Self-reported problems: a comparison between PTSD-diagnosed veterans,their spouses,and clinicians

This study investigated self-reported problems in a sample of help-seeking Vietnam veterans, comparing the veteran's own view with clinician and spouse perspectives, with the aim of examining convergence in reports across different informants. Veterans with PTSD (N = 459) were asked to list and rate their five most serious problems. Spouses and treating clinicians completed the same questionnaire in relation to the veteran. Rates of endorsement for each problem area, and levels of agreement between raters, were calculated. Veterans, spouses, and clinicians were all likely to rate anger as a high priority, with veterans also likely to nominate anxiety and depression. Spouses were likely to nominate more observable behavioural problems such as interpersonal difficulties and avoidance, while clinicians were likely to nominate indications of psychopathology, such as anxiety, depression, and intrusive thoughts. Agreement across raters was generally high, although interpretation of agreement levels was complex.     

The validity of the PTSD checklist as a measure of symptomatic change in combat-related PTSD

Little research to date has examined the ability of self-report measures to assess changes in symptom severity and diagnostic status as a function of treatment. This study investigated the validity of the posttraumatic stress disorder (PTSD) checklist (PCL) as a measure of symptomatic change following programmatic treatment. A sample of 97 Vietnam veterans with combat-related PTSD was assessed using the clinician-administered PTSD scale (CAPS) and the PCL prior to, and 9 months following, participation in a PTSD treatment program. Using the CAPS as the "gold standard" measure of PTSD symptomatology, the PCL demonstrated high diagnostic accuracy pre- and posttreatment. However, significant variations in accuracy were evident in the ability of the PCL to determine the presence and severity of individual symptoms at each time point. In addition, as symptoms improved from pre- to posttreatment, and approached the threshold criteria, the PCL demonstrated reductions in diagnostic accuracy. As a measure of overall symptomatic change, the PCL underrated improvement in comparison to the CAPS. The results supported the use of an overall cut-off score of 50 on the PCL for a diagnosis, and an item score of 3 for symptom criterion, in this population.     

College students with tattoos and piercings: motives, family experiences, personality factors, and perception by others

The motives, family experiences, and personality characteristics of 341 college students with and without tattoos or piercings were studied. Participants completed Lippa's 1991 measures of the Big Five personality factors, a shortened version of the Body Cathexis Scale, a series of questions about their childhood experiences, and questions about risk-taking behaviors. In addition, reasons to have or not have body modifications and the perceptions of people with body modifications were investigated. Of the 116 men and 186 women, 25% and 33%, respectively, had at least one tattoo or body piercing. There were very few differences in the childhood experiences or personality characteristics of people with or without body modifications. Although people with body modifications did not differ from people without modifications on the Big Five personality measures, people without modifications perceived people with modifications as much different from themselves on these measures. These results indicate that tattoos and piercings in college students are associated with significantly more risk-taking behavior, greater use of alcohol and marijuana, and less social conformity. However, the traditional stereotype that body modifications are indicators of social or personal pathology does not describe contemporary college students.     

Clarifying the Placement of Obsessive-Compulsive Disorder in the Empirical Structure of Psychopathology

Recent work on the empirical structure of psychopathology has aimed to address some limitations that can arise from traditional categorical classification approaches. This research has focused on modeling patterns of co-occurrence among traditional diagnoses, uncovering a variety of well-validated dimensions (or spectra) of psychopathology, spanning common and uncommon mental disorders. A model integrating these empirically derived spectra (the Hierarchical Taxonomy of Psychopathology; HiTOP) has been proposed. However, the placement of obsessive-compulsive disorder (OCD) within this model remains unclear, as studies have variably found OCD to fit best as part of the Fear, Distress or Thought Disorder spectra. One reason for this may be the heterogeneity of symptoms experienced by individuals with OCD, which is lost when analysing categorical diagnoses. For example, different symptom clusters within OCD—such as washing and contamination versus obsessions and checking—may be differentially associated with different spectra in the HiTOP model. The aim of this study was to test this hypothesis. Data were collected in an anonymous online survey from community participants (n?=?609), largely with elevated symptoms of mental illness, and analyzed in a factor analytic framework treating OCD as a unitary construct and as four separate symptom clusters. The results indicated that OCD and its constituent symptom clusters had significant loadings of varying strength on the Fear and Thought Disorder spectra. These findings suggest that OCD may be best characterized as cross-loading on both the Fear and Thought Disorder spectra, and highlight the importance of accounting for diagnostic heterogeneity in future research.

