Psychological interventions for interoception in mental health disorders: A systematic review of randomized-controlled trials

Disturbed interoception (i.e., the sensing, awareness, and regulation of internal body signals) has been found across several mental disorders, leading to the development of interoception-based interventions (IBIs). Searching PubMed and PsycINFO, we conducted the first systematic review of randomised-controlled trials (RCTs) investigating the efficacy of behavioural IBIs at improving interoception and target symptoms of mental disorders in comparison to a non-interoception-based control condition [CRD42021297993]. Thirty-one RCTs fulfilled inclusion criteria. Across all studies, a pattern emerged with 20 (64.5%) RCTs demonstrating IBIs to be more efficacious at improving interoception compared to control conditions. The most promising results were found for post-traumatic stress disorder, irritable bowel syndrome, fibromyalgia and substance use disorders. Regarding symptom improvement, the evidence was inconclusive. The IBIs were heterogenous in their approach to improving interoception. The quality of RCTs was moderate to good. In conclusion, IBIs are potentially efficacious at improving interoception for some mental disorders. In terms of symptom reduction, the evidence is less promising. Future research on the efficacy of IBIs is needed. This article is protected by copyright. All rights reserved

Molecular mechanisms of cell death: recommendations of the Nomenclature Committee on Cell Death 2018.

Over the past decade, the Nomenclature Committee on Cell Death (NCCD) has formulated guidelines for the definition and interpretation of cell death from morphological, biochemical, and functional perspectives. Since the field continues to expand and novel mechanisms that orchestrate multiple cell death pathways are unveiled, we propose an updated classification of cell death subroutines focusing on mechanistic and essential (as opposed to correlative and dispensable) aspects of the process. As we provide molecularly oriented definitions of terms including intrinsic apoptosis, extrinsic apoptosis, mitochondrial permeability transition (MPT)-driven necrosis, necroptosis, ferroptosis, pyroptosis, parthanatos, entotic cell death, NETotic cell death, lysosome-dependent cell death, autophagy-dependent cell death, immunogenic cell death, cellular senescence, and mitotic catastrophe, we discuss the utility of neologisms that refer to highly specialized instances of these processes. The mission of the NCCD is to provide a widely accepted nomenclature on cell death in support of the continued development of the field

Impaired holistic processing in congenital prosopagnosia

It has long been argued that face processing requires disproportionate reliance on holistic or configural processing, relative to that required for non-face object recognition, and that a disruption of such holistic processing may be causally implicated in prosopagnosia. Previously, we demonstrated that individuals with congenital prosopagnosia (CP) did not show the normal face inversion effect (better performance for upright compared to inverted faces) and evinced a local (rather than the normal global) bias in a compound letter global/local (GL) task, supporting the claim of disrupted holistic processing in prosopagnosia. Here, we investigate further the nature of holistic processing impairments in CP, first by confirming, in a large sample of CP individuals, the absence of the normal face inversion effect and the presence of the local bias on the GL task, and, second, by employing the composite face paradigm, often regarded as the gold standard for measuring holistic face processing. In this last task, we show that, in contrast with controls, the CP group perform equivalently with aligned and misaligned faces and was impervious to (the normal) interference from the task-irrelevant bottom part of faces. Interestingly, the extent of the local bias evident in the composite task is correlated with the abnormality of performance on diagnostic face processing tasks. Furthermore, there is a significant correlation between the magnitude of the local bias in the GL and performance on the composite task. These results provide further evidence for impaired holistic processing in CP and, moreover, corroborate the critical role of this type of processing for intact face recognition.</p

Self-blame mediates the link between childhood neglect experiences and internalizing symptoms in low-risk adolescents

Childhood neglect is the most common type of maltreatment, ranging from minor isolated incidents to consistent failures in emotional/physical caregiving. It has been associated with developmental impairments and considered a risk factor for the emergence of psychopathology, particularly internalizing disorders. This study aimed to explore individual differences in re- sponse to the continuum of severity of neglect in community adolescents, as well as the role of specific cognitive emotion regulation strategies (CERSs) as mediators between childhood neglect and current internalizing symptoms. Low-risk adolescents (12–19 years old; M age 15.88 years; N = 123; 64 Females) completed questionnaires assessing these experiences. We employed a regression model and a simple mediation analyses. Findings indicate a positive association between childhood neglect, internalizing behaviors, and the adoption of self-blame as CERS. Moreover, the use of self-blame in response to everyday stress partially mediated the relationship between neglect and internalizing behaviors (effect size: .28). Findings support the hypothesis that even in a low risk sample, neglect is associated with internalizing symptoms, and highlight the importance of assessing individual differences in the experience of neglect. Moreover, the mediation effect of the CERSs of self-blame might serve as a potential target for psychotherapeutic interventions aimed at reducing internalizing symptoms

Self-monitoring for speech and its links to age, cognitive effort, schizotypal trait expression and impulsivity during adolescence

Introduction: Disruptions in self-monitoring processes represent key cognitive factors associated with schizophrenia spectrum disorders. In the current study, we assessed the effects of age and cognitive effort on self-monitoring for speech in adolescence, as well as its associations with personality dimensions pertaining to schizotypy and impulsivity.Methods: 121 community adolescents undertook a self-monitoring task that assesses the capacity to discriminate between self-generated overt and silent speech, for items requiring different levels of cognitive effort. Self-report measures were used to assess trait dimensions of schizotypy and impulsivity.Results: Cognitive effort, but not age, contributed to the overall rate of self-monitoring errors. Contrary to clinical psychosis and high risk samples, increased cognitive effort in healthy adolescents led to more internalising than externalising self-monitoring errors. Higher scores on the interpersonal dimension of schizotypy were associated with increases in the total rate of self-monitoring errors. No associations were found between positive schizotypy and externalising self-monitoring misattributions. Finally, trait impulsivity dimensions were not associated with self-monitoring performance.Conclusions: The present findings suggest that self-monitoring confusions may be linked to trait-risk for psychosis in adolescence. Future studies can prospectively assess whether the association between negative schizotypal traits and self-monitoring represents a distal marker of psychosis vulnerability

Selective Dissociation Between Core and Extended Regions of the Face Processing Network in Congenital Prosopagnosia

International audienc

Associations between schizotypal personality features, mentalizing difficulties and thought problems in a sample of community adolescents

Schizotypal trait expression and mentalizing impairments represent key factors associated with increased vulnerability for schizophrenia. In the current study, we analysed the nature of associations linking specific schizotypal personality features to mentalizing difficulties during adolescence. Furthermore, we examined the extent to which mentalizing difficulties mediate the relationship between schizotypal trait features and self-reported thought problems

Altered Topology of Neural Circuits in Congenital Prosopagnosia

Using a novel, fMRI-based inter-subject functional correlation (ISFC) approach, which isolates stimulus-locked inter-regional correlation patterns, we compared the cortical topology of the neural circuit for face processing in participants with an impairment in face recognition, congenital prosopagnosia (CP), and matched controls. Whereas the anterior temporal lobe served as the major network hub for face processing in controls, this was not the case for the CPs. Instead, this group evinced hyper-connectivity in posterior regions of the visual cortex, mostly associated with the lateral occipital and the inferior temporal cortices. Moreover, the extent of this hyper-connectivity was correlated with the face recognition deficit. These results offer new insights into the perturbed cortical topology in CP, which may serve as the underlying neural basis of the behavioral deficits typical of this disorder. The approach adopted here has the potential to uncover altered topologies in other neurodevelopmental disorders, as well