Abnormal Psychology

To date, few prospective studies of life events and bipolar disorder are available, and even fewer have separately examined the role of life events in depression and mania. The goal of this study was to prospectively examine the role of negative and goal-attainment life events as predictors of the course of bipolar disorder. One hundred twenty-five individuals with bipolar I disorder were interviewed monthly for an average of 27 months. Negative and goal-attainment life events were assessed with the Life Events and Difficulties Schedule. Changes in symptoms were evaluated using the Modified Hamilton Rating Scale for Depression and the Bech-Rafaelsen Mania Scale. The clearest results were obtained for goal-attainment life events, which predicted increases in manic symptoms over time. Negative life events predicted increases in depressive symptoms within regression models but were not predictive within multilevel modeling of changes in depressive symptoms. Given different patterns for goal attainment and negative life events, it appears important to consider specific forms of life events in models of bipolar disorder.

The reliability and validity of traditional taxonomies are limited by arbitrary boundaries between psychopathology and normality, often unclear boundaries between disorders, frequent disorder co-occurrence, heterogeneity within disorders, and diagnostic instability. These taxonomies went beyond evidence available on the structure of psychopathology and were shaped by a variety of other considerations, which may explain the aforementioned shortcomings. The Hierarchical Taxonomy Of Psychopathology (HiTOP) model has emerged as a research effort to address these problems. It constructs psychopathological syndromes and their components/subtypes based on the observed covariation of symptoms, grouping related symptoms together and thus reducing heterogeneity. It also combines co-occurring syndromes into spectra, thereby mapping out comorbidity. Moreover, it characterizes these phenomena dimensionally, which addresses boundary problems and diagnostic instability. Here, we review the develop...

Theoretical models attempting to explain why approximately twice as many women as men suffer from depression often involve the role of stressful life events. However, detailed empirical evidence regarding gender differences in rates of life events that precede onset of depression is lacking, due in part to the common use of checklist assessments of stress that have been shown to possess poor validity. The present study reports on a combined sample of 375 individuals drawn from 4 studies in which all participants were diagnosed with major depressive disorder and assessed with the Life Events and Difficulties Schedule , a state-of-the-art contextual interview and life stress rating system. Women reported significantly more severe and nonsevere, independent and dependent, and other-focused and subject-focused life events prior to onset of depression than did men. Further, these relations were significantly moderated by age, such that gender differences in rates of most types of events were found primarily in young adulthood. These results are discussed in term of their implications for understanding the etiological role of stressful life events in depression.

Community-based samples of old adults with current major depression (n = 17; mean age = 83.29 years) and healthy old adults (n = 51; mean age = 83.29 years) were examined on a variety of episodic recall and recognition tasks. Results indicate depression-related deficits in recall that were reduced, but not eliminated, in recognition. Control Ss were able to utilize cognitive support in the form of more study time and item organizability in free recall, whereas depressed Ss were not. However, both groups showed equal gains from the provision of category cues and beneficial effects of prior knowledge and more study time in recognition. Results suggest that depression results in deficits in effortful, elaborate processes at encoding and retrieval and that old age depression is associated with a reduced ability to utilize cognitive support to improve episodic memory. Depressed older adults appear to require cognitive support at both encoding and retrieval to demonstrate memory facilitation. It is well known that episodic memory functioning deteriorates in old age (for reviews, see . Thus, when retrieval of information encoded in a particular spatial-temporal context is required (e.g., recall of a list of words encountered in the laboratory), older adults typically do less well than young adults. This decrement has been attributed to age-related impairments in basic encoding and retrieval mechanisms (e.g., as well as to age deficits in speed, capacity, and space in working memory . Although the evidence for age-related deficits in episodic memory is indisputable, it is also true that normal older adults are capable of utilizing different forms of cognitive support to improve memory (

The taxonomic status of psychopathy is controversial. Whereas some studies have found evidence that psychopathy, at least its antisocial component, is distributed as a taxon, others have found that both major components of psychopathy -callousness/unemotionality and impulsity/antisocial behavior -appear to distribute as dimensions and show little evidence of taxonicity. In the present study, recent advances in taxometric analysis were added to Meehl's multiple consistency tests strategy for assessing taxonicity , and they were applied to Psychopathy Checklist-Revised (PCL-R) ratings of 4865 offenders sampled from multiple forensic settings. The results indicated that both the individual components of psychopathy and their interface are distributed dimensionally. Both the implications of these results for research in psychopathy and the integration of these findings with previous taxometric studies of psychopathy are discussed.

This study examined whether there is a familial relation between primary early-onset dysthymia and major affective disorder. In addition, it explored the prevalence of other forms of psychopathology and social impairment in the adolescent and young adult offspring of patients with primary unipolar affective disorder. Subjects included 47 offspring of patients with primary unipolar depression, 33 offspring of patients with chronic orthopedic and rheumatological conditions, and 38 offspring of randomly selected community controls with no personal or family history of psychiatric disorder. All offspring received structured diagnostic interviews. Diagnoses were derived blind to parental group by using multiple sets of diagnostic criteria. The offspring of unipolar patients exhibited significantly higher rates of affective disorder, major depression, and dysthymia than did the offspring of medical and normal controls. The groups did not differ on rates of nonaffective disorders. Parental characteristics associated with dysthymia in offspring included chronic depression, age of onset of major depression, number of hospitalizations, and multiple family members with major affective illness. These results support the view that at least some forms of early-onset dysthymia are variants of major affective illness.

