Although mental disorders are common among children all over the world, information on the extent and types of child psychiatric disorders in Ethiopia is extremely limited. A study was conducted in an urban setting of Ethiopia to look at the prevalence of child psychiatric disorders and their correlates. A two-phase survey was performed. In the first phase, parents of 5000 children in Addis Ababa, the capital city of Ethiopia, were interviewed using the Reporting Questionnaire for Children (RQC). In the second phase, parents of all screen-positive children (n=864) and parents of 1537 screen-negative children were interviewed using the revised parent version of the Diagnostic Interview for Children and Adolescents (DICA-R), a semi-structured diagnostic instrument that is based on the third revised edition of the Diagnostic and Statistical Manual of the American Psychiatric Association (DSM-III-R). This thesis discusses the results of that study in comparison with other child mental health studies in Ethiopia and elsewhere. At the recommended cut-off score of 1, the sensitivity, specificity, predictive values and likelihood ratios of the RQC to DICA-R diagnoses were acceptable. The RQC had high accuracy with a misclassification rate of 17%. The weighted prevalence for any DSM-III-R diagnosis was 17%. The most prevalent condition was enuresis (12.1%) followed by simple phobia (5.5%). The prevalence rates of all other identified conditions were below 1%. Children's age, severe economic problems, and single parenthood were found to be risk factors for any DSM-III-R diagnosis in children. Male sex, younger age, and lower achieved educational grade of the child were all independently associated with childhood enuresis. The odds of having enuresis were significantly higher for children in families with extreme poverty and in children from single-parent homes. The risk of having enuresis was significantly higher in children who had anxiety disorders (AD) and disruptive behaviour disorders (DBD). Sex was significantly associated with disruptive behaviour disorders while grade level, age, family size, ethnicity, poverty, and single parenthood were not. Anxiety disorders were significantly associated with sex, ethnicity, and extreme poverty but not with the other socio-demographic variables. The absence of mood disorders and somatoform disorders, of which symptoms are often encountered in both children and adults at clinical settings and the low prevalence rates of most identified conditions, were probably related to the lack of awareness or alternative explanations at the community level regarding the understanding of behaviour changes. Campaigns of public mental health education with the aim of providing scientific information to society are highly recommended. While Ethiopia works towards mainstreaming mental health into its health care system, training health care workers in applying simple screening tools like the RQC is recommended.

No description available.

<p>Adolescence means an increased risk for eating disorders (ED) and the female gender is the most important risk factor. Empirical studies of the perceptions of gender ideals—as potential mediating factors between the socio-cultural context and ED—were this thesis’ primary goals. Further aims implied evaluating the psychometric properties of the Eating Disorders Inventory for Children (EDI-C) and providing normative data for boys and girls concerning self-assessed ED symptoms and related psychological traits.</p><p>The EDI-C has satisfying psychometric properties, and normative data are now provided. The vast majority of preadolescent and adolescent boys and girls (n=4725) are not preoccupied with weight concerns, but 1–3% of the boys and 9–20% of the girls here indicate feelings of anxiety and problematic attitudes. An increase of self-reported ED symptoms occurs during female preadolescence and early adolescence. </p><p>Responses to three open-ended questions—addressing perceived and personal gender ideals of adolescent boys (n=347) and girls with (n=204) and without (n=417) an ED—indicate that girls are, compared to boys, more involved in images of ideals. The perceived ideal man and ideal woman differ in body size and strength. This corresponds with different health risk behaviours reported in boys (body building) and girls (dieting). Awareness of media ideals and an ability to discriminate them from individual values was common in the normal groups and in girls who had recovered from an ED. A poor outcome was associated with thinness stated as ideals of the media, without mentioning good looks. Factors that could predict outcome at the 3-year follow-up of an ED in adolescent girls were: good looks (media ideal), maturity fears, profession (individual ideal), sexual debut, and vomiting.</p><p>The addition of a gender perspective would add a dimension to programmes aiming at preventing and treating ED in adolescence.</p>

