Iranian Journal of Psychiatry
Volume:5 Issue: 3, Summer 2010

From the ancient times up to this date, it has been thought that religion and spirituality have important effects on human being''s mental life. However, some psychologists and psychotherapists have ignored this role, and thus neglected to study the effects of applying religion and spirituality in psychotherapy. However, many psychologists and psychotherapists have recently studied the relationship between religion or spirituality and mental health; or used religious interventions in psychotherapies. Although different kinds of religious psychotherapies have been proposed, no comprehensive theory has been presented in this area. In this article a scientific, comprehensive and applied spiritual method of psychotherapy is suggested. Religious Cognitive- Emotional Therapy (RCET) is a new form of cognitive therapy that uses the basic religious beliefs and insights in psychotherapy. RCET is a new integration of cognitive, humanistic, and existential psychotherapies that takes into account religious beliefs and insights of the clients. RCET is an effective method of psychotherapy for the treatment of those who suffer from identity crisis, depression, and anxiety; and it can be developed to address other psychological disorders as well. Because RCET is a new approach, practically is needed to do further theoretical research in this area.

Attention-deficit/hyperactivity disorder (ADHD) is the most common neurobehavioral disorder of childhood. Children with ADHD may experience significant functional problems. Our objective was to examine the prevalence of ADHD and its subtypes in Iran. Pubmed, ISI web of science, psychinfo, Iranpsych, Iranmedex, Irandoc were searched. Irandoc, Iranmedex and Iranpsych are Iranian databases of which the last one is especially for psychiatry and psychology literature.Inclusion criteria were: conducting studies by random sampling, using valid instruments to assess ADHD diagnosis or symptoms, and presenting a prevalence of ADHD or attention deficit and / or hyperactivity symptoms. after quality assessment, 16 studies were accepted. Their estimation of prevalence was different as different scales were used. Hyperactive type was more prevalent in boys, and inattentive type was more prevalent in girls. Being aware of the epidemiology of ADHD in Iran helps us to make improvements in planning the allocation of funds for mental health services. Using one instrument in studying the prevalence of ADHD in a population may lead to more precise estimations.

This study surveys children and their parents'' perceptions, and their treatment preference of significant/bothersome symptoms in children with Tourette syndrome.Thirty five children and adolescents who referred to an out-patient clinic of a Child Psychiatry Clinic were selected as subjects for this study. The children and their parents were interviewed about their perception of significant/bothersome symptoms of motor tics, vocal tics, learning difficulties, attention deficit disorder, hyperactivity, obsessions, compulsions, and rage attacks.About two thirds of the subjects had symptom of rage. Inattentiveness and hyperactivity were observed in more than half of the children. There was a statistically significant difference between parents and their children in frequency of motor tics and rage attacks. Children reported the necessity for controlling and management of these symptoms less than their parents.The rates of motor, vocal tics and rage attacks in the Iranian sample are similar to other studies. Rage attack is one of the most common significant/bothersome symptoms reported that should be treated. While motor tics were not rated among the most common features that should be treated in a study in Canada, it was the most common significant/bothersome symptom in Iran. Parents perceive motor tics and rage attacks as more significant/bothersome symptoms compared to children.

The study focuses on psychosocial variables related to suicide ideation in young soldiers. 1329 Soldiers were randomly selected from the Infantry Forces in different egions. All the soldiers were requested to complete the Beck Scale for Suicide Ideation (BSSI) as well as General Health Questionnaire (GHQ-28). Data were analyzed using correlation tests.The results revealed that psychological factors, negative family ackground, environmental and task-related problems, and sociodemographic problems were significantly associated with suicide ideation.Overall, suicide ideation could be prevented if soldiers with sychosocial problems were identified and the Army officials applied appropriate methods to solve these psychological problems.

The purpose of this study was to examine the role of social support on the mental health of disabled war veterans alongside the role of physical disability and deployment type. The second aim of the study was to examine the relationship between coping strategies and mental health. 85 disabled Iranian war veterans participated in this study. All of the participants were asked to complete the Medical Outcomes Study (MOS), Social Support Survey, Impact of Event-Revised Scale (IES-R), Hospital Anxiety and Depression Scale (HADS), The Short Form (SF-36) Health Survey Questionnaire, and Brief COPE Scale. The results showed that social support had a significant contribution on the mental health of the participants above and beyond the physical disability and deployment type. The physical disability also predicted the mental health of veterans, but deployment type did not have any significant contribution on mental health of the participants. The findings also showed that those veterans who used constructive coping strategies had better mental health status. The findings suggest that after more than twenty years of war, social support still plays an important role in the life of Iranian disabled war veterans.

Conners Adult ADHD Rating Scale (CAARS) is among the valid questionnaires for evaluating Attention-Deficit/Hyperactivity Disorder in adults. The aim of this paper is to evaluate the validity of the estimation of missed answers in scoring the screening version of the Conners questionnaire, and to extract its principal components. This study was performed on 400 participants. Answer estimation was calculated for each question (assuming the answer was missed), and then a Kruskal-Wallis test was performed to evaluate the difference between the original answer and its estimation. In the next step, principal components of the questionnaire were extracted by means of Principal Component Analysis (PCA). Finally the evaluation of differences in the whole groups was provided using the Multiple Comparison Procedure (MCP). Findings indicated that a significant difference existed between the original and estimated answers for some particular questions. However, the results of MCP showed that this estimation, when evaluated in the whole group, did not show a significant difference with the original value in neither of the questionnaire subscales. The results of PCA revealed that there are eight principal components in the CAARS questionnaire. The obtained results can emphasize the fact that this questionnaire is mainly designed for screening purposes, and this estimation does not change the results of groups when a question is missed randomly. Notwithstanding this finding, more considerations should be paid when the missed question is a critical one.

Fluoxetine, a widely used antidepressant, can affect the serum sodium level. The aim of this study was to evaluate and compare changes in the serum sodium level of depressive patients taking fluoxetine according to age.This quasi-experimental study was conducted on 126 patients with depression, dividing the patients into two age groups of 15 to 35 years, and above 55 years, who referred to psychiatric clinics of the Isfahan University of Medical Sciences. Serum sodium level was measured prior to fluoxetine therapy and at the first and third week after; adverse symptoms were recorded. Serum sodium level, hyponatremia, and other adverse effects were compared between the two age groups. There was a significant decrease in serum sodium levels in the older patients at the first and third week after the therapy; but the serum sodium levels decreased only after the third week of therapy in the younger patients (p < 0.05). Serum sodium level was significantly lower in older than in younger patients at the third week of the therapy (140.8±2.26 vs. 135.2±2.06; p < 0.05), and hyponatremia was detected only in the older patients after the first and third week of therapy, 4.7% and 15.8%, respectively. Using fluoxetine can decrease serum sodium level, which is more frequent, more severe, and more clinically manifested in older than younger patients. Monitoring serum sodium level is recommended in early weeks of fluoxetine therapy especially for patients older than 55 years of age.

Liver injury occurs with many drugs; therefore, a thorough work up is important for establishing the diagnosis. We report a case of trifluoperazine-induced cholestatic jaundice. A 44-year old male with schizoaffective disorder developed an increase in liver enzymes and jaundice after starting treatment with trifluoperazine. Workup for other potential etiologies was negative.