Neural changes following a body-oriented resilience therapy with elements of kickboxing for individuals with a psychotic disorder:a randomized controlled trial

Individuals with a psychotic disorder are at an increased risk of becoming the victim of a crime. A body-oriented resilience therapy (BEATVIC) aimed at preventing victimization by addressing putatively underlying factors was developed. One of these factors is social cognition, particularly facial affect processing. The current study investigated neural effects of BEATVIC on facial affect processing using two face processing tasks. Participants were randomized to either BEATVIC or a 'Befriending' control group. Twenty-seven patients completed an Emotional Faces task and the Wall of Faces task during fMRI, pre- and post-intervention. General linear model analyses yielded no differences between groups over time. Independent component analyses revealed increased activation of the salience network to angry and fearful faces in BEATVIC compared to Befriending. Increased activation of the salience network may suggest an increased alertness for potentially dangerous faces

BEATVIC, a body-oriented resilience training with elements of kickboxing for individuals with a psychotic disorder:study protocol of a multi-center RCT

Background: Individuals with a psychotic disorder are at an increased risk of becoming victim of a crime or other forms of aggression. Research has revealed several possible risk factors (e.g. impaired social cognition, aggression regulation problems, assertiveness, self-stigma, self-esteem) for victimization in patients with a psychotic disorder. To address these risk factors and prevent victimization, we developed a body-oriented resilience training with elements of kickboxing: BEATVIC. The present study aims to evaluate the effectiveness of the intervention. Methods/Design: Seven mental health institutions in the Netherlands will participate in this study. Participants will be randomly assigned to either the BEATVIC training or the control condition: social activation. Follow-ups are at 6, 18 and 30 months. Short term effects on risk factors for victimization will be examined, since these are direct targets of the intervention and are thought to be mediators of victimization, the primary outcome of the intervention. The effect on victimization will be investigated at follow-up. In a subgroup of patients, fMRI scans will be made before and after the intervention period in order to assess potential neural changes associated with the effects of the training. Discussion: This study is the first to examine the effectiveness of an intervention targeted at victimization in psychosis. Methodological issues of the study are addressed in the discussion of this paper

"Please tell me what happened":A descriptive study on prevalence, disclosure and characteristics of victimization in people with a psychotic disorder

IntroductionAlthough people with a psychotic disorder are approximately four to six times more often victimized than the general population, victimization is not routinely assessed in mental healthcare. This study investigates prevalence, context and risk factors of victimization in patients with a psychotic disorder in the Northern, relatively rural region of the Netherlands. Moreover, disclosure rates and awareness of psychiatrists are examined.MethodInformation on personal crime (threats, assaults and sexual violence), property and other forms of crime, the context of victimization and disclosure was routinely assessed in 353 patients with a psychotic disorder who received care at a mental health facility. In addition, involved psychiatrists reported on last year's victimization incidents in their patients.ResultsOne third of the patients reported victimization in the previous year. More than half of the crimes were committed by someone acquainted and took place in the victim's own home or a place familiar to the victim. Younger age, having a comorbid disorder, drug use and perpetration of a crime were all positively associated with victimization. Approximately half of the reported personal crimes were disclosed to a health care professional but only in 16% of the cases the involved psychiatrist report to know about the incident.ConclusionThis study confirms that people with a history of psychosis have an increased risk of becoming the victim of a crime. Although our results suggest that in fifty percent of cases the patients did share the information with professionals, a substantial proportion of incidents appear to go still unnoticed

BEATVIC, a body-oriented resilience therapy using kickboxing exercises for people with a psychotic disorder:a feasibility study

