Chronic schizophrenia with the absence of the septum pellucidum: A case report
This report describes an unusual case of a middle-aged adult with chronic schizophrenia found to be missing the septum pellucidum. The relationship of the septum pellucidum to the other structures in the limbic system suggests that disturbance of the septum pellucidum may have a role in the neurological etiology of schizophrenia. (Source: Schizophrenia Research)
Source: Schizophrenia Research - August 24, 2018 Category: Psychiatry Authors: Shin-Young Kim, Min-Hyeon Park, Kyu-In Jung Tags: Letter to the editor Source Type: research
How cognitive remediation can be utilized strategically to enhance social and independent living self-efficacy
Self-efficacy beliefs are context-specific judgments about an individual's confidence in their ability to successfully perform goal-directed behaviors (Bandura, 1977). These beliefs are known to impact community participation and engagement in healthy controls. Specifically, people with high self-efficacy for a given task (i.e. a strong belief that a task can successfully be performed) are more likely to 1) engage; 2) expend greater effort; 3) persist longer even under challenging circumstances; and 4) perform better on the task (Bandura, 1977). (Source: Schizophrenia Research)
Source: Schizophrenia Research - August 23, 2018 Category: Psychiatry Authors: S.D. Bryce, J.L. Ponsford, E.J. Tan, S.L. Rossell, S.J. Lee Tags: Letter to the Editor Source Type: research
Implementation and fidelity assessment of the NAVIGATE treatment program for first episode psychosis in a multi-site study
This article describes the approach to training and implementing the NAVIGATE program at the 17 sites (including 134 practitioners) randomized to provide it, and to evaluating the fidelity of service delivery to the NAVIGATE model. Fidelity was evaluated to five different components of the program, all of which were standardized in manuals in advance of implementation. (Source: Schizophrenia Research)
Source: Schizophrenia Research - August 20, 2018 Category: Psychiatry Authors: Kim T. Mueser, Piper S. Meyer-Kalos, Shirley M. Glynn, David W. Lynde, Delbert G. Robinson, Susan Gingerich, David L. Penn, Corrine Cather, Jennifer D. Gottlieb, Patricia Marcy, Jennifer L. Wiseman, Sheena Potretzke, Mary F. Brunette, Nina R. Schooler, Je Source Type: research
Reduced brain-derived neurotrophic factor is associated with childhood trauma experiences and number of depressive episodes in severe mental disorders
Although several studies have found reduced plasma BDNF levels in patients with severe mental disorders, the sample sizes have been small and have exhibited variation and heterogeneity. Furthermore, long-term neurobiological changes following childhood trauma and clinical severity have been linked to a reduction in BDNF levels. Accordingly, we aim to clarify, using the largest sample size to date, the role of plasma BDNF in individuals with severe mental disorders in relation to the number of episodes, current remission status, and childhood trauma experiences. (Source: Schizophrenia Research)
Source: Schizophrenia Research - August 17, 2018 Category: Psychiatry Authors: Monica Aas, Ingrid Dieset, Ragni M ørch, Nils Eiel Steen, Sigrun Hope, Elina J. Reponen, Jannicke F. Laskemoen, Thor Ueland, Pål Aukrust, Ingrid Melle, Ingrid Agartz, Ole A. Andreassen Source Type: research
Functional connectivity in distinct cognitive subtypes in psychosis
Cognitive dysfunction is common in psychotic disorders, and may reflect underlying pathophysiology. However, substantial cognitive heterogeneity exists both within and between diagnostic categories, creating challenges for studying the neurobiology of cognitive dysfunction in patients. The aim of this study was to identify patients with psychosis with intact versus impaired cognitive profiles, and to examine resting state functional connectivity between patient groups and compared to healthy controls to determine the extent to which patterns of connectivity are overlapping or distinct. (Source: Schizophrenia Research)
Source: Schizophrenia Research - August 17, 2018 Category: Psychiatry Authors: Kathryn E. Lewandowski, Julie M. McCarthy, Dost Öngür, Lesley A. Norris, Geoffrey Z. Liu, Richard J. Juelich, Justin T. Baker Source Type: research
Concerns about bias in studies on clozapine and mortality
In view of the high all-cause mortality among patients with schizophrenia and the wide range of positive and negative effects of clozapine, it is important to know whether the drug is associated with a differential mortality pattern in comparison to other antipsychotic drugs. Tiihonen et al. (2009) reported a significantly lowered all-cause mortality and a lowered mortality from suicide in users of clozapine. In this journal, however, de Hert et al. (2010) pointed out that several types of bias may have influenced the results. (Source: Schizophrenia Research)
Source: Schizophrenia Research - August 17, 2018 Category: Psychiatry Authors: Y.C. van der Zalm, F. Termorshuizen, J.P. Selten Tags: Letter to the Editor Source Type: research
Language comprehension and neurocognition independently and concurrently contribute to formal thought disorder severity in schizophrenia
Formal thought disorder (FTD) in schizophrenia is a prevalent symptom that has a significant impact on patients but low remediation options. This is largely due to a still unclear aetiology, where both neurocognitive and language dysfunction have been shown to contribute. Given established relationships between neurocognition and language themselves, this study aimed to examine if language comprehension impairments have a significant effect on FTD severity independent of neurocognition. 54 schizophrenia/schizoaffective disorder patients (M = 43.35, SD = 10.74) completed three measures of language comprehension alo...
