Archives of general psychiatry
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Arch. Gen. Psychiatry · Sep 2012
Randomized Controlled Trial Multicenter Study Comparative StudyToward clinically useful neuroimaging in depression treatment: prognostic utility of subgenual cingulate activity for determining depression outcome in cognitive therapy across studies, scanners, and patient characteristics.
CONTEXT Among depressed individuals not receiving medication in controlled trials, 40% to 60% respond to cognitive therapy (CT). Multiple previous studies suggest that activity in the subgenual anterior cingulate cortex (sgACC; Brodmann area 25) predicts outcome in CT for depression, but these results have not been prospectively replicated. OBJECTIVE To examine whether sgACC activity is a reliable and robust prognostic outcome marker of CT for depression and whether sgACC activity changes in treatment. ⋯ Subgenual anterior cingulate activity remained low for patients in remission after treatment. CONCLUSIONS Neuroimaging provides a quick, valid, and clinically applicable way of assessing neural systems associated with treatment response/remission. Subgenual anterior cingulate activity, in particular, may reflect processes that interfere with treatment (eg, emotion generation) in addition to its putative regulatory role; alternately, its absence may facilitate treatment response.
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Arch. Gen. Psychiatry · Sep 2012
Randomized Controlled Trial Multicenter Study Comparative StudyRandomized trial of long-acting sustained-release naltrexone implant vs oral naltrexone or placebo for preventing relapse to opioid dependence.
CONTEXT Sustained-release naltrexone implants may improve outcomes of nonagonist treatment of opioid addiction. OBJECTIVE To compare outcomes of naltrexone implants, oral naltrexone hydrochloride, and nonmedication treatment. DESIGN Six-month double-blind, double-dummy, randomized trial. ⋯ CONCLUSIONS The implant is more effective than oral naltrexone or placebo. More patients in the NI+OP than in the other groups develop wound infections or local irritation, but none are serious and all resolve with treatment. TRIAL REGISTRATION clinicaltrials.gov Identifier: NCT00678418.
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CONTEXT Abnormalities in associative memory processes, such as Pavlovian fear conditioning and extinction, have been observed in schizophrenia. The retrieval of fear extinction memories (safety signals) may be particularly affected; although schizophrenic patients can extinguish conditioned fear, they show a deficit in retrieving fear extinction memories after a delay. The neurobiological basis of this abnormality is unknown, but clues have emerged from studies in rodents and humans demonstrating that the ventromedial prefrontal cortex (vmPFC) is a key mediator of extinction memory retrieval. ⋯ In contrast, the schizophrenic patients showed inappropriately elevated fear and poor vmPFC responses in the safe context. CONCLUSION Failure of extinction memory retrieval in schizophrenia is associated with vmPFC dysfunction. In future studies, abnormalities in fear learning and extinction recall may serve as quantitative phenotypes that can be linked to genetic, symptom, or outcome profiles in schizophrenia and those at risk for the disorder.
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Arch. Gen. Psychiatry · Sep 2012
National prevalence of posttraumatic stress disorder among sexually revictimized adolescent, college, and adult household-residing women.
Despite empirical links between sexual revictimization (ie, experiencing 2 or more sexual assaults) and posttraumatic stress disorder (PTSD), to our knowledge, no epidemiological studies document the prevalence of sexual revictimization and PTSD. Establishing estimates is essential to determine the scope, public health impact, and psychiatric sequelae of sexual revictimization. ⋯ Population prevalence estimates suggest that 769 000 adolescent girls, 625 000 college women, and 13.4 million women in US households reported sexual revictimization. Further, 154 000 sexually revictimized adolescents, 250 000 sexually revictimized college women, and 3.6 million sexually revictimized household women met criteria for past 6-month PTSD. Findings highlight the importance of screening for sexual revictimization and PTSD in pediatric, college, and primary care settings.
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The population of men who display persistent antisocial and violent behavior is heterogeneous. Callous-unemotional traits in childhood and psychopathic traits in adulthood characterize a distinct subgroup. ⋯ Reduced GM volume within areas implicated in empathic processing, moral reasoning, and processing of prosocial emotions such as guilt and embarrassment may contribute to the profound abnormalities of social behavior observed in psychopathy. Evidence of robust structural brain differences between persistently violent men with and without psychopathy adds to the evidence that psychopathy represents a distinct phenotype. This knowledge may facilitate research into the etiology of persistent violent behavior.