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Killing President Garfield 2007-09-16 07:00:00 It was on July 2, 1881, as he was walking through a Washington, D.C. railroad station that President
James Garfield
was shot in the arm and lower back by a disturbed loner named Charles Guiteau. As the President slumped to the ground, Guiteau cried out "I am the Stalwart of Stalwarts" before being taken into custody. President Garfield was taken to the White House where doctors worked to save his life. Unfortunately, the sixteen doctors who were called in to tend the president had no notion that their own unsterilized hands and instruments were a danger to their patient (this was years before sterilization became common practice in medicine). The actual shooting had left no more than a minor wound but the doctors and their relentless poking and probing did the rest. After Garfield finally died on September 19, an autopsy determined that he likely would have lived had the doctors simply left him alone. Although the lead surgeon later made a public apolo Read more:Killing
'Vampire' Robs Blood Bank 2007-09-14 18:14:00 Hong Kong police arrested a 29-year old suspect following a September 13, 2007 incident in which closed-circuit cameras recorded him stealing three blood vials from a hospital blood bank and apparently drinking the contents. According to the camera evidence, the suspect apparently reached in through the drop-in window of the blood bank, located on the fourth floor of a local hospital, and removed the three vials. While he appeared to drink the contents on camera, it remains uncertain whether he actually did so. The vials were from three women patients awaiting testing for stomach complaints. Psychiatrist Chan Chung-mau, chairman of the Hong Kong Association for the Promotion of Mental Health, said the suspect could be suffering from a mental illness and may believe that drinking blood can charge him with energy. His current arrest status and whether he has a psychiatric history has not been reported.
Police sources indicate that the suspect was un Read more:Vampire
, Blood
Delusional "Pseudotranssexualism" in Schizophrenia 2007-09-13 07:00:00 The Summer, 2007 issue of Psychiatry described a case history of a 40-year old male patient with chronic schizophrenia who developed a preoccupation with changing his gender. The authors review relevant literature and concluded that twenty percent of all schizophrenic patients experience sexual delusions at some point during the evolution of their illness (including becoming convinced that they are actually the wrong sex). While true coexistence of schizophrenia and gender identity disorder is rare, disentangling them can be extremely tricky. Considering the irreversible consequences of gender reassignment surgery and the medical and legal implications implications, it is important that these patients be properly diagnosed.
Click here for the abstract.
Read more:Schizophrenia
Does Trauma Lead to Hoarding? 2007-09-11 07:00:00 In a paper published in the June 2007 issue of Behavior Research and Therapy, a study of individuals diagnosed with obsessive-compulsive disorder (OCD) suggests that traumatic life experiences may be a catalyst for the abrupt onset of OCD symptoms (including compulsive hoarding). The study researchers analyzed the interview responses to the Posttraumatic Stress Disorder module of the Structured Clinical Interview for DSM-IV, (SCID) in 180 individuals diagnosed with OCD. Compared to individuals with OCD who did not meet criteria for hoarding, participants classified as hoarders (24% of the sample) were significantly more likely to have reported at least one traumatic life experience in their lifetime. Patients who met criteria for hoarding and who had also experienced traumatic life experiences had significantly greater hoarding symptom severity than those hoarders not exposed to trauma. The relationship between traumatic life experiences and hoarding symptom severity was fo
Wild Children 2007-09-09 07:00:00
There seems to be a fond literary tradition surrounding children who were raised in the wild (usually courtesy of kindly animals). We have the Roman myth of Romulus and Remus being suckled by a she-wolf after they were abandoned, Rudyard Kipling’s Mowgli being raised by wolves (yes, it was a book before it became a Disney movie) and Edgar Rice Burroughs’ Tarzan being raised by apes. Unfortunately, the actual reality surrounding feral children tends not to be so entertaining. In 1797, France was in upheaval due to the events of the French Revolution. For that reason, news of a wild boy who had been captured near Toulouse and who vanished again after a week or so of being cared for in a local woman’s house probably escaped public notice. He was not heard of again until three years later when he apparently emerged from the woods on his own. While he was estimated to be twelve years of age, absolutely nothing else was known about him. Read more:Children
Wrestler's Brain Showed Signs of Dementia 2007-09-06 07:00:00 An examination of the brain of wrestler Chris Benoit revealed evidence of extensive neurological damage at the time of his death. Benoit, a well-known professional wrestler, killed himself in June of this year after murdering his wife and child. At the request of Benoit's father, Dr, Julian Bailes, head of neurosurgery at a top American university, examined the brain and concluded that the extensive damage resembled what would be found in "an 85-year-old Alzheimer's patient's brain". Stating on American TV that the damage was "striking and maybe shocking", Dr. Bailes added that "we think we have great anatomical damage here from previous trauma. Whether it had a psychiatric or behavioral expression, we certainly think that's most likely."
