Scientific Program

Conference Series Ltd invites all the participants across the globe to attend 2nd International Congress on Forensic Science and Psychology London, UK.

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Scientific Program Day 1
Scientific Program Day 2

Day 1 :

Keynote Forum

David Truswell

PLIAS Resettlement, UK

Keynote: The phoenix project - assisting women involved in the criminal justice system into work, education and training

Time : 9:30 to 10:00 AM

Conference Series Forensic Congress 2017 International Conference Keynote Speaker David Truswell photo
Biography:

David Truswell has worked in community based mental health services in the UK for over thirty years developing services for people with complex care needs and enduring mental health problems including a forensic history in a career spanning the Voluntary Sector, Local Authority Services, and the NHS at a senior level. He has two Master’s level degrees, including a distinction level MBA. He is currently Chair of PLIAS Resettlement, a not-for-profit organization based in London working with offenders and ex-offenders to help improve life skills and self-confidence and reduce re-offending. He has written several articles on the issues faced by Black, Asian and minority ethnic communities in the mental health system.

Abstract:

The presentation is a summary overview of a three-year project delivered by PLIAS Resettlement, a UK not for profit organization working with offenders and ex-offenders. The Project was designed to address some of the shortcomings in the services and support for women in the criminal justice system identified in the Review of Women with Vulnerabilities in the Criminal Justice System by Baroness Corston in the UK in 2007. This involved developing and delivering a programme of personal development, vocational and soft skills for women who had criminal convictions, mental health difficulties or substance abuse issues and who originated from a Black, Asian or minority ethnic background. The project worked with 20 women per year with the goal of achieving a 75% success rate in getting programme graduates into paid work, education or training or voluntary work. The project worked through building confidence, skills and worked to improve family relationships. Group workshops, individual goal planning sessions and personal mentoring was central to the operation of the programme. The development of network links with a wide variety of local organizations helped to provide a wide range of work and trainingn opportunities for the programme candidates. The presentation explores the factors that contributed to the programmes success in achieving its goals and identifies recommendations for further progress using the Phoenix Project approach.

Keynote Forum

Prerna Kohli

Aligarh Muslim University, India

Keynote: Psychosomatic mental health issues in tihar jail male inmates (ages 18-24)

Time : 10:10-10:50

Conference Series Forensic Congress 2017 International Conference Keynote Speaker Prerna Kohli photo
Biography:

Prerna Kohli is a 100 Women Achievers Award Winner (2016) from the President of India, Mr. Pranab Mukherjee. She is a Clinical Psychologist, a Public Speaker, a Workshop Facilitator and a Holistic Practitioner. She offers heart-based workshops and lectures that focus on Life Balance, Self-awareness, and Inner Peace. She blends intuitive wisdom with a solid understanding and believes that “You can talk with a close friend or relative about what’s troubling you, yet it’s not the same as a professionally- trained experienced Psychologist who knows exactly what kind of help you need." Most of all, she creates a powerful holistic approach, specializing in the areas of emotional change. With over 20 years of experience, she has been providing families, individuals, parents and children counselling on being happy. Working with prison inmates is one of the numerous ways through which she repays her gratitude to the society, which has given her the opportunity to heal thousands of persons.

Abstract:

A prison, in general, is an extremely negative space from a psychological perspective. Research has indicated that effects of prisonization (institutionalization) are unique for everyone, and these can have serious negative impact on their postprison integration, but in almost all cases these negative effects are reversible. Tihar prison, New Delhi, India is the largest prison complex of South Asia and is styled as a correctional institution. Against a sanctioned capacity of 5200 inmates, the actual strength is around 12,000. While the goals and objective of the Tihar Jail are lofty, overcrowding, lack of modern facilities leads to multiple psychosomatic illnesses in the inmates during the period of incarceration. Another unfortunate reality is the extended and languishing prison stay of under-trials due to slow police investigation processes and even slower judicial systems. These under-trials have to suffer additional psychological stress as compared to the regular inmates because of the daily anxiety, uncertainty, helplessness, powerlessness, and despair involved. The National Mental Health Survey 2015-16, an all-India survey, has revealed that mental health has become a major issue in the country with 4 out of 10 women and 1 out of 10 men suffering from depression. My work with Tihar has shown that the number of cases of depression in the incarcerated exceeds the general population in the same socio-economic strata of society. There is a higher number of prisoners suffering from depression, anxiety and stress and the subsequent illness compared to the general population. My work has also shown that we need to treat these regular and under-trials inmates as highly vulnerable individuals and group therapy combined with some elements of individual counselling can go a long way in helping them integrate comfortably in society upon release. It has also shown that every prison can put in place systems/processes to achieve this without much financial investment.

