Diagnostic assessment and clinical characteristics of patients suffering from Somatic Symptom and Related Disorders

Het onderzoek heeft plaatsgevonden bij het Topklinisch Centrum voor Lichaam, Geest en Gezondheid en was ingebed in de academische werkplaats Geestdrift, Tranzo, Tilburg University. Er is onderzoek gedaan naar de diagnostische kwaliteit van twee vragenlijsten (PHQ-15 en 4DKL) die gebruikt kunnen worden om somatoforme stoornissen vast te stellen. Daarnaast zijn andere kenmerken (alexithymie; het onvermogen om emoties te uiten, Type D persoonlijkheid en neurocognitief functioneren) van patiënten met somatische-symptoomstoornis (SSS) onderzocht, en hun invloed op de behandeling. De PHQ-15 en de 4DKL blijken ongeveer even goed bruikbaar als screener, maar enkel het gebruik van vragenlijsten is onvoldoende voor het stellen van de diagnose of om een duidelijk beeld te krijgen van de patiënt. Op het gebied van neurocognitief functioneren laten patiënten met SSS op meerdere domeinen (forse) stoornissen zien, die erger worden wanneer er ook sprake is van een comorbide depressie, hetgeen vaak het geval is. Alexithymie blijkt vaak voor te komen bij SSS maar blijkt niet van klinisch relevante invloed op de behandeluitkomsten. Type D persoonlijkheid blijkt wel gerelateerd aan een slechtere behandeluitkomst. Met name hoge niveaus van negatieve affectiviteit zijn geassocieerd met negatieve behandeluitkomst. Zowel neurocognitief functioneren als Type D persoonlijkheid zijn dus belangrijke klinische aspecten van patiënten met SSS om bij de diagnostiek en tijdens behandeling rekening mee te houden. Locatie: Cobbenhagengebouw, Aula (ingang via Koopmansgebouw) Wanneer: 18 april 2018 16.0

Post-pandemic self-reported mental health of mental healthcare professionals in the Netherlands compared to during the pandemic:An online longitudinal follow-up study

The mental health of professionals was under pressure during- and post-pandemic. Initially, the focus was mainly on the health workers in the hospitals, but over time the pressure shifted to other sectors, including mental health care. An increase in workload and decrease in mental health of healthcare professionals in mental health care can lead to a decrease in the available care capacity. In an earlier online survey of mental health professionals, 1,300 professionals from a large number of mental healthcare institutions were involved. In this study, conducted in September 2021, about half of the respondents reported increased levels of stress. Feelings of anxiety, anger, and sadness were also increasingly experienced due to the COVID-19 pandemic. Furthermore, 4.2% replied that they were considering resigning their jobs. One of the recommendations of this previous study was to monitor these professionals repeatedly to be able to make an estimate of the stress and vision of work during the course of the pandemic and afterwards. Following this recommendation, the online survey was repeated. The aim of the current online longitudinal follow-up study was to re-evaluated mental status of healthcare workers. 510 healthcare workers participated in this follow-up survey. The reported mental health complaints were significantly higher during compared to post-pandemic. Respondents were less able to maintain work/life balance during the pandemic and even reported a shift to work. However, the majority of respondents indicated that they had restored this balance post-pandemic. Moreover, more sick leave was reported post-pandemic than during the pandemic and more frequent absences post-pandemic. This highlights the importance of focusing on resilience over training and career

Substantial impact of COVID-19 on self-reported mental health of healthcare professionals in the Netherlands

Initially, the COVID-19 pandemic caused a continued pressure on professionals working in hospitals due to the increase of affected patients. At the moment, the pandemic continues but thanks to all kinds of measures (e.g., social distancing) workload seems to decrease at the hospitals. On the contrary, patients with long-lasting symptoms due to COVID-19 infection or the pandemic begin to merge at the mental healthcare institutions in the Netherlands but this also holds true for other countries. Furthermore, healthcare professionals are affected by safety measures such as working from home, which led to an increased feeling of stress and may have led to a misbalance in work and private life. As a result, the question whether healthcare employees in mental healthcare experience impaired mental health remains unclear and chances are fair that mental health problems such as exhaustion and burnout may be prevalent. This study describes an online survey in which mental health amongst mental healthcare professionals is investigated. About 1,300 professionals from a large number of mental healthcare institutions replied the survey. Around 50% of the respondents experienced increased levels of stress. Feelings of anxiety, anger, and sadness were also increasingly experienced due to the COVID-19 pandemic. Furthermore, 4.2% replied that they were considering resigning their jobs which is alarming considering the shortage of healthcare professionals in mental healthcare institutions. The results support the importance of treatment or support of professionals in mental healthcare that experience psychological ailments

Mental support for health care professionals essential during the COVID-19 pandemic:Updates

