Frontal alpha asymmetry is associated with chronic stress and depression, but not with somatoform disorders.

Cardinal characteristics of somatoform disorders (SFDs) are worry of illness, and impaired affective processing. We used relative frontal alpha asymmetry (FAA), a method to measure functional lateralization of affective processing, to investigate psychobiological correlates of SFDs. With alpha activity being inversely related to cortical network activity, relative FAA refers to alpha activity on the right frontal lobe minus alpha activity on the left frontal lobe. Less relative left frontal activity, reflected by negative FAA scores, is associated with lower positive and greater negative affectivity, such as observed in depression. Due to its negative affective component (illness anxiety), we expected to find less relative left frontal activity pattern in SFDs, and positive associations with self-reported chronic stress and depression symptoms. We recorded resting-state EEG activity with 64 electrodes, placed in a 10-10 system in 26 patients with a primary SFD, 23 patients with a major depressive disorder and 25 healthy control participants. The groups did not differ in FAA. Nevertheless, across all participants, less relative left frontal activity was associated with chronic stress and depression symptoms. We concluded that FAA may not serve as an indicator of SFDs. As the relationship of FAA and depressive symptoms was fully mediated by chronic stress, future studies have to clarify whether the association between FAA and chronic stress may represent a shared underlying factor for the manifestation of mental health complaints, such as depression.

Duration of daily life activities in persons with and without obsessive-compulsive disorder.

Persons with obsessive-compulsive disorder (OCD) are often impaired in their daily level of functioning due to their time-consuming obsessions and/or compulsions. To date, however, studies are lacking that quantify how much time persons with OCD actually spend on activities of daily living. Therefore, the current study assessed 13 daily life activities (in minutes) with a self-report questionnaire in 299 persons with OCD at admission to inpatient treatment and 300 age- and sex-matched persons without OCD. A majority of persons with OCD indicated that they experienced obsessions and/or compulsions when leaving (84%) and cleaning (70%) the apartment, grocery shopping (66%), changing clothes (66%), and showering with (62%) and without (63%) shampooing. Persons with OCD who experienced obsessions and/or compulsions during a given daily life activity-but not those who did not experience obsessions and/or compulsions during these activities-reported longer durations for performing 10 of the 13 activities than persons without OCD. For most activities, longer durations related weakly but significantly to higher OCD symptom severity. Results indicate that the duration of daily life activities seems to depend more on whether persons with OCD experience obsessions and/or compulsions during a specific activity and less on whether a person is diagnosed with OCD in general. Future studies may use other assessment methods that allow for tracking the duration in daily life in real time.

Effectiveness of One Videoconference-Based Exposure and Response Prevention Session at Home in Adjunction to Inpatient Treatment in Persons With Obsessive-Compulsive Disorder: Nonrandomized Study.

BACKGROUND: Therapist-guided exposure and response prevention (ERP) for the treatment of obsessive-compulsive disorder (OCD) is frequently conducted within clinical settings but rarely at places where patients are usually confronted with OCD symptom-provoking situations in daily life (eg, at home). OBJECTIVE: This study aimed to investigate patients' views on 1 ERP session at home via videoconference and its impact on treatment outcome. METHODS: A total of 64 inpatients with OCD received 1 session of therapist-guided videoconference-based ERP at home in adjunction to a multimodal inpatient treatment between 2015 and 2020. RESULTS: Compared with 64 age- and sex-matched controls who received a multimodal inpatient treatment without 1 session of videoconference-based ERP at home, patients who received 1 session of videoconference-based ERP in adjunction to a multimodal inpatient treatment showed stronger reductions in OCD symptom severity from admission to discharge. Before the videoconference-based ERP session, patients reported high rationale credibility and treatment expectancy. After the videoconference-based ERP session, patients reported medium-to-high positive mood as well as depth and smoothness of the session, and they perceived the working alliance as high. CONCLUSIONS: Results highlight the importance of administering therapist-guided ERP sessions in patients' natural environment to enhance treatment response in OCD. Videoconference-based ERP as add-on to treatment as usual is, therefore, a promising approach to facilitate the application of ERP in patients' natural environment and foster the generalization of ERP conducted in clinical settings.

