Tag: mental health

Categories : Mental HealthTags :

Teens at Risk of Psychopathy Struggle with Moral Judgments

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Teenagers with high levels of callous-unemotional traits demonstrate lower levels of anticipated guilt towards the possibility of committing an immoral act and struggle to judge an immoral act as a wrong one.

In the study, researchers examined the callous traits, ie the lack of empathy and disregard for the wellbeing and feelings of others, of 47 adolescents from the Portuguese Population between 15 and 18 years old. The adolescent participants viewed video animations portraying examples of moral transgressions, such as incriminating someone or keeping money that fell from someone else’s pocket. “This approach allowed us to create more realistic scenarios that happen in daily life,” explained Oscar Gonçalves, a neuroscientist at Proaction Lab and co-author of the study. 
The participants were asked how guilty they would feel if they were the ones to commit the moral transgressions and how unethical they felt those actions to be.

The study results differ from what is known about psychopaths, despite the callous-unemotional traits in adolescents being known to be precursors of psychopathy in adulthood. “Adults with psychopathic traits show low levels of anticipated guilt but consider immoral actions as wrong. However, in our study, adolescents with high CU levels show levels of guilt and judge immoral actions as less wrong,” explained first author Margarida Vasconcelos.

But evidence was found of a dissociation between moral emotions and moral judgment, that is, between the feelings of guilt and the judgment of immoral actions. “Even in adolescents with sub-clinical levels of callous-unemotional traits, this dissociation typical in psychopathy in adulthood is already happening during development,” explained study coordinator Ana Seara Cardoso.

The study’s results will “contribute to the development of a severe anti-social behavior model” and allow the “development of intervention targets, rehabilitation and early prevention of anti-social behavior,” said Cardoso.

Source: Medical Xpress

Categories : Exercise Mental HealthTags :

Mental Health and Physical Activity Impacted by Pandemic

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A study from McMaster University suggests that mental health has become both a barrier to and a motivator for physical activity.

Surveying over 1600 subjects, the researchers sought to understand the ways mental health, physical activity and sedentary behaviour have changed throughout the course of the pandemic and why. Their findings show that people want to be active to improve their mental health but find exercise difficult because of stress and anxiety. Previous research indicates that physical activity can contribute to the treatment of depression, while sedentary behaviour has a strong negative impact.
“Maintaining a regular exercise program is difficult at the best of times and the conditions surrounding the COVID-19 pandemic may be making it even more difficult,” said lead author Jennifer Heisz, associate professor at the Department of Kinesiology, McMaster University.

“Even though exercise comes with the promise of reducing anxiety, many respondents felt too anxious to exercise. Likewise, although exercise reduces depression, respondents who were more depressed were less motivated to get active, and lack of motivation is a symptom of depression,” she said.

The survey respondents reported higher psychological stress and moderate levels of anxiety and depression due to the pandemic. Their weekly aerobic activity reduced about 20 minutes, strength training down roughly 30 minutes, and sedentary time per day was up about 30 minutes per day compared to six months prior to the pandemic. Physical activity may have exerted a protective effect, as those with the greatest drops in physical activity had the worst mental health outcomes, while those who kept their physical activity levels the same level fared better in terms of mental health. 
Notably, economic disparities played a role, the researchers found, especially among younger adults.

“Just like other aspects of the pandemic, some demographics are hit harder than others and here it is people with lower income who are struggling to meet their physical activity goals,” said co-lead author Maryam Marashi, a graduate student in the Department of Kinesiology. “It is plausible that younger adults who typically work longer hours and earn less are lacking both time and space which is taking a toll.”

After the researchers analysed the data, the researchers produced a guideline to help people become more physically active:

  • Adopt a mindset: Some exercise is better than none.
  • Lower exercise intensity if feeling anxious.
  • Move a little every day.
  • Break up sedentary time with standing or movement breaks.
  • Plan your workouts like appointments by blocking off the time in your calendar.

“Our results point to the need for additional psychological supports to help people maintain their physical activity levels during stressful times in order to minimize the burden of the pandemic and prevent the development of a mental health crisis,” concluded Heisz.

Source: News-Medical.Net

Journal information: Marashi, M. Y., et al. (2021) A mental health paradox: Mental health was both a motivator and barrier to physical activity during the COVID-19 pandemic. PLOS ONE. doi.org/10.1371/journal.pone.0239244.

