Antidepressants and violence

Amid the pandemic of violence against women, it is imperative to identify the contributing factors to lethal forms of violence against them. Femicides are the result of the intersection of variables that increase women's vulnerability. This study seeks to estimate the risk factors associated with death due to femicide in Campinas, São Paulo, Brazil. We considered sociodemographic variables, employment, exposure to violence, and psychoactive substance use. Our analysis employed conditional logistic regression...

This manuscript presents an epidemiological investigation carried out on abuse victims who accessed the Sexual and Domestic Violence Service (SVS&D) of IRCCS Ca' Granda in Milan, Italy. The focal point of this research was the detection of alcohol, prescription medications, and illicit substances in victims who solicited help from the SVS&D center between 2018 and 2020. Over this three-year span, biological samples of blood and urine were procured from 207 victims, out of a patient pool of 2470. All collected samples were analyzed via High Performance Liquid Chromatography - Tandem Mass Spectrometry (HPLC-MS/MS) and Gas Chromatography - Mass Spectrometry (GC-MS)...

BACKGROUND: Exposure to domestic abuse can lead to long-term negative impacts on the victim's physical and psychological wellbeing. The 1998 Crime and Disorder Act requires agencies to collaborate on crime reduction strategies, including data sharing. Although data sharing is feasible for individuals, rarely are whole-agency data linked. This study aimed to examine the knowledge obtained by integrating information from police and health-care datasets through data linkage and analyse associated risk factor clusters...

INTRODUCTION: Perinatal depression is common among women living with HIV, but depression care is limited in low-resource settings. We examined (1) characteristics of women receiving Problem Solving Therapy (PST) versus antidepressant therapy (ADT), (2) treatment response by modality, and (3) correlates of treatment response. METHODS: This analysis used data from 191 Ugandan women in the intervention arm of a cluster randomized controlled trial of task-shifted, stepped-care depression treatment for pregnant women living with HIV (PWLWH)...

BACKGROUND: Risk factors related to the harmful behaviors, psychosocial wellbeing, and socio-economic circumstances in the lives of pregnant women can lead to adverse birth outcomes, including low birth weight (LBW). OBJECTIVE: This systematic search and review aims to provide a comparative evidence synthesis on the effect of eleven antenatal interventions targeted to address psychosocial risk factors on adverse birth outcomes. METHODS: We searched MEDLINE, Embase, Cochrane Database of Systematic Reviews, Cochrane Central Register of Controlled Trials and CINAHL Complete between March 2020 and May 2020...

Comprehensive fatal overdose prevention requires an understanding of the fundamental causes and context surrounding overdose. Using a social determinants of health (SDOH) framework, this descriptive study examined unintentional and self-inflicted (i.e., suicide) overdose deaths in North Carolina (NC), focusing on specific drug involvement and contextual factors. Unintentional and suicide overdose deaths were identified using 2015-2019 NC death certificate data. Specific drug involvement was assessed by searching literal text fields for drug mentions...

OBJECTIVES: The objectives of this study included evaluating and reporting on the initial impact of the COVID-19 pandemic and preventive measures in the form of a lockdown on self-poisoning tendencies in northern Poland. MATERIAL AND METHODS: The authors retrospectively analyzed medical records of all patients (N = 2990) admitted to the Pomeranian Center of Toxicology in 2018-2020. Of those, further analysis included 2140 patients who had been admitted because of a suicide attempt by self-poisoning...

Objective: The utility of selective serotonin reuptake inhibitors (SSRIs) has been overshadowed by the box warning they received when the United States (US) Food and Drug Administration (FDA) identified an increased risk of suicidality in patients 24 years of age or younger. Newer studies have identified suicidality as self-aggression and hypothesized whether this might also apply to aggression toward others. The controversy surrounding SSRIs has led to a decrease in prescriptions from healthcare clinicians and number of patients seeking the necessary treatment...

Our selection of articles published in 2021 sheds light on topics related to risk, and to the use of electronic tools in primary care medicine. They cover blood pressure targets, telemonitoring, and the omega-3 fatty acid diet in the elderly and/or in patients with high cardiovascular risk. They present the role of primary care physicians in the management of patients with NAFLD, and in screening for domestic violence in all couples. They assess the risk of recurrence of a depressive episode after stopping antidepressant treatment...

Objectives Several studies have examined the health consequences of workplace threats and violence, however, due to methodological issues the epidemiological evidence is limited. The purpose of this study was to examine the prospective association between self-labelled exposure to work-related threats and violence and the risk of depression, measured by a standardized psychiatric interview and new prescriptions of anti-depressive medication. Methods Employees were recruited from the Danish PRISME cohort established in 2007 where 4489 Danish public employees answered a postal questionnaire with follow-ups in 2009 and 2011...

