Alexithymia in social anxiety disorder: is there a specific relationship or is it a feature of comorbid major depression?

Objective: Alexithymia has been extensively studied in the literature regarding its relationship with major depression. However, patients with anxiety related problems also have high alexithymic traits. Our study aimed to assess the presence of alexithymia and clinical variables associated with it in a specific subset of patients with anxiety, namely social anxiety disorder (SAD). Methods: 140 patients with generalized type SAD were assessed by using Toronto Alexithymia Scale-20 (TAS-20), Liebowitz Social Anxiety Scale (LSAS), Beck Depression Inventory (BDI), Beck Anxiety Inventory (BAI) and Global Assessment of Functioning Scale (GAF). Participants with TAS-20 scores >= 61 were considered as alexithymic and they were compared with non-alexithymic (TAS-20 <61) participants in terms of rating scale scores, clinical characteristics and comorbidity profiles. Results: 46 patients were alexithymic (32.9%) and 94 patients constituted the non-alexithymic group. In comparisons between the two groups, alexithymic group was characterized by a lower mean age at onset of SAD, higher BDI, BAI, LSAS scores and total number of comorbid diagnoses and lower mean current and previous year GAF scores. However, there appears to be a weaker relationship between SAD and alexithymia after controlling for depression. Discussion: Our results suggest that alexithymia is associated with a more severe symptomatology, higher comorbidity and functional impairment in patients with SAD. However, this association may be stronger in patients who have current comorbid major depression than in other patients with SAD

TREATMENT OF INSOMNIA WITH HYPNOTICS RESULTING IN IMPROVED SEXUAL FUNCTIONING IN POST-MENOPAUSAL WOMEN

Background: This study sought to determine whether trazodone used in hypnotic doses, compared to the hypnotic agent zopiclone, had any specific positive effect on sexual function in non-depressive post-menopausal women with insomnia

TREATMENT OF INSOMNIA WITH HYPNOTICS RESULTING IN IMPROVED SEXUAL FUNCTIONING IN POST-MENOPAUSAL WOMEN

Background: This study sought to determine whether trazodone used in hypnotic doses, compared to the hypnotic agent zopiclone, had any specific positive effect on sexual function in non-depressive post-menopausal women with insomnia. Subjects and methods: Fifty (50) subjects participated in the study. Insomnia and sexual performance were evaluated before and after 4 weeks of hypnotic treatment. Results: At week four, both treatments improved sleep quality to a similar degree. Sexual function also improved significantly with both treatments, with no significant difference between the groups. Conclusions: In post-menopausal women, sexual problems and sleep problems may be related and solving sleep problems may help sexual functioning, independently of depression

The role of the brain-derived neurotrophic factor SNP rs2883187 in the phenotypic expression of obsessive-compulsive disorder

We investigated the association between a brain-derived neurotrophic factor (BDNF) gene polymorphism and clinical features in a sample of patients with obsessive-compulsive disorder (OCD). A total of 100 patients diagnosed with OCD according to the Diagnostic and Statistical Manual IV criteria and 110 control subjects were included in this study. The distribution of a single nucleotide polymorphism rs2883187 was compared in OCD patients and normal controls. Clinical features were compared between the subgroups of OCD patients with different genotypes. There was no significant difference for the allele frequencies and genotype distributions between the OCD and control groups. The Hamilton Anxiety Rating Scale, Yale-Brown Obsessive Compulsive Scale obsession and total scores were found to be higher in patients with the CC genotype than in the patients who are homozygous for the T allele. The rates of OCD in first-degree relatives of OCD patients who were homozygous for the C allele were significantly higher, compared to those with CT and TT genotypes. Our results indicate that the CC genotype may be associated with the severity and increased familial loading of OCD. Further investigation based on larger populations is needed to reveal the full association of the BDNF polymorphism with OCD. © 2013 Elsevier Ltd. All rights reserved

