AI-enhanced analysis of naturalistic social interactions characterizes interaffective impairments in schizophrenia.

Social deficits in schizophrenia have been attributed to an impaired attunement to mutual interaction, or "interaffectivity". While impairments in emotion recognition and facial expressivity in schizophrenia have been consistently reported, findings on mimicry and social synchrony are inconsistent, and previous studies have often lacked ecological validity. To investigate interaffective behavior in dyadic interactions in a real-world-like setting, 20 individuals with schizophrenia and 20 without mental disorder played a cooperative board game with a previously unacquainted healthy control participant. Facial expression analysis was conducted using Affectiva Emotion AI in iMotions 9.3. The contingency and state space distribution of emotional facial expressions was assessed using Mangold INTERACT. Psychotic symptoms, subjective stress, affectivity and game experience were evaluated through questionnaires. Due to a considerable between-group age difference, age-adjusted ANCOVA was performed. Overall, despite an unchanged subjective experience of the social interaction, individuals with schizophrenia exhibited reduced responsiveness to positive affective stimuli. Subjective game experience did not differ between groups. Descriptively, facial expressions in schizophrenia were generally more negative, with increased sadness and decreased joy. Facial mimicry was impaired specifically regarding joyful expressions in schizophrenia, which correlated with blunted affect as measured by the SANS. Dyadic interactions involving persons with schizophrenia were less attracted toward mutual joyful affective states. Only unadjusted for age, in the absence of emotional stimuli from their interaction partner, individuals with schizophrenia showed more angry and sad expressions. These impairments in interaffective processes may contribute to social dysfunction in schizophrenia and provide new avenues for future research.

Strategies to promote treatment compliance: a grounded theory study with relatives of people with a serious mental health condition.

BACKGROUND: Treatment pressures encompass communicative strategies that influence mental healthcare service users' decision-making to increase their compliance with recommended treatment. Persuasion, interpersonal leverage, inducements, and threats have been described as examples of treatment pressures. Research indicates that treatment pressures are exerted not only by mental healthcare professionals but also by relatives. While relatives play a crucial role in their family member's pathway to care, research on the use of treatment pressures by relatives is still scarce. Likewise, little is known about other strategies relatives may use to promote the treatment compliance of their family member with a serious mental health condition. In particular, no study to date has investigated this from the perspective of relatives of people with a serious mental health condition. AIM: The aim of this study was to answer the following research questions: Which types of treatment pressures do relatives use? Which other strategies do relatives use to promote the treatment compliance of their family member with a serious mental health condition? How do treatment pressures relate to these other strategies? METHODS: Eleven semi-structured interviews were conducted with relatives of people with a serious mental health condition in Germany. Participants were approached via relatives' self-help groups and flyers in a local psychiatric hospital. Inclusion criteria were having a family member with a psychiatric diagnosis and the family member having experienced formal coercion. The data were analyzed using grounded theory methodology. RESULTS: Relatives use a variety of strategies to promote the treatment compliance of their family member with a serious mental health condition. These strategies can be categorized into three general approaches: influencing the decision-making of the family member; not leaving the family member with a choice; and changing the social or legal context of the decision-making process. Our results show that the strategies that relatives use to promote their family member's treatment compliance go beyond the treatment pressures thus far described in the literature. CONCLUSION: This qualitative study supports and conceptually expands prior findings that treatment pressures are not only frequently used within mental healthcare services but also by relatives in the home setting. Mental healthcare professionals should acknowledge the difficulties faced and efforts undertaken by relatives in seeking treatment for their family member. At the same time, they should recognize that a service user's consent to treatment may be affected and limited by strategies to promote treatment compliance employed by relatives.

Heartbeat evoked potentials and autonomic arousal during dissociative seizures: insights from electrophysiology and neuroimaging.

