Facilitating the Delivery of Cognitive Remediation in First-Episode Psychosis: Pilot Study of a Home-Delivered Web-Based Intervention.

We explored the adherence to a home-delivered, computer-based, cognitive remediation protocol in a first-episode psychosis outpatient cohort. Seventeen patients underwent a cognitive training protocol for 6 months using an online platform accessible from their home under the supervision of a qualified neuropsychologist. Neuropsychological, psychopathological, and functional data were collected at baseline and postintervention, whereas qualitative appraisal of the intervention was assessed monthly. Overall, participants' evaluation of the program was positive. This was reflected in a good adherence rate with 12 (70%) of 17 patients completing 80% of the prescribed sessions. Exploratory analysis revealed significant improvements in sustained attention (p = 0.020) and verbal memory (p = 0.018). A decrease in negative symptoms and an improvement on the Clinical Global Impression were also found (p = 0.009). We believe these are encouraging results to further explore the adopted delivery approach, which could facilitate access to cognitive training earlier and to a larger group of patients.

[Schizophrenia: What Non-Psychiatrist Physicians Need to Know]. / Esquizofrenia: O Que o Médico Não Psiquiatra Precisa de Saber.

Schizophrenia is a disabling and severe mental illness that affects all social classes and racial and ethnic groups, spreading across every part of the world. It's more frequent in males and it usually manifests itself in late adolescence or early adulthood and its early detection by all clinicians is important so that there is a proper referral to specialized psychiatric care. This article intends to update the knowledge regarding the diagnosis, treatment and prognosis of schizophrenia, with an emphasis on the warning signs for a timely referral to psychiatric evaluation. We conducted a literature search across through articles available in databases of scientific articles but also in scientific and technical books specialized in the field of schizophrenia. The clinical presentation of this illness is heterogeneous and complex, with a typical evolution based on several episodes of acute decompensation requiring hospitalization. The diagnosis of schizophrenia relies on some key symptoms, and the various international diagnostic criteria vary in relation to the temporal window with productive symptomatology required to establish a diagnosis. The prognosis is variable, not always deteriorating and is all the better when the treatment is started as early as possible. Treatment requires a multidisciplinary approach and is based primarily on antipsychotic drugs. This medication although very effective for the typical symptoms of this illness, entails some adverse effects with medical consequences that are important in the clinical practice of all doctors of other specialties.

A esquizofrenia é uma doença mental grave e incapacitante que afeta todas as classes sociais e raças, em todas as partes do mundo sendo mais frequente no sexo masculino. Manifesta-se habitualmente na parte final da adolescência ou início da vida adulta e é importante a sua deteção precoce por todos os clínicos para correto encaminhamento para consulta especializada de psiquiatria. Pretende-se com este artigo atualizar conhecimentos em relação ao diagnóstico, tratamento e prognóstico da esquizofrenia e enfatizando os sinais de alerta para uma referenciação atempada a consulta de psiquiatria. Foi efetuada uma pesquisa bibliográfica através de artigos disponíveis em bases de dados de artigos científicos e também em livros científicos e técnicos especializados na área da esquizofrenia. A apresentação clínica desta doença é heterogénea e complexa, com uma evolução típica normalmente pautada por vários episódios de descompensação aguda com necessidade de internamento. O diagnóstico de esquizofrenia assenta em alguns sintomas-chave, sendo que os vários critérios de diagnóstico internacionais variam entre eles relativamente à janela temporal com sintomatologia produtiva necessária para efetuar um diagnóstico. O prognóstico é muito variável, nem sempre cursa de forma deteriorante e é tanto melhor quando mais precoce for o início do tratamento. O tratamento exige uma abordagem multidisciplinar e assenta primariamente em fármacos antipsicóticos. Esta medicação apesar de muito eficaz para a sintomatologia típica da doença acarreta efeitos adversos cujas consequências médicas são importantes na prática clínica de todos os médicos de outras especialidades.

Basic Self-Disturbances beyond Schizophrenia: Discrepancies and Affinities in Panic Disorder - An Empirical Clinical Study.

BACKGROUND: Anomalous self-experiences (ASEs), presumably involving alterations in "core" or "minimal self," have been studied as manifest in schizophrenia and its spectrum, in contrast with mood disorder and personality disorder samples. This is the first study to examine ASEs in panic disorder (PD), beginning the exploration of these disturbances of subjectivity in anxiety disorders. We aimed to clarify what might, or might not, be specific to the schizophrenia spectrum domain - which, in turn, could be useful for developing pathogenetic models for various disorders. SAMPLING AND METHODS: 47 hospital outpatients with PD and no other medical and psychiatric comorbidity and 47 healthy control (HC) subjects were assessed with the Examination of Anomalous Self Experiences (EASE) and Cambridge Depersonalization Scale (CDS). RESULTS: All our PD patients had overall ASE and EASE scores significantly higher than our HCs (mean ± SD 17.94 ± 11.88 vs. HC 1.00 ± 1.81), approaching levels found in previous schizophrenia spectrum samples. The distribution of particular EASE items and subitems in the PD sample was heterogeneous, varying from rare (<10%) or absent (termed "discrepancies" with schizophrenia spectrum: 29 items) to being present in >50% of subjects ("affinities" with schizophrenia spectrum: 7 items). EASE and CDS scores were highly correlated (r = 0.756, 95% CI 0.665-0.840). CONCLUSIONS: PD patients scored higher on items suggesting common forms of derealization and depersonalization, perhaps suggesting "secondary" and defensive psychological processes, while lacking indicators of more profound ipseity disturbance. Our study supports the basic-self-disturbance model of schizophrenia, while suggesting the possibility of transnosological "schizophrenia-like phenomena," which might require careful phenomenological exploration to be distinguished from those of true psychotic or schizophrenic conditions.