 

 

Keynote Forum

Lucy Love

Mountain Health Care, UK

Keynote: Rapid access to talking therapies from the SARC, through partnership working and the use of screening tools

Time : 11:05-11:45

Conference Series Forensic Congress 2017 International Conference Keynote Speaker Lucy Love photo
Biography:

Lucy Love is the Assistant Medical Director for Mountain Healthcare, a major provider of forensic medical services for complainants of sexual assault in the UK. She has been a Sexual Offences Examiner for 20 years, including the evaluation of child sexual abuse and regularly appears in court as an expert witness. She is a recognized trainer of Sexual Assault Nurse Examiners and Paediatric Medical Examiners in the UK and is an accredited Psychosexual Therapist in Kent.

Abstract:

Sexual violence may have a negative psychological impact on the victim. Some survivors will in time recover whilst others will go on to develop PTSD or suffer long term psychological sequelae, such as depression and anxiety. The Kent SARC, in conjunction with the Kent Mental Health Partnership Trust have developed a screening tool for nurses and crisis workers to assess which survivors are at risk of psychological harm and might benefit from rapid access to talking therapies, including EMDR. The screening tool and the pathway to permit rapid access to talking therapies is discussed and an early data set presented for patients treated through this pathway.

Keynote Forum

Sally F Kelty

University of Canberra, Australia

Keynote: Dismantling the justice silos: flowcharting the role and expertise of forensic science, medicine and law in adult sexual assault investigations

Time : 11:45-12:25

Conference Series Forensic Congress 2017 International Conference Keynote Speaker Sally F Kelty photo
Biography:

Sally has three areas of research interest. She has a published track record in each interest area – the association between urban design of the built environment and various impacts on health and wellbeing, such as increases and decreases in social cohesion, physical activity decision-making, delinquency and adolescent obesity; the psychological profiles of emotionally resilient emergency management, defense, forensic science and police practitioners after repeated exposure to occupational stressors and critical incidents as part of their work. This work is specifically interested in stress management and resiliency in these highly stressful occupations; and interagency collaboration in serious criminal investigations. This research looks at how police and lawyers use forensic science, forensic psychiatry and psychology, and forensic medicine in serious criminal cases. This research has a specific aim to discover how well understood the various forensic health disciplines are to police, lawyers and judges and to look at ways to make valuable expertise more readily understood and utilised in the criminal justice system

Abstract:

Forensic science is increasingly used by criminal justice personnel to assist in exonerating the innocent and establishing links to crime. With the increased use of forensic science the risk of unjust outcomes increases. One reason is the more serious the matter the more likely practitioners involved in a case are multi-disciplinary (police, medicine, law, forensic science), and multi-organisational in the private and government sectors (Health, Justice, legal, police). The importance of identifying effective multi-organisational information sharing is to prevent the ‘justice silo effect’. This is where practitioners from different organisations operate in isolation (with minimal or no information/expertise sharing). In this presentation the findings from a large Australia-wide project will be discussed. This project explored the extent of justice silos within Australia. We interviewed  121 police, scientists, lawyers, judges, coroners, and forensic medical practitioners. Two key findings from an initial analysis were that investigative meetings were rare in adult sexual assault cases, and further, many medical practitioners were invisible in investigative decision-making with this low level of visibility being due to lawyers, forensic scientists or police not being aware of the expertise these practitioners offer. The aim of the current aspect of this project was to develop a flowchart that mapped the forensic and evidentiary process from initial reporting by an adult victim of sexual assault to the trial preparation stage. The flowchart would map the different agencies and practitioners involved in each step and include forensic feedback loops to advise practitioners of the quality of the evidence they collected/analysed. The rationale for creating this flowchart was to provide a visual aid that would identify the range of different agencies. By highlighting who was involved in a typical adult sexual assault investigation this flowchart could act as a means of preventing agency and practitioner silos.

