Clinical symptomatology and empathy in schizophrenia: Which relationship?

2016 ◽  
Vol 33 (S1) ◽  
pp. S141-S141
Author(s):  
R. Trabelsi ◽  
J. Mrizak ◽  
A. Arous ◽  
H. Ben Ammar ◽  
A. Khalifa ◽  
...  
Keyword(s):  
Depression Scale ◽  
Cognitive Empathy ◽  
Clinical State ◽  
Psychotic Symptoms ◽  
Significant Feature ◽  
Affective Empathy ◽  
Scale Scores ◽  
Empathy Deficits ◽  
Affective Components ◽  
Competing Interest

IntroductionThe impairment of cognitive and affective empathy among patients with schizophrenia (SCZ) may represent a significant feature of the illness. However, the relationship between those impairment and dimensions of psychosis remains unclear.ObjectivesTo explore whether cognitive and affective empathy are associated with severety of different psychotic symptoms.MethodsCognitive and affective empathy were evaluated in 58 patients with stable schizophrenia with the Questionnaire of Cognitive and Affective Empathy (QCAE) comprising five subscales intended to assess cognitive and affective components of empathy. Symptomatology evaluation comprised the Positive and Negative Syndrome Scale (PANSS), the Calgary Depression Scale for Schizophrenia (CDSS) and the Clinical Global Impressions Scale Improvement and severity (CGI).ResultsPatients with better cognitive empathy had less total CDSS scores (P = 0.036, r = −0.449) and lower CGI-severity scale scores (P = 0.01, r = −0.536). Patients with better affective empathy had lower scores (which means a better improvement) at the CGI-improvement scale (P = 0.03, r = −0.461).ConclusionsOur results suggest that empathy with its different component is not totally independent of the clinical state of the patient. Further studies are required to confirm whether empathy deficits are state or trait aspects of SCZ.Disclosure of interestThe authors have not supplied their declaration of competing interest.

Is empathy correlated to patients’ level of cognitive impairment in schizophrenia?

2016 ◽  
Vol 33 (S1) ◽  
pp. S141-S141
Author(s):  
R. Trabelsi ◽  
A. Arous ◽  
J. Mrizak ◽  
H. Ben Ammar ◽  
A. Khalifa ◽  
...  
Keyword(s):  
Digit Span ◽  
Verbal Learning ◽  
Cognitive Empathy ◽  
Neurocognitive Functioning ◽  
Affective Empathy ◽  
Card Sorting ◽  
Trail Making ◽  
Affective Components ◽  
Competing Interest ◽  
Learning Test

IntroductionEmpathy, which refers to the ability to understand and share the thoughts and feelings of others, may be compromised in schizophrenia (SCZ). Yet the relationship between empathy and neurocognitive functioning remains unclear.ObjectivesTo explore whether cognitive and affective empathy are associated with the neurocognitive functioning in SCZ.MethodsFifty-eight outpatients with stable SCZ completed the Questionnaire of Cognitive and Affective Empathy (QCAE) comprising five subscales intended to assess cognitive and affective components of empathy. They also completed a neurocognitive battery comprising the following tests: the Hopkins Verbal Learning Test–Revised (HVLT-R), the Letter Digit Substitution Test (LDST), the Stroop Test (ST), the “Double Barrage” of Zazzo (DBZ), the Modified Card Sorting Test (MCST), Verbal Fluency (VF), the Trail Making Test-Part A (TMT-A) and the Digit Span (DS).ResultsBetter affective and cognitive empathy correlated with better performance in the ST (less hesitations and less errors). Patients with better cognitive empathy performed better in the MCST (more categories achieved; P = 0.029) and in the LDST (more substitutions per minute; P = 0.031).ConclusionsOur results bolster support for the presence of an association between NF and the decreased cognitive and affective empathy in schizophrenia.Disclosure of interestThe authors have not supplied their declaration of competing interest.

How do social cognition dimensions relate to DSM-5 dimensions of psychosis?

