BackgroundPatients with major depressive disorder (MDD) usually have high risk of suicidality. Few studies have investigated the effects of stressful life events (SLEs) on the risk of suicide in Chinese patients who have developed MDD. This study aimed to investigate the impact of SLEs on suicidal risk in Chinese patients with MDD.

MethodsIn total, 1029 patients with MDD were included from nine psychiatric hospitals to evaluate the impact of SLEs on suicidal risk. Patients fulfilling the Mini-International Neuropsychiatric Interview (MINI) criteria for MDD were included in the study. Patients were excluded if they had lifetime or current diagnoses of psychotic disorder, bipolar disorder, and alcohol or substance dependence. Depressive symptoms were assessed by the 17-item Hamilton Depression Scale (HAMD-17). The suicidal risk of MDD patients was determined by the suicide risk module of MINI. SLEs were assessed by the Life Events Scale.

ResultsNo gender difference was found for suicidal risk in MDD patients. Patients with suicidal risk had younger ages, lower education levels, more drinking behavior, and lower marriage rate, and fewer people had child and more severe depressive symptoms than nonsuicidal risk group. High-level perceived stressfulness (HPS) and number of SLEs that patients were exposed to were significantly greater in patients with suicidal risk than patients without. In multivariate logistic analysis, HPS of SLEs (odds ratio [OR] = 1.54, 95% confidence interval [CI]: 1.16-2.05, P = 0.003) and depressive symptoms (OR = 1.08, 95% CI: 1.05-1.11, P < 0.001) were associated with suicidal risk even after adjustment of gender, age, marriage, drinking behavior, and childless.

ConclusionsHPS of SLEs is associated with suicide risk in Chinese patients with MDD. Further suicide prevention programs targeting this risk factor are needed.

Trial RegistrationClinicalTrials.gov: NCT02023567; https://clinicaltrials.gov/ct2/show/NCT02023567?term=NCT02023567&rank=1.

Adolescent ; Adult ; Asian Continental Ancestry Group ; Bipolar Disorder ; epidemiology ; psychology ; Depressive Disorder, Major ; epidemiology ; psychology ; Female ; Humans ; Logistic Models ; Male ; Middle Aged ; Odds Ratio ; Psychiatric Status Rating Scales ; Risk Factors ; Suicide ; psychology ; statistics & numerical data ; Young Adult

Hermann Hesse's personal life (1877–1962) is characterized by traumatization caused by suppressive pietistic discipline of his parents during his youth, and depression in his middle age accompanied by psychoanalysis treatment. At the age of 15, he was admitted to mental institutions due to defiant behavior. With this traumatic experience, his psychosexual development seemed inhibited during his adolescence. At age 39, depression developed precipitated by the death of his father. Hesse had received Jungian psychoanalysis from Dr. Lang and Dr. Jung over a 10-year period. However, psychoanalysis could not prevent the recurrence of depression. His appreciation of psychoanalysis became critical. Meanwhile, Hesse announced that he had been a Protestant Christian. In his 50s, he began to create new novels which, beyond polarity based on Jungian psychoanalysis, described the journey toward a greater harmonious and spiritual oneness. Pietism was at one time the reason of his pain, but became life-long support for Hesse's spiritual maturity. He was diagnosed with type II bipolar disorder. The main dynamic factors are thought to be ambivalence, feelings of guilt regarding his aggression toward his parents, and sexual conflict. His coping mechanisms seemed to include pietistic self-control, avoidance, scholarship and creation of literature. By writing the autobiographical Bildungsromans, Hesse tried not only to master his own personal problems but to enlighten readers. However, it seemed that he could not overcome the feelings of guilt associated with leaving his father.
Adolescent ; Aggression ; Bipolar Disorder ; Depression ; Fathers ; Fellowships and Scholarships ; Guilt ; Hospitals, Psychiatric ; Humans ; Middle Aged ; Parents ; Protestantism ; Psychoanalysis ; Psychosexual Development ; Recurrence ; Self-Control ; Writing

INTRODUCTIONLiterature has shown that individuals with various psychiatric disorders experience a lower quality of life (QoL). However, few have examined QoL across disorders. The current study explored differences in QoL and symptom severity across 4 psychiatric diagnostic groups: anxiety disorders (including obsessive compulsive disorder [OCD]), depressive disorders, schizophrenia, and pathological gambling.

