bluuebunny/crossref_metadata_2025_split huggingface dataset:
Impact of expressive writing on everyday memory functioning
Authors: Abuhamda B. , Soliman A. 
Published: May 2016

IntroductionThe suppression of negative feelings and traumatic events has detrimental effect on mental and physical health. One of the promising techniques to reduce stress related to trauma is expressive writing. Expressive writing has been found successful with different types of maladaptive behaviors e.g., pain, depression, anxiety and cognitive dysfunctioning.ObjectivesThis study investigates the impact of different categories of expressive writing on improving every day memory performance and cognitive functioning.AimsExamining the impact of cognitive functioning and everyday memory.MethodsA sample of 90 participants took part in this study. The participants aged (21 and 65 yrs.) 47 of them are females aged between average of (21.64 yrs.), and 43 males aged between average of (21, 49 yrs.). The participants were classified randomly into three groups (a control group, and two experimental groups [pen and oral writing]). The three groups were administered the Every Memory Questionnaire and Taranto Alexithymia Scale.ResultsThe results showed that there were no significant differences among the three groups in each of the Alexithymia and Everyday memory, which indicates random distribution of the three groups. The results showed that both of the experimental groups were improved on everyday memory functioning. More importantly, the results indicated that there were no significant differences between using pen or figures in expressive writing to improve Everyday memory.ConclusionStudy results showed the significant impact of expressive writing on every day memory functioning, furthermore, the study results are used to empathize on the cognitive rehabilitation of the individuals as well as to improve self-esteem on general psychological individual cases.Disclosure of interestThe authors have not supplied their declaration of competing interest.
Functional somatic syndromes, mentalizing impairment and psychotherapy as the way to soothe suffering. A group psychotherapy experience in an outpatient setting
Authors: Ramos J. , Alonso E. , Tur N. , Sanz-Correcher P. 
Published: May 2016

Functional somatic symptoms and syndromes are a major health issue. They are common, costly, persistent and may be disabling. From Mentalization Based Treatment perspective, mentalizing impairments are a key factor in these issues. In that sense, many times, emotional suffering is rendered into physical pain, and it is the body that conveys affects and moods while the patients search frantically for an objective diagnosis and a biological cause for their symptoms and complaints. Taking this premise as a starting point, this poster analyses the importance of working on affects, connecting to them, naming them, and thinking about them. Linking symptoms to emotions, to attachment strategies, and interpersonal issues in order to achieve the recovery of mentalization. Considering this as the main goal to release the body from pain and suffering, we specify a proposal of group psychotherapy developed throughout the last eight years in an outpatient setting.Disclosure of interestThe authors have not supplied their declaration of competing interest.
A study for development and validation of the computer-based working memory tasks for school-aged children
Authors: Shin M.S. , Oh S.J. , Lee J.J. , Lee J.E. 
Published: May 2016

IntroductionWorking memory (WM) is the ability to retain and manipulate information during a short period of time. According to previous studies, children who have neurocognitive dysfunctions, such as ADHD and learning disorder were found to have a WM problem, which was associated with frontal lobe dysfunction, especially dysfunctions in dorsolateral prefrontal cortex.ObjectivesIn the present study, we developed the computer-based WM tasks for school-aged children, which help to provide a timely assessment of risk and preventive intervention for children with subclinical attention problems.AimsWe evaluated the construct and concurrent validity of newly developed WM tasks.MethodsA hundred and fourteen 8- to 10-year-old children were recruited. The newly developed, computer-based WM tasks consist of two domains:– auditory-verbal WM;– visual-spatial WM.We examined the construct validity of the tasks through examining the developmental trend of the WM abilities with age. To determine the concurrent validity of those tasks, we conducted correlation analyses between the participants’ scores and their scores on well-known measures of verbal and visual WM; Arithmetic and Letter-Number Sequencing subtest of intelligence scale (KEDI WISC), and Corsi block test.ResultsThere are marked linear increasing trends of the response accuracy with age. Further, there were high correlations between the scores of two WM tasks and the corresponding scores of standardized assessment tools.ConclusionsThis study showed promising evidence for the validity of computer-based tasks assessing WM, which might have the utility for school-aged children in research and clinical settings.Disclosure of interestThe authors have not supplied their declaration of competing interest.
Voluntary and involuntary admission to a subacute psychiatric hospitalization unit
Authors: Orejas O. , Flores Martínez P. , Macías Castellví C. , Campillo Sanz M.T. , Vallvé Elias M. , Casals Arnau A. , Masferrer Herrera C. 
Published: May 2016