Source: Schizophrenia Research - August 17, 2018 Category: Psychiatry Authors: Eric J. Tan, Susan L. Rossell Source Type: research
Ten-year follow up of patients with first-episode schizophrenia spectrum disorder from an early intervention service: Predictors of clinical remission and functional recovery
The long-term recovery rate of patients with schizophrenia-spectrum disorders has been persistently low despite the implementation of early intervention (EI) services internationally. It is, therefore, important to identify the modifiable factors during the early stage of the illness that predict long-term remission and recovery. The aim of this study is to explore the predictive value of the early stage clinical factors on the clinical remission and functional recovery at 10-year follow-up of patients with schizophrenia-spectrum disorders who received a 2-year EI service. (Source: Schizophrenia Research)
Source: Schizophrenia Research - August 17, 2018 Category: Psychiatry Authors: Sherry Kit Wa Chan, Christy Lai Ming Hui, Wing Chung Chang, Edwin Ho Ming Lee, Eric Yu Hai Chen Source Type: research
Affective modulation of target detection in deficit and non-deficit schizophrenia
Emotional deficits are an integral feature of schizophrenia (SZ), but our understanding of these deficits is limited. In the present study, we examined whether the severity of emotional deficits reflects difficulty in the cognitive processing of affectively valenced stimuli. Healthy controls (HC; N = 170) and stable outpatients with SZ (N = 245), characterized as either deficit syndrome (DS; N = 62) or non-deficit syndrome (NDS; N = 183), completed an Affective Go/NoGo task requiring discrimination of positively, negatively or neutrally valenced words. (Source: Schizophrenia Research)
Source: Schizophrenia Research - August 17, 2018 Category: Psychiatry Authors: Pamela DeRosse, Chaya B. Gopin, Anita D. Barber, Anil K. Malhotra Source Type: research
The schizophrenia and bipolar twin study in Sweden (STAR)
is a large nation-wide cohort of monozygotic (MZ) and dizygotic (DZ) same-sex twins with schizophrenia or bipolar disorder and healthy control pairs, extensively characterized with brain imaging, neuropsychological tests, biomarkers, genetic testing, psychiatric symptoms and personality traits. The purpose is to investigate genetic and environmental mechanisms that give rise to schizophrenia and bipolar disorder as well as the intermediate phenotypes. (Source: Schizophrenia Research)
Source: Schizophrenia Research - August 16, 2018 Category: Psychiatry Authors: Viktoria Johansson, Christina M. Hultman, Isabelle Kizling, Lennart Martinsson, Jacqueline Borg, Anna Hedman, Tyrone D. Cannon Source Type: research
Sleep duration and psychotic experiences in patients at risk of psychosis: A secondary analysis of the EDIE-2 trial
Sleep disturbance is common among individuals at risk of psychosis, yet few studies have investigated the relationship between sleep disturbance and clinical trajectory. The Early Detection and Intervention Evaluation (EDIE-2) trial provides longitudinal data on sleep duration and individual psychotic experiences from a cohort of individuals at risk of psychosis, which this study utilises in an opportunistic secondary analysis. Shorter and more variable sleep was hypothesised to be associated with more severe psychotic experiences and lower psychological wellbeing. (Source: Schizophrenia Research)
Source: Schizophrenia Research - August 16, 2018 Category: Psychiatry Authors: S. Reeve, A. Nickless, B. Sheaves, S.L.K. Stewart, A. Gumley, D. Fowler, A. Morrison, D. Freeman Source Type: research
Social vs. non-social measures of learning potential for predicting community functioning across phase of illness in schizophrenia
Studies demonstrate that dynamic assessment (i.e., learning potential) improves the prediction of response to rehabilitation over static measures in individuals with schizophrenia. Learning potential is most commonly assessed using neuropsychological tests under a test-train-test paradigm to examine change in performance. Novel learning potential approaches using social cognitive tasks may have added value, particularly for the prediction of social functioning, but this area is unexplored. The present study is the first to investigate whether patients with schizophrenia demonstrate social cognitive learning potential acros...
