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Biomedical subjects

S Weyerer

Publications and source records attributed to S Weyerer.

At least 55 records · Page 3Linked to original sources
PubMed1988

Prevalence and treatment of psychiatric disorders in 3 to 14-year-old children: results of a representative field study in the small town rural region of Traunstein, upper Bavaria.

In a representative sample (n = 358) 18.4% of the children aged 3 to 14 were classified as having psychiatric disorders, mostly special symptoms (13.4%) (ICD 307). Using the multiaxial classification of child psychiatric disorders developed by Rutter et al. (1), connections between a psychiatric diagnosis on the one hand and developmental delays, medical conditions and abnormal psychosocial circumstances on the other are pointed out. Finally, the situation regarding help for children with psychiatric disorders is discussed. Only 2.0% of the children were receiving treatment for such conditions.

Adolescent↗
PubMed1987

[Loss of father or mother in childhood and onset of psychiatric diseases in adulthood].

An overview is given of the methodological problems involved in assessing the relationship between major losses in childhood and psychiatric disorders in adulthood. The findings in field studies of representative samples of the adult population in which this relationship was investigated retrospectively are reviewed. In their own field study of individuals aged 15 and older in three Upper Bavarian towns the authors investigated whether those subjects who had not been raised by both biological parents and especially those who had lost one or both parents through death before age 15 had an increased risk of psychiatric disorders (true prevalence) or of use of psychiatric services as adults. The relative risk of a psychiatric disorder for those not raised by their biological parents was between 1.1 (age at loss: 11-15 years) and 1.5 (age at loss: less than 1 year). The risk of psychiatric treatment was higher for all age groups, between 1.6 and 1.8, and significantly different from the risk without loss. This overall increase is attributable mainly to those subjects who had been raised by a stepparent and those who had been in a children's home between the ages of 11 and 15. The subjects with parental death in childhood had only a slightly increased risk of a psychiatric disorder or use of psychiatric services.

Adolescent↗
PubMed1986

[Mental health in the aged].

The life expectancy of the world population has increased considerably and the absolute number of 65-year olds will approximately triple in the next 40 years. Since the prevalence of chronic illness and disability increases steeply with advancing age, it is to be expected that the utilization of health services and services provided for the elderly will also increase. In the developed countries about one quarter of those aged 65 and over suffer from mental disorders. An important risk factor for mental disorders of old age seems to be the subjective awareness of loneliness, combined with a quantitative deficit in social relationships. Losses in personal relationships, above all conjugal bereavement, are, in general, associated with a higher mortality, a higher risk of suicide, various physical diseases and mental disorders, in particular depression. Dementia, one of the severest disorders in late life, increases steeply with advancing age, reaching rates of 20 to 30% among those aged 85 and over. Depressive disorders are among the most frequent psychogeriatric disorders. Due to the heterogeneity of their symptomatology and differences in case identification the prevalence rates vary substantially between countries. Prospective follow-up studies have revealed the mortality risk to be markedly higher in organic than in functional mental disorders. Care of the mentally ill elderly patient is characterized by a relatively low utilization of outpatient mental health services, whereas contact with GPs becomes increasingly important in late life.

Aged↗
PubMed1986

The principal component structure of the General Health Questionnaire among Greek and Turkish adolescents.

The 28-item version of the General Health Questionnaire was administered to Greek and Turkish school pupils in their mother country as well as to Greeks in Munich. Principal component analysis with varimax rotation was carried out separately for both the individual populations and sexes separately. Visual inspection of the matrices suggested overall agreement with the sub-scales obtained by Goldberg and Hillier (1979). The coefficient of factor similarity, calculated between matrices, suggested a highly similar principal component structure between the population samples as a whole and separately for the sexes living in their own country, but not between male and female Greek pupils in Germany. Highly similar component matrices were obtained for Greek males living in Greece with those in Germany, but not for females.

Adolescent↗
PubMed1986

Use of psychiatric facilities in the Upper Bavarian follow-up field study.

Utilization of psychiatric facilities by non-institutionalized persons aged 20 years and older was examined. Data were based on the representative community sample of the Upper Bavarian Follow-up Field Study, the original sample size being 1668 persons. In the 5-year follow-up 1384 (83.0%) subjects were interviewed; 80 subjects (4.8%) had died meanwhile. The follow-up sample contained 44 people who refused the first interview and agreed to participate at the follow-up. The 5-year prevalence of mental illness according to the definition used was 31.4%. The rate for psychiatric treatment (in- or outpatient) was 8.5%. We analyzed which people with mental illness seek help from professionals in psychiatric hospitals, from psychiatrists in private practices and psychosocial services, according to type of diagnosis, course of disorder (incidence, remission, chronic), sociodemographic data and psychosocial factors.

Adult↗
PubMed1984

Prevalence of mental disorders in the small-town--rural region of Traunstein (Upper Bavaria).