2016 ◽  
Vol 33 (S1) ◽  
pp. s241-s241
Author(s):  
A. Arous ◽  
J. Mrizak ◽  
R. Trabelsi ◽  
A. Aissa ◽  
H. Ben Ammar ◽  
...  
Keyword(s):  
Social Cognition ◽  
Symptom Severity ◽  
Social Cognitive ◽  
Cognitive Empathy ◽  
Affective Empathy ◽  
Cognitive Domains ◽  
Diagnostic And Statistical Manual ◽  
Dsm 5 ◽  
The Face ◽  
Competing Interest

IntroductionExisting research shows that individuals with schizophrenia (SCZ) show substantial deficits in social cognitive domains, including facial emotion recognition (FER), empathy, and Theory of Mind (ToM). Their exact relationship with the different dimensions included in the “Clinician- Rated Dimensions of Psychosis Symptom Severity” of the 5th edition of the Diagnostic and Statistical Manual of Mental Disorders (DSM-5) remains unexplored.ObjectivesTo investigate the relationship between different social cognition dimensions and the dimensions of psychosis included in the DSM-5.MethodsFifty-eight outpatients with stable SCZ completed the Intention-Inferencing Task (IIT), a non-verbal ToM task and the Questionnaire of Cognitive and Affective Empathy (QCAE). They also completed a newly developed and validated FER task constructed from photographs of the face of a famous Tunisian actress and evaluating the ability to correctly identify Ekman's six basic facial emotions. The clinician-rated dimensions of psychosis symptom severity was used to evaluate 8 dimensions of psychosis.ResultsThe patients presenting higher cognitive empathy capacities had less present abnormal psychomotor behaviour scores (P = 0.05). Higher levels of affective empathy were correlated to lower present delusions score (P = 0.037). Better scores in the IIT were correlated to less present negative scores (P = 0.013) and less impaired cognition scores (P = 0.009). FER task score didn’t correlated with any clinical dimension.ConclusionsOur results suggest the existence of specific relationships between social cognition dimensions and psychosis dimensions. Further studies are needed to confirm these relationships.Disclosure of interestThe authors have not supplied their declaration of competing interest.

Characteristics and outcome of methadone maintenance treatment (MMT) patients with depression

2016 ◽  
Vol 33 (S1) ◽  
pp. S311-S312
Author(s):  
E. Peles ◽  
A. Sason ◽  
E. Malik ◽  
S. Schreiber ◽  
M. Adelson
Keyword(s):  
Suicide Attempts ◽  
Methadone Maintenance ◽  
Depression Scale ◽  
Hamilton Depression Scale ◽  
Depressed Patients ◽  
Scale Scores ◽  
First Year Retention ◽  
Competing Interest ◽  
Retention In Treatment ◽  
One Year

IntroductionComorbidity of depression and opioid addiction is highly prevalent, but their outcome in MMT is not consistent.ObjectivesTo compare between depressed and non-depressed MMT patients.MethodsHamilton depression scale scores (taken during a psychiatric assessment) were studied among MMT patients on admission or during treatment (cutoff for depression > 18).ResultsA total of 498 MMT patients were studied. Depression proportion was 22.5%, and 23.2% among 263 who were studied on admission; the depressed vs. non-depressed on admission did not differ in female proportion (19.7% vs. 25.6%), age of admission (43.2 ± 10.4), opiate use onset (21.8 ± 6.3) and education years (9.5 ± 2.8), but had higher proportion of cocaine (55.7% vs. 35.1%, P = 0.005), and benzodiazepine abuse (73.8% vs. 58.4%, P = 0.04). Retention was high and similar (80.3 vs. 82.9% P = 0.7) and of those who stayed one year, cocaine and benzodiazepine were still higher among the depressed patients (cocaine: 43.8% vs. 23.2%, P = 0.03; BDZ: 61.2% vs. 40%, P = 0.01). Compared to the non-depressed, among all study group (n = 498) the depressed patients presented higher proportion of rape history (25% vs. 9.5%, P = 0.001), of suicide attempts (43.8% vs. 25%, P = 0.001) with only a trend of shorter cumulative retention in MMT of mean 9.4y (95% CI 7.8–10.7) vs. 11.5 (95% CI 10.5–12.5, P = 0.07).ConclusionDespite cocaine and benzodiazepine abuse on admission, depressed succeeded similarly to the non-depressed in the first year retention in treatment. Intervention is recommended since admission, as their long-term retention seems to be shorter, later on, and their ability to discontinue cocaine and benzodiazepine abuse is clearly hampered.Disclosure of interestThe authors have not supplied their declaration of competing interest.

Clinical symptomatology and facial emotion recognition in schizophrenia: Which relationship?

