Biomedical subjects

Mate Mihanović

Publications and source records attributed to Mate Mihanović.

6 recordsLinked to original sources

PubMed2006

[Therapists' psychological problems when treating posttraumatic stress disorder].

War experience in interaction with personality structure can have a traumatic effect and provoke various psychopathological responses and even disorders at the psychological level. PTSD is one of the possible psychopathological responses to war trauma, which provokes a range of different emotions in those working with such patients. The heterogeneity of the clinical aspect of the disorder, the comorbidity and social malfunctioning of the patients represent a frequent source of difficulties in the psychiatrist's work. The disorder brings about alterations at the somatic, psychological, social and occupational level of the affected individual, requiring a complex approach to treatment. The psychotherapeutic treatment of PTSD patients gives rise to different counter-transfer emotions at different stages of the therapeutic process. The therapist experiences fright, anger, guilt, frustration, and sometimes even a tendency to avoid the patient. His ability for empathy and understanding of the patient can be exhausted and become the cause of a reduced capacity for sympathy, a secondary traumatic stress and a vicarious trauma.

Countertransference↗

PubMed2005

Influence of alcohol abuse of the father on the intensity of clinical picture of posttraumatic stress disorder.

The subject of the study is the influence of alcohol abusing father on the clinical picture of PTSD patient. The father plays an important identification role in the psychological development of his son. Therefore it is to be expected that an alcohol abusing father will become a (negative) role model for his son and that he will also later on in stressful situations try to reduce the anxiety and depression by consuming larger quantities of alcoholic drinks. The aim of the study is to find out whether there are differences in PTSD clinical picture in patients whose fathers abused alcohol and in those whose fathers did not have such problem. The participating patients were from the Psychiatric hospital "Sveti Ivan". Mississippi and Watson scales were applied, as well as a questionnaire named "Early traumas" from which the variable "alcohol abuse of the father" was selected. The analysis shows that the participants who in their family histories had fathers who abused alcohol developed a milder clinical picture of PTSD, i.e. they reactions to the stress later on were less sensitive compared to the control group of participants whose fathers did not abuse alcohol and whose clinical pictures of the disorder were more severe.

Adult↗

PubMed2005

Anthropology and psychiatry.

In this paper anthropology and psychiatry are defined as well as their scientific area, their methods and research objectives; the high level of their mutual thematic and methodological complementarity has been emphasized. The sociocultural factors which are inherent in the area of cultural anthropology can affect mental health in a number of ways: by forming a certain personality type that is predisposed for a certain type of disorder, by an education model which increases the frequency of some disorders, by criticism and sanctions of a certain behaviour that is actually desirable from the point of view of mental health preservation, by supporting and rewarding a behaviour model that is harmful for mental health; by its complexity and, in some of the segments, by mutual contradictions they can cause mental disorders; by forming symptoms of mental disorders i.e. by a pathoplastic action through which they become an area of scientific interest of cultural psychiatry. Anthropology directs psychiatry towards creating preventive and therapeutic programs that accept the mutual influence and interconnectedness of socio-cultural conditions and the mental health status.

Anthropology↗

PubMed2004

War, mental disorder and suicide.

War as a human disaster of major significance has led to an increase in the number of suicides committed by people suffering from mental disorders. Considering the results of similar research, we were particularly interested in the effect that war has on the incidence of suicide among of people with mental disorders. The research included 16,362 patients with mental disorders, treated at the Clinic for Psychiatry at the Clinical Hospital Split during the nine-year timeframe which were divided into pre-war (April 6th 1988- April 7rh 1991), wartime (April 6th 1991 -April 7rh 1994) and post-war (April 6th 1997 - April 7th 2000) periods. We studied the effects of how wartime events upon people with mental disorders in terms of their suicide rates, taking into account gender, age group, and the diagnosis under which they were treated. In our research, we found a statistically significant difference in suicide incidence between three observed periods (prewar April 6th 1988 April 7th 1991; wartime April 6th 1991 -April 7th 1994; and postwar April 6th 1997 -April 7th 2000) with the incidence being the highest during the wartime period (chi2 =9.98: p=0.007). Out of 16,362 patients treated at the clinic during the observed timeframe, a total of 78 people committed suicide. Twenty-two patients committed suicide during the first three year pre-war period; 36, during the three year wartime period; and 20, during the third three year post-war period. With this research we intended to offer a better understanding of the complexity of the suicide problem of mental patients as a phenomenon.

Croatia↗

PubMed2004

Involuntary hospitalizations in the psychiatric hospital Jankomir before and following the alterations and amendments made to ZZODS.

Schizophrenia and other psychotic disorders as well as the delirium caused by abstinence from alcohol and accute state of drunkenness appear at the very top of the list of factors, which are positively correlated with involuntary hospitalization of patients. This is at the same time a confirmation of the data found in literature considering psychosis an essential factor of involuntary hospitalization; the same referring to the male sex was not, however, confirmed by the results obtained in the first and second research period. Regarding the positive correlation between schizophrenia and other psychotic disturbances, dementia, delirium and other cognitive impairments including the delirium caused by abstinence from alcohol and an accute state of drunkenness on the one side and the high rate of involuntary hospitalization on the other, there is no statistically significant difference between the period preceding and the period following the alterations and amendments to the Law on the protection of patients with mental disorders.

Commitment of Persons with Psychiatric Disorders↗

PubMed2003

The efficacy of cisapride vs. placebo and diet in patients with chronic constipation.

The effects of cisapride (10 mg three times daily) on the stool evacuation characteristics, laxative consumption (symptom diary) and motility pattern (rectoanal manometry) were assessed in patients with chronic idiopathic constipation who fulfilled Rome II criteria. After a 14-day basal period on a diet rich in fiber (phase I), patients were treated with placebo (n = 20) or cisapride (n = 19) (phase II). Anorectal manometry was performed at the end of each phase. The study was controlled, randomized and double blind. Side effects related to the use of cisapride were noted and found to be mild. Cisapride and placebo increased stool frequency from 4 (1-11) to 7 (14-12) (p < 0.001) and from 4 (2-10) to 6 (2-11) (p < 0.05) per week, respectively. Straining was decreased from 69.0% to 39.7% in the cisapride (p < 0.0001) group, and from 79% to 35% (p < 0.0001) in the placebo group. Both cisapride and placebo decreased the feeling of incomplete evacuation from 91.7% to 37.5% (p < 0.0001) and from 82.7% to 39.2% (p < 0.0001), respectively. Cisapride reduced the need of laxatives and showed a tendency to normalize stool consistency but did not influence any other symptom or bowel motility parameter.

Adult↗