Proneness, urbanicity, trauma, and cannabis triggering psychotic states in large urban centers
Purpose of review
The two past decades have seen the production of a vast amount of evidence about the genetic and nongenetic factors that contribute to the onset of psychosis from various fields of research. The present article reviews recent evidence from four of these fields that were shown to be strongly associated with psychosis: proneness, urbanicity, trauma, and cannabis use.
Recent findings
The evidence reviewed shows that all four sets of factors investigated here are implicated in the occurrence of psychosis. The specificity and complexity of these associations, however, are not yet clear and recent findings...
Source: Current Opinion in Psychiatry - April 7, 2020 Category: Psychiatry Tags: THE IMPACT OF URBANISATION ON MENTAL HEALTH: Edited by Jair Mari Source Type: research
Posttraumatic stress disorder in urban women
Purpose of review
To provide an update of recent or relevant studies on posttraumatic stress disorder (PTSD) in urban women, with a special focus on biopsychosocial risk factors.
Recent findings
Urbanization itself can increase the risk for PTSD due to the concentration of poverty, substance use and crime. Women are usually at a greater social and economic disadvantage and are victims of collective and domestic violence more often than men. Accordingly, urban women are more exposed to traumatic events that increase the prevalence of PTSD than rural women and both rural and urban men, especially those with lack of soci...
Source: Current Opinion in Psychiatry - April 7, 2020 Category: Psychiatry Tags: THE IMPACT OF URBANISATION ON MENTAL HEALTH: Edited by Jair Mari Source Type: research
Urbanization, urbanicity, and depression: a review of the recent global literature
Purpose of review
One of the defining trends of population movement in the last half century has been global urbanization. Depression is the most common mental disorder in the world, but it is unclear how urbanization and urban living affect depression outcomes. Grounded in a previously articulated conceptual framework, we systematically reviewed recently published studies on urbanization, urbanicity, and depression.
Recent findings
Eleven articles were included in this review. Four studies found that living in urban areas was associated with elevated odds or more symptoms of depression. Three studies – all done in ...
Source: Current Opinion in Psychiatry - April 7, 2020 Category: Psychiatry Tags: THE IMPACT OF URBANISATION ON MENTAL HEALTH: Edited by Jair Mari Source Type: research
Editorial: Mental health in big cities
No abstract available (Source: Current Opinion in Psychiatry)
Source: Current Opinion in Psychiatry - April 7, 2020 Category: Psychiatry Tags: THE IMPACT OF URBANISATION ON MENTAL HEALTH: Edited by Jair Mari Source Type: research
Antipsychotics and the microbiota
Purpose of review
The gut microbiota has been speculated to underpin metabolic changes associated with chronic antipsychotic use. The change in the gut microbiota can also cause abnormal absorbtion from the gut into the blood stream (leaky gut syndrome) that can lead to inflammatory reactions, and thus, secondary damage to the brain and central nervous system. Our article aims to highlight relevant research on antipsychotic's effect on the microbiota and to point out future directions.
Recent findings
Antipsychtoic use can result in specific microbiota changes, and it is important to differentiate this from the innate...
Source: Current Opinion in Psychiatry - April 7, 2020 Category: Psychiatry Tags: SCHIZOPHRENIA AND RELATED DISORDERS: Edited by Lynn E. DeLisi and Iris E.C. Sommer Source Type: research
Opioid use and schizophrenia
Purpose of review
To summarize the current literature regarding comorbid schizophrenia and opioid use disorder (OUD).
Recent findings
Epidemiological evidence is unclear on whether patients with schizophrenia have a higher rate of OUD. Patients with OUD have been shown to have a higher risk of developing schizophrenia. However, it is clear that patients with both schizophrenia and OUD are less likely to receive standard of care including medication-assisted treatment (MAT) for opiate use disorder and have worse outcomes compared with patients with schizophrenia who do not abuse opioids. OUD significantly increases the...
Source: Current Opinion in Psychiatry - April 7, 2020 Category: Psychiatry Tags: SCHIZOPHRENIA AND RELATED DISORDERS: Edited by Lynn E. DeLisi and Iris E.C. Sommer Source Type: research
Anomalies in language as a biomarker for schizophrenia
This article reviews current advances in evaluating the use of language as a diagnostic or prognostic tool in schizophrenia.
Recent findings
The development of computational linguistic tools to quantify language disturbances is rapidly gaining ground in the field of schizophrenia research. Current applications are the use of semantic space models and acoustic analyses focused on phonetic markers. These features are used in machine learning models to distinguish patients with schizophrenia from healthy controls or to predict conversion to psychosis in high-risk groups, reaching accuracy scores (generally ranging from 80 ...
Source: Current Opinion in Psychiatry - April 7, 2020 Category: Psychiatry Tags: SCHIZOPHRENIA AND RELATED DISORDERS: Edited by Lynn E. DeLisi and Iris E.C. Sommer Source Type: research
Deafferentation as a cause of hallucinations
Purpose of review
The association between hallucinations and sensory loss, especially vision- and hearing-impairment, has been firmly established over the past years. The deafferentation theory, a decrease of the threshold for activation in the brain and the consequential imbalance between excitatory and inhibitory brain networks, is hypothesized to underly this relationship. Here we review the studies investigating this theory with a focus on the most recent literature to better understand the contribution of sensory loss to hallucinations.
