Psychiatric disorders and their relation to suicide (Sweden) By: Samuel Awad

Statistics (WHO) Over the last 45 years the suicide frequency in sweden has increased with 60 % Suicide is one of three leading causes for death in the world Every year approximately one million people die by suicide (suicide rate in sweden is approximately 1000 per year) Psychiatric disorders account for over 90 % of all suicide cases [1]

The borders of sanity What is psychiatric disorder? How is it diagnosed? Does the chemistry of the brain influence the development of it? Who is to judge whats normal or abnormal?

Clinical depression, bipolar manic depressive, schizophrenia the American Psychiatric Associations (APA) Diagnostic and Statistical Manual, Fourth Edition (DSM IV): Depression: you cant sleep or you sleep too much you cant concentrate or find that previously easy tasks are now difficult you feel hopeless and helpless you cant control your negative thoughts, no matter how much you try you have lost your appetite or you cant stop eating you are much more irritable and short-tempered than usual you have thoughts that life is not worth living (Seek help immediately if this is the case)

Schizophrenia: There is currently no physical or lab test that can absolutely diagnose schizophrenia - a psychiatrist usually comes to the diagnosis based on clinical symptoms. What physical testing can do is rule out a lot of other conditions (seizure disorders, metabolic disorders, thyroid disfunction, brain tumor, street drug use, etc) that sometimes have similar symptoms. Current research is evaluating possible physical diagnostic tests (such as a blood test for schizophrenia, special IQ tests for identifying schizophrenia, eye-tracking, brain imaging, 'smell tests', etc), but these are still in trial stages at only a few universities and companies and are not yet widely used. It will likely be a few years before these on the market, and adopted by hospitals, etc.blood test for schizophreniaspecial IQ tests for identifying schizophreniaeye-trackingbrain imaging'smell tests

Bipolar manic depressive: The DSM distinguishes two different forms of Bipolar Disorder: "The essential feature of Bipolar I Disorder is a clinical course that is characterized by the occurrence of one or more Manic Episodes or Mixed Episodes, while "The essential feature of Bipolar II Disorder is a clinical course that is characterized by the occurrence of one or more Major Depressive Episodes accompanied by at least one Hypomanic Episode". Variants of Bipolar I Disorder are further distinguished by their recent history. The following specific diagnostic criteria are reproduced verbatim (except for codings and page references) from the DSM-IV TR.Manic EpisodesMixed EpisodesMajor Depressive EpisodesHypomanic EpisodeDSM-IV TR

Balance in the chemistry of the brain

MRI as a method for detection of psychiatric disorder?

Biological vs. Psychological How to come to terms with causes of suicidal behaviour? Biological? Psychological? The suicidal process: effective method Peoples myths and stigmas

Thank you for your attention