Diferentes pessoas podem ter atitudes diferentes frente a um mesmo objeto, mas esta diversidade de posicionamento não deve ser encarada como características idiossincráticas ou estáveis, não nascem num vazio social, são fruto de interação social, de processo de comparação, identificação e diferenciação social que permite situar uma posição frente a outras em um determinado momento. A família, enquanto grupo, atravessa os tempos passando por inúmeras transformações e críticas, sem se afastar da responsabilidade e das exigências dos papéis socialmente atribuídos a ela. O transtorno mental permanece ainda obscuro, não existindo uma causa que o explique como tão estigmatizante, mas, o adoecer psíquico, é facilmente percebido, pois, os indivíduos que adoecem, apresentam comportamentos diferentes daqueles normalmente aceitos pela sociedade. Os grupos de autoajuda são homogêneos, seus participantes passam pelo mesmo sofrimento, são de apoio mútuo e educacional, a liderança vem do interior do grupo, reporta-se somente a um único evento desestruturador de vida, os membros participam voluntariamente, sem fins lucrativos, objetivam o crescimento pessoal dos integrantes e tem caráter anônimo e confidencial. Partindo-se do princípio de que as atitudes frente aos transtornos mentais e seus portadores são passíveis de serem trabalhadas e modificadas, mesmo sendo necessário um trabalho ao longo de um grande período de tempo, pois envolve aspectos formadores da personalidade, este estudo teve como objetivo mostrar as atitudes frente aos transtornos mentais de familiares de portadores de transtornos mentais que participam de grupo de autoajuda, de familiares que não participam de grupos desta natureza e estudar comparativamente as atitudes destes dois grupos. Para isso, 20 familiares de portadores de transtornos mentais, sendo 10 familiares que participam de um grupo de autoajuda e 10 familiares que nunca participaram de grupo de autoajuda, responderam a um questionário com uma parte sobre os seus dados pessoais e a outra parte com perguntas abertas sobre sua proximidade com o seu parente portador de transtorno mental e a escala de atitudes \"Opiniões Sobre os Transtornos Mentais\" (OTM). Os resultados mostraram que em ambos os grupos a faixa etária dos familiares está acima dos 50 anos, a maioria são mães, casadas, católicas, com tempo de convívio com o parente portador de transtorno mental acima de 5 anos, a esquizofrenia é o transtorno mais frequente, sendo melhor a situação econômica dos familiares participantes do grupo de autoajuda. Os resultados da OTM, analisados de forma estatística utilizando-se o teste de Mann-Whitney U mostraram uma influência positiva do grupo de autoajuda nas atitudes de familiares de portadores de transtornos mentais frente aos transtornos mentais e seus parentes portadores desses transtornos, mas essa influência mostrou-se relativa, pois, os dois grupos, revelaram ainda atitudes autoritárias, restritivas e discriminadoras, levando à conclusão de que o grupo de autoajuda é extremamente importante e uma expressiva ferramenta de apoio, mas para uma real mudança de atitudes nos aspectos considerados, são necessárias modalidades terapêuticas mais específicas e que utilizam intervenções mais focadas. / Different people may have different attitudes towards a same object, but this range of positions should not be seen as idiosyncratic or stable characteristics. They are not born in a social void, but are the fruit of social interaction, of a comparison, identification and social distinction process that permits situating one position towards others at a given time. As a group, the family evolves going through countless transformations and criticism, without distancing itself from the responsibility and requirements of the roles it is socially attributed. Mental disorder is still obscure, without a cause to explain the extent of its stigma, but psychic illness is easily perceived, as the people who get ill display behaviors different from what society normally accepts. Self-help groups are homogeneous. Their participants go through the same suffering. The groups provide mutual support and are educational. Leadership comes from within the group, which only refers to a single deconstructive event in life. Members participate voluntarily, without aiming for profit. The groups aim for their members\' personal growth and are anonymous and confidential. Departing from the principle that attitudes towards mental disorders and their patients can be addressed and modified, although demanding long-term work, as it involves personality-building aspects, this study aimed to show the attitudes towards mental disorders of family members of mental disorder patients who participate in a self-help group, of family members who do not participate in this kind of groups, and to comparatively study these two groups\' attitudes. Thus, 20 relatives of mental disorder patients, ten of whom participate in a self-help group and ten who had never participated in a self-help group, answered a questionnaire. One part referred to their personal data, while the other part contained open questions on their proximity with their relative suffering from a mental disorder, as well as the attitude scale \"Opinions on Mental Disorders\" (OMD). The results showed that, in both groups, the relatives\' age range is over 50 years, most are mothers, married, Catholic, have lived with the relative suffering from the mental disorder for more than five years, schizophrenia is the most frequent disorder and the relatives who participate in the self-help group display a better socio-economic situation. Statistical analysis of the OMD results, using Mann-Whitney\'s U-test, showed a positive influence of the self-help group on the attitudes of mental disorder patients\' relatives towards the mental disorders and their relatives suffering from these disorders. This influence revealed to be relative though, as the two groups also revealed authoritarian, restrictive and discriminatory attitudes, leading to the conclusion that the self-help group is extremely important and a meaningful support tool. To achieve an actual change in attitudes towards the aspects under analysis though, more specific therapeutic modes are needed, which use more focused interventions.

