Longitudinal relationship between expressed emotion and cannabis misuse in young people with first-episode psychosis

Carers' expressed emotion (EE) and patients' cannabis misuse are two of the most robust predictors of psychotic relapse. We aimed to examine the temporal relationship between EE and cannabis misuse. Sixty-three key carers of young people with first-episode psychosis (FEP) were assessed at baseline and 7-month follow-up. EE was measured in carers using the Family Questionnaire (FQ) and cannabis misuse in patients using the Alcohol, Smoking and Substance Involvement Screening Test (ASSIST). Correlational and hierarchical logistic regression analyses were conducted to examine the temporal relationship between EE components (i.e. criticism and emotional over involvement) and cannabis misuse. Carers' criticism at baseline significantly predicted cannabis misuse according to the ASSIST at 7-month follow-up. The association remained significant after controlling for baseline symptom severity and social functioning (B=0.15, P=.02). Conversely, baseline cannabis misuse was not associated with carers' criticism at 7-month follow-up. Patients in families with high criticism showed a tendency to increase cannabis misuse over time whereas the opposite trend was observed in those with carers with low criticism. A family environment characterized by high criticism may become a key risk factor for worsening cannabis misuse over time in young people with FEP. Further studies should investigate the potential mechanisms (e.g., patient's anxiety or perceived stress) through which criticism increases cannabis misuse in FEP.

Online, social media and mobile technologies for psychosis treatment: a systematic review on novel user-led interventions

BACKGROUND

Internet and mobile-based interventions provide a unique opportunity to deliver cost-effective, accessible, time-unlimited support to people with psychosis. The aims of this study were to systematically compile and analyze the evidence on the acceptability, feasibility, safety and benefits of online and mobile-based interventions for psychosis.

METHODS

Systematic review of peer-reviewed studies examining the usability, acceptability, feasibility, safety or efficacy of user-led, Internet or mobile-based interventions, with at least 80% of participants diagnosed with schizophrenia-spectrum disorders.

RESULTS

Of 38 potentially relevant articles, 12 were eligible for inclusion. Interventions included web-based psycho-education; web-based psycho-education plus moderated forums for patients and supporters; integrated web-based therapy, social networking and peer and expert moderation; web-based CBT; personalized advice based on clinical monitoring; and text messaging interventions. Results showed that 74-86% of patients used the web-based interventions efficiently, 75-92% perceived them as positive and useful, and 70-86% completed or were engaged with the interventions over the follow-up. Preliminary evidence indicated that online and mobile-based interventions show promise in improving positive psychotic symptoms, hospital admissions, socialization, social connectedness, depression and medication adherence.

CONCLUSIONS

Internet and mobile-based interventions for psychosis seem to be acceptable and feasible and have the potential to improve clinical and social outcomes. The heterogeneity, poor quality and early state of current research precludes any definite conclusions. Future research should investigate the efficacy of online and mobile interventions through controlled, well-powered studies, which investigate intervention and patient factors associated with take-up and intervention effects.

[Effects on the brain of effective psychological treatments for anxiety disorders: a systematic review]

INTRODUCTION

Psychological therapies can modify thoughts, feelings, and behaviors of people with mental disorders, but the underlying brain mechanisms remain to be clarified. Advances in neuroimaging techniques can help us to understand of how different psychotherapies change the human brain. This review has aimed to systematically investigate the brain effects of psychological therapies for adults with anxiety disorders.

METHOD

Several electronic databases (Medline, PsycINFO, EMBASE and EBSCO) up to April 2010 were searched. Abstracts which appeared to fulfill the initial selection criteria (a structured psychological treatment in adults with anxiety disorders with at least one neuroimaging study performed before and after the treatment) were selected and their original articles were then retrieved. References from the selected English and Spanish language publications were also hand searched.

RESULTS

Eighteen studies met the criteria for inclusion in the review. The majority of these papers reported cognitive-behavioral therapy (CBT) in specific phobia, social phobia, obsessive-compulsive disorder (OCD), posttraumatic stress disorder or panic disorder. Psychological interventions changed neural circuits involved in the pathophysiology of anxiety disorders, especially activity in frontal-striatal circuits in OCD and prefrontal areas in arachnophobia. However, the results are largely inconsistent among themselves and with the neurobiological models of anxiety, in particular as regards the changes at the limbic level.

CONCLUSIONS

Despite the variety of methodological concerns, initial neuroimaging studies have showed that psychological interventions can change brain function related to anxiety disorders in the patients who respond to treatment. Neuromodulation mechanisms related to specific anxiety disorders remained to be elucidated. Future studies should delineate the process of “normalization” that occurs in the brain during a psychological treatment, helping to enrich the current neurobiological models of the origins, maintenance and treatment of anxiety disorders.

