We use cookies to distinguish you from other users and to provide you with a better experience on our websites. Close this message to accept cookies or find out how to manage your cookie settings.
To save content items to your account,
please confirm that you agree to abide by our usage policies.
If this is the first time you use this feature, you will be asked to authorise Cambridge Core to connect with your account.
Find out more about saving content to .
To save content items to your Kindle, first ensure coreplatform@cambridge.org
is added to your Approved Personal Document E-mail List under your Personal Document Settings
on the Manage Your Content and Devices page of your Amazon account. Then enter the ‘name’ part
of your Kindle email address below.
Find out more about saving to your Kindle.
Note you can select to save to either the @free.kindle.com or @kindle.com variations.
‘@free.kindle.com’ emails are free but can only be saved to your device when it is connected to wi-fi.
‘@kindle.com’ emails can be delivered even when you are not connected to wi-fi, but note that service fees apply.
Poverty in adolescence is associated with later drug use. Few studies have evaluated the role of adolescent psychiatric disorders in this association.
Aims
This study aimed to investigate mediation and interaction simultaneously, enabling the disentanglement of the role of adolescent psychiatric disorders in the association between poverty in adolescent and later drug use disorders.
Method
A national cohort study of 634 223 individuals born in 1985–1990, residing in Sweden between the ages of 13 and 18 years, was followed from age 19 years until the first in-patient or out-patient care visit with a diagnosis of drug use disorder. A four-way decomposition method was used to determine the total effect of the association with poverty and possible mediation by and/or interaction with diagnosis of adolescent psychiatric disorders.
Results
The hazard ratios for drug use disorders among those experiencing poverty compared with those ‘never in poverty’ were 1.40 (95% CI, 1.32–1.63) in females and 1.43 (95% CI, 1.37–1.49) in males, after adjusting for domicile, origin and parental psychiatric disorders. Twenty-four per cent of this association in females, and 13% in males, was explained by interaction with and/or mediation by adolescent psychiatric disorders.
Conclusions
Part of the association between poverty in adolescence and later drug use disorders was due to mediation by and/or interaction with psychiatric disorders. Narrowing socioeconomic inequalities in adolescence might help to reduce the risks of later drug use disorders. Interventions aimed at adolescents with psychiatric disorders might be especially important.
Long COVID refers to the lingering symptoms which persist or appear after the acute illness. The dominant long COVID symptoms in the two years since the pandemic began (2020–2021) have been depression, anxiety, fatigue, concentration and cognitive impairments with few reports of psychosis. Whether other symptoms will appear later on is not yet known. For example, dopamine-dependent movement disorders generally take many years before first symptoms are seen. Post-stroke depression and anxiety may explain many of the early long COVID cases. Hemorrhagic, hypoxic and inflammatory damages of the central nervous system, unresolved systematic inflammation, metabolic impairment, cerebral vascular accidents such as stroke, hypoxia from pulmonary damages and fibrotic changes are among the major causes of long COVID. Glucose metabolic and hypoxic brain issues likely predispose subjects with pre-existing diabetes, cardiovascular or lung problems to long COVID as well. Preliminary data suggest that psychotropic medications may not be a danger but could instead be beneficial in combating COVID-19 infection. The same is true for diabetes medications such as metformin. Thus, a focus on sigma-1 receptor ligands and glucose metabolism is expected to be useful for new drug development as well as the repurposing of current drugs. The reported protective effects of psychotropics and antihistamines against COVID-19, the earlier reports of reduced number of sigma-1 receptors in post-mortem schizophrenic brains, with many antidepressant and antipsychotic drugs being antihistamines with significant affinity for the sigma-1 receptor, support the role of sigma and histamine receptors in neuroinflammation and viral infections. Literature and data in all these areas are accumulating at a fast rate. We reviewed and discussed the relevant and important literature.
The largest excess mortality risk has been reported for combinations of psychiatric disorders that included substance use disorders.
Aims
To study the associations of different non-substance-related in-patient psychiatric diagnoses with all-cause mortality and suicide up to 28 years of age after entering substance use treatment.
