The association of cannabis use with quality of life and psychosocial functioning in psychosis

BACKGROUND: Cannabis use is highly prevalent among people with a psychotic disorder. They often report sociality, coping with unpleasant affect and having positive experiences as important reasons for cannabis use, suggesting that cannabis improves their quality of life (QoL) and psychosocial functioning. However, based on previous studies we hypothesize that cannabis use is negatively associated with long-term subjective QoL and psychosocial functioning in people with a psychotic disorder. METHODS: We included 2994 people with a psychotic disorder (36.4% female), mean age 44.4 (SD 11.9), mean illness duration 17.2 years (SD 11.1), who participated in two yearly routine outcome assessments between 2014 and 2018 (interval 9-15 months) from the naturalistic PHAMOUS cohort study. Linear regression analyses were used to examine whether first assessment cannabis use was associated with QoL (ManSA) and psychosocial functioning (HoNOS). Changes in outcomes between assessments were analyzed with AN(C)OVA, to examine differences between continuers (n = 255), discontinuers (n = 85), starters (n = 83) and non-users (n = 2571). RESULTS: At first assessment, 11.4% was using cannabis. They had lower QoL (B = -2.93, p < 0.001) and worse psychosocial functioning (B = 1.03, p = 0.002) than non-users. After one year, changes in QoL and psychosocial functioning were not significantly different between continuers, starters, discontinuers and non-users. CONCLUSIONS: Cannabis users were less satisfied with their family relations and financial situation and showed more aggressive and disruptive behavior and self-harm than non-users. These differences are likely the result of patients having used cannabis for many years. Starting or discontinuing cannabis did not lead to changes in QoL and psychosocial functioning within one year

Cognitive-behavior therapy for children and adolescents with anxiety disorders:A meta-analysis of secondary outcomes

Anxiety-focused cognitive-behavioral therapy (CBT) effectively reduces anxiety in children and adolescents. An important remaining question is to what extent anxiety-focused CBT also affects broader outcome domains. Additionally, it remains unclear whether parental involvement in treatment may have impact on domains other than anxiety. A meta-analysis (nstudies = 42, nparticipants = 3239) of the effects of CBT and the moderating role of parental involvement was conducted on the following major secondary outcomes: depressive symptoms, externalizing behaviors, general functioning, and social competence. Randomized controlled trials were included when having a waitlist or active control condition, a youth sample (aged<19) with a primary anxiety disorder diagnosis receiving anxiety-focused CBT and reported secondary outcomes. Controlled effect sizes (Cohen's d) were calculated employing random effect models. CBT had a large effect on general functioning (-1.25[-1.59;0.90], nstudies = 17), a small to moderate effect on depressive symptoms (-0.31[-0.41;-0.22], nstudies = 31) and a small effect on externalizing behaviors (-0.23[-0.38;-0.09], nstudies = 12) from pre-to post-treatment. Effects remained or even further improved at follow-up. Social competence only improved at follow-up (nstudies = 6). Concluding, anxiety-focused CBT has a positive effect on broader outcome domains than just anxiety. Higher parental involvement seemed to have beneficial effects at follow-up, with improvements in general functioning and comorbid symptoms

Coping with information style and family burden:Possible roles of self-stigma and hope among parents of children in a psychiatric inpatient unit

Objective: Parents of children who are hospitalized in inpatient psychiatric units must cope with significant challenges. One of these challenges relates to the way in which they cope with illness-related information. The current study examined the relationship between two such coping styles - monitoring and blunting - and family burden among parents of children in a psychiatric inpatient unit. Moreover, the possible moderating roles.played by hope and self-stigma in these associations were also examined. Methods: Questionnaires regarding coping with information style, self-stigma, hope and family burden were administered to 70 parents. Results: A main positive effect of hope and a main negative effect of self-stigma were uncovered. An interaction between self-stigma and monitoring was also revealed, suggesting that for parents with high self-stigma, compared to those with low self-stigma, more monitoring was related to more burden. Conclusions: Tailoring family interventions according to coping style and self-stigma is highly recommended as a mean to reduce the family burden of parents whose child is hospitalized in a psychiatric inpatient unit. (C) 2016 Elsevier Masson SAS. All rights reserved

REFLEX, a social-cognitive group treatment to improve insight in schizophrenia:Study protocol of a multi-center RCT

BACKGROUND: Insight is impaired in a majority of people with schizophrenia. Impaired insight is associated with poorer outcomes of the disorder. Based on existing literature, we developed a model that explains which processes may possibly play a role in impaired insight. This model was the starting point of the development of REFLEX: a brief psychosocial intervention to improve insight in schizophrenia. REFLEX is a 12-sessions group training, consisting of three modules of four sessions each. Modules in this intervention are: "coping with stigma", "you and your personal narrative", and "you in the present". METHODS/DESIGN: REFLEX is currently evaluated in a multicenter randomized controlled trial. Eight mental health institutions in the Netherlands participate in this evaluation. Patients are randomly assigned to either REFLEX or an active control condition, existing of cognitive remediation exercises in a group. In a subgroup of patients, fMRI scans are made before and after training in order to assess potential haemodynamic changes associated with the effects of the training. DISCUSSION: REFLEX is one of the few interventions aiming specifically to improving insight in schizophrenia and has potential value for improving insight. Targeting insight in schizophrenia is a complex task, that comes with several methodological issues. These issues are addressed in the discussion of this paper. TRIAL REGISTRATION: Current Controlled Trials: ISRCTN5024753

