment disorders (41%), major depression (21%), anxiety disorders (16%), and dysthymia (14%). Regardless of diagnosis most patients were found to have symptoms of anxiety and depression associated with vegetative complaints. There were no clear relationships between psychopathological symptoms and data of history or present living situation.

Acculturation↗
PubMed1989

Neuroleptic-induced persistent "open mouth".

After prolonged exposure to butyrophenones, a patient with a paranoid psychosis showed an extrapyramidal motor disturbance which, phenomenologically, was very unusual and outlasted the medication. He involuntarily kept his mouth wide open all the time. Reasons for that symptom other than an induction by neuroleptics were not found.

Adult↗
PubMed1989

Can patients' views of a therapeutic system predict outcome? An empirical study with depressive patients.

Using the principles of brief therapy as developed at the Mental Research Institute (MRI) in Palo Alto, this study examined how patients viewed psychiatrists' and significant others' attitudes toward the severity of their illness, as compared with their own attitude, and whether these views were related to outcome. Forty-one depressive inpatients were asked a two-part question--Who regards your illness as being more severe: (a) you or your significant others; (b) you or your psychiatrist? Two subsamples of patients were identified: those who viewed psychiatrists' and significant others' attitudes toward the illness as similar (equally structured systems) and those who viewed them as dissimilar (differently structured systems). Both groups showed equal and significant improvement during hospital treatment; but the group that viewed the attitudes held by psychiatrists and significant others as dissimilar reported improvement after discharge.

Attitude of Health Personnel↗
PubMed1989

Does routine screening for benzodiazepines help to diagnose dependence in psychiatric inpatients?

After admission, 899 inpatients of a psychiatric university hospital were routinely screened for benzodiazepines (BDZ) in the urine. BDZ were detected in 134 (15%) patients with various primary diagnoses. Criteria for BDZ abuse or dependence were found in 36 patients. In 35 cases, either intake of BDZ had not been reported in the first psychiatric interview, or such a report had not been documented in the patient's charts. None of these 35 patients was found to have BDZ abuse or dependence. Psychiatric inpatients with BDZ abuse or dependence seem to report their intake of BDZ. These findings suggest that a routine screening for BDZ can hardly help to diagnose dependence within a university hospital setting. Nevertheless, an objective test for intake of BDZ may be useful in special cases.

Anti-Anxiety Agents↗
PubMed1989

Lithium prophylaxis and expressed emotion.

Expressed emotion (EE) in key relatives of 21 patients with bipolar affective or schizoaffective psychoses was assessed by the CFI. All patients had been on prophylactic lithium for at least three years and were without psychotic symptoms at interview. The relationship between relatives' EE status and patients' course of illness was studied both retrospectively and prospectively. Two critical remarks designated high EE. The relatives' EE status was not related to number of hospital admissions or to severity and length of recurrences if the entire period of lithium treatment is considered as a whole. However, patients living with high-EE relatives showed a significantly poorer response during the three years before interview, and an even poorer response in the nine-month follow-up.

Adult↗