Development of Social Services and Psychiatric Social Work in Turkey

This paper focuses on the development of social work in Turkey and its application in mental health. Since the establishment of Turkish republic in 1923, the legal and organizational structure of social work has been planned to follow the approaches of developed countries very closely. However, the religious and traditional effects of the daily routine of Turkish people, which is primarily based on supporting each other, seem to cause some disadvantages as well as advantages. Because the care of elderly, disabled, and psychiatric patients was traditionally provided by the family, the demand for governmental institualization in social work increased very slowly, causing a deceleration in the development of social work in health services, specificly in psychiatric services.     

Social Prognosis in Epilepsy

The author gives a short review of social implications of epilepsy in terms of education, employment, mental status, criminality and long-term institutionalization of epileptics. Special attention is paid to the results of studies of medico-social aspects of epilepsy in Poland. The problem of social label attached to epilepsy, its sources and influence on social prognosis in epilepsy is briefly discussed. The social prognosis in epilepsy seems to be related mainly to the physical, neurological and mental state of the individual epileptic and to the public general attitude towards epilepsy. There is still a great need for further multidisciplinary studies on social aspects of epilepsy especially in more representative epileptic materials, which may be found by field surveys.     

Social cognition in schizophrenia

Social cognition in schizophrenia is a rapidly emerging area of study. Because the number and diversity of studies in this area have increased, efforts have been made to better define terms and provide organizing frameworks. A key challenge confronting the study of social cognition in schizophrenia is building bridges between clinical scientists and social neuroscientists. The articles in this theme summarize data-based studies that have attempted to build or strengthen such bridges to better understand the neural bases of social cognitive impairment in schizophrenia.     

Social functioning in schizophrenia

Summary The association between electrodermal arousal and social functioning was investigated. It was predicted that poor social functioning would be associated with higher levels of arousal. Patients were tested for a 15 minute peroid without their relative and for 15 minutes with their relative present. The prediction received some support from the results in that three subscales of the Social Adjustment Scale (SAS) showed a significant association between lower social functioning and higher arousal. This association showed a trend towards significance in the SAS Overall Score. When patients with high EE and low EE relatives were analysed separately, significant associations were only found for the high EE group. These results were interpreted as giving some support to the hypothesis that patients who are functioning poorly have relatively stable high levels of arousal.     

Social phobia in Saudis

Summary Social phobia is a notably common disorders among Saudis, constituting approximately 13% of all neurotic disorders seen in our clinic. A group of 35 patients who met the D. S. M. III criteria of social phobia were compared to a randomly selected 270 clinic patients. They were observed to be predominantly young, unmarried males, with a relatively higher educational and occupational level. They are also less likely to report psycho-social stresses as a contributing cause for their problem. Generally, psychopharmacological treatment is not so effective as in controls. 37% of the patients have other types of psychiatric diagnosis as well. 46% have other types of phobic disorders. The environmental and social basis of the disorder in the context of Saudi Arabian culture is discussed.     

Social Motor Synchronization: Insights for Understanding Social Behavior in Autism

Impairments in social interaction and communication are critical features of ASD but the underlying processes are poorly understood. An under-explored area is the social motor synchronization that happens when we coordinate our bodies with others. Here, we explored the relationships between dynamical measures of social motor synchronization and assessments of ASD traits. We found (a) spontaneous social motor synchronization was associated with responding to joint attention, cooperation, and theory of mind while intentional social motor synchronization was associated with initiating joint attention and theory of mind; and (b) social motor synchronization was associated with ASD severity but not fully explained by motor problems. Findings suggest that objective measures of social motor synchronization may provide insights into understanding ASD traits.     

Social Robots as Embedded Reinforcers of Social Behavior in Children with Autism

In this study we examined the social behaviors of 4- to 12-year-old children with autism spectrum disorders (ASD; N = 24) during three tradic interactions with an adult confederate and an interaction partner, where the interaction partner varied randomly among (1) another adult human, (2) a touchscreen computer game, and (3) a social dinosaur robot. Children spoke more in general, and directed more speech to the adult confederate, when the interaction partner was a robot, as compared to a human or computer game interaction partner. Children spoke as much to the robot as to the adult interaction partner. This study provides the largest demonstration of social human-robot interaction in children with autism to date. Our findings suggest that social robots may be developed into useful tools for social skills and communication therapies, specifically by embedding social interaction into intrinsic reinforcers and motivators.     

