Iranian Journal of Psychiatry
Volume:6 Issue: 1, Winter 2011

The methylenetetrahydrofolate reductase (MTHFR) gene polymorphism C677T is suspected to be a risk factor for psychiatric disorders, but it remains inconclusive whether the MTHFR polymorphism C677T is imputed to vulnerability to schizophrenia and bipolar disorder. We prompted impetus to appraise this polymorphism in an Iranian population. Therefore, 90 patients with bipolar disorder type I (BID), 66 patients with schizophrenia diagnosed according to DSM-IV criteria, and 94 unrelated controls with no history of psychiatric disorders were recruited for this study. Genotype distribution and allelic frequencies of C677T polymorphism were investigated. We found no robust differences between patients with BID and schizophrenia with control participants either for allele frequencies or genotype distribution of MTHFR C677T polymorphism. However, a trend toward an increased risk for T allele was observed in the BID patients [with odds ratio (OR) of 1.28(CI 95%: 0.8-1.31), p>0.05].However, the present and some previous studies failed to elucidate possible interaction between MTHFR C677T polymorphism and vulnerability to schizophrenia and bipolar disorder; still some associations have been revealed in performed meta-analyses that warrant further studies.

To compare the clinical profile and pattern of catatonic symptoms of patients with schizophrenia and mood disorder. Records of 13,968 patients seen between 1983-1985 and 2003-2005 were reviewed for symptoms of catatonia by resident doctors in psychiatry. Cases in which the diagnosis were schizophrenia or mood disorder were then noted. Socio-demographic and clinical features were described for each diagnosis. There were a total of 98 cases with catatonia out of the 13,968 case notes reviewed. Schizophrenia accounted for 82.5% and 53.4% in the two periods, while the proportion associated with mood disorders increased from 10% to 20.7%. Male to female ratio was 1.2:1 in schizophrenia and 1:3 in mood disorder. Those with schizophrenia were younger and with an earlier age of onset of symptoms than those with mood disorders. Catatonia associated with mood disorder was found to be increasing over the years when compared with schizophrenia. Differences were observed in socio-demographic characteristics and number of predominant catatonic symptoms. Having a separate category for catatonia due to the mood disorders in the current diagnostic guidelines (10th edition of the International Classification of Diseases and the 4th edition of the Diagnostic and Statistical Manual) will help in better diagnosis of catatonia.

The psychometric properties and factor structure of the Persian Padua Inventory (PPI), a measure of obsessive- compulsive phenomena, was examined in a non-clinical sample of 348 Iranian university students. The PPI was translated into Persian, and its back translation was controlled by the author inventory. A pilot study based on cultural differences was carried out on twenty students. The study subjects consisted of 348 university students, and they completed PPI, OCI-R, MOCI, BAI, STAI, BDI-II and the demographic inventory. The factor analysis of the PPI, exhibited eight factors similar but not identical with factor structure in previous studies. as the eight factors are as follows: contamination obsessions; washing compulsions; ordering compulsions; checking compulsions; obsessional thoughts to harm self/others; obsessional thoughts about violence; obsessional impulses to harm self/others; and obsessional impulses to steal. The result also indicated excellent internal consistency (Cronbach alpha= 0.92), Spearman split test (0.95) and test- retest (r= 0.77). We assessed the concurrent validity of the PPI in relation to the Obsessive Compulsive Inventory-Revised (OCI-R), and the Maudsley Obsessive- Compulsive Inventory (MOCI). The Iranian version of the PI to some extend remains the sound psychometric properties of the original version.

The present study examined the psychometric properties of the Persian version of the Revised Cheek and Buss Shyness Scale (RCBS) using confirmatory factor analysis among (n = 300) college students. Results indicated that unidimensional measurement model of the RCBS did not provide the best fit for the data. Then three measurement models were tested, and the results showed that a two-factor model taking into account differences in the direction of item wording provided a satisfactory and parsimonious fit to the data. Multi-group confirmatory factor analysis was used to better understand the factorial invariance of the scale across genders, and indicated that two-factor structure of the RCBS was equivalent across genders. Supplementary t-tests revealed no other gender differences on shyness.