This study examined whether there is a familial relation between primary early-onset dysthymia and major affective disorder. In addition, it explored the prevalence of other forms of psychopathology and social impairment in the adolescent and young adult offspring of patients with primary unipolar affective disorder. Subjects included 47 offspring of patients with primary unipolar depression, 33 offspring of patients with chronic orthopedic and rheumatological conditions, and 38 offspring of randomly selected community controls with no personal or family history of psychiatric disorder. All offspring received structured diagnostic interviews. Diagnoses were derived blind to parental group by using multiple sets of diagnostic criteria. The offspring of unipolar patients exhibited significantly higher rates of affective disorder, major depression, and dysthymia than did the offspring of medical and normal controls. The groups did not differ on rates of nonaffective disorders. Parental characteristics associated with dysthymia in offspring included chronic depression, age of onset of major depression, number of hospitalizations, and multiple family members with major affective illness. These results support the view that at least some forms of early-onset dysthymia are variants of major affective illness.

In this paper, we investigate the nature of projective motion within a generalized fifth recurrent Finsler space, denoted as 𝐺ℬ𝐾-5𝑅𝐹 𝑛. Utilizing Berwald's connection and higher-order covariant derivatives of Cartan's fourth curvature tensor, we analyze the behavior of projective transformations through the application of the Lie-derivative. A comprehensive system of tensorial identities involving the ℎ(𝑣)-torsion tensor, deviation tensor, and scalar curvature is employed to establish a series of theorems that characterize the projective motion in this setting. Our findings reveal that the Lie-derivatives of higher-order derivatives of the Cartan curvature tensor, as well as associated torsion and curvature tensors, exhibit invariant projective behavior. Additionally, we demonstrate the vanishing of specific curvature-related parameters, including the Berwald connection components and the partial derivatives of the scalar curvature vector.

Previous research on schizophrenia suggests that context-processing disturbances are one of the core cognitive deficits present in schizophrenia. However, it is not clear whether such deficits are specific to schizophrenia as compared with other psychotic disorders. To address this question, the authors administered a version of the AX Continuous Performance Test designed to assess context processing in a sample of healthy controls, patients with schizophrenia, and patients with other psychotic disorders. Participants were tested at index (when medication naive and experiencing their first contact with psychiatric services) and 4 weeks later, following medication treatment. At index, patients with schizophrenia and the psychotic comparison group demonstrated similar impairments in context processing. However, context-processing deficits improved in the psychotic comparison group at 4 weeks but did not improve in patients with schizophrenia.

Deficits in emotion processing have been widely reported to be central to psychopathy. However, few prior studies have examined vocal affect recognition in psychopaths, and these studies suffer from significant methodological limitations. Moreover, prior studies have yielded conflicting findings regarding the specificity of psychopaths' affect recognition deficits. This study examined vocal affect recognition in 107 male inmates under conditions requiring isolated prosodic vs. semantic analysis of affective cues and compared subgroups of offenders identified via cluster analysis on vocal affect recognition. Psychopaths demonstrated deficits in vocal affect recognition under conditions requiring use of semantic cues and conditions requiring use of prosodic cues. Moreover, both primary and secondary psychopaths exhibited relatively similar emotional deficits in the semantic analysis condition compared to nonpsychopathic control participants. This study demonstrates that psychopaths' vocal affect recognition deficits are not due to methodological limitations of previous studies and provides preliminary evidence that primary and secondary psychopaths exhibit generally similar deficits in vocal affect recognition.

Semantic priming in word pronunciation was examined at 5 stimulus onset asynchronies (SOAs) in 75 medicated and 25 unmedicated people with schizophrenia (SCZ) and in 10 depressed and 28 normal controls. At SOAs <950 ms, SCZ displayed priming similar to that of normal and depressed controls. At the 950-ms SOA, SCZ displayed less priming than controls. Medication dosage, but not conceptual disorganization scoreS, was positively associated with priming at SOAs <950 ms. These results suggest that prior reports of enhanced priming in schizophrenia may have been confounded by methodological problems and that automatic priming processes operate normally in SCZ. The failure of SCZ to display significant priming at the 950-ms SOA is consistent with a hypothesized disturbance in higher level processes.

There has been a great deal of research on emotional information processing within the field of clinical psychology. Many tests have been developed and the emotional Stroop test is one of the most used. However, some versions of the Stroop test have methodological issues when used to study word-colour interferences, especially when the words are emotionally charged. We present a computer-assisted version of the emotional Stroop test called Tastiva, which is highly versatile, useful, and accessible, in addition to being easy to use and widely applicable. The Tastiva software and User Manual is available on the University of Seville website: http://grupo.us.es/recursos/Tastiva/index.htm. We also present a case study using neutral and sexual content words, in which the program calculates the word exposure time by analysing the behaviour of the respondent. One of its novel contributions is the graphic presentation of measures: response time, errors, and non-response to stimuli.La invest...