Prognostic value of cognitive functioning for global functional recovery in first-episode schizophrenia

BACKGROUND

It has become widely accepted that cognitive deficits in schizophrenia are related to functional outcome. However, it remains to be seen whether these associations are relevant for predicting which cases will have a global functional recovery. In this study, we attempt to determine whether global functional recovery (integrating social and occupational outcomes) after first-episode schizophrenia (FES) can be predicted by cognitive variables.

METHOD

A total of 131 FES patients with functional deficits (n=97) and functional recovery (n=34) as determined at 1-year follow-up were examined. Neuropsychological, sociodemographic, pre-morbid and clinical data at baseline were analysed using independent groups comparisons and a logistic regression method.

RESULTS

Sustained attention and negative symptoms emerged as significant predictors of good global functional outcome. Although the model revealed a high accuracy (91%) in the classification of patients with functional deficits, it was unacceptably low (26%) in the classification of patients with global functional recovery.

CONCLUSIONS

The limitations found in the prediction of a favourable global functional outcome may well be an indication for a need to address the role of other factors not commonly included in longitudinal studies of long-term outcomes in schizophrenia.

Cannabis abuse is associated with decision-making impairment among first-episode patients with schizophrenia-spectrum psychosis

BACKGROUND

Cannabis use appears to be a risk factor for schizophrenia. Moreover, cannabis abusers show impaired decision-making capacities, linked to the orbitofrontal cortex (OFC). Although there is substantial evidence that first-episode schizophrenia patients show impairments in cognitive tasks associated with the dorsolateral prefrontal cortex (DLPFC), it is not clear whether decision making is impaired at schizophrenia onset. In this study, we examined the association between antecedents of cannabis abuse and cognitive impairment in cognitive tasks associated with the DLPFC and the OFC in a sample of first-episode patients with schizophrenia-spectrum disorders.

METHOD

One hundred and thirty-two patients experiencing their first episode of a schizophrenia-spectrum psychosis were assessed with a cognitive battery including DLPFC-related tasks [backward digits, verbal fluency (FAS) and the Trail Making Test (TMT)] and an OFC-related task [the Iowa Gambling Task (GT)]. Performance on these tasks was compared between patients who had and had not abused cannabis before their psychosis onset.

RESULTS

No differences were observed between the two groups on the performance of any of the DLPFC-related tasks. However, patients who had abused cannabis before their psychosis onset showed a poorer total performance on the gambling task and a lower improvement on the performance of the task compared to no-abusers.

CONCLUSIONS

Pre-psychotic cannabis abuse is associated with decision-making impairment, but not working memory and executive function impairment, among first-episode patients with a schizophrenia-spectrum psychosis. Further studies are needed to examine the direction of causality of this impairment; that is, does the impairment make the patients abuse cannabis, or does cannabis abuse cause the impairment?

Pretreatment predictors of cognitive deficits in early psychosis

BACKGROUND

Predicting cognitive deficits in early psychosis may well be crucial to identify those individuals most in need of receiving intensive intervention. As yet, however, the identification of potential pretreatment predictors for cognitive performance has been hampered by inconsistent findings across studies. We aimed to examine the associations of functional and clinical pretreatment variables with cognitive functioning after a first psychotic episode.

METHOD

One hundred and thirty-one patients experiencing first-episode psychosis were assessed for psychopathology, pre-morbid functioning, duration of illness, age of onset, and family history of psychosis and neurocognitive functioning. Multiple regression analyses were conducted for six basic cognitive dimensions known to be affected in this population: verbal learning, verbal memory, verbal comprehensive abilities, executive functioning, motor dexterity and sustained attention.

RESULTS

Pre-morbid functioning was the main predictor for five out of the six basic cognitive domains. Pre-morbid social adjustment difficulties were associated with worse performance in executive functioning, motor dexterity and sustained attention. Academic functioning was associated with verbal comprehension, and verbal learning and memory. Gender, age of onset, duration of untreated psychosis, and family history of psychosis had no or limited value as predictors of neurocognitive outcome.

CONCLUSIONS

Poor pre-morbid functioning was related to a worse performance in the six basic cognitive dimensions evaluated; however, this accounted for only a small amount of the explained variance. Cognitive impairment is a prominent feature in patients with early psychosis regardless of favorable prognostic features such as short duration of illness, female gender, later age of onset, and non-family history of psychosis.

Cognitive therapy in early psychosis and "at risk mental state"

Evidence suggests that the early course of psychosis might be important in the long term outcome of the disease. Moreover, pharmacological treatment has important limitations in this population which has increased the interest in the combination of psychological and biological treatments. Recently, cognitive therapy has been modified and applied to the field of psychosis. For decades several studies have shown its effectiveness in the treatment of psychotic symptoms which has led to formulate new and more comprehensive cognitive treatments for early psychosis. These new cognitive approaches have been assessed in clinical trials. In the same way, the study of the pre-psychotic phase and prevention of illness is becoming important. Two aspects are especially relevant in this regards: the possibility of prospective detection of patients at risk of developing psychosis and the search for adequate treatments in this phase. Recent studies concerning early and pre-onset psychosis cognitive treatment are reviewed by the authors.