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Behaviour Research and Therapy Jul 2022The COVID-19 pandemic has introduced widespread societal changes that have required ongoing adaptation. Unsurprisingly, stress-related psychopathology has increased... (Review)
Review
The COVID-19 pandemic has introduced widespread societal changes that have required ongoing adaptation. Unsurprisingly, stress-related psychopathology has increased during the pandemic, in both children and adults. We review these patterns through the lens of several leading conceptual models of the link between stress and psychopathology. Some of these models focus on characteristics of environmental stressors-including cumulative risk, specific stressor types, and stress sensitization approaches. Understanding the specific aspects of environmental stressors that are most likely to lead to psychopathology can shed light on who may be in most need of clinical intervention. Other models center on factors that can buffer against the onset of psychopathology following stress and the mechanisms through which stressors contribute to emergent psychopathology. These models highlight specific psychosocial processes that may be most usefully targeted by interventions to reduce stress-related psychopathology. We review evidence for each of these stress models in the context of other widescale community-level disruptions, like natural disasters and terrorist attacks, alongside emerging evidence for these stress pathways from the COVID-19 pandemic. We discuss clinical implications for developing interventions to reduce stress-related psychopathology during the pandemic, with a focus on brief, digital interventions that may be more accessible than traditional clinical services.
Topics: Adult; COVID-19; Child; Humans; Longitudinal Studies; Mental Disorders; Pandemics; Psychopathology
PubMed: 35642991
DOI: 10.1016/j.brat.2022.104121 -
Journal of the American Academy of... Dec 2018Affective neuroscience is a promising young field in neuroscience for understanding the basis of many types of psychopathology. It describes the scientific investigation...
Affective neuroscience is a promising young field in neuroscience for understanding the basis of many types of psychopathology. It describes the scientific investigation of the neural basis of affect, emotion, and feelings. These phenomena arise from mental processes that are not always directly observable, which complicates discovering their neural basis. Nevertheless, as it has done for other inferred processes, such as memory and language, neuroscience should transform our emotion-based patient formulations and lead to novel, targeted therapeutics for emotional issues. In this Translations article, we aim to provide a brief introduction to affective neuroscience for clinicians, beginning with defining key terms and then reviewing clinical applications.
Topics: Affect; Brain; Humans; Mental Disorders; Neurosciences; Psychopathology
PubMed: 30522733
DOI: 10.1016/j.jaac.2018.07.877 -
The Behavioral and Brain Sciences 2019Modeling the extremes of mental/emotional conditions requires explicit account of evolutionary-developmental sources of human neurodiversity, not merely psychopathology....
Modeling the extremes of mental/emotional conditions requires explicit account of evolutionary-developmental sources of human neurodiversity, not merely psychopathology. The target article's approach could be improved by incorporation of a hierarchical scheme wherein mental/emotional infrastructure interacts across differentiated layers of function. The notion "symptom networks" thus calls for differentiation into hierarchically interacting components of mental/emotional evolution and development.
Topics: Emotions; Humans; Mental Disorders; Psychopathology
PubMed: 30853733
DOI: 10.1017/S0140525X18001103 -
Current Opinion in Psychology Jun 2021Reward-associated objects receive preferential attention, reflecting a bias in information processing that develops automatically following associative learning.... (Review)
Review
Reward-associated objects receive preferential attention, reflecting a bias in information processing that develops automatically following associative learning. Mounting evidence suggests that such value-driven attention operates abnormally in certain psychopathologies, with attentional biases for reward-associated objects being either exaggerated or blunted compared to healthy controls. Here, I review the evidence linking value-driven attention to psychopathology, including drug addiction, depression, attention-deficit hyperactivity disorder (ADHD), compulsivity, and impulsive and risky decision-making. I conclude by offering an integrative framework for conceptualizing the link between value-driven attention and psychopathology, along with suggestions for future research into this burgeoning area of investigation, including research on object attachment.
Topics: Attention Deficit Disorder with Hyperactivity; Attentional Bias; Humans; Impulsive Behavior; Psychopathology; Reward
PubMed: 32818794
DOI: 10.1016/j.copsyc.2020.07.010 -
Tijdschrift Voor Psychiatrie 2021The prevalence of psychopathology did not decrease in prosperous countries, despite evidence-based treatment, focus on prevention and long prosperity. (Review)
Review
BACKGROUND
The prevalence of psychopathology did not decrease in prosperous countries, despite evidence-based treatment, focus on prevention and long prosperity.
AIM
To investigate if the eastern concept of self-compassion can help to decrease the prevalence of psychopathology.
METHOD
Literature review and interviews with experts.
RESULTS
Health is defined as a state of complete wellbeing. This seems like a maintainable goal in prosperous countries. Setbacks are, however, an unavoidable part of life and therefore resilience is important. Normalizing a state of complete wellbeing comes at the expense of resilience because it increases stress after setbacks. Stress is an important precursor to psychopathology because it leads to suffering and dysfunction. The concept of self-compassion and compassion in a broader sense, refer to the capacity to be mild when setbacks occur. (Self)-compassion helps to regulate stress and can therefore improve resilience and contribute to decrease the prevalence of psychopathology.
CONCLUSION
In prosperous countries, there is little attention to resilience. The concept of (self)-compassion can contribute to mental resilience and can help to decrease the prevalence of psychopathology. Therefore, it deserves a place in the diagnostics and treatment of psychiatric disorders.