Objective -Many everyday activities depend on the capacity to organize and smoothly execute motor sequences. The present study tested the hypothesis that a sequencing deficit is associated with schizophrenia. A new method is used to distinguish between low and high order mechanisms for the impairment. Methods and results -The first task involved triggered sequences in which sensory information from one movement was the cue for initiation of the following movement. Results showed that the motor sequences were performed as fluently in patients as in controls. The second and third tasks involved sequences in which the entire movement sequence could be pre-planned. It was found that patients executed the sequences less fluently than controls but only under the condition where action-sequences were required. Furthermore, the patients' fluency deficit increased with sequence complexity. Conclusions -The high discrimination power of task 3 gave us the means to control for a potential psychometric confound involving differential discriminating power and to argue in favor of a specific high-order motor fluency deficit in patients with schizophrenia. We suggest that basic low-order mechanisms that integrate sensory information with outgoing motor commands are preserved in schizophrenia whereas higher-order integrative mechanisms that are required for the smooth coordination of motor sequences are impaired.

Differences in selection pressure in nature and labs have profound effects on zebrafish strains. The widely used AB strain of zebrafish has been domesticated over several decades. Recently, there has been an upsurge in the availability of genetically modified lines, e.g., the spiegeldanio (spd), which has a mutation in the fibroblast growth factor receptor 1a (fgfr1a) gene. This mutant strain (fgfr1a) has previously been reported to be bolder than fish of the Tübingen strain, from which it was generated. Our knowledge on behavioral differences between different zebrafish strains, relative to wild-caught zebrafish, is limited. In the present study we compare behaviors related to interpretation of boldness in male and female offspring (F1) of wild-caught fish, AB and fgfr1a -/- zebrafish. A second aim of the study was to compare the behavior of fish from these strains when tested in different behavioral assays, i.e., shelter seeking, novel tank diving and scototaxis tests. The results demonstrate that behavioral variation exists both within and between the strains, but interpretation of boldness reveals a complex pattern in which behavior differs between strains but is also related to sex and test. Therefore, a careful assessment of various strains of fish using both males and females is warranted in order to strengthen interpretation of results. This is especially important in studies where zebrafish are used as model organisms for human conditions as well as studies evaluating the effects of pharmacological or toxicological substances on behavior.

This study characterized developmental emergence of individual alcohol use disorder (AUD) symptoms, and evaluated their ability as early indicators of progression into alcohol dependence (AD), conditional upon gender, parental alcohol dependence, early onset of drinking, and level of delinquent behavior at onset. The two parameters of interest were (a) likelihood of specific AUD symptom appearance once drinking has begun, and (b) primacy of symptom appearance as an indicator of likelihood for eventual move into diagnosis. We analyzed prospective data from a community sample of high risk youth from childhood to early adulthood. Symptoms that were at higher probability of being experienced at drinking onset and that could serve as good indicators for the early stage of disease progression were: persistent desire or unsuccessful efforts to control alcohol use (AD4), and continued use despite having persistent or recurrent interpersonal problems (AA4). Tolerance (AD1) may serve as an indicator for the intermediate stage of progression. Young people tended to be at an elevated risk for developing AD6 (activities given up), AD7 (physical/psychological problems), and AA3 (legal problems) in later years so these symptoms may be good indicators for later stages of progression. In addition to being male, an early onset drinker, or high in delinquent behavior, drinkers who experienced AA4 or AD1 as first symptoms were at higher risk for progression to AD. We also identified two high risk clusters: late onset drinkers with AA4 as first symptom, and children of alcoholics with AD1 as first symptom.

Medicinal plants such as Aloysia polystachya are often used in the treatment of psychiatric diseases, including anxiety-and depression-related humor disturbances. In folk medicine, A. polystachya is used to treat digestive and respiratory tract disturbances, as a sedative and antidepressant agent, and as a tonic for the nerves. This study aimed to evaluate the antidepressant and anxiolytic effect from the hydroethanolic extract from the leaves of Aloysia polystachya (HELAp) in zebrafish. The extract was analyzed through ultra-performance liquid chromatography-mass spectroscopy (UPLC-MS) and the main compound detected was acteoside. HELAp was administered orally (10 mg/kg) and through immersion (mg/L). The anxiolytic activity was evaluated through the scototaxis (light-dark) test using caffeine as an anxiogenic agent and buspirone as a positive control. The parameters assessed were: period spent in the white compartment (s), latency (s), alternations (n), erratic swims (n), period of freezing (s), thigmotaxis (s), and risk evaluation (n). The antidepressant effect was evaluated through the novel tank diving test using 1% ethanol, unpredictable chronic stress, and social isolation as depressors; fluoxetine was used as a positive control. The parameters assessed were: period spent at the top of the tank, latency, quadrants crossed, erratic swim, period of freezing, and distance of swam. The main chemical compound of HELAp was acteoside. The administration of the extract on zebrafish managed to revert the anxiogenic effect of caffeine without impairing their locomotion. Additionally, the treatment exerted antidepressant activity similarly to fluoxetine. Overall, the results suggest a significant anxiolytic and antidepressant activity to the extract, which is probably due to the presence of the major compound, acteoside.

The increasing threat to public safety has driven the need for intelligent surveillance systems capable of detecting potential dangers in real time. This study introduces a Weapon Detection System (WDS) that utilizes advanced deep learning and computer vision techniques to identify firearms and other hazardous weapons in public areas. The system employs Convolutional Neural Networks (CNNs) and the YOLO (You Only Look Once) object detection model to ensure high accuracy and minimal latency in identifying threats from live video streams or images. Designed for real-time deployment, the system is suitable for high-security environments such as airports, educational institutions, and public transportation hubs. By leveraging pre-trained deep learning models, the system improves detection efficiency while minimizing false positives. Additionally, this research explores optimization strategies to enhance computational performance, making the system adaptable to edge devices with limited resources. Experimental evaluations demonstrate that the proposed model achieves a high detection rate with minimal false alarms, offering a robust solution for public safety enhancement. Future work includes integrating thermal imaging, multimodal data fusion, and edge AI processing to further improve detection capabilities. This study underscores the role of AI-driven surveillance in proactive security measures and threat prevention.

