Haraton Davidian

Depression is a common disorder that involves depressed mood and/or near-complete loss of interest or pleasure in activities that were previously enjoyed;somatic (eg, weight change, sleep disturbance) & cognitive manifestations (eg, difficulty concentrating) are common. Depression may markedly impair the ability to function at work & to interact socially;risk of suicide is significant. Depressive disorders occur at any age but typically develop during the mid-teens, 20s, or 30s. Exact cause of depressive disorders is unknown, but genetic & environmental factors contribute. Sometimes depressive symptoms are caused by physical disorders (eg, thyroid or adrenal gland disorders, benign or malignant brain tumors, stroke, AIDS, Parkinson disease, multiple sclerosis) or use of certain drugs(eg, corticosteroids, some beta-blockers, interferon, reserpine, ...). Diagnosis is based on clinical criteria; physical disorders must be ruled out by clinical evaluation & selected testing (CBC; electrolyte, TSH, B12 & folate levels). Treatment involves psychotherapy & usually drugs; SSRIs are usually tried first, & if they are ineffective, other drugs that affect serotonin and/or norepinephrine may be tried.

Among the disciplines which are growing at the most accelerated pace is psychiatry, and understandably so. Intimately involved with psychology, general biology, neurology, sociology, cultural changes of any kind, it is constantly enriched by these fields and many others, which all converge toward a greater knowledge of man in health and mental illness. This Book is edited by Javad Nurbakhsh, Thomas Szasz, Hamideh Jahangiri, Silvano Arieti, Haraton Davidian, Levon Davidian, Ian Alger, Heinz L. Ansbacher, E. James Anthony, Kenneth Appel, Jack Bemporad, Jules R. Bemporad, Therese Benedek, Viola W. Bernard, Donald A. Bloch, Henry Brill, Robert N. Butler, Nancy Datan, Katrina De Hirsch, Marvin G. Drellich, Abraham Edel, Leon Edel, Henri F. Ellenberger, James L. Foy, Eugene A. Friedmann, Richard A. Gardner, Kurt Goldstein, Ralph R. Greenson, Harry Guntrip, Joseph L. Henderson, John W. Higgins, Irene M. Josselyn, Bernard Kaplan, Kenneth Keniston, Nolan D. C. Lewis, Theodore Lidz, Harold I. Lief, Bruce Mazlish, Rev. James R. MacColl, R. E. Money-Kyrle, George Mora, Wendell S. Muncie, Simon H. Nagler, Bernice L. Neugarten, Daniel Offer, Harold L. Orbach, E. Mansell Pattison, Isidore Portnoy,

Coronary heart disease (CHD) is the first most important health issue of the twenty-first century, and the most important cause of mortality in Iran. According to statistics, 2 million Iranians are suffering from coronary heart disease. The Research Committee of the Iranian Society of Cardiac Surgeons has announced that the age of exposure to cardiovascular disease in Iran is approximately 7-10 years less than other countries. In developed countries, people are exposed to this disease in the sixth decade of their lives. However, most of the people in Iran are exposed to this disease during the fifth decade of their life. There are about 50 thousand heart surgeries performed annually in Iran. The psychiatric disorders factors as independent risk factors have an important part in physical chronic diseases, particularly coronary heart disease. Findings of this study revealed that psychiatric factors have a very important role in the etiology, development, duration, and outcome of CHD disease. The high co-morbidity between psychiatric disorders and coronary heart disease needs more attention.