Dear colleagues,
It is my great pleasure to welcome you to the third issue of 2020.
In our first article, Li and colleagues systematically review the effect of relaxation techniques in the treatment of patients with depressive disorders. The authors conclude that relaxation techniques are cost-effective, safe and low-risk that can be easily taught and may be effective in reducing depressive symptoms among adults.
Galimberti and associates investigated the rate and trajectory of cognitive impairment in a patients with major depression and bipolar disorder and its correlates. Around half of the patients showed mild cognitive impairment during an major depressive episode. Furthermore, prolonged duration of untreated illness is associated with more severe cognitive impairment during depression.
Song et al. assessed BOLD fMRI characteristics in the resting state of depression and their first-degree relatives. Widespread abnormal activity was detected in the brain of major depressed patients and their relatives which the authors conclude may be associated with cognitive network disorders and emotional distress in MDD.
Ferracuti and colleagues evaluated the appropriateness of official documents on suicide prevention in Italian hospitals and their compliance with ministerial recommendation. The documents were generally in line with the recommendation however lacking in certain areas. Public procedures should be implemented with a greater attention to elements of judgement in the assessment of suicidal risk.
Lamothe and associates investigated whether subclinical obsessive thoughts are correlated with attention lapses in individuals with attention deficit/hyperactivity disorder (ADHD). No correlation was detected between sustained attention impairment and obsessive thoughts. However, patients with subclinical obsessive thoughts showed more commission errors. In conclusion, thought content in patients with ADHD should be linked to executive dysfunction rather than attentional impairment.
Karaş et al. determined the prevalence of childhood and current ADHD symptoms in fibromyalgia patients in addition to exploring the role of depression and anxiety on the relationship between childhood and adult ADHD symptoms with disease impact. The authors state that childhood ADHD symptoms may be associated with poorer functioning in patients with fibromyalgia. This effect was more pronounced in the presence of depression and anxiety symptoms.
Karaaslan and colleagues assessed the anxiety sensitivity, levels of anxiety and depression as well as personality traits in patients with chronic subjective tinnitus. The authors detected more depressive symptoms in patients with chronic tinnitus. Furthermore, anxiety and depression levels and neuroticism scores increased as the levels of tinnitus severity increased.
Hallit and associates aimed to create a new 10-item scale, the Lebanese Anxiety Scale (LAS-10), inspired by DSM-5 diagnostic criteria and evaluate the new scale in a Lebanese population sample. Sensitivity and specificity values were found to be good, positive predictive value was 26.9% while the negative predictive value was 95.2%. The results indicate that the scale can be used in clinical practice and research to screen for anxiety.
Otani et al. tested the hypothesis that core beliefs about negative-self are implicated in neuroticism. Higher neuroticism was predicted by higher levels of core beliefs about negative-self. The authors however cannot determine the causal relationship between core beliefs about negative-self and neuroticism.
Nagy and colleagues examined aspects affecting suicidality in patients with obsessive-compulsive disorder (OCD) and whether impulsivity or hostility are associated with suicide attempts. Increased OCD symptom severity was found to be associated with higher suicidal behaviour. Suicide ideation was associated with high levels of hopelessness, OCD severity and aggressive obsessions while suicide attempts were associated with longer duration of untreated illness, impulsivity, OCD severity and presence of religious obsessions.
Bruijnen et al. investigated the effects of age, education and intelligence on the Montreal Cognitive Assessment (MoCA) screen and its test–retest reliability. The total score of the screen is a reliable cognitive measure and age, education and intelligence were found to predict MoCA performance in healthy individuals. The authors suggest that future studies should collect normative data for age, education and intelligence for use in clinical practice.
Alqhazo and colleagues investigated 9 neurological-related amino acids of the scalp hair in children who stutter and normally fluent children. Concentrations of certain amino acids were significantly lower in children who stutter compared to normally fluent children. The current findings may aid in designing a new treatment method based on the supplementation of deficient amino acids.
Subeesh et al. aimed to assess the optimal early response threshold that best predicts final outcome of olanzapine. Early response at 4 weeks is likely to predict a positive response at 8 weeks. These findings may be helpful in making appropriate clinical decisions for early non-responders.
Maric and associates evaluated prescription patterns in a sample of outpatients with primary psychotic disorders. The median rate of prescribed psychotropic drugs was 3, with benzodiazepines being continually prescribed to more than 60% of patients. Those patients were taking more psychotropic and antipsychotic medication and had poorer quality of life and more severe psychopathology.
Ordak et al. evaluated the effectiveness of a methadone programme in patients taking mephedrone with heroin. Re-hospitalisation was more common in patients on a mephedrone binge taking heroin compared to heroin dependent patients. Interaction of sex and hepatitis C virus infection with the dose of methadone taken explains a large proportion of the frequency of hospitalisations.
In a letter to the Editor, Van den Eynde and Gillman discuss the need to follow a low-tyramine (TYR) diet for patients taking monoamine oxidase inhibitors (MAOIs). They furthermore point out that although there is generally a consensus that TYR causes a dose-dependent pressor response on systolic blood pressure, there is a nonlinearity of this relationship and present data that indicate a threshold point.
Disclosure statement
No potential conflict of interest was reported by the author(s).
Yours sincerely,
Correction Statement
This article has been republished with minor changes. These changes do not impact the academic content of the article.