This paper explores the role of tryptophan in the neurodivergent brain, focusing on ADHD, and proposes these minds operate in a quantum state of heightened cognitive processing. Inspired by a 2025 Howard University study revisiting Schrödinger's 'What is life?' in the quantum age (Phys.org, 2025), we suggest ADHD brains mirror superradiance in quantum systems. This state drives executive function challenges and sleep disturbances, yet signals a mutation-a leap in human cognitive evolution poised to unlock new intelligence for future generations.

Recent research has indicated that developmental changes in the personality traits of neuroticism and impulsivity correlate with changes in problem drinking during emerging and young adulthood. However, it remains unclear what potential mechanisms, or mediators, could account for these associations. Drinking motives, particularly drinking to regulate negative affect (drinking to cope) and to get "high" or "drunk" (drinking for enhancement) have been posited to mediate the relationship between personality and drinking problems. Recent work indicates changes in drinking motives parallel changes in alcohol involvement from adolescence to young adulthood. The current study examined changes in drinking motives (i.e., coping and enhancement) as potential mediators of the relation between changes in personality (impulsivity and neuroticism) with changes in alcohol problems in emerging and young adulthood. Analyses were based on data collected from a cohort of college students (N=489) at varying risk for AUDs from ages 18-35. Parallel process latent growth modeling indicated that change in coping (but not enhancement) motives specifically mediated the relation between changes in neuroticism and alcohol problems as well as the relation between changes in impulsivity and alcohol problems. Findings suggest that change in coping motives is an important mechanism in the relation between personality change and the "maturing out" of problematic alcohol involvement.

Problematic alcohol involvement typically peaks in the early 20s and declines with age. This maturing out of alcohol involvement is usually attributed to individuals attaining adult statuses incompatible with heavy drinking. Nevertheless, little is known about how changes in problematic alcohol use during emerging/early adulthood relate to changes in etiologically relevant personality traits that also change during this period. This study examined the relation between changes in problematic alcohol involvement and personality (measures of impulsivity, neuroticism, and extraversion) from ages 18 to 35 in a cohort of college students (N = 489) at varying risk for alcohol use disorders. Latent growth models indicated that both normative and individual changes in alcohol involvement occur between ages 18 and 35 and that these changes are associated with changes in neuroticism and impulsivity. Moreover, marital and parental role statuses did not appear to be third-variable explanations of the associated changes in alcohol involvement and personality. Findings suggest that personality change may be an important mechanism in the maturing-out effect.

Ecological momentary assessment (EMA; was used to characterize and quantify a dynamic process-affective instability in borderline personality disorder (BPD). Sixty outpatients (34 with BPD and affective instability; 26 with current depressive disorder but not with BPD or affective instability) carried electronic diaries for approximately 1 month and were randomly prompted to rate their mood state up to 6 times a day. Results indicated that BPD patients (a) did not report significantly different mean levels of positive or negative affect; (b) displayed significantly more variability over time in their positive and negative affect scores; (c) demonstrated significantly more instability on successive scores (i.e., large changes) for hostility, fear, and sadness than did patients with depressive disorders; and (d) were more likely to report extreme changes across successive occasions (Ն90th percentile of change scores across participants) for hostility scores. Results illustrate different analytic approaches to quantifying variability and instability of affect based on intensive longitudinal data. Further, results suggest the promise of electronic diaries for collecting data from individuals in their natural environment for purposes of clinical research and assessment.

Heavy drinkers prior to college have been shown to increase their drinking in college via their selfselection into the Greek societies and subsequent Greek influence on their drinking. This study characterized the dual mechanisms underlying these processes: (a) the Greek selection on the basis of personality and precollege drinking and (b) the Greek influence through alcohol-conducive environmental factors. Prospective data obtained in the summer prior to college and over the first 6 semesters of college (N = 3,099) indicated strong precollege drinking-based selection, strong initial influence immediately after college entrance, and sustained influence afterward. Impulsivity/novelty seeking was associated with Greek affiliation both directly and indirectly via precollege drinking, whereas extraversion and neuroticism were associated with Greek affiliation largely independent of precollege drinking. Greek affiliation was related to higher levels of drinking norms immediately after college entrance and alcohol availability by the sophomore year, but not afterward, after controlling for prior drinking. Findings highlight the diverse mechanisms underlying accentuation of risky drinking over the transition to college and during the college years, through dynamic interplay between individuals and high-risk environments.

Alcohol use may be viewed as an attempt (albeit maladaptive) to regulate negative emotional states. We examined associations between both negative and positive affects and alcohol use in outpatient women diagnosed with borderline personality disorder (BPD; n = 74), a prototype of emotional dysregulation, as well as a psychiatric control group of women with current depressive disorder (major depressive disorder/dysthymic disorder [MDD\DYS]; n = 50). Participants completed randomly prompted reports of mood and alcohol use up to six times a day over a 28day period using electronic diaries. Mean levels of either positive or negative affects did not distinguish between drinkers and nondrinkers in either diagnostic group. However, levels of both negative and positive affects were positively associated with alcohol use at the momentary level in BPD drinkers. More robust findings were obtained with respect to within-person affective variability, which was related to alcohol use in multiple ways. BPD drinkers showed higher within-person variability for most negative affects than BPD nondrinkers; MDD\DYS drinkers in general showed less within-person variability than MDD\DYS nondrinkers for negative affects. Multilevel lagged analyses for BPD drinkers indicated that alcohol use was positively related to variability in all affects, concurrently, but fewer significant effects of affect variability on the next day's drinking or significant effects of alcohol use on the next day's affect variability were observed. Among MDD\DYS drinkers, we observed more significant associations between affect variability on next day's alcohol use and of alcohol use on next day's affect variability. We discuss theoretical and methodological issues relevant to these findings as well as implications for future research.

