Transcranial Direct Current Stimulation in Obsessive-Compulsive Disorder, Posttraumatic Stress Disorder, and Anxiety Disorders.

Obsessive-compulsive disorder (OCD), posttraumatic stress disorder (PTSD), and anxiety disorders share the basic clinical feature of anxiety, which probably explains their common response to similar pharmacological and psychological interventions. Transcranial direct current stimulation (tDCS) is a neuromodulation technique that has proved effective in reducing the symptoms of a number of neuropsychiatric disorders. It was also used in healthy subjects to modulate neuropsychological processes that are involved in the pathophysiology of anxiety. We review the published studies in which tDCS was administered to patients with OCD, PTSD, or anxiety disorders. Our systematic search in the major electronic databases resulted in 14 articles for OCD, 1 for an OCD-related disorder (ie, hoarding disorder), 2 for PTSD, and 2 for anxiety disorders. In the studies involving OCD patients, tDCS was targeted to either the dorsolateral prefrontal cortex or the orbitofrontal cortex or the pre-supplementary motor area and induced a clear reduction of obsessive-compulsive symptoms. However, the lack of sham control groups and the great diversity in sample selection and tDCS protocols among studies prevent us from generalizing these results. In the studies involving PTSD and anxiety disorders patients, tDCS was applied over the dorsolateral prefrontal cortex and reduced symptoms, but the number of treated patients is too little to draw any conclusion on efficacy. However, these reports highlighted the importance of combining tDCS with different procedures, including computerized tasks and behavioral paradigms. In conclusion, even in its infancy, the use of tDCS for the treatment of OCD, PTSD, and anxiety disorders does show promise and deserves extensive research effort.

Linguistic profile automated characterisation in pluripotential clinical high-risk mental state (CHARMS) conditions: methodology of a multicentre observational study.

INTRODUCTION: Language is usually considered the social vehicle of thought in intersubjective communications. However, the relationship between language and high-order cognition seems to evade this canonical and unidirectional description (ie, the notion of language as a simple means of thought communication). In recent years, clinical high at-risk mental state (CHARMS) criteria (evolved from the Ultra-High-Risk paradigm) and the introduction of the Clinical Staging system have been proposed to address the dynamicity of early psychopathology. At the same time, natural language processing (NLP) techniques have greatly evolved and have been successfully applied to investigate different neuropsychiatric conditions. The combination of at-risk mental state paradigm, clinical staging system and automated NLP methods, the latter applied on spoken language transcripts, could represent a useful and convenient approach to the problem of early psychopathological distress within a transdiagnostic risk paradigm. METHODS AND ANALYSIS: Help-seeking young people presenting psychological distress (CHARMS+/- and Clinical Stage 1a or 1b; target sample size for both groups n=90) will be assessed through several psychometric tools and multiple speech analyses during an observational period of 1-year, in the context of an Italian multicentric study. Subjects will be enrolled in different contexts: Department of Neuroscience, Rehabilitation, Ophthalmology, Genetics, Maternal and Child Health (DINOGMI), Section of Psychiatry, University of Genoa-IRCCS Ospedale Policlinico San Martino, Genoa, Italy; Mental Health Department-territorial mental services (ASL 3-Genoa), Genoa, Italy; and Mental Health Department-territorial mental services (AUSL-Piacenza), Piacenza, Italy. The conversion rate to full-blown psychopathology (CS 2) will be evaluated over 2 years of clinical observation, to further confirm the predictive and discriminative value of CHARMS criteria and to verify the possibility of enriching them with several linguistic features, derived from a fine-grained automated linguistic analysis of speech. ETHICS AND DISSEMINATION: The methodology described in this study adheres to ethical principles as formulated in the Declaration of Helsinki and is compatible with International Conference on Harmonization (ICH)-good clinical practice. The research protocol was reviewed and approved by two different ethics committees (CER Liguria approval code: 591/2020-id.10993; Comitato Etico dell'Area Vasta Emilia Nord approval code: 2022/0071963). Participants will provide their written informed consent prior to study enrolment and parental consent will be needed in the case of participants aged less than 18 years old. Experimental results will be carefully shared through publication in peer-reviewed journals, to ensure proper data reproducibility. TRIAL REGISTRATION NUMBER: DOI:10.17605/OSF.IO/BQZTN.

Psychiatric Symptoms in Parkinson's Disease Patients before and One Year after Subthalamic Nucleus Deep Brain Stimulation Therapy: Role of Lead Positioning and Not of Total Electrical Energy Delivered.

Parkinson's disease (PD) patients may experience neuropsychiatric symptoms, including depression, anxiety, sleep disturbances, psychosis, as well as behavioral and cognitive symptoms during all the different stages of the illness. Deep Brain Stimulation (DBS) therapy has proven to be successful in controlling the motor symptoms of PD and its possible correlation with the occurrence or worsening of neuropsychiatric symptoms has been reported. We aimed to assess the neuropsychiatric symptoms of 14 PD patients before and after one year of Subthalamic Nucleus (STN)-DBS and to correlate the possible changes to the lead placement and to the total electrical energy delivered. We assessed PD motor symptoms, depression, anxiety, apathy, impulsivity, and suicidality using clinician- and/or self-administered rating scales and correlated the results to the lead position using the Medtronic SuretuneTM software and to the total electrical energy delivered (TEED). At the 12-month follow-up, the patients showed a significant improvement in PD symptoms on the UPDRS (Unified Parkinson's disease Rating Scale) (−38.5%; p < 0.001) and in anxiety on the Hamilton Anxiety Rating Scale (HAM-A) (−29%; p = 0.041), with the most significant reduction in the physiological anxiety subscore (−36.26%; p < 0.001). A mild worsening of impulsivity was detected on the Barratt Impulsiveness Scale (BIS-11) (+9%; p = 0.048), with the greatest increase in the attentional impulsiveness subscore (+13.60%; p = 0.050). No statistically significant differences were found for the other scales. No correlation was found between TEED and scales' scores, while the positioning of the stimulating electrodes in the different portions of the STN was shown to considerably influence the outcome, with more anterior and/or medial lead position negatively influencing psychiatric symptoms.

