Age at onset, course of illness and response to psychotherapy in bipolar disorder: results from the Systematic Treatment Enhancement Program for Bipolar Disorder (STEP-BD).

BACKGROUND: The course of bipolar disorder progressively worsens in some patients. Although responses to pharmacotherapy appear to diminish with greater chronicity, less is known about whether patients' prior courses of illness are related to responses to psychotherapy. METHOD: Embedded in the Systematic Treatment Enhancement Program for Bipolar Disorder (STEP-BD) was a randomized controlled trial of psychotherapy for bipolar depression comparing the efficacy of intensive psychotherapy with collaborative care (a three-session psycho-educational intervention). We assessed whether the number of previous mood episodes, age of illness onset, and illness duration predicted or moderated the likelihood of recovery and time until recovery from a depressive episode in patients in the two treatments. RESULTS: Independently of treatment condition, participants with one to nine prior depressive episodes were more likely to recover and had faster time to recovery than those with 20 or more prior depressive episodes. Participants with fewer than 20 prior manic episodes had faster time to recovery than those with 20 or more episodes. Longer illness duration predicted a longer time to recovery. Participants were more likely to recover in intensive psychotherapy than collaborative care if they had 10-20 prior episodes of depression [number needed to treat (NNT) = 2.0], but equally likely to respond to psychotherapy and collaborative care if they had one to nine (NNT = 32.0) or >20 (NNT = 9.0) depressive episodes. CONCLUSIONS: Number of previous mood episodes and illness duration are associated with the likelihood and speed of recovery among bipolar patients receiving psychosocial treatments for depression.

Prospective 12-month course of bipolar disorder in out-patients with and without comorbid anxiety disorders.

BACKGROUND: The impact of anxiety disorders has not been well delineated in prospective studies of bipolar disorder. AIMS: To examine the association between anxiety and course of bipolar disorder, as defined by mood episodes, quality of life and role functioning. METHOD: A thousand thousand out-patients with bipolar disorder were followed prospectively for 1 year. RESULTS: A current comorbid anxiety disorder (present in 31.9% of participants) was associated with fewer days well, a lower likelihood of timely recovery from depression, risk of earlier relapse, lower quality of life and diminished role function over I year of prospective study. The negative impact was greater with multiple anxiety disorders. CONCLUSIONS: Anxiety disorders, including those present during relative euthymia, predicted a poorer bipolar course. The detrimental effects of anxiety were not simply a feature of mood state. Treatment studies targeting anxiety disorders will help to clarify the nature of the impact of anxiety on bipolar course.

Anger-associated panic attacks in Cambodian refugees with PTSD; a multiple baseline examination of clinical data.

Despite the increasing recognition of the importance of anger as a key aspect of post-traumatic stress disorder (PTSD), the presence of anger-induced panic attacks has been understudied in traumatized groups. The present investigation determines the prevalence of anger-associated panic attacks among Cambodian refugees suffering from PTSD. Specific characteristics of these episodes that were examined included frequency, symptoms, and cognitions (in particular, fear of death from bodily dysfunction). In a survey of 100 Khmer patients suffering PTSD, 58% reported anger-associated panic attacks in the last month. These attacks occurred at a mean rate of 6.2 attacks a month and were characterized by extreme arousal and in 81% of these cases, fears of death due to bodily dysfunction during the anger-induced panic. Mechanisms for this high rate of fear of death during anger arousal are discussed with a focus on culture-specific catastrophic cognitions.

Demographic, family, and occupational characteristics associated with major depression: the Harvard study of moods and cycles.