[Treatment-resistant obsessive-compulsive disorders]. / Therapieresistente Zwangsstörungen.

BACKGROUND: Obsessive-compulsive disorders (OCD) are mainly treated with disorder-specific cognitive behavioral therapy using exposure and response management and/or selective serotonin reuptake inhibitors; however, a significant subgroup of patients does not sufficiently benefit from this approach. OBJECTIVE: This article provides an overview of treatment-resistant OCD. MATERIAL AND METHODS: In this narrative review the definition, causes, diagnostic and therapeutic approaches to treatment-resistant OCD are addressed. RESULTS: Treatment resistance can be assumed in the absence of clinically relevant improvement under therapy, in the sense of a reduction of < 25% on the Yale-Brown obsessive-compulsive scale and a score of 4 (no change) on the clinical global impression-improvement scale. The number of unsuccessful treatment attempts required to establish treatment resistance is defined differently. Causative factors include misdiagnosis, a high severity, comorbid disorders, substance use, specific symptom constellations, organic causes, environmental factors, and aggravating factors in psychotherapy and pharmacotherapy. Suggestions for diagnostic and therapeutic approaches based on the German S3 guideline on OCD are presented. CONCLUSION: For patients with treatment resistance to first-line therapy, useful diagnostic and therapeutic recommendations are available (psychotherapeutic, psychopharmacological and neurostimulation procedures).

Neuronal correlates of intensification and acceptance of symptoms during exposure therapy in patients with obsessive-compulsive disorder.

Introduction: Cognitive behaviour therapy with exposure and response prevention is efficient in treating patients with obsessive-compulsive disorder (OCD). Nevertheless, it would be helpful for many patients to complement the therapeutic treatment with acceptance strategies to further increase the therapeutic benefit. The aim of the present study was to examine neurobiological responses to acceptance and intensification strategies during symptom provocation alongside the psychotherapeutic process. Method: A total of 23 patients diagnosed with OCD (subtype: washing/contamination fear) was instructed to utilise either an acceptance strategy (ACS) or an intensification strategy (INS) to cope with their emotional and cognitive reactions to personalised symptom-triggering and neutral pictures. Fourteen patients participated twice: at the beginning [T1] and at the end [T2] of an inpatient multimodal treatment including cognitive behaviour therapy with response prevention to assess functional variations. Results: For the contrast of T1 and T2, ACS showed increased brain activity in the left inferior frontal gyrus (IFG), left caudate body, and posterior cingulate gyrus (PCC). They also showed decreased activity in the left anterior insula. INS showed decreased activation in right lingual gyrus and right caudate body. At T2, ACS showed increased activation compared to INS in the left cerebrum: IFG, caudate nucleus, middle and superior temporal gyrus, and PCC/cuneus. For the comparison of T1 and T2, the ACS revealed increased brain activity in the left IFG, left caudate body, and right inferior parietal lobe. It showed decreased activity in the left anterior insula. The INS revealed decreased activity in right lingual gyrus and right caudate body.The psychometric questionnaires suggested that patients were able to reduce obsession, compulsion, and depression symptoms. Furthermore, patients rated the ACS as more useful for themselves compared with the INS. Conclusion: The increased left IFG activity using ACS (T1 vs. T2) could be interpreted as a better inhibitory top-down process, while the increased PCC response might be due to a better reappraisal strategy after therapy. ACS seems to mobilise neuronal activations under therapy, especially in the left hemisphere. Both strategies showed reductions in emotional networks as a neuronal correlate of therapy success. Overall, ACS may be more efficient than INS, as rated by the patients and as in accordance with neurobiological findings.

Pathways between Child Maltreatment, Psychological Symptoms, and Life Satisfaction: A Network Analysis in Adolescent Inpatients.