Anxiety, Depression and Risk of Post-Traumatic Stress Disorder in Health Workers: The Relationship with Burnout during COVID-19 Pandemic in Italy.

During the COVID-19 pandemic, healthcare workers (HW) have faced an extremely difficult work environment, with an increased workload and traumatic events. Our study aimed to investigate the impact of COVID-19 pandemic on HW's mental wellbeing. We analyzed the correlations between levels of burnout and other mental health disorders and we searched for the presence of specific risk factors of post-traumatic symptomatology related to the pandemic. A structured an on-line questionnaire and validated instruments were completed by a sample of HW from some hospitals in Genoa, Italy. Anxious, depressive, post-traumatic and other psychological symptoms were assessed and risk factors, related to the pandemic, were considered. Then, we investigated the correlation between levels of burnout and the risk of developing psychopathology. A total of 731 HW were screened, and we found increased levels of anxiety (61%), depression (62%), PTSD (34%) and high levels of burnout; especially emotional exhaustion (37%). A statistically significant association between burnout and insomnia, depression, anxiety, and post-traumatic symptoms was demonstrated. This study indicates that during the COVID-19 pandemic, HW showed high levels of psychological distress and that burnout is an important predictor of sufferance. These findings support the idea to provide psychological and psychiatric support for HW.

Aripiprazole-induced atrial fibrillation in a patient with concomitant risk factors.

Aripiprazole is an atypical antipsychotic drug with a polypharmacological mechanism of action and a favorable tolerability profile. Its major indications are schizophrenia and mania in adults and adolescents. Here we present the case of a 43-year-old Caucasian man with schizophrenia who developed atrial fibrillation (AF) after starting aripiprazole treatment. Prior to this treatment, he had never received any antipsychotic drugs. On admission to our inpatient unit, he showed severe psychotic symptoms and was started on aripiprazole with a rapid titration regimen (15 mg on the first day and then 15 mg twice daily thereafter) in combination with lorazepam (2.5 mg thrice a day). On the third day, the patient exhibited vomiting and an irregular pulse. An electrocardiogram (ECG) revealed new-onset AF with rapid ventricular response. Aripiprazole was discontinued and cardioversion was obtained with intravenous amiodarone. A different antipsychotic treatment was thus started (perphenazine 12 mg/d), which led to symptom remission without any relevant adverse effects. During the 2-year follow-up observation, neither psychotic symptoms nor ECG abnormalities were detected. Besides aripiprazole, other co-occurring factors might have contributed to the onset of AF in our patient, namely hypertension, low-grade diastolic dysfunction, chronic inflammatory disease, CYP2D6 polymorphism, corticosteroid and antiulcer treatment, and a family loading for myocardial infarction. In conclusion, our case study suggests that although aripiprazole has fewer cardiovascular effects than other antipsychotic drugs, in the presence of concomitant risk factors, high dose, and rapid titration regimen, regular monitoring of clinical parameters and ECG is highly recommended. (PsycINFO Database Record (c) 2018 APA, all rights reserved).

The HPA axis in bipolar disorder: Systematic review and meta-analysis.

OBJECTIVES: To provide a quantitative and qualitative synthesis of the available evidence on the role of Hypothalamic-Pituitary-Adrenal (HPA) axis in the pathophysiology of Bipolar Disorder (BD). METHODS: Meta-analysis and meta-regression of case-control studies examining the levels of cortisol, ACTH, CRH levels. Systematic review of stress reactivity, genetic, molecular and neuroimaging studies related to HPA axis activity in BD. RESULTS: Forty-one studies were included in the meta-analyses. BD was associated with significantly increased levels of cortisol (basal and post-dexamethasone) and ACTH, but not of CRH. In the meta-regression, case-control differences in cortisol levels were positively associated with the manic phase (p=0.005) and participants' age (p=0.08), and negatively with antipsychotics use (p=0.001). Reviewed studies suggest that BD is associated with abnormalities of stress-related molecular pathways in several brain areas. Variants of HPA axis-related genes seem not associated with a direct risk of developing BD, but with different clinical presentations. Also, studies on unaffected relatives suggest that HPA axis dysregulation is not an endophenotype of BD, but seems related to environmental risk factors, such as childhood trauma. Progressive HPA axis dysfunction is a putative mechanism that might underlie the clinical and cognitive deterioration of patients with BD. CONCLUSIONS: BD is associated with dysfunction of HPA axis activity, with important pathophysiological implications. Targeting HPA axis dysfunctions might be a novel strategy to improve the outcomes of BD.