L’œuvre d’Henri Ey et les évolutions de la phénoménologie

Henri Ey left a work which still helps in the comprehension of current mental disorders, of psychopathology and of psychiatry in our society. Its conception is rooted in phenomenological philosophy side by side with clinical, anthropological, medical and sociological references. We will study three paramount fields: the integration of Husserl's topics by Henri Ey via the method of phenomenology; the constitution of transcendental conscience; and that of psychological conscience. The elementary dynamics of psychic life concern the elaboration of perception and of representation. Henri Ey and Husserl both take into account the cognitive and emotional dimensions of these fields in the very elaboration of the unconscious. Finally, we will locate Henri Ey's frequent references to Max Scheler in his studies on anguish and mood disorders. Phenomenology is for Henri Ey the fundamental base of his integrating conception.     

Mood and anxiety disorders in relatives of anorexia nervosa patients: a review

In the literature, no review concerning the family comorbidity of mood and anxiety disorders of anorexic subjects exists. However, this data can be important for the comprehension of this disorder and for the assumption of responsibility. OBJECTIVE: We conducted a critical literature review on studies assessing the prevalence of anxiety disorders (AD) and mood disorders in relatives of anorexia nervosa (AN) subjects. In the first part, we discuss methodological issues relevant to these comorbidity studies. In the second part, taking into account the methodological considerations raised, we summarise the findings of these studies. METHOD: We performed a manual and computerised search (Medline) for all published studies on the frequency of MD and AD in AN relatives and MD or AD, limiting our search to the 1980-2002 period, in order to get sufficiently homogeneous diagnostic criteria for both categories of disorders (most often RDC, DSM III, DSM III-R, or DSM IV criteria). RESULTS: We review methodological issues regarding population sources, general methodological procedures, diagnostic criteria for AN, MD and AD, diagnostic instruments, age of subjects and course of the eating disorder. DISCUSSION: We discuss the results taking into account the methodological problems observed. We give implications for reviewing the results of published studies and planning future research.     

Étude des tempéraments affectifs chez des patients épileptiques en Tunisie

Purpose

Epilepsy is a chronic neurological disorder that is associated with an increased risk for psychopathology. Depression is the most common comorbid psychiatric condition in epilepsy, with often atypical clinical manifestations, including symptoms of irritability and anxiety. Temperament refers to biologically based characteristic patterns of emotional reactivity and self-regulation. In early studies, specific temperamental factors have been shown to be risk factors for depression symptoms in adult epilepsy patients. Thus, determining the affective temperament profile of epilepsy patients has important clinical implications especially in identifying those patients most at risk of developing mood disorders. However, very few studies of temperament in epilepsy patients have yet been published. The purpose of this study was to measure depression symptoms and severity, and to assess temperament in adult epilepsy patients, in comparison with control subjects; and to evaluate among the group of epilepsy patients the relationships between affective temperament types, sociodemographic profiles, clinical characteristics, and symptoms of depression.

Coping et qualité de vie dans la sclérose en plaques et la maladie de Parkinson : une réflexion clinique

Objective

In neurological disorders, such as multiple sclerosis (MS) and Parkinson’ s disease (PD), psychological and adaptive processes have not been extensively investigated, it has, however, been demonstrated that they have a great impact on “quality of life” (QoL). Interestingly, even though these two diseases affect people of different ages, both of them have a substantial impact on mood and QoL. In these two diseases, the authors objective was to analyse the style of coping in relation with the QoL taking depression and anxiety into account.

Methods

Two hundred and seventy MS and PD subjects were seen for a semistructured interview in order to collect sociodemographic and clinical information, after which there was an assessment of their mental and cognitive states using: the Mini International Neuropsychiatric Interview (MINI), the Montgomery and Asberg Depression Rating Scale (MADRS), the Depressive Mood Scale (EHD), the Hamilton Anxiety scale (HAMA) and the Frontal Assessment Battery (FAB). Then, all subjects completed three self-report questionnaires; two about coping strategies: the Ways of Coping Checklist (WCC), the Coping with Health, Injuries and Problems scale (CHIP), and one about QoL: the SEP 59 for MS and the French version of PDQ-39 for PD.

Results

The studies show that the psychosocial dimension of QoL is preserved in the two diseases studied. They also demonstrated that in MS and PD the two factors associated with a poor QoL are depression and emotion-focused coping strategies. Furthermore, these variables are highly dependent on the clinical courses in MS and motor signs in PD. However, the MS patients tended to be more irritable and to lose the control of their emotions more easily than PD patients.

Discussion

The report discusses the importance, first, of identifying these manifestations in patients with MS or PD and, second, of offering patients interventions tailored to the characteristics of each disorder. The authors propose some examples of psychotherapy, which could be used with neurological patients. The studies show that it is also important to work with MS and PD patients on both the expression and the management of their emotions in connection with their diseases.     

Le concept d’irritabilité chronique sévère : une dimension clinique à prendre en compte chez l’enfant et l’adolescent

Introduction

For a decade, the concept of irritability has known a renewed interest in infant and child psychopathology. Indeed, longitudinal follow-up studies clearly highlighted their predictive value — in the short, medium and long terms — of a broad field of behavioral disorders and emotion dysregulation. This dimensional and transnosographic approach of irritability, coupled with the latest neuroscience data, points out that irritability could be the equivalent of a psychopathological marker, covering both a neurobiological, cognitive and emotional component. It is a major challenge today to better understand the developmental sequence of severe chronic irritability and its predictive influence on the etiology of mental disorders from childhood to adulthood.

Évaluation de la pertinence de deux questions relatives aux diagnostics reçus de trouble de l’humeur et d’anxiété au sein de la population québécoise

BackgroundThe objective of this study is to assess the relevance of two questions relating to received diagnoses of mood and anxiety disorders in the Quebec population.MethodsThe data analysed originate from three cycles of the Canadian Community Health Survey (CCHS 2005, 2007–2008 and 2009–2010). Four respondent groups were created from two questions on mood and anxiety disorders: those reporting no disorders, a mood disorder, an anxiety disorder, or and both disorders. Four indicators measuring mental and general health are compared across groups.ResultsResults show a significant association between group membership and some indicators of mental and general health. The percentages of people having experienced a major depressive episode, significant psychological distress and perceived poor mental and general health increased with the number of diagnoses reported. Logistic regression analyses also confirm these results.ConclusionThe results of this study show that the four groups created from the two questions render it possible to distinguish persons in terms of indicators measuring the mental and general health of the Quebec population. Convergence of results in all three cycles lends additional credence to the use of questions on received diagnoses of mood and anxiety disorders.