MATERIALS AND METHODSData analysed was from a previous study that examined the prevalence of hoarding symptoms among outpatients (n = 500) in a tertiary psychiatric hospital in Singapore. Measures utilised included the Beck Anxiety Inventory (BAI), Beck Depression Inventory-II (BDI-II) and Quality of Life Enjoyment and Satisfaction QuestionnaireShort Form (Q-LES-Q-SF). Sociodemographic information and details on type and number of comorbidities were also collected.

RESULTSThe depressive disorder group had the highest level of depressive and anxiety symptoms and the lowest QoL whereas; the schizophrenia group had the lowest level of depressive symptoms and the highest QoL. Age and employment status were the only sociodemographic correlates which were significantly associated with QoL. After controlling for sociodemographic factors, only the type of mental disorder was found to have a significant effect in explaining BAI, BDI-II and Q-LES-Q-SF.

CONCLUSIONFindings offer insight in terms of the burden associated with the various disorders.

Adult ; Anxiety Disorders ; epidemiology ; psychology ; Comorbidity ; Cost of Illness ; Demography ; Depressive Disorder ; epidemiology ; psychology ; Female ; Gambling ; epidemiology ; psychology ; Humans ; Male ; Middle Aged ; Outpatients ; psychology ; statistics & numerical data ; Psychiatric Status Rating Scales ; Quality of Life ; Schizophrenia ; diagnosis ; epidemiology ; Singapore ; epidemiology ; Socioeconomic Factors

The Autism Spectrum Rating Scale (ASRS) and the Social Responsiveness Scale (SRS) have been widely used for screening autism spectrum disorder (ASD) in the general population during epidemiological studies, but studies of individuals with intellectual disability (ID) are quite limited. Therefore, we recruited the parents/caregivers of 204 ASD cases, 71 ID cases aged 6-18 years from special education schools, and 402 typically developing (TD) children in the same age span from a community-based population to complete the ASRS and SRS. The results showed that the ID group scored significantly lower on total and subscale scores than the ASD group on both scales (P < 0.05) but higher than TD children (P < 0.05). Receiver operating characteristic analyses demonstrated a similar fair performance in discriminating ASD from ID with the ASRS (area under the curve (AUC) = 0.709, sensitivity = 77.0%, specificity = 52.1%, positive predictive value (PPV) = 82.2%) and the SRS (AUC = 0.742, sensitivity = 59.8%, specificity = 77.5%, PPV = 88.4%). The results showed that individuals with ID had clear autistic traits and discriminating ASD from ID cases was quite challenging, while assessment tools such as ASRS and SRS, help to some degree.
Adolescent ; Age Distribution ; Age Factors ; Autism Spectrum Disorder ; complications ; psychology ; Child ; China ; Female ; Humans ; Intellectual Disability ; etiology ; Male ; Psychiatric Status Rating Scales ; Psychometrics ; Retrospective Studies ; Social Behavior ; Statistics, Nonparametric

To observe the clinical efficacy of dopamine modulator methylphenidate (MPH) of extended-release formulations (MPH-ER) augmentation of ongoing fluvoxamine treatment in refractory obsessive-compulsive disorder (OCD) and its effects on patient's anxiety and sleep quality.
 Methods: A pilot randomized, placebo-controlled, and double-blind trial was conducted at an outpatient, single-center academic setting. Participants included 44 adults with serotonin reuptake inhibitor treatment-refractory OCD and they received a stable fluvoxamine pharmacotherapy with Yale-Brown Obsessive Compulsive Scale (Y-BOCS) scores higher than 20. The 44 patients were randomly assigned into a study group and a control group, with 22 patiencs in each group. Fluvoxamine and MPH-ER were given to the study group, while fluvoxamine and placebo were given to the control group, with 8 weeks of the treatment course. Y-BOCS, Hamilton Anxiety Scale (HAMA) were used to assess the efficacy, Pittsburgh Sleep Quality Index (PSQI) was used to evaluate the sleep quality, and Treatment Emergent Symptom Scale (TESS) was used to evaluate the side effects. Data were analyzed in the intention-to-treat sample.
 Results: The improvement in the Y-BOCS total score, Y-BOCS obsession subscale score and HAMA score were more prominent in the study group than those in the control group (P<0.001). There was no significant difference in PSQI score and TESS score between the two groups. MPH-ER was well tolerated.
 Conclusion: Fluvoxamine combined with MPH-ER is effective in the treatment of refractory obsessive-compulsive disorder. It can improve anxiety and has no adverse effect on sleep quality.
Adult ; Double-Blind Method ; Drug Therapy, Combination ; Fluvoxamine ; therapeutic use ; Humans ; Methylphenidate ; therapeutic use ; Obsessive-Compulsive Disorder ; drug therapy ; Psychiatric Status Rating Scales ; Treatment Outcome

