Objective tools in psychiatry - about laboratory tests
The psychiatrist tries with all available methods to create as accurate a picture as possible of the patient who comes to his office. The psychiatric examination begins with a thorough medical...
Fregoli syndrome: when a patient starts misidentifying people...
Fregoli syndrome belongs to the delusional disorders, or more precisely to the group of delusional misidentification disorders. In the course of this entity, patients may believe that different...
Gourmet syndrome (Gourmand syndrome): what is it?
Gourmand syndrome is a rather mysterious entity - it has only occurred in a few dozen people so far. The problem is related to the emergence of specific food preferences in patients. Although it is...
Excess sugar in the diet increases the risk of mood disorders?
Carbohydrates - consumed in excess - can lead to excess weight, and they can also promote dental disease. It is possible that excess sugar promotes not only organic conditions, but also mental...
Mental illness in a parent and risk of illness in an offspring
Parents with mental health problems may often wonder whether their children will also develop similar problems. On the basis of currently available research, it can be concluded that indeed -...
Mental disorders as a side effect of pharmacotherapy
There are many potential causes of mental disorders, including the role of genes or environmental conditions in their pathogenesis. However, problems such as hallucinations, lowered or elevated mood...
Prepsychotic state, or how to detect the illness before it fully develops?
The prepsychotic state is not always easy to catch. However, it is an important issue because it is believed that the earlier treatment of psychotic disorders is undertaken, the better the prognosis...
Electroshock therapy: should we really be afraid of it?
In many films, we can come across scenes where a person undergoing electroshock therapy is convulsing. Not surprisingly, electroshock is generally associated as a drastic method and one that is...
What is Rapunzel syndrome?
Rapunzelsyndrome is a very rare type of intestinal obstruction. Its direct cause is the habit of eating hair (trichophagia). In many cases, trichophagia coexists with a disorder that involves hair...
What influences the incidence of mental health problems in children and young people?
The incidence of the need for mental health professionals is increasing among children and young people. What is causing this? Is poor upbringing and an overabundance of electronics in the...
Mental health co-morbidity: one patient, many problems
Just as a patient with diabetes may have heart or liver failure at the same time, a person with depression may also suffer from other mental illnesses or disorders - a condition known as comorbidity....
Anorexia and bulimia: when one problem turns into another
Anorexia and bulimia are the most well-known eating disorders. They are now distinguished as separate disease entities, however, this has not always been the case - the reason for this has probably...
Imaging examinations in psychiatry
In psychiatry, diagnoses are mainly made on the basis of a psychiatric examination, i.e. a targeted interview with the patient. Various procedures, such as the determination of thyroid hormone...
Child psychopathology - what should worry a parent?
Ordinary sadness or something more serious? Are children's stories a manifestation of a rich imagination or an insidiously developing illness? Parents are the ones who pay the most attention to their...
Why are child psychiatrists increasingly needed?
"Children have such carefree lives that they cannot be depressed" - if one adheres to such a belief, one is completely wrong. Adolescent patients can suffer from both mood disorders and...
What types of delusions do patients experience?
Delusions are incorrect judgements that patients experiencing them strongly believe to be true. This symptom can occur as a stand-alone problem, but also in the course of a large number of different...
Creativity and mental illness
Already the ancient Greeks discovered that there might be a correlation between creativity and mental illness, but for good measure, the motif of the artistic genius troubled by inner demons was only...
Anorexia - causes, symptoms, diagnosis, treatment
The onset of anorexia in the worst case can even be life-threatening. This is mainly due to the consequences of nutritional deficiencies, the deficit of which dysregulates the work of basically every...
Dementias - what will a psychiatrist say and what will a neurologist say?
Before someone becomes a neurologist or psychiatrist, they have to undergo medical school. Their programme includes the acquisition of both psychiatric and neurological examination skills. Thus, the...
Visiting a psychiatrist - what can the doctor ask?
The term "visit to a psychiatrist" often evokes unpleasant associations resulting in some patients avoiding visits to these specialists. Is there really a reason for this? Definitely not! Although...
