Exploration of auditory P50 gating in schizophrenia by way of difference waves

Electroencephalographic measures of information processing encompass both mid-latency evoked potentials like the pre-attentive auditory P50 potential and a host of later more cognitive components like P300 and N400. Difference waves have mostly been employed in studies of later event related potentials but here this method along with low frequency filtering is applied exploratory on auditory P50 gating data, previously analyzed in the standard format (reported in Am J Psychiatry 2003, 160:2236-8). The exploration was motivated by the observation during visual peak detection that the AEP waveform was different in the patient group, although this was not reflected by the peak measures. The sample included un-medicated schizophrenia spectrum patients (n = 17) and healthy controls (n = 24). The patients had an attenuated difference P50. This attenuation was primarily seen in the sub-sample of patients with severe negative symptoms. The difference attenuation was due to low amplitude at the first stimulus. This suggests an abnormality in readiness more than an abnormality in gating in the patient group

Approaching patients with hyperreflectivity and perplexity:An empirical qualitative investigation

Abstract Objective Perplexity and hyperreflectivity are considered important aspects of self-disorders in patients with schizophrenia, yet knowledge of the appropriate psychotherapy for these patients is sparse. We aimed to explore how phenomenological psychologists or psychiatrists described their approach to these patients and their own emotional response when hyperreflectivity and perplexity emerged in therapy or consultations. Methods Four e-mail interviews with experienced clinical researchers within the field of phenomenology and schizophrenia were examined using a double hermeneutic qualitative analysis. Results The informants offered reassurance by authority and the encouragement of sharing of experiences interlaced in the beginning of therapy. Later they went on relating expressions of hyperreflectivity and perplexity to emotions, life events and goals. They described feelings of admiration and professional recognition along with worry, insecurity and sadness. Conclusion The list of primary themes covers what might seem very basic therapeutic interventions. However, the careful and open-minded manner in which these were carried out was noteworthy. The double task of staying closely attuned to the patient’s airy reflections and, at the same time, when the patient was ready for it, carefully making links to domains of the patient’s everyday life, was clearly molded to patients with fragile attachment

“Caught between a rock and a hard place” – between discourses of empowerment and solicitude.:An empirical study on Danish public sector service professionals’ discourses of non-attendance

Nonattendance constitutes a profound challenge in public sector services targeting young adults with mental health difficulties. Therefore, researchers and practitioners are occupied with trying to resolve this. For clinicians to be aware of their own naturalized and perhaps inappropriate communicative practices, we investigated the established normative organizational logics behind explanations and strategies related to nonattendance. We performed a critical discourse analysis on material collected through participatory research throughout 2015. Three discourses were identified: solicitude, responsibility, and youth discourse. Although the discourses were complex and entangled, they were used by all practitioners. Furthermore, some of the discourses, especially the responsibility and the solicitude discourses, were inherently tension filled, and practitioners experienced frustration in dealing with these tensions. The youth discourse can be understood as a coping mechanism to deal with these tensions because it distributes responsibility for nonattendance to general social and cultural processes. </jats:p