The coronavirus disease 2019 (COVID-19) pandemic continues and concerns regarding its consequences rise. This concern is addressed by other professionals (e.g. the use of a multidisciplinary approach1 or the possible increase in suicidal behaviour).2 However, the continuing huge pressure on mental health care professionals warrants the supporting of their mental health but regretfully, this topic received little attention

Results of mental support for health care professionals and mental care during the COVID-19 pandemic

The coronavirus disease 2019 (COVID-19) resulted into a global pandemic and continues to thrive until vaccines have been successfully developed and distributed around the world. The outcomes of COVID-19 contaminations range from death to minor health-related complaints. Furthermore, and not less significant, the increasing pressure on local as well as global health care is rising. In The Netherlands but also in other countries, further intensified regulations are introduced in order to contain the second wave of COVID-19, primarily to limit the number contaminations but also to prevent the health care professionals for giving in to the rising pressure on them. The results of the campaign for health care professionals in The Netherlands show that health care professionals are increasingly searching for information regarding psychological symptoms such as feeling of uncertainty, pondering and advice regarding the support of care teams. In this short update, we provide the results of the previous campaign and stress the importance of support after COVID-19 based on these results

Personality factors and cognitive functioning in patients with somatic symptom and related disorders

Objective Somatic symptom and related disorders (SSRD) are often complicated by cognitive symptoms, including reduced information processing speed, memory, and planning. Depression has been related to poor cognitive functioning in SSRD, but the role of underlying personality factors is poorly understood. This study investigates the association between personality factors (neuroticism, extraversion, openness, agreeableness, and conscientiousness) with cognitive functioning in patients with SSRD. Methods Data from 366 patients with SSRD from a tertiary care expert center (mean age = 42.1 years (SD = 13.4), 59.6% women) were analyzed using a cross-sectional design. Neuropsychological assessments included measures of information processing speed, memory, attention, and executive function. Personality factors were assessed using the NEO-FFI and depressive symptoms using the PHQ-9. Results Regression analyses showed associations between neuroticism with poorer performance on visual memory (B = −0.09, SE = 0.04, β = −0.14, p = .019), and planning (B = −0.09. SE = 0.02, β = −0.23, p < .001). Extraversion was also inversely associated with visual memory (B = −0.13, SE = 0.05, β = −0.18, p = .011) and planning (B = −0.07, SE = 0.03, β = −0.17, p = .021) and openness was associated with better visual memory (B = 0.17, SE = 0.05, β = 0.19, p = .002). These associations were attenuated but remained significant after adjusting for depressive symptoms. Conclusion Neuroticism, extraversion, and low openness were associated with lower cognitive functioning (particularly planning and visual memory) in patients with SSRD, which remained significant after taking depressive symptoms into account

The moderating effect of the COVID-19 pandemic on the mental wellbeing of health care workers on sustainable employability:A scoping review

Sustainable employability (SE) amongst healthcare workers (HCW) is an important asset for healthcare institutions. However, SE is under strain due to high work pressure, a shortage of employees, and absenteeism amongst employees based on mental problems. These developments had already started before the COVID-19 pandemic. The aim of this review is to explore whether there is a moderating effect of the COVID-19 pandemic on the mental wellbeing of HCW in the context of SE. A double blinded systematic review was conducted for this article in accordance with preferred reporting items for Systematic Reviews and Meta-Analyses (PRISMA) guidelines. Eligible studies were subjected to quality evaluation and narrative synthesis. The analysis of the selected literature led to the understanding that mental problems amongst HCW were already abundantly present before the COVID-19 pandemic. Mental health problems have increased in prevalence, severity, and variation. In general, a negative relation between (mental) health and SE exists. Our findings show that mental health problems have heavily impacted the SE of HCW: absenteeism has increased and perspective on work has changed. It is time to prioritize the mental health of HCW to prevent acute care capacity from declining even further and ending up in a vicious circle

De maatschappij komt de spreekkamer binnen:Aandacht voor complotdenken en anti-overheidssentimenten in de GGZ

Corona heeft geleid tot een toename aan diverse psychische klachten onder de bevolking, de werkdruk onder hulpverleners is gestegen. De gevolgen zullen in de ggz waarschijnlijk nog lang voelbaar zijn, betogen Arno van Dam en collega’s. ‘Door de polarisatie in de samenleving van de afgelopen jaren is de buitenwereld veel nadrukkelijk de behandelkamer binnengekomen.

De vaart er weer in:Een ver'helder'ende visie uit het ggz-werkveld

Lange wachtlijsten in de ggz, het is inmiddels bij de meesten wel bekend. Minister Helder gaf begin augustus antwoord op de vragen over de (specialistische) ggz. De illusie wordt gewekt dat het vertrek van hoogopgeleid personeel (GZ-psychologen en Klinisch psychologen) uit de specialistische ggz (sggz) de verklaring is voor de problemen binnen de ggz. Het zou voornamelijk een financiële reden zijn, aangezien personeel vertrekt om als zzp-er te gaan werken. De praktijk laat echter zien dat er veel meer aan de hand is