OBJECTIVE: This study assesses the extent to which women with and without major depression differ by demographic, familial, and occupational characteristics. METHOD: From a community-based sample, the authors identified 332 women with and 644 women without current or past major depression based on Structured Clinical Interviews for DSM-IV. Demographic and background interviews were conducted in-person. RESULTS: Depressed women were more likely to have gained >or =35 lbs between age 18 and study enrollment (OR=1.6, 95% CI 1.1-2.5), experienced divorce (OR=2.0, 95% CI 1.4-2.8), or changed occupations (OR=1.5, 95% CI 1.1-2.1) compared with non-depressed women. Compared with women with no brothers, those with > or =1 brothers were less likely to have a history of depression (OR=0.8, 95% CI 0.6-1.1), whereas compared with women with no sisters, those with > or =1 sisters were more likely to have current or past depression (OR=1.4, 95% CI 1.0-1.9). These findings were not influenced by family sibship size. CONCLUSION: These results illustrate demographic differences between women with and without major depression and that sibship gender rather than size may also influence risk.

Benzodiazepine discontinuation difficulties in panic disorder: conceptual model and outcome for cognitive-behavior therapy.

There is consistent support for the efficacy of cognitive-behavior therapy (CBT) to aid the successful discontinuation of benzodiazepine (BZ) medication in patients with panic disorder, and help these individuals maintain treatment gains while off medication. In this article, we provide a conceptual model for BZ discontinuation difficulties in patients with panic disorder. Outcome studies are reviewed, and are placed in the context of other evidence for the efficacy of CBT in patients with this disorder.

Characteristics of women with premenstrual dysphoric disorder (PMDD) who did or did not report history of depression: a preliminary report from the Harvard Study of Moods and Cycles.

We examined the characteristics of 33 women with a diagnosis of premenstrual dysphoric disorder (PMDD) who did (n = 19) or did not (n = 14) report a history of major depression. Five hundred thirteen older premenopausal women (ages 36-44) from a community-based sample completed a prospective evaluation of PMDD with daily records. The diagnosis of PMDD was confirmed in 33 women (6.3%), and 14 subjects met criteria for PMDD with no history of depression. Demographic characteristics, cigarette smoking, and menstrual and reproductive history of subjects with PMDD who did or did not report a history of depression were compared. Women with PMDD and no history of depression were more educated and more frequently had a marital disruption (p < 0.05). No significant differences were observed with respect to reproduction-related characteristics or past cigarette smoking. These preliminary data suggest the existence of characteristics particularly related to women who meet criteria for PMDD and have no history of depression. Given the significant psychosocial impairment commonly associated with PMDD symptoms and the existing data that support its classification and adequate treatment as a distinct clinical entity, further studies are needed to better identify predictors of this syndrome unrelated to a lifetime history of depression.

Childhood history of anxiety disorders among adults with social phobia: rates, correlates, and comparisons with patients with panic disorder.

We examined the rates and correlates of a childhood history of anxiety disorders in 100 adults with a primary diagnosis of social phobia (social anxiety disorder). Adulthood and childhood disorders were assessed by experienced clinicians with structured clinical interviews. Rates of childhood anxiety disorders were evaluated to diagnostic comorbidity and a comparison group of patients with panic disorder. Onset of social phobia occurred before age 18 in 80% of the sample. Over half of the sample (54%) met criteria for one or more childhood anxiety disorders other than social phobia: 47% for overanxious disorder, 25% for avoidant disorder, 13% for separation anxiety disorder, and 1% for childhood agoraphobia. A history of childhood anxiety was associated with an early age of onset of social phobia, greater severity of fear and avoidance of social situations, greater fears of negative evaluation, and greater anxiety and depression morbidity. Rates of childhood social phobia, overanxious disorder, and avoidant disorder were significantly higher in patients with social phobia relative to our panic-disordered comparison group. We found approximately equal rates of a childhood history of separation anxiety disorder in patients with social phobia and panic disorder, providing further evidence against a unique relationship between separation anxiety disorder and panic disorder.

An effect-size analysis of the relative efficacy and tolerability of serotonin selective reuptake inhibitors for panic disorder.

