Negative symptoms in treatment-resistant schizophrenia and its relationship with functioning.

BACKGROUND: Recent operational criteria for treatment-resistant schizophrenia (TRS) recognized positive and negative symptoms. TRS patients may have heterogeneity in negative symptoms, but empirical data were lacking. We aimed to characterize TRS patients based on negative symptoms using cluster analysis, and to examine between-cluster differences in social functioning. METHODS: We administered the Clinical Assessment Interview of Negative symptoms (CAINS), Brief Negative Symptom Scale (BNSS), the Positive and Negative Syndrome Scale (PANSS) and the Social and Occupational Functional Assessment (SOFAS to 126 TRS outpatients. All patients also completed the Temporal Experience of Pleasure Scale (TEPS), the Emotion Expressivity Scale (EES), and the Social Functional Scale (SFS). A two-stage hierarchical cluster analysis was performed with the CAINS, TEPS and EES as clustering variables. We validated the clusters using ANOVAs to compare group differences in the BNSS, PANSS, SOFAS and SFS. RESULTS: Clustering indices supported a 3-cluster solution. Clusters 1 (n = 46) and 3 (n = 16) exhibited higher CAINS scores than Cluster 2 (n = 64), and were negative-symptom TRS subtypes. Cluster 1 reported lower TEPS than Cluster 3; but Cluster 3 reported lower EES than Cluster 1. Upon validation, Clusters 1 and 3 exhibited higher BNSS scores than Cluster 2, but only Cluster 1 exhibited lower SOFAS and higher PANSS general symptoms than Cluster 2. Both Clusters 1 and 3 had higher self-report functioning than Cluster 2. CONCLUSION: We provided evidence for heterogeneity of negative symptoms in TRS. Negative symptoms can characterize TRS patients and predict functional outcome.

Advancement in the medicolegal requirement for testamentary capacity assessment in older adults: the dilemmas in Hong Kong.

Medical and legal professionals are increasingly involved in probate disputes in which the validity of a will due to a lack of testamentary capacity in older adults is frequently challenged. The legal test for testamentary capacity under common-law jurisdiction was established in the famous case of Banks v Goodfellow (1870). The High Court of Hong Kong recently issued new practice guidance for legal professionals on the preparation of a will for older adults. This paper discusses the dilemmas and competing issues among different parties on this medicolegal interface based on recent literature and local examples. We recommend a risk-based pragmatic framework for legal and medical professionals to minimise potential disputes in testamentary capacity assessment.

Cognitive insight is correlated with cognitive impairments and contributes to medication adherence in schizophrenia patients.

OBJECTIVE: Cognitive insight refers to the ability to distance oneself from and evaluate one's own beliefs and interpretations. Little is known about whether cognitive insight could influence medication adherence in schizophrenia patients. This study examined the role of cognitive insight in medication adherence and how it would interact with neuropsychological functions. METHODS: Ninety clinically-stable schizophrenia patients completed the Beck's Cognitive Insight Scale (BCIS) and tasks measuring prospective (PM) and other neurocognitive functions. Medication adherence was estimated using a multi-axial method comprising interview, clinician-rating, pharmacy refill record and pill counting. Correlational and regression analyses were conducted to examine whether cognitive insight and PM would be associated with mediation adherence. Post-hoc mediational analysis was performed to examine the interplay between cognitive insight, PM and medication adherence. RESULTS: Clinical insight and cognitive insight together significantly influenced participants' medication adherence, after neurocognitive functions and psychopathology were accounted for. Time-based PM, compared with other neurocognitive functions, affected medication adherence more strongly. CONCLUSIONS: Cognitive insight complements clinical insight in affecting medication adherence in schizophrenia patients.

A retrospective study on risk assessment and management of forensic psychiatric inpatients in Hong Kong.

The Department of Forensic Psychiatry of Castle Peak Hospital is the only facility in Hong Kong that provides territory-wide forensic psychiatric services for patients with criminal involvement. This retrospective study aimed to explore whether the rehabilitation programs provided by the department could significantly reduce the risks of forensic psychiatric inpatients as measured by the Short-Term Assessment of Risk and Treatability (START). START ratings of inpatients who were hospitalized in the department for more than 3 months and were discharged to the community during the period from 11 April 2015 to 31 March 2019 were analyzed. A total of 79 patients were assessed, of whom 61 (77.2%) were males. Fifty-four (68.4%) patients suffered from schizophrenia. START scores upon admission (strength score = 5.67; vulnerability score = 17.43) and upon discharge (strength score = 6.87, vulnerability score = 11.18) indicated significant reduction of risks among inpatients (p < 0.05).

