The Beck Anxiety Inventory was administered to 105 outpatients between 13 and 17 years old who were diagnosed with various types of psychiatric disorders. A principal factor analysis was performed, and two factors were found representing subjective and somatic symptoms of anxiety. The item compositions of these factors were comparable to those previously described for adolescent inpatients. The results are discussed as supporting the use of the inventory for evaluating self-reported anxiety in outpatient adolescents.

To ascertain (1) whether male and female adolescent (13-17 years old) psychiatric inpatients endorse comparable reasons for cutting themselves and (2) whether these reasons are correlated with selected psychosocial characteristics of the adolescents, self-reported depression, and hopelessness, the Self-Injury Motivation Scale II (SIMS-II), the Beck Depression Inventory-II, and the Beck Hopelessness Scale were administered to 19 (38%) male and 31 (62%) female adolescents who had cut themselves. Independent t tests found that none of the SIMS-II subscale scores was differentiated by sex, but the Beck Depression Inventory-II total score was significantly correlated with the SIMS-II total, Affect Modulation, Desolation, and Punitive Duality subscale scores. The results are discussed as indicating that male and female adolescent inpatients endorse comparable reasons for cutting themselves and that self-reported depression is positively associated with the number and intensity of different motivations for cutting oneself.

The Beck Depression Inventory-II (BDI-II) was administered to 45 male and 55 female psychiatric inpatients who were 12 to 17 years old, and the Mood Module from the Primary Care Evaluation of Mental Disorders (PRIME-MD) was used to determine whether these patients met criteria for a diagnosis of a DSM-IV major depressive disorder (MDD). Binormal receiver-operating-characteristic (ROC) analyses found that BDI-II total scores, Cognitive subscale scores, Noncognitive subscale scores, and embedded BDI FastScreen for Medical Patients subscale scores were comparably effective in differentiating inpatients who were and were not diagnosed with a MDD; the areas under the ROC curves were, respectively, .92 (95% confidence interval [CI]: .85-.96), .90 (95% CI: .82-.95), .90 (95% CI: .83-.95), and .90 (95% CI: .83-.95).

To assess the factorial validity of the 27-item Conners' Parent Rating Scale-Revised: Short Form (CPRS-R:S; Conners, 1997), 100 (50%) male and 100 (50%) female psychiatric outpatients between 5 and 16 years old were rated by a parent. A confirmatory factor analysis of the 18 item ratings from the CPRS-R:S Oppositional, Cognitive Problems, and Hyperactivity scales provided only tentative support for scoring these scales as Conners (1997) recommended. However, an exploratory principal-axis factor analysis with all 27 item ratings found 2 dimensions: 1 dimension was composed of the 6 items in the Oppositional scale, and other dimension contained the remaining 21 items. An attention deficit hyperactivity disorder (ADHD) Total Symptoms scale was constructed by summing the ratings for these 21 symptom ratings, and this scale was found to be as effective as the Hyperactivity scale was in discriminating between youth who were and were not eventually diagnosed with an ADHD. We discuss the results as providing an alternate way of scoring the CPRS-R:S to screen for an ADHD in child and adolescent psychiatric outpatients.

The aim of this paper is to describe the activities and observations of the team from National Institute of Mental Health and Neuro Sciences (NIMHANS) Bangalore, India in the Andaman and Nicobar Islands during the early phase of the Tsunami disaster in January and February 2005. The activities comprised mental health consultation at camps, community sensitization, mental health services to the students and children, teachers orientation sessions and training of non-governmental organization [NGO] functionaries. Initial assessment reveals 5-8% of the population were suffering from significant mental health problems following the early phase of the disaster. This may increase in the aftermath of the early relief phase. Psychiatric morbidity is expected be around 25-30% in the disillusionment phase. High resilience was seen in the joint family system of tribal Nicobarese during early phase of disaster. In developing countries like India, limited availability of mental health professionals and poor knowledge about disaster mental health among the medical and para-medical staff, may lead to poor psychosocial rehabilitation of the survivors. To respond to a high magnitude natural disaster like a tsunami, the disaster mental health team must be able to understand the local culture, traditions, language, belief systems and local livelihood patterns. They also need to integrate with the network of various governmental and non-governmental organizations to cater to the needs of the survivors. Hence the presence of a disaster mental health team is definitely required during the early phase of the disaster in developing countries.