Child maltreatment is a risk factor for mental disorders and decreased life satisfaction during adolescence. We investigated whether child maltreatment would link to life satisfaction both directly and through psychological symptoms, whether these relations would change from admission to discharge after treatment, and which types of maltreatment, symptoms and facets of life satisfaction would be most influential in adolescent inpatients with internalizing mental disorders. N = 896 adolescent receiving inpatient psychotherapeutic treatment completed questionnaires on child maltreatment experiences, current psychopathology and subjective life satisfaction at admission and discharge (n = 765). Main diagnoses were affective (n = 322), eating (n = 447), obsessive-compulsive (n = 70) and anxiety disorders (n = 57). Network models of child maltreatment, psychopathology and life satisfaction nodes were estimated at admission and discharge and compared using network comparison tests. Potential causal shortest pathways were investigated using directed acyclic graphs.Network models were stable with no significant differences between admission and discharge. Strongest nodes of each cluster were "emotional abuse" (child maltreatment), "worthlessness", "thinking about dying" and "feeling lonely" (psychopathology) and "satisfied with life" (life satisfaction) at both admission and discharge. Emotional neglect showed direct connections to life satisfaction, indicating its relevance for therapeutic interventions. At both admission and discharge, "sexual abuse" indirectly predicted lower life satisfaction through psychological symptoms. In conclusion, child maltreatment is directly and indirectly connected to life satisfaction in adolescents with mental disorders. Emotional abuse and neglect were especially important in linking child maltreatment to life satisfaction and psychopathology.

Cutoff scores of the Eating Disorder Examination-Questionnaire for the German population.

OBJECTIVE: The Eating Disorder Examination-Questionnaire (EDE-Q) is one of the most widely used self-report measures for the assessment of eating disorder (ED) symptomatology. However, proposed cutoff scores that may indicate the presence of an ED have been heterogeneous. Therefore, the current study derived cutoff scores from two large samples: one representative for the German population and one composed of persons with EDs at admission to inpatient treatment. METHOD: Receiver operating characteristic analysis was used with the EDE-Q global score as independent variable and group (controls: n = 2519, patients: n = 2038) as dependent variable. These analyses were also conducted separately with the patient group divided into persons with anorexia nervosa (AN; n = 1456), bulimia nervosa (BN; n = 370), and other EDs (n = 212) and after matching groups for age and sex distribution. RESULTS: The EDE-Q global score discriminated well between controls and patients (AUC >91%, sensitivity >.84, specificity >.79). A score of 1.6 discriminated best between controls and patients in general and persons with AN in particular. Optimal thresholds for discriminating between controls and persons with BN and other EDs ranged between scores of 1.8 and 2.4. DISCUSSION: In the German population, cutoff scores between 1.6 and 2.4 may be used to screen for the presence or absence of an ED or evaluate treatment outcome, with slightly higher cutoff scores for persons with BN and other EDs than for persons with AN. PUBLIC SIGNIFICANCE: Questionnaire scores have little value when it is unclear which scores indicate the likely presence of an ED, as such scores can be used to estimate the prevalence of or screen for EDs in the general population and evaluate outcome at the end of ED treatment. The current study indicates a score around 2 on the EDE-Q as an optimal threshold for this.

Efficacy of a therapist-guided smartphone-based intervention to support recovery from bulimia nervosa: Study protocol of a randomized controlled multi-centre trial.

OBJECTIVE: Although inpatient treatment is highly effective for patients with bulimia nervosa (BN), some patients show a resurgence of symptoms and relapse after discharge. Therefore, the aim of this study is to evaluate the efficacy of a guided smartphone-based aftercare intervention following inpatient treatment to support recovery. METHOD: 172 female patients with BN (DSM-5: 307.51) will be randomized to receive a 16-week smartphone-based aftercare intervention (German version of 'Recovery Record') with therapist feedback as an add-on element to treatment as usual (TAU) or TAU alone. Assessments will take place at baseline (discharge, T0), during the intervention (after 4 weeks, T1), post-intervention (after 16 weeks, T2) and at 6-month follow-up (T3). Primary outcome will be remission at T2. Moderator and mediator analyses will investigate for whom the aftercare intervention suits best and how it works. CONCLUSIONS: This is the first randomized controlled trial to examine a guided smartphone-based aftercare intervention following inpatient treatment of patients with BN. We expect that this innovative aftercare intervention is highly accepted by the patients and that it has the potential to support recovery after inpatient treatment and thereby could contribute to improving aftercare for patients with BN.

Improving Mild to Moderate Depression With an App-Based Self-Guided Intervention: Protocol for a Randomized Controlled Trial.

