Maternal Perinatal Depression and Risk of Neurodevelopmental Disorders in Offspring: Preliminary Results from the SOS MOOD Project.

The latest research is attempting to define whether there may be an association between maternal Perinatal Depression (PD), the use of psychotropic medications during pregnancy, and a higher risk of neurodevelopmental disorders in children, including Autism Spectrum Disorder (ASD). A better understanding of the relation between PD and ASD is a key element to develop early interventions. This study has been developed in the context of the SOS MOOD project. Its aim is to evaluate the possible impact of maternal PD on the child's cognitive and behavioral phenotype with a focus on ASD. Women included in the project were screened during pregnancy (1st, 2nd trimester) for PD-categorized as affected or not-and if necessary were prescribed pharmacological therapy; offspring of both groups of women underwent at a mean age of 43 months a standardized neuropsychiatric evaluation of developmental and cognitive skills, behavioral problems, autism symptoms and parental stress. Preliminary results on 59 women and 59 children do not suggest significant long-term effects of maternal PD on offspring's development and behavior. Nonetheless further studies on wider samples are necessary in order to confirm such results and disentangle the role of possible confounding factors associated to the maternal illness.

Early interpersonal violence mediates the effect of family history of mental disorder on suicide attempts in a non-clinical sample.

BACKGROUND: Suicide is a leading cause of death worldwide, with several risk factors, including a family history of mental disorders (FHMD) and interpersonal violence. The relationship between these risk factors needs further investigation. AIM: Addressing the impact of interpersonal violence on suicide attempts, and its interaction with FHMD. METHODS: 192 participants completed an online questionnaire, including the Psychological Maltreatment Review and the Karolinska Interpersonal Violence Scale (putative mediating variables variables), questions about previous suicide attempts and FHMD. Logistic regression and mediation analysis were performed. RESULTS: FHMD (OR=7.09, 95%CI [2.20,22.81]), expressed violence in childhood (OR=2.55, 95%CI [1.26,5.18]) and exposure to violence in childhood (OR=2.80, 95%CI [1.80,4.34]) predicted attempted suicide. Exposure to, and expression of violence in childhood mediated 15.23% and 9.63% respectively of the total effect of FHPD on attempted suicide. LIMITATIONS: Small sample size, reporting bias on FHMD an attempted suicide, self-selection bias due to sampling technique. CONCLUSIONS: The familial load on adult suicidal behavior is partially mediated by exposure to violence in childhood, suggesting that the presence of a relative affected by any psychiatric condition may contribute to exposure to violence in childhood, which eventually enhances the risk of suicide in adulthood.

Paranoia, depression and lack of insight in schizophrenia: a suggestion for a mediation effect.

INTRODUCTION: Delusional symptoms are heterogeneous and differentially related to insight, depression and another psychological construct, such as deservedness. In this study we explore models of relationships among these constructs, by hypothesizing that lack of insight could predict depression or paranoia, representing these variables outcome or mediator variables alternatively. MATERIALS: We evaluated positive psychotic symptoms, depression, persecution, deservedness and insight in a clinical sample of 81 people with schizophrenia or other psychotic spectrum disorders. Using multiple regression analyses we found 2 significant models. In the first one the lack of insight is negatively associated with depression and negatively related to persecution that, as mediator, is positively associated with depression. In the second model, lack of insight is negatively associated with persecution and negatively related to depression that, as mediator, is positively associated with persecution. CONCLUSIONS: Persecution and depression could be not only predicted by insight but this prediction could also be mediated by the same variables. In both clinical models found in this study, insight does have a relevant role because the awareness about symptom/illness is crucial to the symptoms change. However, having good insight into schizophrenia can also be paradoxically associated with negative subjective states related to depression (the so-called "insight paradox").