Disorder-Specific Profiles of Self-Perceived Emotional Abilities in Schizophrenia and Major Depressive Disorder

Deficits in social cognition are a core feature of neuropsychiatric disorders. The purpose of this study was to compare profiles of self-perceived abilities across the core domains of emotional functioning between patients with schizophrenia (n = 22), major depressive disorder (n = 31) and healthy participants (n = 43) with the Self-report Emotional Ability Scale (SEAS). Profile analyses were used to explore group differences in the overall level of self-perceived effectiveness of emotional functioning and in the patterns in which the four functions of emotion perception and regulation in the intra- and inter-personal domains are arranged to each other. Both patient groups showed significantly lower overall levels of self-perceived emotional functioning compared to healthy controls. Most importantly, we found significant differences between patient groups in their profile patterns. Patients with schizophrenia indicated experiencing difficulties in all investigated domains, but the profile pattern largely matched that of healthy individuals. Instead, the profile of patients with depression was much more accentuated, showing lower perceived effectiveness of emotion perception and regulation in the intra-personal domain compared to inter-personal functions. Our results of disorder-specific emotional deficits may have profound implications for early screening and identification of at-risk populations as well as recovery-oriented interventions

Subtypes in clinical burnout patients enrolled in an employee rehabilitation program: differences in burnout profiles, depression, and recovery/resources-stress balance

Abstract Background Burnout is generally perceived a unified disorder with homogeneous symptomatology across people (exhaustion, cynicism, and reduced professional efficacy). However, increasing evidence points to intra-individual patterns of burnout symptoms in non-clinical samples such as students, athletes, healthy, and burned-out employees. Different burnout subtypes might therefore exist. Yet, burnout subtypes based on burnout profiles have hardly been explored in clinical patients, and the samples investigated in previous studies were rather heterogeneous including patients with various physical, psychological, and social limitations, symptoms, and disabilities. Therefore, the aim of this study is to explore burnout subtypes based on burnout profiles in clinically diagnosed burnout patients enrolled in an employee rehabilitation program, and to investigate whether the subtypes differ in depression, recovery/resources-stress balance, and sociodemographic characteristics. Methods One hundred three patients (66 women, 37 men) with a clinical burnout diagnosis, who were enrolled in a 5 week employee rehabilitation program in two specialized psychosomatic clinics in Austria, completed a series of questionnaires including the Maslach Burnout Inventory – General Survey (MBI-GS), the Beck Depression Inventory, and the Recovery-Stress-Questionnaire for Work. Cluster analyses with the three MBI-GS subscales as clustering variables were used to identify the burnout subtypes. Subsequent multivariate/univariate analysis of variance and Pearson chi-square tests were performed to investigate differences in depression, recovery/resources-stress balance, and sociodemographic characteristics. Results Three different burnout subtypes were discovered: the exhausted subtype, the exhausted/cynical subtype, and the burned-out subtype. The burned-out subtype and the exhausted/cynical subtype showed both more severe depression symptoms and a worse recovery/resources-stress balance than the exhausted subtype. Furthermore, the burned-out subtype was more depressed than the exhausted/cynical subtype, but no difference was observed between these two subtypes with regard to perceived stress, recovery, and resources. Sociodemographic characteristics were not associated with the subtypes. Conclusions The present study indicates that there are different subtypes in clinical burnout patients (exhausted, exhausted/cynical, and burned-out), which might represent patients at different developmental stages in the burnout cycle. Future studies need to replicate the current findings, investigate the stability of the symptom patterns, and examine the efficacy of rehabilitation interventions in different subtypes

Assessment of fractal characteristics of locomotor activitiy of geriatric in-patients with Alzheimers dementia

Introduction: Many physiological signals yield fractal characteristics, i.e., finer details at higher magnifications resemble details of the whole. Evidence has been accumulating that such fractal scaling is basically a consequence of interaction-dominant feedback mechanisms that cooperatively generate those signals. Neurodegenerative diseases provide a natural framework to evaluate this paradigm when this cooperative function declines. However, methodological issues need to be cautiously taken into account in order to be able to provide reliable as well as valid interpretations of such signal analyses. Methods: Two conceptually different fractal analyses, i.e., detrended fluctuation analysis (DFA) and analysis of cumulative distributions of durations (CDDs), are applied to actigraphy data of 36 geriatric in-patients diagnosed with dementia. The impact of the used time resolution for data acquisition on the assessed fractal outcome parameters is particularly investigated. Moreover, associations between these parameters and scores from the Mini-Mental-State-Examination and circadian activity parameters are explored. Results: Both analyses yield significant deviations from (mono-)fractal scaling over the entire considered time range. DFA provides robust measures for the observed break-down of fractal scaling. In contrast, analysis of CDDs results in measures which highly fluctuate with respect to the time resolution of the assessed data which affects also further derived quantities such as scaling exponents or associations with other (clinically relevant) assessed parameters. Discussion: To scrutinize actigraphic signal characteristics and especially their (deviations from) fractal scaling may be a useful tool for aiding diagnosis, characterization, and monitoring of dementia. However, results may, besides contextual aspects, also substantially depend on specific methodological choices. In order to arrive at both reliable and valid interpretations, these complications need to be carefully elaborated in future research.(VLID)4590784Version of recor

Effects of Personalized Lighting on Subjective Ratings, Cognitive Performance, and Physiological Stress Response in a Simulated Office Environment

LEDs simplify the personalization of lighting. However, research on the effects of personalizable lighting is in its infancy. The present study investigates the impact of personalizable workplace lighting on subjective parameters, cognition, and physiological stress while performing cognitive tests. In a cross-over design, 22 participants were randomly assigned to standard workplace lighting and lighting with adjustable illuminance and color temperature for two hours on two separate days. Subjective outcome measures were sleepiness, affect, and asthenopic complaints. We further assessed vigilance and three cognitive domains (task switching, working memory, and information processing) and derived heart rate variability parameters from an electrocardiogram. Some beneficial effects of personalizable lighting on cognitive performance were observed, although the overall results remain inconclusive. Standard and personalizable lighting did not differ in subjective ratings and physiological stress responses. Exploratory analysis of personalizable lighting revealed significant variation in self-selected workplace illuminances and limited variation in self-selected correlated color temperatures. Despite the preference for increased workplace illuminance under personalizable lighting, no visual impairment was observed compared to standard lighting. Personalizable workplace lighting is a promising new design feature to support individual visual and nonvisual lighting needs in daylight-deprived environments.</p