This study investigates the effect of social and token economy reinforcements on academic achievement of 9th grade boy students with intellectual disabilities in an experimental science class in Tehran Province. The method used for this study was experimental by pre-test, post- test with a control group. The boy students with intellectual disabilities from three junior high schools participated in this study. The sample consisted of thirty, 9th grade boy students with intellectual disabilities in the selected schools; the schools were chosen by the multi-stage cluster method. To measure the progress of students in the science class, a teacher made test and the Wechsler intelligence test for matching the groups for IQ were used. To ensure validity, the content validity criteria depended tests calculated by the Lashe method and teacher's perspective were used. The reliability coefficient was obtained by the reliability coefficient of related tests; the percent agreement method and the obtained data were analyzed using one-way variance analysis and Shefe prosecution test. The results showed that there was a significant increase in academic achievement of students with intellectual disabilities when using token economy than using social reinforcements (p =0/002) compared with the control group (p>0.001). Also, when using social reinforcements, the academic achievement of students was more than the control group (p=0.021). Token economy and social reinforcements increased the academic achievement of students with intellectual disabilities in the science class; and also the effect of token economy reinforcements was more than social reinforcements on the subjects.

Abortion is a multidimensional phenomenon with great ethical and social impacts on human being's life. It has produced very strong pros and cons over the world, and is practiced either in modern health facilities or very unhealthy backyards. The consequences of abortion (psychological, social, or physical) are attributed to variety of variables. In order to have a relatively comprehensive picture of consequences of abortion among Iranian women, post abortion care seeking women (261 women) referred to some Tehran's hospitals were surveyed during April to August 2007 with regard to their socio- economic, demographic and family origin characteristics.The results revealed that at least one-third of the respondents have experienced psychological side effects. "Depression", "worrying about not being able to conceive again", and "Eating disorder" were reported as dominant psychological consequences of abortion among the respondents with 60.5% and 53.6% and 48.7% respectively. "Decreased self-esteem", "nightmare", "guilt", and "regret" with 43.7%, 39.5%, 37.5%, and 33.3% prevalence rates have been placed in the lower status, respectively.

The present research was conducted to study the effect of play therapy on reducing behavioral problems of mal-adjusted children (children with oppositional defiant disorder). By using multistage cluster sampling, regions 6, 7, and 8 in Tehran were selected, and among kindergartens of these areas, 3 kindergartens under the support of welfare organization were randomly selected. From pre-school children of these 3 kindergartens, 40 children that could have behavioral disorder according to their teachers and parents complaints, were carefully tested, and among them, by the results obtained from child symptom inventory questionnaire (CSI-4), teacher's form, and a researcher-made self-control checklist, 16 children who showed severe symptoms of oppositional defiant disorder were selected, and they were randomly divided into control and experimental group. This research is quasi-experimental, and is done by the use of pre-test, post-test, and control group. values of calculated F for oppositional defiant disorder in control and experimental group is meaningful after fixing the effect of pre-test (F(1,12)=74/94, P<0/001) so there is a meaningful difference between means of disobedience disorder post-test scores in experimental and control group by having the fixed effect of pre-test effect. Comparison of adjusted means of 2 groups shows that the mean of attention-deficit hyperactivity disorder (ADHD) in experimental group (M=14/09) is lower than control group (M=36/66). Therefore, applying play therapy in experimental group in comparison with control group, who did not receive these instructions, caused reduction in attention-deficit hyperactivity disorder (ADHD) in pre-school children. Results of this research show that the children's disobedience is reduced by benefiting from play therapy.

In order to find how rating the WHOQOL-BREF and DASS scales are combined to produce an overall measure of quality of life and satisfaction with health rating, a QOL-DASS model was designed; and the strength of this hypothesized model was examined using the structural equation modelingParticipants included a sample of 103 voluntary males who were divided into two groups of unhealthy (N=55) and healthy (N=48). To assess satisfaction and negative emotions of depression, anxiety and stress among the participants, they were asked to fill out the WHOQOLBREF and The Depression Anxiety Stress Scale (DASS-42Our findings on running the hypothesized model of QOL-DASS indicated that the proposed model of QOL-DASS fitted the data well for the both healthy and unhealthy groups of QOL-DASS indicated that the different satisfaction domain ratings and the negative emotions of depression, anxiety and stress as the observed variables can represent the underlying constructs of general health and quality of life on both healthy and unhealthy groups.