Relatives Of Psychotic Patients Research Articles

Effects of a psychoeducation program on disease burden, depression, and anxiety levels in relatives of psychotic patients in a community mental health center.

This study evaluates the effect of a 10-week psychoeducation program (PP) on disease burden, depression, and anxiety levels in relatives of psychotic patients. The participants were 43 relatives of patients attending a community mental health center. The Zarit Caregiver Burden Scale (ZCBS), Beck Anxiety Inventory (BAI), and Beck Depression Inventory (BDI) were used to collect psychometric data. Administering the PP to caregivers significantly reduced their ZCBS, BAI, and BDI scores. We recommend integrating the PP into treatment and rehabilitation programs within the scope of psychiatric-care services.

Internal stigma features at relatives of psychotic patients

The aim of the work was to study the severity and structure of self-stigma in relatives ofpsychotic patients. The study recruited 34 people who take care for patients with psychotic disorders (F2 and F3 according to ICD-10). Among them: 26-parents of patients (26-mothers), 4-spouses, 3- siblings and 1 child. The socio-demographic data of patients’ relatives were collected, for self-stigma evaluation was used SSI-F (Self-Stigma Family Inventory), which allows assessing the severity and structure of the family self-stigma. As a result, of the study, it was found that the intensity (by sub-scales and general point) of the caregivers did not threshold the mean score 2,5. The majority of respondents (76,5%) were patients’ parents and in 67,7% — were mothers. The differences in structure and overall intensity in different groups (gender, age, family position, employment and presence of other persons for care (children)) were found. Mild positive correlation between subscale social withdrawal (SSI-F) and age was observed. Discussed: general self-stigma vulnerability in groups of mothers and in persons over 50 years of age were higher, than in other relatives’ groups; sensitivity of internal stigma formation in spouses, working persons and relatives taking care with other family members,including children, had specific features.

Frequency and severity of depression in primary caregivers of psychotic patients.

Objectives: The study aimed at determining the frequency and severity of depression in primary caregivers of psychotic patients. Study Design: Cross sectional study. Setting: Out-patient as well as in-patient setting of Department of Psychiatry, Military Hospital Rawalpindi. Period: Six months, from 20th April 2017 to 19th October 2017. Material and Methods: Purposive, non-probable sampling technique was used. A total of 246 caregivers of the same number of psychotic patients were studied after consent, using the General Health Questionnaire 28 (GHQ-28) and Beck’s Depression Inventory (BDI). The mean total BDI scores were calculated and correlated with the socio-demographic variables. Results: The mean total GHQ-28 score of 246 caregivers was 7.32 (cut off score is >7) which indicate definite psychopathology among them. Out of 246 caregivers, 175 (71.1%) showed scores greater than 7 (GHQ positive) while 71 (28.9%) showed scores less than 7 (GHQ negative). The mean total BDI score of 175 caregivers (who were GHQ positive) was 17.83 (cut off score for depression is >9). Out of 175 GHQ positive caregivers, 72 (41.14%) showed subclinical or no depression, 49 (28%) showed mild depression, 40 (22.86%) showed moderate depression and 14 (8%) showed severe depression on BDI. The results show that there is considerable caregiver burden in relatives of psychotic patients. Conclusion: Caregivers of psychotic patients suffer clinical depression with obvious negative outcomes for the patient. Younger age group, female gender and illiteracy typically carry a greater risk of experiencing higher burden in terms of depression.

P03-286 - Is attention related with pathological personality in siblings of psychotic patients?

IntroductionImpaired sustained and selective attention have been seen as vulnerability factors to psychotic disorders. Relatives of psychotic patients are a risk population for psychosis, and previous studies have shown that they displayed more attentional deficits compared with healthy controls. Additionally, relatives have more pathological personality and schizotypy, the least considered also to be the expression of the genetic vulnerability to schizophrenia. There are few studies that relate attention to personality factors in relatives of psychotic patients.AimsTo compare attentional performance of siblings of psychotic patients with those of healthy controls, taking into account their pathological and schizotypal personality.MethodsThe Spanish version of the SPQ and the DAPP-BQ were administered to a sample of 51 subjects that were divided into four groups by a hierarchical cluster analysis: siblings with high pathological personality (SHPP), siblings with low pathological personality (SLPP), controls with high pathological personality (CHPP), and controls with low pathological personality (CLPP). In all the subjects we assessed a sustained attention index (SUA) and a selective attention index (SEA). We compared the performance of the four groups on these attentional indexes.ResultsWe found that SHPP had worse performance on sustained attention compared with CLPP. Specifically this difference was in the reaction time item of the SUA.ConclusionsThe high schizotypy and pathological personality had an influence on sustained attentional performance in the siblings of patients with psychosis, but not in the healthy controls.