2016 ◽  
Vol 33 (S1) ◽  
pp. S96-S96
Author(s):  
A. Arous ◽  
J. Mrizak ◽  
R. Trabelsi ◽  
A. Aissa ◽  
H. Ben Ammar ◽  
...  
Keyword(s):  
Emotion Recognition ◽  
Cognitive Abilities ◽  
Social Cognitive ◽  
Psychiatric Symptoms ◽  
Depression Scale ◽  
Facial Emotion Recognition ◽  
Facial Emotion ◽  
Psychotic Symptoms ◽  
Facial Emotions ◽  
Competing Interest

IntroductionPatients with schizophrenia show impairments in social cognitive abilities, such as recognizing facial emotions. However, the relationships between specific deficits of emotion recognition and with clusters of psychotic remain unclear.ObjectivesTo explore whether facial emotion recognition was associated with severity of symptoms and to which presentation of psychotic symptoms.MethodsFacial emotion recognition (FER) were evaluated in 58 patients with stable schizophrenia with a newly validated FER task constructed from photographs of the face of a famous Tunisian actress representing the Ekman's six basic emotions (happiness, anger, disgust, sadness, fear, and surprise). Symptomatology evaluation comprised the Positive and Negative Syndrome Scale (PANSS), the Calgary Depression Scale for Schizophrenia (CDSS) and the Clinical Global Impressions Scale Improvement and severity (CGI).ResultsPatients who failed to identify anger had significantly higher scores in hyperactivity item (P < 0.0001). The patients who had a difficulty to identify sadness had more grandiosity (P ≤ 0.002). The impairment in happiness recognition was correlated with hallucination (P = 0.007) and delusion (P = 0.024) items. Incapacity to identify fear was associated to lack of judgment and insight (P = 0.004).ConclusionsDeficits in recognition of specific facial emotions may reflect severity of psychiatric symptoms. They may be related to specific clusters of psychotic symptoms, which need to be confirmed in further studies.Disclosure of interestThe authors have not supplied their declaration of competing interest.

The relationships among psychopathy, empathy, and aggression

2016 ◽  
Vol 33 (S1) ◽  
pp. S211-S211 ◽  
Author(s):  
J. Lee ◽  
H.J. Lee
Keyword(s):  
Undergraduate Students ◽  
Satisfaction With Life ◽  
Recognition Task ◽  
Cognitive Empathy ◽  
Self Report ◽  
Affective Empathy ◽  
Two Factors ◽  
Relevant Variables ◽  
Competing Interest ◽  
Scenario Task

IntroductionThe lack of empathy is often described as one of the core characteristics of psychopaths. However, prior studies on cognitive empathy in psychopaths have led to mixed conclusions, with some indicating that psychopaths have no impairments in cognitive empathy.ObjectivesThis study set out to resolve this inconsistency by distinguishing the two factors that constitute the construct of psychopathy: Factor 1 (e.g., emotional callousness, lack of guilt) and Factor 2 (e.g., irresponsible lifestyle, poor behavioral controls).AimsThe main aim of this study was to examine the differential relationship between these two factors and relevant variables including empathy, aggression, satisfaction with life.MethodsSelf-report questionnaires and two online experiments (facial affect recognition task, emotional scenario task) were administered to 306 undergraduate students to collect data about psychopathy, cognitive/affective empathy, aggression, satisfaction with life.ResultsCorrelation analysis revealed that both Factor 1 and Factor 2 had negative correlations with self-reported measures of cognitive/affective empathy, and only Factor 1 emerged as a significant predictor of both kinds of empathy. Aggression also showed a stronger positive correlation with Factor 1 than with Factor 2, regardless of subtypes (instrumental, reactive, relational, overt aggression). On the other hand, satisfaction with life was more negatively correlated with Factor 2 than Factor 1, and regression analysis revealed that only Factor 2 was a significant predictor.ConclusionsThis study showed Factor 1 is more important than Factor 2 in explaining both empathy and aggression in psychopath, while satisfaction with life is better explained by Factor 2 than by Factor 1.Disclosure of interestThe authors have not supplied their declaration of competing interest.

scholarly journals The Effect of Stress, Anxiety and Depression on In Vitro Fertilization Outcome in Kazakhstani Public Clinical Setting: A Cross-Sectional Study

2021 ◽  
Vol 10 (5) ◽  
pp. 937
Author(s):  
Gauri Bapayeva ◽  
Gulzhanat Aimagambetova ◽  
Alpamys Issanov ◽  
Sanja Terzic ◽  
Talshyn Ukybassova ◽  
...  
Keyword(s):  
In Vitro Fertilization ◽  
Depressed Mood ◽  
Depression Scale ◽  
Anxiety Scale ◽  
Clinical Depression ◽  
Cross Sectional ◽  
Vitro Fertilization ◽  
Scale Scores ◽  
The Impact

