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Culture refers to the shared patterns of feelings, beliefs and behaviour that reflect in the way of living in a society. Culture uniquely influence the role functioning or psychosoical wellbeing of people living in a given society by exerting influence on their mind by their traditional health beliefs. Cultural factors influence understanding, presentation, diagnosis, management, course and outcome of many diseases, especially psychiatric disorders. Culture-bound syndromes seem to be episodic, dramatic and discrete patterns of behavioral reactions specific to a particular community that articulate both personal predicament and public concerns. Every culture provides explanations and causal attributions for somatic symptoms. One of the common complaints of persons coming to medical attention is ‘Gas’ or similar terminologies like ‘vayu’ etc. People attribute varied symptoms from abdominal discomfort, chest pain, headache, joint pains, back pain, somatic complaints to ‘Gas’. ‘Gas’ is reported to be the cause for the distress and the primary duty of the treating clinician is to relieve them of the gas. The problem of troubling Gas or vayu has been influencing Indian culture/tradition since ancient days. We do see a significant proportion of patients visiting varied specialists attributing all their problems to Gas. 'Gas Syndrome’ is proposed as a culture bound syndrome.

Healthcare professionals are subjected to considerable levels of stress such as work overload, excessive working hours, sleep deprivation, repeated exposure to emotionally charged situations, dealing with difficult patients and conflicts with other staffs. Management of such stress should be given due importance, right from the days of training in medical sciences.

Healthcare professionals are subjected to considerable levels of stress such as work overload, excessive working hours, sleep deprivation, repeated exposure to emotionally charged situations, dealing with difficult patients and conflicts with other staffs. Management of such stress should be given due importance, right from the days of training in medical sciences.

Background: Dissociative disorder is a condition characterized by disruption of the normal continuity and integration of consciousness, memory, identity, motor functioning, and behavior. Aims: The aim of the study was to study the various psychosocial factors that influence the dissociative episodes in patients. We also looked at the clinical profile and the relation between the type and levels of dissociation with levels of stress in the study sample. Materials and Methods: This descriptive, cross-sectional study with serial sampling had 50 participants who were diagnosed with dissociation as per the International Classification of Diseases-10 criteria. The study was conducted after obtaining clearance from the institutional ethics committee. Dissociative experience of the patients was measured using Severity of Dissociative Symptoms-Adult (Brief Dissociative Experiences Scale [DES-B]-Modified) and stress levels were measured using Presumptive Stressful Life Events Scale. Results: The study showed that dissociation was more common among females from urban population, who were single and among students. Dissociative convulsions were found to be the most common type of dissociation in our culture. DES-B showed moderate-to-severe types of dissociative experience in the sample. In 46% of the participants, family conflicts acted as the most common stressor precipitating episodes. There was a psychodynamic connection/explanation between the perceived stress and the presenting complaint. Conclusion: This study highlights the common dissociations, stressors, and the difference seen among males and females. There is a need to understand the stressors of a patient presenting with dissociation for better psychological management. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

Context: Narcissism has become a pejorative term in recent years. It may be developmentally appropriate, depending upon the phase of life cycle in which the person is. However, it can also be pathological in some people and is known as Narcissistic personality disorder. Individuals with narcissistic personality disorder generally have a lack of empathy and have difficulty recognizing the desires, subjective experiences, and feelings of others. Despite this range of concerns, literature shows an average of <10 studies per year on narcissistic personality disorder. Hence, there is a need to study and compare narcissism between different generations. Aims: The objective of the study was to compare the levels of Narcissism between Generation X and the Generation Y (Millennials) and to determine if there is any association between Narcissism and usage of Social Media Networking sites. Settings and Design: This was a 4-month cross-sectional comparative study conducted online from April 2021 to July 2021. A Google Form was used to record the response from all the participants. Subjects and Methods: Two hundred and sixty-two participants were included in study after obtaining institutional ethical clearance. Among them, 96 were of generation X and 166 participants were of generation Y. Participants who were having the access to any type of social media networking sites were included in the study, if they fulfilled the operational definition of Generation X and Y. Narcissistic Personality Inventory‑16 (NPI‑16), a self assessment tool, was used to evaluate narcissism. The social media networking site usage measure was assessed based on number of social media networking site they are active on, time spent on social media networking site, frequency of status updates, number of friends or followers, and pictures of self or selfies uploaded by them in span of 1 month. Statistical Analysis: Independent student t-test, Chi-square test, and Pearson’s correlation analysis were used for analyzing variables in the study. Results: Among enrolled participants, 51.1% were females and 48.1% were males. There was statistically significant difference in the mean NPI‑16 score (P = 0.016) with the score being more in Generation X (3.92) than Generation Y (3.04). There was a positive correlation between NPI-16 score and number of the social media networking sites (r = 0.175, P = 0.005), Frequency of Status Updates in a week (r = 0.165, P = 0.007), Number of Friends/Followers (r = 0.140. P = 0.025), and Selfies uploaded in a month (r = 0.282, P < 0.001). Conclusion: There is a positive correlation between the levels of narcissism and the self reported Social Media Networking site use among the participants in the study. Furthermore, the levels of narcissism were higher among Generation X than Generation Y. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

Background: Bipolar affective disorder (BD) is a chronic recurrent disorder having a definite link with metabolic abnormalities, including obesity, dyslipidemia, and insulin resistance. Drugs approved for the treatment of BD include sodium valproate but have weight gain as a metabolic side effect. An increase in weight is one of the common reasons for discontinuation of mood stabilizers. There is a need for a weight loss agent which will not increase mood symptoms in bipolar disorder. This study looks at the effect of acetazolamide on weight when combined with sodium valproate in patients diagnosed with BD in remission. Materials and Methods: This pilot quasi-experimental open-label 8-week follow-up study was conducted in a tertiary care teaching hospital following clearance from the institutional ethics committee. Thirteen outpatients with BD who reported weight gain on sodium valproate monotherapy received oral acetazolamide 500 mg/day. A specialized pro forma was used to record demographic and physical data with side effects. Results: The mean baseline weight was 70.15 ± 8.75 kg and the mean baseline body mass index was 25.09 ± 2.61. The mean sodium valproate dose of the study population was 692 mg/day. Ten of 11 individuals who completed the study showed some reduction in weight and nine showed a slight decrease in abdominal girths. Conclusion: There was a nonsignificant decrease in weight and abdominal circumferences at the end of 8 weeks, however, since it is a small pilot study, we need more evidence. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

Aripiprazole is a novel antipsychotic with a unique pharmacological profile as a dopamine partial agonist. It is indicated for treatment of schizophrenia and bipolar disorder. This new antipsychotic has low rate of extrapyramidal side effects, metabolic changes and no significant adverse effect on serum prolactin concentration. In addition, it is not associated with significant weight gain like other atypical antipsychotics. As a reason, when other antipsychotics cause these adverse events, it's not uncommon to switch to Aripiprazole. Obsessive compulsive symptoms have been untoward sequel of a few second-generation antipsychotics. Among the second generation antipsychotics Clozapine, Olanzapine, and Risperidone are the most prominent agents associated with these sequelae, according to case reports. More recently, a handful of case reports indicated development of Obsessive-compulsive symptoms with Aripiprazole. We report a case that exhibited similar unexpected adverse effects after administration of Aripiprazole. Keywords: Aripiprazole, Second generation antipsychotics, Obsessivecompulsive symptoms (OCS). [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]