Source: Schizophrenia Research - August 15, 2018 Category: Psychiatry Authors: Peter E. Clayson, Robert S. Kern, Keith H. Nuechterlein, Barbara J. Knowlton, Carrie E. Bearden, Tyrone D. Cannon, Alan P. Fiske, Livon Ghermezi, Jacqueline N. Hayata, Gerhard S. Hellemann, William P. Horan, Kimmy Kee, Junghee Lee, Kenneth L. Subotnik, Ca Source Type: research
Can low-dose aripiprazole reverse some of the adverse effects from a long-acting injectable?
Long-acting injectables (LAIs) are one of the most effective tools to address medication non-adherence in patients with schizophrenia. However, if a patient develops adverse effects, such as extrapyramidal symptoms (EPS) and hyperprolactinemia with an LAI, s/he can suffer from those adverse effects for an extended period of time. Although anticholinergic medications are the first line of treatment for EPS, they are usually not effective for akathisia. Aripiprazole is a potent partial agonist which has the ability to displace concomitantly-administered antipsychotic drugs that antagonize D2Rs, which may help reduce EPS and ...
Source: Schizophrenia Research - August 15, 2018 Category: Psychiatry Authors: Karen Fryefield, Mujeeb U. Shad Tags: Letter to the Editor Source Type: research
Evidence that self-reported psychotic experiences in children are clinically relevant
Self-rated psychotic experiences (PE-S) are more common than psychotic experiences assessed in clinical interviews (PE-I) (van Os et al., 2009). In childhood, prevalence estimates of PE-S vary between studies and instruments (Kelleher et al., 2012), ranging from 21% –66% in 7–13 year-olds (Gundersen et al., 2018). In adult populations, PE-S that are not confirmed in clinical interviews are often referred to as ‘false-positive’ PE, but they are nevertheless clinically relevant and associated with mental health problems and help-seeking behavior (Bak et al., 2003; van der Steen et al., 2018; van Nierop et al., 2012...
Source: Schizophrenia Research - August 15, 2018 Category: Psychiatry Authors: Martin K. Rimvall, Steffie Gundersen, Lars Clemmensen, Anja Munkholm, Janne Tidselbak Larsen, Anne Mette Skovgaard, Charlotte Ulrikka Rask, Frank Verhulst, Jim van Os, Pia Jeppesen Tags: Letter to the Editor Source Type: research
Unmet need for mental health services among people screened but not admitted to an early psychosis intervention program
Information is lacking on people screened for early psychosis intervention (EPI) but not admitted to the program. Using health administrative data, we constructed a retrospective cohort of incident cases of psychosis in the catchment of an EPI program. Use of mental health services was compared between people screened and not admitted with an EPI-admitted group. The non-admitted group had higher rates of subsequent emergency department visits, psychiatric hospitalizations, and involuntary admissions. (Source: Schizophrenia Research)
Source: Schizophrenia Research - August 15, 2018 Category: Psychiatry Authors: Jordan Edwards, Ross Norman, Paul Kurdyak, Arlene G. MacDougall, Lena Palaniyappan, Cindy Lau, Kelly K. Anderson Source Type: research
