A comparison of personality traits, learning style, and perceived stress among surgical and nonsurgical residents in a tertiary care hospital in India.

INTRODUCTION: It is often perceived that the presence of a distinct surgical personality plays an important role in predicting success in their surgical career. This study compares the personality profiles, perceived stress, and learning styles of surgical and nonsurgical residents. AIM: The aim of this study is to examine the differences in personality traits, learning style preferences, and perceived stress among surgical and nonsurgical residents. SETTING AND DESIGN: A cross-sectional study was conducted comparing surgical and non-surgical residents in a tertiary care teaching hospital. MATERIALS AND METHODS: The 50-item International Personality Item Pool Big- Five Factor Marker questionnaire was used to score 5 personality domains. The 24-item Learning Style Inventory Questionnaire was used to determine the preferential learning styles (visual, auditory, or tactile). The Perceived Stress Scale was administered to assess the perception of stress in the residents. STATISTICAL ANALYSIS: t-test and chi-square test were done for statistical analysis. RESULTS: A statistically significant difference was found in learning style preferences with visual (14.78 ± 3.73 vs. 7.4 ± 2.25) and kinesthetic styles being (13.84 ± 4.37 vs. 6.96 ± 1.47) preferred by surgical residents whereas auditory style was preferred by nonsurgical residents (P < 0.05). Surgical residents scored higher in extraversion (P = 0.00), conscientiousness (P = 0.00), and openness to experience (P = 0.00) which was statistically significant. Nonsurgical residents were found to have a higher perception of stress which was statistically significant (13.40 ± 7.10 vs. 21.12 ± 7.52) (P = 0.01). CONCLUSION: The significant trait variance supports the concept of surgical personality.

Nonadherence in bipolar disorder patients: A 14-year retrospective study.

BACKGROUND: Bipolar disorder is a disabling psychiatric disorder. The existing literature suggests about 41% of patients to be nonadherent. Nonadherence leads to relapses, delay in recovery besides higher inpatient care cost as well as higher global cost of the disease. Nonadherence in bipolar affective disorder (BPAD) is a complex phenomenon, its critical determinants are yet to be identified with certainty. AIMS: This study aims to assess the prevalence of nonadherence in BPAD and to delineate the factors associated with it. METHODS: Medical records were reviewed in this study from 2005 to 2019 at a medical college in Kerala. Patients who were diagnosed with BPAD according to International Classification of Diseases 10 and who were needing or opting for prophylaxis were included. Patients who were not taking medications for at least 1 week were termed as nonadherent. We included 150 participants in our study. RESULTS: To test the statistical significance of the association of categorical variables between H/O of adherence and nonadherence, Chi-square test was used. In the sample, 82.7% had at least 1 week of history of noncompliance in the past. The most common reason was poor understanding of illness by the family (56%) followed by a negative aspect of the patient toward the drug (20%). CONCLUSION: Therefore, this study concludes that though majority of the patients have a history of nonadherence of at least 1 week on long-term follow-up, it was seen that majority of the patients were more than 80% adherent to medications.

A Case of Rapidly Progressing Frontotemporal Dementia.

Frontotemporal dementia commonly presents as a gradual change in personality, social conduct, and language ability, often sparing memory loss in early stages. We report a case of a 55-year-old female with rapid progression of memory impairment and other cognitive functions in a span of 2 years.

Lithium-induced Thyroiditis in a Patient Having Bipolar Affective Disorder - A Rare Case Report.

A 22-year-old female, previously diagnosed with bipolar affective disorder on lithium therapy, presented to us with manic symptoms. The blood investigations revealed elevated thyroxine and thyroid peroxidase antibodies and reduced thyroid-stimulating hormone with poor tapping function of thyroid on technetium thyroid scintigraphy indicating lithium-induced thyroiditis.

Dissociative Motor Disorder.

Conversion disorders are more prevalent in childhood and adolescence, especially in females. They are usually associated with stressors and symptoms usually reflect a means to avoid the stressor, or also with a primary and secondary gain. This case report involves a similar situation where a young girl was treated successfully with diazepam, therapeutic nerve conduction study, and behavioral psychotherapy.