Facial emotion perception impairments in schizophrenia patients with comorbid antisocial personality disorder.

Impairment in facial emotion perception is believed to be associated with aggression. Schizophrenia patients with antisocial features are more impaired in facial emotion perception than their counterparts without these features. However, previous studies did not define the comorbidity of antisocial personality disorder (ASPD) using stringent criteria. We recruited 30 participants with dual diagnoses of ASPD and schizophrenia, 30 participants with schizophrenia and 30 controls. We employed the Facial Emotional Recognition paradigm to measure facial emotion perception, and administered a battery of neurocognitive tests. The Life History of Aggression scale was used. ANOVAs and ANCOVAs were conducted to examine group differences in facial emotion perception, and control for the effect of other neurocognitive dysfunctions on facial emotion perception. Correlational analyses were conducted to examine the association between facial emotion perception and aggression. Patients with dual diagnoses performed worst in facial emotion perception among the three groups. The group differences in facial emotion perception remained significant, even after other neurocognitive impairments were controlled for. Severity of aggression was correlated with impairment in perceiving negative-valenced facial emotions in patients with dual diagnoses. Our findings support the presence of facial emotion perception impairment and its association with aggression in schizophrenia patients with comorbid ASPD.

Antenatal risk factors for postnatal depression: a prospective study of Chinese women at maternal and child health centres.

BACKGROUND: Risk factors for postnatal depression (PND) are under-explored in the Chinese populations. There is increasing recognition of the importance of identifying predictive factors during the antenatal period for PND. The present study aimed to identify the risk factors for postnatal depression in a community cohort of Chinese women with special focus on the antenatal risk factors. METHODS: Eight hundred and five Chinese women were interviewed during their third trimester of pregnancy and at around 2 months postnatally. Putative risk factors for PND were collected and the diagnosis of PND was confirmed by the Structured Clinical Interview for DSM-IV Axis I Disorders. The 2-month postnatal depression status was used as the dependent variable for univariate and multivariate analyses against putative risk factors. RESULTS: Marital dissatisfaction (Relative Risk = 8.27), dissatisfied relationship with mother-in-law (Relative Risk = 3.93), antenatal depressive symptomatology (Relative Risk = 3.90), and anxiety-prone personality (Relative Risk = 2.14) predicted PND in Chinese women independently. CONCLUSIONS: Chinese women tend to keep their own feelings and emotions and it is important to monitor Chinese pregnant women with these predictive risk factors so that PND can be identified early.

Pattern and determinants of burden in Chinese families of adults with obsessive-compulsive disorder.

The burden on caregivers of patients with obsessive-compulsive disorder (OCD) is an important yet under-researched area in the Chinese population. This study aimed to assess the pattern and determinants of burden reported by caregivers of adults with OCD in Hong Kong. Seventy-seven OCD patient-caregiver dyads were recruited from a psychiatric out-patient clinic. Adults were assessed with the Yale-Brown Obsessive Compulsive Scale (Y-BOCS) and the Global Assessment of Functioning (GAF) scale. Caregivers were interviewed with the Chinese version of the Family Burden Interview Schedule. Ninety-nine percent of the caregivers experienced objective burden. Mothers of patients with OCD experienced the greatest caregiver subjective burden. Multivariate analysis showed that GAF explained 41.5% and 49.8% of the variance of objective and subjective burden respectively. The functional level of OCD adults was an important determinant of both the objective and subjective burden on caregivers.

Impairment of mother-infant relationship: validation of the Chinese version of Postpartum Bonding Questionnaire.

The implementation of the Comprehensive Child Development Service in Hong Kong brought about the need for the development of an instrument for assessing mother-infant relationship impairments in women with postnatal depression. The Postpartum Bonding Questionnaire by was first translated into Chinese, then back-translated into English. An expert panel was set up to evaluate the content validity and a focus group discussion was held to explore the face validity and acceptability of the questionnaire. The Chinese version of the Postpartum Bonding Questionnaire (C-PBQ) was administered to 62 women suffering from postnatal depression. Scale 1 of the C-PBQ had a sensitivity of 84% for detecting women with any forms of mother-infant relationship impairments and scale 2 had a sensitivity of 89% for detecting rejection of infant and a sensitivity of 77% for detecting pathological anger towards infant. The C-PBQ is a useful instrument for detecting mother-infant relationship impairments as perceived by women with postnatal depression.