Hadryś T

Trichotillomania Among Young Adults: Prevalence and Comorbidity.

Trichotillomania is an impulse control disorder characterized by repetitive pulling out of ones hair. The aim of this study was to estimate the prevalence of trichotillomania in young adults and its association with anxiety and obsessive-compulsive disorders (OCD). A total of 339 individuals completed a questionnaire to determine the presence of trichotillomania. OCD and anxiety disorders were diagnosed according to the diagnostic criteria of the International Classification of Diseases 10th Revision (ICD-10), based on the Composite International Diagnostic Interview. Twelve persons (3.5%) reported hair pulling during their lifetime, but only 8 of them met the criteria of trichotillomania according to the ICD-10. Four individuals had stopped their behaviour prior to the study participation. The lifetime anxiety disorders were diagnosed in 5 participants with trichotillomania (62.5%), while in the group without trichotillomania, 67 persons (20.2%) met the diagnostic criteria for anxiety disorders (p < 0.01). OCD were not diagnosed in individuals with trichotillomania, among participants without trichotillomania, 14 persons (4.2%) reported symptoms of OCD.

Practice of Competence Assessment in Dementia: Poland

Based on expert opinion, it has to be stated that the English word “competency” does not have an unambiguous synonym in Polish. It can mean in the first sense, in legal terms — which is the ability to act in legal matters, and less commonly, in the second sense, it can pertain to “competence” and words derived from this stem (Flisiak, 2003). In this article competency should be understood in legal terms, since the wider meaning of the word cannot be exactly conveyed in Polish. It could be said that it is a relatively new concept, which only now is being researched and defined (Morasiewicz, 2000). This new understanding of “competency” allows it to be understood independently of the definition in legal terms (Dąbrowski, 1998). According to Safjan the ability to express agreement is not an expression of will in a strict sense, but belongs to a different juridical category from the ability to act in legal matters (Safjan, 1998). Safjan states, that the ability to express agreement does not lead to actions having legal consequences, but is a “personal good” — the ability of autonomous decision making.