BACKGROUND: Depression is one of the most prevalent mental disorders and frequently co-occurs with other mental disorders. Despite the high direct and indirect costs to both individuals and society, more than 80% of those diagnosed with depression remain with their primary care physician and do not receive specialized treatment. Self-guided digital interventions have been shown to improve depression and, due to their scalability, have a large potential public health impact. Current digital interventions often focus on specific disorders, while recent research suggests that transdiagnostic approaches are more suitable. OBJECTIVE: This paper presents the protocol for a study that aims to assess the efficacy of a self-guided transdiagnostic app-based self-management intervention in patients with mild or moderate depression with and without comorbid mental disorders. Specifically, we are investigating the impact of the intervention on symptoms of depression, quality of life, anxiety symptoms, and mental health-related patient empowerment and self-management skills. METHODS: The intervention under investigation, MindDoc with Prescription, is a self-guided digital intervention aimed at supporting individuals with mild to moderate mental disorders from the internalizing spectrum, including depression. The app can be used as a low-threshold psychosocial intervention. Up to 570 adult patients will be randomized to either receive the intervention in addition to care as usual or only care as usual. We are including adults with a permanent residency in Germany and mild or moderate depression according to International Classification of Diseases, 10th Revision, criteria (F32.0, F32.1, F33.0, and F33.1). Clinical interviews will be conducted to confirm the diagnosis. Data will be collected at baseline as well as 8 weeks and 6 months after randomization. The primary outcome will be depression symptom severity after 8 weeks. Secondary outcomes will be quality of life, anxiety symptom severity, and patient empowerment and self-management behaviors. Data will be analyzed using multiple imputations, using the intention-to-treat principle, while sensitivity analyses will be based on additional imputation strategies and a per-protocol analysis. RESULTS: Recruitment for the trial started on February 7, 2023, and the first participant was randomized on February 14, 2023. As of September 5, 2023, 275 participants have been included in the trial and 176 have provided the primary outcome. The rate of missing values in the primary outcome is approximately 20%. CONCLUSIONS: Data from this efficacy trial will be used to establish whether access to the intervention is associated with an improvement in depression symptoms in individuals diagnosed with mild or moderate depression. The study will contribute to expanding the evidence base on transdiagnostic digital interventions. TRIAL REGISTRATION: German Registry of Clinical Trials DRKS00030852; https://drks.de/search/de/trial/DRKS00030852. INTERNATIONAL REGISTERED REPORT IDENTIFIER (IRRID): DERR1-10.2196/46651.

Factors influencing the duration of untreated illness among patients with anorexia nervosa: A multicenter and multi-informant study.

INTRODUCTION: The duration of untreated illness (DUI), that is, the interval between the onset of anorexia nervosa (AN) symptoms and start of specialized treatments, has a strong influence on the prognosis. OBJECTIVE: To quantify modifiable predictors of the DUI and to derive recommendations for secondary prevention strategies. METHODS: Within a multicenter, multi-informant study, DUI was assessed in interviews with patients undergoing first specialized AN treatment. Modifiable factors were assessed perspectives of AN-patients, their relatives, and primary care practitioners [PCPs]) with the FABIANA-checklist (Facilitators and barriers in anorexia nervosa treatment initiation). The effect of FABIANA-items on the DUI for each perspective was calculated using Cox Regression (control variables: age, eating disorder pathology, health care status, migration background, body mass index [BMI]). RESULTS: We included data from N = 125 female patients with AN (72 adults, 53 adolescents, Mage = 19.2 years, SD = 4.2, MBMI = 15.7 kg/m2 , SD = 1.9), N = 89 relatives (81.8% female, 18.2% male, Mage = 46.0 years, SD = 11.0) and N = 40 PCPs (Mage = 49.7 years, SD = 9.0). Average DUI was 12.0 months. Watching or reading articles about the successful treatment of other individuals with AN (patients' perspective) and regular appointments with a PCP (PCPs' perspective) were related to a shorter DUI (HR = 0.145, p = .046/ HR = 0.395, p = .018). Patients whose relatives rated that PCPs trivialized patients' difficulties had a longer DUI (HR = -0.147, p = .037). PCPs and relatives rated PCPs' competence higher than patients did. DISCUSSION: It is recommended (a) to incorporate treatment success stories in prevention strategies, (b) to inform PCPs about potential benefits of regular appointments during the transition to specialized care, and (c) to train PCPs in dealing with patients' complaints. PUBLIC SIGNIFICANCE: Many individuals with AN seek treatment very late. Our study shows that a promising approach to facilitate earlier AN treatment is to inform patients about successful treatments of affected peers, to foster regular appointments with a PCP and, to motivate these PCPs to take individuals' with AN difficulties seriously. Thus, our study provides important suggestions for interventions that aim to improve early treatment in AN.

