Joao Alves dos Santos

Hôpitaux Universitaires de Genève | HUG · Service de psychiatrie de liaison et d'intervention de crise

Background Despite successful functional neurosurgery, patients suffering from epilepsy or Parkinson’s disease may experience postoperative psychological distress and social maladjustments. Difficulties in coping with postoperative changes, even positive ones, have shown to be related to patients’ presurgery cognitive representations (i.e., expecta...

Background: Despite successful functional neurosurgery, patients suffering from epilepsy or Parkinson’s disease may experience postoperative psychological distress and social maladjustments. Difficulties in coping with postoperative changes, even positive ones, have shown to be related to patients’ presurgery cognitive representations (i.e., expect...

For over 10 years, electrical stimulation within the limbic cor-ticosubcortical network has been evaluated for treating patients with severe obsessive-compulsive disorder (OCD) (1). High-frequency deep brain stimulation (DBS) of various targets has been tested, including the anteromedial part of the subthalamic nucleus (amSTN), nucleus accumbens (N...

There is a debate on possible alterations of self-identity following deep brain stimulation for neurological disorders including Parkinson’s disease. Among the psychological variables likely to undergo changes throughout such a medical procedure, illness representations and coping strategies have not been the target of much research to this day. In...

Objective Between 40 and 60% of patients with obsessive-compulsive disorder (OCD) are resistant to first-line treatments, including exposure and response prevention techniques. Those are likely to benefit from the rise of virtual reality (VR). However, very few studies have been conducted on the use of VR in OCD with several limitations including a...

Patients with Parkinson’s disease (PD) may benefit from deep brain stimulation (DBS) to improve motor and medication-induced symptoms. Yet mixed evidence regarding the outcome of successful DBS on couple satisfaction has been highlighted in the literature. Thirty patients diagnosed with PD were included in a study investigating couple satisfaction...

Psychosocial maladjustment frequently occurs following deep brain stimulation (DBS) in patients with Parkinson’s disease (PD). This paper aimed at investigating, for the first time with first-hand data, whether the burden of normality model (BoN) could adequately describe the manifestations and underlying dynamics of psychosocial maladjustment afte...

Objective: Deep brain stimulation (DBS) has become a well-established treatment that significantly improves the motor symptoms of Parkinson's disease (PD). Patients may nevertheless experience psychosocial maladjustment after surgery, as reported by an increasing body of research. Yet, no comprehensive theoretical approach has been proposed to acco...

The obsessive compulsive disorder (OCD) is a psychiatric disorder with a high prevalence (2‑3 %), frequently causing a disabling condition. Drug and psychotherapeutic treatment is generally effective. However about 1/3 of the patients are treatment-resistant, suffering from chronic psychological distress with important sociofunctional repercussions...

Résumé Introduction Il n’existe en français que peu d’instruments mesurant la satisfaction de couple qui mettent l’accent sur la perception individuelle de la relation. Des cadres de soins comme celui d’un service de psychiatrie de liaison en milieu hospitalier pourraient tirer bénéfice d’un questionnaire s’adaptant à une variété de profils cliniq...

Background Subthalamic nucleus deep brain stimulation (STN-DBS) is an effective treatment for the motor and non-motor signs of Parkinson’s disease (PD), however, psychological disorders and social maladjustment have been reported in about one third of patients after STN-DBS. We propose here a perioperative psychoeducation programme to limit such so...

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It is thanks to great advances in the field of neuroscience, which allowed identifying dysfunctions in neural networks as the cause of many psychiatric and neurological diseases, that the number of indications for deep brain stimulation (DBS) has quickly expanded. Although the precise mechanism of action of DBS is unknown, this method probably work...

The obsessive compulsive disorder (OCD) is a frequent disease with a high comorbidity. The usual treatment is a combination of pharmacological and psychotherapeutic treatment. However, 30% of patients still have persistent and severe symptoms, with an important functional impact. These last years, the integration of the new neuroanatomical, neuroch...

Obsessive Compulsive Disorder (OCD) is a disease that affects 2-3% of the population with high comorbidity and a negative impact on the person overall functioning. About 30% of patients have severe and persistent symptoms despite the combination of pharmacological and psychotherapeutic treatments. In these cases, deep brain stimulation (DBS) of the...

Androgen deprivation is a therapeutic option for patients with prostate cancer, however with a range of side effects that negatively affects their physical and psychological condition. A multidisciplinary care program, ADAPP ("Androgenic deprivation in prostate cancer patients"), has been created with a special focus on managing these side effects....

Background / Purpose: The syndrome of the trephined (ST), also known as the “syndrome of the sinking skin flap” (SSSF) or “motor trephined syndrome”, is defined as a neurological deterioration following large craniectomy. It may arise within weeks to months after the craniectomy, but rapidly improved after cranioplasty. The ST is often misdiagnos...