Psychiatry research
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Psychiatry research · Mar 2015
Randomized Controlled TrialNeural mechanisms underlying the therapeutic actions of guanfacine treatment in youth with ADHD: a pilot fMRI study.
Twenty-five youth with attention-deficit/hyperactivity disorder (ADHD) were scanned with functional magnetic resonance imaging (fMRI) while performing a Go/No-go task before and after 6-8 weeks of randomized once-daily treatment with either the α₂A-adrenergic receptor agonist guanfacine or placebo. Clinical improvement was greater for guanfacine than placebo and was differentially associated with reduced activation for guanfacine compared with placebo in the right midcingulate cortex/supplementary motor area and the left posterior cingulate cortex.
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Psychiatry research · Feb 2015
Randomized Controlled Trial Comparative StudyRational-emotive and cognitive-behavior therapy (REBT/CBT) versus pharmacotherapy versus REBT/CBT plus pharmacotherapy in the treatment of major depressive disorder in youth; a randomized clinical trial.
Major depressive disorder is a highly prevalent and debilitating condition in youth, so developing efficient treatments is a priority for mental health professionals. Psychotherapy (i.e., cognitive behavioral therapy/CBT), pharmacotherapy (i.e., SSRI medication), and their combination have been shown to be effective in treating youth depression; however, the results are still mixed and there are few studies engaging multi-level analyses (i.e., subjective, cognitive, and biological). Therefore, the aims of this randomized control study (RCT) were both theoretical - integrating psychological and biological markers of depression in a multi-level outcome analysis - and practical - testing the generalizability of previous results on depressed Romanian youth population. ⋯ The results showed that all outcomes (i.e., subjective, cognitive, and biological) significantly change from pre to post-treatment under all treatment conditions at a similar rate and there were no significant differences among conditions at post-test. In case of categorical analysis of the clinical response rate, we found a non-significant trend favoring group REBT/CBT therapy. Results of analyses concerning outcome interrelations are discussed.
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Psychiatry research · Dec 2014
Randomized Controlled TrialOrienting and maintenance of attention to threatening facial expressions in anxiety--an eye movement study.
Cognitive models posit that anxiety disorders stem in part from underlying attentional biases to threat. Consistent with this, studies have found that the attentional bias to threat-related stimuli is greater in high vs. low anxious individuals. Nevertheless, it is not clear if similar biases exist for different threatening emotions or for any facial emotional stimulus. ⋯ Our results for attentional maintenance were not consistent. The results of the present study suggest that attentional processes may be more emotion-specific than previously believed. Our results suggest that attentional processes for different threatening emotions may not be the same and that attentional processes for some negative and some positive emotions may be similar.
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Psychiatry research · Dec 2014
Randomized Controlled TrialPost-traumatic psychological changes among survivors of the Lushan earthquake living in the most affected areas.
The primary objective of our study was to investigate both the negative and positive psychological changes following the Lushan earthquake, and to explore the factors associated with psychological changes. Multi-stage random sampling was used to select respondents from Lushan County, Sichuan Province, China. A simplified Chinese version of the short form of Changes in Outlook Questionnaire (CiOQ-S) was used to assess psychological changes in earthquake survivors. ⋯ The factors associated with positive psychological changes included ethnic minority, high level of education, high household income, not injured in the earthquake, not trapped during the earthquake, and having experienced the Wenchuan earthquake. The factors associated with negative psychological changes included female gender, ethnic minority, low household income, history of diseases, injured during the earthquake, and trapped during the earthquake. The current analysis helps expand our knowledge of the negative and positive psychological changes that may occur following an earthquake experience.
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Psychiatry research · Feb 2014
Randomized Controlled Trial Comparative StudyRapid antidepressant effects of repeated doses of ketamine compared with electroconvulsive therapy in hospitalized patients with major depressive disorder.
Accumulating evidence suggests that N-methyl-d-aspartate receptor (NMDAR) antagonists (e.g. ketamine) may exert rapid antidepressant effects in MDD patients. In the present study, we evaluated the rapid antidepressant effects of ketamine compared with the electroconvulsive therapy (ECT) in hospitalized patients with MDD. In this blind, randomized study, 18 patients with DSM-IV MDD were divided into two groups which received either three intravenous infusions of ketamine hydrochloride (0.5 mg/kg over 45 min) or ECT on 3 test days (every 48 h). ⋯ Compared to baseline level, this improvement remained significant throughout the study. Depressive symptoms after the second dose ketamine was also lower than the second ECT. This study showed that ketamine is as effective as ECT in improving depressive symptoms in MDD patients and have more rapid antidepressant effects compared with the ECT.