Resilience and depressive symptoms in inpatients with depression: A cross-lagged panel model.

BACKGROUND: Resilience-the ability to bounce back or quickly recover from stress-has been found to predict treatment outcome in patients with mental disorders such as depression. The current study aimed to test whether resilience itself changes during treatment and whether resilience exclusively predicts changes in depressive symptoms or whether depressive symptoms also predict changes in resilience. METHODS: Inpatients with depression (N = 2165; average length of stay M = 60 days, SD = 32) completed the Brief Resilience Scale and the Patient Health Questionnaire Depression Scale at admission and discharge, scores of which were used to run a cross-lagged panel model. RESULTS: Resilience increased and depressive symptoms decreased from admission to discharge. Cross-sectionally, higher resilience was related to lower depressive symptoms at admission and at discharge. Prospectively, higher resilience at admission predicted stronger decreases in depressive symptoms, and higher depressive symptoms at admission predicted smaller increases in resilience. LIMITATIONS: Self-report questionnaires may potentially be biased (e.g., through recall bias, social desirability, or demand effects). CONCLUSIONS: The current study further supports that resilience is related not only to fewer mental health problems cross-sectionally but also is sensitive to change and a predictor of treatment outcome in patients with mental disorders. Given this pivotal role in mental health, the current findings highlight the importance of prevention and intervention approaches for promoting resilience in the general population and in persons with mental disorders in particular.

Inpatient Treatment Outcome in a Large Sample of Adolescents with Anorexia Nervosa.

Anorexia nervosa is an illness affecting primarily adolescent girls and young women. Clinical guidelines recommend early intervention, with inpatient treatment for more severe cases. We present an evaluation of a multi-modal cognitive-behavioral inpatient treatment (CBT-E) involving carers in specialized units for adolescents. Routine data of 962 adolescent inpatients (26 boys) (mean age 15.48 [1.26]; range 12-17 years) were analyzed. Predictors of good body weight outcome (achieving a discharge BMI of at least 18.5 kg/m2) were identified by logistic regression analysis. Mean inpatient treatment lasted 96.69 (45.96) days. The BMI increased significantly from 14.93 (1.38) kg/m2 at admission to 17.53 (1.58) kg/m2 at discharge (z = 26.41; p < 0.001; d = 1.708). Drive for thinness decreased from 29.08 (9.87) to 22.63 (9.77; z = 18.41; p < 0.001; d = 0.787). All other subscores of the Eating Disorder Inventory also decreased significantly, with small to medium effect sizes. General psychopathology also showed significant decreases. The Beck Depression Inventory-II score decreased from 26.06 (11.74) to 16.35 (12.51; z = 18.41; p < 0.001; d = 0.883). A good body weight outcome was predicted by a higher BMI at admission (OR = 1.828), age at onset at 15 years or higher (OR = 1.722), and higher Somatization (OR = 1.436), Anxiety (OR = 1.320), and Bulimia (OR = 1.029) scores. CBT-E involving carers is an efficient intervention for adolescents with anorexia nervosa.

Assessing validity of the Klenico diagnostic software system in a large psychotherapeutic inpatient sample.