While the most likely cause of the damage is from the numerous concussions that Benoit sustained during his wrestling career in Japan and America, he was also known to be a heavy steroid user. Read more:Brain
, Showed
In a Flash 2007-09-30 07:00:00 The nuclear explosions that devastated the city of Hiroshima on August 6, 1945 and the city of Nagasaki three days later resulted in massive destruction and loss of life. Although the precise number of casualties has never been determined, it is estimated that 70,000 died in Hiroshima due to the immediate effects of the blast with an additional 50000 in Nagasaki (mostly civilians). Estimates of the lingering effects of radiation exposure are even more problematic although it has been suggested that many thousands of casualties occurred in the decades that followed. It would be the only time that nuclear weapons would be used in war (so far). Another legacy of the bombings is far more subtle but just as devastating for the survivors. Since 1945, there has been a lingering stigma attached to survivors and their descendants that led to them being frequently ostracized by mainstream Japanese society. Termed the hibakusha (meaning "radiation-affected people" in Japanese), there are over 200 Read more:Flash
Hurting Yourself 2007-09-27 07:00:00 The July, 2007 issue of the Archives of Pediatrics and Adolescent Medicine presents the results of a research project examing the relationship between self-harm behaviours and actual incidence of suicide. The purpose of the study was to determine whether self-injury acts as a coping mechanism that may occur with or lead to suicidal behaviours in individuals experiencing more stress than they can effectively handle. Using a cross-sectional data set of college-age students from two universities in the northeastern United States in the spring of 2005, a random sample of 8300 students was invited to participate in a Web-based survey. Of the respondents, only 2875 cases were usable.Demographic characteristics, history of trauma, distress, informal help-seeking, and attraction to life were also measured. The results indicated that one quarter of the sample reported self-harm behaviours, suicidality, or both; 40.3% of those reporting self-harm also report suicidality. A significant predictive Read more:Yourself
Setting Fires 2007-10-11 07:00:00 While reports of gender differences amongst arsonists undergoing psychiatric assessment are not uncommon, many of the studies some are based on relatively small samples. The July 2007 issue of Medicine, Science and the Law presents a new retrospective study examining gender differences in a sample of 167 adult arsonists (129 males and 38 females). The information was collected from case files of a group of arsonists referred to the West Midlands Psychiatry Service over a 24-year period. The results found that female arsonists were older than males and more likely to have a psychiatric diagnosis. Women more frequently had a history of sexual abuse, while men had a more varied criminal background and more substance abuse problems. The findings largely support previous research, and also provide support for an Action System Model of arson behaviour. The researchers suggest that significant gender differences among arsonists indicates that different approaches in the treatment of male and Read more:Setting
October 10 is World Mental Health Day 2007-10-09 07:00:00 World Mental Health
Day is designed to raise public awareness of mental health issues. The theme for this year's World Mental Health Day is "Mental health in a changing world: the impact of culture and diversity." The World Federation for Mental Health launched the World Mental Health Day initiative in 1992 to foster increased understanding of transcultural issues in mental health and how they impact clinical interventions around the world.
Mental health agencies around the world are marking October
10 with special presentations and symposiums to highlight the unique challenges facing persons with mental health issues and how they are regarded in different cultures. Follow the provided links or check local listings to see what is being planned in your community.
Click here for more information.