     

Reward-related brain function as a predictor of treatment response in adolescents with major depressive disorder

The present study provides preliminary evidence that pretreatment reward-related brain function in the striatum and medial prefrontal cortex (PFC) could have relevance for predicting both final level and rate of change of clinical characteristics in adolescents with major depressive disorder. Adolescents with depression underwent a functional MRI scan during a monetary reward task, participated in an 8-week open trial of cognitive behavioral therapy (CBT) or CBT plus selective serotonin reuptake inhibitor, and completed reports of anxiety and depressive symptoms before, during, and after treatment. Clinicians rated adolescents’ improvement and severity at the same time points. Growth models were used to examine change in clinical characteristics and its association with brain function. Severity, anxiety symptoms, and depressive symptoms decreased over treatment. Final levels of severity and anxiety symptoms were associated with pretreatment striatal reactivity, and rate of anxiety symptom reduction was associated with greater striatal reactivity and lower medial PFC reactivity.     

Daily emotional dynamics in depressed youth: a cell phone ecological momentary assessment study

This study used a new cell phone ecological momentary assessment approach to investigate daily emotional dynamics in 47 youths with major depressive disorder (MDD) and 32 no-psychopathology controls (CON) (ages 7-17 years). Information about emotional experience in the natural environment was obtained using answer-only cell phones, while MDD youths received an 8-week course of cognitive behavioral therapy and/or psychopharmacological treatment. Compared with CON youths, MDD youths reported more intense and labile global negative affect; greater sadness, anger, and nervousness; and a lower ratio of positive to negative affect. These differences increased with pubertal maturation. MDD youths spent more time alone and less time with their families than CON youths. Although differences in emotional experiences were found across social contexts, MDD youths were more negative than CON youths in all contexts examined. As the MDD participants progressed through treatment, diagnostic group differences in the intensity and lability of negative affect decreased, but there were no changes in the ratio of positive to negative affect or in measures of social context. We discuss methodological innovations and advantages of this approach, including improved ecological validity and access to information about variability in emotions, change in emotions over time, the balance of positive and negative emotions, and the social context of emotional experience.     

Children’s Depressive Symptoms in Relation to EEG Frontal Asymmetry and Maternal Depression

This study examined the relations of school-age children’s depressive symptoms, frontal EEG asymmetry, and maternal history of childhood-onset depression (COD). Participants were 73 children, 43 of whom had mothers with COD. Children’s EEG was recorded at baseline and while watching happy and sad film clips. Depressive symptoms were measured using parent-report of Children’s Depression Inventory. The key findings are the interaction effects between baseline and film frontal EEG asymmetry on child depressive symptoms. Specifically, relative right frontal EEG asymmetry while watching happy or sad film clip was associated with elevated depressive symptoms for children who also exhibited right frontal EEG asymmetry at baseline. Results suggest that right frontal EEG asymmetry that is consistent across situations may be an marker of depression-prone children.     

Body Dissatisfaction and Disordered Eating in Three Cultures: Argentina, Brazil, and the U.S.

Body dissatisfaction and associated attitudes were studied in 18–24?years old women from universities in Rosario, Santa Fe, Argentina (N?=?118), Jo?o Pessoa, Paraíba, Brazil (N?=?81), and mid-Atlantic U.S. (N?=?102). Based on anecdotal reports, theoretical concerns, and empirical studies, we expected greater body dissatisfaction and negative body attitudes in our Argentine and Brazilian samples than in the U.S. sample. Body dissatisfaction was a significant problem in all samples, but we found few differences in levels of body dissatisfaction. The Argentine and Brazilian samples scored lower than the U.S. sample on measures associated with disordered eating, experienced less pressure to be thin, and were less likely to internalize the thin body ideal. Body shame was highest in the Brazilian sample and lowest in the Argentine sample. Cultural features in Argentina and Brazil that may offer some level of protection against the thin body ideal were discussed.