AIM: The White Paper on Crime 2019 from the Japanese Ministry of Justice reported that the percentage of crimes committed by people with mental disabilities was only 1.0%. In contrast, the findings of a statistical survey of correctional facilities reported that 15.1% of the prisoners were diagnosed with a mental illness. This study aimed at clarifying the relationship between mental illness and crime among suspects in a detention house and explaining this large gap. METHODS: Criminal suspects who were newly admitted in the Gifu detention house in Japan were eligible for the study...

Inflammatory pathways predict antidepressant treatment non-response among individuals with major depression; yet, this phenomenon may have broader transdiagnostic and transtherapeutic relevance. Among trauma-exposed mothers (Mage  = 32 years) and their young children (Mage  = 4 years), we tested whether genomic and proteomic biomarkers of pro-inflammatory imbalance prospectively predicted treatment response (PTSD and depression) to an empirically-supported behavioral treatment. Forty-three mother-child dyads without chronic disease completed Child Parent Psychotherapy (CPP) for roughly 9 months...

Introduction : Post-traumatic stress disorder (PTSD), a mental disorder, is associated with anxiety, depression, and social awkwardness resulting from past traumatic episodes like natural disasters, accidents, terrorist attacks, war, rape, and sexual violence. It affects primarily the amygdala, cortex, and hippocampus where neurochemical changes result in altered behavior. PTSD patients display impaired fear extinction, and past events keep haunting them. The topic presents relevant sections like PTSD pharmacotherapy, associated challenges, and the novel targets and drugs for future research and therapy...

From the start of the use of psychoactive prescription medications in the 1950s, physicians reported paradoxical adverse reactions, ranging from newly developing depressions to an increase in existing mood disorders, and extremely violent and bizarre acts of suicide and homicide. It is hypothesized that interactions between the drugs and the enzymes that are primarily responsible for their metabolism (cytochrome P450s) could cause these reactions. In this research, we evaluate statistical associations between CYP450 variant alleles, psychoactive medication, and acts of violence...

Refugees flee their country of origin to escape threats to their existence. Yet, despite having left behind the immediate physical dangers in their country of origin, refugees may continue to experience negative psychological consequences of contemporary violence in that country because of their connection to it. Here, using longitudinal population data from Denmark, we show that refugees were substantially more likely to use antidepressants, and anxiolytic and hypnotic drugs in periods when their country of origin was more intensely afflicted by terrorism...

INTRODUCTION: There are conflicting perspectives as to whether antidepressant medication increases, decreases or has no effect on violence perpetration, impulsivity and aggressive behaviour. This is an important question given the widespread use of antidepressant medication and the significant medical, social, legal and health consequences of violence. We aim to: (1) systematically identify observational studies and randomised controlled trials that quantify the relationship between antidepressant use and interpersonal violence; (2) assess the quality of studies that quantify the relationship between antidepressant use and interpersonal violence and (3) estimate the pooled prevalence and measure of effect for the relationship between antidepressant use and interpersonal violence...

INTRODUCTION: The voice disorder can cause limitations at work, as it affects the communication and the performance of the teaching function. OBJECTIVE: To analyze the limitation at work because of the voice and to examine possible associations with sociodemographic characteristics, life and health habits and work conditions among Basic Education teachers in Brazil. METHODS: Cross-sectional epidemiological study, with a representative sample, carried out between October 2015 and March 2016, with 6,324 teachers working in Basic Education in Brazil...

OBJECTIVE: Drug poisoning deaths among women remain a challenge for public health policy and have increased at a higher rate relative to men. Although biological, social, and psychological differences between men and women can have an influence on drug poisoning deaths, sex is rarely considered. The objective of this study is to explore the extent, range, and nature of evidence in relation to drug poisoning deaths among women. METHOD: A scoping review was conducted according to the Arksey and O'Malley framework...

Domestic Violence in Old Age: Prevention and Intervention Abstract. Abuse of the eldery occurs frequently. It is experienced most often as psychological abuse (20 %), less often as financial exploitation (4 %) or physical abuse (3 %). The most important risk factor for the elderly is dependence on regular help, especially because of dementia. Caregivers are at a high risk for abuse if they are psychologically conspicuous, live with the dependent or are financially dependent from them. Additional risks are social isolation, unsolved conflicts and a history of domestic violence...

OBJECTIVE: To compare the mental health literacy (MHL) of pharmacists in Nigeria and their comfort rendering pharmacy services to patients with mental illness with that of pharmacists in developed countries. DESIGN: A cross-sectional study design was employed. Questionnaires containing closed, ordinal, Likert-type, and multi-choice questions were used to elicit information from the respondents. SETTING AND PARTICIPANTS: Pharmacists from all areas of practice attending the 91st Annual Conference of the Pharmaceutical Society of Nigeria from October 29 to November 3, 2018, were conveniently sampled...