Maternal Impression Management in the Assessment of Childhood Depressive Symptomatology.

BACKGROUND: Self-report instruments are commonly used to assess for childhood depressive symptoms. Historically, clinicians have relied heavily on parent-reports due to concerns about childrens' cognitive abilities to understand diagnostic questions. However, parents may also be unreliable reporters due to a lack of understanding of their child's symptomatology, overshadowing by their own problems, and tendencies to promote themselves more favourably in order to achieve desired assessment goals. One such variable that can lead to unreliable reporting is impression management, which is a goal-directed response in which an individual (e.g. mother or father) attempts to represent themselves, or their child, in a socially desirable way to the observer. AIMS: This study examined the relationship between mothers who engage in impression management, as measured by the Parenting Stress Index-Short Form defensive responding subscale, and parent-/child-self-reports of depressive symptomatology in 106 mother-child dyads. METHODS: 106 clinic-referred children (mean child age = 10.06 years, range 7-16 years) were administered the Child Depression Inventory, and mothers (mean mother age = 40.80 years, range 27-57 years) were administered the Child-Behavior Checklist, Parenting Stress Index-Short Form, and Symptom Checklist-90-Revised. RESULTS: As predicted, mothers who engaged in impression management under-reported their child's symptomatology on the anxious/depressed and withdrawn subscales of the Child Behavior Checklist. Moreover, the relationship between maternal-reported child depressive symptoms and child-reported depressive symptoms was moderated by impression management. CONCLUSIONS: These results suggest that children may be more reliable reporters of their own depressive symptomatology when mothers are highly defensive or stressed.

Do Children and Adolescents Have Different Types of Trauma Narratives and Does It Matter? Reliability and Face Validation for a Narrative Taxonomy.

The construction of trauma narratives is a major component of several psychotherapy approaches for trauma-related problems, but questions remain as to whether fully expressive narratives are necessary and whether it is detrimental to ask avoidant youths to tell their narratives repeatedly. Characteristics of trauma narratives during psychotherapy have not been examined in youths and this represents a salient gap in knowledge. This study aimed to begin filling this gap by identifying categories of trauma narratives and empirically validating them. Youths (N = 47) aged 7 to 18 years, who were involved in a randomized controlled trial, received cognitive behavioral therapy. Transcripts of all narrative exposure therapy sessions for each youth were rated. Four categories were identified and were named expressive, avoidant, fabricated, and undemonstrative. Interrater reliability for identifying these categories was good, and face validation of the categories was supported by statistically significant differences between categories on the number of data elements of the trauma events, negative emotion words, and positive emotion words. These promising findings indicate that different types of narrative styles can be reliably identified. There was strong evidence for reduction of posttraumatic stress symptoms in each of the categories (Cohen's d = 0.9 to 2.5). Favorable treatment outcomes for all categories suggest that more remembering is not always better and clients appeared to effectively deal with memories in different ways.

Depressive symptom screening and endorsement of psychosis risk-related experiences in a diverse adolescent and young adult outpatient clinic in the US.

BACKGROUND: Early identification and intervention is a gold standard for psychotic disorders, for which delays in care can have serious consequences. Screening for psychosis in primary care may circumvent barriers related to stigma and facilitate shorter pathways to care. Yet, there is debate regarding the benefit-risk balance for psychosis screening in general adolescent populations. METHODS: Primary care patients of an adolescent/young adult medical clinic in the US ages 14-21 self-administered surveys assessing age, sex, receipt of psychotherapy, and occurrence, frequency (1-5), and distress (0-3) for 23 psychosis risk (PR) symptoms, including 6 general/nonspecific items and 17 psychosis-specific items. Participants also completed the 9-item Patient Health Questionnaire (PHQ-9); scores of ≥10 suggested clinically significant depressive symptoms. Analyses characterized PR symptoms and examined associations of PR symptom distress with current therapy and depressive symptom severity. RESULTS: Of 212 patients who completed the survey, 75% endorsed ≥1 PR symptom and 27% rated ≥3 on distress for psychosis-specific items. Those with high PHQ-9 scores reported higher PR distress overall (t = -6.1, df = 52.3, p < 0.001) but not on psychosis-specific items such as hallucinations and suspiciousness. One in 9 participants reported heightened PR distress without being in therapy or having high depressive symptoms. CONCLUSIONS: Most adolescents in this primary care sample endorsed symptoms associated with PR. Distress related to these symptoms was less common but occurred even in the absence of depressive symptoms. PR screening only in youth with high depressive symptom screens or in mental health care may miss youth needing further assessment for psychosis.

Changes in community providers' screening behaviours, referral practices, and clinical confidence following participation in an early psychosis educational campaign.