Determinants of Quality of Life and Treatment Satisfaction During Long-Term Involuntary In-patient Treatment of Dual-Diagnosis Patients

INTRODUCTION: Treatment resistance and disengagement from mental health services are major obstacles in the treatment of dual diagnosis patients with Severe Mental Illness. The patients in this study were admitted to a long-term involuntary treatment facility. AIM OF THE STUDY: To study which patient experiences and perceptions are related to the outcome measures Subjective Quality of Life (SQOL) and Treatment Satisfaction (TS) during the long-term involuntary treatment. METHODS: Patients were invited for an interview by an independent researcher, which included self-report questionnaires. The structured interviews included self-assessing Helping Alliance, Insight, Attitude toward involuntary admission, Perceived coercion and Perceived benefit were studied as determinants of SQOL and TS. The relationship between the determinants and the outcomes were analyzed by linear regression analysis. RESULTS: Patient reported outcomes from dual diagnosis patients in a long-term treatment facility, showed that most of the patients, in spite of the involuntary character of the treatment, were satisfied with the treatment. With respect to the determinants of SQOL and TS the perceptions that “My opinion is taken into account” and “Perceived benefits of the treatment” are strong predictors of both the outcomes. CONCLUSIONS: The current study shows that the most important aspects for treatment satisfaction and quality of life of dual-diagnosis patients admitted involuntary to long-term treatment, are being listened to (being taken seriously) and experiencing improvements during treatment. These qualities reflect the goals of Shared Decision Making and Perceived Procedural Justice in treatment. The study also corroborates earlier findings that even when treated involuntarily, patients might not hold particular negative views regarding their treatment

A manual-based individual therapy to improve metacognition in schizophrenia:protocol of a multi-center RCT

BACKGROUND: Metacognitive dysfunction has been widely recognized as a feature of schizophrenia. As it is linked with deficits in several aspects of daily life functioning, improvement of metacognition may lead to improvement in functioning. Individual psychotherapy might be a useful form of treatment to improve metacognition in patients with schizophrenia; multiple case reports and a pilot study show promising results. The present study aims to measure the effectiveness of an individual, manual-based therapy (Metacognitive Reflection and Insight Therapy, MERIT) in improving metacognition in patients with schizophrenia. We also want to examine if improvement in metacognitive abilities is correlated with improvements in aspects of daily life functioning namely social functioning, experience of symptoms, quality of life, depression, work readiness, insight and experience of stigma. METHODS/DESIGN: MERIT is currently evaluated in a multicenter randomized controlled trial. Thirteen therapists in six mental health institutions in the Netherlands participate in this study. Patients are randomly assigned to either MERIT or the control condition: treatment as usual (TAU). DISCUSSION: If proven effective, MERIT can be a useful addition to the care for schizophrenia patients. The design brings along some methodological difficulties, these issues are addressed in the discussion of this paper. TRIAL REGISTRATION: Current Controlled Trials: ISRCTN16659871

Intrinsic mesocorticolimbic connectivity is negatively associated with social amotivation in people with schizophrenia

Background: Social amotivation is a core element of the negative symptoms of schizophrenia. However, it is still largely unknown which neural substrates underpin social amotivation in people with schizophrenia, though deficiencies in the mesocorticolimbic dopamine system have been proposed. Methods: We examined the association between social amotivation and substantia nigra/ventral tegmental area-seeded intrinsic connectivity in 84 people with schizophrenia using resting state functional magnetic resonance imaging. Results: Spontaneous fluctuations of midbrain dopaminergic regions were positively associated with striatal and prefrontal fluctuations in people with schizophrenia. Most importantly, social amotivation was negatively associated with functional connectivity between the midbrain's substantia nigra/ventral tegmental area and medial-and lateral prefrontal cortex, the temporoparietal junction, and dorsal and ventral striatum. These associations were observed independently of depressive and positive symptoms. Conclusions: Our findings suggest that social amotivation in people with schizophrenia is associated with altered intrinsic connectivity of mesocorticolimbic pathways linked to cognitive control and reward processing. Dysconnectivity of dopaminergic neuronal ensembles that are fundamental to approach behavior and motivation may help explain the lack of initiative social behavior in people with social amotivation. (C) 2019 Elsevier B.V. All rights reserved

Measuring empathy in schizophrenia:The Empathic Accuracy Task and its correlation with other empathy measures