Relationship between atypical depression and social anxiety disorder

WOS: 000348949600009PubMed ID: 25454116In this study, we aimed to investigate the effects of atypical and non-atypical depression comorbidity on the clinical characteristics and course of social anxiety disorder (SAD). A total of 247 patients with SAD were enrolled: 145 patients with a current depressive episode (unipolar or bipolar) with atypical features, 43 patients with a current depressive episode with non-atypical features and 25 patients without a lifetime history of depressive episodes were compared regarding sociodemographic and clinical features, comorbidity rates, and severity of SAD, depression and functional impairment. Thirty four patients with a past but not current history of major depressive episodes were excluded from the comparisons. 77.1% of current depressive episodes were associated with atypical features. Age at onset of SAD and age at initial major depressive episode were lower in the group with atypical depression than in the group with non-atypical depression. History of suicide attempts and bipolar disorder comorbidity was more common in the atypical depression group as well. Atypical depression group has higher SAD and depression severity and lower functionality than group with non-atypical depression. Our results indicate that the presence of atypical depression is associated with more severe symptoms and more impairment in functioning in patients with SAD. (C) 2014 Elsevier Ireland Ltd. All rights reserved

N2 AND P3 POTENTIALS IN EARLY-ONSET AND LATE-ONSET PATIENTS WITH OBSESSIVE-COMPULSIVE DISORDER

Background: Impaired cognitive control processes may be central in the pathogenesis of obsessive-compulsive disorder (OCD). Our objective was to evaluate cognitive control processes with event-related potentials in early-onset OCD (EO) and late-onset OCD (LO), which are suggested to have distinct characteristics. Methods: Participants were unmedicated EO (n = 26) and LO patients (n = 33) without comorbid psychopathology and healthy controls (n = 54). Go/No-go tasks with 50 and 80% Go trial probabilities were implemented to manipulate the strength of response conflict and inhibitory demands. Results: LO patients had shorter N2 latencies than controls and did not show the N2 amplitude increase seen in controls with the increase in Go trial probability as suggestive of abnormal conflict monitoring processes. Both EO and LO patients showed smaller P3 increase than controls with the increase in Go trial probability, suggesting problems in modifying attentional control with changes in task demands. P3 was more anteriorly distributed in LO patients than controls. Additionally, P3 increase, with the increase in Go trial probability, was larger in frontal and central sites than in parietal sites in controls, whereas in EO patients it was almost homogenous across anteroposterior sites. Conclusions: N2 processes were affected only in LO, whereas P3 processes were affected in both EO and LO, although, somewhat differently. P3 distributions suggest that EO and LO patients have differences concerning the contributions of frontal and parietal components of attentional networks to the execution of Go/No-go tasks. Our results imply that EO and LO are distinct subtypes affecting the cognitive control systems differently. (C) 2013 Wiley Periodicals, Inc

Relationship between atypical depression and social anxiety disorder

In this study, we aimed to investigate the effects of atypical and non-atypical depression comorbidity on the clinical characteristics and course of social anxiety disorder (SAD). A total of 247 patients with SAD were enrolled: 145 patients with a current depressive episode (unipolar or bipolar) with atypical features, 43 patients with a current depressive episode with non-atypical features and 25 patients without a lifetime history of depressive episodes were compared regarding sociodemographic and clinical features, comorbidity rates, and severity of SAD, depression and functional impairment. Thirty four patients with a past but not current history of major depressive episodes were excluded from the comparisons. 77.1% of current depressive episodes were associated with atypical features. Age at onset of SAD and age at initial major depressive episode were lower in the group with atypical depression than in the group with non-atypical depression. History of suicide attempts and bipolar disorder comorbidity was more common in the atypical depression group as well. Atypical depression group has higher SAD and depression severity and lower functionality than group with non-atypical depression. Our results indicate that the presence of atypical depression is associated with more severe symptoms and more impairment in functioning in patients with SAD. (C) 2014 Elsevier Ireland Ltd. All rights reserved