Focus on psychiatry in Poland

Abstract

The German occupation of Poland in 1939 was accompanied by the destruction of the existing medical system, and the first victims of the Nazi terror were psychiatric patients in hospitals – around 15 000 were exterminated and about 10 000 died as a result of malnourishment.

Psychiatry in selected countries of Central and Eastern Europe: an overview of the current situation

“…In‐patient services Treatment of the mentally ill in the region traditionally took place primarily in large mental institutions; hospitalization represented the principal form of psychiatric care (6–18). After WWII, the focus of psychiatric care moved to general hospital settings and many psychiatric wards were subsequently opened.…”

“…This paper reviews the present state of psychiatry in the countries of CEE with regard to the country of origin of the authors. Since the previous reports focused on one or two countries (10, 20, 21), this is a first comparison of several countries of the region sharing a similar history. The account is incomplete as Austria, Belarus, Moldova, Serbia‐Montenegro and Ukraine are not included.…”

Design of the BiRmingham Early Detection In untREated psyChosis Trial (REDIRECT): cluster randomised controlled trial of general practitioner education in detection of first episode psychosis [ISRCTN87898421]

“…As part of this process, a range of national and international policy developments have occurred, with the aim of improving the identification and management of mental illness in primary care [11-18]. In the United Kingdom (UK), for example, standards two and three of the Mental Health National Service Framework [16] require primary care to provide effective identification, assessment, and treatment of people with mental illness, including appropriate early referral to specialist services.…”

Electroconvulsive Therapy Practice in Poland

“…Thirty-four percent of the psychiatric beds (approximately 9760) belong to the 11 large psychiatric institutions. 15 The aim of the study described herein was to determine the use and characteristics of ECT in all Polish inpatient psychiatric settings including academic units, general hospital psychiatric wards, and psychiatric institutions.…”