World Mental Health Day Project
Read more:World
In the Saint’s Name 2007-10-07 07:00:00 While cases of religious ecstasy are hardly unusual, there are definitely examples that tend to stand out. In 1728, in the Parisian cemetery of St. Medard, a phenomenon began that quickly became the talk of France. Following the burial of a pious, Jansenist bishop named Francois de Paris in the cemetery, stories arose of miraculous cures being worked at the bishop's tomb. Pious female parishioners, who later became known as St. Medard's convulsionaries, were described as engaging in "contortions and convulsive movements, attended by cries, shrieks and groans, all of which were regarded as manifestations of divine power". The adherents would work themselves into states of religious ecstasy and engage in acts of severe torture which they either inflicted on themselves or through the actions of assistants known as Secouristes. They would then reportedly work miracles and cure all forms of disease. The massive hysteria that arose led to a crackdown by the police under orders of the King Read more:Saint
Neuroleptic Malignant Syndrome 2007-10-04 07:00:00 Neuroleptic malignant syndrome(NMS) is a rare, life-threatening but potentially treatable condition that is most often associated with adverse reactions to antipsychotic drugs. First identified in 1956 with the advent of modern psychiatric medications, the fever, rigidity, elevated enzyme levels, and brain pathology associated with the syndrome has been typically found to have a mortality rate in the 10-15% range.A study described in the April-June, 2007 issue of Neurology India examines the identification, treatment and outcome in fourteen NMS patients admitted to the Neurology department of a large teaching hospital of North India. The cases were detected and treated during a three-year period (May 2000 to April 2003).The incidence of NMS was 1.40/ 1000 patients treated with neuroleptics and mortality rate was 14.28%. Among the medications associated with development of NMS, Haloperidol (parenteral) was implicated as the most common drug for NMS in 57% of patients. An association wit Read more:Malignant
, Syndrome
Teenager Saws off Mother's Head 2007-10-02 07:00:00 A psychiatric evaluation on a teenager who has been accused of killing his mother and sawing off her head and arm has shown no clear diagnosis of mental illness. The teen, whose name has been withheld because he is a minor, is suspected of stabbing his mother to death at their home in Aizuwakamatsu, Japan on May 15, as she was sleeping. He then sawed off her head and right arm, spray-painted the arm white and planted it in a flower pot, and took his mother's head to a police station, where he turned himself in. When questioned by police, he reportedly said, "I didn't care who I killed." and that that he had found his mother and younger brother "disagreeable."The accused had reportedly started neglecting school and was truant for about one month before the killing.
Based on the results of the psychiatric evaluation, public prosecutors are likely to submit a written opinion that criminal punishment is appropriate when they send the teen to a family court in the near future.
Cli Read more:Teenager
Psychotic Priest-Killer Jailed Indefinitely 2007-10-18 07:00:00 An untreated paranoid schizophrenic with extensive religious delusions has been jailed indefinitely for the March 14, 2007 murder of a 59-year old vicar in Wailes. Geraint Evans had been living in his mother's flat overlooking the vicarage and had made elaborate plans to murder Father Paul Bennett as part of an elaborate delusion in which the vicar was God. He made elaborate notes on Father Bennet's movements and recorded his observations and speculations on a series of CDs. On the day of the murder, Evans stabbed Father Evans to death and scattered the CDs at the scene of the murder while the vicar's wife looked on in horror. He then walked to a nearby grave to await arrest.