Adolescence means an increased risk for eating disorders (ED) and the female gender is the most important risk factor. Empirical studies of the perceptions of gender ideals—as potential mediating factors between the socio-cultural context and ED—were this thesis’ primary goals. Further aims implied evaluating the psychometric properties of the Eating Disorders Inventory for Children (EDI-C) and providing normative data for boys and girls concerning self-assessed ED symptoms and related psychological traits. The EDI-C has satisfying psychometric properties, and normative data are now provided. The vast majority of preadolescent and adolescent boys and girls (n=4725) are not preoccupied with weight concerns, but 1–3% of the boys and 9–20% of the girls here indicate feelings of anxiety and problematic attitudes. An increase of self-reported ED symptoms occurs during female preadolescence and early adolescence. Responses to three open-ended questions—addressing perceived and personal gender ideals of adolescent boys (n=347) and girls with (n=204) and without (n=417) an ED—indicate that girls are, compared to boys, more involved in images of ideals. The perceived ideal man and ideal woman differ in body size and strength. This corresponds with different health risk behaviours reported in boys (body building) and girls (dieting). Awareness of media ideals and an ability to discriminate them from individual values was common in the normal groups and in girls who had recovered from an ED. A poor outcome was associated with thinness stated as ideals of the media, without mentioning good looks. Factors that could predict outcome at the 3-year follow-up of an ED in adolescent girls were: good looks (media ideal), maturity fears, profession (individual ideal), sexual debut, and vomiting. The addition of a gender perspective would add a dimension to programmes aiming at preventing and treating ED in adolescence.

<p>This study investigated a consecutive cohort of 88 youngsters with onset of a psychotic disorder at age 15.7 (sd 1.5) years and followed-up 10.6 (sd 3.6) years after first admission at the age of 26.5 (sd 3.7) years. A subsample of 15 subjects were assessed with the Five Minute Speech Sample for measuring Expressed Emotion and subsequent recording of relapses during a two year period.</p><p>A diagnostic split between schizophrenia spectrum psychosis and affective psychotic disorder was usually stable over time. The main diagnostic shift was an influx to schizophrenia spectrum disorder of subjects with a better premorbid function and less insidious onset as compared to those with a stable schizophrenia diagnosis.</p><p>Early onset schizophrenia spectrum disorder usually had a poor functional outcome. Most subjects needed support in the form of a disability pension. Early onset affective psychotic disorder usually had a good functional outcome. Most subjects worked and enjoyed regular friendships. The functional level before onset of illness was the best predictor of future functional level in psychotic disorders. A family history of non-affective psychosis predicted a worse function in schizophrenia. Frequent episodes and low intelligence predicted a worse function in affective disorders.</p><p>Four men (4.5% of the sample) committed suicide. The risk of suicide was increased about 30 times. Almost a third of subjects attempted suicide. Females made more attempts. Suicide attempts were related to more depressive symptoms but less negative symptoms at first episode, to readmissions and to dependence on nicotine. </p><p>Subjects with schizophrenia spectrum psychoses were less satisfied with life than those with affective psychotic disorder. Subjective satisfaction in schizophrenia was strongly associated to depressive mood while in affective disorders it was associated to degree of employment.</p><p>Adolescents with psychosis in families rated high or borderline high in Expressed Emotion either during first episode or after discharge had an increased risk of relapse.</p>

<p>A total population of 4,479 children (7-15 years of age) attended school in Ludvika & Smedjebacken in 2000. All the school children and their parents were asked to fill in a questionnaire concerning different tics A three-stage procedure was used: tic identification, interview, and clinical assessment.</p><p>Tourette syndrome, according to DSM IV criteria was found in 25 (0.6%) of the children, another 34 (0.8%) suffered from chronic motor tics (CMT), 24 (0.4%) from chronic vocal tics (CVT) and 214 (4.8%) children had had transient tics (TT) during the last year. Altogether 297 (6.6%) children had or had had some tic disorder. </p><p>Twenty-five controls without tics and 25 children with TT of the same age, sex and school as the TS children were randomly chosen. They were together with the 34 children with CMT and the 24 children with CVT examined with use of a broad battery of instruments. </p><p>The mean age of the first symptoms of TS was significantly lower than the onset of chronic motor/vocal tics. A younger age of onset of TS indicated more severe tics. Eighty per cent had a first-degree relative with a psychiatric disorder such as tic disorder, obsessive-compulsive behaviour, attentiondeficit/hyperactivity disorder (ADHD), or depression. A non-significant increase with regard to reduced optimality score in the pre-, peri-, or neonatal periods was found in children with TS compared to controls. No differences were found concerning socio-economic status. Psychiatric comorbid disorders were found in 92% of the children with TS. ADHD was most common. Patterns of psychiatric comorbidity were similar in children with TS and CVT. Children with TS perform poorer than the population in general with respect to cognitive functioning and self-perception.</p><p>The results are discussed as they relate to the need for case identification, diagnosis, intervention, and treatment. </p>

