Psychiatry research
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Psychiatry research · May 2011
Resting state cerebral blood flow and objective motor activity reveal basal ganglia dysfunction in schizophrenia.
Reduced motor activity has been reported in schizophrenia and was associated with subtype, psychopathology and medication. Still, little is known about the neurobiology of motor retardation. To identify neural correlates of motor activity, resting state cerebral blood flow (CBF) was correlated with objective motor activity of the same day. ⋯ Grey matter volume correlated with motor activity only in the left posterior cingulate cortex of the patients. The findings suggest that basal ganglia motor control is impaired in schizophrenia. In addition, CBF of cortical areas critical for motor control was associated with volitional motor behavior, which may be a compensatory mechanism for basal ganglia dysfunction.
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Psychiatry research · May 2011
Review Meta AnalysisMindfulness based cognitive therapy for psychiatric disorders: a systematic review and meta-analysis.
Mindfulness- based Cognitive Therapy (MBCT) is a meditation program based on an integration of Cognitive behavioural therapy and Mindfulness-based stress reduction. The aim of the present work is to review and conduct a meta-analysis of the current findings about the efficacy of MBCT for psychiatric patients. ⋯ Main findings included the following: 1) MBCT in adjunct to usual care was significantly better than usual care alone for reducing major depression (MD) relapses in patients with three or more prior depressive episodes (4 studies), 2) MBCT plus gradual discontinuation of maintenance ADs was associated to similar relapse rates at 1year as compared with continuation of maintenance antidepressants (1 study), 3) the augmentation of MBCT could be useful for reducing residual depressive symptoms in patients with MD (2 studies) and for reducing anxiety symptoms in patients with bipolar disorder in remission (1 study) and in patients with some anxiety disorders (2 studies). However, several methodological shortcomings including small sample sizes, non-randomized design of some studies and the absence of studies comparing MBCT to control groups designed to distinguish specific from non-specific effects of such practice underscore the necessity for further research.