Categories : Mental HealthTags :

Ambivalent Results for ‘SlowMo’ Digital Psychosis Therapy

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A digital cognitive behavioral therapy for psychosis called SlowMo did not result in significant improvements for those suffering from paranoia, although it had other benefits.

“The therapy was engaging, and over 80% of participants completed all therapy sessions,” Philippa Garety, PhD, of King’s College London, wrote in an email to MedPage Today. “It is at least as effective as longer, more complex psychological treatments for paranoia, which are generally more challenging to deliver and frequently not available in clinical services.”

Garety herself was surprised by some of the study’s results, specifically the lack of improvements in some areas at the 24-week follow-up point. She said her team was also surprised — and pleased — to see that SlowMo was “equally effective across our wide demographic, of differing ages, gender, and ethnicities,” she wrote.

Some of the trial’s results surprised her, specifically the lack of improvements in some areas at the 24-week follow-up point. But her team was also pleased to see that it was equally effective across a wide demographic.

The study recruited 361 eligible adult participants from three UK community mental health services, and were randomised 1:1 to usual care only or to usual care plus SlowMo, which consisted of eight digitally supported face-to-face sessions and a mobile app .

The researchers saw improvements at the halfway point for both aspects of the 32-item Green et al. Paranoid Thoughts Scale (GPTS), which includes social reference (Part A) and persecution  (Part B). At the end of the trial, SlowMo did have a significant effect on Part B of the GPTS, but not on Part A.

Positive secondary outcomes were seen in observer-rated measurements, at a 12-week follow-up in Psychotic Symptom Rating Scales (PSYRATS) Delusion subscale and belief flexibility, as well as at 24 weeks. SlowMo did significantly affect the rate at which patients jumped to conclusions.

Dr Garety and co-authors noted that limitations including not controlling for time spent with therapists, as well as treatment as usual being used as the comparator.

Katherine Newman-Taylor, of University of Southampton in England, a psychologist focussing on patients with psychosis, said that the initial results are hopeful.

“This study shows that belief flexibility and worry are key therapeutic targets when working with people struggling with distressing paranoia,” Newman-Taylor told MedPage Today in an email. “As psychological therapists, we need to consider how people think, as well as what they think, when seeking to understand distressing psychosis and support individuals’ recovery.”

“In this trial, we have demonstrated, for the first time in a large randomized controlled trial, that helping people to slow down their thinking reduces paranoia in everyday life, and improves quality of life and wellbeing,” Dr Garety told MedPage Today.

Source: MedPage Tooday

Journal information: Garety P, et al “Effects of SlowMo, a blended digital therapy targeting reasoning, on paranoia among people with psychosis” JAMA Psychiatry 2021; DOI: 10.1001/jamapsychiatry.2021.0326.

Categories : Mental HealthTags :

Implanting and Erasing False Memories

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A technique both to implant and false memories has been described by researchers.

False memories are a source of great confusion for neurologists and psychologists, but interest in them has greatly increased in the past three decades. They are believe to arise from a need for completeness in memory, as well as other factors such as wish fulfillment. Psychologists have demonstrated techniques to instil false memories in subjects, enabling the process to be studied. Such techniques have also been used to influence witnesses in criminal trials.

Functional MRI studies of false memories indicate the involvement of prefrontal cortex, particularly ventromedial and in the right hemisphere.
The method involves planting a suggestion that a plausible event happened, and then using a trusted source to back up the claim. The study used this method with 52 participants, creating plausible stories from their childhood and mixing in real events. The participants’ parents were asked to back up the memories of the false events, and over a number of sessions, many participants gradually began to believe the stories and some also produced false memories.

The researchers found that they could erase these memories by identifying the source of the false memory, then explaining to them how false memories can be created when people are asked to recall a memory several times.  

Interviewing the subjects a year later, the researchers found that 74% of them had either rejected the false memories or forgotten them.

Source: Medical Xpress

Journal information: Aileen Oeberst et al. Rich false memories of autobiographical events can be reversed, Proceedings of the National Academy of Sciences (2021). DOI: 10.1073/pnas.2026447118

Categories : Mental Health New Compounds and TreatmentsTags :

Zuranolone, a New Drug for MDD Shown to Be Safe and Effective in Trials

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A recent trial showed that nightly 30mg doses of zuranolone, a new drug to treat major depressive disorder (MDD), are safe and only requires about two courses to achieve clinical improvement.

Zuranolone is one of a new class of neuroactive steroid drugs that positively modulates GABAA receptors. It has high bioavailability, can be taken orally and has a half-life suitable for daily administration. 

