The present 6 month follow-up study was conducted to investigate the possible influence of comorbid personality disorders on drug treatment, as well as associated psychopathology and HIV-related risk behaviors outcomes.

Data were collected initially from a consecutive sample of 74 patients with a diagnosis of opiate abuse or dependence, admitted for inpatient detoxification.

During intake, 80.9% of patients reported at least one HIV-related risk behavior in the previous 6 months. Not using condoms during sexual intercourse was the most common and the only risk behavior that showed a statistically significant reduction over the follow-up period. A total of 58.1% of subjects had at least one personality disorder (PD). Borderline PD was the most prevalent. However, antisocial PD was the only PD that influenced substance use outcomes. The presence of this diagnosis increased the chance of worse opiate use outcomes, but decreased likelihood of not using condoms. Patients with low obsessive–compulsive PD dimensional scores showed a significant increase in the number of risk behaviors. However, these influences were only seen at the 3-month follow-up assessment.

These results suggest that personality disorders need to be considered when planning effective interventions for opiate dependent individuals and when preparing and evaluating HIV risk-reduction interventions, particularly for the more severe substance dependent patients.

Depression is a disorder that causes disability, with a profound adverse impact on all areas of psychosocial functioning. This is particularly true for those with treatment resistant depression (TRD). However, to date, no systematic assessments of psychosocial functioning for patients with TRD have been conducted.

In the present study, we used the Longitudinal Interval Follow-up Evaluation (LIFE) scale to measure psychosocial functioning in 92 patients with TRD. These patients met formal criteria for TRD and were part of a clinical trial examining the efficacy of lithium augmentation of nortriptyline.

Clinicians rated this sample of patients as experiencing mild to moderate impairment in work-related activities, good to fair interpersonal relations, poor level of involvement in recreational activities, and mild impairment of ability to enjoy sexual activity. Patients and clinicians rated global social adjustment as poor.

Patients with formally defined TRD experience significant impairment in psychosocial functioning. In this sample a tendency existed for both clinicians and patients to assign more severely impaired global ratings when compared with ratings for specific functional areas.

The study aims at testing the validity of two types of classification of male alcoholism in a Greek hospital treatment sample.

The study population was drawn from male patients with alcohol dependence admitted to the Alcohol Treatment Unit of the Psychiatric Hospital of Attica. Seventy-three patients comprised the study sample after exclusion of subjects with alcohol dependence suffering from a comorbid serious medical condition, schizophrenic disorder, bipolar disorder, drug dependence or abuse, organic mental disorder or inability to read. The alcoholics were grouped in type I and II adopting the criterion of age-of-onset used by von Knorring et al. (1985). Impulsivity, suicide risk and violence risk were measured by means of the impulse control scale (ICS), the suicide risk scale (SRS) and the past feelings and acts of violence scale (PFAVS).

Fifty patients with alcohol dependence were defined as late-onset and 23 as early-onset. Compared to late-onset patients, early-onset individuals with alcohol dependence had more familial alcoholism (P = 0.032); they were in a higher rate unmarried (P = 0.001), had no stable job before entry in the Unit (P = 0.007) and scored higher on ICS (P = 0.046) and SRS (P = 0.024).

The present study confirms type I/type II dichotomy of male alcoholism and also shows that the age-of-onset is a valid classification criterion.

Conventional depot antipsychotics can provide constant pharmacologic treatment, eliminating partial compliance and reducing relapse risk. Atypical antipsychotics, have improved clinical profiles but require daily dosing, compromising their overall effectiveness. As oral risperidone provides safety and efficacy benefits over oral haloperidol, improvements may be realized by replacing conventional with atypical agents in long-acting therapy. This report examines 50-weeks of long-acting risperidone therapy in patients previously stabilized with conventional depot antipsychotics.

A multi-center, open-label study enrolled 725 patients with schizophrenia or schizoaffective disorder, judged clinically stable and maintained on stable antipsychotic doses for ≥4 weeks. Assignment by clinician judgment to receive 25–75 mg of long-acting risperidone every 2 weeks for 50 weeks followed, with performance of standard safety and efficacy assessments. Data are presented on patients receiving conventional depot antipsychotic monotherapy at study entry.

In the 188 (25.9%) patients receiving conventional depot antipsychotic monotherapy at entry, mild-to-moderate mean (±S.D.) Positive and Negative Syndrome Scale (PANSS)-total scores improved significantly after receiving long-acting risperidone (64.2 ± 18.9 to 58.2 ± 20.3; P < 0.001). Clinical improvement of ≥20%, 40%, or 60% reduction in PANSS-total score, occurred in 52%, 34%, and 16% of patients, respectively. ESRS subjective ratings and objective physician ratings (Parkinsonism) decreased significantly (P < 0.001).

Stable patients with mild, residual symptomatology treated with conventional depot antipsychotics experienced significant improvement in psychiatric and movement disorder symptomatology following 1-year of treatment with long-acting risperidone.