Keynote Forum

Catherine So-Kum Tang

National University of Singapore

Keynote: Depression and impulsivity mediating the relationship between social anxiety and Internet addiction
Biography:

Catherine So-Kum Tang is a Professor in the Department of Psychology and the Deputy Director of the Center for Family and Population Research at the National University of Singapore. She obtained her PhD in Clinical Psychology at the University of North Texas USA and LLB at the University of London UK. She is a member of the Editorial Board for Sex Roles: A Journal of Research; Applied Psychology: Health and Well-Being; International Perspective in Psychology: Research, Practice, and Consultation; International Journal of Stress Management; and Asia-Pacific Journal of Counseling. She has over 300 peer-reviewed academic publications, books, book chapters, and academic conference presentations on addictive behavior, violence against women, trauma psychology, and health psychology.

Abstract:

Background & Aim: Internet addiction refers to excessive or uncontrollable preoccupations, urges, or behaviors regarding computer use or internet access that lead to distress or impairment of daily functioning. Social anxiety refers to the experience of persistent fear and distress of interpersonal situations that often leads to the anticipation of embarrassment or humiliation. A recent meta-analysis has shown a robust significant relationship between social anxiety and internet addiction. Based on the self-regulatory model of social anxiety, we hypothesized that depression and impulsivity would be potential risk factors. These two risk factors would meditate the influence of social anxiety on internet addiction. This study aimed to test this hypothesized multiple mediation model of internet addiction.
 
Methodology: 1110 participants (420 males and 690 females) aged from 17 to 18 years old were recruited from various Universities
in Singapore. All participants were asked to complete a paper-and-pencil questionnaire on standardized psychological scales that accessed social anxiety, depression, impulsivity, and internet addiction.
 
Findings: About 9.5% of the participants met the cut-off score for a diagnosis of internet addiction. Depression and impulsivity partially mediated the influence of social anxiety on internet addiction. Depression was also found to be a stronger mediator than impulsivity. Higher social anxiety levels were related to higher levels of depression and impulsivity, which were in turn related to higher levels of problematic internet use. The pathways to internet addiction were similar for males and females.
 
Conclusion & Significance: Internet addiction is widespread and associated with high rates of depression and social anxiety in young
adults in the Asia-Pacific region. Prevention and intervening strategies should be designed to address this phenomenon. Assessment and treatment of mood disturbances should also be included in the management of internet addiction.

Keynote Forum

Veena Kumari

Sovereign Health Group, USA

Keynote: Neurology of Violence in Schizophrenia and Antisocial Personality Disorder : The Role of Childhood Abuse

Time : 12:50-13:15

Conference Series Forensic Congress 2017 International Conference Keynote Speaker Veena Kumari photo
Biography:

Veena Kumari obtained her Doctorate in Psychology from Banaras Hindu University in India before moving to the Institute of Psychiatry in London, UK, where she most recently served as the Professor of Experimental Psychology. Currently, she is the Chief Scientific Officer for the Sovereign Health Group, USA. Her research interests include the neurobiology of violence in psychosis and personality disorder, pharmacological and psychological therapies in psychosis, addiction, and personality and individual differences. She has received various national and international awards for her research; most recently, the prestigious Humboldt Research Award in 2014. She has published over 250 peer-reviewed articles and served as the Associate Editor or Editorial Board Member for a number of journals including Personality and Individual Differences, Psychiatry Research: Neuroimaging, Current Psychopharmacology, Schizophrenia Research and Treatment, and
the Australian and New Zealand Journal of Psychiatry.