IntroductionInvoluntary admissions continue to be a controversial topic in psychiatry. However, it is well known that psychosocial rehabilitation treatment is more successful when the patient is involved in it improving awareness and adherence to treatment.ObjectivesThis study examined admissions patterns, including voluntary, involuntary, and partly voluntary admissions to a subacute psychiatric hospital.MethodsThis is a transversal study. All patients admitted for a medium-term psychiatric treatment since 01/06/2014 to 30/11/2015 were included. Patients's basic sociodemographic and clinical data were collected and compiled in a database. Descriptive statistics were performed using SPSS Software.ResultsA total of 88 patients (52% men; mean age: 48.6 years) composed the sample. In 58% of cases, schizophrenia and schizoaffective disorder were the diagnoses motivating the admission. Among 88 patients, 44 (50%) had voluntary admissions, 16 (18.2%) had involuntary admissions, 27 (30.7%) had partly voluntary admissions and just one patient (1.1%) had partly involuntary admissions. Seventy-one (80.1%) patients had voluntary admissions at discharge, and only one of them escape from hospital and did not finish the treatment.ConclusionsIn the short term involuntary hospitalization has benefits, however also can have adverse long-term consequences for the patient-therapist allegiance, breaking the psychotherapeutic relationship and making the patient abandon treatment. It's important to reassess the condition of admission and work with the patient the need to engage in treatment.Disclosure of interestThe authors have not supplied their declaration of competing interest.
Advantages and obstacles for community based approach using case management method in the work with users that have psychotic disorders – Case study
Authors: Racetovic G. , Popovic S. , Rosic B. , Grujic Timarac S. 
Published: May 2016

IntroductionCase management (CM) is accepted as the most recommended approach for the treatment of people with severe mental illnesses (SMI) in Community Mental Health Centers (CMHC) in whole Bosnia and Herzegovina (BH) in the last 3 years.ObjectiveAll team members of CMHC Prijedor are certificated case managers. Part of our daily activities is work with and for the users included in CM (mostly with schizophrenia or similar disorders) using multidisciplinary approach to find best possible solutions of both treatment and rehabilitation for users that we are in charge. In this moment CMHC cares for 12 mostly younger users involved in the CM.AimsTo show advantages as well as obstacles of the CM.MethodsCase study of young user with schizoaffective disorder included in the CM in the last 2 years.ResultsImprovements in user's daily activities and using of the remaining capacities with confrontation of partial or entire poor responses of most other community services.ConclusionsCM has many advantages for the user involved in it, mostly medical and psychological (adequate treatment followed by users wishes, avoidance of hospitalization, improving existing or building new skills, use of remaining capacities, planed activities, minimize of the psychopharmacological treatment, social skills and more new contacts with people, etc.). But, still are existing the obstacles in the community mostly considering employment and social care as an part of the stigmatization of the people with SMI.Disclosure of interestThe authors have not supplied their declaration of competing interest.
Psychiatrists’ opinion on treatment adherence in Delusional Disorder
Authors: Girela Serrano B. , Aguado Bailón L. , Calvo P. , Muñoz Negro J.E. , Cervilla Ballesteros J. 
Published: May 2016