OBJECTIVE: Serotonin selective reuptake inhibitors (SSRIs) are now considered the first-line pharmacotherapy for panic disorder. The preferential use and the presumption of greater tolerability of SSRIs relative to older agents, such as tricyclic antidepressants, occurred without direct comparisons between the two classes of medication. In this study the authors used an effect-size analysis to provide an initial comparison. METHOD: The authors conducted an effect-size analysis of 12 placebo-controlled, efficacy trials of SSRIs for panic disorder and compared these results to findings obtained in a recent meta-analysis of non-SSRI treatments for panic disorder. RESULTS: The mean effect size for acute treatment outcome for SSRIs relative to placebo was 0.55, not significantly different from that for antidepressants in general (0.55) and for imipramine in particular (0.48). More recent studies of SSRIs, and studies using larger samples, were associated with lower effect sizes. No significant differences were found in dropout rates between those taking SSRIs and those taking older agents during acute treatment. CONCLUSIONS: An effect-size analysis of controlled studies of treatments for panic disorder revealed no significant differences between SSRIs and older antidepressants in terms of efficacy or tolerability in short-term trials. An inverse relationship was evident between sample size and effect size for SSRIs. Early studies of small samples may have led to initial overestimations of the efficacy of SSRIs for panic disorder.

Prevalence of body dysmorphic disorder in a community sample of women.

OBJECTIVE: In a large population-based study, the authors examined the prevalence and correlates of body dysmorphic disorder, a debilitating and chronic condition characterized by an imagined defect in appearance. METHOD: Rates and diagnostic correlates of body dysmorphic disorder were examined by using data from the Harvard Study of Moods and Cycles. This study used in-person structured clinical interviews to characterize the diagnostic status of a population-based, cross-sectional sample of 318 depressed and 658 nondepressed women between the ages of 36 and 44 who were selected from seven Boston metropolitan area communities. RESULTS: The presence of body dysmorphic disorder was significantly associated with the presence of major depression and anxiety disorders. The authors estimated the overall point prevalence of body dysmorphic disorder as 0.7% in women in this age range in the community. CONCLUSIONS: The authors found that the presence of body dysmorphic disorder was linked to the presence of major depression and anxiety disorders, which is similar to findings in clinical studies. Their estimate of the point prevalence of body dysmorphic disorder is consistent with data from a community-based sample of Italian women and suggests a prevalence similar to that of other serious psychiatric disorders in women (e.g., schizophrenia and drug abuse and dependence). These prevalence data encourage the further development of treatment options for this debilitating condition.

The anxiety sensitivity index: item analysis and suggestions for refinement.

Anxiety sensitivity is the fear of anxiety-related sensations, and is measured by the 16-item Anxiety Sensitivity Index (ASI). Despite the popularity and utility of the ASI in research, a number of studies have provided evidence for the inadequacy of several items, and item-to-scale correlations for the ASI have not been published. In this study, a converging set of analyses to evaluate the item adequacy and factor structure of the ASI was used. The results of these multiple analyses converged nicely suggesting that Items 1, 5, 7, 8, and 13 should be considered for removal from the instrument. The impact of removing these problematic items from the scale was explored through the reanalysis of data from 3 previously published studies that compared the original ASI with the new 11-item version (the ASI minus the 5 problematic items). The results of these analyses suggest that the 2 scales function comparably in many respects but that the new version may be a more precise measure of anxiety sensitivity. The 11-item ASI appears to tap 2 primary aspects of anxiety sensitivity: fears of somatic sensations of anxiety and fears of loss of mental control. Suggestions for further development of the ASI are offered.

The voice of emotional memory: content-filtered speech in panic disorder, social phobia, and major depressive disorder.

We asked patients with either panic disorder, social phobia, or major depressive disorder and healthy control participants to describe their most frightening experience and to describe an emotionally neutral experience. Both fear and neutral autobiographical memories were audiotaped and processed through a low-pass filter that eliminated frequencies above 400 Hz, thereby abolishing semantic content but leaving paralinguistic aspects like rate, pitch, and loudness intact, and these convey emotional cues. Raters blind to content and diagnosis rated the content-filtered speech clips on emotional dimensions. The results revealed that content-filtered fear memories received significantly higher ratings on anxious, aroused, and dominant (but not sad or negative) scales than did content-filtered neutral memories, irrespective of the diagnostic status of the speaker. Content-filtered speech appears promising as an on-line probe of emotional processing during accessing of autobiographical memories.

