Aetiology of shame and its association with adolescent depression and anxiety: results from a prospective twin and sibling study.

BACKGROUND: Shame is considered a maladaptive self-conscious emotion that commonly co-occurs alongside depression and anxiety. Little is known, however, about the aetiology of shame and its associations with depression and anxiety. We estimated, for the first time, genetic and environmental influences on shame and on its associations with depression and anxiety in adolescence. METHODS: The sample was twin and sibling pairs from the Genesis 1219 Study (Time 1, N = 2,685; males 42.8%, Mage = 14.95, SD = 1.67, age range: 12-21; Time 2, N = 1618; males 39.7%, Mage = 16.97, SD = 1.64, age range: 14-23). Participants completed validated questionnaires to measure shame (at Time 1), depression and anxiety (at Times 1 and 2). RESULTS: Shame was moderately to strongly associated with concurrent depression and anxiety. Prospectively, shame was significantly associated with an increase in depression, but not anxiety. Genetic analyses revealed that shame was moderately heritable with substantial nonshared environmental influence. The associations between shame and concurrent depression and anxiety were primarily accounted for by overlapping genetic influences. Prospectively, the association between shame and later depression was primarily accounted for by genetic and nonshared environmental influences shared with earlier depression. The unique association between shame and later depression was mostly explained by common nonshared environmental influences. CONCLUSIONS: The findings offer novel evidence regarding aetiology of shame-although moderately heritable, shame in adolescents may also result from nonshared environmental factors. Genetic and nonshared environmental influences contribute to the co-occurrence of shame with depression and anxiety.

Depression Case Control (DeCC) Study fails to support involvement of the muscarinic acetylcholine receptor M2 (CHRM2) gene in recurrent major depressive disorder.

It has been suggested that alteration in the muscarinic-cholinergic system is involved in modulation of mood. Three studies have reported linkage on chromosome 7 with major depressive disorder (MDD) in or close to a region containing the muscarinic receptor CHRM2 gene. A haplotype of SNPs located in CHRM2 (rs1824024-rs2061174-rs324650) has been significantly associated with MDD in a previous study. We report the first study investigating this gene in a large, adequately powered, clinical depression case-control sample (n = 1420 cases, 1624 controls). Our data fail to support association with the CHRM2 polymorphisms previously implicated in the genetic aetiology of depression. It is possible our failure to replicate may be a consequence of differences in definition of the MDD phenotype and/or ethnic differences.

Transportability and feasibility of Social Cognition And Interaction Training (SCIT) in community settings.

BACKGROUND: Social Cognition and Interaction Training (SCIT) is a manual-based group intervention designed to improve social cognition in schizophrenia. Initial studies conducted by the developers of SCIT suggest that the intervention has promise in ameliorating social cognitive dysfunction in both inpatients and outpatients. AIMS: The current study is a preliminary evaluation of SCIT in community samples. METHOD: An uncontrolled, pre-post design was used in this initial feasibility study. A collaborative research-clinical approach was employed to enable research evaluation while also meeting the administrative goals of participating clinics, and working within the constraints of real-world clinical practice. Transportability, acceptability, and feasibility of SCIT were evaluated in terms of pre- and post-treatment evaluations, client attendance data (N = 50), and clinic administrators' decisions about whether to integrate SCIT into regular programming. Social-cognitive outcome measures assessed emotion perception, Theory of Mind, and attributional bias. RESULTS: These support the transportability, acceptability, and feasibility of SCIT in community settings. SCIT has been integrated into routine practice at several test sites. Tentative support was found for improvement in emotion perception and Theory of Mind, but not attributional bias. CONCLUSIONS: SCIT may be a promising intervention for community agencies serving individuals with psychotic disorders who seek to improve their social functioning.

The Bipolar Association Case-Control Study (BACCS) and meta-analysis: No association with the 5,10-Methylenetetrahydrofolate reductase gene and bipolar disorder.

Bipolar disorder (BD) is a complex genetic disease for which the underlying pathophysiology has yet to be fully explained. 5,10-Methylenetetrahydrofolate reductase (MTHFR) is a crucial enzyme in folate-mediated one-carbon metabolism and folate deficiency can be associated with psychiatric symptoms. A single base variant in MTHFR gene (C677T) results in the production of a mildly dysfunctional thermolabile enzyme and has recently been implicated in BD. We conducted an association study of this polymorphism in 897 patients with bipolar I or bipolar II disorder, and 1,687 healthy control subjects. We found no evidence for genotypic or allelic association in this sample. We also performed a meta-analysis of our own, and all published data, and report no evidence for association. Our findings suggest that the MTHFR C677T polymorphism is not involved in the genetic etiology of clinically significant BD.

Best practices: The development of the Social Cognition and Interaction Training program for schizophrenia spectrum disorders.

This column describes the development of a treatment, the Social Cognition and Interaction Training (SCIT) program, a group-based intervention delivered weekly over a six-month period, with the purpose of improving both social cognition and social functioning among persons with schizophrenia spectrum disorders. SCIT comprises three phases: emotion training, figuring out situations, and integration. Initial pilot testing of 17 inpatients showed that SCIT was associated with improved emotion perception, improved theory of mind, and a reduced tendency to attribute hostile intent to others, with effect sizes being in the medium-large range. Although research is still in the early phases, SCIT is a potential best practice.

