Nizamie Sh

Mu-wave activity in schizophrenia: Evidence of a dysfunctional mirror neuron system from an Indian study

Background: The ‘mirror-neuron system’ is thought to play an important role in automatic decoding of biological motions and interpretation of socially adaptive environmental stimuli. Accordingly, a dysfunction in this system in schizophrenia has been hypothesised to mediate the psychotic manifestations. Materials and Methods: As a part of an ongoing study, we evaluated the mirror neuron system using ‘EEG mu-wave (8-13 Hz) suppression’ paradigm in 15 drug naïve/drug free patients and compared the working to 15 age, sex and education matched controls. We also correlated the psychopathology scores on PANSS with the mu wave suppression in the schizophrenia patients, at baseline. We used high (192-channel) resolution EEG to record the mu rhythm while the subjects watched alternating sequences of a socially-relevant biological motion and white visual-noise on a custom made video-clip. Results: We found a significant difference in the degree of mu wave suppression between the two groups. We also found that the degree of mu suppression over right sensorimotor cortex at presentation correlated significantly and negatively with thought disorder in the patient group, and had a strong linear relationship. Conclusion: This study replicates past findings regarding a dysfunctional mirror neuron system in schizophrenia patients, and also emphasizes the role of rMNS in schizophrenic thought disorders.

Utility of reiss screen in identifying psychiatric problems in persons with mental retardation.

Background: Almost all psychiatric disorders found in general population can also be found in mental retardation (MR). Identification of the psychiatric problems in MR is a difficult process, primarily due to inherent communication and cognitive deficits wherein comes the role of psychological scales. There are few scales of which Reiss screen for maladaptive behaviors (RSMB) is popularly used in the West. Nevertheless, the utility of RSMB is less known in India. Aim: In this context, the present study was designed to study the diagnostic utility of RSM. Materials and Methods: Fifty six persons with ICD-10 diagnosis of MR and psychiatric diagnoses or behavioral disorders were selected through purposive sampling. RSMB was used to screen psychiatric problems and the findings were contrasted with that of the ICD-10 diagnoses. Results and Conclusion: RSMB could differentiate well between those with and without psychiatric diagnoses. The diagnostic efficiency statistics were found to be satisfactory. Therefore, RSMB can be used in Indian settings without any cultural limitations.

Sufism and mental health

Human experience in, health and disease, always has a spiritual dimension. pirituality is accepted as one of the defining determinants of health and it no more remains a sole preserve of religion and mysticism. In recent years, pirituality has been an area of research in neurosciences and both in the nderstanding of psychiatric morbidity and extending therapeutic interventions it seems to be full of promises. Sufism has been a prominent spiritual tradition in Islam deriving influences from major world religions, such as, Christianity and Hinduism and contributing substantially toward spiritual well-being of a large number of people within and outside Muslim world. Though Sufism started in early days of Islam and had many prominent Sufis, it is in the medieval period it achieved great height culminating in many Sufi orders and their major proponents. The Sufism aims communion with God through spiritual realization; soul being the agency of this communion, and propounding the God to be not only the cause of all existence but the only real existence. It may provide a vital link to understand the source of religious experience and its impact on mental health.

Perceive Family Environment among Parents, Spouses and Siblings of Alcohol Dependence Patients: A Comparative Study

Background: The family is the primary unit of the society to take care the material, physical and emotional needs of people. Drug addiction and alcoholism causes significant intimidation to entire family system and the family environment tends to be become strained because of this problem. This study was carried out to know how the parents, siblings and spouses of individuals with alcohol addiction perceive the quality of family environment. Methods: In this study 90 participants (30 parents, 30 spouses and 30 siblings) of the patients diagnosed with alcohol dependence syndrome were selected purposively. Tools like socio-demographic data sheet, Family Environment Scale (FES), and General Health Questionnaire- 12 were used for data collection. Limitation: The present study has some limitations e.g. small sample size, samples were collected from a single place and impact of culture was not controlled, influence of psychosocial factors on family interaction pattern and family environment (as stigma, express emotions, codependency etc.) were not assessed. Conclusion: Spouses revealed lower level of family environment in the domain of expressiveness as compared to parents and siblings of alcohol dependence. Finding also indicated that Parents and spouses group reported to have more negative experiences in the domain of control as compared to siblings of alcohol dependence.

Auditory P300 event-related potential: Normative data in the Indian population

Objective: To generate the normative data of auditory P300 event-related potential for various age groups in the Indian population. Materials and Methods: Auditory P300 event-related potentials, using the oddball paradigm, of healthy control participants in studies carried out at our institute were included to generate normative data in the age range of 10–50 years. The amplitude and latency of P300 for Fz, Cz, and Pz were selected for analysis. Results: For P300 amplitude, overall multivariate analysis of variance (MANOVA) was significant [Pillais Trace F (9/453) = 3.46, P < 0.001]. Follow-up ANOVA showed significant difference across age groups at Fz, Cz, and Pz. For P300 latency, there was a trend towards significance for overall MANOVA [Pillais Trace F (9/453) = 1.68, P = 0.09]. Follow-up ANOVA showed a trend towards significant difference across age groups at Fz only. Conclusion: Our study generated a P300 amplitude and frequency normative database at Fz, Cz, and Pz, which will serve as a reference for future studies attempting to define P300 abnormalities in various psychiatric disorders in Indian population.