Study on Psychiatric Disorders and Their MedicalSocial Consequences in Patients with Amyotrophic Lateral Sclerosis and Members of Their Families | Chapter 3 | New Frontiers in Medicine and Medical Research Vol. 12

 A total of 118 people with ALS and 97 family members were assessed. All of the patients and their relatives were observed by psychiatrists. The researchers wanted to see if ALS patients and their families had anxiety, sadness, habitual intoxications, frontotemporal impairment, unjustifiable costs, and poor physician teamwork. The frontotemporal dementia scale (for patients) and the Hamilton Depression Scale (for patients and their families) were employed in the evaluation.Psychiatric diseases were detected in 101 ALS patients (85%) and 51 family members (52.5%) (significantly more commonly in ALS patientsp0.05). Rare incidences of ALS associated with endogenous psychological issues have been reported.Frontotemporal cognitive abnormalities to the degree of dementia were seen in 4.2 percent of cases in 33 persons, with no apparent preponderance of situation-mediated depression (28 percent). Only family members of ALS patients had situation-mediated psychological issues with a strong preponderance of anxiety (28 percent, p0.05). A total of 49 ALS patients (41.5%) and 80 members of their families (82.4%) were afflicted by habitual intoxication (significantly more frequently in family members, p0.05). People refuse to engage with professional physicians (73-76 percent), reject severe treatment techniques (74.5 percent), approach scammers, and suffer the weight of unjustified spending due to the high prevalence of anxiety problems (29.6 percent of cases). It is recommended that ALS patients' families be consistently patronised by neurological and psychotherapeutic services, with psychiatrists and narcologists involved in individual cases, as this can increase the number of life-saving procedures performed at ALS and improve the quality of life of patients and their families.

Author(s) Details

Dr. Gleb N. Levitsky
Nina Levitskaya Russian Charity Amyotrophic Lateral Sclerosis Foundation, Moscow and Gleb Levitsky Clinic, Moscow.

Andrey S. Levitsky
Independent Researcher, Moscow.

Vadim M. Gilod
Department of Psychiatry and Suici dology, Eramishantsev Hospital, Moscow.

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