The value of four mental health self-report scales in predicting interview-based mood and anxiety disorder diagnoses in sibling pairs.

Questionnaire-based dimensional measures are often employed in epidemiological studies to predict the presence of psychiatric disorders. The present study sought to determine how accurately 4 dimensional mental health measures, the 12-item General Health Questionnaire (GHQ-12), Neuroticism (EPQ-N), the high positive affect and anxious arousal scales from the Mood and Anxiety Symptoms Questionnaire (MASQ-HPA and MASQ-AA) and a composite of all 4, predicted psychiatric caseness as diagnosed by the University of Michigan Composite International Diagnostic Interview (UM-CIDI). Community subjects were recruited through general practitioners; those who agreed to participate were sent a questionnaire containing the above measures. Subsequently, the UM-CIDI was administered by telephone to 469 subjects consisting of sibling pairs who scored most discordantly or concordantly on a composite index of the 4 measures. Logistic Regression and Receiver Operating Characteristic (ROC) curve analyses were carried out to assess the predictive accuracy of the dimensional measures on UM-CIDI diagnosis. A total of 179 subjects, 62 men and 117 women with an average age of 42 years, were diagnosed with at least one of the following psychiatric disorders: depression, dysthymia, generalized anxiety disorder (GAD), social phobia, agoraphobia and panic attack. The six disorders showed high comorbidity. EPQ-N and the Composite Index were found to be very strong and accurate predictors of psychiatric caseness; they were however unable to differentiate between specific disorders. The results from the present study therefore validated the four mental health measures as being predictive of psychiatric caseness.

Parental familial vulnerability, family environment, and their interactions as predictors of depressive symptoms in adolescents.

OBJECTIVE: Familial risk for depression results from both biological and social influences. These may also be associated with other characteristics, including alcohol use, smoking, and body mass index (BMI), and with environmental risks such as social problems, life events, and educational level, all of which may be associated with depression in offspring. The authors examined the links between (1) parental familial vulnerability to depression and (2) the role of associated parental characteristics on severe adolescent depressive symptoms. Third, the authors explored the influence of family environment variables. Fourth, the authors sought interactions between parental familial vulnerability and family environment. METHOD: Questionnaires were obtained from 1,294 parents of 1,818 adolescent offspring. RESULTS: The odds of severe adolescent depressive symptoms increased by a factor of 1.5 per standard deviation increase in parental familial vulnerability to depression (odds ratio [OR] = 1.50). Parental BMI (OR = 1.05) and educational level (OR = 2.60) had significant influences independent of parental vulnerability. Analyses indicated a significant interaction such that those with high parental familial vulnerability, whose parents also had no qualifications, had a threefold risk of severe depressive symptoms. CONCLUSIONS: Adolescents with a family history of depression whose parents also lack qualifications may be a target for intervention.

Attitudes of stakeholders and policymakers in the healthcare system towards the provision of spiritual care in Israel.

INTRODUCTION AND AIM: Spiritual-care services and chaplaincy in the medical system are provided to people with serious illnesses, aiming to help them achieve moments of peace and acceptance while contending with illness or facing death. Chaplaincy has been available in Europe and in the U.S. for many decades, but such programs started to develop in Israel only few years ago. This paper examines the attitudes of stakeholders, directors and policymakers in the healthcare system towards the provision of spiritual care and the development of such programs. METHOD: We conducted in-depth face-to-face interviews with 16 individuals in the healthcare system. All the interviews were transcribed in full and analyzed using qualitative study methods. FINDINGS: Most of the interviewees had little knowledge of spiritual care and many mentioned barriers and challenges to its implementation in the healthcare system. These issues include: lack of knowledge and understanding about spiritual care precluding impeded their ability to evaluate its suitability for the healthcare services; confusion between spiritual care and religion; concerns about potential conflict with other professionals, especially social workers; barriers to funding of the new services; barriers to the successful integration of new ideas; and concerns about formal training and accreditation of the new profession. IMPLICATIONS FOR POLICY: Spiritual care has begun to take root in Israel's health system, but it is still at an early stage of development. Implementation must continue apace and careful consideration must be given to optimizing its acceptance by the establishment.

The relationship of fatigue to mental and physical health in a community sample.

BACKGROUND: Previous studies have shown fatigue and depression/anxiety to be highly associated with each other. The present study seeks to differentiate between fatigue and depression/anxiety and to investigate the familiality/heritability of fatigue using sib-pairs. METHOD: The GENESiS study is a questionnaire study based in the United Kingdom that includes a five-item fatigue scale and four mental health measures (GHQ-12, EPQ-N, MASQ-AA, MASQ-HPA). Fatigue data from 10,444 sibling pairs were analysed using multivariate methods and model fitting techniques to investigate the familiality/heritability of fatigue and its relationship with the other mental health measures and physical health items. RESULTS: Fatigue correlated highly with GHQ-12 (r=0.62, p<0.001). A principal components analysis of the fatigue scale and the GHQ-12 revealed one main component which correlated highly with mental health items, and a smaller second component which correlated modestly with physical health items. Fatigue showed a modest sibling correlation (0.09, p<0.001), and multivariate modelling revealed evidence for familial effects on fatigue that were independent of the mental health measures. CONCLUSIONS: Fatigue showed a strong relationship with both physical illness and mental health measures. Fatigue is modestly familial and at least part of this familial factor is not shared with mental health measures.