Impulsiveness and Emotional Dysregulation as Stable Features in Borderline Personality Disorder Outpatients Over Time.

Large-scale longitudinal studies show that specific borderline personality disorder (BPD) symptoms are more likely to remit over time, suggesting that clinical features of BPD may vary between younger patients and older ones. The objective of the present report is to provide a direct comparison between younger (age 18-25 years; n = 44) and older (age 40-59 years; n = 49) BPD patients on the nine DSM-4 BPD criteria (self-harm, emotional dysregulation, impulsiveness, and work and social functioning). Younger and older patients reported similar levels of impulsiveness, emotional dysregulation, and work and social functional impairment. Younger adults were more likely to show anger and self-damaging behaviors compared with older patients, which in turn were more likely to endorse chronic emptiness. In conclusion, older patients with BPD are still impaired in impulsiveness, emotional regulation, and social functioning; treatments for older BPD population should be long term and focused on emotion dysregulation and impulsive behaviors.

Suicide mortality risk in a cohort of individuals treated for alcohol, heroin or cocaine abuse: Results of a follow-up study.

Cohort study. This follow-up study (from 1975 to 2016) was aimed to estimate the mortality risk for suicide in a cohort of patients presenting to a public treatment centre for addiction (SERD) with Alcohol Use Disorder (AUD), Heroin Use Disorder - HUD or Cocaine Use Disorder (CUD), also relating to their access to a Mental Heath Service. Crude Mortality Rates for suicide were higher for patients with AUDs, for men and subjects 45-64 years old. Hanging was the main cause of suicide death. We highlight an increase in mortality in the period 2009-2012, which coincides with the economic recession, and in the year of first contact with a SERD. The Standardized Mortality Ratios (SMRs) were 4.9, higher among females than males. From the multivariate analysis, a higher risk for patients that were separated or divorced was observed. The results of our study provide some guidance on the features of subjects at greatest risk of death from suicide, which may be useful in reducing and preventing suicide and gaining a better clinical management of patients with SUDs.

Plasma concentrations of risperidone and olanzapine during coadministration with oxcarbazepine.

PURPOSE: Oxcarbazepine (OZC) is a second-generation antiepileptic drug (AED) that also may be used as a mood stabilizer. Unlike carbamazepine (CBZ), which is an inducer of the cytochrome P-450 isoforms and may accelerate the elimination of several therapeutic agents, OXC seems to have only a modest inducing action. The aim of this investigation was to evaluate the effect of a treatment with OXC on plasma concentrations of the new antipsychotics risperidone and olanzapine. METHODS: OXC, at a dosage of 900-1,200 mg/day, was administered for 5 consecutive weeks to 25 outpatients, 10 men and 15 women, aged 25 to 64 years, with bipolar or schizoaffective disorder. Twelve patients were stabilized on risperidone therapy (2-6 mg/day) and 13 on olanzapine (5-20 mg/day). Steady-state plasma concentrations of risperidone and its active metabolite 9-hydroxyrisperidone (9-OH-risperidone) and olanzapine were measured by high-pressure liquid chromatography (HPLC) before addition of OXC and after 5 weeks from the start of adjunctive treatment. RESULTS: OXC caused only minimal and no significant changes in the mean plasma levels of risperidone (from 5.6 +/- 3.6 ng/ml at baseline to 4.8 +/- 2.6 ng/ml at week 5), 9-OH-risperidone (from 23.6 +/- 7.5 to 24.7 +/- 7.4 ng/ml), and olanzapine (from 26.5 +/- 5.7 ng/ml at baseline to 27.8 +/- 5.1 ng/ml). OXC coadministration with either risperidone or olanzapine was well tolerated. CONCLUSIONS: Our findings indicate that OXC does not affect the elimination of risperidone and olanzapine, thus confirming its weak inducing effect on hepatic drug-metabolizing enzymes.