Parents who experience psychosis: A qualitative exploration.

OBJECTIVES: Psychosis can present parents with complex parenting challenges and significant adverse outcomes for parents and their children have been reported. However, remarkably little is known about how parenting is experienced by these parents. Therefore, this qualitative study aimed to understand the lived experiences of parents with psychosis, including how parenting support was experienced. DESIGN AND METHODS: Using interpretative phenomenological analysis (IPA), eight biological parents (five mothers and three fathers) with psychosis were recruited and interviewed from early intervention in psychosis services in the Northwest of England. RESULTS: Three superordinate themes and seven subordinate themes were identified. Theme 1 'Living with the Struggle: Painfully Disconnected' captured a persistent parenting struggle that distanced parents from their children and support due to all-consuming experiences of psychosis, fear and risk-focused service support. Theme 2 'Desired and Vulnerable Position: Comfortably Connected' captured parental experiences of symptom relief through connection with their children, alongside parental need to be integrated with the systems around them. Theme 3 'Exposed: Parenting Under a Spotlight' represented parental experiences of inescapable observation and judgement from the systems around them. CONCLUSIONS: Novel insights into the role of misaligned parent and service priorities in parental perceptions of powerlessness, shame and disconnection from their children, valued parenting identities, and system supports are presented. Systemic interventions that target stigma, provide system-wide psychoeducation and promote person-centred, compassionate and meaningful connections between parents and the systems they live within are needed to promote better parenting outcomes.

A comparison of the effects of sudden gains and depression spikes on short- and long-term depressive symptoms in a randomized controlled trial of behavioral activation and cognitive behavioural therapy.

OBJECTIVE: The aim of this study was to examine the effects of sudden gains and depression spikes in a randomized controlled trial of cognitive behavioral therapy (CBT) and behavioral activation (BA) for depression (COBRA trial). METHOD: This is a secondary analysis of 300 adults with major depressive disorder (MDD) who received CBT (n = 156) or BA (n = 144) (Richards et al., 2016). The Patient Health Questionnaire (PHQ-9) and Structured Clinical Interview Schedule (SCID) were used to measure depression symptoms at 6-, 12-, and 18-month follow-up. RESULTS: One-hundred and ten (37%) individuals experienced sudden gains, and 77 (26%) experienced depression spikes. There were no differences in rates of gains or spikes between treatments. Individuals with sudden gains had lower PHQ-9 scores across follow-up and were less likely to meet SCID criteria than those without a sudden gain. Generalized estimating equation (GEE) models demonstrated that individuals who had a sudden gain and were in CBT had lower PHQ-9 scores at 6 and 18 months than those in BA. Conversely, individuals who had a depression spike and were in CBT had higher PHQ-9 scores across follow-up compared to those without a depression spike and also a greater chance of meeting SCID criteria for MDD at 18 months than those who received BA. CONCLUSIONS: The short- and long-term impact of discontinuous change varied by type of treatment package. Identifying strategies within treatment packages and client processes that are associated with gains and spikes may help to inform treatment planning and clinical decision-making. (PsycInfo Database Record (c) 2022 APA, all rights reserved).