Introduction: Dissociative seizures often occur in the context of dysregulated affective arousal and entail dissociative symptoms such as a disintegration of bodily awareness. However, the interplay between affective arousal and changes in interoceptive processing at the onset of dissociative seizures is not well understood. Methods: Using retrospective routine data obtained from video-electroencephalography telemetry in a university hospital epilepsy monitoring unit, we investigate ictal changes in cardiac indices of autonomic arousal and heartbeat evoked potentials (HEPs) in 24 patients with dissociative seizures. Results: Results show autonomic arousal during seizures with increased heart rate and a shift towards sympathetic activity. Compared with baseline, ictal HEP amplitudes over central and right prefrontal electrodes (F8, Fz) were significantly less pronounced during seizures, suggesting diminished cortical representation of interoceptive information. Significant correlations between heart rate variability measures and HEPs were observed at baseline, with more sympathetic and less parasympathetic activity related to less pronounced HEPs. Interestingly, these relationships weakened during seizures, suggesting a disintegration of autonomic arousal and interoceptive processing during dissociative seizures. In a subgroup of 16 patients, MRI-based cortical thickness analysis found a correlation with HEP amplitudes in the left somatosensory association cortex. Conclusions: These findings possibly represent an electrophysiological hint of how autonomic arousal could negatively impact bodily awareness in dissociative seizures, and how these processes might be related to underlying brain structure.

Brainstem raphe hypoechogenicity is an independent predictor of post-stroke depression.

PURPOSE: Post-stroke depression (PSD) is a common complication after stroke and has a substantial effect on the quality of life of patients. Nevertheless, reliable individual prediction of PSD is not possible. As depressive symptoms have been associated with brainstem raphe (BR) hypoechogenicity on transcranial sonography (TCS), we aimed to explore the association of BR hypoechogenicity and the occurrence of PSD. MATERIALS AND METHODS: The Prognostic Markers of Post-Stroke Depression (PROMoSD) study is a prospective, observational, single-center, investigator-initiated study that included patients with acute ischemic stroke (AIS) to investigate the presence of BR hypoechogenicity by TCS early after symptom onset. The primary outcome was the presence of PSD assessed at the three-month follow-up investigation by a blinded psychiatrist and defined according to the fifth version of the Diagnostic and Statistical Manual of Mental Disorders (DSM-V criteria). RESULTS: From 105 included AIS patients, 99 patients completed the study. AIS patients with a hypoechogenic BR developed a PSD at three months more frequently compared to patients with normal echogenicity (48.0% versus 4.1%, P <0.001). After adjustment for confounders (sex, mRS at follow-up, previous depressive episode), a hypoechogenic BR remained independently associated with a substantial increase in the appearance of PSD (adjusted OR: 6.371, 95%-CI: 1.181-34.362). CONCLUSION: A hypoechogenic BR is a strong and independent predictor of PSD at three months after AIS. TCS could be a routine tool to assess PSD risk in clinical practice, thereby streamlining diagnostic and therapeutic algorithms.

Intersectional Discrimination in Mental Health Care: A Systematic Review With Qualitative Evidence Synthesis.

OBJECTIVE: Discriminatory practices in mental health care undermine the right to health of marginalized service users. Intersectional approaches enable consideration of multiple forms of discrimination that occur simultaneously and remain invisible in single-axis analyses. The authors reviewed intersectionality-informed qualitative literature on discriminatory practices in mental health care to better understand the experiences of marginalized service users and their evaluation and navigation of mental health care. METHODS: The authors searched EBSCO, PubMed, MEDLINE, and JSTOR for studies published January 1, 1989-December 14, 2022. Qualitative and mixed-methods studies were eligible if they used an intersectional approach to examine discrimination (experiences, mechanisms, and coping strategies) in mental health care settings from the perspective of service users and providers. A qualitative evidence synthesis with thematic analysis was performed. RESULTS: Fifteen studies were included in the qualitative evidence synthesis. These studies represented the experiences of 383 service users and 114 providers. Most studies considered the intersections of mental illness with race, sexual and gender diversity, or both and were performed in the United States or Canada. Four themes were identified: the relevance of social identity in mental health care settings, knowledge-related concerns in mental health care, microaggressions in clinical practice, and service users' responses to discriminatory practices. CONCLUSIONS: Discriminatory practices in mental health care lead to specific barriers to care for multiply marginalized service users. Universities and hospitals may improve care by building competencies in recognizing and preventing discrimination through institutionalized training.

Larger putamen in individuals at risk and with manifest bipolar disorder.