Introduction: Empathy is an interpersonal process impaired in schizophrenia. Past studies have mainly used questionnaires or performance-based tasks with static cues to measure cognitive and affective empathy. We used the Empathic Accuracy Task (EAT) designed to capture dynamic aspects of empathy by using videoclips in which perceivers continuously judge emotionally charged stories. We compared individuals with schizophrenia with a healthy comparison group and assessed correlations among EAT and three other commonly used empathy measures. Method: Patients (n = 92) and a healthy comparison group (n = 42) matched for age, gender and education completed the EAT, the Interpersonal Reactivity Index, Questionnaire of Cognitive and Affective Empathy and Faux Pas. Differences between groups were analyzed and correlations were calculated between empathy measurement instruments. Results: The groups differed in EAT performance, with the comparison group outperforming patients. A moderating effect was found for emotional expressivity of the target: while both patients and the comparison group scored low when judging targets with low expressivity, the comparison group performed better than patients with more expressive targets. Though there were also group differences on the empathy questionnaires, EAT performance did not correlate with questionnaire scores. Conclusions: Individuals with schizophrenia benefit less from the emotional expressivity of other people than the comparison group, which contributes to their impaired empathic accuracy. The lack of correlation between the EAT and the questionnaires suggests a distinction between self-report empathy and actual empathy performance. To explore empathic difficulties in real life, it is important to use instruments that take the interpersonal perspective into account. (C) 2019 Published by Elsevier B.V

Social Cognition in Individuals at Ultra-High Risk for Psychosis:A Meta-Analysis

Treatment in the ultra-high risk stage for a psychotic episode is critical to the course of symptoms. Markers for the development of psychosis have been studied, to optimize the detection of people at risk of psychosis. One possible marker for the transition to psychosis is social cognition. To estimate effect sizes for social cognition based on a quantitative integration of the published evidence, we conducted a meta-analysis of social cognitive performance in people at ultra high risk (UHR).A literature search (1970-July 2015) was performed in PubMed, PsychINFO, Medline, Embase, and ISI Web of Science, using the search terms 'social cognition', 'theory of mind', 'emotion recognition', 'attributional style', 'social knowledge', 'social perception', 'empathy', 'at risk mental state', 'clinical high risk', 'psychosis prodrome', and 'ultra high risk'. The pooled effect size (Cohen's D) and the effect sizes for each domain of social cognition were calculated. A random effects model with 95% confidence intervals was used.Seventeen studies were included in the analysis. The overall significant effect was of medium magnitude (d = 0.52, 95% Cl = 0.38-0.65). No moderator effects were found for age, gender and sample size. Sub-analyses demonstrated that individuals in the UHR phase show significant moderate deficits in affect recognition and affect discrimination in faces as well as in voices and in verbal Theory of Mind (TOM). Due to an insufficient amount of studies, we did not calculate an effect size for attributional bias and social perception/ knowledge. A majority of studies did not find a correlation between social cognition deficits and transition to psychosis, which may suggest that social cognition in general is not a useful marker for the development of psychosis. However some studies suggest the possible predictive value of verbal TOM and the recognition of specific emotions in faces for the transition into psychosis. More research is needed on these subjects.The published literature indicates consistent general impairments in social cognition in people in the UHR phase, but only very specific impairments seem to predict transition to psychosis

Dynamic Interactive Social Cognition Training in Virtual Reality (DiSCoVR) for adults with Autism Spectrum Disorder:A feasibility study

Background: Social cognitive difficulties in Autism Spectrum Disorder (ASD) can affect the daily lives of people with ASD profoundly, impacting the development and maintenance of meaningful social relations. Social cognition training (SCT) is commonly used for improving social functioning, but lacks ecological validity and the ability to effectively mimic social situations. Development of virtual reality (VR) interventions, focusing on enhancing social cognition, could add to the effectiveness of SCT within ASD care, by offering a safe, interactive and practical training setting, where generalization of knowledge and skills to the real-world are promoted. In this paper, our primary aim is to evaluate the feasibility and acceptance by participants and therapists of the Dynamic Interactive Social Cognition Method: Training in Virtual Reality (DiSCoVR) protocol as developed for adults with schizophrenic spectrum disorder (SSD), adapted for ASD (DiSCoVR-A). 26 participants, aged 18-63, took part in a pilot study. 22 participants completed baseline and post-assessment, including primary outcome evaluation assessment through a semi-structured interview. Secondary measures focused on social cognition, emotion recognition, mental flexibility, social anxiety, empathy and social responsiveness and were assessed at baseline (T0), post-treatment (T1), and at follow-up (T2) sixteen weeks after completion of the intervention. Results: Our results show that the majority of participant and therapists found the VR intervention acceptable and feasible, as reported in evaluation questionnaires and interviews. Conclusion: These preliminary findings are promising; however, controlled research is needed to further investigate the effectiveness of VR within social cognition training for adults with ASD