Controversies surrounding the diagnosis of schizophrenia and other psychoses

The diagnosis of schizophrenia and other psychotic disorders in current psychiatric classifications identifies individuals who are severely ill but who have few clinical characteristics in common. The usual picture of psychotic patients is a mixture of mood and psychotic symptoms. Fortunately, clinicians do not base their therapeutic strategies exclusively on diagnosis, but also on symptom predominance. Thus, clinicians’ treatments have been dimensional in nature for years, although, until recently, their psychiatric classifications had been mainly categorical. The main principle in psychosis classification has been the Kraepelinian dichotomy, despite its lack of enduring empirical validation. Without doubt, current psychiatric classifications have made great strides in reliability and clinical utility, although these advantages have not been enough to compensate for their shortcomings concerning validity. It has recently been suggested that the Kraepelinian dichotomy may be hindering progress in neurobiological research within psychosis. Mounting evidence is now fuelling a paradigm shift in the ongoing process of review of psychiatric classifications toward the introduction of complementary dimensional indicators of psychiatric categorical diagnoses. This new approach will allow us to understand psychosis as prototypical extremes of a severity continuum. The gradients of this continuum may begin with subtle expressions in the general population, continue with milder forms in relatives of psychotic patients and subclinical cases and finally reach the prototypical forms of psychosis at the other extreme. Future complementary dimensional indicators will require sound instruments capable of reflecting a multidimensional assessment of psychopathological symptoms, polydiagnostic interviews and the assessment of a wide range of nonsymptomatic domains. These new methods of assessment merging created by the shift toward a dimensional paradigm will be applied in the forthcoming new diagnostic criteria and may allow for a phenome-wide scanning for psychosis.

Creative intelligence in relatives of mental patients.

Karlsson, J. L. 1984. Creative intelligence in relatives of mental patients. —Hereditas 100: 83–86. Lund, Sweden. ISSN 0018–0661. Received May 27, 1983 First-degree relatives of psychotic patients have been found to be more successful than the general population of Iceland in attaining recognition in several fields of intellectual endeavor. In particular they distinguish themselves in areas of creative and scholarly excellence.

Telefon-Hotline als niederschwelliges Angebot für Fragen zur Schizophrenie

Public relations activities of the German Research Network on Schizophrenia (GRNS) have shown that there is a demand for more information about schizophrenia disorder. This confirms international research findings that relatives of schizophrenia patients are particularly in need of information and support. In response, the GRNS has maintained a telephone hotline since 2001. The hotline is manned by clinical experts, psychiatrists, or psychologists once a week. The telephone calls are documented in a systematic manner. From 2001 to 2003, 3,909 calls were registered. This volume exceeds the limit of the hotline's resources. The telephone hotline is mainly used by relatives of psychotic patients. Most questions relate to the symptoms of schizophrenia and pharmaceutical treatment. The need for emotional support is also a high motivational factor for dialing the hotline number. The telephone hotline seems to be a worthwhile addition to the already existing crisis telephones and should be maintained even after public funding of the network expires.

Are schizophrenics neuropsychologically impaired affected psychotics? Neuropsychological performance and personality traits in relatives.

Neuropsychological deficits are found in both schizophrenic patients and their relatives, and some studies have shown similar, but less severe, deficits in affective psychotic patients and their relatives. We set out to establish - whether schizophrenia spectrum personality traits are more common in the relatives of schizophrenic patients than relatives of affective psychotic patients; - what is the relationship between spectrum personality traits and neuropsychological deficits in these relatives. Relatives were interviewed using the International Personality Disorder Examination (IPDE), and also completed the National Adult Reading Test (NART), the Trail Making Test (TMT: Parts A and B) and Thurstone's Verbal Fluency Test (TVFT). Spectrum personality traits were equally common in the 129 relatives of schizophrenic and 106 relatives of affective psychotic patients. Relatives of psychotic patients who themselves had high paranoid traits had lower NART scores than those without such personality traits (p=0.007);similarly, those with high schizoid personality traits took longer to complete the TMT, part B than those without such traits (p=0.0l); and relatives with high schizotypal traits generated significantly fewer words on the verbal fluency test than those without such traits (p=0.04).

