Correlation of panic attacks and hostility in chronic schizophrenia

Psychobiological response to an anger induction task in schizophrenia: The key role of anxiety

In this study an anger induction laboratory task was applied to men with schizophrenia, and resulted in significant changes in different psychophysiological parameters that were measured in a pre-post design. We observed a significantly greater self-reported anger mood and negative affection, lower self-reported positive affection, an increase in cardiovascular reactivity (with blood pressure in deeper affection compared to controls), higher salivary testosterone levels, lower salivary cortisol levels, and an increase in right ear items reported in dichotic listening. Furthermore, clinical risk factors related to anger in our patients were analyzed by Stepwise Regression analyses. Trait anger was significantly associated with a higher level of delusional pathology and impulsivity. Regarding the resulted state of anger as an output of the induction, the most relevant finding was that anxiety consistently and significantly predicted the increasing in anger feelings, and, remarkably, it predicted also the increasing in T levels and the cardiovascular reactivity of the patients.

Schizophrenia: a systemic disorder

The concept of schizophrenia that is most widely taught is that it is a disorder in which psychotic symptoms are the main problem, and a dysregulation of dopamine signaling is the main feature of pathophysiology. However, this concept limits clinical assessment, the treatments offered to patients, research, and the development of therapeutics. A more appropriate conceptual model is that: 1) schizophrenia is not a psychotic disorder, but a disorder of essentially every brain function in which psychosis is present; 2) it is not a brain disease, but a disorder with impairments throughout the body; 3) for many patients, neuropsychiatric problems other than psychosis contribute more to impairment in function and quality of life than does psychosis; and, 4) some conditions that are considered to be comorbid are integral parts of the illness. In conclusion, students, patients, and family members should be taught this model, along with its implications for assessment, research, and therapeutics.

Anger expression styles in schizophrenia spectrum disorders: associations with anxiety, paranoia, emotion recognition, and trauma history

Heightened levels of anger and dysregulated expression of anger have been associated with poorer outcomes and treatment response for persons with schizophrenia spectrum disorders. Less is known, however, about the psychological processes that determine the extent to which anger is expressed in a more versus less adaptive manner. To explore this issue, this study gathered reports of anger expression style in 88 persons with schizophrenia or schizoaffective disorder using the State-Trait Anger Expression Inventory, Second Edition. The authors additionally assessed anxiety, suspiciousness, emotion recognition, self-esteem, and cumulative trauma history. Correlations and multiple regression analyses showed that outward anger control, that is, the suppression of anger, was predicted by lower levels of suspiciousness, poorer emotion recognition, and reduced anxiety. Participants who endorsed greater anxiety and had experienced more traumatic events reported a heightened tendency to express anger both inwardly and outwardly.

Anxiety as a core aspect of schizophrenia

The clinical relevance of anxiety disorders in schizophrenia has been neglected for a long time and has only recently become the subject of a systematic investigation, although its consequences may have a very negative impact on the outcome and considerably worsen the trajectory of the disease. This could be originally related to the hierarchical organization of the Diagnostic and Statistical Manual of Mental Disorders (DSM) and to the lack of assessment instruments. In this article, we will review the most recent literature concerning two of the most impairing anxiety disorders in comorbidity with schizophrenia, such as panic disorder and social anxiety disorder, briefly analyze the role of anxiety in the prodromal phase of psychosis and provide suggestions for the clinical assessment.

Carbon dioxide induction of panic anxiety in schizophrenia with auditory hallucinations

Panic is commonly co-morbid with schizophrenia. Panic may emerge prodromally, contribute to specific psychotic symptoms, and predict medication response. Panic is often missed due to agitation, impaired cognition, psychotic symptom overlap and limited clinician awareness. Carbon dioxide exposure has been used reliably to induce panic in non-psychotic panic subjects, but has not been systematically studied in schizophrenia. Eight inpatients with schizophrenia, recent auditory hallucinations, none preselected for panic, all on antipsychotic medication, received a structured Panic and Schizophrenia Interview (PaSI), assessing DSM-IV panic symptoms concurrent with paroxysmal auditory hallucinations. On that interview, all eight subjects reported panic concurrent with auditory hallucinations. At one sitting, subjects were exposed, in random order, to 35% carbon dioxide and to placebo room air, blinded to condition. All subjects experienced panic to carbon dioxide, one with limited symptoms. Only one subject panicked to placebo. One subject (one of only two without antipanic medication) had paroxysmal voices concurrent with induced panic. With added adjunctive clonazepam, that patient had marked clinical improvement and no response to carbon dioxide re-challenge. This first systematic examination offers preliminary evidence that carbon dioxide safely induces panic symptoms in schizophrenia. Panic may be prevalent and pathophysiologically significant in schizophrenia with auditory hallucinations.

