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Background: Self-medication, defined by the World Health Organization (WHO) as using medicines for self-diagnosed conditions, can lead to misdiagnosis, adverse effects, and ethical issues. Given that psychiatrists and psychiatry residents face unique mental health stigma and other barriers, this study investigates their knowledge and attitudes regarding self-medication., Methods: A descriptive cross-sectional survey was conducted among 246 psychiatrists and psychiatry residents in Türkiye. Using convenience sampling, participants completed an anonymous online question form designed by researchers to assess sociodemographic factors, self-medication behaviors, and attitudes. Data were analyzed using descriptive statistics with SPSS 25.0., Results: Findings indicated that 83% of participants engaged in self-medication in the past year, primarily with antidepressants. Although 80.9% of respondents reported knowledge of self-medication, many were unaware of legal and ethical guidelines. Major reasons for self-medication included viewing problems as minor, previous positive experiences with self-medication, and time constraints limiting help-seeking., Conclusions: The study reveals that self-medication among psychiatrists and psychiatry residents is prevalent and potentially influenced by insufficient training on ethical implications. Many psychiatrists and psychiatry residents consider self-medication acceptable for minor issues, indicating a need for educational reforms and improved support systems. Addressing these gaps can promote a culture of professional help-seeking, ultimately enhancing psychiatrists' well-being and patient care quality., Competing Interests: Declarations. Ethics approval and consent to participate: The study was conducted in accordance with the Declaration of Helsinki and approved by the Baskent University Institutional Review Board and Ethics Committee (Project no: KA24/211). An informed consent was obtained from all participants. Consent for publication: Not applicable. Competing interests: The authors declare no competing interests. Clinical trial number: Not applicable., (© 2025. The Author(s).)

Hidradenitis suppurativa (HS) is a chronic inflammatory debilitating disorder that can result in significant morbidity. In addition to medical and surgical treatments, lifestyle modifications such as smoking cessation and weight control have an important benefit in HS management. These modifications can be challenging for both the patient and the clinician. The differences in eating behavior of HS patients compared to the general population are mostly unknown. Defining these differences in HS patients may help to develop more effective weight loss strategies. In our study, we aim to describe differences in eating behavior in HS patients compared to the normal population. 140 patients with HS and 140 age, gender and body mass index-matched healthy controls were included in the study. For each HS patient, Hurley and the investigator's global assessment scores were defined by a dermatologist. For each participant, Hamilton depression scale (HAM-D), Hamilton anxiety scale (HAM-A), and Dutch eating behavior questionnaire (DEBQ) were assessed by a psychiatrist. HAM-D scores were found to be significantly higher in HS group (p < 0.001), whereas HAM-A scores did not show a significant difference between HS and control group (p = 0.744). Emotional eating scores were significantly higher in HS patients compared to the control group (patients: 3.14 ± 0.96, controls: 2.29 ± 0.96, p < 0.001). Similarly, external eating scores were markedly elevated in HS patients compared to controls (patients: 3.38 ± 0.66, controls: 2.82 ± 0.73, p < 0.001). However, in terms of restrictive eating, there was no significant difference between the two groups (p = 0.783). In regression analysis, depression and anxiety scores were found not to have a significant effect on restrictive, emotional and external eating scores. Furthermore, in HS patients, a moderate positive correlation was found between emotional eating and external eating (p < 0.001). In conclusion, HS patients have tendency for emotional and external eating behavior independent from depression and anxiety., Competing Interests: Declarations. Ethical approval: The patients in this manuscript have given written informed consent to the publication of their case details. Competing interests: The authors declare no competing interests., (© 2025. The Author(s), under exclusive licence to Springer-Verlag GmbH Germany, part of Springer Nature.)

