Encephale
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Prescriptions for psychotropic drugs are part of a general practitioner's daily routine. As with all drugs, they need to be controlled by a phenomenon of observance. Respecting prescriptions is in fact a major public health concern. ⋯ Autonomy is a means to responsibility and to valorise a part of the patients in particular those which are non-observing so as to strengthen their capacity to manage their health as best they can. It contributes to a better observance of treatment in as much as autonomous patients are more inclined to negotiate with their doctors. Looking for self-regulatory behaviour allows us a better understanding of those patients non-observers who are willing, and helps them to develop their aptitude to face up to their illness.
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To evaluate the psychometric characteristics of the CES-D (Center for Epidemiological Studies - Depression Scale) in adolescents and to estimate the prevalence of major depression in French high-school students. ⋯ The high internal consistency and the factor structure of the CES-D suggest its reliability in adolescents. This study found a high frequency of probable major depression in French high-school students.
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According to a thesis based on the idea of an influence of cognitions in the structuring of internal reality, emotional awareness, ie the capacity of representing your own emotional experience and that of others, is a cognitive process that goes into maturation. Defining this concept, Lane and Schwartz present a cognitivo-developmental model in five stages of the processes of symbolization, accounting for the differences in levels of emotional awareness observed in individuals. The organization of these cognitive processes would thus be structured in well differentiated stages, in which the development of the emotions would be inseparable from the development of ego and of the relation to others. ⋯ Furthermore, the study of the reliability made it possible to highlight excellent intra-class correlation coefficients (r=0.993). The French version of the Levels of Emotional Awareness Scale thus appears to be valid and accurate and should allow the study of levels of emotional awareness on psychopathology. It is about an easily acceptable and simple questionnaire of use in varied clinical circumstances.
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The psychobiological model of personality developed by Cloninger, including four dimensions of temperament and three dimensions of character, allows to explore personality factors associated with depressive disorders. The three main dimensions of temperament are Novelty Seeking (NS), ie the tendency towards excitement in response to novel or rewarding stimuli, Harm Avoidance (HA) hypothesized to represent the tendency to respond intensely to signals of adverse stimuli, and Reward Dependence reflecting the tendency to respond intensely to signals of reward and to maintain behavior previously associated with reward. These personality traits are hypothetically related to underlying neurotransmetter systems (especially NS to dopaminergic function and HA to serotonergic function). ⋯ More specifically, correlations have been obtained between platelet serotonergic markers (5-HT2a receptors) and Harm Avoidance scores also in depressed patients. In conclusion, Harm Avoidance seems to be a vulnerability factor or at least an associated factor to depressive disorders. This temperament dimension is supposed to be highly heritable, and to be linked to the serotonergic system variations.