IntroductionDelusional Disorder (DD) F22 is a disease with low prevalence, probably underdiagnosed by clinical specialists due to the high level of functionality, low awareness of disease, low deterioration of patients and poor adherence to prescribed treatment. Adherence to treatment is considered to be one of the major difficulties that stand in the way of the treatment of DD. The present paper assessed psychiatrists’ opinion of the adherence to treatment of patients with DD.Material and methodsA self-administered survey was conducted on a sample of psychiatrists proceeding on a wide array of mental health care services. Participants provided their opinions regarding adherence to treatment. Descriptive statistics were subsequently calculated with SPSS.ResultsIn the opinion of our participants none of the patients have an active compliance of the treatment, 36% consider that the participation is partial or passive. It is also estimated that 57.5% reject the treatment but not totally and 6.5% believe that rejection is absolute.ConclusionsLiterature informs of the association of poor adherence to treatment and little or no improvement of patients, suggesting the need to address the lack of compliance and adherence to treatment as a crucial aspect to improve the prognosis of DD. To address this problem Long Acting Injections (LAIs) of Atypical Antipsychotics are postulated to be a plausible solution as a good treatment strategy. In order to improve the clinical practice in DD and obtain information for further effectiveness we emphasize the need of implementing clinical studies.Disclosure of interestThe authors have not supplied their declaration of competing interest.
Internet-based survey applied to experts in schizophrenia: Socio-demographic and professional variables associated to response pattern
Authors: Guilera G. , Barrios M. , Pino O. , Salas D. , Gómez-Benito J. 
Published: May 2016

IntroductionIn the framework of the development of the International Classification of Functioning, Disability and Health Core Set for schizophrenia, we conducted a cross-sectional, internet-based survey using open-ended questions. An international pool of experts from diverse health care disciplines was surveyed to identify problems in functioning experienced by individuals with schizophrenia.ObjectivesThe purpose of the study is to explore possible associations between experts’ socio-demographic and professional profiles, and whether they answered or not the survey.MethodsOut of 307 invited experts, 189 (61.56%) filled in the survey. However, 37 experts were excluded in the data analysis as they had completed only a part of the questionnaire. Thus, there were 152 of the experts classified as “respondents” and the remaining 155 as “non-respondents”. The association between the response pattern and the socio-demographic and professional variables (i.e., gender, World Health Organization region, discipline, and years of experience) was analysed by means of Chi2 tests.ResultsThere was a statistically significant association between the response pattern and the gender of the expert (χ2(1) = 4.927, P = 0.026; V = 0.127), showing that 56.3% of female and 43.6% of male experts answered the survey. When comparing the response pattern in terms of discipline, a statistically significant association was also found (χ2(4) = 10.101, P = 0.039; V = 0.183), showing that those who tend to answer the survey are occupational therapists (71.4%), followed by psychologists (58.0%), social workers (52.6%), nurses (52.0%), and psychiatrists (41.3%).ConclusionsFemales and occupational therapists presented the higher response rate to the expert survey.Disclosure of interestThe authors have not supplied their declaration of competing interest.
Self-continuity across time in schizophrenia: An exploration of phenomenological and narrative continuity in the past and future
Authors: Allé M. , D’Argembeau A. , Schneider P. , Potheegadoo J. , Coutelle R. , Danion J.M. , Berna F. 
Published: May 2016

Disorders of the self, such as the “loss of continuity” of the self in time, are a core symptom of schizophrenia, but one, which is still poorly understood. In the present study, we investigated two complementary aspects of self-continuity, namely phenomenological and narrative continuity, in 27 patients with schizophrenia, and compared them with 27 control participants. Participants were asked to identify 7 important past events and to narrate a story taken from their life that included these events. They were then asked to imagine 3 important events that might happen in their personal future and to build a narrative of their future life. The memory vividness of these important life-events and the proportion of self-event connections in the narratives were used as a measure of phenomenological and narrative continuity, respectively. Our results showed that the difficulty for patients to construct vivid representations of personally significant events was observed in both temporal directions, past and future. Patients’ ability to establish explicit connections between personal events and attributes of self in life narratives was also impaired, but only in the case of past narratives. Our results yield a fresh understanding of the cognitive mechanisms of self-disorders in schizophrenia. The clinical and therapeutic implications of these findings are discussed.Disclosure of interestThe authors have not supplied their declaration of competing interest.
A comprehensive systematic screening protocol for assessment of medical comorbidities in schizophrenia
Authors: Bucci P. , Durante Mangoni E. , Pafundi P.C. , De Simone S. , Malgeri U. , Mucci A. , Galderisi S. , Maj M. 
Published: May 2016

