The loss of mental functions is one of the key symptoms for the diagnosis of Alzheimer’s disease. However, cognitive deficiencies are also associated with illnesses such as depression, making this a risk factor for this form of dementia.
This was one of the subjects discussed at the III Clinical Psychopathology and Mental Health Conference organised by the Sisters Hospitallers’ Informaciones Psiquiátricas magazine and held on 15 and 16 March in Sant Boi de Llobregat.
According to the study presented by Joan Vilalta-Franch, psychiatrist of the Gerona Health Care Institute, patients with Depression in Alzheimer’s Disease (DIAD) “show better preservation of certain cognitive functions, such as memory of learning, and faster deterioration of other functions, such as calculation”. Therefore more time can elapse between the onset of symptoms and the diagnosis of Alzheimer’s in these patients than those who do not suffer from DIAD. “This is because there is a tendency to diagnose depression first when depressive and cognitive symptoms overlap”, explains Vilalta-Franch.
DIAD reflects a specific cognitive impairment profile, but the available data is insufficient to establish whether this profile is a cause or a consequence of depression. As a result, Vilalta-Franch stresses, “the workings of the brain should be contemplated as a whole”.
Rescuing patients in the recovery process
The recovery of mental health patients has traditionally been associated with the practical disappearance of symptoms, after effects and resulting disabilities, to the extent that they can resume a normal day-to-day life without requiring specific care. In many cases, drugs can help to reduce symptoms, but their consumption is no guarantee of recovery.
“In recent years, the predominance of biological psychiatry, or rather drug-based psychiatry, has shifted the focus of attention away from the individuals suffering from mental illnesses, seeing them gain value instead as potential consumers of antipsychotics and other medicines”, criticises Dr. Mariano Hernández Monsalve, head of the Tetuán Mental Health Care Centre in Madrid.
In the psychiatrist’s opinion, the most important thing in the recovery process is to “rescue” the patient. It is for this reason that he has defended the design of an alternative method to traditional care practices, in which importance is placed on the patient’s first person accounts: “The idea is to change the nature of mental health policies by working on a combination of/integration between clinical and personal recovery, with the main focus on the latter”.
More sexual health training for professionals
The relationship between psychopathology and sexuality was another of the areas covered at the III Clinical Psychopathology and Mental Health Conference. On this subject, Doctor Antonio Palha, Chairman of the International Clinical Sexology Academy and Chairman of the Portuguese Psychiatry Society said that “there is a shortage of health professionals who have an understanding of human and clinical sexuality, and this is essential for the correct clinical assessment of people with mental illnesses”.
Dr. Palha warned of the need to “help patients to achieve healthy sexual expression, in order to improve their quality of life, and provide them with the necessary information on the prevention of sexually transmitted diseases”.
The difficulty of classifying mental illnesses
The III Clinical Psychopathology and Mental Health Conference also included a talk by Germán Berrios, Professor Emeritus of Psychiatry of the University of Cambridge in the United Kingdom, who reflected on the difficulty of classifying mental illnesses according to their symptoms. “The epistemology of mental illnesses is complex and must start from the idea of the object to be classified as a combination between biological, cultural and moral aspects”, explained Berrios.
Clinical Psychopathology and Mental Health Conference
Aimed at mental health professionals at the centres run by the Congregation of the Sisters Hospitallers of the Sacred Heart of Jesus in Spain, this Conference brought together nationally and internationally renowned to share the latest scientific and technological advances in the field of mental health.
Bearing in mind the different lines of care offered at the Sisters Hospitallers centres in Spain “the Conference approaches psychopathology from the perspective of various specialities, in order to facilitate the exchange of experiences between attendees and create synergies with a view to improving the diagnosis and treatment of the mentally ill”, explained doctor Cebamanos, Clinical Chief of the Benedict Menni CASM Hospital Rehabilitation Unit, and supervisor of the Informaciones Psiquiátricas magazine.
With this third edition in Barcelona, the Clinical Psychopathology and Mental Health Conference has been consolidated as a forum for specialist reflection at the highest level, within the context of the Hospitaller values that characterise the Congregation.