BACKGROUND: People with a psychotic disorder have an increased risk of becoming the victim of a crime. To prevent victimization a body-oriented resilience therapy using kickboxing exercises was developed. This study aims to explore the feasibility of the therapy, to improve the therapy protocol and to explore suitable outcomes for a RCT. METHODS: Twenty-four adults with a psychotic disorder received 20 weekly group sessions in which potential risk factors for victimization and strategies for dealing with them were addressed. Sessions were evaluated weekly. During pre and post assessment participants completed questionnaires on, among other, victimization, aggression regulation and social functioning. RESULTS: The short recruitment period indicates the interest in such an intervention and the willingness of clients to participate. Mean attendance was 85.3 and 88% of the participants completed fifteen or more sessions. The therapy protocol was assessed as adequate and exercises as relevant with some small improvements to be made. The victimization and aggression regulation questionnaires were found to be suitable outcome measurements for a subsequent RCT. CONCLUSION: The results support the feasibility of the BEATVIC therapy. Participants subjectively evaluated the intervention as helpful in their attempt to gain more self-esteem and assertiveness. With some minor changes in the protocol the effects of BEATVIC can be tested in a RCT. TRIAL REGISTRATION: The trial registration number (TRN) is 35949 (date submitted 09/11/2018). Retrospectively registered

Neural correlates of victimization in psychosis:differences in brain response to angry faces

Individuals with psychosis are at an increased risk of victimization. Processing of facial expressions has been suggested to be associated with victimization in this patient group. Especially processing of angry expressions may be relevant in the context of victimization. Therefore, differences in brain activation and connectivity between victimized and nonvictimized patients during processing of angry faces were investigated. Thirty-nine patients, of whom nineteen had experienced threats, assaults, or sexual violence in the past 5 years, underwent fMRI scanning, during which they viewed angry and neutral facial expressions. Using general linear model (GLM) analyses, generalized psychophysiological (gPPI) analysis and independent component analyses (ICA) differences in brain activation and connectivity between groups in response to angry faces were investigated. Whereas differences in regional brain activation GLM and gPPI analyses yielded no differences between groups, ICA revealed more deactivation of the sensorimotor network in victimized participants. Deactivation of the sensorimotor network in response to angry faces in victimized patients, might indicate a freeze reaction to threatening stimuli, previously observed in traumatized individuals

Beat Victimization! A body-oriented resilience training with elements of kickboxing for individuals with a psychotic disorder: Results of a feasibility study

Oral presentation on the results of a feasibility study which aimed to investigate the feasibility of a novel body-oriented resilience training with elements of kickboxing targeted at (risk factors of) victimization of individuals with a psychotic disorde

BEATVIC, a body-oriented resilience therapy for individuals with psychosis: Short term results of a multi-center RCT.

BackgroundIndividuals with a psychotic disorder are at an increased risk of victimization, but evidenced-based interventions are lacking.AimsA body-oriented resilience therapy ('BEATVIC') aimed at preventing victimization was developed and its effectiveness was assessed in a multicenter randomized controlled trial.Methods105 people with a psychotic disorder were recruited from six mental health centers. Participants were randomly allocated to 20 BEATVIC group sessions (n = 53) or befriending group sessions (n = 52). Short term effects on risk factors for victimization (e.g. social cognitive deficits, inadequate interpersonal behavior, low self-esteem, internalized stigma, aggression regulation problems), physical fitness and secondary outcomes were expected. At six-month follow-up, the effect on victimization (either a 50% reduction or an absence of victimization incidents) was examined.ResultsIntervention-dropout was 28.30% for BEATVIC and 39.62% for befriending. In both conditions the majority of participants (60.5% BEATVIC vs 62.9% befriending) showed a reduction or absence of victimization incidents at six months follow-up, which was not significantly different according to condition. Multilevel analyses revealed no main effect of time and no significant time x group interaction on other outcome measures. Per protocol analyses (participants attending ≥ 75% of the sessions) did not change these results.ConclusionsAlthough a reduction or absence of victimization was found at short term follow-up for the majority of participants, BEATVIC was not more effective than the active control condition. No short-term additional effects on risk factors of victimization were found. Analysis of the data at 2-year follow-up is warranted to investigate possible effects in the long-term.Trial registration numberCurrent Controlled Trials: ISRCTN21423535