IntroductionDifficult access and low quality of health care are recognized as factors that may account for the excess deaths widely reported in patients with schizophrenia. As a matter of fact, psychiatrists not always possess adequate competences in the assessment of physical health, while non-psychiatric physicians receive little training in psychiatry and are not prepared to take care of subjects with severe mental illnesses.ObjectivesWe present a comprehensive and systematic algorithm for screening medical comorbidities, conceived to be easy to use for psychiatrists, after a brief training.AimsThe study is aimed to implement an instrument for proper detection and management of physical illnesses in people with schizophrenia.MethodsThe screening protocol, developed by internal medicine specialists, was applied to 15 subjects in two independent assessments, one performed by trainees in psychiatry, after a brief training, and one carried out by one specialist and two trainees in internal medicine. The analysis of the inter-rater reliability was carried out by calculating the Cohen's kappa coefficient and the intraclass correlation coefficient as appropriate.ResultsThe agreement among raters resulted excellent for 61% of items, good for 17%, moderate for 18% and scarce for 4%. The few items showing scarce inter-rater reliability were excluded. The final algorithm is being tested for feasibility in psychiatric settings.ConclusionsThe proposed screening protocol resulted in a suitable tool, showing moderate to excellent inter-rater reliability, that can be used in clinical practice by psychiatrists after a brief training.Disclosure of interestThe authors have not supplied their declaration of competing interest.
LAI versus oral antipsychotic maintenance treatment of schizophrenia: A case-control study on subjective experience of treatment
Authors: Pietrini F. , Spadafora M. , Tatini L. , Talamba G.A. , Burchi E. , Calderani E. , Gemignani S. , Mallardo L. , Andrisano C. , Boncompagni G. , Manetti M. , Ballerini A. , Ricca V. 
Published: May 2016

IntroductionLimited research has been devoted to the subjective impact of switching antipsychotic maintenance treatment (AMT) from oral to LAI formulation in schizophrenia.ObjectiveTo compare LAI AMT with oral AMT in terms of subjective experience of treatment, taking into account the effects on psychopathology.MethodsTwenty outpatients (7 males, mean age 40.55 ± 11.00 years) with remitted schizophrenia treated with either olanzapine or paliperidone and switching from oral to LAI AMT were recruited before the switch (LAI-AMT group). A group of 20 remitted schizophrenic subjects with oral AMT and matched for the main socio-demographic, clinical and treatment variables made up the controls (oral-AMT group). All participants were assessed by means of the PANSS and of the SWN-K at baseline (T0) and after 6 months (T1).ResultsBetween T0 and T1, general psychopathology of the PANSS and all but one of the SWN-K dimensions (except for “social integration”), showed significantly higher percent improvements in the LAI-AMT group compared to the oral-AMT group. After 6 months (T1), the LAI-AMT group showed significantly lower PANSS total and general psychopathology scores, as well as higher mean score of perceived “mental functioning” compared to the oral-AMT group. Item analysis of the general PANSS at T1 showed significant differences between the two groups in anxiety, tension, depression, guilt feelings, poor attention, and active social avoidance.ConclusionsOur data on switching from oral to LAI AMT in remitted schizophrenia suggest a better efficacy of the latter in terms of improvement of general psychopathology and subjective experience of treatment.Disclosure of interestThe authors have not supplied their declaration of competing interest.
Study of the contributory factors to metabolic abnormalities in resistant schizophrenia
Authors: Ramos Perdigues S. , Mane Santacana A. , Salgado Serrano P. , Jove Badia E. , Valiente Torrelles X. , Ortiz Sanz L. , Fortuny Olive J.R. , Perez Sola V. , Dinamarca F. 
Published: May 2016

