Manualized group cognitive behavioral therapy for social anxiety in first-episode psychosis: a randomized controlled trial

Background Social anxiety (SA), a prevalent comorbid condition in psychotic disorders with a negative impact on functioning, requires adequate intervention relatively early. Using a randomized controlled trial, we tested the efficacy of a group cognitive-behavioral therapy intervention for SA (CBT-SA) that we developed for youth who experienced the first episode of psychosis (FEP). For our primary outcome, we hypothesized that compared to the active control of group cognitive remediation (CR), the CBT-SA group would show a reduction in SA that would be maintained at 3- and 6-month follow-ups. For secondary outcomes, it was hypothesized that the CBT-SA group would show a reduction of positive and negative symptoms and improvements in recovery and functioning. Method Ninety-six patients with an FEP and SA, recruited from five different FEP programs in the Montreal area, were randomized to 13 weekly group sessions of either CBT-SA or CR intervention. Results Linear mixed models revealed that multiple measures of SA significantly reduced over time, but with no significant group differences. Positive and negative symptoms, as well as functioning improved over time, with negative symptoms and functioning exhibiting a greater reduction in the CBT-SA group. Conclusions While SA decreased over time with both interventions, a positive effect of the CBT-SA intervention on measures of negative symptoms, functioning, and self-reported recovery at follow-up suggests that our intervention had a positive effect that extended beyond symptoms specific to SA. ClinicalTrials.gov identifier: NCT02294409.

Primary and Secondary Negative Symptoms in Schizophrenia

The negative symptoms of schizophrenia include volitional (motivational) impairment manifesting as avolition, anhedonia, social withdrawal, and emotional disorders such as alogia and affective flattening. Negative symptoms worsen patients' quality of life and functioning. From the diagnostic point of view, it is important to differentiate between primary negative symptoms, which are regarded as an integral dimension of schizophrenia, and secondary negative symptoms occurring as a result of positive symptoms, comorbid depression, side effects of antipsychotics, substance abuse, or social isolation. If secondary negative symptoms overlap with primary negative symptoms, it can create a false clinical impression of worsening deficit symptoms and disease progression, which leads to the choice of incorrect therapeutic strategy with excessive dopamine blocker loading. Different longitudinal trajectories of primary and secondary negative symptoms in different schizophrenia stages are proposed as an important additional discriminating factor. This review and position paper focuses primarily on clinical aspects of negative symptoms in schizophrenia, their definition, phenomenology, factor structure, and classification. It covers the historical and modern concepts of the paradigm of positive and negative symptoms in schizophrenia, as well as a detailed comparison of the assessment tools and psychometric tests used for the evaluation of negative symptoms.

Alysis Reliability Study: Rearranging Phenomenology into Etiology in Mental Disorders

‘Alysis’ )abbreviation of Neuroanalysis(, - is the chosen definition for the rearrangement of psychiatric phenomology to approximate the hypothesized etiology of mental disorders. Currently the relevant scales such as Positive and Negative Symptoms Scale (PANSS) for schizophrenia and the Hamilton scales for depression and anxiety, and Mania Rating Scale have no specific guiding principle in the order of items. ‘Alysis’ is a reorganization of multiple known scales to fit a future brain-related diagnostic approach to mental disorders. Due to the regrouping of items from different scales and reorganizing them according to a brain-related hypothetic order, it is necessary to reassess the reliability of the new ‘Alysis’ rearrangement. In this work the new ‘Alysis’ format is described and then using t-scores analysis, compared to the widely-used Brief Psychiatric Rating Scale (BPRS) scale for mental disorders. It is shown that ‘Alysis’ is reliable thus can be a good diagnostic platform to go ahead and generate personalized testable-predictions about brain-related diagnostics for psychiatric patients.

Alterations in Emotional Diversity Correspond With Increased Severity of Attenuated Positive and Negative Symptoms in the Clinical High-Risk Syndrome

Background: Alterations in emotional functioning are a key feature of psychosis and are present in individuals with a clinical high-risk (CHR) syndrome. However, little is known about alterations in emotional diversity (i.e., the variety and relative abundance of emotions that humans experience) and clinical correlates in this population.Methods: Individuals meeting criteria for a CHR syndrome (N = 47) and matched healthy controls (HC) (N = 58) completed the modified Differential Emotions Scale (used to derive scores of total, positive, and negative emotional diversity) and clinical interviews (i.e., Structured Interview for Psychosis-Risk Syndromes).Results: Findings showed that the CHR group experienced lower levels of positive emotional diversity compared to HCs. Among the CHR individuals, lower levels of positive and higher levels of negative emotional diversity were associated with more severe attenuated positive and negative symptoms. Analyses controlled for mean levels of emotion and current antipsychotic medication use.Discussion: Results demonstrate that altered emotional diversity (in particular lower levels of positive and higher levels of negative emotional diversity) is a clinically relevant marker in CHR individuals, above and beyond alterations in mean levels of emotional experiences. Future studies may probe sources, downstream consequences, and potential modifiability of decreased emotional diversity in individuals at CHR.