Abstract:

Mental health problems have a direct relationship with violent offending in that people with a diagnosis of antisocial personality disorder (ASPD) and a proportion of those with a diagnosis of schizophrenia are at most risk of committing violent crimes. Individuals who as children experienced psychosocial adversity, in particular sexual or physical abuse, are known to have a heightened
risk of developing mental disorders, and although the majority of these do not commit any violent offences as an adult, they are on average more likely to engage in violent crimes than those who did not experience abuse. A number of studies indicate a range of common and distinct neuropsychological deficits in groups of offenders with schizophrenia-alone, APD-alone or with comorbid schizophrenia and ASPD. Violent mentally-disordered individuals with ASPD or schizophrenia also display an array of structural and functional deficits in brain regions that are widely implicated in regulation of violence through their involvement in decision-making,
empathy, impulse control and emotion regulation. Some of these abnormalities in violent mentally-disordered offenders appear to be explained by their histories of stressful childhood experiences. Current and future therapies aiming to reduce violence in such populations would benefit by attending to biological and behavioural correlates of childhood abuse.

Keynote Forum

Toshiko Sawaguchi

National Institute of Public Health, Japan

Keynote: Accession to Persona and Mind without pharamaceuticals-approach under the load of trauma
Conference Series Forensic Congress 2017 International Conference Keynote Speaker Toshiko Sawaguchi photo
Biography:

Toshiko Sawaguchi, M.D., Ph.D., L.B.A Research Managing Director, National Institute of Public Health, Ministry of Health Labour & Welfare, Saitama, Japan since April 2017(Life Health Promotion, Maternal & Child Health)Visiting Professor, Showa University School of Medicine, Tokyo, Japan Forensic and Paediatric Forensic Pathology and Clinical Forensic Medicine for more than 25 years, child health and paediatrics for 10years.

Abstract:

It is important how to access perusona and mind for medical and health care particularly under the load of trauma. Here three approaches were introduced in rather recent Japan.
 
1) Ego state therapy: Psychotherapy for multiple personality disorders .The ego state therapy was a treatment procedure for multiple personality disorders. The theoretical background and practical points of these methods were developed. As the beginning, the ego state therapy was developed as a hypnotherapy but it was evolved as a safety therapeutic method on combined with trauma processing therapies. As the clinical meaning of this treatment, it is seemed to be needed to provide a lid opening of mind and persona.(Prof. Toshio Sugiyama)
 
2) To access medical specialists by health specialists in the regional health field, the possibility of voice approach has been tried to perform for Dissociative Identification Disorder(DID) patients as one of health assessment for medical access. The first step is if the plural personae in one DID patient could be discriminated plural personae. The different voice from different personae in one DID patient could be distinguished using basic frequency curve. In DID patients, the short transition time among plural personae could guide to the risky situation such as suicide. This discrimination of voice approach by each persona could be contributable as an Access Assessment for medica access.
 
3) Possibility of Open Dialogue Approach to Perpetrators of Abuse and the Psychological Troubles in Multidisciplinary Cooperation Open Dialogue Approach is sometimes effective to have objective prospect for oneself via the seeing of one object as more than one(polyopia) for perpetrators of abuse and these objective prospect could lead to going get better relationship. This might be the same in troubles in multidisciplinary cooperation.

  • Neuropsychiatry | Mood Disorders | Psycho-Oncology | Forensic Science | Forensic Psychiatry | Forensic Psychology
Location: Johnson
Speaker

Chair

David Truswell

PLIAS Resettlement, UK

Speaker

Co-Chair

Toshiko Sawaguchi

National Institute of Public Health, Japan

Session Introduction

David Truswell

PLIAS Resettlement, UK

Title: The phoenix project - assisting women involved in the criminal justice system into work, education and training
Speaker
Biography:

Abstract:

Prerna Kohli

Aligarh Muslim University, India

Title: Psychosomatic mental health issues in tihar jail male inmates (ages 18-24)
Biography:

Abstract:

Lucy Love

Mountain Health Care, UK

Title: Rapid access to talking therapies from the SARC, through partnership working and the use of screening tools
Speaker
Biography:

Abstract:

Sally F Kelty

University of Canberra, Australia

Title: Dismantling the justice silos: flowcharting the role and expertise of forensic science, medicine and law in adult sexual assault investigations
Speaker
Biography:

Abstract:

Catherine So-Kum Tang

National University of Singapore, Singapore

Title: Depression and impulsivity mediating the relationship between social anxiety and Internet addiction
Speaker
Biography:

Catherine So-Kum Tang is a Professor in the Department of Psychology and the Deputy Director of the Center for Family and Population Research at the National University of Singapore. She obtained her PhD in Clinical Psychology at the University of North Texas USA and LLB at the University of London UK. She is a member of the Editorial Board for Sex Roles: A Journal of Research; Applied Psychology: Health and Well-Being; International Perspective in Psychology: Research, Practice, and Consultation; International Journal of Stress Management; and Asia-Pacific Journal of Counseling. She has over 300 peer-reviewed academic publications, books, book chapters, and academic conference presentations on addictive behavior, violence against women, trauma psychology, and health psychology.

Abstract:

Background & Aim: Internet addiction refers to excessive or uncontrollable preoccupations, urges, or behaviors regarding computer use or internet access that lead to distress or impairment of daily functioning. Social anxiety refers to the experience of persistent fear and distress of interpersonal situations that often leads to the anticipation of embarrassment or humiliation. A recent meta-analysis has shown a robust significant relationship between social anxiety and internet addiction. Based on the self-regulatory model of social anxiety, we hypothesized that depression and impulsivity would be potential risk factors. These two risk factors would meditate the influence of social anxiety on internet addiction. This study aimed to test this hypothesized multiple mediation model of internet addiction.
Methodology: 1110 participants (420 males and 690 females) aged from 17 to 18 years old were recruited from various Universities in Singapore. All participants were asked to complete a paper-and-pencil questionnaire on standardized psychological scales that accessed social anxiety, depression, impulsivity, and internet addiction.
Findings: About 9.5% of the participants met the cut-off score for a diagnosis of internet addiction. Depression and impulsivity partially mediated the influence of social anxiety on internet addiction. Depression was also found to be a stronger mediator than impulsivity. Higher social anxiety levels were related to higher levels of depression and impulsivity, which were in turn related to higher levels of problematic internet use. The pathways to internet addiction were similar for males and females.
Conclusion & Significance: Internet addiction is widespread and associated with high rates of depression and social anxiety in young adults in the Asia-Pacific region. Prevention and intervening strategies should be designed to address this phenomenon. Assessment and treatment of mood disturbances should also be included in the management of internet addiction.

Toshiko Sawaguchi

National Institute of Public Health, Japan

Title: Accession to Persona and Mind without pharamaceuticals-approach under the load of trauma
Speaker
Biography:

Toshiko Sawaguchi, M.D., Ph.D., L.B.A Research Managing Director, National Institute of Public Health, Ministry of Health Labour & Welfare, Saitama, Japan since April 2017(Life Health Promotion, Maternal & Child Health)Visiting Professor, Showa University School of Medicine, Tokyo, Japan Forensic and Paediatric Forensic Pathology and Clinical Forensic Medicine for more than 25 years, child health and paediatrics for 10years.

