A brief intervention is sufficient for many adolescents seeking help from low threshold adolescent psychiatric services

Peer reviewe

Stability of alexithymia is low from adolescence to young adulthood, and the consistency of alexithymia is associated with symptoms of depression and dissociation

Background: The aims of this study were to investigate the stability of alexithymia from adolescence to young adulthood, as well as the association between alexithymia, peer relationships, and symptoms of depression and dissociation. Methods: The participants (n = 755, aged 13–18 years) were assessed with self-rated questionnaires and the 20-item Toronto Alexithymia Scale (TAS-20) at baseline in 2005 and on follow-up in 2011. Results: The changes in the TAS-20 total score (t = −12.26) and the scores for its subscales, difficulty identifying feelings (DIF) (t = −4.04), difficulty describing feelings (DDF) (t = −5.10), and externally oriented thinking (EOT) (t = −18.23), were statistically significant (p < 0.001). Effect sizes (Cohen's d) for the change indicating absolute stability were small for DIF (−0.15) and DDF (−0.19), medium for TAS-20 total (−0.45), and large for EOT (−0.66) scores. Moderate correlations in test–retests with Spearman's ρ (TAS-20 total 0.46, DIF 0.41, DDF 0.39, EOT 0.43) indicated relative stability, whereas low intraclass correlation coefficients (ICCs) (respectively 0.41, 0.39, 0.37, 0.37) indicated poor reliability of test–retests. In regression analyses, poor relationships with peers, loneliness, and symptoms of depression and dissociation at baseline associated with alexithymia at baseline and on follow-up. Unlike EOT, increases in the TAS-20 total, DIF, and DDF scores during the 6-year follow-up associated with baseline symptoms of depression and dissociation. Conclusions: Alexithymia in adolescence is not always a reliable predictor of alexithymia in young adulthood. Mental health symptoms appear to affect the consistency of alexithymia during adolescent development.publishedVersionPeer reviewe

Externally oriented thinking style increases primary health care use in adolescence

Background: Alexithymia has been related to adult health care use. We investigated the association between alexithymia and the utilization of primary health care services by adolescents and young adults. Methods: The participants (n = 751, aged 13-18 years) in this 5-year follow-up study were assessed with the 20-item Toronto Alexithymia Scale (TAS-20) and its three subscales, difficulty identifying feelings (DIF), difficulty describing feelings (DDF) and externally oriented thinking (EOT), and the 21-item Beck Depression Inventory (BDI). Primary health care data were gathered from health care centre registers in 2005-10. Generalized linear models and mediation analyses were used. Results: An increase in the TAS-20 total score correlated with a higher number of primary health care and emergency care visits, but in multivariate general linear models, TAS-20 total scores were no longer significant. Younger age, female gender and an increase in the baseline EOT score are associated with a higher number of both primary health care and emergency room visits. In females, a smaller change in the EOT score from baseline to follow-up was associated with a higher number of primary health care visits. In mediation analyses, EOT had a direct effect on a higher number of primary health care and emergency room visits, whereas the BDI score mediated the incremental effect of DIF and DDF on visit numbers. Conclusions: The results suggest that an EOT style independently increases health care use by adolescents, whereas the effects of difficulties identifying and describing feelings on health care use are mediated by symptoms of depression.publishedVersionPeer reviewe

Changes in the serum metabolite profile correlate with decreased brain gray matter volume in moderate-to-heavy drinking young adults

Our aim was to analyze metabolite profile changes in serum associated with moderate-to-heavy consumption of alcohol in young adults and to evaluate whether these changes are connected to reduced brain gray matter volumes. These study population consisted of young adults with a 10-year history of moderate-to-heavy alcohol consumption (n = 35) and light-drinking controls (n = 27). We used the targeted liquid chromatography mass spectrometry method to measure concentrations of metabolites in serum, and 3.0 T magnetic resonance imaging to assess brain gray matter volumes. Alterations in amino acid and energy metabolism were observed in the moderate-to-heavy drinking young adults when compared to the controls. After correction for multiple testing, the group of moderate-to-heavy drinking young adults had increased serum concentrations of 1-methylhistamine (p = 0.001, d = 0.82) when compared to the controls. Furthermore, concentrations of 1-methylhistamine (r = 0.48, p = 0.004) and creatine (r = 0.52, p = 0.001) were negatively correlated with the brain gray matter volumes in the females. Overall, our results show association between moderate-to-heavy use of alcohol and altered metabolite profile in young adults as well as suggesting that some of these changes could be associated with the reduced brain gray matter volume. (C) 2018 Elsevier Inc. All rights reserved.Peer reviewe

Kuinka sijoitettujen nuorten mielenterveyttä voi tukea?

Nuorisopsykiatrinen hoito Suomessa on ruuhkautunut.Sijoitetut nuoret kärsivät mielenterveyden häiriöistä useammin kuin muut ikäisensä.Psykososiaaliset interventiot sijaishuoltopaikoissa saattavat olla mielekäs tapa hoitaa monia nuorten ongelmia.Kokosimme meta-analyysitasoista tietoa sekä interventioista että sijaishuoltopaikan valinnan vaikutuksesta nuorten mielenterveyteen.</p

Skitsofrenian erotusdiagnostiikka eri ikäryhmissä

Teema : skitsofrenia. English summar

Itsemurhien ehkäisy ja itsemurhaa yrittäneen hoito

KÄYPÄ HOITO -SUOSITUS (Tiivistelmä