It is known that the use of psychotropic pharmaceuticals is common in comorbidities seen in autism spectrum disorder (ASD). We have very limited knowledge about which psychotropic drugs are prescribed when comorbidities are diagnosed in patients with ASD. It is aimed to determine the profile of psychotropic agents in patients diagnosed with ASD associated with comorbidities between the ages of 0-24 in Turkey over 4 years. Data belonging to ASD in Prescription Information System (PIS) was obtained from the 'Turkish Medicines and Medical Devices Agency'. A total of 34 066 prescriptions including 45 624 psychotropic drugs were analyzed. A total of psychotropic drugs prescribed for patients with ASD was 75.4%. The following psychotropic drugs were prescribed for the patients with ASD and its comorbidities; risperidone (28.6%), aripiprazole (13.7%), and valproic acid (11.3%) are the most preferred psychotropics. The percentage of pharmaceuticals containing psychotropic active substances in prescriptions with ASD and its comorbidities is 7.5%. This study is the first research in which psychotropics used in ASD were evaluated over a wide period and nationwide. Antipsychotics were most commonly prescribed with the diagnosis of ASD. In the presence of ASD and its comorbidities, risperidone was most frequently prescribed., (Copyright © 2023 Wolters Kluwer Health, Inc. All rights reserved.)

In this study, it was aimed to evaluate the opinions of psychiatrists in Turkey on whether to change the name of schizophrenia in order to reduce stigma. This cross-sectional survey was conducted with psychiatrists (resident in psychiatry, specialist, and lecturer) in Turkey. An online survey was created via the Google Forms public web address. Online questionnaires were delivered through Google Forms by emailing and messaging on WhatsApp, Telegram, Google and Yahoo groups and asking them to pass the questionnaire to other possible participants in their network. The study was performed between June 20, 2021 and July 10, 2021. 460 psychiatrists participated in the study. Forty-five-point 2 % of psychiatrists think that the name of schizophrenia should be renamed to reduce stigma. Forty-two-point 8 % of those who support the name change state that this change should be done as soon as possible. While 64.1 % of psychiatrists stated that naming the disease with another (new) name instead of schizophrenia could increase the hopes of patients and their relatives for recovery, 12.6 % stated that renaming would not cause any positive or negative changes. There is no statistical difference between psychiatrists who have a relative diagnosed with schizophrenia and psychiatrists who do not, in terms of thinking that the name of schizophrenia should be renamed to reduce stigma. In order to remove the stigma on schizophrenia, many interventions are required in social, cultural, economic and political fields. Renaming schizophrenia may be a good start for interventions., (Copyright © 2022 Elsevier B.V. All rights reserved.)

Objective: The whole world is still struggling with the COVID-19 pandemic. Inflammation response, thought to be associated with severe illness and death, is an important research topic in COVID-19. Inflammation is also an essential condition explored in psychiatric illnesses. Our knowledge about the relationship between the inflammation response and psychiatric comorbidities in patients with COVID-19 is very limited. In this study, the relationship between anxiety and depression levels and inflammation response of patients with COVID-19 hospitalized in the hospital was examined., Methods: 175 patients were included in the study. Sociodemographic Data Form, Beck Depression Inventory and Beck Anxiety Inventory were applied to the patients. To evaluate the inflammation responses, blood sedimentation rate, C-reactive protein (CRP), procalcitonin, ferritin, neutrophil/lymphocyte ratio (NLR), and IL-6 levels were examined., Results: In our study, no relationship was found between anxiety and depression levels and inflammatory responses in patients hospitalized with a diagnosis of COVID-19. Anxiety and depression levels of women were higher than men, and NLR, ferritin, IL-6 levels were found to be lower than men. Anxiety levels increase with age. There is a positive correlation between NLR and ferritin levels and duration of hospitalization., Conclusion: Our study examining the relationship of psychiatric comorbidities with the inflammation response and our increasing literature knowledge, together with studies evaluating the mental effects of COVID-19, suggest that determining the relationship between inflammation responses and psychiatric comorbidities in COVID-19, whose pathophysiology has not been clarified yet, maybe an essential step in interventions on the course of the disease.