Introduction: Mental disorders are often underdiagnosed in routine diagnostic procedures due to the use of unstandardized assessments; this can result in people either not receiving necessary treatment or receiving ineffective treatment for their condition. Klenico is an online diagnostic software system that facilitates diagnosis of mental disorders in adults through the use of standardized procedures. The procedure encompasses two modules, self-report and clinical validation. The current study aimed to confirm the validity of the Klenico assessment in a large clinical sample. Methods: Fully anonymized data from 495 adult inpatients were used. ICD-10 diagnoses were made during an initial interview by the clinical staff. Afterwards, patients filled out self-report questionnaires (BDI-II, BSI, EDE-Q, OCI-R, PHQ-D, and Y-BOCS) and completed the Klenico self-report module, which involves selecting and rating the severity of applicable symptoms. Finally, in the clinical validation module, mental health professionals validated the symptoms endorsed in the self-report module. Six Klenico domains were tested against patient self-reports and routine ICD-10 diagnoses by following the multitrait-multimethod approach. Internal consistency was assessed by calculating Cronbach's alpha. Results: The Klenico depressive disorders, OCD, and somatoform disorders domains revealed high correlations with the congruent questionnaires (i.e., those pertaining to these specific disorders) and revealed low correlations with the noncongruent questionnaires (i.e., those pertaining to other disorders), therefore evidencing construct validity. For the eating disorders and psychotic disorders domains, divergent validity was demonstrated. For the anxiety disorders domain, although analysis mostly indicated construct validity, this should be further confirmed. Discussion: Overall, the results largely confirmed the construct validity of the Klenico assessment, demonstrating its use as an easy-to-use, valid, standardized, and comprehensive instrument for diagnosing mental disorders.

Emotional food-cue-reactivity in anorexia nervosa and bulimia nervosa: An electroencephalography study.

OBJECTIVE: Food-cue-reactivity entails neural and experiential responses to the sight and smell of attractive foods. Negative emotions can modulate such cue-reactivity and this might be central to the balance between restrictive versus bulimic symptomatology in Anorexia Nervosa (AN) and Bulimia Nervosa (BN). METHOD: Pleasantness ratings and electrocortical responses to food images were measured in patients with AN (n = 35), BN (n = 32) and matched healthy controls (HC, n = 35) in a neutral state and after idiosyncratic negative emotion induction while electroencephalography (EEG) was recorded. The EEG data were analyzed using a mass testing approach. RESULTS: Individuals with AN showed reduced pleasantness for foods compared to objects alongside elevated widespread occipito-central food-object discrimination between 170 and 535 ms, indicative of strong neural cue-reactivity. Food-object discrimination was further increased in the negative emotional condition between 690 and 1200 ms over centroparietal regions. Neither of these effects was seen in individuals with BN. DISCUSSION: Emotion modulated food-cue-reactivity in AN might reflect a decreased appetitive response in negative mood. Such specific (emotion-)regulatory strategies require more theoretical work and clinical attention. The absence of any marked effects in BN suggests that emotional cue-reactivity might be less prominent in this group or quite specific to certain emotional contexts or food types. PUBLIC SIGNIFICANCE: Negative affectivity is a risk factor for the development of eating disorders and individuals with eating disorders experience problems with emotion regulation. To better understand the effects of negative emotions, the present study investigated how they affected neural correlates of food perception in anorexia nervosa and bulimia nervosa.

Endocrinology of Underweight and Anorexia Nervosa.

More than any other mental illness, the course, prognosis, and therapy of anorexia nervosa are shaped by the physical changes associated with being underweight. This article provides an overview of the endocrine changes associated with malnutrition and underweight. This overview serves as a basis for understanding the other articles in this special issue, which deal with the health risks associated with being underweight. In this context, the differences between underweight in anorexia nervosa and in constitutional thinness are of particular importance in assessing the impact of intentional weight loss. In this context, the regulation of hunger and satiety deserves special interest, as this is the area in which the intentional influence on body weight comes into play. Clinical consequences on, for example, fertility, bone metabolism, the homeostasis of, for example, serum glucose levels, or body temperature have been observed for a long time; nonetheless, the medical responses, apart from vitamin supplementations and advice to gain weight, are still limited. Therefore, emphasis was placed on the potential improvement of outcomes through the administration of central or peripheral hormones. Studies were identified on PubMed via a selection of relevant keywords; original texts that were cited in reviews were studied where it was advantageous. This review found some promising data on bone health and the administration of transdermal oestrogen, which is not yet widely used, as well as distinct hormonal markers to differentiate between CT and AN. We concluded that the continuous efforts to investigate the role of endocrinology in underweight and/or anorexia nervosa lead to outcome benefits and that more and higher-powered studies are needed.