This study investigated a consecutive cohort of 88 youngsters with onset of a psychotic disorder at age 15.7 (sd 1.5) years and followed-up 10.6 (sd 3.6) years after first admission at the age of 26.5 (sd 3.7) years. A subsample of 15 subjects were assessed with the Five Minute Speech Sample for measuring Expressed Emotion and subsequent recording of relapses during a two year period. A diagnostic split between schizophrenia spectrum psychosis and affective psychotic disorder was usually stable over time. The main diagnostic shift was an influx to schizophrenia spectrum disorder of subjects with a better premorbid function and less insidious onset as compared to those with a stable schizophrenia diagnosis. Early onset schizophrenia spectrum disorder usually had a poor functional outcome. Most subjects needed support in the form of a disability pension. Early onset affective psychotic disorder usually had a good functional outcome. Most subjects worked and enjoyed regular friendships. The functional level before onset of illness was the best predictor of future functional level in psychotic disorders. A family history of non-affective psychosis predicted a worse function in schizophrenia. Frequent episodes and low intelligence predicted a worse function in affective disorders. Four men (4.5% of the sample) committed suicide. The risk of suicide was increased about 30 times. Almost a third of subjects attempted suicide. Females made more attempts. Suicide attempts were related to more depressive symptoms but less negative symptoms at first episode, to readmissions and to dependence on nicotine. Subjects with schizophrenia spectrum psychoses were less satisfied with life than those with affective psychotic disorder. Subjective satisfaction in schizophrenia was strongly associated to depressive mood while in affective disorders it was associated to degree of employment. Adolescents with psychosis in families rated high or borderline high in Expressed Emotion either during first episode or after discharge had an increased risk of relapse.

A total population of 4,479 children (7-15 years of age) attended school in Ludvika &amp; Smedjebacken in 2000. All the school children and their parents were asked to fill in a questionnaire concerning different tics A three-stage procedure was used: tic identification, interview, and clinical assessment. Tourette syndrome, according to DSM IV criteria was found in 25 (0.6%) of the children, another 34 (0.8%) suffered from chronic motor tics (CMT), 24 (0.4%) from chronic vocal tics (CVT) and 214 (4.8%) children had had transient tics (TT) during the last year. Altogether 297 (6.6%) children had or had had some tic disorder. Twenty-five controls without tics and 25 children with TT of the same age, sex and school as the TS children were randomly chosen. They were together with the 34 children with CMT and the 24 children with CVT examined with use of a broad battery of instruments. The mean age of the first symptoms of TS was significantly lower than the onset of chronic motor/vocal tics. A younger age of onset of TS indicated more severe tics. Eighty per cent had a first-degree relative with a psychiatric disorder such as tic disorder, obsessive-compulsive behaviour, attentiondeficit/hyperactivity disorder (ADHD), or depression. A non-significant increase with regard to reduced optimality score in the pre-, peri-, or neonatal periods was found in children with TS compared to controls. No differences were found concerning socio-economic status. Psychiatric comorbid disorders were found in 92% of the children with TS. ADHD was most common. Patterns of psychiatric comorbidity were similar in children with TS and CVT. Children with TS perform poorer than the population in general with respect to cognitive functioning and self-perception. The results are discussed as they relate to the need for case identification, diagnosis, intervention, and treatment.