Recent findings
A large cross-sectional study has recently confirmed the rela...
Source: Current Opinion in Psychiatry - April 7, 2020 Category: Psychiatry Tags: SCHIZOPHRENIA AND RELATED DISORDERS: Edited by Lynn E. DeLisi and Iris E.C. Sommer Source Type: research
Dopamine D2 up-regulation in psychosis patients after antipsychotic drug treatment
Purpose of review
Recently, it has been questioned whether the re-emergence of psychotic symptoms following antipsychotic discontinuation or dose reduction is attributable to underlying psychotic vulnerability or to rebound effects of chronic use of antipsychotic medication. It was repeatedly shown that relapse rates are high after discontinuation of maintenance treatment. A potential contributing factor could be the increase in density of postsynaptic dopamine D2 receptors in the striatum and the higher affinity of D2 receptors for dopamine after chronic blockade.
Recent findings
To date, little clinical evidence is ...
Source: Current Opinion in Psychiatry - April 7, 2020 Category: Psychiatry Tags: SCHIZOPHRENIA AND RELATED DISORDERS: Edited by Lynn E. DeLisi and Iris E.C. Sommer Source Type: research
Do we need sex-oriented clinical practice guidelines for the treatment of schizophrenia?
Purpose of review
Clinical practice guidelines (CPGs) do not usually offer a sex-specific approach for the management of schizophrenia. With this narrative review, we aim to give an integrated and synthesized overview of the current state of knowledge regarding sex-specific aspects in schizophrenia and how this topic may be adapted in the development of CPGs.
Recent findings
Recent studies further suggest sex-specific differences in epidemiologic features, the course of illness, underlying pathomechanisms, response likelihood to antipsychotic medication and differences in tolerability. Beyond this, selective estrogen ...
Source: Current Opinion in Psychiatry - April 7, 2020 Category: Psychiatry Tags: SCHIZOPHRENIA AND RELATED DISORDERS: Edited by Lynn E. DeLisi and Iris E.C. Sommer Source Type: research
Cannabidiol as a treatment option for schizophrenia: recent evidence and current studies
Purpose of review
The most recent studies published or initiated in the last 18 months, investigating cannabidiol in the treatment of symptoms of schizophrenia and related conditions are summarized, including observed tolerability and reported side-effects.
Recent findings
Recent studies focused on patients with sub-acute psychotic syndromes of schizophrenia, clinical high-risk state for psychosis (CHR-P), or frequent cannabis users, as well as cognitive functioning in chronic schizophrenia. There is further, although not consistent evidence for cannabidiol-reducing positive symptoms, but not negative symptoms. Eviden...
Source: Current Opinion in Psychiatry - April 7, 2020 Category: Psychiatry Tags: SCHIZOPHRENIA AND RELATED DISORDERS: Edited by Lynn E. DeLisi and Iris E.C. Sommer Source Type: research
Editorial introductions
No abstract available (Source: Current Opinion in Psychiatry)
Source: Current Opinion in Psychiatry - April 7, 2020 Category: Psychiatry Tags: EDITORIAL INTRODUCTIONS Source Type: research
Reserve in Alzheimer's disease: update on the concept, functional mechanisms and sex differences
Purpose of review
Epidemiological evidence suggests that higher reserve significantly delays the dementia onset in Alzheimer's disease. Yet, confusion in terminology of reserve and related concepts exists and the lack of quantitative measures and unclear neural substrates of reserve have hampered progress. We review here the latest advances in the concept, measures and functional brain mechanisms of reserve, as well as their moderating factors including sex and gender.
Recent findings
The definition of reserve has been revised towards a more simplified concept, and the development of quantitative measurements of a cog...
Source: Current Opinion in Psychiatry - January 29, 2020 Category: Psychiatry Tags: NEUROCOGNITIVE DISORDERS: Edited by Perminder S. Sachdev Source Type: research
Is hospitalisation a risk factor for cognitive decline in the elderly?
Purpose of review
Cognitive decline is frequently reported after hospitalisation in the contexts of surgery, delirium and critical care. The question not adequately addressed is whether all types of acute hospitalisations increase the risk of cognitive decline. As acute hospitalisations are common in the elderly, who are also vulnerable to cognitive decline, this possible association is of significant concern.
Recent findings
This review summarises cognitive outcomes from recent observational studies investigating acute hospitalisation (emergent and elective) in older age adults. Studies were identified from searching...
Source: Current Opinion in Psychiatry - January 29, 2020 Category: Psychiatry Tags: NEUROCOGNITIVE DISORDERS: Edited by Perminder S. Sachdev Source Type: research
Using clinical registries, administrative data and electronic medical records to improve medication safety and effectiveness in dementia
Purpose of review
Clinical registries, routinely collected administrative data and electronic medical records (EMRs) provide new opportunities to investigate medication safety and effectiveness. This review outlines the strengths and limitations of these data, and highlights recent research related to safe and effective medication use in dementia.
Recent findings
Clinical registries, administrative data and EMRs facilitate observational research among people often excluded from randomized controlled trials (RCTs). Larger sample sizes and longer follow-up times permit research into less common adverse events not appare...
Source: Current Opinion in Psychiatry - January 29, 2020 Category: Psychiatry Tags: NEUROCOGNITIVE DISORDERS: Edited by Perminder S. Sachdev Source Type: research
