Psychiatry has been developing for many years in a considerable isolation from somatic medicine. Last 20 years this situation began to change in many countries (in Russia as well). This process was stimulated by 2 groups of problems, which had no solution in the borders of traditional psychiatric therapy. The first problem is management of acute psychoses: febrile catatonia; neuroleptic malignant syndrome; acute alcoholic and narcomanic psychoses; severe depressions with persistent suicidal activity and food and water refusals; rapidly progressive cases of schizophrenia with expressive homeostatic disturbances; acute somatogenic psychoses (for example, pancreatogenic); acute epileptic psychoses and seizures; intoxication psychoses; psychoses caused by a brain tumor, inflammatory diseases of brain, insult, trauma; psychoses of metabolic origin (hypoglycemia, endocrinous disorders, hypoxia, uremia); psychoses due to infection, and so on.
The second problem was an appearance of substantial contingents of mental patients with drug resistance or intolerance. That is the back side of our successes in psychopharmacology. About 30% of mental patients meet this problem today. This compels us to undertake special efforts in order to improve patient's immunological state and brain metabolism and in that way to eliminate symptoms of mental disorder.
The above mentioned patients are rather problematic because their condition is too severe for a mental hospital, and too «mental», so to say, for a general one. The dilemma «Where to treat» is been solved in Russia by means of creating special units called «psycho-resuscitology departments» in mental hospitals. The joint efforts of psychiatrists, from one side, and of anesthetists and specialists of intensive care (in Russian health service they are called "reanimatologists"), from the other side, sucessfully solves the problems in such units.
The site is devoted to this medical trend – Psycho-Resuscitology (Psycho-Reanimatology). The meaning of the term "Reanimatology" (which is accepted in Russian language) is approximately equal to "Intensive care", "Emergency medicine" (In English-speaking countries). The texts are in Russian so far, but soon will have English equivalents as well.

www.psychoreanimatology.org team
2004