Method
National register data on psychiatric hospital admissions and death were combined with the treatment records of over 10 000 individuals in substance use treatment between 1990 and 2009. Cox regression was used to calculate hazard ratios (HRs) with 95% CIs for all-cause and suicide-specific mortality from the time of entering substance use treatment.
Results
Nearly one-third (31.4%; n = 3330) of the study population had died during follow-up or by their 65th birthday, with more than one in ten (n = 385) from suicide. Over half of the study population (53.2%) had undergone psychiatric in-patient care and 14.1% involuntary psychiatric care during the study period. Bipolar disorder and unipolar depression were associated with a 57% (HR 1.57, 95% CI 1.18–2.10) and 132% (HR 2.32, 95% CI 1.21–4.46) increase in risk of suicide, respectively. Involuntary psychiatric care was associated with a 40% increase in risk of suicide (HR 1.42, 95% CI 1.05–1.94).
Conclusion
Severe psychiatric morbidity is common among individuals seeking treatment for alcohol and/or substance use and specifically mood disorders appear to increase the risk of suicide. Treatment service planning needs to focus on integrated care for concomitant substance use and psychiatric disorders to address this risk.
Meditation, a component of ashtanga yoga, is an act of inward contemplation in which the mind fluctuates between a state of attention to a stimulus and complete absorption in it. Some forms of meditation have been found to be useful for people with psychiatric conditions such as anxiety, depression and substance use disorder. Evidence for usefulness of meditation for people with psychotic disorders is mixed, with reported improvements in negative symptoms but the emergence/precipitation of psychotic symptoms. This article narrates the benefits of meditation in psychiatric disorders, understanding meditation from the yoga perspective, biological aspects of meditation and practical tips for the practice of meditation. We also explain possible ways of modifying meditative practices to make them safe and useful for the patient population and useful overall as a society-level intervention.
Compared to specialized care, primary care is considered to be more accessible, less stigmatizing, and more comprehensive since it manages physical ailments along with mental disorders (MD). Thus, MD are mainly treated by general practitioners (GP), even though their ability to diagnose and treat these diseases is often considered unsatisfactory.
Objectives
This study aimed to analyze perceptions of GP capacity to manage MD, and to assess the difficulties encountered during this management.
Methods
A cross-sectional web-based survey design was adopted between August 22 and September 23, 2020, so that 47 responses of GP were included.
Results
The mean age of respondents was 37.3 years. Among them, only 17% attended a post-university psychiatric training. On average, 6.3% of GP visits were MD-related. Anxious disorders and depression were perceived as very frequent respectively in 82.9% and 40.4% of cases. Among GP, 17% considered bipolar disorder as a difficult pathology to diagnose, followed by schizophrenia (12.7%), while the pathologies perceived to be most difficult to treat were dementia (17%), acute agitations (14.9%) and schizophrenia (10.6%). Anxiolytics and antidepressants use was very frequent (40.4% and 27.7% respectively), and 34% needed training in antipsychotics prescription. Difficulties encountered during MD management were related to lack of psychiatric continuing education (19.4%) and lack of collaboration with mental health professionals (12.5%). Among participants, 93.6% requested a psychiatric training: theoretical 29.3%, practice exchange 24.7%.
Conclusions
Our study confirmed that MD related visits are common in primary care and highlighted several obstacles in their management. Further continuous education, training,and collaboration between practitioners is required.
People followed at the department of psychiatry have a high prevalence of somatic pathologies that are generally not taken optimal care of in time, which implies excess mortality rate among these patients.
Objectives
To study somatic comorbidities in patients followed at the department of psychiatry of the regional hospital of Gabes (Tunisia).
Methods
We conducted a retrospective, descriptive and analytical study carried out on a clinical population who consult for the first time at the psychiatry department at the Gabes regional hospital during the period from January 1st, 2010 to December 31, 2013. Sociodemographic, clinical and therapeutic data of the patients were assessed. Data were analysed using the software SPSS (20th edition).