The current study investigated labeling effects in groups of institutionalized adolescents. Self-concepts of 111 delinquents, 33 adolescent psychiatric inpatients, and 119 high school students were assessed in relation to three relevant social labels (popular teenager, juvenile delinquent, and emotionally disturbed teenager). A semantic differential technique and discriminant analyses were used to compare profiles of self-ratings to profiles of role ratings. Two separate analyses were performed. One analysis compared self-ratings with the control group's stereotypes and the other compared self-ratings with a subject's own group's stereotypes. Results revealed modest support for labeling effects only when selfratings were matched with a subject's own group's stereotypes. The findings suggested that an adolescent might choose one of several responses to a socially assigned label. Possible responses included accepting or rejecting the label as well as misperceiving the content of the role. Implications for self-concept meassurement and for labeling theories of psychopathology are discussed.

What is a mental illness or a psychiatric disorder? Do people in different cultures suffer from the same kinds of mental illnesses? Do mental disorders present with similar symptoms in various parts of the world? How are mental distress and suffering identified and treated in different countries or societies? These questions underpin the development of cultural psychiatry . Besides the so-called "culture-bound syndromes," neurasthenia ("shenjing shuairuo" in Mandarin) is one of the most well-known and well-studied diagnostic categories in this interdisciplinary domain. Coined by the Boston-based physician George M. Beard in 1868, neurathenia includes a broad array of symptoms such as fatigue, anxiety, inattention, insomnia, impotence, neuralgia, and many others, all attributed to nervous exhaustion due to the pressures of modern life. It was fashionable in the U.S. during the late 19th century and early 20th century, a period marked by rapid urbanization and industrialization . Neurasthenia has traveled far from its American origins; as a disease closely tied to modernization, it has become a global phenomenon. In the U.S. and Europe, its popularity was shortlived. By the 1920s or 1930s, it became faded into an obsolete diagnosis. But its presence in other parts of the world is more enduring, and East Asia stands out as a region where the disease is particularly well-received . Since the rise of cultural psychiatry in the post-war era, the evolution of neurasthenia in this region has captivated more than two generations of psychiatrists, anthropologists, and historians. The foundation of this scholarship is laid by psychiatrist-anthropologist Arthur Kleinman. Kleinman, one of the principal initiators of medical anthropology, is also a leading figure in cultural psychiatry, global mental health, medical humanities, and Chinese studies. His early work on neurasthenia, conducted successively in Taiwan and China, has become a cornerstone in understanding the complex interplay between local illness experiences and global psychiatric categories. This article revists Arthur Kleinman's seminal contributions to the cross-cultural research on neurasthenia. Recently, he visited Taipei again to receive the award of Honorary Academician from Academia Sinica. The trip also marks the 55th anniversary of his initial journey to Taiwan in 1969 as a National Institute of Health fellow assigned to the U.S. Naval Medical Research Unit No. 2. In the subsequent sections, I will examine the place of neurasthenia in his two major ethnographic projects: the Taiwan study in the 1970s and the Hunan study in the 1980s. The former study discovers the popularity of neurasthenia in Taiwan, makes a tentative connection with depression and other conditions, and highlights somatization as the underlying mechanism. The latter study fosters a debate on the correlation between neurasthenia and depression in China and provides rare empirical insights into the traumatic impacts of the Cultural Revolution. Finally, I will briefly discuss the implications of these studies and their relevance to psychiatry today.

This study thus explores and identified the social support to drug surrenderers of the community-based rehabilitation program at the Municipality of Baungon, Province of Bukidnon. Using a mixed-methods research design, data was collected through a survey-questionnaire, in-depth interviews, and focus group discussions from 142 drug surrenderers. The drug-surrenderers are mostly between 30 and 39 years old, married, with three to four children and low-skilled workers. Majority are high school graduates, thirteen of them were degree holders, and Roman Catholics. Data shows that the drug-surrenderers reports high level of emotional support from friends, significant other, and family. This strengthens the facts that friends, significant other, and family play a critical role in the recovery process of drug surrenderers. The study also found that age, civil status, educational attainment, and gender have a significant impact on perceived social support that shows that people have different attitude and treatment given to drug surrenderers according to their age bracket, civil status and educational attainment. While membership in organization did not show any significant difference on perceived social support. Thus, it is recommended that Community-based rehabilitation program in Baungon should continue to provide services to drug surrenderers. The government and nongovernment organizations may also work hand-in-hand to fight drug addiction in the country.