OBJECTIVE: Our pilot study aims to investigate the efficacy of a Short-Term (4 weeks) Psychiatric Rehabilitation Program (S-T PsyRP), without specific cognitive remediation trainings, on the neuropsychological performance and psychosocial functioning of inpatients with Major Depressive Disorder (MDD) or Bipolar Disorder (BD). Published studies with similar aims are lacking. METHODS: Fifty-three inpatients with MDD and 27 with BD (type I/II) were included. The S-T PsyRP was usually performed as clinical practice at Villa San Benedetto Menni Hospital and included a variety of activities aimed at promoting personal autonomies, interpersonal/social skills, and self-care. At the beginning and the end of the hospitalization we evaluated: neuropsychological performance (cognitive tests on verbal/visual working memory, attention, visual-constructive ability, language fluency, and comprehension); psychosocial functioning by the Rehabilitation Areas Form (RAF, handbook VADO); illness severity by the Brief Psychiatric Rating Scale (BPRS). Repeated-measure ANOVA and Pearson's linear correlation were used. RESULTS: We found significant improvement (p<0.01) in all the neuropsychological tests except for one, in 4 out of 6 RAF psychosocial areas (“involvement in ward activities”, “autonomies”, “self-care”, and “self-management of health”) and in clinical symptoms severity. No associations were found between the amelioration of clinical symptoms and neuropsychological or psychosocial improvement. CONCLUSION: A S-T PsyRP without specific cognitive remediation trainings may improve several cognitive/functional domains in MDD or BD inpatients, probably by offering opportunities to engage in demanding problem-solving conditions and cognitively stimulating activities.
Bipolar Disorder* ; Brief Psychiatric Rating Scale ; Depression ; Depressive Disorder, Major ; Hospitalization ; Humans ; Inpatients ; Memory, Short-Term ; Neuropsychological Tests ; Neuropsychology ; Pilot Projects ; Psychiatric Rehabilitation* ; Rehabilitation ; Self Care

OBJECTIVES: This study was conducted to investigate whether the charges associated with Korean Diagnosis-Related Groups for mental health inpatients adequately reflect the degree of medical resource consumption for inpatient treatment in the psychiatric ward. METHODS: This study was conducted with psychiatric inpatients data for 2014 from the National Health Insurance claim database. The main diagnoses required for admission, classification of the hospitals, and main treatment services were analyzed by examining descriptive statistics. Homogeneities of the major diagnostic criteria were assessed by calculating coefficient variances. Explanation power was determined by R2 values. RESULTS: The most frequent disorders for psychiatric inpatient treatment were alcohol-use disorder, depressive episodes, bipolar affective disorder, and dementia in Alzheimer's disease. Hospitalization and psychotherapy fees were the main medical expenses. Regardless of the homogeneity of the disease group, duration of hospital stay was the factor that most influenced medical expenses. In the psychiatric area, explanation power of Korean Diagnosis-Related Groups was 16.52% (p<0.05), which was significantly lower than that for other major diagnostic area. CONCLUSION: Most psychiatric illnesses are chronic, and the density of services can vary depending on illness severity or associated complications. The current Korean Diagnosis-Related Groups criteria did not adequately represent the amount of in-hospital medical expenditures. A novel Korean classification system that reflects the expenditures of medical resources in psychiatric hospitals should be developed in order to provide appropriate reimbursements.
Alzheimer Disease ; Classification ; Dementia ; Depressive Disorder ; Diagnosis ; Diagnosis-Related Groups* ; Fees and Charges ; Health Expenditures ; Hospital Charges* ; Hospitalization ; Hospitals, Psychiatric ; Humans ; Inpatients ; Insurance, Health ; Length of Stay ; Mental Health ; Mood Disorders ; National Health Programs ; Psychotherapy

