"Accept voices©" group intervention for the management of auditory verbal hallucinations-results at 6 and 12 months.

"The Accept Voices© is a useful intervention for the management and acceptance of auditory verbal hallucinations in people with schizophrenia. This study aims at determining if the clinical effects remained at six- and 12-month follow-ups. Results show that participants (N = 22) maintained a decrease in auditory hallucinations, at the six and 12 months follow ups for severity and acceptance of Voices, anxiety and depression. Accept Voices© shows promise as a potential treatment for people with schizophrenia struggling with Voices.

The neural correlates of the visual consciousness in schizophrenia: an fMRI study.

In the current literature, two distinct and opposite models are suggested to explain the consciousness disorders in schizophrenia. The first one suggests that consciousness disorders rely on a low-level processing deficit, when the second model suggests that consciousness disorders rely on disruption in the ability to consciously access information, with preserved unconscious processing. The current study aims to understand the mechanisms associated with visual consciousness disorder in order to pave the road that will settle the debate regarding these hypotheses. During a functional magnetic resonance imaging session, 19 healthy participants (HC) and 15 patients with schizophrenia (SCZ) performed a visual detection task to compare the neural substrates associated with the conscious access to the visual inputs. The visual detection threshold was significantly higher in SCZ than in HC [t(32) = 3.37, p = 0.002]. Whole-brain ANOVA demonstrated that around the visual detection threshold patients with SCZ failed to activate a large network of brain areas compared to HC. (1) During conscious vision, HC engaged more the left cuneus and the right occipital cortex than patients with SCZ, (2) during unconscious vision, HC engaged a large network that patients with SCZ failed to activate, and finally, (3) during the access to consciousness process, patients with SCZ failed to activate the anterior cingulate cortex. These results suggest that the consciousness disorders in schizophrenia rely on specific dysfunctions depending on the consciousness stage. The disorders of the conscious vision are associated with dysfunction of occipital areas while the ones associated with unconscious vision rely on a large widespread network. Finally, the conscious access to the visual inputs is impaired by a dysfunction of the anterior cingulate cortex. The current study suggests that none of the two suggested models can explain consciousness disorders in schizophrenia. We suggest that there is an alternative model supporting that the conscious access to visual inputs is due to a disengagement of the supragenual anterior cingulate during the unconscious processing of the visual inputs associated with a sensory deficit.

[Post-traumatic stress disorder in reaction to psychotic experience: A systematic revue]. / Le Trouble Stress Post-Traumatique secondaire à l'expérience de la psychose : une revue de littérature.

BACKGROUND: The update of the Post-Traumatic Stress Disorder (PTSD) in the fifth edition of the Diagnostic and Statistical Manual of Mental Disorders (DSM5) emphasizes the definition of psychological traumatism as an objective and external event. Nevertheless, the scientific debate about the criteriology of PTSD, its clinical pertinence for application and the role of subjective dimension appears still open. Although the relation between psychotrauma and psychosis has been well examined, in the way of trauma as a risk factor for the development of schizophrenia, the potential traumatism represented by the psychotic experience seems to be less known. OBJECTIVE: This paper aims to provide a state of the art about the PTSD in reaction to psychosis, defined as PTSD post psychosis (PTSD-PP), particularly in epidemiological and psychopathological terms. METHODS: We performed a bibliographic research on Pubmed using the keywords "post-traumatic stress disorder", "psychological trauma", "schizophrenia review", "psychosis", "first episode psychosis"« ¼, "recovery schizophrenia", with a first screening on titles and abstracts. An acute psychotic episode referred to a decompensation of any pathology of the DSM5-schizophrenia spectrum or other psychotic disorders or to a mood disorder with psychotic features. The articles exclusively interested in the traumatic impact of hospitalizations and treatment conditions were excluded. RESULTS: The literature noted that PTSD-PP affected about a quarter to a third of the psychotic patients interrogated during the recovery of an acute psychotic episode. The analytic epidemiology showed that the main validated risk factors for PTSD were also relevant in the development of PTSD-PP, including past traumatic history, childhood trauma and feeling of helplessness during the traumatic event. Criticizing the methodological heterogeneity through studies, the observational approach brought out the lack of clinical pertinence of the DSM5A criteria defining the traumatic event for PTSD. This criteriology failed to consider the subjective dimension of the threat to psychological integrity generated by a psychotrauma. Historical case studies presented a complete post-traumatic symptomatology in reaction to psychosis, suggesting that the supposed psychotic residual symptoms after acute phase could referr to actual traumatic reactions. The PTSD-PP process observed in descriptive research and patients' interviews appeared congruent with the cognitive model of PTSD elaborated by Ehlers and Clark. Indeed, psychotic patients developed negative appraisals about themselves, others and the world because of the occurrence and the content of their psychotic symptoms. Shame, fear of recurrence, intolerance to uncertainty and perception of losing control of one's mind were demonstrated as significantly related to PTSD-PP. A perception of current threat then settled, leading to adaptation strategies, possibly psychotic themselves, to avoid intrusions and others indices about their past psychotic episode. Thus, reliving syndrome, avoidance, emotional numbing could simulate a new psychotic exacerbation to an outer-observer. CONCLUSION: A psychotic experience could be traumatic for patients and lead to complete PTSD. Although it appears as a non-consensual clinical entity, from a likely epistemological slip of the definition of "psychotrauma", the consideration of potential PTSD-PP presents an undoubted clinical relevance. Indeed, it could help practioners to precise the semiological analysis of patients recovering from an acute psychotic episode; to impact the prognosis of psychosis, thinking about impairment on the quality of life and the affective and suicidal comorbidities; and to modify the therapeutic approach in the recovery of schizophrenia. In addition, the literature about psychotic recovery seems particularly related to the concept of "post-traumatic growth" (PTG). The inscription of a psychotic episode in a traumatic frame requires a clinical approach as close as possible to the subjectivity of the patient experience, beyond the evaluation of psychotic symptoms and its remission. The question of trauma-focused therapies applied to PTSD-PP opens the field for future research.