Autoantibodies in patients with obsessive-compulsive disorder: a systematic review.

Obsessive-compulsive disorder (OCD) is a frequent and debilitating mental illness. Although efficacious treatment options are available, treatment resistance rates are high. Emerging evidence suggests that biological components, especially autoimmune processes, may be associated with some cases of OCD and treatment resistance. Therefore, this systematic literature review summarizing all case reports/case series as well as uncontrolled and controlled cross-sectional studies investigating autoantibodies in patients with OCD and obsessive-compulsive symptoms (OCS) was performed. The following search strategy was used to search PubMed: "(OCD OR obsessive-compulsive OR obsessive OR compulsive) AND (antib* OR autoantib* OR auto-antib* OR immunoglob* OR IgG OR IgM OR IgA)". Nine case reports with autoantibody-associated OCD/OCS were identified: five patients with anti-neuronal autoantibodies (against N-methyl-D-aspartate-receptor [NMDA-R], collapsin response mediator protein [CV2], paraneoplastic antigen Ma2 [Ma2], voltage gated potassium channel complex [VGKC], and "anti-brain" structures) and four with autoantibodies associated with systemic autoimmune diseases (two with Sjögren syndrome, one with neuropsychiatric lupus, and one with anti-phospholipid autoantibodies). Six patients (67%) benefited from immunotherapy. In addition, eleven cross-sectional studies (six with healthy controls, three with neurological/psychiatric patient controls, and two uncontrolled) were identified with inconsistent results, but in six studies an association between autoantibodies and OCD was suggested. In summary, the available case reports suggest an association between OCD and autoantibodies in rare cases, which has been supported by initial cross-sectional studies. However, scientific data is still very limited. Thus, further studies on autoantibodies investigated in patients with OCD compared with healthy controls are needed.

Health Risk and Underweight.

Anorexia nervosa is associated with a significant risk of morbidity and mortality. In clinical practice, health risk is assessed and estimated using routinely collected laboratory data. This study will develop a risk score using clinically relevant laboratory parameters. The related question is how to estimate the health risk associated with underweight using body weight, height and age. METHODS: We used routinely collected laboratory parameters from a total of 4087 patients. The risk score was calculated on the basis of electrolytes, blood count, transaminases and LDH. The nine parameters used were summed as zlog-transformed values. Where appropriate, the scales were inverted so that high values represented higher risk. For statistical prediction of the risk score, weight/height and age reference values from the WHO, the CDC (Center of Disease Control) and representative studies of German children and adults (KIGGS and NNS) were used. RESULTS: The score calculated from nine laboratory parameters already shows a convincing relationship with BMI. Among the weight measures used for height and age, the z-score from the CDC reference population emerged as the best estimate, explaining 34% of the variance in health risk measured by the laboratory score. The percentile rank for each age-specific median weight from the KIGGS/NNS still explained more than 31% of the variance. In contrast, percentiles explained less variance than BMI without age correction. CONCLUSIONS: The score we used from routine laboratory parameters appears to be an appropriate measure for assessing the health risk associated with underweight, as measured by the quality of the association with BMI. For estimating health risk based on weight, height and age alone, z-scores and percentages of age-specific median weight, as opposed to percentiles, are appropriate parameters. However, the study also shows that existing age-specific BMI reference values do not represent risk optimally. Improved statistical estimation methods would be desirable.

Effects of acceptance-based strategies on psychological responses to disorder-relevant stimuli in inpatients with obsessive-compulsive disorder: An experimental study.