BACKGROUND: Individuals at risk for bipolar disorder (BD) have a wide range of genetic and non-genetic risk factors, like a positive family history of BD or (sub)threshold affective symptoms. Yet, it is unclear whether these individuals at risk and those diagnosed with BD share similar gray matter brain alterations. METHODS: In 410 male and female participants aged 17-35 years, we compared gray matter volume (3T MRI) between individuals at risk for BD (as assessed using the EPIbipolar scale; n = 208), patients with a DSM-IV-TR diagnosis of BD (n = 87), and healthy controls (n = 115) using voxel-based morphometry in SPM12/CAT12. We applied conjunction analyses to identify similarities in gray matter volume alterations in individuals at risk and BD patients, relative to healthy controls. We also performed exploratory whole-brain analyses to identify differences in gray matter volume among groups. ComBat was used to harmonize imaging data from seven sites. RESULTS: Both individuals at risk and BD patients showed larger volumes in the right putamen than healthy controls. Furthermore, individuals at risk had smaller volumes in the right inferior occipital gyrus, and BD patients had larger volumes in the left precuneus, compared to healthy controls. These findings were independent of course of illness (number of lifetime manic and depressive episodes, number of hospitalizations), comorbid diagnoses (major depressive disorder, attention-deficit hyperactivity disorder, anxiety disorder, eating disorder), familial risk, current disease severity (global functioning, remission status), and current medication intake. CONCLUSIONS: Our findings indicate that alterations in the right putamen might constitute a vulnerability marker for BD.

Exploring Transference in Borderline Personality Disorder: An Empirical Study of Facial Resemblance and Emotional Valence.

Objective: Transference is a psychological process where feelings and attitudes towards a familiar person are unconsciously redirected to another. This phenomenon can be activated by physical resemblance, including facial features. Despite its potential therapeutic significance, little research has investigated transference processes in individuals with psychiatric conditions. Here, we explored how patients with borderline personality disorder (BPD)-characterized, among other features, by unstable relationships, self-damaging impulsivity, and suicidal ideation-would exhibit transference of negative and positive attributes. Method: We performed an experiment where BPD participants and a control group with no prior psychiatric history completed a face-rating task. The task involved an evaluation of images of strangers who resembled significant others in terms of facial features. Results: Our results indicated that transference effects were elicited in both groups. Notably, there were significant differences in ratings assigned to significant others, whereby participants with BPD displayed transference of negative attributes more and positive attributes less intensely than healthy controls, which, in part, correlated with attachment anxiety. Conclusions: Our findings align with the tendency in BPD to perceive interpersonal relationships and emotions more negatively. They have potential implications for psychotherapeutic approaches in treating patients with BPD and our understanding of underlying pathophysiological mechanisms of BPD itself.

Guilt and Shame in Patients with Obsessive-Compulsive Disorders.

INTRODUCTION: Obsessive-compulsive disorder (OCD) is a tremendous psychiatric illness with a variety of severe symptoms. Feelings of shame and guilt are universal social emotions that fundamentally shape the way people interact with each other. Mental illness is therefore often related to pronounced feelings of shame and guilt in a maladaptive form. METHODS: A total of 62 participants (38 women and 24 men) were clinically and psychometrically investigated. RESULTS: The OCD patients (n = 31) showed a maladaptive guilt and shame profile, characterized by increased interpersonal feelings of guilt accompanied by a stronger tendency to self-criticism and increased punitive sense of guilt with a simultaneous prevailing tendency to perfectionism, as well as an increased concern for the suffering of others. The proneness to profuse shame in OCD patients seems to be in the context of the violation of inner values and a negative self-image with persistent self-criticism. CONCLUSION: Although there are limitations with a small sample size in this monocentric approach, our study underlines the importance of an individual consideration of the leading obsessive-compulsive symptomatology, especially in the context of very personal feelings of guilt and shame. Further multidimensional studies on guilt and shame could contribute to their implementation more strongly in individualized psychotherapy.

Regulation of Zbp1 by miR-99b-5p in microglia controls the development of schizophrenia-like symptoms in mice.

