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Frontiers in Psychiatry 2023Natural Cannabis (NC) and Synthetic Cannabinoids (SCs) use can increase the risk and exacerbate the course of psychotic disorders. These could be influenced by the...
BACKGROUND
Natural Cannabis (NC) and Synthetic Cannabinoids (SCs) use can increase the risk and exacerbate the course of psychotic disorders. These could be influenced by the Aberrant Salience (AS) construct. It refers to an excess of attribution of meaning to stimuli that are otherwise regarded as neutral, thereby transform them into adverse, dangerous, or mysterious entities. This leads the patient to engage in aberrant and consequently incorrect interpretative efforts concerning the normal perception of reality and its relationship with our analytical abilities. AS appears to play a significant role in the onset and perpetuation of psychotic disorders. The internal conflict arising from aberrant attributions of significance leads to delusional thoughts, ultimately culminating in the establishment of a self-sustaining psychosis.
AIMS
To examine the differences between psychoses course not associated with cannabis use and those associated with NC-use and SCs-use, in terms of psychotic and dissociative symptoms, AS, global functioning and suicidal ideation.
METHODS
A sample of 62 patients with First Episode Psychosis (FEP) was divided into 3 groups: non cannabis users (non-users, = 20); NC-users or rather Delta-9-tetrahydrocannabinol (THC) users (THC-users, = 21); SCs-users, commonly referred to as SPICE-users (SPICE-users, = 20). Each group underwent assessments at the onset of psychotic symptoms, as well as at the 3 months and 6 months marks, utilizing a range of psychopathological scales. These included the Positive and Negative Syndrome Scale (PANSS) for investigating psychotic symptoms, the Global Assessment of Functioning (GAF) scale for assessing overall functioning, the Dissociative Experiences Scale (DES-II) for measuring dissociative symptoms, the Scale for Suicide Ideation (SSI) for evaluating suicidal ideation and the Aberrant Salience Inventory (ASI) scale for gauging AS.
RESULTS
SPICE-users showed more severe and persistent positive symptoms, while negative symptoms were mostly represented among non-users. Non-users showed better recovery than SPICE-users in global functioning. All groups showed a decrease in both ASI scores and subscale scores. SPICE-users exhibited higher global AS scores and less improvement in this aspect compared to other groups.
CONCLUSION
This study may help understanding the role of AS in both non-substance-related and substance-induced psychosis. This knowledge may lead clinician to a better diagnosis and identify patient-tailored psychopharmacological treatment.
PubMed: 38260781
DOI: 10.3389/fpsyt.2023.1343884 -
Cureus Dec 2023Delusional companion syndrome, an uncommon subtype of delusional misidentification syndrome, has no prior reported cases in patients with primary psychotic disorders. We...
Delusional companion syndrome, an uncommon subtype of delusional misidentification syndrome, has no prior reported cases in patients with primary psychotic disorders. We report a case of delusional companion syndrome in the absence of any organic brain disease, stroke, or severe brain injury, in a young female with schizophrenia. The patient is a 29-year-old G3P3 female, with a history of schizophrenia and major depressive disorder, who, after recently losing custody of her children, presented to the pediatric emergency department for evaluation of her baby doll, which she believed to be her child because the doll wasn't eating or moving well. She became acutely agitated when providers declined to insert an IV line to hydrate the doll and required emergency treatment orders to de-escalate. The patient was admitted to the inpatient psychiatric unit and treated with oral aripiprazole 10 mg, before transitioning to her previous treatment of aripiprazole lauroxil at an increased dose of 882 mg monthly. By the end of admission, the patient grasped that the doll was a toy that had never been alive. This case demonstrates how delusional companion syndrome can occur in young patients with primary psychotic disorders, without a causative neurological insult, and can be treated with antipsychotics. More studies are necessary to further explore the relationship between primary psychotic disorders and delusional companion syndrome.
PubMed: 38259370
DOI: 10.7759/cureus.51007 -
Journal of Psychiatric Research Mar 2024A clear understanding of the pathophysiology of schizophrenia and related spectrum disorders has been limited by clinical heterogeneity. We investigated whether relative...