Cognitive-behavioral therapy for social anxiety disorder.

Research on the treatment of SAD has progressed so that patients have a choice between two empirically supported modalities of treatment: (1) CBT and (2) pharmacotherapy. Current studies suggest that acute outcome for these treatments is approximately equal, or show subtle advantages for pharmacotherapy, but that CBT offers the advantage of strong maintenance of treatment gains and a relatively promising cost-benefit ratio. Despite this good news, there is concern that these modalities of treatment may be underutilized in clinical practice and that an informed choice of which modality of treatment to pursue may be limited by the availability of experienced cognitive-behavioral therapists who treat SAD.

Two strategies to increase adherence to HIV antiretroviral medication: life-steps and medication monitoring.

Advances in the medical treatment of HIV have made it clear that adherence to highly active antiretroviral treatment is a crucial feature for treatment success. The present paper had two goals: (1) to examine psychosocial predictors of adherence in persons receiving HIV antiretroviral therapy; (2) to compared two minimal-treatment interventions to increase HIV medication adherence in a subset of persons who self-reported less than perfect adherence. One of the interventions, Life-Steps, is a single-session intervention utilizing cognitive-behavioral, motivational interviewing, and problem-solving techniques. The other intervention, self-monitoring, utilizes a pill-diary and an adherence questionnaire alone. Significant correlates of adherence included depression, social support, adherence self-efficacy, and punishment beliefs about HIV. Depression was a significant unique predictor of adherence over and above the other variables. Both interventions yielded improvement in adherence from baseline, and the Life-Steps intervention showed faster improvements in adherence for persons with extant adherence problems.

Cognitive-behavior therapy for discontinuation of SSRI treatment of panic disorder: a case series.

In this report we describe the outcome of eight outpatients with panic disorder and agoraphobia who discontinued their treatment with a selective serotonin reuptake inhibitor (SSRI) in the context of a structured, group program of cognitive-behavior therapy. All patients successfully discontinued their SSRI medication while demonstrating clinical improvement. These results were maintained at 3-month follow-up. This case series suggests that manualized CBT for discontinuation of benzodiazepine treatment for panic disorder may be successfully applied to SSRI discontinuation as well.

Reliability and validity of a structured interview guide for the Hamilton Anxiety Rating Scale (SIGH-A).

The Hamilton Anxiety Rating Scale, a widely used clinical interview assessment tool, lacks instructions for administration and clear anchor points for the assignment of severity ratings. We developed a Structured Interview Guide for the Hamilton Anxiety Scale (SIGH-A) and report on a study comparing this version to the traditional form of this scale. Experienced interviewers from three Anxiety Disorders research sites conducted videotaped interviews using both traditional and structured instruments in 89 participants. A subset of the tapes was co-rated by all raters. Participants completed self-report symptom questionnaires. We observed high inter-rater and test-retest reliability using both formats. The structured format produced similar but consistently higher (+ 4.2) scores. Correlation with a self-report measure of overall anxiety was also high and virtually identical for the two versions. We conclude that in settings where extensive training is not practical, the structured scale is an acceptable alternative to the traditional Hamilton Anxiety instrument.

Is age at symptom onset associated with severity of memory impairment in adults with obsessive-compulsive disorder?