Current approaches to the treatment of schizophrenia have mainly focused on the protein-coding part of the genome; in this context, the roles of microRNAs have received less attention. In the present study, we analyze the microRNAome in the blood and postmortem brains of schizophrenia patients, showing that the expression of miR-99b-5p is downregulated in both the prefrontal cortex and blood of patients. Lowering the amount of miR-99b-5p in mice leads to both schizophrenia-like phenotypes and inflammatory processes that are linked to synaptic pruning in microglia. The microglial miR-99b-5p-supressed inflammatory response requires Z-DNA binding protein 1 (Zbp1), which we identify as a novel miR-99b-5p target. Antisense oligonucleotides against Zbp1 ameliorate the pathological effects of miR-99b-5p inhibition. Our findings indicate that a novel miR-99b-5p-Zbp1 pathway in microglia might contribute to the pathogenesis of schizophrenia.

[Virtual reality in teaching using mentally ill patient avatars]. / Virtuelle Realität in der Lehre mit psychisch kranken Patientenavataren.

BACKGROUND: Medical interaction and exploration techniques are the most important tools that medical students have to acquire in the subject of psychiatry and psychotherapy. The new digital technologies currently available, such as virtual reality (VR), as important supplements can contribute to a significant improvement in the teaching of psychiatric-psychopathological learning content as well as, in particular, the technique of ascertaining the psychiatric history and diagnosis. OBJECTIVE: Evaluation of the Bochum Avatar Exploration Project (AVEX) as part of the curricular course in medical studies at the Ruhr University Bochum for its possibilities to convey learning content and techniques of anamnesis and diagnosis in the subject of psychiatry and psychotherapy. METHODS: In AVEX, a total of 87 medical students in the clinical study section have so far been able to enter into a dialogue with "mentally ill" avatars and gain experience with VR technology as a learning and teaching method in the subject of psychiatry and psychotherapy. RESULTS: Despite the limited possibilities for interaction with the digital avatars, it is possible to achieve a substantial transfer of learning content in psychiatry; however, the students must be well supported by the lecturers. CONCLUSION: The AVEX project already shows promising possibilities for supplementing the teaching of medical students, even if the fit of questions and replies in dialogue with the virtual avatars still needs to be improved. As advances in the linguistic communication of emotions and the visual effects of the avatar representation can be predicted, the significance of this technology will continue to increase.

Emotional Context Effects on the Rating of Ambiguous Facial Expressions in Depression and Schizophrenia Spectrum Disorders.

ObjectiveTo investigate the influence of visual contextual information on emotion recognition of ambiguous facial expressions in depression and schizophrenia spectrum disorders. Method: Ambiguous facial expressions and emotional contexts representing anger, disgust, fear, joy, sadness and surprise were validated in a pre-test with healthy independent raters. Afterwards, 20 healthy participants (8 women, 12 men; mean age 24.35 ± 2.85 years), 20 participants with schizophrenia spectrum disorders (9 women, 11 men; mean age 40.25 ± 11.68 years) and 19 participants with depression (11 women, 8 men; mean age 43.74 ± 12.65 years) rated the emotional content of nine different faces in seven different emotion-suggesting contexts. The proportions of context-congruent answers and differences between emotion ratings in each context were analysed using non-parametric Kruskal-Wallis and explorative, paired Wilcoxon tests. Correlational analyses explored the influence of clinical symptoms assessed by clinician-administered scales. Results: The overall proportion of context-congruent answers did not differ between participants with depression and schizophrenia spectrum disorders compared to healthy participants. Participants with schizophrenia spectrum disorders were more susceptible to anger-suggesting contexts and participants with depression were more susceptible to fear-suggesting contexts. Differences in emotion recognition were associated with the severity of depressive, but not psychotic, symptoms. Conclusion: Despite increased susceptibility to anger-suggesting cues in schizophrenia and to fear-suggesting cues in depression, visual contextual influence remains largely consistent with healthy participants. Preserved emotional responsiveness suggests an efficacy of emotion training but emphasizes the need for additional research focusing on other factors contributing to social interaction deficits.

Treatment of adult attention-deficit hyperactivity disorder (ADHD) with transcranial direct current stimulation (tDCS): study protocol for a parallel, randomized, double-blinded, sham-controlled, multicenter trial (Stim-ADHD).