Although it is clear that infertility leads to heightened stress for patients, the impact of depressed mood and anxiety on treatment outcome is inconsistently reported. The aim of this study was to evaluate the effect of stress, depression and anxiety on in vitro fertilization (IVF) outcomes in Kazakhstani public assisted reproductive technology (ART) clinics. The prospective cohort study was performed between June 2019 and September 2020 using questionnaires to assess psychological stress, depressed mood and anxiety in women referred to IVF clinics in two public clinical centers in Kazakhstan, Nur-Sultan and Aktobe. Our study sample comprised 142 women with the average age of 33.9 ± 4.9 years, and infertility duration 6.0 ± 3.5 years. More than half of respondents had Center for Epidemiological Studies Depression Scale (CES-D) scores higher than 16, indicating their risk of developing clinical depression. Ninety-one percent of women from Aktobe city were at risk for clinical depression (p < 0.001). Aktobe city respondents had higher stress subscale scores and anxiety scale scores (p < 0.001) than Nur-Sultan respondents. Statistical analysis showed that IVF outcome was not significantly associated with depression and stress, while the higher anxiety scale scores were negatively associated with clinical pregnancy after IVF.

Psychosis in adolescence: A prognosis or a diagnosis? Integrated treatment with psychodynamic peer support

2017 ◽  
Vol 41 (S1) ◽  
pp. S126-S127
Author(s):  
L. Ciampa ◽  
F. Gucci
Keyword(s):  
Peer Support ◽  
Social Relations ◽  
Intervention Strategy ◽  
Real Life ◽  
Integrated Treatment ◽  
Psychotic Symptoms ◽  
Psychodynamically Oriented ◽  
Rehabilitative Intervention ◽  
Competing Interest ◽  
One Year

IntroductionOur work comprises an integrated intervention strategy for the treatment of psychotic manifestations and functioning in adolescents which, following the theories of Laufer and Chan, questions the usefulness of the diagnosis ‘psychotic’ during adolescence. We apply an “open light treatment” (IPOLT), which includes psychodynamically oriented peer-support.ObjectivesTo build a new form of therapeutic alliance with peer-support based on shared real life experiences enabling adolescents to reintegrate within their environment and re-establish cognitive functioning which has become disorganised, aiding a gradual return of the cohesion of ego and self and in some cases, cessation of psychotic symptoms.MethodologyAn observational study of one year on a group of ten adolescents aged 17 to 20 in institutional and private settings with psychotic manifestations and functioning. The group were tested at the start and end of the study using WAIS-IV and MMPI-A.ResultsThe adolescents recruited showed a faster recovery of the cohesive processes of their fragmented ego as well as a quicker resumption of social relations. Our model provided an organising function and a flexible yet secure ‘container’ (Bion, 1988) for the young people's psychic structure. The tests showed a demonstrable improvement in their verbal comprehension, visual-spazial reasoning, fluid reasoning, working memory and processing speed.ConclusionsPsychotic manifestations occurring in adolescence may decrease with an immediate integrated and rehabilitative intervention, without need of an institutional psychiatric setting. In conclusion, we find that “psychosis” in adolescence is a prognosis and not a diagnosis.Disclosure of interestThe authors have not supplied their declaration of competing interest.

Co-dependency in mothers of addicted persons: Data from Bulgaria

2016 ◽  
Vol 33 (S1) ◽  
pp. S623-S623
Author(s):  
D. Ivanova ◽  
V. Giannouli
Keyword(s):  
State Anxiety ◽  
Depression Scale ◽  
Poor Mental Health ◽  
Anxiety And Depression ◽  
Future Research ◽  
High School Degree ◽  
Helping Relationship ◽  
Competing Interest ◽  
High Level ◽  
University Degree

IntroductionCo-dependent relationships are characterized as a type of dysfunctional helping relationship in which there is an excessive reliance on other people for approval and identity. This is very common for female relatives who support/enable another person's addiction, poor mental health, immaturity, and/or irresponsibility.ObjectiveThe aim of the present study is to reveal the co-dependence profile of mothers of addicted persons in Bulgaria.MethodFour hundred Bulgarian women coming from Blagoevgrad, Sofia and Stara Zagora (Mage = 53.55, SDage = 5.58; level of education: 71% with high school degree, 29%with university degree; all mothers of addicted persons) were examined at the Municipal Council on Drug Addiction Blagoevgrad with the STAI-state questionnaire, the ZUNG Self Rating Depression Scale and the Questionnaire of Establishment of Codependency.ResultsResults indicated that in a scale of scores ranging from 2 = minimum to 4 = maximum of co-dependence, this group of women had high self-reported levels of co-dependence (M = 3.6375, SD = .52610), a high depressive profile (M = 49.07, SD = 3.23, and high state anxiety (M = 66.60, SD = 5.58).ConclusionsThe present research suggests that mothers of dependent individuals in Bulgaria show a high level of co-dependency, anxiety and depression. Future research should clarify the reasons of this overall negative emotional profile.Disclosure of interestThe authors have not supplied their declaration of competing interest.

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