People living with mental disorders (PLWMDs) are at an increased risk for developing obesity due to poor diet, physical inactivity, and antipsychotic medications. In the United States, the general-population obesity rate is 36% compared to more than 50% for PLWMDs. Mental health professionals (MHPs), focused on addressing psychiatric conditions, seldom recognize and clinically manage obesity. Furthermore, this population is socioeconomically disadvantaged with poor dietary habits while consuming psychiatric medications that stimulate hunger, further exacerbating the risk for obesity. The Promoting Action on Research Implementation in Healthcare Services (PARISHS) framework guided this quality improvement project to improve obesity awareness and management for PLWMD at a large state psychiatric hospital. An evidence-based education intervention was implemented to positively impact obesity awareness and clinical management or MHPs. The evaluation used a validated instrument with a pre- and posttest design. Paired t test was used to analyze multiple constructs from the MHP participants (N = 50). Overall, the pretest indicated 76% of MHPs were not involved in helping obese PLWMDs manage their weight; however, the posttest data (at 90-days) revealed that 90% were involved in this activity. This represents a positive shift in obesity perceptions and management knowledge. Future research needs to evaluate the impact of the perceptions on process measures and clinical outcomes. This project led to positive social change as MHPs are more likely to address obesity in PLWMD due to their increased awareness and knowledge. This project has broader implications as the program can be duplicated in other psychiatric hospitals.

The role that culture and trauma plays in shaping mental health outcomes continues to dominate debate in the field of transcultural and post-conflict mental health. The broad aim of this thesis is to investigate key issues relevant to these two factors in relation to the Vietnamese. A meta-analysis of international epidemiological research indicated that countries of North and South East Asia appear to manifest low rates of mental disorder compared to English-speaking countries. A meta-regression analysis of research undertaken specifically with refugee and conflict-affected populations, confirmed a robust association between torture and general trauma and risk to mental disorder. The thesis then examines data from three population-based mental health surveys: 1,161 Vietnamese-Australian residents in the state of New South Wales; 3,039 Vietnamese resident in the Mekong Delta region of Vietnam; and 7,961 Australian-born persons drawn from a national survey. All surveys applied the Composite International Diagnostic Interview, with the Vietnamese surveys also applying the Phan Vietnamese Psychiatric Rating Scale, an indigenously-derived measure of mental disorder. The ICD-10 classification system yielded lowest rates amongst Vietnamese in the Mekong Delta, intermediate amongst Vietnamese in NSW; and highest rates amongst the Australian-born population. The Phan Vietnamese Psychiatric Rating Scale added a substantial number of cases in both Vietnamese samples. The findings suggest that sole reliance on a western-derived measure of mental disorder may fail to identify a cases of mental disorder across cultures. Trauma remained a substantial risk factor for mental disorder amongst Australian Vietnamese accounting for a substantial portion of the total burden of mental disorder in that population. The implications of these findings in developing a more refined model for understanding the mental health consequences of mass trauma across cultures are discussed.