Transcranial direct current stimulation (tDCS) is a non-invasive brain stimulation treatment used as an alternative or complementary treatment for various neuropsychiatric disorders, and could be an alternative or add-on therapy to psychostimulants in attention-deficit hyperactivity disorder (ADHD). Previous studies provided some evidence for improvements in cognition and clinical symptoms in pediatric and adult ADHD patients. However, data from multi-center randomized controlled trials (RCTs) for this condition are lacking. Thus, our aim is to evaluate short- and mid-term effects of tDCS in this multi-center, randomized, double blind, and sham-controlled, parallel group clinical trial with a 1:1 randomization ratio. Primary endpoint is the total score of DSM-IV scale of the internationally established Conners' Adult ADHD Rating Scales (German self-report screening version, CAARS-S-SR), at day 14 post-intervention (p.i.) to detect short-term lasting effects analyzed via analyses of covariance (ANCOVAs). In case of significant between-groups differences at day 14 p.i., hierarchically ordered hypotheses on mid-term lasting effects will be investigated by linear mixed models with visit (5 time points), treatment, treatment by visit interaction, and covariates as fixed categorical effects plus a patient-specific visit random effect, using an unstructured covariance structure to model the residual within-patient errors. Positive results of this clinical trial will expand the treatment options for adult ADHD patients with tDCS and provide an alternative or add-on therapy to psychostimulants with a low risk for side effects.Trial Registration The trial was registered on July 29, 2022 in the German Clinical Trials Register (DRKS00028148).

Young people at risk for developing bipolar disorder: Two-year findings from the multicenter prospective, naturalistic Early-BipoLife study.

Early identification and intervention of individuals with an increased risk for bipolar disorder (BD) may improve the course of illness and prevent long­term consequences. Early-BipoLife, a multicenter, prospective, naturalistic study, examined risk factors of BD beyond family history in participants aged 15-35 years. At baseline, positively screened help-seeking participants (screenBD at-risk) were recruited at Early Detection Centers and in- and outpatient depression and attention-deficit/hyperactivity disorder (ADHD) settings, references (Ref) drawn from a representative cohort. Participants reported sociodemographics and medical history and were repeatedly examined regarding psychopathology and the course of risk factors. N = 1,083 screenBD at-risk and n = 172 Ref were eligible for baseline assessment. Within the first two years, n = 31 screenBD at-risk (2.9 %) and none of Ref developed a manifest BD. The cumulative transition risk was 0.0028 at the end of multistep assessment, 0.0169 at 12 and 0.0317 at 24 months (p = 0.021). The transition rate with a BD family history was 6.0 %, 4.7 % in the Early Phase Inventory for bipolar disorders (EPIbipolar), 6.6 % in the Bipolar Prodrome Interview and Symptom Scale-Prospective (BPSS-FP) and 3.2 % with extended Bipolar At-Risk - BARS criteria). In comparison to help-seeking young patients from psychosis detection services, transition rates in screenBD at-risk participants were lower. The findings of Early-BipoLife underscore the importance of considering risk factors beyond family history in order to improved early detection and interventions to prevent/ameliorate related impairment in the course of BD. Large long-term cohort studies are crucial to understand the developmental pathways and long-term course of BD, especially in people at- risk.

Prediction of estimated risk for bipolar disorder using machine learning and structural MRI features.

BACKGROUND: Individuals with bipolar disorder are commonly correctly diagnosed a decade after symptom onset. Machine learning techniques may aid in early recognition and reduce the disease burden. As both individuals at risk and those with a manifest disease display structural brain markers, structural magnetic resonance imaging may provide relevant classification features. METHODS: Following a pre-registered protocol, we trained linear support vector machine (SVM) to classify individuals according to their estimated risk for bipolar disorder using regional cortical thickness of help-seeking individuals from seven study sites (N = 276). We estimated the risk using three state-of-the-art assessment instruments (BPSS-P, BARS, EPIbipolar). RESULTS: For BPSS-P, SVM achieved a fair performance of Cohen's κ of 0.235 (95% CI 0.11-0.361) and a balanced accuracy of 63.1% (95% CI 55.9-70.3) in the 10-fold cross-validation. In the leave-one-site-out cross-validation, the model performed with a Cohen's κ of 0.128 (95% CI -0.069 to 0.325) and a balanced accuracy of 56.2% (95% CI 44.6-67.8). BARS and EPIbipolar could not be predicted. In post hoc analyses, regional surface area, subcortical volumes as well as hyperparameter optimization did not improve the performance. CONCLUSIONS: Individuals at risk for bipolar disorder, as assessed by BPSS-P, display brain structural alterations that can be detected using machine learning. The achieved performance is comparable to previous studies which attempted to classify patients with manifest disease and healthy controls. Unlike previous studies of bipolar risk, our multicenter design permitted a leave-one-site-out cross-validation. Whole-brain cortical thickness seems to be superior to other structural brain features.