The factor structure of schizophrenia spectrum personality disorders: signs and symptoms in relatives of psychotic patients from the UCLA family members study

The dimensions and limits of the concept of schizotypy are examined using an exploratory factor analysis of the 36 signs and symptoms in the Cluster A DSM-III-R personality disorders as well as those in Borderline Personality Disorder and Avoidant Personality Disorder in the 307 first-degree relatives and half-siblings of 123 probands with schizophrenia/schizoaffective disorder. The personality disorders examined were assessed using sections of the Structured Clinical Interview for DSM-III-R Personality Disorders (SCID-II) and hospital and clinic records. Interviewers were blind to the proband diagnosis. The resulting six-factor solution accounted for 40% of the variance. The results of the six-factor solution accounted for the greatest variance and gave the most easily interpretable simple structure of all the solutions examined. The six factors are labeled as (1) Borderline Symptoms, (2) Schizoid Symptoms, (3) Paranoid Symptoms, (4) Avoidant Symptoms, (5) Positive Schizotypy Symptoms, and (6) Disorganized Symptoms. The Schizotypal Personality items are spread across all but the ‘Borderline Symptoms’ factor. We conclude schizotypy is a multidimensional construct that is not adequately characterized by any one DSM-III-R personality disorder. It appears to consist of six distinct dimensions, which, interestingly, parallel current thinking on dimensions in schizophrenia.

Distinguishing Between Content and Form of Speech-Reply

<h3>In Reply.—</h3> Dr Berenbaum cites a difference between our study¹and his.²We are not the first to find an aggregation of thought disorder in the relatives of psychotic patients.^3-6We believe that at least three requirements should be met if one seeks to determine whether thought disorder is present in clinically normal members of families in which there is a psychotic patient. First, evaluating personnel must be well trained and experienced with the instrument in use. Second, the instrument used must be able to detect not only severe instances of thought disorder, present in psychotic populations, but also mild instances of thought slippage, since thought disorder in nonpsychotic relatives tends to be muted. Third, categories of formal thought disorder that occur infrequently in the normal population, but frequently in pathological populations, must be determined. These disorders may occur in relatives of psychotic patients. The study by Berenbaum et al

Thought Disorder in the Relatives of Psychotic Patients

Using the Holzman-Johnston Thought Disorder Index, thought disorder was examined in the first-degree relatives of schizophrenic, manic, and schizoaffective patients. In all three groups, there was a tendency for probands with higher thought disorder to have first-degree relatives with higher thought disorder. Furthermore, the quality of thought disorder in the groups of relatives was similar to that in the groups of probands, although it was clear that the relatives of schizoaffective-manic patients showed the highest amount of thought disorder, which was not found in the proband sample. Although based on a small sample, these findings suggest that amount and type of thought disorder differ not only among medicated patient groups but also among their unmedicated relatives.

Mean Serum Creatine Kinase Activity in Patients With Functional Psychoses

Increased serum creatine kinase (CPK) activity has been reported to be present during acute exacerbations of psychosis in the majority of patients with the major "functional" psychoses. It has also been demonstrated that mean serum CPK activity, ie, average daily serum CPK activity, is under genetic control. In this report, we present evidence for an association between the presence of a transient elevation of serum CPK activity beyond the upper limit of normal during psychotic episodes and relatively high mean serum CPK levels during the rest of hospitalization. The magnitude of the transient serum CPK elevation was correlated with mean serum CPK activity in psychotic patients. The mean serum CPK level was also correlated with the terminal innervation ratio, an indication of alpha motor neuron dysfunction. The incidence of serum CPK elevations in first-degree relatives of psychotic patients was significantly greater in patients with high mean serum CPK activity than in those with low mean serum CPK activity. High mean serum CPK activity may be an indication of an increase in permeability of the muscle cell membrane, which in turn may be due to some defect in the neurotrophic regulation of muscle physiology or an independent expression of muscle abnormalities.

Intake interviews with relatives of psychotic patients1

Intake interviews with relatives of psychotic patients¹