محمدرضا شالبافان

Major depressive disorder, in addition to mood problems, along with several cognitive defects, such as weakness in autobiographical memory and episodic future thinking, is an issue that many treatment methods have been used to improve. The present study aims to investigate the effect of acceptance and commitment therapy (ACT) on autobiographical memory, episodic future thinking, and depression in patients with major depressive disorder.

This research was a randomized quasi-experimental design of pre-test, post-test, and follow-up with a three-month interval. A number of 30 people, ranging from 18 to 60 years (22 women and 8 men) were selected using the available sampling method among the clients of the psychiatric clinic of Tehran Institute in 1400 and 1401, following the entry and exit criteria, and selected randomly in two experimental groups (15 people) and control (15 people) were replaced. The study tools included a SCID structured interview to diagnose depression, an autobiographical memory test, episodic future thinking, and a DASS-21 stress-anxiety-depression questionnaire. The experimental group received treatment based on ACT for eight sessions the sessions were individually held once a week for half an hour, and the control group did not receive any training. For data analysis, a mixed intragroup-intergroup analysis of variance test was used by SPSS-26.

The results from the mixed intra-group and inter-group variance analysis revealed that ACT significantly improved autobiographical memory and episodic future thinking (P<0.05). Additionally, ACT was noted to reduce depressive symptoms during both the post-test and follow-up stages in the experimental group, outperforming the control group.

Based on the results of this study, considering the effectiveness of treatment based on ACT and the durability of its effect in the three-month follow-up, this treatment method is recommended for improving cognitive defects such as overgeneralization of autobiographical memory, episodic future thinking, and reducing symptoms of major depression.

This study aims to investigate the attitude towards medication, medication adherence, and quality of life (QoL) in outpatients with neurotic disorders referred for the first time to the psychiatric clinic of Tehran Psychiatric Institute in Iran.

In this study, participants were adult outpatients with neurotic disorders referred to the psychiatric clinic of Tehran Psychiatric Institute for the first time, who had met the inclusion criteria (age 18-60 years, having a neurotic disorder diagnosed by the psychiatrist, and consent to participate in the study). At baseline and in one and six months after the first visit, they completed a demographic form, the World Health Organization Quality of Life-BREF (WHOQOL-BREF) and the drug attitude inventory (DAI-10). Their medication adherence was assessed using the medication possession ratio.

Of 100 participants, 76 were females and had a mean age of 35.9 years. Favorable medication adherence significantly increased in the sixth month compared to the first month, and the number of patients with favorable medication adherence increased from 38 to 63. In comparing the overall score of QoL, a significant improvement was observed in the 1st and 6th months compared to baseline and in the sixth month compared to the first month (P<0.001). Regarding the domains of the QoL, mental health and general health in the first and sixth months were significantly increased compared to the baseline (P<0.001). Physical health domain was significantly increased in the sixth month compared to the first month (P<0.001). Social relationships domain was significantly increased in the first month compared to the baseline (P= 0.001). Environmental health domain was significantly increased in the first month compared to the baseline (P=0.019). Comparison of the QoL score between patients with favorable and unfavorable medication adherence showed no significant difference (P=0.6). Attitude towards medication was significantly improved from baseline to the sixth month (P<0.001).

The QoL and its some domains as well as medication adherence and attitude towards medication in outpatients with neurotic disorders seem to be improved after six months of follow-up. There is no significant difference in QoL between outpatients with favorable and unfavorable medication adherence.

Wikipedia is one of the most important online sources of information that can be edited by any one. About 80% of people in developed countries use the Internet to search for mental health information, which generally includes disease symptoms, illnesses, and treatment methods. Existing studies have reported varying degrees of quality for mental health information on the Wikipedia website. To our knowledge, there is no study on the quality of information on the Persian version of Wikipedia, especially in the field of mental health. Due to the importance of Wikipedia for Internet users, the main purpose of this letter is to present a brief report on the Iranian authors' efforts in improving the quality and quantity of mental health information on the Persian Wikipedia. This can a step to promote the general knowledge of the community about the mental health.

Physical environment has an important role in altering the behavior of human beings. In each built environment, the mental decision to offend is significantly influenced by perceived risk of being caught. Appropriate environmental design can prevent criminal behavior. Crime Prevention through Environmental Design (CPTED) is an architectural method for built environment design, which is effective in deterring criminal behavior and improving social security. CPTED strategies enhance the mental perceived risk of apprehension by appropriately designing the built environment. Guardianship, access control, territorial reinforcement, environmental health, and development of pedestrian and bicycle paths are the most important CPTED strategies.However, it is not a panacea for preventing criminal behavior, but can be a neuropsychiatric and cognitive tool in deterring them, and increasing social security.

 In order to plan according to the needs of psychiatric patients, there is a need to study different aspects of social stigma in target groups. Due to the limited access to questionnaires used for assessment of social stigma in Persian, this study aims to review all of the tools available for assessment of social stigma, which have been designed in Iran or have been translated to Persian. 

 This is a conceptual review study. After extensive review of resources, articles related to social stigma in the health system and conducted on health care staff, students, caregivers or patientschr('39') families, psychiatric patients, mothers with children with autism, mothers with children with Down syndrome, and the general population were included in the study. We extracted the information of Persian questionnaires used in the reviewed articles. The questionnaires and additional information were collected by contacting the authors of the articles via E-mail.

 There were 21 questionnaires for assessing social stigma in Persian language. Of these, 19 questionnaires could be accessed and analyzed. Most of the questionnaires were the translated version of other tools, and only 4 questionnaires had been developed and validated in Persian.

 Most of the questionnaires in Persian are used to measure social stigma in health care staff and students followed by caregivers or patientschr('39') families. There is limited number of questionnaires for the assessment of social stigma in general population and patients. This is in contrast to the other languages that have mainly focused on assessment of stigma in general population and patients. To date, no questionnaire in Persian exists for the assessment of social stigma in children and adolescents.

Selective Serotonin Reuptake Inhibitors (SSRIs) are the most popular psychiatric medications that are approved for several neuropsychiatric conditions such as depression and obsessive-compulsive disorder (OCD). On the other hand, clomipramine is a tricyclic anti-depressant which is the only approved medication, among this class, to treat OCD due to its substantial effects on serotonergic system. Combination of SSRIs and clomipramine is uncommon in routine psychiatric practice because it can increase the risk of serotonin syndrome which is characterized by myoclonus, headache, nausea, confusion, diarrhea, tremor, twitching muscles, and agitation. However, it could be useful in patients suffering from treatment-resistant OCD.Here, we describe three cases of OCD patients, treated by combination of SSRIs and clomipramine who showed only myoclonic movements in initial week without any other manifestations of the serotonin syndrome. In less than one week after initiation of medication, abnormal movements disappeared, and in six month follow-up evaluation, the patients were observed with considerable improvements. Indeed, myoclonic movements is not a predictor of full-blown serotonin syndrome when combination of SSRIs and clomipramine is used. Therefore, the combination could be a considerable approach in treatment of refractory OCD.