640 research outputs found
Prospective cognitions in anxiety and depression: Replication and methodological extension
The present study presents a replication and methodological extension of MacLeod, Tata, Kentish, and Jacobsen (1997) with a nonclinical sample, using future-directed imagery to assess prospective cognitions. Results showed that only anxiety (but not depression) was related to enhanced imagery for future negative events. Both anxiety and depression showed significant zero-order correlations with reduced imagery for future positive events. However, when the overlap between anxiety and depression was controlled for, only depression (but not anxiety) showed a unique association with reduced imagery for positive events. Implications of these findings for cognitive models of anxiety and depression are discussed
A simple stress test of experimenter demand effects
As a stress test of experimenter demand effects, we run an experiment where subjects can physically destroy coupons awarded to them. About one subject out of three does. Giving money back to the experimenter is possible in a separate task but is more consistent with an experimenter demand effect than an explanation based on altruism towards the experimenter. A measure of sensitivity to social pressure helps predict destruction when social information is provided
Cycloid psychoses: clinical symptomatology, prognosis, and heredity1
The development of the concept of cycloid
psychoses goes back to the problem of “atypical psychoses” which arose from Kraepelin’s dichotomy of endogenous psychoses1. It concerned those forms of psychoses which could be assigned neither to dementia praecox nor to manic-depressive illness. One strategy for a
solution of this problem was the broadening of the concept of schizophrenia as inaugurated by Bleuler (1911)2. Schizophrenia was then thought to include lots of clinical conditions with entirely
different cross-sectional
symptomatology, long-term
course and outcome, thus
considerably reducing the
heuristic value of the diagnosis.
Furthermore, reliable prognoses became impossible according to Bleuler’s
concepts (table 1).
Inevitably, the idea was generated that there
might be a nosologically independent group
of endogenous psychoses in addition to
schizophrenias and manic-depressive illness.
Based upon the previous work of Wernicke and
Kleist3, Leonhard (1999)4 further established
the concept of cycloid psychoses. Rejecting
nosological hybridisation, the independency of these psychoses was emphasized. Representing one of the three main groups in his subdivision of psychoses with “schizophreniform”
symptomatology, Leonhard meticulously elaborated on precise clinical diagnostic criteria for cycloid psychoses.
In the current diagnostic manuals, those psychoses spread over various diagnostic entities like bipolar affective disorder, schizoaffective disorder, acute polymorphic psychotic disorder (ICD), brief psychotic disorder (DSM), or even schizophrenia, if 1st-rank symptoms are
observed for more than one month
Impact of Excess Lead Iodide on the Recombination Kinetics in Metal Halide Perovskites
Fundmental
comprehension of light-induced processes in perovskites
are still scarce. One active debate surrounds the influence of excess
lead iodide (PbI2) on device performance, as well as optoelectronic
properties, where both beneficial and detrimental traits have been
reported. Here, we study its impact on charge carrier recombination
kinetics by simultaneously acquiring the photoluminescence quantum
yield and time-resolved photoluminescence as a function of excitation
wavelength (450–780 nm). The presence of PbI2 in
the perovskite film is identified via a unique spectroscopic signature
in the PLQY spectrum. Probing the recombination in the presence and
absence of this signature, we detect a radiative bimolecular recombination
mechanism induced by PbI2. Spatially resolving the photoluminescence,
we determine that this radiative process occurs in a small volume
at the PbI2/perovskite interface, which is only active
when charge carriers are generated in PbI2, and therefore
provide deeper insight into how excess PbI2 may improve
the properties of perovskite-based devices
Is Ankyrin a genetic risk factor for psychiatric phenotypes?
Background
Genome wide association studies reported two single nucleotide polymorphisms in ANK3 (rs9804190 and rs10994336) as independent genetic risk factors for bipolar disorder. Another SNP in ANK3 (rs10761482) was associated with schizophrenia in a large European sample. Within the debate on common susceptibility genes for schizophrenia and bipolar disorder, we tried to investigate common findings by analyzing association of ANK3 with schizophrenia, bipolar disorder and unipolar depression.
Methods
We genotyped three single nucleotide polymorphisms (SNPs) in ANK3 (rs9804190, rs10994336, and rs10761482) in a case-control sample of German descent including 920 patients with schizophrenia, 400 with bipolar affective disorder, 220 patients with unipolar depression according to ICD 10 and 480 healthy controls. Sample was further differentiated according to Leonhard's classification featuring disease entities with specific combination of bipolar and psychotic syndromes.
Results
We found no association of rs9804190 and rs10994336 with bipolar disorder, unipolar depression or schizophrenia. In contrast to previous findings rs10761482 was associated with bipolar disorder (p = 0.015) but not with schizophrenia or unipolar depression. We observed no association with disease entities according to Leonhard's classification.