AIM: Successful delivery of care to individuals with early psychosis depends on the ability of community providers to identify and refer appropriate candidates for services. Although specialty centres commonly rely upon education and outreach campaigns to building bridges with community providers, few studies have examined the effectiveness of these campaigns or the mechanisms by which they may achieve their intended effects. METHODS: We surveyed community clinicians (N = 39) about their screening behaviours, referral practices, and confidence in managing early psychosis just before and 3-6 months after attending an educational event designed to promote recognition and quality treatment of early psychosis. RESULTS: Three to six months following attendance, providers reported screening a greater proportion of clients for early psychosis, referring a greater number of clients to specialty services, and feeling more confident in their ability to respond to clients with early psychosis. Increases in confidence following attendance were associated with corresponding increases in screening behaviour. CONCLUSIONS: The results suggest that outreach campaigns designed to enhance community providers' knowledge about early psychosis assessment and resources may be effective in promoting screening, referrals, and confidence in managing psychosis. Gains in provider confidence may contribute to increases in screening. Given the lack of control group and relatively short follow-up period, more research is needed to determine the effects of early psychosis educational events and the mechanisms by which they may promote successful treatment delivery for young people in need.

Targeting Na/K-ATPase Signaling: A New Approach to Control Oxidative Stress.

Renal and cardiac function are greatly affected by chronic oxidative stress which can cause many pathophysiological states. The Na/K-ATPase is well-described as an ion pumping enzyme involved in maintaining cellular ion homeostasis; however, in the past two decades, extensive research has been done to understand the signaling function of the Na/K-ATPase and determine its role in physiological and pathophysiological states. Our lab has shown that the Na/K-ATPase signaling cascade can function as an amplifier of reactive oxygen species (ROS) which can be initiated by cardiotonic steroids or increases in ROS. Regulation of systemic oxidative stress by targeting Na/K-ATPase signaling mediated oxidant amplification improves 5/6th partial nephrectomy (PNx) mediated uremic cardiomyopathy, renal sodium handling, as well as ameliorates adipogenesis. This review will present this new concept of Na/K-ATPase signaling mediated oxidant amplification loop and its clinic implication.

The Na/K-ATPase Oxidant Amplification Loop Regulates Aging.

As aging involves oxidant injury, we examined the role of the recently described Na/K-ATPase oxidant amplification loop (NKAL). First, C57Bl6 old mice were given a western diet to stimulate oxidant injury or pNaKtide to antagonize the NKAL. The western diet accelerated functional and morphological evidence for aging whereas pNaKtide attenuated these changes. Next, human dermal fibroblasts (HDFs) were exposed to different types of oxidant stress in vitro each of which increased expression of senescence markers, cell-injury, and apoptosis as well as stimulated the NKAL. Further stimulation of the NKAL with ouabain augmented cellular senescence whereas treatment with pNaKtide attenuated it. Although N-Acetyl Cysteine and Vitamin E also ameliorated overall oxidant stress to a similar degree as pNaKtide, the pNaKtide produced protection against senescence that was substantially greater than that seen with either antioxidant. In particular, pNaKtide appeared to specifically ameliorate nuclear oxidant stress to a greater degree. These data demonstrate that the NKAL is intimately involved in the aging process and may serve as a target for anti-aging interventions.

The Behavioral Avoidance Task with Anxious Youth: A Review of Procedures, Properties, and Criticisms.

The measurement of avoidance behavior in youth with anxiety and related disorders is essential. Historically, the behavioral avoidance task (BAT) has been used as a measure of avoidance that can be tailored to a youth's particular fear. Although in use for over 90 years, there has yet to be a systematic review of its use, properties, etc. Here we examine the use of the BAT with youth as a measure of avoidance over the past 30 years. Studies have used the BAT as a measure of treatment outcome, to explore theories related to avoidance, and provide evidence for the psychometric properties of phobia questionnaires. Specifically, we compare the results of these studies, the purposes of the BAT, and the types of data collected. Results indicated that the BAT might be particularly sensitive to treatment effects. Furthermore, youth with specific phobias can be expected to complete an average of 30% of the BAT at pre-treatment and 60% at post-treatment. These affects have generally been maintained at 6-month follow-ups. Measures of subjective units of distress (SUDS) proved more consistent than steps completed, but more resistant to treatment effects; researchers can expect a SUDS rating of approximately 55% at pre-treatment and 40% at post-treatment. We review the properties and procedures that are used within these studies and provide a critical review. Overall, the BAT is in need of a standardized procedure to allow for psychometric studies to provide evidence of the task's reliability and validity.