International Neuropsychiatric Disease Journal

Background and Aim: Alcohol Dependence Syndrome has deleterious consequences not only on the patient with Alcohol Dependence Syndrome but also on the members of his family. The psychopathology in wives of patients with Alcohol Dependence Syndrome is a largely neglected area in psychiatric research. Aim of the present study was to evaluate the frequency and nature of psychiatric disorders in wives of patients with Alcohol Dependence Syndrome.

Materials and Methods: A total of 177 wives, 100 wives of patients with Alcohol Dependence Syndrome and 77 wives of patients with Bipolar Affective Disorder- current episode mania were evaluated. Tools used were ICD-10 AM symptom checklist and modules for assessment of psychiatric morbidity and diagnosis was made based on The International Classification of Diseases – (Diagnostic Research Criteria DCR-10).

Results: Psychiatric disorders are diagnosed in 75% of the wives of patients with alcohol dependence syndrome out of which 45% have dysthymia, 12% have mild depressive episode, 8% have adjustment disorder- prolonged depressive reaction, 5% have moderate depressive episode and 5% have anxiety disorder unspecified.

Conclusion: The present study concludes that the wives of patients with Alcohol Dependence Syndrome have significant psychiatric morbidity when compared to wives of patients with Bipolar Affective Disorder-current episode mania. The most common psychiatric disorder is dysthymia.

Background and Objectives: Fasting over a prescribed period of time is a common religious tradition practiced by several prominent faiths in the world. It is also currently regaining interest as a medical practice, both as preventive and as therapy and/or simple choice of lifestyle. For the first time, we evaluate how Ramadan (an Islamic month) fasting can influence the incidence of intracerebral hematoma and its outcome.

Methods: 69 patients with primary intracerebral hemorrhage enrolled in this study, 32 patients were enrolled during Ramadan (18 patients were fasting, 14 patients were not fasting) and 37 patients were enrolled one month later (Shawal) which is not a mandatory fasting month among Muslims. All patients were admitted to Neurology department, Mansoura university hospital. The clinical characteristics and mortality during hospital admission were noticed. They were all assessed using routine lab, CT brain, “National Institutes of Health Stroke Scale” (NIHSS) and “Modified Rankin Scale” (mRS).

Results: About 22 percentage of fasting patients with intracerebral hematoma died, 28.6% non-fasting patients died and 20.5% of patients died in the month after Ramadan without significant difference among the three groups (ρ>0.05). Also regarding NIHSS, hematoma expansion and mRS, there was no statistically significant difference among the three groups (ρ>0.05).

Conclusion: Ramadan fasting showed neither protective effect nor worsening as regard incidence or bad impact on patients with spontaneous intracerebral hemorrhage.

Aim: This study set out to determine the extent of use, abuse and dependence of commonly abused psychoactive substances and their correlates among undergraduates in the University of Port Harcourt.

Methodology: In a cross-sectional survey, using multi-stage sampling, undergraduates in the Social sciences faculty of the University of Port Harcourt, Nigeria were selected. A semi-structured questionnaire adapted from the WHO student drug survey proforma was used as an instrument for data collection. The results were analysed using EPI-info 2000 statistical package.

Results: There were 352 respondents with a mean age of 24.4 ± 3.5 years. There were 203 (57.7%) males and 149 (42.3%) females. A majority of respondents (90.6%) use at least one psychoactive substance while 22.2% of them abuse substances. The male sex predominated among the substance abusers with a M: F ratio of 2:1. The prevalence of current use for psychoactive substances ranged from 1.3% to 74.9%. Alcohol (74.9%), was the most commonly used psychoactive substances while heroin (1.3%), was the least used. Abuse rates were higher in cocaine, tobacco and cannabis (66.7%, 63.6% and 55.3% respectively) while dependency rates were higher in heroin, cannabis and cocaine (100.0%, 76.2% and 50.0% respectively). The top three reasons given for starting to use psychoactive substances were experimentation (23.1%), group conformity (23.1%) and curiosity (20.5%) while the reasons given for continuing to use/abuse these substances were to feel good (37.2%), relieve stress (20.0%) and avoid withdrawal symptoms (11.5%). The majority (70.5%) of psychoactive substance users started to use substances before enrolment into the university while more than half of the substance users (56.4%) admitted that being in the university did not increase their use of psychoactive substances. Adverse effects on productivity were noted in 60.3% of substance users.

Conclusion: The tendency to abuse substances may begin earlier in childhood and adolescent ages, with the male sex, more vulnerable. More efforts at public enlightenment on the detrimental effects of psychoactive substances should be strategically targeted to include the family unit, primary and secondary school children.

Background: As years passes by, the usage of social media has become an important public health issue. It is known that problematic social media use is related with health problems. With this study, it is aimed to determine the social media use of hospital employees, the relation between social media addiction and burnout levels and to determine effective factors.                                                                                                                

Methods: Target population of the cross-sectional study consists of 2627 person between the ages of 18-60 who is working at a university hospital. Minimum sample size was calculated as 321 and reached up to 323 people. Question form, Burnout Scale and Social Media Addiction Adult Form were applied by interviewing the employees face-to-face between the months of March-April 2019.

Results: 80.2% of the participants use social media every day, 63.1% of them use social media mostly at evenings. 94.8% of people mostly connect to social media with their phone. Average time spent daily on social media is 91, 33±87, 89 minutes. Daily social media use is significantly higher in women, university graduates, nurses. There is a significant difference between age groups and between married and never married in terms of average time spent daily on social media. Social media addiction scale score is significantly higher in women, never married persons and in the age group 20-29. Weak correlation was determined between scores of social media addiction scale and burnout levels, and age and time spent on social media.                                                                                                                                        

Conclusions: It is determined that social media usage in hospital employees is higher than Turkey’s average and there is a positive relation between scores of social media addiction scale and burnout levels. Providing education to employees in order to reduce social media usage, hanging posters related with how over-usage of social media may lead to burnout.

The class of drugs designated as central nervous system (CNS) stimulants includes the four social drugs that find use among some youth of Eastern Nigeria; caffeine, nicotine, cocaine and marijuana. CNS stimulants increase or enhance the activity of monoamines (such as dopamine and nor epinephrine) in the brain, which leads to increased heart rate, blood pressure, and respiration. They also have a high potential for addiction. Addiction is defined as a chronic, relapsing brain disease that is characterized by compulsive drug seeking and use, despite harmful consequences. It is considered a brain disease because these drugs change the brain structure and function. The aim of this review is to answer the following questions: What are the common types of CNS stimulants abused in Eastern Nigeria? What prompts people to start taking these drugs? Why do people become addicted to these drugs? How does CNS stimulant abuse gain foothold in Eastern Nigeria? What are the implications of this drug taking for the users and the development of youth? How does the abuse of these stimulants affect the Eastern Nigerian society? How can the use of CNS stimulants among youth of eastern Nigeria be prevented or discouraged? Is there any treatment available for the youth addicted to CNS stimulants in Eastern Nigeria?