OBJECTIVE: The aim of this study was to validate the psychotic depression assessment scale (PDAS), which includes the six-item melancholia subscale from the Hamilton depression rating scale (HAMD-6) and the five-item psychosis subscale from the brief psychiatric rating scale (BPRS-5). Data from the Clinical Research Center for Depression (CRESCEND) study, which is a 52-week naturalistic trial, were analyzed. METHODS: Fifty-two patients with psychotic depression from the CRESCEND study met our inclusion criteria. The patients underwent the following psychometric assessments: the PDAS, including HAMD-6 and BPRS-5, the clinical global impression scales, the HAMD, the positive symptom subscale, and the negative symptom subscale. Assessments were performed at the baseline and then at weeks 1, 2, 4, 8, 12, 24, and 52. Spearman correlation analyses were used to assess the clinical validity and responsiveness of the PDAS. RESULTS: The clinical validity and responsiveness of the PDAS, including HAMD-6 and BPRS-5, were acceptable, with the exception of the clinical responsiveness of the PDAS for positive symptoms and the clinical responsiveness of BPRS-5 for negative symptoms. CONCLUSION: The clinical relevance of the PDAS has been confirmed and this clinical validation will enhance its clinical utility and availability.
Brief Psychiatric Rating Scale ; Depression* ; Depressive Disorder ; Humans ; Psychometrics ; Psychotic Disorders ; Weights and Measures

PURPOSE: Traumatic events and adverse stressful experiences are major etiological factors in a wide variety of physical and mental disorders. Developing psychological instruments that can be easily administered and that have good psychometric properties have become an integral part for research and practice. This study investigated the reliability and validity of the Korean version of the Lifetime Stressor Checklist-Revised (LSC-R) in a consecutive sample of psychiatric outpatients. The LSC-R is a 30-item self-reporting questionnaire examining lifetime traumatic and non-traumatic stressors. MATERIALS AND METHODS: A final sample of 258 outpatients with anxiety or depressive disorders was recruited at the psychiatric department of a university-affiliated teaching hospital. Self-reported data included the Life Events Checklist (LEC), the Zung Self-Rating Depression and Anxiety Scales, and the Impact of Events Scale-Revised, in addition to the LSC-R. A convenience sample of 50 college students completed the LSC-R on two occasions separated by a three week-interval for test-retest reliability. RESULTS: Mean kappa for temporal stability was high (κ=0.651) and Cronbach alpha was moderate (α=0.724). Convergent validity was excellent with corresponding items on the LEC. Concurrent validity was good for symptoms of post-traumatic stress disorder, depression, and anxiety. An exploratory factor analysis revealed that 11 factors explained 64.3 % of the total variance. CONCLUSION: This study demonstrated good psychometric properties of the Korean version of the LSC-R, further supporting its use in clinical research and practice with a Korean speaking population.
Adult ; Anxiety/*diagnosis/epidemiology ; *Checklist ; Depression/diagnosis/epidemiology ; Depressive Disorder/*diagnosis/epidemiology ; Factor Analysis, Statistical ; Female ; Humans ; Male ; Outpatients ; Psychiatric Status Rating Scales ; Psychometrics ; Reproducibility of Results ; Republic of Korea/epidemiology ; Stress Disorders, Post-Traumatic/*diagnosis/epidemiology ; *Surveys and Questionnaires

OBJECTIVE: Equine-assisted activities and therapy (EAA/T) have been used as adjunct treatment options for physical and psychosocial rehabilitation. However, the therapeutic effects on resting-state brain function have not yet been studied. The aim of this study is to investigate the effects of EAA/T on participants with attention-deficit/hyperactivity disorder (ADHD) by comparing resting-state functional magnetic resonance imaging (rs-fMRI) signals and their clinical correlates. METHODS: Ten participants with ADHD participated in a 12-week EAA/T program without any medication. Two rs-fMRIs were acquired for all participants before and after EAA/T. For estimating therapeutic effect, the regional homogeneity (ReHo) method was applied to capture the changes in the regional synchronization of functional signals. RESULTS: After the EAA/T program, clear symptom improvement was found even without medication. Surface-based pairwise comparisons revealed that ReHo in the right precuneus and right pars orbitalis clusters had significantly diminished after the program. Reduced ReHo in the right precuneus cluster was positively correlated with changes in the scores on DuPaul’s ADHD Rating Scale-Korean version. CONCLUSION: Our results indicate that EAA/T is associated with short-range functional connectivity in the regions related to the default mode network and the behavioral inhibition system, which are associated with symptom improvement.
Attention Deficit Disorder with Hyperactivity ; Brain* ; Equine-Assisted Therapy ; Magnetic Resonance Imaging ; Methods ; Parietal Lobe ; Pilot Projects* ; Psychiatric Rehabilitation ; Therapeutic Uses