Sleepiness, a commonly symptom affecting up to one-fifth of the population chronically, is clearly an important cause of accidents in industry and transport inducing deterioration in performance and attention. The reason for Excessive Daytime Sleepiness (EDS) is either sleep pathology, voluntary (non-pathological) sleep reduction, or activity during the circadian low. Most of the professional accidents reported refer to the obstructive sleep apnea syndrome (OSAS). Our data confirmed higher prevalence of OSAS in truck drivers than general population and we elaborated a feasible screening tool for OSAS based on data by clinical and anthropometric variables, some items of Sleep Disorders Score and complete polysomnography. About commuting accidents (CA) in shift and non shift workers we found a strict significant relationship between shift-work condition and the presence of EDS (p &lt; 0.0001) suggesting that CA are significantly influenced by ED in the hypothesis of disruption of the ...

In the film BLACK SWAN, the protagonist Nina undergoes a character metamorphosis as she struggles to act out the roles of both the White Swan and the Black Swan in the ballet Swan Lake. In the process, she undergoes several instances of hallucinations which appears as real instances to the audience all through the movie. The movie has been shot entirely with the main narrator being Nina, though her narration takes place not as an interaction with the audience by means of conversations or as in narrating a story, but she manages to take along the audience with her throughout the act, deceiving them along the way. The movie "Black Swan" makes a phenomenal utilization of the classic narrative method known as the method of unreliable narration. The entire movie consists of unreliable narrators, whose roles are intertwined with the narration style that the protagonist Nina Sayers utilizes throughout the movie, making it difficult for the audience to understand who has been lying until the climax of the movie. The main objective of this study is to identify the techniques of unreliable narration used by the protagonist at different stages of her character metamorphosis throughout the movie. The analysis is conducted by means of a scenic interpretation of the movie.

We tested first-order factor and bifactor models of attention-deficit/hyperactivity disorder (ADHD) using confirmatory factor analysis (CFA) and exploratory structural equation modeling (ESEM) to adequately summarize the Diagnostic and Statistical Manual of Mental Disorders, 4th Edition, (DSM-IV-TR) symptoms observed in a Spanish sample of preschoolers and kindergarteners. Six ESEM and CFA models were estimated based on teacher evaluations of the behavior of 638 children 4 to 6 years of age. An ESEM bifactor model with a central dimension plus 3 specific factors (inattention, hyperactivity, and impulsivity) showed the best fit and interpretability. Strict invariance between the sexes was observed. The bifactor model provided a solution to previously encountered inconsistencies in the factorial models of ADHD in young children. However, the low reliability of the specific factors casts doubt on the utility of the subscales for ADHD measurement. More research is necessary to clarify t...

Researchers in the cognitive sciences recognize a fundamental distinction between automatic and intentional mechanisms of inhibitory control. The use of eye-tracking tasks to assess selective attention has led to a better understanding of this distinction in specific populations such as children with attention-deficit/hyperactivity disorder (ADHD). This study examined automatic and intentional inhibitory control mechanisms in adults with ADHD using a saccadic interference (SI) task and a delayed ocular response (DOR) task. Thirty adults with ADHD were compared to 27 comparison adults on measures of inhibitory control. The DOR task showed that adults with ADHD were less able than comparison adults to inhibit a reflexive saccade towards the sudden appearance of a stimulus in the periphery. However, SI task performance showed that the ADHD group did not differ significantly from the comparison group on a measure of automatic inhibitory control. These findings suggest a dissociation between automatic and intentional inhibitory deficits in adults with ADHD.

The approach-withdrawal model posits that depression and anxiety are associated with a relative right asymmetry in frontal brain activity. Most studies have tested this model using measures of cortical brain activity such as electroencephalography. However, neuropsychological tasks that differentially employ left vs. right frontal cortical regions can also be used to test hypotheses from the model. In two independent samples (Study 1 and 2), the present study investigated the performance of currently depressed individuals with or without a comorbid anxiety disorder and healthy controls on neuropsychological tasks tapping primarily left (verbal fluency) or right (design fluency) frontal brain regions. Across both samples, results indicated that comorbid participants performed more poorly than depressed only and control participants on design fluency, while all groups showed equivalent performance on verbal fluency. Moreover, comorbid participants showed "asymmetrical" performance on these two tasks (i.e., poorer design [right frontal] relative to verbal [left frontal] fluency), while depressed only and control participants showed approximately symmetrical profiles of performance. Results from these two samples suggest an abnormal frontal asymmetry in neurocognitive performance driven primarily by right frontal dysfunction among anxious-depressed individuals and highlight the importance of considering comorbid anxiety when examining frontal brain functioning in depression.

Self-reported emotional experience does not differ between patients with schizophrenia and healthy individuals, suggesting that the anhedonia in schizophrenia instead reflects decoupling of affect from motivated behavior. In 2 behavioral conditions, participants with schizophrenia and healthy participants were able to prolong or decrease exposure to stimuli while stimuli were present or alter the likelihood of future exposure to stimuli on the basis of internal representations. They also provided self-reports of affective experience. Patients showed weaker correspondence between behavior and ratings than did comparison participants. The effect was amplified when patients responded on the basis of internal rather than evoked stimulus representations. These data suggest that the motivational deficits in schizophrenia reflect problems in the ability to translate experience into action.

In the study, the authors examined the effects of smoking deprivation, anticipation of smoking, and actual smoking on the craving to smoke. Flight attendants who were light to heavy smokers rated their craving to smoke at predetermined time points during a 2-way short flight (each leg 3-5.5 hr) and a 1-way long flight (8 -13 hr). In both short and long flights, craving increased gradually and peaked as landing approached. Craving levels at the end of the 1st leg of the short flights were equal to those at the end of the long flight and were much higher than those at the parallel time point in the long flight. In the short flight, craving levels at the beginning of the 2nd leg dropped relative to the end of the 1st leg, both for participants who smoked during the intermission and for those who did not, though the drop was steeper for the former. The results provide additional evidence for the role of psychological factors in determining the craving to smoke in a naturalistic setting.

