Psychological factors, specific lifestyles and environmental stressors may influence etiopathogenesis and evolution of chronic diseases. We investigate the association between Chronic Inflammatory ...Bowel Diseases (IBD) and psychological dimensions such as personality traits, defence mechanisms, and Alexithymia, i.e. deficits of emotional awareness with inability to give a name to emotional states. We analyzed a survey of 100 patients with IBD and a control group of 66 healthy individuals. The survey involved filling out clinical and anamnestic forms and administering five psychological tests. These were then analyzed by using a network representation of the system by considering it as a bipartite network in which elements of one set are the 166 individuals, while the elements of the other set are the outcome of the survey. We then run an unsupervised community detection algorithm providing a partition of the 166 participants into clusters. That allowed us to determine a statistically significant association between psychological factors and IBD. We find clusters of patients characterized by high neuroticism, alexithymia, impulsivity and severe physical conditions and being of female gender. We therefore hypothesize that in a population of alexithymic patients, females are inclined to develop psychosomatic diseases like IBD while males might eventually develop behavioral disorders.
Purpose
The incidence of psychotic disorders varies in different geographical areas. As there have been no reports from Southern Italy, this study aimed to determine the incidence rate of ...first-episode psychosis in Palermo, Sicily.
Methods
All patients, aged 18–65 years, presenting with a first episode of psychosis (FEP) (ICD-10 F20–29, F30–33) to mental health services in Palermo, were recorded over a 3-year period. Incidence rates of psychotic disorders and their 95% confidence intervals (95% CI) were estimated. Poisson regression was applied to estimate the differences in incidence rate ratio (IRR) by age, sex and migrant status.
Results
Two hundred and four FEP participants were identified during the 3 years; 183 (89.7%, males
n
= 112) participants were native Italians and 21 were migrants (10.3%, males
n
= 14). The crude incidence of all psychoses was 15.9 (95% CI 13.7–18.1). As predicted, the risk of schizophrenia F20 was higher in males compared to females (adjusted IRR = 1.99, 95% CI 1.36–2.88) and in migrants compared to native Italians (adjusted IRR = 4.02, 95% CI 2.39–6.75).
Conclusions
This study, the first from Sicily, confirms previous findings from Northern Italy that the risk of schizophrenia and other psychoses is much lower in Italian cities than those reported from cities in Northern Europe; the reasons for this disparity may provide important clues to the aetiology of psychosis.
Introduction The World Health Organization (WHO) considers stigma of mental illness as a crucial problem (WHO, 2001). Stigma contributes to the onset (Morgan et al., 2010) and the outcome of people ...affected by schizophrenia (Himan, 2015). Objectives To evaluate the perception of patients affected by psychotic disorders of being stigmatized by the community. Aims To compare the perception of stigma among subgroups of patients at different stage of their disorder. Methods Thirty-five patients affected by a first-episode of psychosis (FEP) and 96 patients affected by chronic psychosis were recruited. The Devaluation of Consumers Scale (DCS) and the Devaluation of Consumer Families Scale (DCFS) were administered to assess the perceived public stigma (Struening et al., 2001). The Positive And Negative Schizophrenic Symptoms Scale (PANSS) (Kay et al., 1987) and the Global Assessment of Functioning (GAF) (Goldman et al., 1992) were administered to assess psychotic symptoms and global level of functioning. Results Patients affected by chronic psychosis perceived higher devaluation against mental disorders than patients with a recent onset of psychosis (Mann–Whitney's U = 910.500, P = 0.017). DCS and DCFS correlated with increased voluntary admissions (Rho = 0.355, P = 0.002; Rho = 0.257, P = 0.029) and DCS with increased compulsory admissions (Rho = 0.349, P = 0.003). Only among chronic patients, DCS factor 2 was related to global level of functioning (Rho = 0.217, P = 0.041). Conclusions Patients affected by chronic psychotic disorders perceived a more pessimistic attitude of the community towards their participation in social and community life and this is related to increased admissions and disability.
Introduction A number of authors have hypothesized that psychotic patients who consume cannabis constitute a differentiated subgroup of patients that have better cognitive and social skills, ...necessary to engage in illegal drug consumption, than non-using patients. Objectives Given that the prevalence, and patterns, of cannabis use are culturally driven, we wanted to study first-episode psychosis (FEP) cannabis-using and non-using patients coming from different European countries as part of the EUGEI-STUDY. Aims We tested the hypothesis of better premorbid social adjustment in cannabis-using FEP patients, by comparing them to FEP non cannabis users and to their respective healthy controls. Methods A total of 1745 people (746 cases; 999 controls) completed the assessment for premorbid adjustment Premorbid Adjustment Scale (PAS) and cannabis use (CEQ-Revised). We first extracted the Premorbid Social Adjustment Factor (PSA) from PAS and then performedlinear mixed models with PSA as dependent variable and cannabis lifetime (Yes/No) and subject status (Cases/Controls) as independent variables. We then considered “Country” as random intercept. Results Across all countries, PSA scores were better in patients who had smoked cannabis in their lifetime than patients who had not ( P = 0.009). The difference in PSA score between cannabis users and non-users was significantly greater in cases than controls ( P = 0.038). The relationship between PSA, cannabis lifetime (Yes/No) and subject status among nations (random intercept) is shown on Fig. 1. Conclusions Cannabis-using psychotic patients show better premorbid social adjustment than non-using patients, across 5 European countries.
Abstract This study investigated the relationship between severe childhood abuse and cognitive functions in first-episode psychosis patients and geographically-matched controls. Reports of any abuse ...were associated with lower scores in the executive function domain in the control group. However, in contrast with our hypothesis, no relationships were found amongst cases.