BACKGROUND AND OBJECTIVES: Preliminary findings suggest that acceptance and commitment therapy-informed exposure therapy may be an effective treatment for obsessive-compulsive disorder (OCD). However, there is a lack of experimental studies that have examined immediate effects of acceptance-based strategies during exposure to disorder-relevant stimuli in persons with OCD. METHODS: Fifty-three inpatients (64% female) with OCD participated in an experimental study during which they were exposed to obsessive-compulsive washing-relevant pictures and were instructed to either passively view these pictures for 5 s (neutral condition), to accept their feelings (acceptance condition) or to intensify their feelings (exposure condition) for 90 s each. RESULTS: The acceptance condition led to higher acceptance and lower unpleasantness of patients' current feelings compared to the neutral condition and to lower strength of obsessions and urge to perform compulsions but only when compared to the exposure condition. Higher self-reported OCD symptom severity related to higher unpleasantness and strength of obsessions, particularly in the neutral condition. LIMITATIONS: Future studies need to test whether the current findings translate to other stimuli and other forms of obsessions and compulsions. Due to the short duration, the exposure condition might have only mimicked the early phase of exposure and response prevention. CONCLUSIONS: Acceptance-based strategies during cue exposure immediately increase acceptance of and reduce unpleasant feelings. In line with the rationale of acceptance-based treatment approaches, which do not aim at immediate disorder-specific symptom reductions, effects on obsessions and compulsions may be more delayed or require repeated training sessions.

Depressive symptoms and weight change in inpatients with anorexia nervosa: A cross-lagged panel model.

OBJECTIVE: Anorexia nervosa (AN) is marked by a high rate of comorbid depression, which raises the question whether depressive symptoms may adversely affect treatment outcome. Thus, we examined whether depressive symptoms at admission would predict weight change from admission to discharge in a large sample of inpatients with AN. In addition, we also explored the reverse direction, that is, whether body mass index (BMI) at admission would predict changes in depressive symptoms. METHODS: A sample of 3011 adolescents and adults with AN (4% male) who received inpatient treatment at four Schoen Clinics was analyzed. Depressive symptoms were measured with the Patient Health Questionnaire-9. RESULTS: BMI significantly increased and depressive symptoms significantly decreased from admission to discharge. BMI and depressive symptoms were unrelated at admission and discharge. Higher BMI at admission predicted smaller decreases in depressive symptoms and higher depressive symptoms at admission predicted larger weight gain. The latter effect, however, was mediated by longer length of stay. CONCLUSION: Results indicate that depressive symptoms do not adversely affect weight gain during inpatient treatment in persons with AN. Instead, higher BMI at admission is predictive of smaller improvements in depressive symptoms but this effect seems to be negligible in terms of clinical relevance.

Comparing ICD-11 and DSM-5 eating disorder diagnoses with the Munich eating and feeding disorder questionnaire (ED-Quest).

OBJECTIVE: The new ICD-11 eating disorders (ED) guidelines are similar to the DSM-5 criteria. One difference to the DSM-5 is the inclusion of subjective binges in the definition of bulimia nervosa (BN) and binge-eating disorder (BED). The aim of this study was to identify differences between the ICD-11 guidelines and DSM-5 ED criteria, which could impact access to medical care and early treatment. METHOD: Data of 3863 ED inpatients who completed the Munich Eating and Feeding Disorder Questionnaire were analyzed using standardized diagnostic algorithms for DSM-5 and ICD-11. RESULTS: Agreement of diagnoses was high (Krippendorff's α = .88, 95% CI [.86, .89]) for anorexia nervosa (AN; 98.9%), BN (97.2%) and BED (100%), and lower for other feeding and eating disorders (OFED; 75.2%). Of the 721 patients with a DSM-5 OFED, 19.8% were diagnosed with AN, BN or BED by the ICD-11 diagnostic algorithm, reducing the number of OFED diagnoses. One-hundred and twenty-one patients received an ICD-11 diagnosis of BN or BED because of subjective binges. DISCUSSION: For over 90% of patients, applying either DSM-5 or ICD-11 diagnostic criteria/guidelines resulted in the same full-threshold ED diagnosis. Sub-threshold and feeding disorders exhibited a discrepancy of 25%. PUBLIC SIGNIFICANCE STATEMENT: For about 98% of inpatients, the ICD-11 and DSM-5 agree on the same specified eating disorder diagnosis. This is important when comparing diagnoses made by different diagnostic systems. Including subjective binges in the definition of bulimia nervosa and binge-eating disorder contributes to improved ED diagnoses. Clarifying the wording of diagnostic criteria at several places could further increase this agreement.