与迷信巫术相关的精神障碍同癔症的对照研究

目的　研究与迷信巫术相关精神障碍的临床特征。　　方法　将与迷信巫术相关的精神障碍41例与社会心理应激诱发的癔症 52例进行临床对照研究。　　结果　研究组平均发病年龄大于对照组 ,遗传史、文化背景、临床特征均有明显不同。附体体验显著高于对照组 ,且附体内容也存有差异。　　结论　表明两者属不同类型的精神障碍 ,与迷信巫术相关的精神障碍作为一类文化相关精神障碍是合理的 ,支持CCMD—Ⅱ—R。     

Behavioural beliefs of Ghanaian radiographers and reporting of child physical abuse

Introduction

Radiographers are well placed to flag non accidental injury in children due to their unique position within the imaging chain. Being able to identify (or suspect) physical abuse in children and reporting the incident are, however, two different issues. This study was conducted to explore the external influences in the decision making of the Ghanaian radiographer to report suspected child physical abuse (CPA).

与迷信巫术相关的精神障碍：41例临床分析

对41例与迷信巫术相关的精神障碍进行临床分析，结果显示以农村35岁以上女性，文化程度低，迷信思想严重、性别内向、胆小、心胸狭窄．敏感多疑为其共性。临床症状与迷信巫术思想密切相关。治疗以小剂量至中等剂量抗精神病药为主辅以心理治疗。预后良好，并对其发病机理作了探讨。     

Epilepsy – from mysticism to science

The understanding of epilepsy has been in progressive evolution since Antiquity, with scientific advances culminating in the last few decades. Throughout history, epilepsy was plagued by mystical misconceptions involving either demonic possessions, witchcraft, or divine interventions. This has frequently altered or even halted any real progress in its scientific understanding or its social perception. This metaphysical context is also at the core of the stigma revolving around this condition, some of which still lingering today. This review explores the origins of these mystical beliefs, and describes the chronological evolution of epilepsy from mysticism to science across different civilizations and eras.     

Belief in ghost month can help prevent drowning deaths: a natural experiment on the effects of cultural beliefs on risky behaviours

Studies have suggested that cultural beliefs, such as those underlying religious social occasions and superstitions, have both positive and negative effects on mortality rates. Many people in Southern China believe that there are wandering ghosts who were released from hell during the lunar month of July (ghost month: mostly August in the Gregorian calendar): people therefore avoid unnecessary risky activities during ghost month. The aim of this study was to examine whether unintentional drowning deaths decreased during ghost month, using a matched control design and mortality data of Taiwan between 1981 and 2005. Results show that overall days-adjusted monthly death rate in ghost month days in Gregorian August was 1.37 (per 1,000,000). This was significantly lower than those in non-ghost month days, which was 1.67. The mean number of deaths in ghost months was lower than that in the matched controls, which was -3.2 deaths (-2.6 to -3.5) during weekends and -4.5 deaths (-2.2 to -7.2) during weekdays. The differences were more prominent in men than in women. For other main causes of death, we did not find persistent significant differences throughout the four matched controls. In conclusion, our findings support the death-dip hypothesis. Possible mechanisms are that people who believe in the ghost month might either decrease their exposure to water-related activities or involve themselves less in risky behaviours during ghost month, as a kind of risk compensation, consequently resulting in a reduction in the number of drowning deaths. As such we conclude that cultural factors should be taken into consideration when designing injury prevention programs.     

Do superstitious beliefs affect influenza vaccine uptake through shaping health beliefs?

Background

This study examined the impact of superstitious beliefs on influenza vaccine uptake and investigated the role of health beliefs as underlying psychological mechanisms. It is hypothesized that superstitious beliefs predict greater perceived risks in influenza and vaccines, which in turn affect influenza vaccine uptake.

