Avinash Desousa

• MD DPM MS MBA MPhil PsyD
• Research Associate at Lokmanya Tilak Municipal General Hospital and Lokmanya Tilak Municipal Medical College

emotional intelligence for leadership

Gender Dysphoria (GD) is a common condition seen in clinical practice. The current chapter provides the clinician with an overview of the disorders and looks at various facets of the causation, evaluation, and management of GD. Various terminology related to GD and related terms are defined. The epidemiology and clinical presentation of the disorde...

Background: Sexual harassment (SH) and Gender discrimination (GD) faced by medical students have been neglected areas of study in India. Only a few recent studies could be found, despite frequent media reports on SH and GD. This study aimed to assess the attitudes and perceptions of sexual harassment and gender discrimination and evaluate the form...

Background: We examined the prevalence and spread of conspiracy beliefs about the origins of the COVID-19 pandemic among representatives of the Russian population. Our study aimed to identify belief clusters and develop predictive models to understand the factors that influence conspiracy beliefs, particularly in the context of how they might evol...

Background Comorbidity in obsessive–compulsive disorder (OCD) is known, especially alcohol use disorders (AUDs) in OCD. Data are lacking regarding the prevalence, the obsessions and compulsions in people with OCD with comorbid alcohol use. Aims and Objectives The aim was to study the prevalence of AUDs in people with OCD. The primary objective was...

Elderly transgender mental health has been a neglected facet of mental health for many years. The current article reviews the global and local challenges faced when catering to elderly transgender mental health. These include trauma and stigma that may be faced when seeking mental health services, in addition to the stigma of belonging to the trans...

Mauriac syndrome is a rare complication of poorly controlled type 1 diabetes mellitus and is characterized by hepatomegaly with altered liver enzymes, delayed puberty, growth retardation, and cushingoid features, seen in children. Being a chronic condition, warranting frequent hospitalization, and invasive testing and management, one should always...

Confusional arousal, classified under parasomnias, is a condition in which patients exhibit wakeful behaviors while still apparently asleep. It may be associated with shouting or sleepwalking and usually lasts for a few minutes to several hours. Patients tend to have no memory of the occurrence of such episodes. We report two cases of confusional a...

The anabolic androgenic steroids (AAS) are a family of hormones that includes the natural hormone testosterone, together with numerous synthetic testosterone analogs. When taken in higher doses and combined with exercise and proper nutrition, AAS cause users to gain muscle mass and lose body fat, even beyond naturally attainable limits. AAS have be...

Aim The study was aimed at calculating the levels of stress, anxiety, and depression among medical and health-care workers working in hospitals that catered to COVID-19 patients. Methodology A total of 471 healthcare and medical personnel filled up an online socio-demographic pro forma and answered the Depression, Anxiety, and Stress scale. The da...

Background: Post-traumatic stress disorder (PTSD) is a trauma- or stressor-related mental health condition with high socioeconomic burden. We aimed in this review to identify promising genetic markers predisposing for PTSD, which might serve in the design subsequent studies aiming to develop PTSD prevention and remediation measures. Subjects and...

Background: The COVID-19 pandemic has had significant impacts on the child and adolescent population, with long-term consequences for physical health, socio-psychological well-being, and cognitive development, which require further investigation. We herein describe a study design protocol for recognizing neuropsychiatric complications associated w...

This paper looks at child psychiatric services in the private sector and all that can be done with child psychiatric services in the private sector. The need for public-private partnerships, the role of child psychiatrists in private practice providing integrated services, and the need for school mental health services by private psychiatrists is e...

Background There are limited number of studies evaluating insight among patients with bipolar disorder (BD). Aim This study aimed to examine insight and its correlates in BD using the data from the multicenter BD course and outcome study from India (BiD-CoIN). The additional aim was to evaluate the insight in patients with BD using different scale...

The COVID-19 pandemic has had an unprecedented effect on the lives of people all over the world with a greater effect of the lockdown on the elderly. The elderly, however, face special challenges, and it is imperative that healthcare professionals identify and highlight their special needs so that they can be adequately protected and supported thro...

India has a large number of its elderly population that suffer from dementia. Many of these have caregivers and are not staying with their children and many are residents of old age and dementia care homes. The chapter addresses the various challenges for dementia care posed by the COVID-19 pandemic. Patients with dementia have a large number of me...

Background Patients with suicide attempts usually present to the emergency department of hospitals, and the attitude of nursing staff and medical personnel plays a major role in their recovery. There is a negative perception and stigma associated with suicide among the public and hospital staff. This study aimed to assess the attitudes and percepti...