The SHORELINE Study is a Phase III, open-label, one year longitudinal study to evaluate the safety, tolerability, and need for repeat dosing with zuranolone in adults with MDD. Two cohorts with either zuranolone 30mg or 50mg as a starting dose taken once nightly for 14 days. Need for repeated dosing is assessed every 14 days based on a patient-reported assessment, with a maximum of five courses over a year.

Analysis of the data showed that the study’s primary endpoint of safety and tolerability show that zuranolone was generally well-tolerated in both dosage cohorts, with adverse events being generally consistent with those seen in previous zuranolone trials.

Secondary endpoints included response and remission as evaluated by the 17-item Hamilton Rating Scale for Depression (HAMD-17) and the number of times a patient received retreatment. A mean of 2.2 treatments resulted in patients with a clinical response (baseline HAMD-17 reduction of ≥50%) to the initial course of zuranolone 30mg. Additional data from patients in the 50 mg dose cohort is expected to be reported in late 2021.

“Sage embarked on the LANDSCAPE clinical program to evaluate the safety and efficacy of zuranolone with the ambition of reimagining the treatment for depression with the goal of a rapid-acting, durable, treat-as-needed option in a disease where innovation is lacking and the incidence rate has unfortunately increased exponentially in the last 20 years,” said Barry Greene, Chief Executive Officer at Sage Therapeutics. “Today we are announcing additional positive data from the SHORELINE Study that demonstrate continued strong results from the 30 mg dose and strengthens our confidence in the potential of the 50 mg dose. Designed as a naturalistic study, these data approximate real-world evidence of use of zuranolone at 30 mg and 50 mg doses. We look forward to the results of the WATERFALL and CORAL Phase 3 pivotal data readouts in MDD this year.”

Source: Sage Therapeutics

Categories : Hospitals Mental HealthTags :

Burnout is Highly Prevalent in Healthcare Workers in Cape Town

On By ModernMedia
Image by Free-Photos from Pixabay

Among Cape Town healthcare workers, burnout is highly prevalent, and worsened by the fear of infection, said City spokesperson Priya Reddy.

A year after the breakout of COVID in the Western Cape, the provincial department of health also reported significant levels of burnout among its health-care workers, especially in doctors, nurses and support staff.

Reddy said: “Burnout is highly prevalent as a result of exposure to trauma, loss, grief and compassion fatigue, and is exacerbated by the high levels of anxiety for fear of contracting the virus.”

However, she said: “The presence of Covid-19 has not diverted health-care workers from their primary responsibilities, thus the pandemic added additional levels of care and caution to the way they work and required a major adjustment.”

In response, the City has made available a number of employee assistance programmes (EAP) and wellness interventions to all employees, including City health-care workers and those supporting them in their different functions. The City is also providing workshops on burnout, compassion fatigue and resilience, and making proactive interventions to deal with stress and anxiety.

The provincial health department reported that between October and December last year, 2832 employees accessed the employee health and wellness programme. Work related problems, trauma, COVID related challenges, family challenges and relationships issues were the most common problems presented during this time.

In his review of the pandemic ‘s year in the province, provincial department of health head, Dr Keith Cloete said: “The department recognised the immense impact the pandemic has had on its staff and has initiated intentional healing and grieving sessions with our front-line workers and managers.”

“The department also recognised the need for staff to rest and recuperate, and in between the two waves we encouraged and granted staff to take leave so they can spend some time with family members,” Dr Cloete added.

SA Society of Psychiatrists (Sasop) board member Dr Renata Schoeman said: “Because people on the verge of burnout feel the need to keep going even though they are exhausted and in a state of relentless overwork, by the time they consult a health professional, burnout has often already become depression or anxiety disorder.”

She added: “Avoiding burnout is a classic case where prevention is better than cure, and lifestyle is the most effective preventative strategy. Improving your emotional and mental fitness, as well as physical fitness, helps to build resilience which means you can handle stress better and cope with setbacks.”

A survey of burnout in India found that 52.8% of respondents reported pandemic-related burnout, compared to 26.9% for work-related burnout. Burnout risk was increased by 1.64 for doctors and by 5 for support staff.

Source: IOL

Categories : Mental Health PaediatricsTags :

Playing with Ultra-thin Dolls Skews Girls’ Ideal Body Size

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A small-scale study led by Durham University in the UK, has shown that play with ultra-thin dolls may negatively affect body image in girls as young as five years old.