Associations of CYP2D6, ABCB1 2677G>T/A and 3435C>T with effectiveness and safety of pharmacotherapy for acute psychotic episodes in adolescents over 28 days

Introduction. Pharmacokinetic genetic factors are prognostically relevant when prescribing antipsychotics to adult patients. Currently, there is a dearth of research on adolescents with an acute psychotic episode. Aim. To identify possible associations of CYP2D6, CYP3A4/5 and ABCB1 gene polymorphic variants with the efficacy and safety of pharmacotherapy in adolescents with an acute psychotic episode within 28 days. Materials and methods. The study included 68 adolescents with an established diagnosis of acute polymorphic psychotic disorder at the time of admission (F23.0-9 according to ICD- 10). All patients received an antipsychotic as their main therapy. Patients were monitored for 28 days. The effectiveness of antipsychotics was assessed using the Children’s Global Assessment Scale (CGAS), Positive and Negative Symptoms Scale (PANSS), Clinical Global Impression Severity (CGI-S) and Improvement (CGI-I). The safety of pharmacotherapy was assessed using the UKU Side Effects Rating Scale (UKU SERS), Sympson-Angus Scale (SAS), Barnes Akathisia rating scale (BARS). From each patient we obtained a buccal scraped epithelium, extracted DNA from it by sorbent method and detected carriage of genetic polymorphisms CYP3A4*22 (rs2740574), CYP3A5*3 (6986A>G, rs776746), CYP2D6*4, *9, *10 (rs3892097, rs4986774, rs1065852), ABCB1 1236C>T (rs1128503), 2677G>T/A (rs2032582), 3435C>T (rs1045642) by real-time PCR. Results. Carriers of ABCB1 2677G>T/A significantly less frequently demonstrated response to pharmacotherapy according to PANSS scale on day 14 compared to GG homozygotes (64.6 % vs. 94.7 %; p=0.014). Carriers of the ABCB1 3435C>T differed by a higher total UKU SERS score on day 14 compared to CC genotype carriers (9.21±5.95 vs. 5.1±4.48; p=0.037). Patients with «intermediate» CYP2D6 metabolism were more likely to have reduced sleep duration (13.6 % vs. 0 %; p=0.031). ABCB1 2677G>T/A (51 % vs. 15.8 %; p=0.012) and 3435C>T (46.6 % vs. 10 %; p=0.039) were more frequently associated with dry mouth. ABCB1 3435C>T carriers were also more likely to have orthostatic vertigo (34.5 % vs. 0 %; p=0.028). Conclusion. Carriage of the ABCB1 3435C>T was associated with greater efficacy of pharmacotherapy for acute psychotic episode in adolescents after 28 days, but also increases the risk of adverse reactions in the first 2 weeks of treatment. The ABCB1 2677G>T/A was associated with an increased risk of adverse reactions as well as less reduction of psychotic symptoms on day 14 of pharmacotherapy.

PREDICTORS OF THERAPEUTIC RESPONSE AND LENGTH OF HOSPITALIZATION IN PATIENTS WITH SCHIZOPHRENIA DURING PHARMACOTHERAPY

Topicality. Search for scientifically based criteria for symptomatic remission and outcomes in schizophrenia is an urgent problem in modern psychiatry. Aim. To determine predictors of therapeutic response and duration of hospitalization during the course of psychopharmacotherapy in patients with schizophrenia. Material and methods. Clinical and metric examination using scales for assessing severity of positive (SAPS, PSYRATS, BABS) and negative (SANS, NSA-5) symptoms was performed in 157 patients with a diagnosis of schizophrenia twice: on admission to hospital and after the course of psychopharmacotherapy. The model for predicting therapeutic response was built using logistic regression, the model for predicting duration of hospitalization was built using linear regression using metrically justified criteria for achieving a significantly low level of severity of positive and negative symptoms as criteria for a significant therapeutic response. Results. The predictors were determined that increase and decrease likelihood of therapeutic response for scales for assessing positive and negative symptoms in patients with schizophrenia during the course of psychopharmacotherapy. Conclusions. Therapeutic response prediction models for scales for assessing the severity of positive symptoms and scales for the severity of negative symptoms are of good quality and high diagnostic value.