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Copyright of Journal of Harran University Medical Faculty / Harran Üniversitesi Tıp Fakültesi Dergisi is the property of Harran University Medical Faculty and its content may not be copied or emailed to multiple sites or posted to a listserv without the copyright holder's express written permission. However, users may print, download, or email articles for individual use. This abstract may be abridged. No warranty is given about the accuracy of the copy. Users should refer to the original published version of the material for the full abstract. (Copyright applies to all Abstracts.)

Children who have been programmed by one parent to be alienated from the other parent are commonly seen in the context of child-custody disputes. Its primary manifestation is the child's campaign of denigration against a parent, a campaign that has no justification. It is said to result from a combination of a programming (brainwashing) parent's indoctrinations and the child's own contributions to the vilification of the targeted parent. Many evaluators use the term parental alienation syndrome to refer to the disorder engendered in such children. However, there is significant controversy going on about the validity of parental alienation syndrome. The purpose of this article has been to describe and help to differentiate parental alienation syndrome and abuse for mental health professionals working in the field, and discuss the arguments about the validity of this syndrome. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

Copyright of Turk Psikiyatri Dergisi is the property of Turk Psikiyatri Dergisi and its content may not be copied or emailed to multiple sites or posted to a listserv without the copyright holder's express written permission. However, users may print, download, or email articles for individual use. This abstract may be abridged. No warranty is given about the accuracy of the copy. Users should refer to the original published version of the material for the full abstract. (Copyright applies to all Abstracts.)

Objective: Sexual myths are often exaggerated, incorrect and unscientific ideas on sexuality that people believe to be true. The aim of this study is to determine the acceptance rate of common sexual myths and related factors among men. Method: Data was collected from 167 voluntary males (18-67 years). A structured interview including sociodemographic characteristics and sexual myth questionnaire investigating 30 common sexual myths was carried out with the participants. Result: There are numerous myths regarding sexuality in our study population. It was found that marital status, educational level, region lived until adolescence (sub-district and village or province and district), first source for sexual information and result of the first sexual relationship influence rates of belief for sexual myths. Conclusion: High levels of belief in sexual myths among males in our study group can be interpreted as a result of inadequate sexual education in the society. We believe that further larger scale population studies might be beneficial for planning sexual education in our society. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

Objective: Sexual myths are often exaggerated, incorrect and unscientific ideas on sexuality that people believe to be true. The aim of this study is to determine the acceptance rate of common sexual myths and related factors among men. Method: Data was collected from 167 voluntary males (18-67 years). A structured interview including sociodemographic characteristics and sexual myth questionnaire investigating 30 common sexual myths was carried out with the participants. Result: There are numerous myths regarding sexuality in our study population. It was found that marital status, educational level, region lived until adolescence (sub-district and village or province and district), first source for sexual information and result of the first sexual relationship influence rates of belief for sexual myths. Conclusion: High levels of belief in sexual myths among males in our study group can be interpreted as a result of inadequate sexual education in the society. We believe that further larger scale population studies might be beneficial for planning sexual education in our society. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

Belief in a just world hypothesis is defined as the belief that the world is a just place where people generally get what they deserve. It states that individuals have a need to believe that they live in a just world; they believe in a world where people get what they deserve and where people deserve what they get. Individuals believe that who work hard or who perform good acts obtain rewards for their actions, while the sinners and the laggards receive punishments instead. Similarly, individuals want to believe that positive outcomes, whether money, success, or happiness, are obtained only by good people and, conversely, that negative outcomes only happen to bad persons. Justice beliefs have been hypothesized as adaptive for dealing with day-to-day stres. Just world beliefs protect individuals from the daily negative psychological consequences of living in what is realistically an unjust world. In addition, just world beliefs are thought to enhance feelings of security to the extent that if the individual satisfies the conditions for being "good," he or she is protected from injustice. The belief in a just world, like other positive illusions, should contribute to the maintenance of one's mental health. Belief in a just world's is discussed in two ways: personal belief in a just world's answers the question "how much justly is the world to me?", whereas the belief in a just world's in general answers the question "how much justly is the world?". [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

Objective: To evaluate the visual motor skills in amblyopic children with Bender Gestalt test and determine whether there is an association between amblyopia and test results. Material and Method: Bender Gestalt test was administered to 23 amblyopic children and 13 control subjects. The error scores and error types were noted and converted to visual maturation age. The developmental percentile was determined to compare the groups. Results: The mean percentile level of the amblyopic patients was 38.26%. Bilateral amblyopes performed significantly poorer than unilateral amblyopes and controls. (24.44% vs. 47.14% and 60%). There was a significant correlation between the logMAR visual acuity of the better seeing eye and the test performance. Conclusion: This study shows that visuomotor functions were negatively affected in bilateral amblyopia. Unilateral amblyopes seem to respond to the test as normal as healthy subjects. The vision of the better seeing eye is an important topic in the interpretation of test results. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