Results
The number of patients consulting for the first time at the psychiatry department during the study’s period was 1601 patients, with a mean age of 34 years and a sex ratio (M / F) of 0.96. Among these patients, 399 (24.9%) had somatic comorbidity. The most common somatic comorbidity was arterial hypertension (8.1% of patients, n=129 patients). Diabetes mellitus was ranked second with 99 patients (6.2%). The analytical study showed that depressive disorders were significantly more frequent in patients with hypertension (p<0.001), diabetes mellitus (p<0.001) and asthma (p=0.026).
Conclusions
Somatic comorbidities were frequent in patients followed by the department of psychiatry. Paying attention to somatic comorbidities must be part of the evaluation of these patients in order to coordinate effectively with the somatic doctors.
Our Emotional Schemas dictate how we deal with our own emotions, therefore, how we interpret and face different events that occur in our everyday life. Maladaptive schemas have been proven to be at fault for the inability to face different challenges.
Objectives
This study aims to find the differences in emotional schemas between subjects with history of psychiatric disorder and subjects without a psychiatric disorder.
Methods
We realized a case-control study matched for age and gender, and analyzed the answers of 28 subjects (14 women and 14 men) to Leahy Emotional Schema Scale (LESS); 14 of which have a personal history of psychiatric disorders, while the remaining 14 had no such history. The LESS evaluation was part of a bigger study and was addressed to the general population, over 18 years old. The test was applied online, with the informed consent of the subjects.
Results
The mean age of the participants was 40.28±13.98. Out of the 14 subjects with a psychiatric diagnosis, 71,43% have a job, 21,43% are retired and 1% are still studying. There was a significant difference between the two groups regarding the Higher Values dimension of the Emotional Schemas (p=0.0419). Also, the question regarding the feeling of shame when it comes to their own feeling, showed significant difference between the two groups (p=0.0211).
Conclusions
As opposed to the subjects without a history of psychiatric disorder, those who do have a psychiatric diagnosis, feel more often devalued and ashamed, therefore having a lower self-esteem.
Emigration is a widespread phenomenon in our country for the last three decades.Various risk factors for mental disorders are related to emigration,like social-economic status,language,cultural shock,racism etc.
Objectives
The objectives of this study is assess how much of a risk factor is emigration in the development of psychiatric disorders.
Methods
This is retrospective study done on 178 patient charts from The Comunity Mental Health Center Nr.3 in Tirana,of patients who durin the last 20 years had their first episode of mental health disorder durin emigration.
Results
Emigrants before year 2004 had more psychotic disoders,whereas those after that year manifested more mood disorders.The mean age for starting MDD is 35 years old,and the mean age for schizophrenia is 25.Females develope more mood disorders,whereas males manifest more schizophrenia.
Conclusions
Emigration affects deeply mental health,and is a risk factor for developing psychiatric disorders,with females being prone to have mood disorders,whereas males schizophrenia.Schizophrenia start in an earlier age compared to depression.
Multiple Sclerosis (MS) is an immune-mediated inflammatory demyelinating disease of the central nervous system. Concomitant psychiatric diseases are frequent in MS, with depression and anxiety disorders constituting the majority. The presence of psychotic disorders with MS is rare. Several studies have reported that psychotic symptoms usually develop after the neurological signs of MS and they are mostly linked to the side effects of treatment with interferon or with corticosteroids.
Objectives
The authors report here the case of patient with MS without psychiatric history that developed psychotic symptoms.
Methods
Beside the medical record of the patient a non-systematic search of the literature was carried out in the databases Pubmed and Google Scholar with the terms “Multiple Sclerosis”, “Multiple Sclerosis treatment ”and“ Neuropsychiatric symptoms ”.
Results
A 38 years old woman with MS, with no psychiatry history developed paranoid and reference delusions, several months after starting interferon beta-1a therapy. The inferferon therapy was stopped and the patient was started Risperidone 3 mg id with a rapid but only partial remission of the psychotic symptoms. The patient presented high blood levels of prolactine and the MRI showed a pituitary microadenome. The Risperidone was switched to Aripiprazol 15 mg also with partial remission of the psychtic symptons.
Conclusions
It is not possible to attribute our patient’s psychotic symptoms entirely to his Interferon therapy or to MS lesion load, but the occurrence during treatment, no psychiatric history and the rapid but parcial resolution with discontinuing suggest that Interferon therapy was at least contributory to the clinical picture.