In a court-ordered psychiatric assessment, it was determined that the 24-year old Evans had a longstanding history of substance abuse (including inhaling lighter fluid) and was diagnosed with paranoid schizophrenia and a personality disorder. He reported delusions of being God, Jesus and the Antichrist Read more:Priest
, Killer
Screening for Violence Risk in Youth 2007-10-16 07:00:00 The July 2007 issue of the Journal of Psychiatric Practice describes an study designed to test whether risk factors for violence were being adequately reported in emergency psychiatric admissions . The study was based on a sample of 425 pediatric patients who were assessed by psychiatry residents in a psychiatric emergency room. Using a chart review process, it was determed that psychiatric residents rarely documented asking about important risk factors such as access to guns, gang affiliation, history of police contact, or domestic violence. When pediatric patients were specifically asked about these risk factors, most patients were open in talking about how they affected their lives. Despite being the most common method of homicide/suicide in youth, gun access was assessed by residents in only 3% of patients while domestic violence was endorsed as positive 100% of the time whenever it was documented. Pediatric patients regarded as violent were more likely to be screened for past viol Read more:Screening
, Violence
Dying of Evolution? 2007-10-14 07:00:00 The publication of Charles Darwin's seminal masterwork On The Origin Of Species in 1859 marked a turning point in the understanding of how species form and change over time. It is doubtful that Darwin himself really anticipated the storm of protest that followed the book's publication. Scientists and theologians alike became locked in a battle that lasted for decades (and still continues today). Of all the stout churchmen who were appalled at Darwin's theory, perhaps no one felt outrage more keenly than Robert Fitzroy, former captain of the HMS Beagle. Born in 1805, Fitzroy was part of one of the most illustrious families in England. After an idyllic childhood, he entered the Royal Naval College at the age of twelve and the Royal Navy a year later. His life was never the same following the suicide of his uncle, Viscount Castlereagh, in 1822. The stigma of having a suicide in the family left Fitzroy with a sense of dread over the possibility that the madness that had claimed his unc Read more:Dying
, Evolution
Setting Fires 2007-10-11 07:00:00 While reports of gender differences amongst arsonists undergoing psychiatric assessment are not uncommon, many of the studies some are based on relatively small samples. The July 2007 issue of Medicine, Science and the Law presents a new retrospective study examining gender differences in a sample of 167 adult arsonists (129 males and 38 females). The information was collected from case files of a group of arsonists referred to the West Midlands Psychiatry Service over a 24-year period. The results found that female arsonists were older than males and more likely to have a psychiatric diagnosis. Women more frequently had a history of sexual abuse, while men had a more varied criminal background and more substance abuse problems. The findings largely support previous research, and also provide support for an Action System Model of arson behaviour. The researchers suggest that significant gender differences among arsonists indicates that different approaches in the treatment of male and Read more:Setting
October 10 is World Mental Health Day 2007-10-09 07:00:00 World Mental Health
Day is designed to raise public awareness of mental health issues. The theme for this year's World Mental Health Day is "Mental health in a changing world: the impact of culture and diversity." The World Federation for Mental Health launched the World Mental Health Day initiative in 1992 to foster increased understanding of transcultural issues in mental health and how they impact clinical interventions around the world.
Mental health agencies around the world are marking October
10 with special presentations and symposiums to highlight the unique challenges facing persons with mental health issues and how they are regarded in different cultures. Follow the provided links or check local listings to see what is being planned in your community.
Click here for more information.
World Mental Health Day Project Read more:World
In the Saint???s Name 2007-10-07 07:00:00 While cases of religious ecstasy are hardly unusual, there are definitely examples that tend to stand out. In 1728, in the Parisian cemetery of St. Medard, a phenomenon began that quickly became the talk of France. Following the burial of a pious, Jansenist bishop named Francois de Paris in the cemetery, stories arose of miraculous cures being worked at the bishop's tomb. Pious female parishioners, who later became known as St. Medard's convulsionaries, were described as engaging in "contortions and convulsive movements, attended by cries, shrieks and groans, all of which were regarded as manifestations of divine power". The adherents would work themselves into states of religious ecstasy and engage in acts of severe torture which they either inflicted on themselves or through the actions of assistants known as Secouristes. They would then reportedly work miracles and cure all forms of disease. The massive hysteria that arose led to a crackdown by the police under orders of Read more:Saint
Neuroleptic Malignant Syndrome 2007-10-04 07:00:00 Neuroleptic malignant syndrome(NMS) is a rare, life-threatening but potentially treatable condition that is most often associated with adverse reactions to antipsychotic drugs. First identified in 1956 with the advent of modern psychiatric medications, the fever, rigidity, elevated enzyme levels, and brain pathology associated with the syndrome has been typically found to have a mortality rate in the 10-15% range.A study described in the April-June, 2007 issue of Neurology India examines the identification, treatment and outcome in fourteen NMS patients admitted to the Neurology department of a large teaching hospital of North India. The cases were detected and treated during a three-year period (May 2000 to April 2003).The incidence of NMS was 1.40/ 1000 patients treated with neuroleptics and mortality rate was 14.28%. Among the medications associated with development of NMS, Haloperidol (parenteral) was implicated as the most common drug for NMS in 57% of patients. An association wit Read more:Malignant
, Syndrome
Teenager Saws off Mother's Head 2007-10-02 07:00:00 A psychiatric evaluation on a teenager who has been accused of killing his mother and sawing off her head and arm has shown no clear diagnosis of mental illness. The teen, whose name has been withheld because he is a minor, is suspected of stabbing his mother to death at their home in Aizuwakamatsu, Japan on May 15, as she was sleeping. He then sawed off her head and right arm, spray-painted the arm white and planted it in a flower pot, and took his mother's head to a police station, where he turned himself in. When questioned by police, he reportedly said, "I didn't care who I killed." and that that he had found his mother and younger brother "disagreeable."The accused had reportedly started neglecting school and was truant for about one month before the killing.