Introduction The current study aimed to investigate the rates of anxiety, clinical depression, and suicidality and their changes in health professionals during the COVID-19 outbreak. Materials and methods The data came from the larger COMET-G study. The study sample includes 12,792 health professionals from 40 countries (62.40% women aged 39.76 ±...

Background: There are more than 5 million people with dementia in India. Multicentre studies looking at details of treatment for people with dementia In India are lacking. Clinical audit is a quality improvement process which aims to systematically assess, evaluate, and improve patient care. Evaluating current practice is the key to a clinical aud...

Chronic sleep deprivation is an important predisposing factor causing delirium. Here, we present the case of a 38-year-old male who presented with altered mental status and behavioral change following chronic sleep deprivation. There was no epileptic activity, no other psychiatric diseases or comorbidity, and no organic cause was determinable. The...

Objective: To evaluate the modifiable daily behavior patterns associated with increased anxiety indicators in the general population in response to the COVID-19 pandemic. Material and methods: The study examined the characteristics of the Russian population (n=7777) of the international multicenter project COMET-G. In particular, variables were...

This is an open access journal, and articles are distributed under the terms of the Creative Commons Attribution-NonCommercial-ShareAlike 4.0 License, which allows others to remix, tweak, and build upon the work non-commercially, as long as appropriate credit is given and the new creations are licensed under the identical terms. ABSTRACT Background...

Background Work from home (WFH) was faced with new challenges for many of them. Aims and Objectives The aim is to investigate IT professional's experiences of WFH during the pandemic and to identify the main factors of advantages and disadvantages of WFH. Materials and Methods An online survey was conducted among IT professionals by sending Googl...

Exergames is a new arena of mental health intervention in the elderly. The present article is a clinical review on various areas where exergaming has been used to enhance mental health in the elderly. The review looks at the use of exergames in dementia, geriatric depression, as a tool for movement and to improve memory and cognition. The role of e...

Perinatal depression yields long-term adverse effects on maternal mental health, maternal-child interactions, and child development. Research conducted in India suggests that the risk of perinatal depression may be associated with socio-cultural factors. This warrants an assessment of cultural attitudes towards perinatal depression. Our study exami...

Background The uncontrolled spread of the COVID-19 disease in India's second wave post-February 2021, put to task the public health system across the nation. This, in turn, exhausted our health-care workforce both physically and mentally. To establish the prevalence of psychological symptoms and guide the action plan in place, the present study was...

Dementia is a common disorder involving memory loss, behavioral changes, and changes in personality that occurs after the age of 60 years. More women have dementia than men and often outlive men as well. This chapter looks at the interface of women and the dementia conundrum. We shall first look at women and some of the risk and protective factors...

There is an increasing number of ageing members in the LGBTQ+ community. The present chapter aims to provide a broad overview of various mental health problems that may be noted in the ageing LGBTQ+ community. Depression, anxiety and loneliness are the commonest mental health problems that may be seen in this group. This is coupled with lack of acc...

As the world population ages, there is a large number of people with dementia that shall dwell in our nations with the years to come. The growing number of individuals suffering from dementia shall escalate the ethical issues related to dementia that are relevant for clinical practice and research. Some of these issues and overview of them shall be...

The medical management and pharmacotherapy of dementia are at interesting crossroads. There have been many recent developments with newer drugs being developed that would probably halt the progression of dementia. The following review looks at the various options we currently have in the pharmacotherapy of dementia and provides an overview of these...

There is a huge emphasis on how technology may be useful to persons suffering from dementia. The role of technology in dementia has been supported by governments, policymakers, caregivers and patients. The following chapter provides an overview of the role of technology in dementia care, and in the treatment and management of patients with dementia...

The COVID-19 pandemic has brought on a lot of challenges. Among these challenges, the most pressing causes for concern are mental health issues. Anxiety is one such mental health concern that statistics has shown as increasing since the beginning of the pandemic. Numerous causes have contributed to these rising levels of anxiety. Health related con...

Background Nonsuicidal self-injury (NSSI) is being increasingly identified as an important emerging mental health issue in the West. Yet, NSSI has not been adequately studied in clinical and nonclinical contexts in countries like India. Aim The aim of this study was to compare different features of NSSI between clinical and nonclinical samples in...