Sentences with core knowledge violations increase the size of N400 among paranormal believers

A major problem in research on paranormal beliefs is that the concept of "paranormality" remains to be adequately defined. The aim of this study was to empirically justify the following definition: paranormal beliefs are beliefs in physical, biological, or psychological phenomena that contain core ontological attributes of one of the other two categories [e.g., a stone (physical) having thoughts (psychological)]. We hypothesized that individuals who believe in paranormal phenomena are slower in understanding whether sentences with core knowledge violations are literally true than skeptics, and that this difference would be reflected by a more negative N400. Ten believers and 10 skeptics (six men, age range 23-49) participated in the study. Event-related potentials (N400) were recorded as the participants read 210 three-word Finnish sentences, of which 70 were normal ("The house has a history"), 70 were anomalies ("The house writes its history") and 70 included violations of core knowledge ("The house knows its history"). The participants were presented with a question that contextualized the sentences: "Is this sentence literally true?" While the N400 effects were similar for normal and anomalous sentences among the believers and the skeptics, a more negative N400 effect was found among the believers than among the skeptics for sentences with core knowledge violations. The results support the new definition of "paranormality", because participants who believed in paranormal phenomena appeared to find it more difficult to construct a reasonable interpretation of the sentences with core knowledge violations than the skeptics did as indicated by the N400.     

文化治疗对与文化相关精神障碍影响的临床对照研究

目的比较本民族文化治疗方法与临床常规治疗在与文化相关精神障碍治疗中的效果差异。方法搜集来自同一文化背景下的两组（观察组n=15;对照组n=11）与文化相关精神障碍样本,两组样本一般资料、诊断、文化生活环境配比平衡（P均〉0．05）;观察组采取由本文化背景下的非医疗专业人员施行类似暗示治疗的“文化治疗”;对照组采取由医疗专业人员常规治疗;观察两组样本的临床缓解率、复发率、药物副作用发生率、单次病程天数、治疗费用差异。结果两组完全达到临床痊愈;均未发生药物副反应;两组样本在病程（观察组：10．93±8．06,对照组：14．36±9．06,t=-1．02,P=0．32）和复发次数上（观察组1例次,对照组5例次,Fisher确切概率法求得P=0．054）的差异均无统计学意义;观察组未发生治疗费用,对照组住院费用为（1645．72±613．45）元。结论在与文化相关精神障碍的治疗效果上,由本文化治疗者采取的文化治疗与临床常规治疗并无差异,但由本文化治疗者采取的文化治疗在治疗费用上更为经济,应当作进一步研究。     

与文化相关的精神障碍时间和地域差异性研究

目的：探讨与文化相关的精神障碍的变化属性及时间、地域差异。方法：统计１９８８～１９９７年间城、乡３所精神病院与文化相关精神障碍的门诊率、住院率及患者的一般资料,对其时间、地域、性别、年龄、文化程度差异及文化内涵的变化进行分析。结果;城市以气功所致精神障碍为主,发病率近１０年有逐渐增高的趋势;农村以迷信巫术所致精神障碍为主,就诊率的时间差异不明显,内容前几年以迷信为主,后几年以宗教为主。气功所致者的     

迷信巫术与宗教相关精神障碍临床分析

为探讨迷信巫术与宗教相关精神障碍的临床特征和相关因素,分析根据CCMD-2-R诊断为迷信巫术与宗教所致精神障碍患者70例,男性8例(12％),女性62例(88％)。平均发病年龄46.17±11.62岁,40例(58％)急性起病。所有患者表现精神病发作,精神症状内容与迷信巫术与宗教密切相关。BPRS(N=59)总分均值39.03±9.46。作者认为该组精神障碍的临床特征与迷信巫术和宗教文化内容密切相关。发病原因可能与患者的易感心理素质和过分相信或追求迷信巫术与宗教观念和心理效应等多方面因素相关。迷信巫术与宗教有不同的概念,迷信巫术与宗教相关精神障碍的诊断应该有不同的分类。