Drug addictions and sexual violence in childhood and adolescence: analyzing life stories

The sexual abuse suffered in childhood and adolescence, in addition to damage to physical and psychological health of the victim, is considered as an important risk factor for alcohol and drugs addiction, development of psychopathology and psychosocial damage in adulthood. In addition to the pain and humiliation that are submitted by the abuse, children and adolescents also experience shame and guilt which require them to adopt coping strategies to endure those feelings. The use of psychoactive substances is a recognized way of dealing with the pains of living. This work, which is of narrative style, analyses and discusses, through five case reports, chemical dependency as a result of sexual abuse suffered in childhood and/or adolescence. The eight subjects in this study are male and have suffered sexual violence in this age period of life. Their ages range from 23 years to 39 years, and all are admitted to a therapeutic community in a city in the interior of Sao Paulo state, in Brazil, for treatment of chemical dependency, being met by the Department of Psychology. The reasons for the choice of the participants for treatment modality for patients are: difficult to stop using drugs, even unwilling to take it, they have easy access to it; the feeling of losing control over their lives; by successive losses as a result of drug use, and for fear that their lives had a tragic ending. With the exception of two participants, the others do not classify that as a child suffered sexual violence. However, all attribute that facilitated their entry into the world of drugs. Seven participants experienced such violence in childhood (between 7 years and 9 years) and adolescence (age 14). The attackers were people closed to the victims—in the case of two victims, their families, with the exception of one participant who was raped by a stranger. Six participants declared themselves as homosexual. Another participant does not claim to be homosexual, but presents difficulties in terms of sexuality. Two participants are HIV positive. The start of psychoactive substances use occurred during adolescence (12 years to 17 years). The participants see drugs as an anesthetic to the pain of the soul, a way to get pleasure, but they get charged expensively, as it increases the feeling of emptiness, guilt, helplessness, worthlessness and hopelessness. Although participants have sought help to deal with addiction, it is noted that throughout the life course the issue of sexual violence was not treated. It was noted that the patients have a double stigma in society: the issue of drugs addiction and the orientation of sexual desire, because the majority of participants are homosexual. The results reinforce the need for effective action geared to accommodate the victims of sexual violence and effective preventive measures to prevent children and adolescents from being abused.

A disciplina lazer nos currículos de educação física: um estudo sobre os saberes dos professores nas universidades públicas do estado de São Paulo

Pós-graduação em Ciências da Motricidade - IBRC

A re-significação da feminilidade de mulheres da terceira idade durante seu processo de envelhecimento

Coordenação de Aperfeiçoamento de Pessoal de Nível Superior (CAPES)

O trabalhador de saúde mental na atenção psicossocial: a questão do sofrimento psíquico

Pós-graduação em Psicologia - FCLAS

Práticas pedagógicas na educação infantil: a construção do sentido da escola para as crianças

Coordenação de Aperfeiçoamento de Pessoal de Nível Superior (CAPES)

Construindo laços entre o serviço social e a educação: acesso e permanência na educação de jovens e adultos

Pós-graduação em Serviço Social - FCHS

Signaling pathways associated with the expression of inflammatory mediators activated during the course of two models of experimental periodontitis

Fundação de Amparo à Pesquisa do Estado de São Paulo (FAPESP)

Ant diversity (Hymenoptera: Formicidae) and predation by ants on the different stages of the sugarcane borer life cycle Diatraea saccharalis (Lepidoptera: Crambidae)

Conselho Nacional de Desenvolvimento Científico e Tecnológico (CNPq)

Methotrexate improves the health-related quality of life of children with juvenile idiopathic arthritis

Objectives: To examine the change in health-related quality of life (HRQOL) and its determinants in children with juvenile idiopathic arthritis (JIA) treated with methotrexate (MTX). Methods: Patients were extracted from the PRINTO clinical trial which aimed to evaluate the efficacy and safety profile of MTX administered in standard, intermediate or higher doses (10, 15 and 30 mg/m2/week respectively). Children with polyarticular-course JIA, who were less than 18 years and had a complete HRQOL assessment were included. Results: A total of 521 children were included. At baseline, patients with JIA showed poorer HRQOL (p<0.01) than healthy children. In 207/412 (50%) and 63 (15%) children, HRQOL values were 2 standard deviations below the mean of healthy controls in the physical and psychosocial summary scale, respectively. After 6 months of treatment with standard dose MTX, there was a statistically significant improvement in all HRQOL health concepts, particularly the physical ones. Similar improvements were observed in those who did not respond to a standard dose of MTX and were subsequently randomised to a higher dose. The presence of marked disability at baseline was associated with a fivefold increased risk of retaining poor physical health after 6 months of active treatment with standard dose MTX. Other less important determinants of retaining poor physical well-being were the baseline level of systemic inflammation, pain intensity and an antinuclear-antibody-negative status. Conclusions: MTX treatment produces a significant improvement across a wide range of HRQOL components, particularly in the physical domains, in patients with JIA.

Role of stressful and traumatic life events in obsessive-compulsive disorder

Whilst genetic factors are thought to contribute to the development of obsessive-compulsive disorder (OCD), the role of environmental factors in OCD is only beginning to be understood. In this article, we review the influence of stress-related factors in OCD. Overall, studies indicate that: patients with OCD frequently report stressful and traumatic life events before illness onset, although these rates do not seem to be significantly different from those described in other disorders; the association between OCD and post-traumatic stress disorder (PTSD) might result from symptom overlap, although cases of patients developing OCD after PTSD and showing obsessive-compulsive symptoms that were unrelated to trauma have been described fairly consistently; it is unclear whether patients with OCD and a history of stress-related factors (including stressful life events, traumatic life events or comorbid PTSD) may respond better or worse to the available treatments; and comorbid PTSD may modify the clinical expression of OCD-although controlled studies comparing pre-versus post-traumatic OCD patients are still unavailable. In conclusion, there is a growing evidence to suggest a role for stress-related factors in OCD. Although the available literature does not confirm the existence of a post-traumatic subtype of OCD, it does call for further systematic research into this topic. © 2011 Future Medicine Ltd.

Second life®: corpo ou avatar? realidade ou fantasia?

Pós-graduação em Desenvolvimento Humano e Tecnologias - IBRC

Pseudoaneurysm of the internal carotid artery presenting with massive (recurrent) epistaxes: a life-threatening complication of craniofacial trauma

Vascular lesions can be serious complications resulting of blunt or penetrating trauma(1,2). Internal carotid artery lesion is one of most serious and relatively frequent in all mechanisms of craniofacial trauma. Several clinical manifestations can occur as central neurologic and cranial nerves deficits as well as several degrees of bleeding (from mild symptomatic to fatal). Recurrent and massive epistaxis can occur after trauma due to pseudaoneurysms of the external and internal carotid artery (ICA)(3,4). Considering its life-threatening course, the assisting physician has a relatively narrow time to detect and treat these lesions.We present two cases of recurrent and massive epistaxis secondary to ICA pseudoaneurysm following blunt and perforating trauma. Evolution was fatal in the first case with delayed treatment and uneventfully in the second which was treated by occlusion of the pseudoaneurysm and ICA via endovascular intervention.