Conclusion
Our results support a specific genetic contribution of ANK3 to bipolar disorder though we failed to replicate findings for schizophrenia. We cannot confirm ANK3 as a common risk factor for different diseases
Targeted prevention of common mental health disorders in university students: randomised controlled trial of a transdiagnostic trait-focused web-based intervention
Background:
A large proportion of university students show symptoms of common mental disorders, such as depression, anxiety, substance use disorders and eating disorders. Novel interventions are required that target underlying factors of multiple disorders.<p></p>
Aims:
To evaluate the efficacy of a transdiagnostic trait-focused web-based intervention aimed at reducing symptoms of common mental disorders in university students.<p></p>
Method:
Students were recruited online (n = 1047, age: M = 21.8, SD = 4.2) and categorised into being at high or low risk for mental disorders based on their personality traits. Participants were allocated to a cognitive-behavioural trait-focused (n = 519) or a control intervention (n = 528) using computerised simple randomisation. Both interventions were fully automated and delivered online (trial registration: ISRCTN14342225). Participants were blinded and outcomes were self-assessed at baseline, at 6 weeks and at 12 weeks after registration. Primary outcomes were current depression and anxiety, assessed on the Patient Health Questionnaire (PHQ9) and Generalised Anxiety Disorder Scale (GAD7). Secondary outcome measures focused on alcohol use, disordered eating, and other outcomes.<p></p>
Results:
Students at high risk were successfully identified using personality indicators and reported poorer mental health. A total of 520 students completed the 6-week follow-up and 401 students completed the 12-week follow-up. Attrition was high across intervention groups, but comparable to other web-based interventions. Mixed effects analyses revealed that at 12-week follow up the trait-focused intervention reduced depression scores by 3.58 (p<.001, 95%CI [5.19, 1.98]) and anxiety scores by 2.87 (p = .018, 95%CI [1.31, 4.43]) in students at high risk. In high-risk students, between group effect sizes were 0.58 (depression) and 0.42 (anxiety). In addition, self-esteem was improved. No changes were observed regarding the use of alcohol or disordered eating.<p></p>
Conclusions
This study suggests that a transdiagnostic web-based intervention for university students targeting underlying personality risk factors may be a promising way of preventing common mental disorders with a low-intensity intervention
Perfectionism and achievement goals in young Finnish ice-hockey players aspiring to make the Under-16 national team
Research on perfectionism suggests that is it useful to differentiate between perfectionistic strivings and perfectionistic concerns. Regarding the 2 x 2 achievement goal framework, the usefulness of this differentiation was recently demonstrated in a study with university student athletes (Stoeber, Stoll, Pescheck, & Otto, 2008, Study 2), in which it was found that perfectionistic strivings were associated with mastery-approach and performance-approach goals and perfectionistic concerns with mastery-avoidance, performance-approach, and performance-avoidance goals. Because the study was largely exploratory and only used non-elite athletes, the aim of the present research was to replicate and extend these findings by investigating a sample of 138 young, elite ice-hockey players, while adding further measures of perfectionism and using structural equation modelling (SEM) to confirm the relationships between perfectionistic strivings, perfectionistic concerns,and the 2 x 2 achievement goals. The SEM results showed that, in elite athletes also, perfectionistic strivings are associated with mastery-approach and performance-approach goals, whereas perfectionistic concerns are associated with masteryavoidance,
performance-approach, and performance-avoidance goals. Our findings corroborate the importance of differentiating between perfectionistic strivings and perfectionistic concerns when studying perfectionism in sports, because
only perfectionistic concerns (and not perfectionistic strivings) are associated with maladaptive patterns of achievement goals
The SNAPSHOT study protocol : SNAcking, Physical activity, Self-regulation, and Heart rate Over Time
Peer reviewedPublisher PD
ZDHHC8 as a candidate gene for schizophrenia: Analysis of a putative functional intronic marker in case-control and family-based association studies
BACKGROUND: The chromosome 22q11 region is proposed as a major candidate locus for susceptibility genes to schizophrenia. Recently, the gene ZDHHC8 encoding a putative palmitoyltransferase at 22q11 was proposed to increase liability to schizophrenia based on both animal models and human association studies by significant over-transmission of allele rs175174A in female, but not male subjects with schizophrenia. METHODS: Given the genetic complexity of schizophrenia and the potential genetic heterogeneity in different populations, we examined rs175174 in 204 German proband-parent triads and in an independent case-control study (schizophrenic cases: n = 433; controls: n = 186). RESULTS: In the triads heterozygous parents transmitted allele G preferentially to females, and allele A to males (heterogeneity χ(2 )= 4.43; p = 0.035). The case-control sample provided no further evidence for overall or gender-specific effects regarding allele and genotype frequency distributions. CONCLUSION: The findings on rs175174 at ZDHHC8 are still far from being conclusive, but evidence for sexual dimorphism is moderate, and our data do not support a significant genetic contribution of rs175174 to the aetiopathogenesis of schizophrenia
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