[Care trajectories of homeless or precariously housed mentally ill patients from two psychiatric-psychotherapeutic hospitals in North Rhine-Westphalia]. / Versorgungstrajektorien wohnungsloser oder in prekären Wohnverhältnissen lebender psychisch Erkrankter zweier psychiatrisch-psychotherapeutischer Kliniken der Regelversorgung Nordrhein-Westfalens.

OBJECTIVES: Mental illness and homelessness are often associated with each other. The study aim was to describe the care trajectories of psychiatric inpatients admitted from precarious housing or homelessness. METHODS: An anonymized data collection was performed at two psychiatric hospitals in North Rhine-Westphalia. RESULTS: Of 76 identified patients, every other was discharged to unsecured housing or homelessness. An unresolved housing situation delayed discharge in almost every third case. Upon discharge outpatient somatic or psychiatric treatment was not secured in more than 30%, and in more than 40% of cases, resp. CONCLUSION: Improvement of the housing situation is possible in a minority of cases for psychiatric inpatients admitted from unsecured housing. The unresolved housing situation was seen as an obstacle to discharge in every third case.

The significance of nonurgent psychiatric emergencies in an ED: a retrospective study.

BACKGROUND: In emergency departments, patients with mental health conditions are a major concern and make up the third or fourth of the most common diagnosis seen during all consultations. Over the past two decades, there has been a noticeable rise in the number of cases, particularly due to an increase in nonurgent visits for somatic medical issues. The significance of nonurgent visits for psychiatric patients is yet to be determined. This study aims to uncover the significance and identify the characteristics of this group. METHODS: A retrospective analysis of psychiatric emergency visits at an interdisciplinary emergency department of a German general hospital in 2015 was conducted. For this purpose, patient records were reviewed and evaluated. An analysis was conducted based on the German definition of psychiatric emergencies according to the German guidelines for emergency psychiatry. RESULTS: A total of 21,124 emergency patients visited the evaluated Emergency Department. Of this number, 1,735 psychiatric patient records were evaluated, representing 8.21% of the total population. Nearly 30% of these patients did not meet any emergency criteria according to German guidelines. Significant differences were observed between previously treated patients and those presenting for the first time. CONCLUSIONS: The high proportion of nonurgent psychiatric patients in the total volume of psychiatric emergency contacts indicates a possible control and information deficit within the emergency system. Just as prior research has emphasized the importance of investigating nonurgent somatic medical visits, it is equally imperative to delve into studies centered around psychiatric nonurgent presentations.

Death Anxiety in Obsessive-Compulsive Disorders.

Objective: Death anxiety has long been attributed a role as a psychopathologically decisive factor in the development of mental illnesses such as obsessive-compulsive disorder (OCD). For example, patients with washing compulsions associate their behavior with a fear of life-threatening diseases or patients with control compulsions report that the constant checking is driven by the fear of fatal or deadly consequences for the occupants.Method: The Bochum Questionnaire to Assess Death Anxiety and Attitudes Towards Death (BOFRETTA) was administered to 31 patients with OCD and 31 healthy volunteers within a semi-structured interview using broad psychometry.Results: OCD patients showed increased death anxiety and negative attitute to death in comparison to healthy volunteers. A significant correlation was found between BOFRETTA-anxiety and the currently present religious obsessive thoughts.Conclusions: Our investigation provides further findings on the role of death anxiety and the problematic attitude towards death in OCD patients.