IntroductionSchizophrenia is a developmental disorder that includes non-psychiatric abnormalities [2]. Metabolic abnormalities prior to antipsychotic treatment exist. The clozapine metabolic profile causes clozapine underuse in resistant schizophrenia [1].ObjectivesTo correlate metabolic profile with psychiatric severity and compare the correlations between clozapine/non-clozapine patients.AimsTo determine possible contributory factors to metabolic abnormalities in schizophrenia.MethodsWe cross-sectionally analyzed all patients from a Spanish long-term mental care facility (n = 139). Schizophrenic/schizoaffective patients were selected (n = 118). N = 31 used clozapine. We paired clozapine and non-clozapine patients by sex and age and assessed metabolic and psychopathologic variables.We compared psychopathologic variables between patients with/without cardiometabolic treatment and the differences between clozapine/non-clozapine groups.ResultsWe analyzed: 27 clozapine/29 non-clozapine patients. A total of 67,9% males with a mean age of 51.3 (SD 9.6) years. In the whole sample TG negatively correlated with Negative-CGI (r: −0,470, P: 0.049) and HDL-cholesterol correlates with Global-CGI(r: 0,505, P: 0.046). Prolactin correlated with the number of antipsychotics (r: 0.581, P: 0.023) and IMC (r: 0.575, P: 0.025). Clozapine group took less antipsychotics [Fisher (P: 0.045)] and had higher scores in total BRPS scale [t-Student (P: 0.036)]. They did not use more cardiometabolic treatment. There were no psychopathological differences between cardiometabolic treated/non-treated patients. In the non-cardiometabolic treated group (n = 35/62,5%), IMC negatively correlated with positive and total BPRS, positive, cognitive and global-CGI. We found negative correlations between metabolic parameters and psychopathology in clozapine (40%) and non-clozapine subgroups (60%). In the cardiometabolic treated group (n = 21/37,5%), we did not find these correlations in either of clozapine (61.9%) or non-clozapine (38.1%) subgroups.ConclusionsSeverity [2], prolactine [3] and treatment [1] could play a role in metabolic parameters. In our sample we found negative correlations between psychopathological and metabolic parameters.References not available.Disclosure of interestThe authors have not supplied their declaration of competing interest.
A case of rare allele T 126, 30,32 base pairs in a schizophrenic patient: A study case
Authors: Sabau A.I. , Cristina P. , Valerica B. , Delia Marina P. 
Published: May 2016

IntroductionSchizophrenia is a severe and complex disease clinically characterized by disturbed thought processes, delusions, hallucinations and reduced social skills. Gene coding for neregulin 1 (NRG 1) located in 8 p21chromosomeand single nucleotide polymorphism (SNPs) have been identified strongly supporting NRG1 gene as a susceptibility gene for schizophrenia.ObjectiveThe present preliminary study, determines the relationship between polymorphism nucleotide sites (SNPs2) of NRG1 gene and schizophrenia.AimsIdentifying rare allele T of neregulin 1 genein schizophrenic patients.MethodWe analyzed the polymorphism (SNPs2) of NRG1 gene in 20 patients recruited from Psychiatry Department of Emergency Clinical Hospital of Arad diagnosed with schizophrenia according to DSM-5-TM and ICD-10 criteria and 10 healthy controls. From all subjects, we obtained 2 mL of peripheral blood samples. Genomic DNA was extracted using the phenol-chloroform method. Genotyping was performed byPCR-based RFLP analysis for all subjects. The obtained PCR product mixture was completely digested with restriction enzyme, separated on SNP1 and SNP2 agarose gel. We present the case of a 31 years old, male, schizophrenic patient with the SNPs2 polymorphism and rare allele T 126.ResultsIn both groups, common allele G 127 and 60 base pairs was identified but only 2 schizophrenic patients presented rare allele T 126 and 30,32 base pairs.ConclusionsThe polymorphism SNPs2 of NRG1 gene with rare allele T 126 and 30,32 base pairs, may play a role in predisposing an individual to schizophrenia. Further and extended replicating studies with multiple sequencing of NRG1 gene are necessary.Disclosure of interestThe authors have not supplied their declaration of competing interest.