Topics: Antidotes; Anxiety; Empathy; Humans; Mental Disorders; Psychopathology; Resilience, Psychological; Self Concept
PubMed: 33913145
DOI: No ID Found -
Psychopathology 2022
Topics: Humans; Mental Disorders; Psychopathology
PubMed: 35640547
DOI: 10.1159/000525084 -
Psychological Medicine Apr 2021Psychiatric disorders are studied at multiple levels, but there is no agreement on how these levels are related to each other, or how they should be understood in the... (Review)
Review
Psychiatric disorders are studied at multiple levels, but there is no agreement on how these levels are related to each other, or how they should be understood in the first place. In this paper, I provide an account of levels and their relationships that is suited for psychopathology, drawing from recent debates in philosophy of science. Instead of metaphysical issues, the focus is on delivering an understanding of levels that is relevant and useful for scientific practice. I also defend a pragmatic approach to the question of reduction, arguing that even in-principle reductionists should embrace pluralism in practice. Finally, I discuss the benefits and challenges in integrating explanations and models of different levels.
Topics: Heuristics; Humans; Mental Disorders; Philosophy; Psychopathology; Research
PubMed: 31549600
DOI: 10.1017/S0033291719002514 -
Tijdschrift Voor Psychiatrie 2022Background Psychiatry and psychology have struggled since their earliest development with the question whether psychopathology manifests itself identically around...
Background Psychiatry and psychology have struggled since their earliest development with the question whether psychopathology manifests itself identically around the world, and whether a disorder can be better understood from a biological or a socio-cultural perspective. Aim To describe the culture and psychopathology debate based on recent developments in ICD and DSM, illustrated with depression and PTSD. Method Clinical experience, previous publications in other languages, and a recent PubMed search on culture and psychopathology. Results There is some consensus in worldwide studies on the universal manifestation of these two disorders. On the other hand, there is broad criticism due to three forms of bias: poor construct validity, looping effects and category truncation. DSM has developed concepts and tools that can enhance cultural competence in practice and in research. Conclusion Researchers and practitioners should develop phenomenological skills to describe and incorporate the local expression of psychological problems into practice. And take into account the three forms of bias mentioned.
Topics: Humans; Mental Disorders; Psychiatry; Psychopathology
PubMed: 36117487
DOI: No ID Found -
Culture, Medicine and Psychiatry Jun 2023Hallucinations are currently associated almost exclusively with psychopathological states. While it is evident that hallucinations can indicate psychopathology or...
Hallucinations are currently associated almost exclusively with psychopathological states. While it is evident that hallucinations can indicate psychopathology or neurological disorders, we should remember that hallucinations also commonly occur in people without any signs of psychopathology. A similar case occurs in the case of hallucinogenic drugs, which have been long associated with psychopathology and insanity. However, during the last decades a huge body of research has shown that certain kinds of hallucinations, exerted by hallucinogenic drugs, may serve to improve mental health. We propose that, in light of historical, epidemiological, and scientific research, hallucinations can be better characterized as a common phenomenon associated sometimes with psychopathology but also with functional and even beneficial outcomes. In the last sections of the manuscript, we extend our argument, suggesting that hallucinations can offer a via regia to knowledge of the mind and the world. This radical shift in the cultural interpretation of hallucinations could have several implications for fields such as drug policy, civil law, and psychiatry, as well as for the stigma associated with mental disorders.
Topics: Humans; Hallucinogens; Hallucinations; Psychopathology; Mental Disorders; Psychotic Disorders
PubMed: 36633720
DOI: 10.1007/s11013-022-09814-0 -
Psychology of Addictive Behaviors :... May 2023The causes of substance use disorders (SUDs) are largely unknown and the effectiveness of their treatments is limited. One crucial impediment to research and treatment... (Review)
Review
OBJECTIVE
The causes of substance use disorders (SUDs) are largely unknown and the effectiveness of their treatments is limited. One crucial impediment to research and treatment progress surrounds how SUDs are classified and diagnosed. Given the substantial heterogeneity among individuals diagnosed with a given SUD (e.g., alcohol use disorder [AUD]), identifying novel research and treatment targets and developing new study designs is daunting.
METHOD
In this article, we review and integrate two recently developed frameworks, the National Institute on Drug Abuse's Phenotyping Assessment Battery (NIDA PhAB) and the Hierarchical Taxonomy of Psychopathology (HiTOP), that hope to accelerate progress in understanding the causes and consequences of psychopathology by means of deep phenotyping, or finer-grained analysis of phenotypes.
RESULTS AND CONCLUSIONS
NIDA PhAB focuses on addiction-related processes across multiple units of analysis, whereas HiTOP focuses on clinical phenotypes and covers a broader range of psychopathology. We highlight that NIDA PhAB and HiTOP together provide deep and broad characterizations of people diagnosed with SUDs and complement each other in their efforts to address widely known limitations of traditional classification systems and their diagnostic categories. Next, we show how NIDA PhAB and HiTOP can be integrated to facilitate optimal rich phenotyping of addiction-related phenomena. Finally, we argue that such deep phenotyping promises to advance our understanding of the neurobiology of SUD and addiction, which will guide the development of personalized medicine and interventions. (PsycInfo Database Record (c) 2023 APA, all rights reserved).
Topics: Humans; Psychopathology; Substance-Related Disorders; Behavior, Addictive; Research Design
PubMed: 36174150
DOI: 10.1037/adb0000878