China accounts for 17% of the global disease burden attributable to mental, neurological and substance use disorders. As a country undergoing profound societal change, China faces growing challenges to reduce the disease burden caused by psychiatric disorders. In this review, we aim to present an overview of progress in neuroscience research and clinical services for psychiatric disorders in China during the past three decades, analysing contributing factors and potential challenges to the field development. We first review studies in the epidemiological, genetic and neuroimaging fields as examples to illustrate a growing contribution of studies from China to the neuroscience research. Next, we introduce large-scale, open-access imaging genetic cohorts and recently initiated brain banks in China as platforms to study healthy brain functions and brain disorders. Then, we show progress in clinical services, including an integration of hospital and community-based healthcare systems and early intervention schemes. We finally discuss opportunities and existing challenges: achievements in research and clinical services are indispensable to the growing funding investment and continued engagement in international collaborations. The unique aspect of traditional Chinese medicine may provide insights to develop a novel treatment for psychiatric disorders. Yet obstacles still remain to promote research quality and to provide ubiquitous clinical services to vulnerable populations. Taken together, we expect to see a sustained advancement in psychiatric research and healthcare system in China. These achievements will contribute to the global efforts to realize good physical, mental and social well-being for all individuals.
Patients with mental illness are at an increased risk of COVID-19 infection, morbidity, and mortality, and prioritisation of this group for COVID-19 vaccination programmes has therefore been suggested. Vaccine uptake may, however, be compromised by vaccine hesitancy amongst patients with mental illness, posing a critical public health issue. We conducted two surveys to provide weighted estimates of vaccine willingness amongst patients with mental illness and the general population of Denmark. Vaccine willingness was high in both groups, but slightly lower amongst patients with mental illness (84.8%), compared with the general population (89.5%) (p < .001). Based on these findings, vaccine hesitancy does not appear to be a major barrier for vaccine uptake amongst patients with mental illness in Denmark, but may be so in other countries with lower general vaccine willingness. Replication of the present study in other countries is strongly warranted.
Psychiatric disorders, such as depression and anxiety, are commonly associated with epilepsy in the general population, but the relationship between psychiatric disorders and epilepsy among adults with intellectual disabilities is unclear.
Aims
To conduct a systematic review and meta-analysis to assess whether epilepsy is associated with an increased rate of psychiatric disorders in adults with intellectual disabilities.
Method
We included literature published between 1985 and 2020 from four databases, and hand-searched six relevant journals. We assessed risk of bias by using SIGN 50 and the Cochrane risk of bias tool. Several meta-analyses were carried out.
Results
We included 29 papers involving data on 9594 adults with intellectual disabilities, 3180 of whom had epilepsy and 6414 did not. Of the 11 controlled studies that compared the overall rate of psychiatric disorders between the epilepsy and non-epilepsy groups, seven did not show any significant inter-group difference. Meta-analysis was possible on pooled data from seven controlled studies, which did not show any significant inter-group difference in the overall rate of psychiatric disorders. The rates of psychotic disorders, depressive disorders and anxiety disorders were significantly higher in the non-epilepsy control groups compared with the epilepsy group, with effect sizes of 0.29, 0.47 and 0.58, respectively. Epilepsy-related factors did not show any definite association with psychiatric disorders.
Conclusions
It is difficult to pool data from such heterogeneous studies and draw any definitive conclusion because most studies lacked an appropriately matched control group, which will be required for future studies.
Low birth weight is associated with adult mental health, cognitive and socioeconomic problems. However, the causal nature of these associations remains difficult to establish owing to confounding.
Aims
To estimate the contribution of birth weight to adult mental health, cognitive and socioeconomic outcomes using two-sample Mendelian randomisation, an instrumental variable approach strengthening causal inference.
Method
We used 48 independent single-nucleotide polymorphisms as genetic instruments for birth weight (genome-wide association studies’ total sample: n = 264 498) and considered mental health (attention-deficit hyperactivity disorder (ADHD), autism spectrum disorder, bipolar disorder, major depressive disorder, obsessive–compulsive disorder, post-traumatic stress disorder (PTSD), schizophrenia, suicide attempt), cognitive (intelligence) and socioeconomic (educational attainment, income, social deprivation) outcomes.