Based on the results of the psychiatric evaluation, public prosecutors are likely to submit a written opinion that criminal punishment is appropriate when they send the teen to a family court in the ne Read more:Teenager
In a Flash 2007-09-30 07:00:00 The nuclear explosions that devastated the city of Hiroshima on August 6, 1945 and the city of Nagasaki three days later resulted in massive destruction and loss of life. Although the precise number of casualties has never been determined, it is estimated that 70,000 died in Hiroshima due to the immediate effects of the blast with an additional 50000 in Nagasaki (mostly civilians). Estimates of the lingering effects of radiation exposure are even more problematic although it has been suggested that many thousands of casualties occurred in the decades that followed. It would be the only time that nuclear weapons would be used in war (so far). Another legacy of the bombings is far more subtle but just as devastating for the survivors. Since 1945, there has been a lingering stigma attached to survivors and their descendants that led to them being frequently ostracized by mainstream Japanese society. Termed the hibakusha (meaning "radiation-affected people" in Japanese), there ar Read more:Flash
Hurting Yourself 2007-09-27 07:00:00 The July, 2007 issue of the Archives of Pediatrics and Adolescent Medicine presents the results of a research project examing the relationship between self-harm behaviours and actual incidence of suicide. The purpose of the study was to determine whether self-injury acts as a coping mechanism that may occur with or lead to suicidal behaviours in individuals experiencing more stress than they can effectively handle. Using a cross-sectional data set of college-age students from two universities in the northeastern United States in the spring of 2005, a random sample of 8300 students was invited to participate in a Web-based survey. Of the respondents, only 2875 cases were usable.Demographic characteristics, history of trauma, distress, informal help-seeking, and attraction to life were also measured. The results indicated that one quarter of the sample reported self-harm behaviours, suicidality, or both; 40.3% of those reporting self-harm also report suicidality. A significant predictive Read more:Yourself
The Great Deceiver 2007-10-21 07:00:00 Guy de Maupassant was arguably one of the greatest writers of his generation. His short stories and novels continue to mesmerize readers with his gripping description of human nature at its best and worst. By the 1880s, his health began to decline and his writing became darker and more shocking. As his depression deepened, his friends began to be concerned by his odd behaviour. It isn't known exactly when Maupassant contracted syphilis, but the progression of the disease followed the classic pattern almost exactly. By 1892, he had become delusional and, believing that flies were devouring his brain, attempted to shoot himself. When that failed, he then attempted to drive a letter opener into his throat. He was committed to a private asylum on the following day and died raving just a few months later. He was 43 at the time of his death, a phenomenal writing career cut tragically short.
Although its exact origin continues to be a matter of speculation, syphilis (caused by the spiroch Read more:Great
Psychotic Priest-Killer Jailed Indefinitely 2007-10-18 07:00:00 An untreated paranoid schizophrenic with extensive religious delusions has been jailed indefinitely for the March 14, 2007 murder of a 59-year old vicar in Wailes. Geraint Evans had been living in his mother's flat overlooking the vicarage and had made elaborate plans to murder Father Paul Bennett as part of an elaborate delusion in which the vicar was God. He made elaborate notes on Father Bennet's movements and recorded his observations and speculations on a series of CDs. On the day of the murder, Evans stabbed Father Evans to death and scattered the CDs at the scene of the murder while the vicar's wife looked on in horror. He then walked to a nearby grave to await arrest.
