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Biomedical subjects

A C Sims

Publications and source records attributed to A C Sims.

At least 37 records · Page 2Linked to original sources
PubMed1985

Neurotic illness: conserving a threatened concept.

With the advent of the American Psychiatric Association's Classification DSM III, the usefulness of the term neurosis as a unitary concept has been questioned. This is largely because of the psychodynamic connotations that invest the term in the USA. However there has been pragmatic development, since the word was introduced into the English language in 1784, that carries epidemiological, behavioural and phenomenological implications. This is demonstrated in the definition contained in ICD 9. Disturbance of self-experience and problems with interpersonal relationships are common to all neurotic disorders, and bodily symptoms of non-organic cause are usual. Neurotic disorders are extremely frequent in the general population, amongst those who consult general practitioners and in psychiatric out-patients; they necessarily concern doctors. It is concluded that what different neurotic disorders have in common is more important for classification than the differences between them. An important practical consideration is that there are general aspects of treatment appropriate for all neuroses which are of less relevance in the treatment of other psychiatric disorders. Also the provision of treatment services require different emphases for the neuroses.

Body Image↗
PubMed1983

The effect of the use of the International Classification of Diseases 9th revision: upon hospital in-patient diagnoses.

This study compares the diagnostic terminology used for 592 consecutive discharges from a psychiatric unit before and after teaching psychiatric trainees the use of the ICD-9 classificatory system. The results show a marked increase in specificity of diagnostic labels, with a decrease of diagnoses with the term 'not otherwise specified', and an increase in the diagnoses of organic psychoses, paranoid and hebephrenic schizophrenia and depressive neurosis. The implications of this for training about diagnosis, clinical practice and recording of data for national statistics are discussed.

Adult↗
PubMed1983

Problems in practice and research in social psychiatry.

Notion and contents of social psychiatry are explained on the basis of own experiences and results in research. In this connection the author deals more in detail with questions of practice and research, the performance of diagnostics and therapy and the connecting elements of these partial tasks.

Cross-Sectional Studies↗
PubMed1980

Comparison of the efficacy of sustained-release amitriptyline with maprotiline in the treatment of depressive illness.

Forty consecutive psychiatric patients referred to hospital with a diagnosis of depressive illness were randomly allocated to double-blind treatment with either 50 mg sustained-release amitriptyline or 75 mg maprotiline in night-time dosage. The dosage was doubled after 1 week. Rating scale assessments were carried out regularly over a 5-week period. The results indicated that there was a significant improvement with both drugs which occurred at approximately the same speed and to the same extent. Side-effects were complained of by approximately as many patients on both forms of treatment.

Adult↗
PubMed1979

Discriminators between neurotics who die and neurotics who live.

An increased death rate has been found in patients treated in hospital for neurosis but the reasons for this are not known. A case note study is described in which 37 patients who were treated in hospital for neurosis and subsequently died are compared with a cross-matched sample of treated neurotics who were alive at follow-up. Measures believed to indicate greater severity of neurosis were found to be significantly higher in the experimental (dead) group than in the control (living) group.

Adult↗
PubMed1975

Severity of symptoms of psychiatric outpatients: use of the General Health Questionnaire in hospital ang general practice patients.

A sample of 91 new referrals to a community based psychiatric outpatient service was compared with a cross-matched control sample of 107 patients attending the general practitioner's surgery. The subjects in both groups completed the General Health Questionnaire and there was a very marked difference between the scores of the two groups. Seventy-five of the psychiatric group had a high score on the questionnaire, and a large number of these were extremely high, while 74 of the general practice group had a low score. The 'false' positives and negatives are discussed. It is considered that the validity of this questionnaire as a screening device for demonstrating psychiatric morbidity and severity in general practice is further established in this study by showing that in matched samples the expected psychiatric morbidity in general practice can be compared with the much greater morbidity in psychiatric outpatient referrals. For the psychiatric sample more patients showed high scores and these tended to be much higher.

Adjustment Disorders↗
PubMed1975

Activity in chronic schizophrenic patients: comparison of pimozide with fluphenazine in a double blind trial.

A double-blind crossover trial was carried out comparing pimozide with fluphenazine. The effects of the drugs on the activity of 20 chronic inert male schizophrenic patients were measured using nursing observations, psychiatric rating, and an operant conditioning method. When activity was assessed in these different ways, no significant difference was found between the two drugs on any of the measures. It is concluded that pimozide does not effectively increase the activity in such patients. It is considered that the free operant conditioning method used was shown to be a useful measure for comparing therapy in chronic schizophrenic patients.

Administration, Oral↗
PubMed1975

Psychiatric referrals from the police.

This is a study of one mode of inception into psychiatric care in Birmingham. Mentally disturbed people coming to the attention of the police are referred to a mental welfare officer and assessed by him, usually in a police station. The mental welfare officer may then refer for a psychiatric decision with regard to further management, and the patient is examined by the doctor in the police station. The annual frequency of use of this referral system was studied from 1962-73 inclusive. It is shown that there was an increase in referral over the years and that such referral from the police became an increasing proportion of new referrals to the Mental Health Department (Social Services Department). The sample of referrals from the police for 12 months is studied in greater detail (252 cases), surveying social characteristics of individual patients, the relationships between such police intervention and areas of the city, the nature of situation requiring intervention and the management and treatment which these patients received. The referrals were traced from contact with the mental welfare officer to hospital where the case notes of those admitted were studied for details of legal status and mental state on admission, diagnosis, duration of stay and disposal. The effectiveness of this method of entering treatment is discussed and some recommendations are made.

Adult↗