One of the assumptions made when mental problems are defined as a medical problem is that certain problems, certain diagnoses, are chronic. Nevertheless, a substantial number of follow-up studies have shown that the course of development in patients with these diagnoses is neither uniform nor chronic. The aim of this dissertation is to summarise the state of the art in the knowledge about recovery from severe mental disorders and to examine in depth which factors people who have recovered regard as having helped them in their recovery, and in which ways. These two aims have resulted in two separate but complementary presentations of results. The review of the state of the art, which focuses on the diagnosis schizophrenia, shows that some two-thirds of the patients who received this diagnosis have recovered, either totally or socially. The variation in the percentage of persons who have recovered is explained in the study by such factors as fluctuations in national and local unemployment rates, in definitions of the diagnoses and in access to psychiatric care. On the other hand, the introduction of various treatment interventions seems to have had no noticeable effect on the recovery rate, although it has affected the relapse frequency. There is still a long way to go towards understanding the recovery process and how it can be facilitated. The interview study with persons who have been treated for severe mental disorders and recovered show the patients themselves to be a crucial factor in their own recovery. Throughout the whole course of the disorder, they struggle to find ways to manage both their symptoms and the factors that cause them. What appears to others as symptoms might instead be theperson’s unsuccessful attempts to manage existential problems. Entering into and maintaining relationships with other people is another crucial factor in recovery work. Professionals from a variety of backgrounds as well as family members and other laypersons can contribute to recovery, first and foremost in that they represent continuity between diverse facets of the person’s life; they engage with the person in his/her full complexity, not as someone reduced to a diagnosis and a given patient role, nor by denying the fact of the person’s suffering. Still another factor in recovery work is material conditions which impact on the person’s possibility to regain an identity as a full member of the community. Lastly, the descriptions that the respondents give of their recovery practice have certain constructed meanings in common. These meanings can be categorised as medical, therapeutic, spiritual and interactional. In many of the life stories collected in this study, several of these categories of meaning appear in unison, co-existing in one and the same life story. There is a recurrent theme running through these practice stories of recovery: that people in their everyday lives are not reducible to their problems, but at the same time these problems must not be denied. That people have both weaknesses and strengths, sometimes existing within the same spheres of life and occurring simultaneously; but that in relationships with other people they are given scope to manage and live with these contradictions is of central importance for recovery practice.

Introduction: Faravelli et al. [1, 2] present findings on the lifetime, point and 1-year prevalence of mental disorders from their recent Sesto Fiorentino community survey in Italy. The publication of these study findings occurs at a time where some researchers and journal editors seem to have come to the conclusion that there is currently no further need for such cross-sectional studies on the prevalence of mental disorders. In fact, there have been pleas for a pause of such studies [3]. Highlighting several noteworthy features and findings from the survey of Faravelli et al. [1, 2], this editorial will challenge this attitude. The status, past and recent progress in the field of epidemiology of mental disorders will be critically discussed, in an attempt to underline the continued core role of descriptive epidemiological studies for our field and to identify future research needs.

Syftet med denna pilotstudie var att beskriva hur sjuksköterskor som arbetar som Case Managers uppfattar effekterna av denna arbetsmodell avseende medicinsk vård, social situation, missbruk, vård- och omsorgskvalitet samt samordning för patienter med missbruk och samtidig psykisk störning. Metoden var kvantitativ och genomfördes med en webbenkät. Resultatet visade att respondenterna anser att Case Management haft en positiv påverkan på patienternas medicinska vård och sociala situation. Det ledde också till en bättre kontakt med patienten, och förbättrad bedömning av patientens sammansatta situation. Sammantaget framkom en övervägande positiv uppfattning även av vård- och omsorgskvaliteten, samordningen och de arbetsmetoder som använts. Vad gäller missbruket uppgav en del av respondenterna att det påverkades positivt och en del av respondenterna uppgav att det inte påverkades alls. Vid en fullskalig studie hade det varit intressant att göra enkäten mer nyanserad med fler svarsalternativ och även ha med bakgrundsvariabler för att se samband och göra jämförelser. Pilotstudien indikerar att Case Management är en arbetsmodell som kan underlätta omvårdnadsarbetet för patienter med komplex problematik och stort behov av vård och stöd, och även vara en metod för att lättare samordna insatser från olika vårdgivare. Sjuksköterskan kan genom Case Management arbeta hälsofrämjande för att stödja patienter med missbruk och samtidig psykisk störning i olika områden som påverkar hälsan. / The aim of this pilot study was to describe how nurses who work as Case Managers perceive the effect of this approach for medical treatment, social status, substance abuse, quality of health care and coordination for patients with substance abuse and concurrent psychiatric disorder. The method was quantitative and was conducted with a web survey. The results showed that the respondents believe that case management had a positive impact on patients' medical care and social situation. It also led to a better contact with the patient, and improved assessment of the patient's complex situation. Overall, the answers also revealed a generally positive perception of the care quality, the coordination and used methods. As for the abuse, some respondents answered that Case Management had affected the abuse in a positive way, and others that it had not been affected at all. In a full scale study it would have been interesting to make the questionnaire more nuanced with more response options, and also have the background variables to make comparisons. The pilot study indicate that case management is an approach that can facilitate nursing care for patients with complex problems and need of care and support, and also be a method to help to coordinate the efforts of various health care providers. The nurse can through Case Management support patients with substance abuse and mental disorders in different areas of health.

The involvement of individuals with mental illness in the criminal justice system is receiving increased attention. Under the current law, the court or jury makes a special verdict of “Not Criminally Responsible on Account of Mental Disorder” if the accused did not at the time of the offence appreciate what he or she was doing, or that it was wrong, due to a mental disorder. This paper will outline the current Criminal Code mental disorder regime, before examining how Bill C-54, the Not Criminally Responsible Reform Act, proposes to build on the existing law. By exploring the provisions of Bill C-54 aimed at enhancing public safety, this thesis will discuss whether the reforms are supported by empirical evidence, and will likely achieve its stated objective. This paper will also consider the possibility of constitutional challenge in light of the ‘twin goals” statutory framework and Supreme Court jurisprudence.