In a court-ordered psychiatric assessment, it was determined that the 24-year old Evans had a longstanding history of substance abuse (including inhaling lighter fluid) and was diagnosed with paranoid schizophrenia and a personality disorder. He reported delusions of being God, Jesus and the Antichrist and w Read more:Priest
, Killer
Screening for Violence Risk in Youth 2007-10-16 07:00:00 The July 2007 issue of the Journal of Psychiatric Practice describes an study designed to test whether risk factors for violence were being adequately reported in emergency psychiatric admissions . The study was based on a sample of 425 pediatric patients who were assessed by psychiatry residents in a psychiatric emergency room. Using a chart review process, it was determed that psychiatric residents rarely documented asking about important risk factors such as access to guns, gang affiliation, history of police contact, or domestic violence. When pediatric patients were specifically asked about these risk factors, most patients were open in talking about how they affected their lives. Despite being the most common method of homicide/suicide in youth, gun access was assessed by residents in only 3% of patients while domestic violence was endorsed as positive 100% of the time whenever it was documented. Pediatric patients regarded as violent were more likely to be screened for past viol Read more:Screening
, Violence
Dying of Evolution? 2007-10-14 07:00:00 The publication of Charles Darwin's seminal masterwork On The Origin Of Species in 1859 marked a turning point in the understanding of how species form and change over time. It is doubtful that Darwin himself really anticipated the storm of protest that followed the book's publication. Scientists and theologians alike became locked in a battle that lasted for decades (and still continues today). Of all the stout churchmen who were appalled at Darwin's theory, perhaps no one felt outrage more keenly than Robert Fitzroy, former captain of the HMS Beagle. Born in 1805, Fitzroy was part of one of the most illustrious families in England. After an idyllic childhood, he entered the Royal Naval College at the age of twelve and the Royal Navy a year later. His life was never the same following the suicide of his uncle, Viscount Castlereagh, in 1822. The stigma of having a suicide in the family left Fitzroy with a sense of dread over the possibility that the madness that had claimed his unc Read more:Dying
, Evolution
Exorcism Case Underway in Singapore 2007-10-25 07:00:00 In a bizarre trial that is currently underway in Singapore
, 50-year old Amutha Valli is suing the Novena Church over an alleged exorcism. The plaintiff is claiming that the exorcism occurred on August 10, 2004 and left her traumatized and unable to work. Amutha Valli, a former national athlete, had a long-standing history of psychiatric involvement and, according to defense testimony, had been "slithering like a snake, shouting and screaming like Satan and marching like a soldier" before the alleged exorcism occurred. The priests who are at the centre of the trial contend that they have been approached by her family for help and had only conducted a "prayer session". Defense counsel has also accused the plaintiff of fabricating the story for financial gain.
Click here for the link.
Read more:Exorcism
, Underway
Man Convicted For Killing Woman Carrying "Lucifer's Baby" 2007-10-25 07:00:00 A 21-year old Edmonton, Alberta man who shot his pregnant childhood friend because he believed the unborn child she was carrying was Lucifer's baby was found guilty yesterday of first-degree murder Jared Baker testified at his trial that he became convinced he was the son of Satan and by "crushing the serpent's head" -- meaning killing Ms. Talbot and the fetus -- he could "walk like Jesus." Jurors were told that Mr. Baker believed the unborn baby was talking to him in his dreams, asking him to take its life and that the government had planted a transmitter in his head. He maintained that his delusions were the result of drug use.
Prosecutors determined that Baker had shot 19-year old Olivia on November 25, 2005,due to anger over her drug use which was potentially harmful to a baby that he had believed was his. On the day of the murder, he took a gun from his basement, snorted crystal methamphetamine, and then went to her house. After being invited in, he stated "Sorry, O.V." an Read more:Convicted
, Killing
Are Schizophrenics Better Off in Developing Countries? 2007-10-23 07:00:00 Based on on a series of cross-national studies by the World Health Organization (WHO), the prevailing view in international psychiatric circles has been that schizophrenics tend to fare better in developing countries. However, in an article in the September, 2007 issue of Schizophrenia Bulletin, a review of evidence from other research indicates that the picture is far more complex. Through literature review and tabulation of data from 23 longitudinal studies of schizophrenia outcomes in 11 low- and middle-income countries, evidence examing clinical outcomes, disability and social outcomes (marital and occupational status, in particular), and untreated samples and duration of untreated psychosis, have indicated a need to reexamine the conclusions of the original WHO studies. In particular, excess mortality and suicide need to be take into account in making broad generalizations about schizophrenia outcomes in low- and middle-income countries.
Click here for the abstract.
Read more:Countries
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