A clear understanding of the pathophysiology of schizophrenia and related spectrum disorders has been limited by clinical heterogeneity. We investigated whether relative severity and predominance of one or more delusion subtypes might yield clinically differentiable patient profiles. Patients (N = 286) with schizophrenia spectrum disorders (SSD) completed the 21-item Peters et al. Delusions Inventory (PDI-21). We performed factor analysis followed by k-means clustering to identify delusion factors and patient subtypes. Patients were further assessed via the Brief Psychiatric Rating Scale, Brief Negative Symptom Scale, Digit Symbol and Digit Substitution tasks, use of cannabis and tobacco, and stressful life events. The overall patient sample clustered into subtypes corresponding to Low-Delusion, Grandiose-Predominant, Paranoid-Predominant, and Pan-Delusion patients. Paranoid-Predominant and Pan-Delusion patients showed significantly higher burden of positive symptoms, while Low-Delusion patients showed the highest burden of negative symptoms. The Paranoia delusion factor score showed a positive association with Digit Symbol and Digit Substitution tasks in the overall sample, and the Paranoid-Predominant subtype exhibited the best performance on both tasks. Grandiose-Predominant patients showed significantly higher tobacco smoking severity than other subtypes, while Paranoid-Predominant patients were significantly more likely to have a lifetime diagnosis of Cannabis Use Disorder. We suggest that delusion self-report inventories such as the PDI-21 may be of utility in identifying sub-syndromes in SSD. From the current study, a Paranoid-Predominant form may be most distinctive, with features including less cognitive impairment and a stronger association with cannabis use.
Topics: Humans; Schizophrenia; Delusions; Mood Disorders; Brief Psychiatric Rating Scale
PubMed: 38246028
DOI: 10.1016/j.jpsychires.2023.12.025 -
Consortium Psychiatricum Mar 2023Depression in patients with schizophrenia worsens the course of the disease by increasing the risk of suicide, by complicating the clinical picture of the disorder, and...
BACKGROUND
Depression in patients with schizophrenia worsens the course of the disease by increasing the risk of suicide, by complicating the clinical picture of the disorder, and by reducing the quality of the social functioning; its treatment is difficult, since monotherapy, even when involving modern antipsychotics, does not always prove successful. While the prescription of additional antidepressants (ADs) can improve the likelihood of a better outcome, the effectiveness of such augmentation in many cases is yet to be proven. Therefore, it is still important that one weighs the effectiveness of various combinations between most of the known ADs and some second-generation antipsychotic (SGA) in the treatment of depression that occurs at different stages of schizophrenia. In previous studies, the use of vortioxetine as an adjunct to an antipsychotic yielded a reduction in negative symptoms, a clinically significant improvement in cognitive functions that differed from its antidepressant effect, and good tolerability, which affects how committed to treatment a patient remains.
AIM
To study the changes that occur over time in the clinical manifestations of depression, negative and cognitive impairment, as well as the social adequacy of patients receiving a combination therapy with second-generation antipsychotics and vortioxetine, which were prescribed in real clinical practice at doses approved in the Russian Federation.
METHODS
We performed a comparative analysis of the changes in depression symptoms and negative symptoms, cognitive impairment, as well as function of 78 patients with severe manifestations of depression at the stage of exacerbation reduction and subsequent remission of paranoid schizophrenia. Combination treatment with SGA and vortioxetine was used in 39 patients, and 39 patients who had similar clinical manifestations received just SGA. During the observation period, the mental disorder severity and depression symptom severity were assessed 3 times (before the start of treatment, after three months, and after six months) using the Clinical Global Impression (CGI) scale and Calgary Depression Scale for Schizophrenia (CDSS), respectively; patients were also assessed using the Negative Symptoms Assessment-5 (NSA-5) scale, Perceived Deficits Questionnaire-20 items (PDQ-20) scale, and Personal and Social Performance (PSP) scale.