Anger and functioning amongst inpatients with schizophrenia or schizoaffective disorder living in a therapeutic community

AIMS

This study explored the functional correlates of anger amongst therapeutic community inpatients.

METHODS

The sample consisted of 44 subjects diagnosed with schizophrenic/schizoaffective disorder who were involved in a community treatment program. Assessment involved administration of the Health of Nation Outcome Scales and the Global Assessment of Functioning as well as self-evaluations using the Social Adaptation Self-evaluation Scale. Psychopathology was assessed with the Positive and Negative Symptoms Scale. Angry feelings and coping skills were self-assessed with the State-Trait Anger Expression Inventory and the Symptom Checklist-90 Hostility Scale. Multiple regression analyses correlated anger with functioning, controlling for psychopathology.

RESULTS

Angry feelings related to self-harm, hyperactivity, physical problems, and to global weight independently from Positive and Negative Symptoms Scale scores. They also predicted interest and pleasure in housekeeping, quality of social relationships and relational exchanges.

CONCLUSIONS

Results showed that angry feelings were not merely derivations of schizophrenic psychopathology; rather, they were independently related to self-damaging behaviors, to attentional demands towards the staff, to agreement to community tasks and to low quality of social relationships. Indeed, anger was related to adaptation's level in a therapeutic community setting demonstrated by subjects with psychoses and it may represent an indirect measure of their experienced quality of life. Therapeutic and management approaches to anger amongst subjects with schizophrenia are discussed.

Psychiatric comorbidities and schizophrenia

Psychiatric comorbidities are common among patients with schizophrenia. Substance abuse comorbidity predominates. Anxiety and depressive symptoms are also very common throughout the course of illness, with an estimated prevalence of 15% for panic disorder, 29% for posttraumatic stress disorder, and 23% for obsessive-compulsive disorder. It is estimated that comorbid depression occurs in 50% of patients, and perhaps (conservatively) 47% of patients also have a lifetime diagnosis of comorbid substance abuse. This article chronicles these associations, examining whether these comorbidities are "more than chance" and might represent (distinct) phenotypes of schizophrenia. Among the anxiety disorders, the evidence at present is most abundant for an association with obsessive-compulsive disorder. Additional studies in newly diagnosed antipsychotic-naive patients and their first-degree relatives and searches for genetic and environmental risk factors are needed to replicate preliminary findings and further investigate these associations.

Anxiety disorders in schizophrenia

Data regarding the co-occurrence of anxiety symptoms or syndromes in schizophrenia is scant. Hierarchical assumptions embedded in diagnostic systems and methodologic difficulties hamper the development of studies on accessory symptomatology outside of the core positive-negative-disorganized symptoms. Recent studies have repeatedly challenged these assumptions by presenting data on comorbid disorders in schizophrenia. We review the current knowledge about anxiety comorbidity in schizophrenia, and its relative prevalence, relevance, and treatment. A computerized search of the literature published from 1966 to July 2003 was conducted on Medline using the word "schizophrenia" and the words from the names of each anxiety disorder listed in DSM-IV, one at a time. Only studies including exclusively the diagnosis of schizophrenia were included. Only 15 studies were dedicated to the subject of anxiety comorbidity prevalence in schizophrenia. The most studied comorbidities were obsessive-compulsive disorder (OCD) and panic disorder, and most reports suggested them to be highly prevalent in schizophrenia. Posttraumatic stress disorder (PTSD) was the least studied (N = 2). Except for two pharmacologic studies in OCD, there were no double-blind randomized controlled trials regarding the treatment of anxiety in schizophrenia. Most case reports and open label trials tried conventional treatment for anxiety disorders with some degree of success. The literature indicates that anxiety comorbidities are prevalent in schizophrenia and conventional treatment for anxiety can help alleviate the symptoms in those patients. However, the body of data provided by research so far is still far from allowing evidence-based conclusions. Large studies with operationalized criteria, as well as comprehensive assessments of treatment response and outcome are needed to clarify the relationship between anxiety disorders and schizophrenia.