Social impairment in Hyperkinetic Disorder

Abstract. Background: There is paucity of information concerning social impairment in children and adolescents referred to mental health services. Aims: The aim of this study was to assess the association of social impairment, psychopathology and environmental stressors in Hyperkinetic Disorder (HKD) and to determine the frequency of pervasive developmental disorder (PDD) symptoms in HKD. Method: Item sheets about children and adolescents seen in child and adolescent mental health between 1992 and 2001 (n = 3644) were used to extract nine psychopathology domains, two social impairment subtypes and nine environmental stressors. The two social impairment subtypes were relationship difficulty (RD) and social communication difficulty (SCD) (i. e. autistic-like social impairment). The association of SCD/RD, psychopathology domains and environmental stressors was investigated in HKD cases and compared to a psychiatric control group. Results: In children and adolescents with HKD, SCD was associated with speech and language difficulties, repetitive behaviour, developmental difficulties (all symptoms of PDD), affective symptoms, conduct problems and ADHD symptoms. Relationship difficulty was linked to conduct problems, affective symptoms and environmental stressors. Unlike SCD, RD was associated with all of the environmental stressors studied. There were significantly more children with PDD symptoms in the HKD group than in the control group. Conclusion: This study highlights the importance of subtyping social impairment in HKD and its association with psychopathology and environmental stressors. In HKD, SCD reflecting autistic social impairment is associated with other autistic symptoms, such as speech and language problems and repetitive behaviour. A small subgroup of HKD cases may have a milder form of autistic spectrum disorder.     

Social phobia in Swedish adolescents

Background  The aim of this study was to investigate the prevalence of self-reported social phobia in a community sample of Swedish adolescents in junior high school, at the risk-period for developing social phobia. Of particular interest was to investigate gender differences in prevalence across ages. Prevalence of sub-threshold social phobia was also studied. Methods  Students in grades 6–8 (aged 12–14) from seventeen schools in five Swedish municipalities were screened by means of a self-report questionnaire, the social phobia screening questionnaire-for children (SPSQ-C). Results  Data from a sample of 2,128 students were analysed and showed a point-prevalence rate of 4.4% (95%CI 3.5–5.2) and a significant gender difference (6.6% girls vs. 1.8% boys, P < 0.001). No significant differences in prevalence of probable cases emerged across the ages. At sub-threshold level, marked social fear of at least one social situation was reported by 13.8% of the total group. “Speaking in front of class” and “calling someone unfamiliar on the phone” were the most feared social situations. In the social phobia group, 91.4% reported impairment in the school-domain due to their social fear. Conclusion  Social phobia is a common psychiatric condition in Swedish adolescents, especially in girls. As impairment in the school-domain is reported to a high degree, professionals and teachers need to recognize social phobia in adolescents so that help in overcoming the difficulties can be offered.     

Social phobia syndrome in Japan

Recently, social phobia has been described in DSM-III and in International Classification of Diseases (ICD)-10 (1986 Draft), as a diagnostic entity and classified under the anxiety disorders. Since the 1920s, Japanese psychiatrists have paid particular attention to these phobic states. Though, they have not yet given explicit behavioral diagnostic criteria to social phobia, they have elucidated many important facets of this phobic symptom complex, especially those of obsessional and delusional features manifested in embodied communications of the patient with this phobia. Thus, in Japan, social phobia syndrome has not been considered as a mere phobic anxiety disorder described in DSM-III or ICD-10.     

Social attachments in autistic children

Social responses of young autistic children to separation from and reunion with their caregivers did not differ from the social responses to similar situations of young mentally retarded nonautistic children. Most autistic children directed more social behaviors to their caregivers than to strangers and increased their preferential behavior after separation. Individual differences in social responses were not associated with the level of representational skills shown by the autistic children.     

Social class factors in autism

Social class factors were studied in families of 148 patients hospitalized at the UCLA Neuropsychiatric Institute from 1961 to 1970. Seventy-four patients with the syndrome of perceptual inconstancy and diagnosis of autism were matched according to age, sex, and time of admission with 74 hospitalized for other neuropsychiatric disorders. Statistical comparisons of parental data revealed no significant differences in mean age at time of patient's birth, educational or occupational level, income, social class indexes, or distribution. Certain significant differences were noted in racial and religious compositions, and more mothers of autistic patients were unemployed at the time of their child's hospitalization. These findings, which differ from many reporting a significantly higher social class standing of families of autistic children, are discussed. It is suggested that future surveys of more culturally and socioeconomically heterogeneous populations will confirm that there is no significant association between social class factors and autism.This research was supported by grants from the National Institute of Child Health and Human Development, Grant 04612 to the Mental Retardation Center, UCLA, National Institute of Health Grant RR-3 to the Health Sciences Computer Facility, UCLA, and by the Department of Mental Hygiene, State of California. The authors wish to express their appreciation to Dr. A. Forsythe, Miss E. Bauschek, Miss Gwen Moore, and Mrs. Judy Klusza for help with statistical analyses and Miss Juli Wasserman and Mrs. Rose Weisler for administrative assistance.