The prevalence rate of mental disorders in the population is important to the overall planning of improved psychiatric care services. A prevalence study of 1,536 probands conducted in three communities in the county of Traunstein, Upper Bavaria, revealed that 18.6% of the population were in need of treatment. The results are presented according to sociodemographic characteristics, and ways of improving the care of the mentally disturbed are discussed. Primary emphasis is placed on improving the competence of general practitioners.

Adolescent↗
PubMed1983

[Mental patients in general practice. A psychiatric-epidemiological study in the district of Traunstein].

In 1973/74 in the district of Traunstein a study was conducted which, like a corresponding study in Mannheim, aimed at the determination of the frequency of mental disorders among patients in general practices. Three research psychiatrists evaluated 1.274 patients in 18 general practices by means of an interview developed by Goldberg et al. (1970) and diagnosed patients according to the ICD (International Classification of Diseases). The study was based on a representative sample of all patients who consulted a physician during a 14-day period. About 1/3 of all patients (32%) showed psychiatric symptoms according to the evaluation of the interviewers, but only about 1/4 (26%) according to the opinion of the general practitioners. The bulk lies in neurotic and psychosomatic illnesses, comprising more than half (57%) of the mentally ill. About 10% each are listed for psychogeriatric disorders, affective and other psychoses as well as personality disorders. The results largely coincide with those for comparable studies in Mannheim and Norway.

Family Practice↗
PubMed1983

Psychotherapy services and the prevalence of mental disorders in urban and rural areas.

This study addresses the issue of need for and provision of psychotherapy care in urban and rural areas. In the first part, prevalence of mental disorders based on epidemiological field studies in the county of Traunstein and the city of Mannheim are discussed. Among patients of general practitioners the prevalence of mental disorders was slightly higher in Mannheim than in Traunstein. Concerning the provision of care, results of a questionnaire survey of a random sample of 1542 nonmedical counsellors or psychotherapists in Traunstein, Mannheim and the metropolitan area of West Berlin are presented. The rate of nonmedical therapists/100,000 inhabitants was the same for Traunstein and Mannheim. A more detailed analysis of their service capacity revealed that it was by 17% to 20% higher for Mannheim than for Traunstein; the prevalence of mental disorders in patients of general practitioners was shown to be about 10% higher in Mannheim than in Traunstein. Under the assumption that there is a linear relationship between prevalence and need for care, there appears to be a slight, but not marked undersupply of services by doctors and nonmedical counsellors or psychotherapists in Traunstein as compared to Mannheim. In comparison, the districts of West Berlin were classified into those with high and those with a low percentage of blue collar workers. The rate of nonmedical counsellors or psychotherapists in the "upper class" districts in West Berlin was almost four times higher than that for the "lower class" districts of West Berlin, in Mannheim and Traunstein. The rate/100,000 for the service capacity of nonmedical counsellors or psychotherapists in the "upper class" districts of West Berlin was much higher, and in the "lower class" districts of West Berlin much lower, than in Traunstein or Mannheim. Our data show that there are some discrepancies in the provision of care between rural and urban areas, which however are not large when Traunstein is compared with Mannheim; there were however, substantial discrepancies in the provision of care between cities (Mannheim and West Berlin) and between districts within the same city (West Berlin).

Community Health Services↗
PubMed1983

Mental disorders among the elderly. True prevalence and use of medical services.

295 subjects aged 65 and older, chosen at random from three small-town rural communities in Upper Bavaria were questioned by psychiatrically trained physicians. At 9.2% the rate of the refusal was relatively low. Case identification was reached with the aid of the German version of the Clinical Psychiatric Interview developed by Goldberg et al. (1970) at the Institute of Psychiatry in London. In classifying the psychiatric diagnosis we used the ICD (8th revision). The true prevalence of those over 65 was 23.1%, whereby 8.8% suffered from organic mental diseases, 3.4% from functional psychoses and 10.9% from neuroses and personality disorders. 21.5% of those aged 65-74 and 29.0% of those over 75 showed mental disorders requiring treatment. The psychiatric morbidity for women, single, widowed and divorced persons was higher than average. Members of the lower social classes were not overrepresented. Most of the interviewers were under the care of a family physician, usually a general practitioner. We were able to obtain additional information for 269 subjects (91.2%) from this source. The case rate as determined by the general practitioners was slightly lower than that of the interviewers. However, there is a large number of cases who were not detected by either the interviewer or the general practitioner. Due to the multimorbidity among the elderly, the average annual use of private physicians is very high in comparison to the younger age groups. It was demonstrated that out-patient psychiatric services are greatly under-utilized by those over 65. A major reason for the low consultation rate of private psychiatrists among the elderly is the distance from the patient's home to the out-patient treatment facility.

Age Factors↗
PubMed1983

The importance of artifactual factors in the relationship between sex and mental disorders.

