China
Africa
Explore chapters and articles related to this topic
Ekbom’s syndrome (delusional infestation) and body dysmorphic disorder
Published in David Enoch, Basant K. Puri, Hadrian Ball, Uncommon Psychiatric Syndromes, 2020
David Enoch, Basant K. Puri, Hadrian Ball
This patient, also female, was aged 68 years, and the features of her case were much more in line with many of those described by others. While she initially made no direct complaint of infestation, there was an unequivocal past history of this. Nine years previously she had presented elsewhere complaining of “something crawling up my private,” asking also whether it was possible to catch worms from the cat. She did not seem to be depressed, but on admission to hospital her zoopathic symptoms were more marked than they had originally appeared to be or, in addition, she began to insist that the worms had also invaded her rectum and affected her spine. She also claimed to have suffered from paraesthesiae in various parts of her body including her head. She was reported to have spent days searching for worms and to have seen these in her faeces. On this occasion she was treated with ECT, to which her condition responded fairly rapidly. However, following discharge from hospital, her condition soon underwent relapse. The diagnosis made at the time was of masked depression with hypochondriacal features. When seen a year later, her condition was found to be much as it originally had been, in view of which she was again admitted and treated on this occasion with anti-depressive drugs. Once more her mood improved, but her zoopathic occupations did not entirely disappear.
Psychiatry and social medicine
Published in Jagdish M. Gupta, John Beveridge, MCQs in Paediatrics, 2020
Jagdish M. Gupta, John Beveridge
Depression results in a sense of lack of pleasure in life which results in withdrawal, isolation and loss of interest in usual activities, and persistent lowering of mood which leads to thoughts about death or suicide. In severe cases it is associated with hallucinations and delusions. Sleep disorders (insomnia or hypersomnia) are common. The concept of masked depression has lost currency, but co-morbidity is common in childhood psychiatric disorders.
Clinical presentation of depression in the elderly
Published in Simon Lovestone, Robert Howard, Depression in Elderly People, 2020
Simon Lovestone, Robert Howard
Absence of the usual appearance of low mood should not preclude a diagnosis of depression. Whether because of a wish to avoid becoming a burden or because of the determination of the current cohort of the elderly to ‘put a brave face upon it’, late life depression can be masked by a smiling visage. ‘Masked depression’ is a rather old-fashioned term but does seem to apply to a particular group of older people with depression. This does not prevent the experienced from searching for other signs and symptoms of depression.
The Role of Masculinity and Depressive Symptoms in Predicting Suicidal Ideation in Homeless Men
Published in Archives of Suicide Research, 2019
This study was an initial attempt to use quantitative research methods to investigate the effectiveness of hegemonic masculinity, externalizing symptoms, and internalizing depressive symptoms in predicting suicidal ideation in a community sample of distressed men. Continued research focused on these constructs will help to further clarify more specifics regarding masculine depression and suicide in highly vulnerable populations such as homeless men. Very importantly, researchers are still working towards developing a comprehensive, empirically supported model of major depressive disorder that accounts for symptoms associated with masculine gender role norms (e.g., the features and course of masculine or masked depression). While the most thoroughly investigated frameworks of masculine depression have considerable overlap in symptoms or features (e.g., Cochran & Rabinowitz, 2003; Magovcevic & Addis, 2008; Martin et al., 2013; Rice et al., 2013), some differences in symptoms amongst models exist. The establishment of broader consistency in the conceptualization of masculine depression would allow for researchers to investigate and measure masculine/externalizing depression with even higher levels of reliability in conjunction with other constructs and in other populations (Nadeau et al., 2016).