Abstract:

It is important how to access perusona and mind for medical and health care particularly under the load of trauma. Here three approaches were introduced in rather recent Japan. 1) Ego state therapy: Psychotherapy for multiple personality disorders .The ego state therapy was a treatment procedure for multiple personality disorders. The theoretical background and practical points of these methods were developed. As the beginning, the ego state therapy was developed as a hypnotherapy but it was evolved as a safety therapeutic method on combined with trauma processing therapies. As the clinical meaning of this treatment, it is seemed to be needed to provide a lid opening of mind and persona.(Prof. Toshio Sugiyama) 2) To access medical specialists by health specialists in the regional health field, the possibility of voice approach has been tried to perform for Dissociative Identification Disorder(DID) patients as one of health assessment for medical access. The first step is if the plural personae in one DID patient could be discriminated plural personae. The different voice from different personae in one DID patient could be distinguished using basic frequency curve. In DID patients, the short transition time among plural personae could guide to the risky situation such as suicide. This discrimination of voice approach by each persona could be contributable as an Access Assessment for medica access. 3) Possibility of Open Dialogue Approach to Perpetrators of Abuse and the Psychological Troubles in Multidisciplinary Cooperation Open Dialogue Approach is sometimes effective to have objective prospect for oneself via the seeing of one object as more than one(polyopia) for perpetrators of abuse and these objective prospect could lead to going get better relationship. This might be the same in troubles in multidisciplinary cooperation.(Prof.Toshiko Sawaguchi).

Veena Kumari

Sovereign Health Group, USA

Title: Neurology of violence in schizophrenia and antisocial personality disorder : The role of childhood abuse
Speaker
Biography:

Veena Kumari obtained her Doctorate in Psychology from Banaras Hindu University in India before moving to the Institute of Psychiatry in London, UK, where she most recently served as the Professor of Experimental Psychology. Currently, she is the Chief Scientific Officer for the Sovereign Health Group, USA. Her research interests include the neurobiology of violence in psychosis and personality disorder, pharmacological and psychological therapies in psychosis, addiction, and personality and individual differences. She has received various national and international awards for her research; most recently, the prestigious Humboldt Research Award in 2014. She has published over 250 peer-reviewed articles and served as the Associate Editor or Editorial Board Member for a number of journals including Personality and Individual Differences, Psychiatry Research: Neuroimaging, Current Psychopharmacology, Schizophrenia Research and Treatment, and the Australian and New Zealand Journal of Psychiatry

Abstract:

Mental health problems have a direct relationship with violent offending in that people with a diagnosis of antisocial personality disorder (ASPD) and a proportion of those with a diagnosis of schizophrenia are at most risk of committing violent crimes. Individuals who as children experienced psychosocial adversity, in particular sexual or physical abuse, are known to have a heightened risk of developing mental disorders, and although the majority of these do not commit any violent offences as an adult, they are on average more likely to engage in violent crimes than those who did not experience abuse. A number of studies indicate a range of common and distinct neuropsychological deficits in groups of offenders with schizophrenia-alone, APD-alone or with comorbid schizophrenia and ASPD. Violent mentally-disordered individuals with ASPD or schizophrenia also display an array of structural and functional deficits in brain regions that are widely implicated in regulation of violence through their involvement in decision-making, empathy, impulse control and emotion regulation. Some of these abnormalities in violent mentally-disordered offenders appear to be explained by their histories of stressful childhood experiences. Current and future therapies aiming to reduce violence in such populations would benefit by attending to biological and behavioural correlates of childhood abuse.

Matthew Rinaldi

King’s College London, UK

Title: Hospital admission for severe paediatric dissociative disorder
Speaker
Biography:

Matthew Rinaldi is a core Trainee Psychiatrist on the Maudsley training programme. He has interests in psychosomatic conditions, the psychotherapeutic understanding and multi-disciplinary management of them. A trainee who works for bottom-up service improvement, his work stems from under-researched problems that he encounters in clinical practice.

Abstract:

Statement of the Problem: Dissociative disorders are an under-researched condition in child and adolescent mental health and no specific guidelines exist to inform management.
Methodology & Theoretical Orientation: We audited the outcomes of patients diagnosed with dissociative disorders as part of their difficulties over a 5-year period on a tier-4 national and specialist inpatient unit for children between the ages of 4 and 13. Information was collected for diagnoses, gender, length of admission, medication on admission and on discharge, Children’s Global Assessment Scale (CGAS), Health of the Nation Outcomes Scale for Children and Adolescents (HONOSCA), additional investigations, interventions, Mental Health Act (MHA) status and Discharge plans.
Findings: Six female patients were identified and their diagnoses included dissociative motor disorder, dissociative seizures and other dissociative disorders (fainting) and all patients had several co-morbidities. Mean CGAS and HoNOSCA scores improved from admission to discharge for all patients from 36 to 64 and 15 to 5 respectively. The mean length of admission was 172 days (Range: 114 - 232). No patients were detained under the MHA. Treatment programmes were varied between the patients according to need. The most common interventions were Cognitive Behavioral Therapy, additional physical health investigations for those with co-morbid physical health diagnoses, family therapy, occupational therapy and medical review. Novel treatment methods such as mindfulness, play therapy and mirror box therapy were also employed.
Conclusion & Significance: We recommend that patients with dissociative disorders are offered these interventions, tailored to their needs. Future research is required to create guidelines for evidence-based practise and to develop novel treatment methods for this complicated patient group.

Cris Coconcea

Christiana Care Health System, USA

Title: Catatonia: A “Frozen Condition?”: Case reports, literature review, and suggested treatment algorithm
Speaker
Biography:

Cris Coconcea, M.D is director of psychiatry residency training program at Christiana Care Health System in Wilmington, DE, and Clinical Assistant Professor of Psychiatry at CWRU School of Medicine in Cleveland, OH. His clinical, research interests and presentation topics include catatonia, psychotic disorders and acute inpatient psychiatry. He has lectured extensively at local, national and international conferences.
 
Nicole Coconcea, MD is medical director of integrated care in psychiatry and geriatric psychiatrist at Christiana Care Health System in Wilmington, DE, and Clinical Assistant Professor of Psychiatry at CWRU School of Medicine in Cleveland, OH. Her clinical, research interests and presentation topics include integrated care and medical comorbidities of the geriatric psychiatric patient

Abstract:

Background: According to recent statistics, 5–9% of all psychiatric inpatients show some catatonic symptoms. Among which 25–50% are associated with mood disorders, 10–15% are associated with schizophrenia, and the remainder are associated with other mental disorders. Recent developments in the treatment of catatonia are raising the GABAa vs. GABAb hypothesis of catatonia.
Methods: This paper describes 7 cases of benzodiazepine-resistant catatonia responding to treatment with zolpidem and critically reviews the current literature on the treatment of catatonia, proposing an algorithm for the diagnosis and treatment of this condition.
Results: All 7 patients in this report are showing similar catatonic symptoms, lack of response (or partial response) to other treatments, and same patterns of response to zolpidem, including an initial zolpidem challenge test. From the review of the literature on catatonia, there is growing evidence suggesting the role of GABAa agonists in the treatment of catatonia, as well as for the possible pro-catatonic effect of the GABAb agonists, with important potential clinical applications in the treatment of this severe condition.
Conclusions: Zolpidem, a GABAa specific agonist appears to be a new and safe therapeutic approach for catatonia, potentially useful in benzodiazepine-resistant patients. More research will be needed to replicate and further understand the mechanism and sites of its activity. Various agents described in the literature as useful for the management of catatonia are critically reviewed in terms of mechanism of activity and strength of evidence, and an evidence-based algorithmic approach to the diagnosis and treatment of catatonia is proposed.

Yuan Zhou

Chinese Academy of Sciences, China

Title: Abnormal social interactive behavior in major depressive disorder
Speaker
Biography:

Yuan Zhou received her MS in Psychiatry and Mental Health from Wuhan University in 2004 and her PhD in Pattern Recognition and Intelligence System from Institute of Automation, Chinese Academy of Sciences (CAS). She has been conducting research actively in neuroimaging and mental health, at first in characterizing the brain network of schizophrenic patients using resting-state fMRI and then in investigating cognitive deficit in psychiatric disorders using taskbased fMRI. Recently, her research interest has focused specifically on understanding social decision making in patients with schizophrenia or major depressive disorder and its underlying psychopathology and neural basis. She has published her work in international journals including Cerebral Cortex, NeuroImage, Schizophrenia Bulletin, Schizophrenia Research, etc.