RESULTS
According to the ANOVA results, by the end of the observation period, patients, regardless of their therapeutic group, showed a statistically significant decrease in the level of depression on the CDSS scale, the severity of negative symptoms on the NSA-5 scale, cognitive symptoms on the PDQ-20 scale, as well as an improvement in personality and society, judging by the increase in the total PSP scores. There were also significant differences between the compared main (SGA + vortioxetine) and control (SGA) groups in terms of the changes in the total score on the CDSS and PSP scales. An interesting aspect of the changes in the clinical scores was a noticeable improvement in the SGA + vortioxetine group after 3 months of treatment, in the absence of a similar improvement in the control group, and the achievement of approximately the same scores in both groups after 6 months. In particular, there were significant differences between the SGA + vortioxetine and SGA groups in terms of the mean CDSS ( 0.001), NSA-5 (=0.003), PDQ-20 ( 0.001), and PSP (=0.004) scores after 3 months. Analysis of the time before early withdrawal from the study showed that significantly more patients in the SGA + vortioxetine group completed the study program (=27, 69.23%) compared with the SGA group (=13, 33.33%) ( =14.618, df=1, 0.001, log-rank test. The mean survival time in the SGA group was significantly ( 0.001) less and amounted to 101.436 days (95% CI: 81.518121.354), and in the SGA + vortioxetine group it amounted to 161.744 days (147.981175.506). The relative risk of full study completion in the vortioxetine + SGA group compared with that in SGA was 3.618 (1.8716.994).
CONCLUSION
The addition of vortioxetine to the SGA therapy accelerates the reduction of the depression symptoms that occur at the stage of psychosis regression and early remission, contributes to the accelerated reduction in negative symptoms, positively affects the subjective assessment of cognitive impairment severity, and has a significant positive effect on the level of psychosocial functioning.
PubMed: 38239568
DOI: 10.17816/CP3728 -
Psychological Medicine Jun 2024Psychiatric in-patients have a greatly elevated risk of suicide. We aimed to examine trends in in-patient suicide rates and determine if characteristics of in-patients...
BACKGROUND
Psychiatric in-patients have a greatly elevated risk of suicide. We aimed to examine trends in in-patient suicide rates and determine if characteristics of in-patients who died by suicide have changed over time.
METHODS
We identified all in-patients in England who died by suicide between 2009 and 2020 from the National Confidential Inquiry into Suicide and Safety in Mental Health. Suicide rates were calculated using data from Hospital Episodes Statistics.
RESULTS
The rate of in-patient suicide per 100 000 bed days fell by 41.9% between 2009-2011 and 2018-2020. However, since 2016 the rate has remained static with no significant fall. Rates fell in men, those aged 30-59, and those with schizophrenia and other delusional disorders or personality disorder. Rates also fell for suicide by hanging (including hanging on the ward) and jumping. No falls were seen in suicide rates among women, younger and older age groups, and those with affective disorder. There was no indication of a transfer of risk to the post-discharge period or to home treatment/crisis care. More in-patients in the latter part of the study were aged under 25, were on authorised leave, and had psychiatric comorbidity.
CONCLUSIONS
In-patient suicide has significantly fallen since 2009, suggesting patient safety may have improved. The recent slowdown in the fall in rates, however, highlights that renewed preventative efforts are needed. These should include a greater focus on women, younger and older patients, and those with affective disorder. Careful reviews prior to granting leave are important to ensure a safe transition into the community.
Topics: Humans; England; Male; Female; Adult; Middle Aged; Suicide; Young Adult; Aged; Mental Disorders; Inpatients; Adolescent
PubMed: 38213183
DOI: 10.1017/S0033291723003628 -
World Journal of Clinical Cases Dec 2023Our study expand upon a large body of evidence in the field of neuropsychiatric imaging with cognitive, affective and behavioral tasks, adapted for the functional...
BACKGROUND
Our study expand upon a large body of evidence in the field of neuropsychiatric imaging with cognitive, affective and behavioral tasks, adapted for the functional magnetic resonance imaging (MRI) (fMRI) experimental environment. There is sufficient evidence that common networks underpin activations in task-based fMRI across different mental disorders.
