Patients suffering form chronic diseases have to deal with several problems, the illness itself o... more Patients suffering form chronic diseases have to deal with several problems, the illness itself only being one of them. Health care providers have to undergo a paradigm shift to be able to meet the new challenges which differ from those in acute care. From the patient's perspective, coping with a chronic disease is not a limited process, but encompasses different, often recurring phases (trajectory model). The treating physician's support may comprise the offering of information on general and specific stress factors (physical, emotional, social), empathy, respecting the individual's expertise and activating a patient's resources and self-efficacy. The amount of support given is limited by the treating physician's expert knowledge in this area. Physicians should respect their own limits and involve specialists, supervision or Balint groups.
Handbook of Cannabis and Related Pathologies, 2017
Compared to the general population, drug use is elevated in the clubbing culture. In particular, ... more Compared to the general population, drug use is elevated in the clubbing culture. In particular, stimulants, such as, ecstasy, amphetamines, cocaine, and new psychoactive substances are often used in the context of a clubbing event. Cannabis is not generally considered a typical clubbing drug. However, it is frequently used concomitantly with club drugs. The problems associated with this multiple substance use range from pronounced deterioration in physical, psychological, and cognitive functioning, compared to cannabis only or no illicit drug use. Reasons for polydrug use, despite the indicated adverse effects, may consist of desired short-time effects, such as, masking or alleviating unwanted stimulant-induced hyperarousal, or enhancing the desired effects of stimulants. Additionally, communal attitudes and common liabilities, such as personality traits and/or genetic variations, may predispose to both cannabis and further drug use. For prevention and development of successful treatment strategies for health issues associated with polydrug use, further research is needed to expand on the personal, social, and biological factors predicting risk and resilience factors for polydrug use.
The inability to adequately suppress the second of two identical stimuli is called sensory gating... more The inability to adequately suppress the second of two identical stimuli is called sensory gating deficit and can be studied by recording evoked potentials to auditory stimuli, e.g. the P50 and the N100. It has been considered the physiological correlate of schizophrenia patients' perception of being flooded by sensory impressions. According to the notion that the gating deficit constitutes a genetic trait, we expected to demonstrate the phenomenon in first-episode schizophrenia patients by using Magnetencephalography (MEG). Eighteen inpatients in remission of their first psychotic episode and 24 healthy, age- and sex-matched control subjects participated in the study. Diagnoses, psychopathology, and handedness were assessed with established instruments. Stimulation was performed with the double click paradigm (ISI 500 ms, ITI 9-10 s). MEG recordings of 15 patients and 18 controls entered further analyses with the software BESA for spatio-temporal source analyses and statistical analyses with MATLAB. Neither P50 nor N100 responses differed statistically between the groups, which means that gating was not impaired in this sample of first-episode schizophrenia patients. These results are not in line with the majority of studies on sensory gating in schizophrenia, however, studies on first-episode patients are scarce. The most likely reasons for not observing a gating deficit in our study are patients' first-episode status and atypical antipsychotic medication.
Patients suffering form chronic diseases have to deal with several problems, the illness itself o... more Patients suffering form chronic diseases have to deal with several problems, the illness itself only being one of them. Health care providers have to undergo a paradigm shift to be able to meet the new challenges which differ from those in acute care. From the patient's perspective, coping with a chronic disease is not a limited process, but encompasses different, often recurring phases (trajectory model). The treating physician's support may comprise the offering of information on general and specific stress factors (physical, emotional, social), empathy, respecting the individual's expertise and activating a patient's resources and self-efficacy. The amount of support given is limited by the treating physician's expert knowledge in this area. Physicians should respect their own limits and involve specialists, supervision or Balint groups.
Handbook of Cannabis and Related Pathologies, 2017
Compared to the general population, drug use is elevated in the clubbing culture. In particular, ... more Compared to the general population, drug use is elevated in the clubbing culture. In particular, stimulants, such as, ecstasy, amphetamines, cocaine, and new psychoactive substances are often used in the context of a clubbing event. Cannabis is not generally considered a typical clubbing drug. However, it is frequently used concomitantly with club drugs. The problems associated with this multiple substance use range from pronounced deterioration in physical, psychological, and cognitive functioning, compared to cannabis only or no illicit drug use. Reasons for polydrug use, despite the indicated adverse effects, may consist of desired short-time effects, such as, masking or alleviating unwanted stimulant-induced hyperarousal, or enhancing the desired effects of stimulants. Additionally, communal attitudes and common liabilities, such as personality traits and/or genetic variations, may predispose to both cannabis and further drug use. For prevention and development of successful treatment strategies for health issues associated with polydrug use, further research is needed to expand on the personal, social, and biological factors predicting risk and resilience factors for polydrug use.
The inability to adequately suppress the second of two identical stimuli is called sensory gating... more The inability to adequately suppress the second of two identical stimuli is called sensory gating deficit and can be studied by recording evoked potentials to auditory stimuli, e.g. the P50 and the N100. It has been considered the physiological correlate of schizophrenia patients' perception of being flooded by sensory impressions. According to the notion that the gating deficit constitutes a genetic trait, we expected to demonstrate the phenomenon in first-episode schizophrenia patients by using Magnetencephalography (MEG). Eighteen inpatients in remission of their first psychotic episode and 24 healthy, age- and sex-matched control subjects participated in the study. Diagnoses, psychopathology, and handedness were assessed with established instruments. Stimulation was performed with the double click paradigm (ISI 500 ms, ITI 9-10 s). MEG recordings of 15 patients and 18 controls entered further analyses with the software BESA for spatio-temporal source analyses and statistical analyses with MATLAB. Neither P50 nor N100 responses differed statistically between the groups, which means that gating was not impaired in this sample of first-episode schizophrenia patients. These results are not in line with the majority of studies on sensory gating in schizophrenia, however, studies on first-episode patients are scarce. The most likely reasons for not observing a gating deficit in our study are patients' first-episode status and atypical antipsychotic medication.
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Papers by Silke Bachmann