The researchers warn that the dolls, combined with exposure to ‘thin ideals’ in the media, could lead to body dissatisfaction in young girls, which has been shown to be a factor in the development of eating disorders. A Dutch study showed that girls randomised to receive an ultra-thin doll to play with ate less than those who received a realistic adult doll.

The study had 30 girls aged between 5-9 years old play with an ultra-thin doll, a realistic childlike doll or a car. Before and after each play session, the girls were asked about their perceived own body size and ideal body size via an interactive computer test using pictures.

Playing with the ultra-thin dolls reduced girls’ ideal body size immediately after play. There was no improvement even when they subsequently played with the childlike dolls or cars afterwards, demonstrating that playing with other toys cannot quickly counteract the effects. The realistic children’s dolls had a neutral effect on body ideals.

Lead author Professor Lynda Boothroyd, from Durham University’s Department of Psychology, said: “Body dissatisfaction is a huge problem, particularly amongst young girls. It can have serious consequences for girls’ wellbeing and lead to eating disorders and depression.

“The results from our study indicate that playing with ultra-thin dolls, which are sold in the millions each year, could have a real negative impact on girls’ body image. This is on top of all the images of unrealistic body sizes they see on TV, in films and on social media. This is something that needs to be addressed in order to reduce the pressure on girls and women to aspire to a ‘thin ideal body’.”

The psychologists had found in previous research that the more TV we watch, the more we prefer thinner female bodies. Of the girls who took part in the study, 80% said they had ultra-thin dolls at home or with their friends, and nearly all watched films which tend to portray very thin female bodies. Dolls available in shops tend to have a projected BMI of 10 to 16 (underweight). The study used realistically proportioned dolls resembling healthy children of 7 and 9.

Dr Elizabeth Evans, from Newcastle University’s School of Psychology, said: “This study isn’t intended to make parents feel guilty about what’s in their child’s toy box, and it certainly isn’t trying to suggest that ultra-thin dolls are ‘bad’.

“What our study provides is useful information that parents can take into account when making decisions about toys. Ultra-thin dolls are part of a bigger picture of body pressures that young children experience, and awareness of these pressures is really important to help support and encourage positive body image in our children.”

The study, though small, tested the children before and after doll play, an unusual approach which nevertheless adds to growing evidence that doll play affects young girls’ beauty ideals.

Professor Martin Tovee, from Northumbria University’s Department of Psychology, said: “Our study shows how perception of ideal body size and shape is moulded from our earliest years to expect unrealistic ideals. This creates an inevitable body image dissatisfaction which is already known to lead towards disordered eating.”

Source: Medical Xpress

Journal information: Can realistic dolls protect body satisfaction in young girls?, Boothroyd et al, Body Image, 11 March 2021.

Categories : Mental Health New Compounds and TreatmentsTags :

Neurocrine’s Anticipated Schizophrenia Drug Flops in Clinical Trial

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Pharmaeceutical company Neurocrine’s anticipated schizophrenia drug, luvadaxistat, failed to have an impact on negative symptoms in a key clinical trial, but still showed promising cognitive benefits.

Neurocrine Biosciences had licensed seven of Takeda’s psychiatry drugs last year for over $2 billion. Luvadaxistat was the furthest along, having entered Phase 2 testing in 2017.

The experimental drug is supposed to help schizophrenia patients cope with “negative symptoms”—a range of difficult-to-treat conditions such as lack of motivation, trouble communicating and limited emotion. The drug is designed to block an enzyme that degrades a certain kind of amino acid important for brain function.

However, according to results from a mid-stage study, in comparison to placebo, patients treated with the drug didn’t perform significantly better, as measured by a scale that assesses the severity of negative symptoms.

While there was excitement around the science behind luvadaxistat, Wall Street analysts lost much of their optimism in the programme last month, after Concert Pharmaceuticals halted development of CTP-692, an experimental drug based on the same mechanism, after trials also saw disappointing results. 

Nevertheless, there remains a path ahead for luvadaxistat as Neurocrine is setting up to analyse the drug’s efficacy for cognitive benefits, as it appears that these results at least were in line with scientific predictions.

Source: BioPharma Dive

Categories : Mental HealthTags :

Benefits from ‘Microdosing’ Could Just Be Placebo

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People who claim they derived benefits from ‘microdosing‘, very small quantities of psychedelic drugs may simply be explained by the placebo effect, a new study has found.