AIM
To investigate whether there exist specific neural circuits which underpin differential item responses to depressive, paranoid and neutral items (DN) in patients respectively with schizophrenia (SCZ) and major depressive disorder (MDD).
METHODS
60 patients were recruited with SCZ and MDD. All patients have been scanned on 3T magnetic resonance tomography platform with functional MRI paradigm, comprised of block design, including blocks with items from diagnostic paranoid (DP), depression specific (DS) and DN from general interest scale. We performed a two-sample -test between the two groups-SCZ patients and depressive patients. Our purpose was to observe different brain networks which were activated during a specific condition of the task, respectively DS, DP, DN.
RESULTS
Several significant results are demonstrated in the comparison between SCZ and depressive groups while performing this task. We identified one component that is task-related and independent of condition (shared between all three conditions), composed by regions within the temporal (right superior and middle temporal gyri), frontal (left middle and inferior frontal gyri) and limbic/salience system (right anterior insula). Another component is related to both diagnostic specific conditions (DS and DP) It is shared between DEP and SCZ, and includes frontal motor/language and parietal areas. One specific component is modulated preferentially by to the DP condition, and is related mainly to prefrontal regions, whereas other two components are significantly modulated with the DS condition and include clusters within the default mode network such as posterior cingulate and precuneus, several occipital areas, including lingual and fusiform gyrus, as well as parahippocampal gyrus. Finally, component 12 appeared to be unique for the neutral condition. In addition, there have been determined circuits across components, which are either common, or distinct in the preferential processing of the sub-scales of the task.
CONCLUSION
This study has delivers further evidence in support of the model of trans-disciplinary cross-validation in psychiatry.
PubMed: 38188204
DOI: 10.12998/wjcc.v11.i36.8458 -
Annals of General Psychiatry Jan 2024Weight gain in the months/years after diagnosis/treatment of severe enduring mental illness (SMI) is a major predictor of future diabetes, dysmetabolic profile and...
INTRODUCTION
Weight gain in the months/years after diagnosis/treatment of severe enduring mental illness (SMI) is a major predictor of future diabetes, dysmetabolic profile and increased risk of cardiometabolic diseases. There is limited data on the longer-term profile of weight change in people with a history of SMI and how this may differ between individuals. We here report a retrospective study on weight change over the 5 years following an SMI diagnosis in Greater Manchester UK, an ethnically and culturally diverse community, with particular focus on comparing non-affective psychosis (NAP) vs affective psychosis (AP) diagnoses.
METHODS
We undertook an anonymised search in the Greater Manchester Care Record (GMCR). We reviewed the health records of anyone who had been diagnosed for the first time with first episode psychosis, schizophrenia, schizoaffective disorder, delusional disorder (non-affective psychosis = NAP) or affective psychosis (AP). We analysed body mass index (BMI) change in the 5-year period following the first prescription of antipsychotic medication. All individuals had taken an antipsychotic agent for at least 3 months. The 5-year follow-up point was anywhere between 2003 and 2023.
RESULTS
We identified 9125 people with the diagnoses above. NAP (n = 5618; 37.3% female) mean age 49.9 years; AP (n = 4131; 60.5% female) mean age 48.7 years. 27.0% of NAP were of non-White ethnicity vs 17.8% of AP individuals. A higher proportion of people diagnosed with NAP were in the highest quintile of social disadvantage 52.4% vs 39.5% for AP. There were no significant differences in baseline BMI profile. In a subsample with HbA1c data (n = 2103), mean HbA1c was higher in NAP at baseline (40.4 mmol/mol in NAP vs 36.7 mmol/mol for AP). At 5-year follow-up, there was similarity in both the overall % of individuals in the obese ≥ 30 kg/m category (39.8% NAP vs 39.7% AP), and % progressing from a normal healthy BMI transitioned to obese/overweight BMI (53.6% of NAP vs 55.6% with AP). 43.7% of those NAP with normal BMI remained at a healthy BMI vs 42.7% with AP. At 5-year follow-up for NAP, 83.1% of those with BMI ≥ 30 kg/m stayed in this category vs 81.5% of AP.
