Yasuyuki Ohta

Effects of an educational program on public attitudes towards mental illness

Abstract  The World Psychiatric Association promotes global anti‐stigma programs. However, evaluation research is crucial to developing effective programs. The present study examined the effects of a lecture on mental health on public attitudes towards mental illness. Subjects were recruited from individuals employed by private companies and the government. Attitudes towards mental illness were measured using the Mental Illness and Disorder Understanding Scale developed by the authors and the Scale of Negative Attitudes Towards the Independence of People with Mental Disorders. Test scores obtained before and after the lecture were compared. The results demonstrated that scores on both scales improved significantly. The present study suggests the effectiveness of this type of educational program in reducing stigma attached to mental illness and disorder.

Lifetime prevalence of schizophrenia among individuals prenatally exposed to atomic bomb radiation in Nagasaki City

The aim of this study was to examine the relationship between prenatal exposure to atomic bomb (A‐bomb) radiation and the development of schizophrenia in adulthood.

Burden and coping strategies in mothers of patients with schizophrenia in Japan

Aim:  The present study was conducted to identify factors contributing to burden of care in 57 mothers caring for patients with schizophrenia.

Psychological distress among evacuees of a volcanic eruption in Japan: A follow-up study

Abstract Psychological distress in 248 evacuees from a volcanic eruption was evaluated using a 30‐item General Health Questionnaire (GHQ‐30) at four time points after evacuation: 6 months, 12 months, 24 months and 44 months. The proportion of evacuees with psychological distress (defined as a GHQ score ≥ 8) significantly decreased from 66.1% (6 months) to 45.6% (44 months). The GHQ mean score significantly improved from 12.6 to 8.9. Investigation of each factor on the GHQ showed progressive improvement over time in ‘anxiety, tension and insomnia’ and ‘anergia and social dysfunction’. However, ‘depression’ began to improve only after 44 months and ‘interpersonal dysfunction’ started to worsen after 12 months. The dysfunction in interpersonal relationships continued at 44 months. Examination of the relation between GHQ mean scores and age group showed that recovery from psychological distress was more difficult in middle‐aged and older evacuees than in younger evacuees.

Evaluating stigma against mental disorder and related factors.

Abstract  This study attempted to identify forms of stigma against individuals with mental disorders and related factors. The subjects comprised 2632 people living in the area covered by the K health center in N prefecture. Factor analysis of the Mental Disorder Prejudice Scale (1211 valid responses) identified three factors: ‘rejection’, ‘peculiarity’ and ‘human rights alienation’. Regression analysis revealed that age, welfare activities, an active problem‐solving attitude, lecture attendance, and previous contact, exerted independent effects with respect to ‘rejection’. These results suggest the importance of disseminating accurate information and creating more opportunities for people to have meaningful interactions with people with mental disorders in order to dispell the stigma.

The Factor Structure of the General Health Questionnaire (GHQ-30) in Japanese Middle-Aged and Elderly Residents

We conducted Goldbergs 30-item General Health Questionnaire (GHQ) on 1,216 Japanese general population aged 40-92. Among them, 9.8% of males and 13.7% of females scored over the cut-off point which is used to indicate minor psychiatric disorders. Factor analysis was carried out using the Likert method and eight factors labelled as follows were selected: depression, anxiety and tension, anergia, interpersonal dysfunction, difficulty in coping, insomnia, anhedonia and social avoidance. The mean value of the standardized scores for each age-sex group indicated that changes in sex-age social roles with age affect the mental health of the general population.

Decision-Making in Clinically Depressed-Patients - a Transcultural Social Psychological-Study

One of the most important cognitive deficits in depression is said to be the patients inability to make decisions. A research design involving a cross-cultural comparison between Australian and Japanese normal controls (N=309 and N=743, respectively) and clinically depressed patients (N=59 and N=45, respectively) was used to examine the influence of culture on illness and decision-making behavior, and whether deficits in decision making may be related to culture. It was found that depression had a greater effect on decision making in Australian patients than in Japanese patients. While many differences were found between Australian and Japanese nondepressed students, few differences were found between Australian and Japanese depressed patients. Thus, there appears to be an important interactional effect of culture and depression on decision making. The theoretical and clinical implications of the results are discussed.

