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A 48-year-old man who is a known case of bipolar disorder was maintaining well on a combination of carbamazepine and quetiapine for 3 years until he developed fever, severe leucopenia and lymphadenopathy, along with significant loss of weight and appetite. A thorough investigation revealed Kikuchi’s disease as a likely histological diagnosis. Carbamazepine was discontinued and quetiapine was titrated for the management of psychiatric symptoms. The patient gradually made good recovery following discontinuation of carbamazepine and the diagnosis of drug-induced myelosuppression was retained. Clinicians need to be aware of the adverse effects of medications being used for long-term prophylaxis and other possible conditions that may change the course of drug effects.

As the field of medicine tries to tap into various facets of gamification, the potential of video games and gaming-based interventions has become a hotbed of interesting activity in the Dementia circles of medical research. This paper, exploratory in nature is a bid to find common grounds for the fields of neurosciences, psychology, and psychiatry with the sub-field of ludology in a hope to find unique insights from the benefits of interdisciplinary research and extrapolating findings from gaming addiction.From the perspective of game studies, the paper will draw from elements of concepts like flow, immersion and engagement in a bid to understand the various tools that can be of use if people ailing from neurocognitive disorders were to engage in gaming activity. This paper will lay the framework that will enable the beginning of a matching gaming exercises based on cognitive deficits and psychological profiling of clients diagnosed with neurocognitive disorders and advance the fields of neurosciences and psychology.By combining the findings from existing studies and original work this paper will propose both a means to study the possible effects of gaming-based interventions and suggest ways to streamline and optimize the use of gamification in patient care.

Aim and Objectives: Although inclusive education of children with intellectual disability is currently an accepted practice, it is often challenged by negative attitude of schoolteachers. We undertook two surveillance studies aimed atStudy A - identifying knowledge and teachers’ attitudes towards children with intellectual disability and practices of inclusive education in a semi-urban school of South India.Study B -Determining the effect of educational intervention towards attitudes on inclusive education.Method: Knowledge, Attitude and Practice surveillance questionnaires (KAP and ATPD) were given to ninety-six consenting schoolteachers in Study A and twenty schoolteachers in Study B and analyzed.Results: In Study A, the overall attitude mean indicated a favorable attitude towards the children with intellectual disability. The mean overall attitude score was 77.1 (SD: 9.58), with a normal distribution. Forty to fifty percent were aware of intellectual disability and attributed them to biological causes. Ninety-two percent agreed on the need for education and stepwise training for a child with an intellectual disability. In real-life practice, results of classroom management were inaccurate. In Study B, knowledge, attitudes and practices towards inclusive education improved with educational intervention with a positive change of 7.19% on the ATDP scale.Conclusion: These findings suggest a generally positive attitude towards intellectual disability and inclusive education. Comprehensive training programs improve knowledge and attitudes towards inclusive education.

Objective: The COVID-19 pandemic has affected the physical, mental, and social well-being of millions of people across the globe. This paper will discuss the impact of COVID-19 on preexisting and emerging mental health issues amongst various subgroups of the vulnerable population in Southeast Asia. Methods: Qualitative review of existing knowledge on mental health issues during COVID-19 pandemic among migrant laborers, women and adolescents. Conclusion: Given the profound impact of COVID -19 beyond physical health, policy makers, scientific communities and faith-based institutions should make every effort to turn the COVID-19 crisis into an opportunity by developing a strong and robust consensus that is based on building public trust in partnership to provide societal mental health, which is an unappreciated asset of a nation. We conclude that while there is considerable amount of work in the field of mental health has been done, many efforts are siloed, and do not consider the unique cultural characteristics involved. In addition to providing ventilators and acute care to COVID-19 affected patients at the hospitals, we need to design policies to allocate resources for the post-pandemic burden on our communities and develop multi-disciplinary approaches. We suggest that these approaches should become routine in healthcare settings and should be appropriate to the individual’s cultural context. We argue that the generation of robust data, scientific evidence, and multi-disciplinary resources-sharing are required that would necessitate to produce the interventions that are culturally specific and scalable.

The available treatment options for patients with drug or treatment-resistant psychiatric disorders are limited. Maintenance electroconvulsive therapy (M-ECT) is an established option, but the literature available is limited. This study examined the utilization of M-ECT in a large tertiary care psychiatric facility, and its correlates with the socio-demographic and clinical profile of patients.A retrospective chart review was performed in a tertiary care psychiatry center based in semi-urban South India, and data was analyzed.A total of 171 patients received ECT in the study period, of which only five patients were on M-ECT. These patients were diagnosed as treatment-resistant and were mostly suffering from schizophrenia. They were located less than 30 km from the hospital. They were on regular treatment but continued to have residual symptoms without functional recovery and required a high level of support from caregivers.Our study supports the effectiveness of M-ECT for the treatment of severe psychiatric disorders and highlights the profile of patients who have received this modality of treatment. It can be suggested with consideration of various psycho-social issues which seem to be related to adherence.

Background: Several studies have documented poor knowledge of schizophrenia among caregivers and its negative influence on clinical outcomes such as treatment response and prognosis. The benefits of group psychoeducation of caregivers of patients suffering from schizophrenia have been well established. However, very few studies have explored the effectiveness of the group psychoeducation program in the Indian setting. Aims: This study aims to evaluate the effects of a group psychoeducation program on the knowledge of schizophrenia among caregivers. Settings and Design: The study was conducted at the department of psychiatry at a tertiary care hospital. The study design is a quasi-experimental, two-group pretest posttest design. Methods: Sixty-eight caregivers fulfilling the inclusion criteria were recruited consecutively from the inpatient wards. Their knowledge was assessed with a Knowledge About Schizophrenia Interview (KASI) questionnaire, within 1 week of admission and again during the week of discharge. Controls were caregivers who received psychoeducation through “standard care” alone. Cases were caregivers who received the “group psychoeducation program” in addition to the “standard care” during the course of their stay at the hospital. Their pretest and posttest scores were compared. Results: Fifty caregivers successfully completed the study. There was statistical difference between cases and controls in education (P = 0.007) and duration of stay (P ≤ 0.001). Comparing pretest and posttest scores of all the participants showed that psychoeducation received through various sources (standard care or standard care with group psychoeducation) from admission until discharge produced a significant change in knowledge (P = 0.001). On controlling for education and duration of inpatient stay using multivariate analysis, group psychoeducation further produced a significant improvement in KASI scores in subsections of management (B = 0.839, confidence interval [CI] = 0.301–1.377, P = 0.002) and course and prognosis (B = 1.366, CI = 0.095–2.637, P = 0.035). Conclusions: Group psychoeducation in the Indian setting is an effective and feasible option to improve the knowledge of schizophrenia among caregivers, especially with regard to management, course, and prognosis.