Scl-90-R Symptom Profiles and Outcome of Short-Term Psychodynamic Group Therapy.

Scl-90-R symptom profiles and outcome of short-term psychodynamic group therapy.

ISRN Psychiatry. 2013; 2013: 540134
Jensen HH, Mortensen EL, Lotz M

Background. Psychodynamic group psychotherapy may not be an optimal treatment for anxiety and agoraphobic symptoms. We explore remission of SCL-90-R Global Severity Index (GSI) and target symptoms in 39 sessions of psychodynamic group therapy. Methods. SCL-90-R “target symptom” profile and GSI remission according to Danish norms were identified in 239 patients and evaluated according to reliable and clinical significant change. Results. Four major groups of target symptom cases (depression, interpersonal sensitivity, anxiety, and phobic anxiety) covered 95.7% of the sample. As opposite to phobic anxiety and anxiety patients, patients with interpersonal sensitivity obtained overall the most optimal outcome. The phobic anxiety scale, social network support, and years of school education were independent predictors of GSI remission, and a low anxiety score and absence of phobic anxiety target symptoms were independent predictors of remission of target symptom pathology. Conclusions. The negative results as associated with the SCL-90-R phobic anxiety scale and the phobic anxiety target symptom group are largely in agreement with recent studies. In contrast, whatever the diagnoses, patients with interpersonal sensitivity target symptom may be especially suited for psychodynamic group therapy. The SCL-90-R subscales may allow for a more complex symptom-related differentiation of patients compared with both diagnoses and GSI symptom load. HubMed – depression

A multiple case series analysis of six variants of attentional bias modification for depression.

ISRN Psychiatry. 2013; 2013: 414170
Kruijt AW, Putman P, Van der Does W

Background. Attention bias modification (ABM) is a new treatment for affective disorders. A meta-analysis of ABM for anxiety disorders showed that the effect size may be large but the number of studies is low. The working mechanism is still unclear, and little is known about the optimal treatment parameters. ABM for depression is much less studied. A few studies claimed positive effects but the sample sizes are low. Furthermore, the treatment parameters varied widely and differed from the anxiety literature. Aim. To select the most promising version of ABM for depression for further evaluation in clinical trials. Methods. Multiple case series design. We tested six versions of ABM that varied on stimulus duration and training direction. Thirty students with mild to moderate symptoms of depression underwent four sessions of ABM. Change of attentional bias was measured during each session. Generalization of treatment effects and the role of awareness of receiving training were also investigated. Results. None of the investigated versions of ABM had a consistent effect on attentional bias. Changes of attentional bias in individual participants the effects did not generalize to untrained stimuli. Conclusion. It is unlikely that any of these ABM versions will have a specific effect on symptoms in controlled studies. HubMed – depression

Age of onset of mood disorders and complexity of personality traits.

ISRN Psychiatry. 2013; 2013: 246358
Ostacoli L, Zuffranieri M, Cavallo M, Zennaro A, Rainero I, Pinessi L, Pacchiana Parravicini MV, Ladisa E, Furlan PM, Picci RL

Objective. The aim of the present study is to evaluate the link between the age of onset of mood disorders and the complexity of the personality traits. Methods. 209 patients with major depressive or manic/hypomanic episodes were assessed using the Structured Clinical Interview for DSM Axis I diagnoses and the Millon Clinical Multiaxial Inventory-III (MCMI-III). Results. 17.2% of the patients had no elevated MCMI-III scores, 45.9% had one peak, and 36.9% had a complex personality disorder with two or more elevated scores. Mood disorders onset of 29 years or less was the variable most related to the complexity of personality disorders as indicated from a recursive partitioning analysis. Conclusions. The relationship between mood disorders and personality traits differ in reference to age of onset of the mood disorder. In younger patients, maladaptive personality traits can evolve both in a mood disorder onset and in a complex personality disorder, while the later development of a severe mood disorder can increase the personality symptomatology. Our results suggest a threshold of mood disorder onset higher compared to previous studies. Maladaptive personality traits should be assessed not only during adolescence but also in young adults to identify and treat potential severe mood disorders. HubMed – depression

Neurochemical and behavioral features in genetic absence epilepsy and in acutely induced absence seizures.

ISRN Neurol. 2013; 2013: 875834
Bazyan AS, van Luijtelaar G

The absence epilepsy typical electroencephalographic pattern of sharp spikes and slow waves (SWDs) is considered to be due to an interaction of an initiation site in the cortex and a resonant circuit in the thalamus. The hyperpolarization-activated cyclic nucleotide-gated cationic I h pacemaker channels (HCN) play an important role in the enhanced cortical excitability. The role of thalamic HCN in SWD occurrence is less clear. Absence epilepsy in the WAG/Rij strain is accompanied by deficiency of the activity of dopaminergic system, which weakens the formation of an emotional positive state, causes depression-like symptoms, and counteracts learning and memory processes. It also enhances GABAA receptor activity in the striatum, globus pallidus, and reticular thalamic nucleus, causing a rise of SWD activity in the cortico-thalamo-cortical networks. One of the reasons for the occurrence of absences is that several genes coding of GABAA receptors are mutated. The question arises: what the role of DA receptors is. Two mechanisms that cause an infringement of the function of DA receptors in this genetic absence epilepsy model are proposed. HubMed – depression

Healing pathways: a program for women with physical disabilities and depression.

Rehabil Res Pract. 2013; 2013: 649875
Hassouneh D, Nguyen T, Chen Z, McNeff E

Objective. The objective of this study was to test the efficacy of the Healing Pathways (HP) program in reducing clinically significantly depressive symptoms in women with physical disabilities (WPD). Healing Pathways is a peer-implemented group mental health treatment program targeting WPD who have clinically significant cooccurring depressive symptoms. Participants. Eighty women were randomized in this trial. Design. This study used a community-based participatory intervention research design. Using community-based recruiting methods, participants were recruited from Centers for Independent Living, local disability service organizations, via Craig’s list as well as other community locations such as grocery stores and bus stops. Women participated in the HP program for 14?weeks. Results. The primary outcome variable for this study was reduction in depressive symptoms as measured by the Center for Epidemiologic Depression Scale (CES-D). We found that there was a significant interaction effect of treatment by time on depression scores, F(3,210)?=?9.51, P < 0.0001, partial ? (2) = 0.101. Investigation of the predicted mean profile over time in the intervention group demonstrated that depression scores decreased greatly from baseline to the first posttest and remained stable in the two followups, whereas there was a little change in the mean profile over time in the control group. Conclusion. The HP program has demonstrated initial efficacy in reducing depressive symptoms in women with physical disabilities. HubMed – depression