OBJECTIVE: Age at onset is a potentially important marker for neurobiological features of obsessive-compulsive disorder (OCD). This study examined the relationship between age at symptom onset and memory impairment in adults with OCD. METHOD: The authors used the Rey-Osterrieth Complex Figure Test and the California Verbal Learning Test to compare memory functioning of 37 adult OCD patients with self-reported childhood onset of symptoms (onset at less than 18 years of age) with that of 31 patients with adult-onset symptoms. RESULTS: No differences were found between the two groups on any of the verbal and nonverbal memory measures. CONCLUSIONS: Self-reported age at symptom onset is not associated with memory performance in adult patients with OCD according to tests previously found to be sensitive to frontal-striatal system dysfunction and impairment in OCD. Such dysfunction appears to be a consistent feature of OCD in adults, regardless of age at initial symptom onset.

Psychosocial approaches to suicide prevention: applications to patients with bipolar disorder.

Hopelessness, dysfunctional attitudes, and poor problem-solving abilities are psychosocial risk factors that have been identified as predictors of suicide. These psychosocial risk factors may help clinicians apply specific therapies and treatments to patients with bipolar disorder at risk for suicide. A search of the literature on suicide prevention revealed 17 randomized, controlled studies, which the authors reviewed to determine the efficacy of strategies aimed at eliminating psychosocial risk factors for suicide. Three strategies emerged as efficacious: (1) applying interventions to elicit emergency care by patients at times of distress; (2) training in problem-solving strategies; and (3) combining comprehensive interventions that include problem solving with intensive rehearsal of cognitive, social, emotional-labeling, and distress-tolerance skills. On the basis of their review of the literature, the authors make recommendations for suicide prevention for patients with bipolar disorder.

Reliability and validity of a scoring system for measuring organizational approach in the Complex Figure Test.

The Rey-Osterrieth Complex Figure Test (RCFT) is a widely-used measure of visuospatial construction and nonverbal memory. One of the critical aspects of this test is that organizing the figure into meaningful perceptual units during copy enhances its subsequent free recall from memory. This study examined the psychometric properties of a new system for quantifying the organizational approach to the RCFT figure and compared it to another compatible scoring system. We investigated interrater reliability of both systems and explored the influences of copy organization and copy accuracy on immediate recall. Seventy-one participants meeting DSM-IV criteria for obsessive-compulsive disorder and 55 healthy control participants completed the copy and immediate free recall condition of the RCFT. Interrater reliability was evaluated by Kappa coefficients and Pearson correlations. The effects of copy organization and copy accuracy on immediate recall were evaluated using multiple regression analyses. Results indicated that the organizational approach could be assessed with high reliability using both scoring systems. Organization during copy was a strong predictor for subsequent free recall from memory using both approaches. Multiple regression analysis indicated that all organizational elements were not equally predictive of memory performance. This new system represents a very simple and reliable approach to scoring organization on the RCFT, since it requires the identification of only 5 figure components. These characteristics should contribute to its clinical utility.

A comparison of the efficacy of clonazepam and cognitive-behavioral group therapy for the treatment of social phobia.

There is a growing body of evidence that social phobia may be treated effectively by either pharmacologic or cognitive-behavioral interventions. but few studies have examined the relative benefits of these treatments. In this study, we examined the relative efficacy of pharmacotherapy with clonazepam and cognitive-behavioral group therapy (CBGT) for treating social phobia. In addition, we examined potential predictors of differential treatment response. Outpatients meeting Diagnostic and Statistical Manual of Mental Disorders (3rd ed., revised) criteria for social phobia were randomly assigned to treatment. Clinician-rated and patient-rated symptom severity was examined at baseline and after 4, 8, and 12 weeks of treatment. All clinician-rated assessments were completed by individuals blind to treatment condition. Patients in both conditions improved significantly, and differences between treatment conditions were absent, except for greater improvement on clonazepam on several measures at the 12-week assessment. Symptom severity was negatively associated with treatment success for both methods of treatment, and additional predictors-sex, comorbidity with other anxiety or mood disorders, fear of anxiety symptoms, and dysfunctional attitudes-failed to predict treatment outcome above and beyond severity measures. In summary, we found that patients randomized to clinical care with clonazepam or CBGT were equally likely to respond to acute treatment, and pretreatment measures of symptom severity provided no guidance for the selection of one treatment over another.