Negative life events and stress sensitivity in youth's daily life: an ecological momentary assessment study.

PURPOSE: Negative life events (LEs) are associated with mental health problems in youth. However, little is known about underlying mechanisms. The aim of the study was to investigate whether exposure to LEs modifies stress sensitivity in youth's daily life. METHODS: Ecological Momentary Assessment (EMA) was used to assess stress sensitivity (i.e., association of momentary stress with (i) negative affect and (ii) psychotic experiences) in 99 adolescents and young adults (42 service users, 17 siblings, and 40 controls; Mage 15 years). Before EMA, exposure to LEs (e.g., intrusive threats, experience of loss, serious illness) was assessed. RESULTS: Lifetime as well as previous-year exposure to LEs modified stress sensitivity in service users: they experienced more intense negative affect and psychotic experiences in response to stress when high vs. low exposure levels were compared. In contrast, controls showed no differences in stress sensitivity by exposure levels. Looking at specific types of LEs, controls showed less intense negative affect in response to stress when high vs. low exposure levels to threatening events during the last year, but not lifetime exposure, were compared. In siblings, no evidence was found that LEs modified stress sensitivity. CONCLUSION: Stress sensitivity may constitute a putative risk mechanism linking LEs and mental health in help-seeking youth, while unfavourable effects of LEs on stress sensitivity may attenuate over time or do not occur in controls and siblings. Targeting individuals' sensitivity to stress in daily life using novel digital interventions may be a promising approach towards improving youth mental health.

Bullying victimization and stress sensitivity in help-seeking youth: findings from an experience sampling study.

Bullying victimization confers the risk for developing various mental disorders, but studies investigating candidate mechanisms remain scarce, especially in the realm of youth mental health. Elevated stress sensitivity may constitute a mechanism linking bullying victimization and mental health problems. In the current study, we aimed to investigate whether exposure to bullying victimization amplifies stress sensitivity in youth's daily life. The Experience Sampling Method (ESM) was used to measure stress sensitivity [i.e. the association of momentary stress with (i) negative affect and (ii) psychotic experiences] in 42 help-seeking youths (service users), 17 siblings, and 40 comparison subjects (mean age 15 years). Before ESM assessments, bullying victimization at school as well as various psychopathological domains (i.e. depression, anxiety, psychosis) were assessed. Service users exposed to high levels of overall (primary hypotheses) as well as specific types (secondary hypotheses; physical and indirect, but not verbal) of bullying victimization experienced more intense negative affect and psychotic experiences in response to stress compared to those with low exposure levels (all p < 0.05), whereas, in contrast, controls showed either less intense negative affect or no marked differences in stress sensitivity by exposure levels. In siblings, a less consistent pattern of findings was observed. Findings suggest that stress sensitivity may constitute a potential risk and resilience mechanism linking bullying victimization and youth mental health. Interventions that directly target individuals' reactivity to stress by providing treatment components in real-life using mHealth tools may be a promising novel therapeutic approach.

Between being healthy and becoming comatose: the neuropsychiatric landscape of critical illness with a focus on delirium, DSM-5 and ICD-11.

BACKGROUND: One of the most important questions remaining in matters of critical illness in the year 2019 is arguably how to address the diverse neuropsychiatric complications of critical illness. MAIN TEXT: The ICD-11 and DSM-5, two of the world's leading classification systems, disagree regarding important aspects of delirium; moreover, they do not mention critical illness and its neuropsychiatric complications at all. CONCLUSIONS: It would have been desirable for the committees revising the DSM-IV-TR and ICD-10 to have joined forces in order to generate classification systems that complement each other and, moreover, that address the "The Neuro-Psychiatry of Critical Illness".

From Pediatrics to Geriatrics: Toward a Unified Standardized Screening Tool for Delirium: A Thought Experiment.

OBJECTIVE: We aim to provide evidence for our view that a single, standardized (and preferably observational) screening tool for delirium should be used in patients of all ages (children, adults, and the elderly). DATA SOURCES: To support our viewpoint, we searched, in the period February 25, 2015, to August 5, 2015, Pubmed and all the major textbooks. STUDY SELECTION: We searched PubMed using the following terms: "delirium," "screening tool," "pediatric," "adult," "elderly," "unifying," "observational," "CAPD," and "DOS." We used these terms in various combinations. DATA EXTRACTION: Abstracts were reviewed for relevance and applicability. Studies were selected by discussion between the two authors. DATA SYNTHESIS: After a comprehensive literature review, conclusions were drawn based on the strength of evidence and the most current understanding of delirium screening practices. CONCLUSIONS: The proposed screening tools (Cornell Assessment of Pediatric Delirium and Delirium Observation Screening) entail all main diagnostic criteria, and so they are conceptually valid translations of delirium into operational terms. Given the much greater overlap than difference in this neuropsychiatric context of critical illness between children on the one hand and adults and elderly on the other, we propose that these tools would be ideal as the unified standardized screening tool.

The forthcoming DSM-5, critical care medicine, and pediatric neuropsychiatry: which new concepts do we need?

Examination and comparison of the current DSM-IV-TR and the proposed revisions for the forthcoming DSM-5, with regard to neuropsychiatric aspects of critical illness, identified five important issues. These remain to be addressed in order to improve the care of critically ill patients. These are 1) sickness behavior, as part of the organic reaction types of the brain; 2) delirium in children and the "Differential Diagnosis of Mental Disorders Due to a General Medical Condition" in children; 3) catatonia; 4) regressive disorders in childhood in relation to somatic disorders (e.g., anti-NMDAR encephalitis); 5) age-related diagnostic criteria in relation to neuro-psychiatric disorders.

Anti-NMDAR encephalitis: a new, severe and challenging enduring entity.

Two girls, 15- and 17-year-old, were consecutively and involuntarily admitted to the local child and adolescent psychiatric hospital with severe first onset psychosis. Due to refractory agitation, ongoing psychosis and insomnia, catatonic features, autonomic instability and the need for one-on-one guidance, the first girl was transferred to the PICU of an academic tertiary hospital and anti-NMDA receptor encephalitis was diagnosed. Given this experience nursing staff suspected, due to similarities in the clinical presentation and course, anti-NMDA receptor encephalitis in the second girl also and this proved to be true. The main clinical features, pharmacological and non-pharmacological treatment strategies and outcomes are presented and discussed. Perhaps, one ought to suspect anti-NMDA receptor encephalitis in every case of severe first onset psychosis with catatonic features.