[Work satisfaction and exhaustion among psychiatrists in psychiatric emergency services]. / Facteurs de satisfaction et d'épuisement des psychiatres aux urgences.

BACKGROUND AND AIM: Psychiatric emergency services (PES) have recently occupied a new and growing place in the landscape of mental health services. However, few data are available on the way psychiatrists practice in the PES. Our aim was to survey psychiatrists working in PES, focusing on their job satisfaction and the theoretical models they use in their everyday practice. METHOD: We sent a survey to a sample of 508 psychiatrists working in PES in France. RESULTS: Two hundred and thirty-seven psychiatrists returned the survey, yielding a response rate of 47%. On a 0 to 10 scale, the mean level of job satisfaction was 6.7 (SD: 1.92). Participants reported that facing a variety of clinical situations and playing a key-coordinating role in the mental health system were the two most specific features of emergency psychiatry. The main sources of dissatisfaction were organizational issues and stressful clinical experiences, including violence or hostility. Sixty-three percent (n=150) of participants reported using more than two theoretical models in their practice, while the use of crisis models was reported by almost 40% of them. When assessed for suggestions to improve the PES, the majority of participants indicated that efforts should be focused on organizational factors. CONCLUSION: While emergency psychiatry could appear as an ungrateful practice, the majority of psychiatrists who responded to our survey reported satisfaction with their work and highlighted its unique particularities. Future research and collaborations are needed to identify organizational models of PES and their better integration in mental health networks.

Patient emergency assessment following deliberate self-poisoning with benzodiazepines: Can cognitive markers predict recall of the psychiatric interview? A pilot study.

STUDY HYPOTHESIS: In cases of deliberate self-poisoning (DSP), patients often ingest benzodiazepines (BZDs), known to alter memory. Experts recommend recovery of the patient's cognitive capacity before psychiatric assessment. Unfortunately, there is no validated tool in common practice to assess whether sufficient cognitive recovery has occurred after DSP with BZDs to ensure patient memory of the assessment. OBJECTIVE: The aim of the study was to identify cognitive functions and markers which predict preserved memory of the mental health care plan proposed at the emergency department after DSP. METHODS: We recruited patients admitted for DSP with BZDs and control patients. At the time of the psychiatric assessment, we performed cognitive tests and we studied the relationship between these tests and the scores of a memory test performed 24 h after. RESULTS: In comparison with the control group, we found memory impairment in the BZD group. We found significant impairment on the Trail Making Test A (TMT A) in the BZD group in comparison with the control group, while TMT A and Wechsler Adult Intelligence Scale (WAIS) Coding test scores were significantly correlated with memory scores. CONCLUSIONS: Attentional functions tested by WAIS Coding test and TMT A were correlated with memory score. It could be profitable to assess it in clinical practice prior to a psychiatric interview.

Validation of the Peritraumatic Dissociative Experiences Questionnaire and Peritraumatic Distress Inventory in school-aged victims of road traffic accidents.

BACKGROUND: Although the reliable and valid Peritraumatic Distress Inventory (PDI-C) and Peritraumatic Dissociative Experiences Questionnaire (PDEQ) are useful for identifying adults at risk of developing acute and chronic posttraumatic stress disorder (PTSD), they have not been validated in school-aged children and their predictive values remain unknown in this population. This study aims to assess the psychometric properties of the children versions of these two measures (PDI-C and PDEQ-C) in a sample of French-speaking school-children. METHODS: One-hundred and thirty-three consecutive victims of road traffic accidents, aged 8-15 years, were recruited into this longitudinal study via the emergency room. The peritraumatic reactions were assessed at baseline and PTSD symptoms were assessed 1 month later. RESULTS: Cronbach's alpha coefficients were 0.8 and 0.77 for the PDI-C and PDEQ-C, respectively. The 1-month test-retest correlation coefficient (n=33) was 0.77 for both measures. The PDI-C demonstrated a two-factor structure while the PDEQ-C displayed a one-factor structure. As with adults, the two measures were intercorrelated (r=0.52) and correlated with subsequent PTSD symptoms and diagnosis (r=0.21-0.56; P<0.05). CONCLUSIONS: The children versions of the PDI and PDEQ are reliable and valid in children.