This study is based on a representative sample of 1,536 subjects (15 years of age and older) in three communities of Upper Bavaria. The rate of refusal was 6.8%. Independent of the sex of the interviewer the rate of mental illness among women was higher than among men. However, male interviewers diagnosed mental disorders for women slightly more often than did the female interviewers. Using a self-rating scale, we found a tendency indicating that women report more symptoms than do men when psychiatric respectively somatic diagnoses are held constant. 28.9% of the women and 22.1% of the men who, in cross-section, demonstrated a mental disorder, had been treated psychiatrically before. Men were more often than women admitted to psychiatric hospitals. Voluntary help-seeking seems to be more prevalent among women with emotional problems.

Adolescent↗
PubMed1982

[Problems in case identification using a semi-structured psychiatric interview as exemplified by an epidemiological study in general practices (author's transl)].

From 1973 to 1974 research psychiatrists studied 1,274 patients in general practices in the county of Traunstein (FRG). On the basis of an interview developed by Goldberg et al. (1970), it could be shown that objective symptoms registered by the interviewers generally differentiate better between cases and non-cases than do subjective symptoms. According to the weighting suggested by the developers of the interview, singly weighting the subjective and doubly weighting the objective symptoms, a total score was compared with the psychiatric diagnosis made by the interviewer. At a cut-off of 20 points, the overall agreement reached an optimum of 83.1% and increased only slightly due to a-posterior weighting of the items. A cluster analysis of the symptoms showed that patients demonstrate significantly different combinations of symptoms according to the nature of their mental disorder.

Diagnosis, Differential↗
PubMed1980

Incidence and prevalence of treated mental disorders. Health care planning in a small-town-rural region of Upper Bavaria.

An analysis of those to be cared for and those destined to provide the care is necessary, in order to develop an effective system of mental health care. Such an analysis is given here for a rural-small-town region of Upper Bavaria with 424,000 residents. The treated incidence and prevalence are presented according to sex, age and diagnosis. The morbidity rates for patients from communities of various sizes and distances from the institution of treatment are discussed as an example of ecological analysis. The future planning for the research area should be based on varied community-centred possibilities for psychiatric care.

Adolescent↗
PubMed1978

[On the importance of the geographical position of psychiatric hospitals for the admission rates and hospitalization period (author's transl)].

Rates of admission, duration of hospitalization, chances of discharge and legal basis of admissions are analyzed with reference to the distances between the patients' domiciles and the hospital, basing on the figures which apply to the district hospitals Gabersee in Upper Bavaria. More patients from nearby are admitted, and also given long-term treatment, than from the more distant zones; in the long run, chances of discharge are not more favorable for patients living nearby; there is no variation regarding the share of voluntary admissions in relation to the distances between the respective domiciles and the hospital. These results show that there must be increased cooperation between hospitals or wards for inpatients, partial inpatients, and outpatients, in view of the expected increased hospitalization frequency in future psychiatric practice located in the immediate vicinity of the individual districts. Under no circumstances should it happen that instead of the expected saving in the number of hospital beds, the overall capacity of the hospitals is increased.

Geography↗
PubMed1978

[Requirement and need of treatment - deliberations on psychiatric care (author's transl)].

The article defines the terms "requirement", "need" and "need of treatment", and explains their significance in the field of psychiatric care. The fundamentals of assessing the requirement are discussed, as well as the associated problems: recording and registration of patients in need of treatment, their readiness to undergo such treatment, and possible alternatives of hospitalisation. For establishing criteria required to determine the need treatment symptoms from two semi-standardised psychiatric interviews are examined for suitability (Present State Examination and Goldberg Interview); likewise, the severity of the disease, the stress from which the patient suffers, and the impairment of social relations, are also examined for suitability. It is suggested to take these criteria as basis and to operationalise the need of treatment on these lines. Relevant studies to assess the usefulness of these criteria are under way in two research projects of the Special Research Division 166 "Psychiatric Epidemiology".

Humans↗
PubMedDate not supplied

[Memory training in old age: theoretical background and development of an intervention program for nursing home residents].

A survey of the literature reveals that studies providing hard evidence of the effects of training on improvement of cognitive skills in old age focus on highly specialized training measures. To date there are hardly any suitable procedures for memory training that have a broad effect on the consciousness of impaired individuals which would nurture a different attitude towards the entire complex of learning and memory. For this reason a memory training program was developed, aimed at conserving, reactivating, and fostering the cognitive skills of non-demented residents of old people's homes. The training program, carried out over a 3-month period, consists of a total of 24, 45-min training units. The first half of the memory training program prompts participants to use as many channels of perception as possible, and thereby, also to employ compensation possibilities. In addition, there are exercises for improving observation and concentration and for understanding the functions of memory on the basis of a simplified model of information processing. The second half of the memory training program focuses on exercises to improve short-term and medium-range retention. The exercises are oriented in content to the daily situations relevant to the residents in which memory performance is expected. The memory training program was used for the first time in a geriatric facility in Mannheim, FRG. Continued use of the program, coupled with an evaluation, is planned as part of a research project in several homes for the elderly in that greater metropolitan area.

Aged↗