The involvement of individuals with mental illness in the criminal justice system is receiving increased attention. Under the current law, the court or jury makes a special verdict of “Not Criminally Responsible on Account of Mental Disorder” if the accused did not at the time of the offence appreciate what he or she was doing, or that it was wrong, due to a mental disorder. This paper will outline the current Criminal Code mental disorder regime, before examining how Bill C-54, the Not Criminally Responsible Reform Act, proposes to build on the existing law. By exploring the provisions of Bill C-54 aimed at enhancing public safety, this thesis will discuss whether the reforms are supported by empirical evidence, and will likely achieve its stated objective. This paper will also consider the possibility of constitutional challenge in light of the ‘twin goals” statutory framework and Supreme Court jurisprudence.

Dailės terapijos mokslinės literatūros analizė parodė, jog sutrikusį intelektą turintys vaikai piešia nekreipdami dėmesio į realų objekto vaizdą, nepastebi esminių detalių, nesuvokia objektų tarpusavio ryšių. Tokių vaikų piešiniams būdingi šablonai, apimantys tiek besikartojančią temą, tiek pasikartojančius tuos pačius objektus. Piešinių stereotipiškumas atspindi vaikų reakciją į supantį pasaulį, kur dėmesys fiksuojamas ties aktualiu, keliančiu rūpestį išgyvenimu. Dažniausiai piešiami objektai – namas, medis, žmogus. / The analysis of the art therapy’s scientific sources has revealed that the children having mental disorder draw without focusing on a real image of the object, they don’t pay attention to essential details, don’t realize the existence of the relationship between the objects. The drawings of these kids have got typical patterns with a recurring theme and repeated objects in their pictures. The stereotypical drawings reflect the kids’ reaction to the surrounding. Their attention concentrates on the urgent emotionally stressful experience. The most common objects in such pictures are houses, trees and people.

Interpersonal violence is a matter of growing concern. Where the safety of the common man is concerned, the dangerousness of mental patients, the ongoing de-institutionalization within psychiatry, and the role of alcohol is disputed. In order to analyze the significance of abuse and mental disorder in violent behaviour, this subject was approached from two different perspectives; from a specific violent offence - homicide - examining the mental status of the offenders, and from individuals with a specific mental disorder - schizophrenia -and assessing the rate of criminal offence amongst them. Homicides in northern Sweden and in Stockholm, legally characterized as murder, manslaughter or assault and causing another’s death, and homicides followed by the offenders’ suicide, were studied. Medicolegal autopsy records, police reports, pretrial psychiatric reports and court records were collected and scrutinized. The criminal records of 644 persons, discharged from hospitals in Stockholm with a diagnosis of schizophrenia, were studied. The relative risk of criminal offence was analyzed by indirect standardization using the general population as a standard. Violent offenders were further examined from psychiatric records. In the homicide material, 16 females and 160 males killed 94 men, 78 women, and 15 children. Forty percent of all surviving offenders were abusers without a major mental disorder, 39% were mentally disordered, 11% committed suicide, and 10% were considered "normal". The abusers and their victims were older, often socially and mentally deteriorated, and well known to each other. The victim was the prime aggressor in half of the cases. Killings by mentally disordered persons and by those who committed suicide were characterized by intimacy between offender and victim; one third were also abusers. Multiple homicides and child murder were mainly seen among homicide-suicice cases. The "normal" offenders were more often of foreign origin and two thirds of the victims initiated the violence by physical attacks. Relatively more of the homicides in northern Sweden concerned intimate parties, use of firearms, and cases of homicide-suicide, as compared to homicides in Stockholm where drug abuse was more prevalent. Sixteen offenders (9%) in the homicide sample had schizophrenia (all males), while 38 subjects (6%) in the cohort of schizophrenics had committed a violent offence. No homicide was recorded and most of the offences were of minor severity. The rate of violent offence was four times higher in the study group as compared to the general population. Most homicides involved closely related persons with separation and dependence as the dominating psychological theme, especially in homicide- suicide cases. Intoxication was regularly seen among the abusers but not among the non-abusers. The acute effect of alcohol intoxication may be of lesser importance in violence as compared to the long-term effects of abuse. Schizophrenics do not impress as a particularly dangerous group. Prevention by psychiatry is difficult; most offenders did not have any contact with psychiatry prior to the act. / <p>S. 1-70: sammanfattning, s. 71-176: 5 uppsatser</p> / digitalisering@umu