Results
We found evidence for a contribution of birth weight to ADHD (OR for 1 s.d. unit decrease (~464 g) in birth weight, 1.29; 95% CI 1.03–1.62), PTSD (OR = 1.69; 95% CI 1.06–2.71) and suicide attempt (OR = 1.39; 95% CI 1.05–1.84), as well as for intelligence (β = −0.07; 95% CI −0.13 to −0.02) and socioeconomic outcomes, i.e. educational attainment (β = −0.05; 95% CI −0.09 to −0.01), income (β = −0.08; 95% CI −0.15 to −0.02) and social deprivation (β = 0.08; 95% CI 0.03–0.13). However, no evidence was found for a contribution of birth weight to the other examined mental health outcomes. Results were consistent across a wide range of sensitivity analyses.
Conclusions
These findings support the hypothesis that birth weight could be an important element on the causal pathway to mental health, cognitive and socioeconomic outcomes.
Maternal migraine may contribute to mental heath problems in offspring but empirical evidence has been available only for bipolar disorders. Our objective was to examine the association between maternal migraine and the risk of any and specific psychiatric disorders in offspring.
Methods
This population-based cohort study used individual-level linked Danish national health registers. Participants were all live-born singletons in Denmark during 1978–2012 (n = 2 069 785). Follow-up began at birth and continued until the onset of a psychiatric disorder, death, emigration or 31 December 2016, whichever came first. Cox proportional hazards model was employed to calculate the hazard ratios (HRs) of psychiatric disorders.
Results
Maternal migraine was associated with a 26% increased risk of any psychiatric disorders in offspring [HR, 1.26; 95% confidence interval (CI), 1.22–1.30]. Increased rates of psychiatric disorders were seen in all age groups from childhood to early adulthood. Increased rates were also observed for most of the specific psychiatric disorders, in particular, mood disorders (HR, 1.53; 95% CI, 1.39–1.67), neurotic, stress-related and somatoform disorders (HR, 1.44; 95% CI, 1.37–1.52) and specific personality disorders (HR, 1.47; 95% CI, 1.27–1.70), but not for intellectual disability (HR, 0.84; 95% CI, 0.71–1.00) or eating disorders (HR, 1.10; 95% CI, 0.93–1.29). The highest risk was seen in the offspring of mothers with migraine and comorbid psychiatric disorders (HR, 2.13; 95% CI, 1.99–2.28).
Conclusions
Maternal migraine was associated with increased risks of a broad spectrum of psychiatric disorders in offspring. Given the high prevalence of migraine, our findings highlight the importance of better management of maternal migraine at childbearing ages for early prevention of psychiatric disorders in offspring.
Exposure to childhood adversity is a critical risk factor for the development of psychopathology. A growing field of research examines how exposure to childhood adversity is translated into biological risk for psychopathology through alterations in immune system functioning, most notably heightened levels of inflammation biomarkers. Though our knowledge about how childhood adversity can instantiate biological risk for psychopathology is growing, there remain many challenges and gaps in the field to understand how inflammation from childhood adversity contributes to psychopathology. This paper reviews research on the inflammatory outcomes arising from childhood adversity and presents four major challenges that future research must address: (a) the measurement of childhood adversity, (b) the measurement of inflammation, (c) the identification of mediators between childhood adversity and inflammation, and (d) the identification of moderators of inflammatory outcomes following childhood adversity. We discuss synergies and inconsistencies in the literature to summarize the current understanding of the association between childhood adversity, a proinflammatory phenotype, and the biological risk for psychopathology. We discuss the clinical implications of the inflammatory links between childhood adversity and psychopathology, including possibilities for intervention. Finally, this review conclude by delineates future directions for research, including issues of how best to detect, prevent, and understand these “hidden wounds” of childhood adversity.
We have often observed dementia symptoms or severe neurocognitive decline in the long-term course of schizophrenia. While there are epidemiological reports that patients with schizophrenia are at an increased risk of developing dementia, there are also neuropathological reports that the prevalence of Alzheimer’s disease (AD) in schizophrenia is similar to that in normal controls. It is difficult to distinguish, based solely on the clinical symptoms, whether the remarkable dementia symptoms and cognitive decline seen in elderly schizophrenia are due to the course of the disease itself or a concomitant neurocognitive disease. Neuropathological observation is needed for discrimination.