CONCLUSION
The results of this real-world longitudinal cohort study suggest that the changes in BMI with treatment of non-affective psychosis vs bipolar disorder are not significantly different, while 43% maintain a healthy weight in the first 5 years following antipsychotic prescription.
PubMed: 38172807
DOI: 10.1186/s12991-023-00485-8 -
Nihon Ronen Igakkai Zasshi. Japanese... 2023Since the declaration of an emergency following the spread of COVID-19, the number of elderly patients complaining of delusions has increased. Therefore, we investigated...
AIM
Since the declaration of an emergency following the spread of COVID-19, the number of elderly patients complaining of delusions has increased. Therefore, we investigated the characteristics of patients diagnosed with delusional disorders in our clinic.
METHODS
A total of 1,884 patients ≥ 65 years old who visited the Center for Comprehensive Care on Memory Disorders at Kyorin University Hospital from January 2017 to December 2021 were included in the study. The 17 patients diagnosed with delusional disorders were divided into 2 groups based on the timing of the first declaration of emergency, and the characteristics of each group were investigated.
RESULTS
Seven patients were diagnosed with delusional disorder before the first declaration of emergency and 10 after the declaration. The proportion of patients increased by approximately three-fold after the declaration. Post-emergency patients were less motivated to be active than those encountered before the declaration, and many had no history of mental illness. Seven of the 10 post-emergency patients visited the Memory Clinic within 1 year of the onset of delusions.
CONCLUSIONS
After the first declaration of an emergency, elderly patients with no history of psychiatric disorders acutely developed delusional disorders.The physical and psychological effects of COVID-19 on the elderly should be considered.
Topics: Humans; Aged; Delusions; Schizophrenia, Paranoid; Pandemics; COVID-19
PubMed: 38171758
DOI: 10.3143/geriatrics.60.406 -
Frontiers in Psychiatry 2023Despite an increasing number of adults older than 60 years with psychiatric disorders, there are few studies on older patients in psychiatric emergencies and no...
Despite an increasing number of adults older than 60 years with psychiatric disorders, there are few studies on older patients in psychiatric emergencies and no European data. We aimed to describe the population of patients aged 60 years and older who presented to the main French psychiatric emergency centre and identify predictors of psychiatric hospitalization. This monocentric study included 300 consecutive patients aged 60 years and older. Patients presenting because of psychiatric emergencies were frequently female and lived autonomously. More than 40% had a history of at least one psychiatric hospitalization and 44% had consulted a psychiatrist in the previous 6 months. The most common reasons for consultation were depression, anxiety, sleep disorders and suicidal thoughts. Psychiatric disorders were mainly mood disorders; neurotic, stress-related and somatoform disorders; and schizophrenic, schizotypal and delusional disorders. Only 10% had a diagnosis of organic mental disorders. Overall, 39% of the patients were admitted to the psychiatric hospital. Factors predicting hospitalization were a history of psychiatric hospitalization, suicidal thoughts and a diagnosis of a mood disorder or schizophrenia/schizotypal/delusional disorder. In conclusion, among people aged 60 years and older who consulted for psychiatric emergencies, 39% had to be hospitalized in psychiatry and only psychiatric factors influenced the decision to hospitalize. Our study highlights the need for further studies of older people in psychiatric emergencies in Europe, to anticipate the needs of this specific population and adapt multidisciplinary mental health care.
PubMed: 38161722
DOI: 10.3389/fpsyt.2023.1298497 -
Industrial Psychiatry Journal 2023Delusional parasitosis (DP) is a type of delusional disorder which is characterised by single hypochondriacal delusion in which patient believes that he/she is infested...
Delusional parasitosis (DP) is a type of delusional disorder which is characterised by single hypochondriacal delusion in which patient believes that he/she is infested with insects/worms/parasite. The authors present a case series of four cases of DP which were assessed in the outpatient department of psychiatry of a tertiary care hospital in Western Maharashtra. The patients with DP were predominantly women around 50 years of age who were treated successfully with Tab Olanzapine and psychotherapy with favourable response.
PubMed: 38161467
DOI: 10.4103/ipj.ipj_176_22