Abstract:

Statement of the Problem: Major depressive disorder (MDD) is characterized with significant and pervasive impairments in social functioning. Limited knowledge about social dysfunction in MDD results from traditional paradigms, which lack insights into social interactions. Game theoretical modeling offers a new tool for investigating social interactive impairments in neuropsychiatric disorders. Several studies have used an Ultimatum Game to study social interactive behavior as a responder in MDD and obtained inconsistent findings. More importantly, it is unclear for the underpinnings of the abnormal behavior in MDD. We hypothesized that sensitivity to context changes is abnormal in MDD patients during the Ultimatum Game.
Methodology & Theoretical Orientation: In order to test our hypothesis, we recruited 27 MDD patients and 28 matched healthy controls to perform a classical Ultimatum Game as responders. During this game, an offer with fairness level from 4%-50% could be proposed either by a human or by a computer.
Findings: We found that MDD patients showed decreased rejection rate for the unfair offers and increased rejection rate for the fair offers. In addition, the patients were unable to discriminatively treat unfair offers from computer and from human proposers, unlike the healthy control whose rejection rate for human proposer was higher than that for computer proposer. Furthermore, using binary logistic regression modeling, we found that MDD patients showed decreased absolute values of both the slope and intercept across human proposer condition and computer proposer condition (respectively, P=0.004 and P<0.001), suggesting that the influence of fairness context on rejection rates was reduced in MDD patients.
Conclusion & Significance: MDD patients showed insensitivity to fairness context, which explained the pattern of lack of changes towards fairness during the Ultimatum Game. These findings suggest that reward processing and prediction error in a social context may be impaired in MDD patients.

  • Special Session
Location: Johnson

Session Introduction

Mark Benecke

International Forensic Research & Consulting, Germany

Title: Two homosexual pedophile sadistic serial killers: Jurgen Bartsch (Germany, 1946 - 1976) and Luis Alfredo Garavito Cubillos (Colombia, 1957)
Speaker
Biography:

Mark Benecke is head of International Forensic Research & Consulting. He works internationally as a forensic expert on complex cases (blood, DNA, insects). In Germany, he is a Certified and Sworn In Expert for Biological Stains.

Abstract:

From a criminalistic and legal perspective, we report two cases of homosexual pedophile serial killers who share certain characteristics. Our sources are first-hand accounts only, i.e., a. meetings with Luis Alfredo Garavito Cubillos / the
investigators in Colombia, and b. the yet unreleased original files of the trials against Jürgen Bartsch, as well as letters written by him. Between 1992 and 1999, Luis Alfredo Garavito killed more than 300 children in the core age span between 8 and 13 years (as an exception: 6 to 16 years). His modus operandi remained stable. The children were tied up, tortured, raped, and killed by at least one cut in the lateral part of the neck, or by decapitation. During the killings, Garavito was drunk. During his confessions, he directed the investigators correctly to the scenes of crime spread over large areas of Columbia. Garavito may be released out of prison within the next 15 years, i.e. even before the maximum sentence of 40 years. In 1966, then 19-year old Jürgen Bartsch (1946-1976) was arrested after an unsuccessful attempt to torture, kill and dismember a young boy. Before, in the years between 1962 and 1966, Bartsch had killed 4 young boys aged 8 to 12. He estimated to have undertaken more than 100 further homicidal attempts. The method of murder was beating and strangulation. He dismembered most of the bodies, pricked out the eyes, decapitated the bodies, and removed the genitals. He also tried but failed to perform anal intercourse with the victims. His goal was to skin the life victims. Bartsch openly discussed his wish for dominance, control, and sexual
gratification but also his strategies of avoiding prosecution. Under the influence of psychiatric consultations, Bartsch's views on his parents, as much as memories of sexual abuse performed by a teacher, became a topic. In a psychiatric hospital, Bartsch managed to marry a heterosexual woman. During a voluntary castration operation, he died due to an error in the anaesthetic procedure.