Introduction A large body of literature has demonstrated that people affected by psychotic disorders show deficits in working memory, in Emotion Recognition (ER) and in data-gathering to reach a ...decision (Jumping To Conclusions – JTC). Aims To investigate a possible correlation between working memory, JTC and ER in FEP. Methods 41 patients and 89 healthy controls completed assessments of working memory using WAIS shortened version, JTC using the 60:40 Beads Task and ER using Degraded Facial Affect Recognition Task. Results According to the literature, cases had poorer performance in working memory tasks (Digit Span: μ7,72 ds=2,98 vs μ10,14 ds=3,10, U=865,00, p=0,00; Digit Symbol: μ5,36 ds=2,43 vs μ10,05 ds=3,10, U=455,50, p=0,00; Arithmetic: μ5,46 ds=2,76 vs μ8,74 ds=3,24, U=865,50, p=0,00; Block Design: μ4,82 ds=2,72 vs μ7,60 ds=3,18, U=912,00, p=0,00), in Beads Task (81,6% vs 51,1%, χ2 =10,27, p=0,001, μ2,53 ds=3,57 vs μ4,23 ds=4,77, U=1171,00, p=0,006) and in DFAR (total errors: μ21,62 ds=7,43 vs μ16,58 ds=8,69, U=554,50, p=0,002). Furthermore working memory tasks in cases group correlated significantly with JTC (Digit Span: r rho =0,276, p=0,003; Digit Symbol: r rho =0,275, p=0,002; Arithmetic: r rho =0,265, p=0,003; Block Design: r rho =0,292, p=0,001), but only Digit Span with ER (r rho =-0,239; p=0,021). In addition, we found that JTC and ER were significantly associated (r rho =-0,281; p=0,004). Conclusions Data show that working memory impairments, JTC style and dysfunctions in the facial emotions recognition are phenomena strongly correlated in the group of patients. Preliminary results suggest the importance of early rehabilitation as the impairments detected may lead to difficulties in social and relational adaptation in psychotic patients.
Introduction A growing body of literature suggests that people affected by psychotic disorders are more likely to be unemployed, tend to live alone, have a poor social network, and are not able to ...establish long-term relationships (Morgan et al., 2008). Aims To investigate social disadvantage in a sample of first-episode of psychosis patients and geographically matched controls. Methods The study sample consists of 52 healthy controls and 37 FEP who were assessed using the MRC Sociodemographic Schedules. Results Preliminary results suggest that, consistently with the literature, cases are more exposed than controls to social disadvantage. They tend to reach a lower education degree (OR 6.66; CI 95%, 1.67–26.50, p 0.005) and to have an underpaid job 5 years before the onset (OR 2.84; CI 95%, 1.08–7.45, p 0.03). Furthermore, cases are more likely to live longer with their parents rather than independently (OR 3.33; CI 95%, 1.25–8.86, p 0.01) and are more exposed to house overcrowding (OR 3.92; CI 95%, 1.03–14.93, p 0.05). It was also found that an higher percentage of cases have never been in a stable relationship in the previous 5 years (OR 2.61; CI 95%, 1.08–6.27, p 0.03). Conclusions In line with the previous literature, we found that lower educational and occupational status and poor relationship status are associated to risk for psychosis. However, in contrast with North European cases, Italian FEP are more likely to live with their family rather than alone and, therefore, to be exposed to house overcrowding.
Cognitive impairment is a possible indicator of neurodevelopmental impairment, but not all psychotic patients are cognitively compromised. It has been suggested that heavy cannabis use may ...precipitate psychosis in those who show no such compromise. This study compares two samples of patients with first-episode psychosis and their respective non-psychotic controls, in London (UK) and Palermo (Italy), and examines whether different patterns of cannabis use are reflected in differences in IQ.
The two studies used the same inclusion/exclusion criteria and instruments. The sample comprised 249 subjects from London (106 patients and 143 controls) and 247 subjects from Palermo (120 patients and 127 controls). ANCOVA was performed with IQ as the dependent variable and city and frequency of cannabis use as predictors. This was then repeated with the case group only, by adjusting for relevant confounders.
We found a greater amount of cannabis use in the London sample, compared to Palermo and patients from London had higher IQ than patients from Palermo, a difference that was more significant than that reflected between controls (Fgroup*city(1, 402) = 7.6, p = 0.006). Once corrected for symptomatology and treatment, patients from London who had never used cannabis were similar to patients from Palermo regarding IQ. Thus the higher IQ of patients from London was mainly due to the subgroup of cannabis-using patients (Fcannabis*city(2,145) = 4.6, p = 0.011).
We can speculate that a greater amount of cannabis-use may have contributed by precipitating psychosis in patients with a higher IQ in London but less so in patients from Palermo.
Burn patients may suffer both physical and psychopathological consequences and their quality of life and the presence of psychopathological symptoms should be evaluated. The Burn Specific Health ...Scale - Brief (BHSH-B) is a tried and tested instrument for assessing burn patients' quality of life. The aim of this study is to propose the Italian translation of BSHS-B and presents the preliminary results of an exploratory study. The Italian version of the BSHS-B was administered to a sample group of 50 burn victims. Reliability was verified by Cronbach's alpha, and construct validity was evaluated through correlation with the Short Form 36 Health Survey Questionnaire (SF-36) and the Self-report Symptom Inventory - Revised (SCL-90). The entire scale and two out of three domains showed Cronbach's alpha values higher than 0.8. Significant correlations were identified between BSHS-B subscales and the SF-36 subscales Physical Pain and Social Activities. Several psychopathological SCL-90 subscales correlated with BSHS-B subscales Heat Sensitivity and Body Image. It was concluded that our translation of BSHS-B was reliable and showed good construct validity. The drawbacks of this study are the limited size of the sample and the wide variety of types of burn injuries.
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