Methods:
We conducted a neuropathological search on three cases of schizophrenia that developed cognitive decline or dementia symptoms after a long illness course of schizophrenia. The clinical symptoms of total disease course were confirmed retrospectively in the medical record. We have evaluated neuropathological diagnosis based on not only Hematoxylin–Eosin and Klüver–Barrera staining specimens but also immunohistochemical stained specimens including tau, β-amyloid, pTDP-43 and α-synuclein protein throughout clinicopathological conference with multiple neuropathologists and psychiatrists.
Results:
The three cases showed no significant pathological findings or preclinical degenerative findings, and poor findings consistent with symptoms of dementia were noted.
Conclusion:
Although the biological background of dementia symptoms in elderly schizophrenic patients is still unclear, regarding the brain capacity/cognitive reserve ability, preclinical neurodegeneration changes in combination with certain brain vulnerabilities due to schizophrenia itself are thought to induce dementia syndrome and severe cognitive decline.
We assessed the frequency, duration, and degree of unpleasantness of olfactory hallucinations in Alzheimer’s disease (AD). Informants of 31 AD patients were invited to rate the frequency, duration, and degree of unpleasantness of olfactory, auditory, and visual hallucinations. Analysis demonstrated little occurrence of olfactory hallucinations compared with auditory or visual hallucinations. Results also demonstrated that olfactory hallucinations span from a few seconds to one minute, a duration that was similar to that of auditory and visual hallucinations. Olfactory hallucinations were rated as unpleasant compared with auditory or visual hallucinations. Finally, olfactory hallucinations were significantly correlated with depression. Our findings demonstrate little occurrence of olfactory hallucinations but that when they occur, they are experienced as relatively unpleasant in AD patients. Our findings also demonstrate a relationship between olfactory hallucinations and psychiatric characteristics (i.e., depression) in AD.
Epilepsy and mental illness share similar problems in terms of stigma, as a result of centuries of superstition, ignorance and misbeliefs. Stigma leads not only to discrimination and civil and human rights violations but also to poor access to healthcare and non-adherence or decreased adherence to treatment, ultimately increasing morbidity and mortality. Despite continuous efforts in fighting stigma in these conditions, there is very limited knowledge on the phenomenon of double stigma, meaning the impact of having two stigmatised conditions at the same time.
Aims
To discuss double stigma in mental health with special reference to epilepsy.
Method
Articles were identified through searches in PubMed up to 31 October 2019 using the search terms ‘epilepsy’, ‘psychiatric disorders’, ‘stigma’ and additional material was identified from the authors’ own files and from chosen bibliographies.
Results
Double stigma is gaining attention for other stigmatised medical conditions, such as HIV, however, the literature on epilepsy is almost non-existent and this is quite astonishing given that one in three people with epilepsy have a lifetime diagnosis of a psychiatric condition. Felt (perceived) stigma and psychiatric disorders, particularly depression, create a vicious circle in epilepsy maintaining both, as depression correlates with stigma and vice versa as well as epilepsy and depression serving as bidirectional risk factors. This phenomenon has no geographical and economic boundaries as similar data have been reported for low-income and high-income countries.
Conclusions
Governments and policymakers as well as health services, patients’ organisations, families and the general public need to be aware of the phenomenon of double stigma in order to develop campaigns and interventions tailored for these patients.
Many legal systems have an insanity defense, which means that although a person has committed a crime, she is not held criminally responsible for the act. A challenge with regard to these assessments is that forensic psychiatrists have to rely to a considerable extent on the defendant's self-report. Could neuroscience be a way to make these evaluations more objective? The current value of neuroimaging in insanity assessments will be examined. The author argues that neuroscience can be valuable for diagnosing neurological illnesses, rather than psychiatric disorders. Next, he discusses to what extent neurotechnological 'mind reading' techniques, if they would become available in the future, could be useful to get beyond self-report in forensic psychiatry.