Objective: Risk factors for alcohol use disorder have been investigated for a long time. The MAOA gene presents several polymorphisms, including 30-bp variable number tandem repeat sequences (VNTR) in the promoter region. In this study, temperament characteristics, impulsivity, and frequency of MAOA-u VNTR polymorphism were investigated as risk factors for alcohol use disorder., Materials and Methods: Sociodemographic data form, Michigan Alcoholism Screening Test, Barratt Impulsivity Scale-11, Temperament, and Character Inventory were applied to 188 patients with alcohol use disorder and 101 healthy controls., Results: High-activity alleles of MAOA-u VNTR were found more prevalent in the control group. Novelty seeking was found higher and harm avoidance was found lower in patients with alcohol use disorder. There was an indirect relationship between MAOA-u VNTR low-activity allele and alcohol use disorder. According to the logistic regression model, motor impulsivity and novelty seeking may be important determinants of alcohol use disorder., Conclusion: Some personality traits and impulsivity may be predictors of individuals' risk for developing alcohol dependence. The MAOA gene may play an indirect role in the etiology of alcohol use disorders, and this polymorphism may be a partial marker for impulsivity. Other mechanisms that regulate neurotransmitters may also be involved in compensating for modified MAOA activity. Further research on the effects of genes associated with other neurotransmitters is needed to demonstrate any potential role of MAOA polymorphism in the formation of temperament characteristics and impulsivity., (2021 authors.)

COVID-19 affected our mental health as well as our physical health. In this study, the anxiety and hopelessness levels of healthcare workers and non-healthcare workers and the factors affecting them were evaluated in Turkey. Beck Hopelessness Scale and State-Trait Anxiety Inventory (STAI) was applied online to participants. Totally 2156 individuals were included in the study and 52.0% (n:1121) of them are healthcare workers. The hopelessness and state anxiety levels of healthcare workers were higher than non-healthcare workers. Nurses' hopelessness levels are higher than doctors, and state anxiety levels are higher than both doctors and other healthcare workers. Anxiety and hopelessness levels were higher in women, those living with a high-risk individual at home during the pandemic, those who had difficulty in caring for their children, and those whose income decreased. Anxiety levels are an important predictor of hopelessness. The increase in anxiety levels explained 28.9% of the increase in hopelessness levels. Increased working hours is one of the important factors affecting anxiety. As a conclusion, healthcare workers were more affected psychologically in the COVID-19 pandemic compared to the society. Nurses were affected more than other healthcare workers. It is important to identify the factors affecting anxiety, hopelessness, and individuals who may be more psychologically affected during the pandemic. An important contribution can be made to the protection of public health by ensuring that psychosocial interventions for high-risk groups are planned in advance., (Copyright © 2020 Elsevier Ltd. All rights reserved.)

Many hypothesis suggest that inflammation plays an important role in schizophrenia. Galectins can regulate inflammatory response in central nervous system. The relation between galectins and neuropsyhchiatric diseases and schizophrenia is unclear. The present study compared levels of Gal-1 and Gal-3 of patients with schizophrenia to that of first-degree relatives without the disease and healthy controls in order to evaluate any possible association. Sixty-two patients with schizophrenia, fifty-five unaffected siblings and fifty-eight age- and sex-matched healthy controls enrolled. Serum Gal-1, Gal-3 and CRP levels were measured. PANNS and CGI-S were used to evaluate the severity of disease. There was a statistically significant difference in serum Gal-1 levels among the patient, sibling, and control groups. There were no statistically significant correlations between serum CRP ​​and serum Gal-1 or Gal-3 levels. Gal-1 values were significantly higher in the unaffected siblings compared to both the patient group and the healthy control group. Gal-3 levels were elevated in the sibling group relative to the patient group. In the literature, the relationship between galectins and schizophrenia is very limited and appears to be a new field of study. Future studies are needed to evaluate the protective roles of galectins.

The original version of this article unfortunately contained a mistake. The name of the 5th author was incorrectly listed as Çiğdem Yüksel, when it is actually Çiğdem Yücel. The correct information is as shown above.