Bakgrund: I Sverige finns ca 35 000 personer diagnostiserade med schizofreni. Att insjukna i schizofreni innebär en livsomvälvande katastrof både för den som insjuknar och de närstående. Av de barn och ungdomar som drabbas av schizofreni får hälften ett livslångt handikapp. Deras föräldrar får ofta svårigheter med att möta sina barns lidande, bekymmer, att förstå deras förändrade livsvärld och den problematik som den psykiska störningen omfattar. Syfte: Denna litteraturstudies syfte var att beskriva föräldrarnas svårigheter hantera den uppkomna situationen och att förstå sina barns förändrade livsvärld och den problematik som den psykiska störningen innebär. Ett vidare syfte har varit att tydliggöra sjuksköterskans vägledande roll i denna process. Metod: En litteraturstudie med kvalitativ ansats som belyser föräldrarnas upplevelser av att ha ett barn med schizofreni. Resultat: Studiens resultat visar fem framträdande teman; Att inte förstå vad som händer med sitt barn, Moraliska och praktiska dilemman, Skuld och skam, Att som förälder sörja förlusten av det barn man en gång känt samt Vilken form av stöd/information söker föräldrarna? Slutsatser: Allvarlig psykisk störning orsakar ett stort lidande både för barnet som diagnostiserats och dess föräldrar. Det är en komplex situation för hela familjen och det ligger ett stort ansvar på vårdaren att vara öppensinnig i kommunikationen med denna patientgrupp och deras närstående för att kunna hjälpa och stödja.

To align the neuropsychological functioning of our adult euthymic patient group with that reported in previous studies on euthymic bipolar disorder (BD), we used a neuropsychological battery that examined sustained attention (Rapid Visual Information Processing Task), verbal memory (California Verbal Learning Task), executive functioning (Intradimensional-Extradimensional Shift Task, Barrett Impulsivity Task, and Framing Task), and emotion responsiveness/regulation (Positive Affect/Negative Affect Scales, Behavioral Inhibition/Behavioral Activation Scale, and Affective Lability/Affective Intensity Scales) in patients versus healthy volunteers (HV). Our results corroborated existing evidence of reduced sustained attention, impaired verbal memory and executive functioning, and abnormal emotional responsiveness and regulation in euthymic BD relative to healthy controls (Chapter 2). To investigate how abnormal development of brain function in BD leads to deficits in decision-making, motor inhibition, and response flexibility, we examined child and adult BD using a novel risky decision-making task, and used cross-sectional (age x diagnosis) functional magnetic resonance (fMRI) designs to examine neural activation associated with motor inhibition and response flexibility in BD relative to HV. During the risky decision-making task, adult euthymic BD patients were no different from healthy controls in their proportion of risky lottery choices over a range of competing lotteries. This matched behavioral performance was associated with similar prefrontal and striatal brain activation between the patient and control groups during response, anticipation, and outcome phases of decision-making (Chapter 3). These results are different from previous studies that have shown increased risk taking during decision-making in euthymic BD. Similarly, young BD patients were no different from age-matched healthy and patient controls in their pattern of decision making during the risky choice task. This was evidenced by a similar number of risky lottery selections over the range of changing expected values between the young BD group and control groups (Chapter 4). Using a cross-sectional, fMRI analytic design during the stop signal task, we found that child and adult BD showed similar behavioral performance to child and adult HV during motor inhibition. However, this matched behavioral performance was associated with abnormal neural activation in patients relative to controls. Specifically, during unsuccessful motor inhibition, there was an age group x diagnosis interaction, with BD youth showing reduced activity in left and right ACC compared to both age-matched HV and adult BD, and adult BD showing increased activation in left ACC compared to healthy adults. During successful motor inhibition there was a main effect of diagnosis, with HV showing greater activity in left VPFC and right NAc compared to BD (Chapter 5). These neuroimaging data support existing laboratory-based evidence of motor inhibition impairments in BD relative to HV, and indicate brain dysregulation during motor control is important to BD pathophysiology. A previous behavioral study showed impaired response flexibility in young BD patients relative to age-matched controls when using the change task. Here, we used the change task during fMRI to examine response flexibility in child and adult BD compared to child and adult HV. We found that patient and control groups showed similar change signal reaction times in response to change cues. However, this matched behavioral performance was associated with abnormal age group x diagnosis activations in brain regions important in signal detection, response conflict, response inhibition, and sustained attention. Specifically, during successful change trials, child BD participants showed frontal, parietal, and temporal hyperactivation relative to healthy children and adult BD, while adult BD showed hypoactivation in these regions relative to healthy adults. These novel fMRI findings during the change task indicate impaired neural activation during response flexibility may be important to the pathophysiology of BD development.