The illegal nature of the drugs used for microdosing posed a problem for the study: not only did it make it unethical for researchers to obtain the drugs themselves and distribute them, but also participants knew what they were taking because they had obtained the drugs themselves. so participants mixed their own supplies of pills with a number of placebo pills, thereby blinding themselves to the trial.

Those participants taking the real psychoactive drugs and those unknowingly taking the placebos reported similar psychological benefits. “Our results are mixed: on the one hand, we observed microdosing’s benefits in a wide range of psychological measures; on the other hand, equal benefits were seen among participants taking placebos,” explained study lead author and Balázs Szigeti, Research Associate at Imperial College London.

“These findings suggest that the benefits are not due to the drug, but rather due to the placebo-like expectation effects. Many participants who reported that they experienced positive effects while taking the placebo were shocked to learn after the study that they hadn’t been taking the real drug.”

Although the results are not as reliable as a placebo-controlled study due to the black market origin of the drugs, the team cautioned, it nevertheless reflected ‘real world’ microdosing and was inexpensive.

“The successful execution of this study could inspire similar studies in a broad range of scientific or medical contexts,” said senior author David Erritzoe, Clinical Senior Lecturer in Psychiatry at Imperial College London. “Accounting for the placebo effect is important when assessing trends such as the use of cannabidiol oils, fad diets or supplements where social pressure or users’ expectations can lead to a strong placebo response. Self-blinding citizen science initiatives could be used as an inexpensive, initial screening tool before launching expensive clinical studies.”

Source: News-Medical.Net

Journal information: Szigeti, B., et al. (2021) Self-blinding citizen science to explore psychedelic microdosing. eLife. doi.org/10.7554/eLife.62878

Categories : Mental Health NeurologyTags :

Repurposed Drug Exploits Ion Channel in The Brain To Treat Depression

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Researchers from the Icahn School of Medicine at Mount Sinai Hospital have repurposed a drug to treat depression by using an ion channel that is a completely different mechanism than regular antidepressants.

A study demonstrated that a drug called ezogabine, which opens KCNQ2/3 type of potassium channels in the brain, is linked to significant improvements in depressive symptoms and anhedonia (a lack of ability to feel pleasure) in patients with depression. Anhedonia is a complex, core symptom of depression and is associated with poor outcomes such as increased risk of suicide and reduced responsiveness to antidepressants.
Ezogabine is an anticonvulsant for epilepsy treatment; this novel application in treating depression opens up the investigation of the KCNQ2/3 channel as a potential drug target.

“Our study is the first randomized, placebo-controlled trial to show that a drug affecting this type of ion channel in the brain can improve depression and anhedonia in patients. Targeting this channel represents a completely different mechanism of action than any currently available antidepressant treatment,” said Professor James Murrough, MD, PhD, at the Icahn School of Medicine at Mount Sinai, and senior author of the paper.

The KCNQ2/3 channel belongs to the KCNQ (or Kv7) family of ion channels which are important controllers of brain cell excitability and function in the central nervous system, affecting brain cell function by controlling electrical charge flow across the cell membrane in the form of potassium (K+) ions. Previous research in mice also showed involvement of KCNQ2/3 in depression. Mice that were more resilient to stress had increased KCNQ2/3 channels in their brains.

“We viewed enhanced functioning of the KCNQ channel as a potential molecular mechanism of resilience to stress and depression,” said Ming-Hu-Han, PhD, who also discovered that by increasing the activity of this channel, such as by administering ezogabine, to depressed mice, the drug acted as an antidepressant.

A trial with adult human patients showed that, compared to placebo, those treated with ezogabine showed a large reduction in a number of key measures of depression severity, anhedonia, and overall illness severity.
“The fundamental insight by Dr Han’s group that a drug that essentially mimicked a mechanism of stress resilience in the brain could represent a whole new approach to the treatment of depression was very exciting to us,” said Dr Murrough.

In collaboration with Dr Han, Dr Murrough carried out a series of human studies, with an initial open-label (no placebo) study in patients with depression providing initial evidence that ezogabine could improve symptoms of depression and anhedonia.

“I think it’s fair to say that most of us on the study team were quite surprised at the large size of the beneficial effect of ezogabine on clinical symptoms across multiple measures related to depression. We are greatly encouraged by these findings and the hope they offer for the prospect of developing novel, effective treatments for depression and related disorders. New treatments are urgently needed given that more than one-third of people suffering from depression are inadequately treated with currently approved therapeutics.”

Source: Eureka Alert