Background The dopamine active transporter (DAT) gene has been implicated in various psychiatric disorders such as attention-deficit hyperactivity disorder and externalizing behaviors. Studies on the methylation loci of DAT and Internet addiction (IA) are sparse. The study aimed to look at the association between various methylation loci of the DAT...

Eating disorders (EDs) are disabling, deadly, and costly mental disorders that considerably impair physical health and disrupt psychosocial functioning. Disturbed attitudes toward weight, body shape, and eating play a key role in the origin and maintenance of EDs. As EDs are under-researched, there is a great deal of uncertainty as to their pathoph...

Background Cerebroprotein hydrolysate (cerebrolysin) is a nootropic and neurotrophic drug used widely in the management of various forms of dementia, stroke and head injury. A number of case series and anecdotal case reports on its efficacy exist. This study is a retrospective chart review of 34 patients with dementia treated at a tertiary general...

Background Electroconvulsive therapy (ECT) has shown to have efficacy and safety in treating psychiatric disorders. Studies have shown psychiatrists harboring negative attitudes about its use. The aim of the study was to assess the attitudes of psychiatrists toward practice and use of ECT and stigma associated with it. Methodology A self-designed...

Dementia care in India is under-recognized, and there is a lack of specialized rehabilitation centres focusing solely on dementia rehabilitation. The present chapter unfolds the various challenges in dementia rehabilitation within the Indian cultural context and the need for geriatric mental health experts to take cognizance of the same. Dementia r...

The present chapter reviews various aspects of geriatric sexual health and the challenges posed while attending to the same in the Indian context. In India, it is often believed that sexuality has no role in old age and geriatric sexual health clinics are conspicuous by their absence. The present chapter first looks at various facets of facts and m...

Burns are a global public health problem with a large number of psychosocial and psychological problems that may ensue after burn injuries. One of the commonest psychological problems seen after burn injuries is depression, anxiety and post-traumatic stress disorder (PTSD). The following paper reviews the existing literature on PTSD following burn...

Purpose of Review The main purpose of this review is to elucidate the interplay of various factors in the relationship between suicide and schizophrenia. Suicide and schizophrenia have been interlinked as a symptom, factor in recovery and prognosis, outcome measure and response to psychotic symptoms in patients with schizophrenia. Many biomarkers h...

Dementia as a diagnosis at any age is a clinical challenge in psychiatric practice. In recent research reports there have been many case series and anecdotal case reports of dementia with an onset below the age of 45 years. In this case report, we present the case of a 23 year old female that presented with psychotic features initially and on clini...

Background: Rheumatoid arthritis (RA) is a chronic autoimmune disorder characterized by pain stiffness and swelling in the joints with long standing effects on quality of life and is complicated by the presence of medical and psychiatric comorbidity. The current study was aimed at comparing the psychopathology, quality of life and life satisfaction...

Background: The COVID-19 pandemic has been followed by the shutting down of bars and liquor shops. This condition has led to the acute unavailability of alcohol, and subsequently increasing the number of cases of alcohol withdrawal. Objectives: This paper reports the clinical profile of cases of alcohol withdrawal presented to the psychiatry depart...

Telepsychiatry and telepsychotherapy are new treatment modalities that have been used more than ever during the COVID-19 pandemic. There are many challenges that are faced with the use of this modality for both patients and psychiatrists alike. There are critical issues faced with regard to the development of rapport, managing the entire teleconsul...

The aim of the present study was to compare different features of Non-Suicidal Self-Injury (NSSI) in India and Belgium. We also explored whether the strength of the association between NSSI and disturbances in identity formation—a risk factor that can increase vulnerability to NSSI—was similar in young adults from India and Belgium. Data regarding...

Embitterment is a construct that is vast and complex and may be seen in a variety of conditions and circumstances. The following paper reviews the construct of embitterment and tries to explain the concept from a psychological perspective. It also looks at the role of embitterment in the genesis of psychiatric disorders like depression, anxiety, an...

Objectives Little is known about the outcome of major depressive disorder in India, especially in primary care contexts not usually associated with research. This large, prospective, naturalistic observational study examined the feasibility of studying first-episode major depressive disorder outcomes in such contexts, and examined outcomes after an...

A case of Pseudobulbar palsy treated with a combination of Escitalopram and Mirtazapine.

This manual is a resource guide for anyone who may want to understand panic attacks. The sole purpose of this manual is to create awareness for its readers. This manual has been co-created with the efforts of The MINDS Foundation and DeSousa Foundation. This manual will help you identify and manage panic attacks in order to help those experiencin...