Persistent suicide ideation (SI) is known to be a risk factor for subsequent suicidal behaviors. Reducing SI persistence among people with a history of SI consequently might be a useful target for preventive intervention; however, basic information is lacking about patterns and predictors of SI persistence. We report preliminary retrospective data on annual SI persistence in a representative sample of 3,501 U.S. Army soldiers with lifetime SI from the Army Study to Assess Risk and Resilience in Servicemembers (Army STARRS). Reports about age-of-onset and number of years with SI were used to estimate two definitions of persistence: persistence beyond year-ofonset and proportional annual persistence (i.e., percentage of years with SI since year-of-onset). Results revealed that for 47.8% of respondents with lifetime SI, their SI did not persist beyond the year-of-onset. For the 52.2% whose SI did persist beyond the year-of-onset, the median (interquartile range) proportional annual persistence was 33% (17-67%). Significant predictors of increased persistence were different for respondents with pre-enlistment SI onset (prior histories of attention-deficit/hyperactivity disorder [ADHD], bipolar disorder, and panic disorder) and postenlistment SI onset (male, combat support military occupation specialty, prior histories of ADHD, panic disorder, and posttraumatic stress disorder). These predictors of persistence are different

Polymorphisms of the µ-opioid receptor (OPRM1) and dopamine D 4 receptor (DRD4) genes are associated with subjective responses to alcohol and urge to drink under laboratory conditions. This study examines these associations in the natural environment using ecological momentary assessment (EMA). Participants were non-treatment seeking heavy drinkers (n = 112, 52% female, 61% alcohol dependent) who enrolled in a study of naltrexone effects on craving and drinking in the natural environment. Data were culled from five consecutive days of drinking reports prior to medication randomization. Analyses revealed that, after drinking, carriers of the Asp40 allele of the OPRM1 gene reported higher overall levels of vigor and lower levels negative mood, as compared to homozygotes for the Asn40 variant. Carriers of the long allele (i.e., ≥ 7 tandem repeats) of the DRD4 endorsed greater urge to drink than homozygotes for the short allele. Effects of OPRM1 and DRD4 VNTR genotypes appear to be alcohol dose-dependent. Specifically, carriers of the DRD4-L allele reported slight decreases in urge to drink at higher levels of estimated Blood Alcohol Concentration (eBAC) and Asp40 carriers reported decreases in vigor and increases in negative mood as eBAC rose, as compared to carriers of the major allele for each gene. Self-reported vigor and urge to drink were positively associated with alcohol consumption within the same drinking episode. This study extends findings on subjective intoxication, urge to drink, and their genetic bases from controlled laboratory to naturalistic settings. OPRM1; DRD4; urge to drink; alcohol; EMA Alcohol intoxication is a complex pharmacological process that involves multiple neurotransmitter systems and produces a host of physiological and behavioral effects. These effects, in turn, govern the reinforcing properties of drinking . In light of prospective evidence linking individual differences in alcohol sensitivity to

A behavioral economic approach to alcohol use disorders (AUDs) emphasizes both individual and environmental determinants of alcohol use. The current study examined individual differences in alcohol demand (i.e., motivation for alcohol under escalating conditions of price) and delayed reward discounting (i.e., preference for immediate small rewards compared to delayed larger rewards) in 61 heavy drinkers (62% with an AUD). In addition, based on theoretical accounts that emphasize the role of craving in reward valuation and preferences for immediate rewards, craving for alcohol was also examined in relation to these behavioral economic variables and the alcohol-related variables. Intensity of alcohol demand and delayed reward discounting were significantly associated with AUD symptoms, but not with quantitative measures of alcohol use, and were also moderately correlated with each other. Likewise, craving was significantly associated with AUD symptoms, but not with alcohol use, and was also significantly correlated with both intensity of demand and delayed reward discounting. These findings further emphasize the relevance of behavioral economic indices of motivation to AUDs and the potential importance of craving for alcohol in this relationship.

The mechanisms of naltrexone's effects on urges to drink during abstinence are unclear. Naltrexone may suppress either urges to drink specifically or appetitive responses in general. The effects of naltrexone on cue reactivity to alcoholic and sweet nonalcoholic beverages were investigated. Alcohol-dependent men (N = 53) in treatment received naltrexone (50 mg) or placebo. Four hours later, they received baseline assessment, exposure to fruit juice, and exposure to their usual alcoholic beverage in 3-min trials. Naltrexone reduced urge to drink and self-reported attention to the alcohol cues, not at the initial exposure but after repeated exposures to alcohol cues. Naltrexone reduced negative affect across baseline and alcohol trials. No effects of naltrexone on responses to the nonalcoholic appetitive beverage cues were found, suggesting that general appetite suppression does not mediate the effects of naltrexone on urges. Opioid antagonists such as naltrexone have shown particular promise as pharmacologic adjuncts to treatment for alcohol dependence Volpicelli, Alterman, Hayashida, & O'Brien, 1992). However, the mechanisms of naltrexone's effects on drinking behavior are not clear. Both the reinforcing effects of alcohol and craving may be mediated by the activation of mesolimbic dopamine neurons (e.g., . Naltrexone reduces mesolimbic dopaminergic activity after alcohol ingestion in animals and may reduce the urge to drink through modulation of mesolimbic dopaminergic activity. If naltrexone reduces urges to drink, individuals may be less likely to drink or to drink heavily. In clinical trials, weekly craving ratings were sporadically lower after naltrexone treatment than