Evaluating community attitudes to people with schizophrenia and mental disorders using a case vignette method

Abstract  Utilizing the case vignette method, community attitudes about people with schizophrenia and mental disorders, and perceived causes of and images regarding schizophrenia were investigated. Participants comprised 1596 respondents living in the area covered by the K health center in N prefecture. The survey utilized the Mental Disorder Prejudice Scale, a case vignette, and other basic attributes. The case vignette survey yielded the following results: when asked about a landlord refusing to rent an apartment to the vignette subject, approximately 80% of respondents agreed with the landlords decision. However, when asked about necessary conditions for the vignette subject to live in an apartment independently, only 2.4% of respondents chose ‘difficult under any circumstance’. Approximately half of the respondents chose the following conditions: ‘periodic visits to the hospital’, ‘availability of a system where people can discuss and address any problems that might arise’ and ‘attending a sheltered workshop or making attempts to rehabilitate’. Regarding acceptance as a neighbor after meeting the listed conditions, most respondents stated they would ‘treat him just like any other neighbor’ (47.3%), followed by ‘help as much as possible in times of need’ (36.3%). In other words, approximately 80.0% of respondents were willing to have the vignette subject as their neighbor. In addition, many respondents thought that schizophrenia is caused by problems in interpersonal relationships (64.8%) and represents an unstable disease (69.9%). When asked about having the subject as a neighbor, respondents were more willing to accept him as a neighbor after clarifying conditions for living arrangements.

Characteristics of trees drawn by patients with paranoid schizophrenia

Abstract The objective of the present study was to investigate the relationship between schizophrenia subtype and morphological characteristics of trees drawn in the Baum test. Subjects comprised the following three groups: 20 patients diagnosed with paranoid schizophrenia according to International Classification of Diseases (10th revision; ICD‐10) criteria; 26 patients with non‐paranoid schizophrenia according to ICD‐10 criteria; and 53 healthy individuals. Differences in psychiatric symptoms as assessed using the Brief Psychiatric Rating Scale (BPRS) score were compared between patients with paranoid and non‐paranoid schizophrenia. In addition, differences in two morphological characteristics of trees, namely trunk‐to‐crown ratio and trunk end opening, were compared between the three groups. No differences in psychiatric symptoms were identified between patients with paranoid and non‐paranoid schizophrenia. Conversely, mean ± SD trunk‐to‐crown ratio was 13.1 ± 8.0 for patients with non‐paranoid schizophrenia, 8.8 ± 4.6 for patients with paranoid schizophrenia, and 5.4 ± 3.4 for healthy individuals. Significant differences were identified between all three groups. Furthermore, mean trunk end opening was 0.80 ± 0.7 for patients with paranoid schizophrenia, 0.38 ± 0.6 for patients with non‐paranoid schizophrenia, and 0.06 ± 0.3 for healthy individuals. Again, significant differences were apparent between all three groups. These findings suggest that morphological differences in trees drawn in the Baum test can be observed between the two schizophrenia subtypes in terms of not only psychopathological interpretation, but also gestalt formation, as assessed on the basis of trees with collapsed gestalt or with some degree of gestalt. This suggests the possibility of multiple disorders at a physiological level. The present study confirmed that the Baum test can quantitatively assess facets of schizophrenia that existing scales such as BPRS are unable to analyze, and is useful for investigating brain function in patients with schizophrenia.

Clear distinction between preattentive and attentive process in schizophrenia by visual search performance

Visual information-processing deficits were investigated in patients with schizophrenia using visual search tasks. Subjects comprised 20 patients with schizophrenia and 20 normal subjects. Visual search tasks were modified from those used previously to reveal more distinct differences between feature and conjunction search tasks. The presentation area of items in the present study was more than double the area used in our previous study [Mori, S., Tanaka, G., Ayaka, Y., Michitsuji, S., Niwa, H., Uemura, M., Ohta, Y., 1996. Preattentive and focal attentional processes in schizophrenia: a visual search study. Schizophrenia Research 22, 69-76], and items were distributed over the area randomly in each trial to produce a certain range of locational jitter for each item across trials that prevented a matrix-like presentation of items at fixed positions [Mori, S., Tanaka, G., Ayaka, Y., Michitsuji, S., Niwa, H., Uemura, M., Ohta, Y., 1996. Preattentive and focal attentional processes in schizophrenia: a visual search study. Schizophrenia Research 22, 69-76]. The target was a red square, and distractors were red circles in the feature search task and red circles and green squares in the conjunction search task. Slopes and intercepts of a linear function relating reaction times to set size were computed. In the feature search task, slopes for both groups were almost zero. In the conjunction search task, significant differences in slopes were seen between the two groups irrespective of target presence or absence. Moreover, the slopes were approximately twice as steep during target absence as during target presence. These results indicate more definitively than the results of our previous study [Mori, S., Tanaka, G., Ayaka, Y., Michitsuji, S., Niwa, H., Uemura, M., Ohta, Y., 1996. Preattentive and focal attentional processes in schizophrenia: a visual search study. Schizophrenia Research 22, 69-76] that patients with schizophrenia have deficits in focal attentional processing, although their preattentive processing functions at a normal level.