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Biomedical subjects

S Kuha

Publications and source records attributed to S Kuha.

12 recordsLinked to original sources
PubMed1994

Postpartum mental health.

The mental health of parturients 1-2 months after delivery was assessed. The study was carried out using a questionnaire between September and November 1992 in connection with the postpartum visits of mothers to the maternity health care center. The need for psychological help was assessed using a 12-item questionnaire (General Health Questionnaire), according to which 28% of the subjects needed psychological help. These mothers did not differ from the others in terms of age, marital status, education, or financial situation. Nor was the need for psychological help associated with health habits, with traumatic life events or conflicts during childhood and adolescence, or with delivery-related factors. Mothers needing psychological help were more depressed and considered the social support they were receiving to be inadequate more often than the others. These women also more often reported marital problems during pregnancy and after delivery. None of the mothers had sought help because of mental health problems. It is concluded that antenatal and postnatal clinics should pay more attention to the mental health of mothers.

Adult↗
PubMed1978

Tricyclic antidepressants in the treatment of depressions. A double-blind clinical comparison of clomipramine (Anafranil) and amitriptyline.

The clinical efficacy of oral clomipramine and amitriptyline treatment (50--125 mg/day) was compared over a period of 2 months in 72 depressive patients visiting a psychiatric out-patient clinic. Both drugs were equally effective as measured by the Hamilton Rating Scale for Depression. According to a nurse's independent evaluation of 13 items the two drugs were equipotent in relieving depressive symptoms and no statistically significant differences between the treatment groups were found in the global evaluation by the investigator and the patient. A trend in favour of clomipramine was, however, seen in several parameters. The declines in the Hamilton Rating Scale scores and the nurse's evaluation scores were highly significant during the first 2 weeks of treatment (P less than 0.001) in both groups and the scores continued to decrease during the 2nd month of the study. The most common unwanted effects were dryness of the mouth and fatigue. The frequency of side effects was 51% in the clomipramine group and 43% in the amitriptyline group. The side effects were generally mild and transient and called for discontinuation of treatment in only one case in each group.

Adult↗
PubMed1975

The effect of social class on psychiatric psychological evaluations in patients with pulmonary tuberculosis.

The present study is a methodological examination in which the social and psychic background factors of 100 tuberculous patients, aged 20 to 45 years, were explored using psychiatric interview and psychological tests (MMPI, Rorschach, and Wartegg). The purpose of the study was to analyse the effect of social background factors on the psychiatric and psychological examination. With the help of correlation coefficients and three-factor factor analysis, the variable indicating the social class of the subject could be proved to correlate significantly to the projective test variables (Rorschach, Wartegg). No such correlation between the social group variable and those obtained in the psychiatric interview or the MMPI test could be demonstrated. On the basis of the projective tests, subjects in the lower social classes were considered more disturbed. It can be supposed that the background factors characteristic of lower social classes would contribute to the unfamiliar test situation, causing reactions disturbing the test performance. This suggests that the mentioned tests should be used with caution in the evaluation of personality disturbances.

Adult↗