Recent reviews of research on child and adolescent psychopathology have highlighted the consistently high rates of co-occurring dimensions of psychopathology, particularly between internalizing and externalizing disorders, and have suggested that further research examining the causes of co-occurring syndromes is needed. The authors examined this question in a national sample of 720 same-sex adolescent siblings between 10 and 18 years of age consisting of monozygotic and dizygotic twins, full siblings, half siblings, and unrelated siblings. Composite measures of adolescent and parent reports and observational measures of depressive symptoms and antisocial behavior were subjected to behavioral genetic models that examine the genetic and environmental influences on individual differences in each dimension as well as in the co-occurrence between dimensions. Results indicated that approximately hah" of the variability in depressive symptoms and antisocial behavior is attributed to genetic factors; shared and nonshared environmental influences were also significant. The cooccurrence of depressive and antisocial symptoms was explained by genetic and shared and nonshared environmental influences. Specifically, approximately 45% of the observed covariation between depressive and antisocial symptoms could be explained by a common genetic liability. Results are interpreted in light of contribution of genetic studies to debates on child and adolescent psychopathology. Developmental and epidemiological studies from the past decade consistently report that clinically significant rates of psychopathology first appear in adolescence (

A systematic desensitization procedure and 2 of its components were tested for ability to reduce stress responses in a laboratory threat situation. Ss received 1 of 4 types of training procedures before exposure to a stressful film: an analogue of therapeutic desensitization, relaxation, cognitive rehearsal, or no-training control. Stress response during the showing of a dramatic film on industrial accidents was measured by concurrent self-report, heart rate, and skin-conductance measures. The results showed that the separate components of desensitization-relaxation and cognitive rehearsal-were as effective alone as when combined in the complete desensitization program. On several measures, cognitive rehearsal appeared to be the most effective threat reducer. Further recognition and exploration of "insight" functions served by such behavior-therapy techniques as systematic desensitization is urged.

IMPORTANCE Mental health professionals typically encounter patients at 1 point in patients' lives. This cross-sectional window understandably fosters focus on the current presenting diagnosis. Research programs, treatment protocols, specialist clinics, and specialist journals are oriented to presenting diagnoses, on the assumption that diagnosis informs about causes and prognosis. This study tests an alternative hypothesis: people with mental disorders experience many different kinds of disorders across diagnostic families, when followed for 4 decades. To describe mental disorder life histories across the first half of the life course. DESIGN, SETTING, AND PARTICIPANTS This cohort study involved participants born in New Zealand from 1972 to 1973 who were enrolled in the population-representative Dunedin Study. Participants were observed from birth to age 45 years (until April 2019). Data were analyzed from May 2019 to January 2020. MAIN OUTCOMES AND MEASURES Diagnosed impairing disorders were assessed 9 times from ages 11 to 45 years. Brain function was assessed through neurocognitive examinations conducted at age 3 years, neuropsychological testing during childhood and adulthood, and midlife neuroimaging-based brain age. RESULTS Of 1037 original participants (535 male [51.6%]), 1013 had mental health data available. The proportions of participants meeting the criteria for a mental disorder were as follows: 35% (346 of 975) at ages 11 to 15 years, 50% (473 of 941) at age 18 years, 51% (489 of 961) at age 21 years, 48% (472 of 977) at age 26 years, 46% (444 of 969) at age 32 years, 45% (429 of 955) at age 38 years, and 44% (407 of 927) at age 45 years. The onset of the disorder occurred by adolescence for 59% of participants (600 of 1013), eventually affecting 86% of the cohort (869 of 1013) by midlife. By age 45 years, 85% of participants (737 of 869) with a disorder had accumulated comorbid diagnoses. Participants with adolescent-onset disorders subsequently presented with disorders at more pastyear assessments (r = 0.71; 95% CI, 0.68 to 0.74; P < .001) and met the criteria for more diverse disorders (r = 0.64; 95% CI, 0.60 to 0.67; P < .001). Confirmatory factor analysis summarizing mental disorder life histories across 4 decades identified a general factor of psychopathology, the p-factor. Longitudinal analyses showed that high p-factor scores (indicating extensive mental disorder life histories) were antedated by poor neurocognitive functioning at age 3 years (r = -0.18; 95% CI, -0.24 to -0.12; P < .001), were accompanied by childhood-to-adulthood cognitive decline (r = -0.11; 95% CI, -0.17 to -0.04; P < .001), and were associated with older brain age at midlife (r = 0.14; 95% CI, 0.07 to 0.20; P < .001). (continued) Key Points Question Do mental disorder life histories shift among different successive disorders? Findings In this cohort study of 1037 participants in the Dunedin Study birth cohort, with assessments from ages 11 to 45 years, mental disorder life histories shifted among different successive internalizing, externalizing, and thought disorders. Mental disorder life histories are better described by age of onset, duration, and diversity of disorder than by any particular diagnosis. Meaning The finding that most mental disorder life histories involve different successive disorders helps to account for genetic and neuroimaging findings pointing to transdiagnostic causes and cautions against overreliance on diagnosis-specific research and clinical protocols.