Priapism is characterized by a prolonged and painful erection in the absence of sexual desire and arousal. Priapism is a rare and serious side effect of psychotropic drugs, and is thought to be attributable to blockage of alpha-1 adrenergic receptors in the corpus cavernosum. Although priapism is commonly associated with typical antipsychotics, there are some (but not many) case reports of priapism due to atypical antipsychotics. This side effect has been reported in patients taking ziprasidone, risperidone, clozapine, quetiapine, aripiprazole, and olanzapine. Not all antipsychotics bind to alpha-1 adrenergic receptors with the same intensity; as compared to other antipsychotics, quetiapine has an intermediate affinity. Priapism could be considered an idiosyncratic reaction, because it is correlated neither with the dose nor duration of psychotropic drug use. Herein we present a case of priapism caused by a single 300-mg dose of quetiapine, and a brief review priapism in the light of this case.

Vaginismus is a type of sexual dysfunction in which spasm of the vaginal musculature prevents penetrative intercourse. The main diagnostic criterion is the presence of recurrent or persistent involuntary spasm of the musculature of the outer third of the vagina that interferes with sexual intercourse. In many cases associated pain or the fear of pain may contribute to its persistence. Herein we report 2 patients that presented with vaginismus that developed secondary to childhood sexual trauma, which was treated with the Eye Movement Desensitization and Reprocessing (EMDR) technique. EMDR is a non-pharmacologic treatment for psychological trauma. Randomized controlled trials with posttraumatic stress disorder patients and with victims of sexual abuse have shown that EMDR is effective. The standard 8-phase EMDR protocol was used in both of the presented cases. Following 3 sessions of EMDR, the patients exhibited a substantial reduction in self-reported and clinician-rated anxiety, and a reduction in the credibility of dysfunctional beliefs concerning sexual intercourse. These findings support the notion that EMDR could be an effective treatment alternative for patients with vaginismus of traumatic etiology.

Although factitious disorder has been known for a long time, its diagnosis and treatment continue to be a problem. It is an uncommon condition associated with considerable morbidity and health care expenditure. We present a case of factitious disorder with hallucinations. A 37 year-old single woman has had auditory and olfactory hallucinations for six years. She had been diagnosed with schizophrenia, hospitalized for a short term, taking classical antipsychotic drugs for years. She has been performing her job as a teacher and living with her family. A suitable dose of atypical antipsychotic drugs was administered at a convenient time for her illness (Psychotic Disorder NOS) in psychiatric outpatient clinic of Kocaeli University. She was admitted to inpatient clinic twice in order to allow a clear diagnosis to be made. Psychotic disorder and temporal lobe epilepsy were ruled out. Borderline and histrionic personality traits were determined. Her complaints were unchanged over the course of treatment taking three years. She later started to come into the emergency department with anxiety symptoms, conversion like fits and suicide attempts; hospitalized for these complaints in another hospital. She was diagnosed with factitious disorder because of her unchanged complaints, her adding new complaints to the old ones, her complaints unrelated to psychosocial stressors, her ambitions to come to hospital, her increasing hospital dependence and having no prominent secondary gain. This case emphasizes the need for the careful observation of patients to prevent unnecessary investigations at the diagnosis and treatment stage and to establish a specific management strategy for the patients.

Objective: It is known that psychosocial skills training programs increase the efficacy of schizophrenia treatment. The aim of this study was to carry out the Turkish version of two modules of a commonly used program, Social Skills Training (Medication Management and Symptom Management Modules), and to determine its possible benefits., Method: The study was carried out at three sites. Fifty schizophrenic patients who were at least literate and who did not have language problems or organic mental diseases, aged 18-60, using antipsychotic agents in a standard dose and in a stable phase were included in the study. Eight training groups were formed. Each group consisted of 5-7 individuals and the study took approximately eight months. The Brief Psychiatric Rating Scale, the Quality of Life Scale: an instrument for rating the schizophrenic deficit syndrome, the Drug Treatment Compliance Scale and Pre- and Post-Tests of Social Skills Training were applied to the patients before and after the group education The scores of the rating scales were compared., Results: Thirty-eight (76%) patients completed the study. The mean age of the patients was 32 +/- 7, 84% were men, 58% had received less than 11 years, of education 84% had never married, and 97% were living with their families. The mean age of illness onset was 20 +/- 5 years, and the mean duration of the illness was 12 +/- 7 years. At the end of the study, the Brief Psychiatric Rating Scale scores (baseline 42.0, after the training 37.1, p<0.02), and the Quality of Life Scale scores (baseline 67.5, after the training 75.3, p<0.01) were significantly changed. The level of knowledge of the patients about the medication and symptoms of schizophrenia increased 20.6%. Drug treatment compliance had also increased by the end of the study., Conclusion: The results show that this program contributed to the treatment compliance and treatment efficacy in schizophrenia. Increased treatment efficacy might have played a role in increasing of the quality of life a long with the group milieu. It may be concluded that this social skills training program, which did not encounter any problems in application, may contribute significantly to the treatment of schizophrenia.