Identifying, Assessing, and Treating Korsakoff Syndrome Patients: Updated Perspectives.

ABSTRACT: Objectives consist of updating published reports on the recognition, assessment, and care of patients with Wernicke-Korsakoff syndrome (WKS). Methods included defining relevant terms, describing core clinical phenomena, conducting meaningful reviews for latter-day WKS publications, and selecting instructive case examples. Findings covered epidemiology, precipitants, neuroimaging studies, alternate learning strategies in WKS, adjunctive treatments, and promising research. In conclusion, patients, their family members, clinicians, and public health experts should benefit from this updated knowledge. Countries with substantial alcohol consumption should consider emulating Holland in designating WKS research centers, founding regional clinical facilities, and funding multidisciplinary expert teams.

Managing the classification of psychiatric diagnoses: a systematics perspective.

For almost a century, the American Psychiatric Association has improved psychiatric practice via its diagnostic manual series. However, the increasing number of diagnoses has created predicaments for clinicians and society. This report suggests explanations for this "inflation" and, using systematics, proposes the following five linked strategies for improving our diagnostic schema. First, criteria based on purposes underlying diagnosis should form the basis for including and excluding psychiatric diagnoses. Second, the major categories (or classes) should be reduced from 17 to one half to one third that number. Third, many psychiatric diagnoses should be removed from their current status as independent diagnoses (or subclasses) and relegated to a more specific taxonomic stratum (e.g., infraclass). Fourth, promising information for new or modified taxons would compose a fourth stratum (or parvclass). Fifth, comorbidity would become a more useful concept if defined as major, intermediate, and minor comorbidity, occurring at class, subclass, and infraclass levels.

Refugee resettlement to the United States: recommendations for a new approach.

Hmong acculturation to the United States has involved high prevalence of several psychosocial challenges: acculturation failure, welfare dependency, psychiatric disorder, mistrust, malignant youth gangs, and violence. Conversely, resettlement of the Thai Dam-a tribal group, also from Laos-has gone remarkably well in comparison. Strategies used for resettlement of these two groups differed greatly. Based on these differences, the author recommends a refugee resettlement strategy aimed at improved mental health and optimal acculturation for future refugee groups.