Hallucinations in the Child and Adolescent "Ultra-High Risk" population: A Systematic Review

The relationship between climate change anxiety and psychotic experiences is mediated by death anxiety

BACKGROUND

As climate change persists, accelerates, and intensifies, and since mitigating factors are absent, mental health impacts are expected to follow the same patterns. Therefore, it appears of utmost importance to deepen and broaden the knowledge and understanding of how and through which mechanisms climate change anxiety (CCA) may interplay with mental health outcomes. Based on the stress-vulnerability model of psychosis, the present study proposed to examine the relationship between CCA and psychotic experiences (PEs), and to test the theoretically-driven hypothesis that death anxiety acts as a mediator in this relationship.

METHOD

This study adopted a cross-sectional approach involving a sample of young adults aged 18 to 35 years (mean age = 24.56 ± 22.49 years; 63.9% females) originating from, and residing in Lebanon.

RESULTS

The results of the mediation analysis showed that death anxiety partially mediated the association between CCA and PEs. Higher CCA was significantly associated with higher death anxiety; higher death anxiety was significantly associated with more PEs. Finally, higher CCA was directly and significantly associated with more PEs.

CONCLUSION

Drawing from the present preliminary findings, the key tentative recommendation is that addressing death anxiety might alleviate the association between CCA and PEs. In addition, government decision-makers need to recognize the necessity of considering climate change implications on mental health in policy and decision-making.

The relationship between cyberbullying perpetration/victimization and suicidal ideation in healthy young adults: the indirect effects of positive and negative psychotic experiences

BACKGROUND

Even though not all cyber bullies or victims think of (or consider) suicide, they clearly appear to be at an increased risk. One possible strategy to reduce suicide risk is to decrease cyberbullying occurrence; but this approach has its limitations, as it is certainly an illusion to believe that cyberbullying could be controlled or eliminated in a digitalized world. Another alternative and interesting strategy is to consider mediating factors that may indirectly affect suicidality. To this end, our purpose was to test the hypothesis that positive and negative psychotic experiences (PEs) mediate the relationship from cyberbullying perpetration/victimization to suicidal ideation (SI).

METHOD

The study followed a cross-sectional design, and was conducted during the period from June to September 2022. A total of 3103 healthy community participants from Lebanon were included (mean age 21.73 ± 3.80 years, 63.6% females).

RESULTS

After adjusting over potential confounders, mediation analysis models showed that both positive and negative PEs partially mediated the associations between cyberbullying victimization/perpetration and SI. Higher cyberbullying perpetration and victimization were significantly associated with greater positive and negative PEs; more severe positive and negative PEs were significantly associated with higher levels of SI. Higher cyberbullying victimization and perpetration were significantly and directly associated with higher levels of SI.

CONCLUSION

In light of our preliminary findings, there appears to be an urgent need for a new focus on carefully assessing and addressing attenuated psychotic symptoms in healthy individuals engaged in cyberbullying either as victims or bullies and who present with SI. It is important that school counselors and decision-makers consider a holistic approach taking into account both external/environmental (bullying) and internal/individual (PEs) factors in their suicide prevention programs. Future longitudinal research in larger samples are still required to confirm our findings and further elucidate the mechanisms underlying the relationship between cyberbullying and suicide.

Moderating effect of alexithymia between problem gambling and psychotic experiences in university students

BACKGROUND

Most of the young individuals with problem gambling (PG) or psychotic experiences (PEs) are less prone to seek medical help. Therefore, community-based studies investigating the relationship between these entities in non-clinical young people across a continuum of severity are warranted. To this end, the present study proposes to advance knowledge on the mechanisms that potentially underlie the association between PG and PEs, by examining the role of a potential moderator, i.e. alexithymia, in this relationship.

METHODS

A total of 399 participants enrolled in this study (mean age = 21.58 ± 3.20 years) participated in an online cross-sectional survey. The South Oaks Gambling Screen (SOGS), the Prodromal Questionnaire-Brief (PQ-B), and the Toronto alexithymia scale (TAS-20) were used.

RESULTS

Thirty-three (8.3%) participants had problem-gambling, whereas 13 (3.3%) were probable pathological gamblers. Moderation analysis results adjusted over confounders (age, household crowding index, marital status, personal history of mental disorder, other illegal drug use) showed that the interaction PG by alexithymia (p = .018) was significantly associated with PEs scores. At moderate (Beta = 1.93) and high (Beta = 3.38) levels of alexithymia, more PG was significantly associated with more PEs scores.

CONCLUSION

Findings suggest that GP may have a different impact on PEs depending on the individual's level of alexithymia. As such, both alexithymia and gambling behavior should be considered in the clinical assessment of young people who present with PEs, which can help in implementing more tailored and individualized treatment plans.

Schizotypal traits in a large sample of high-school and university students from Tunisia: correlates and measurement invariance of the arabic schizotypal personality questionnaire across age and sex

BACKGROUND

The main goal of the present study was to examine the characteristics of schizotypal traits and their correlations with genetic (i.e., family history of mental illness), demographic (i.e., age, sex), environmental (e.g., income, urbanicity, tobacco/alcohol/cannabis use), and psychological (i.e., personal history of mental illness other than psychosis) factors in Tunisian high-school and university students. Our secondary goal was to contribute the literature by examining the factor structure and factorial invariance of the Arabic Schizotypal Personality Questionnaire (SPQ) across sex and age (adolescents [12-18 years] vs. young adults [18-35 years]) groups.

METHOD

This was a cross-sectional study involving 3166 students: 1160 (36.6%) high-school students (53.0% females, aged 14.9 ± 1.8); and 2006 (63.4%) university students (63.9% females, aged 21.8 ± 2.3). All students were asked to complete a paper-and-pencil self-administered questionnaire containing sociodemographic characteristics as well as the Arabic version of the SPQ.

RESULTS

The total sample yielded total SPQ scores of 24.1 ± 16.6 out of 74. The SPQ yielded good composite reliability as attested by McDonald's omega values ranging from .68 to .80 for all nine subscales. Confirmatory Factor Analysis indicated that fit of the 9-factor model of SPQ scores was acceptable. This model is invariant (at the configural, metric and structural levels) across sex and age. Except for "Odd or eccentric behavior", all schizotypy features were significantly higher among female students compared to males. Multivariable analyses showed that female sex, being a university student, lowest family incomes, tobacco use, and having a personal history of psychiatric illness were significantly associated with higher positive, negative and disorganized schizotypy subscales scores.

CONCLUSION

Future research still needs to confirm our findings and investigate the contribution of the identified factors in the development of clinical psychosis. We can also conclude that the Arabic SPQ is appropriate for measuring and comparing schizotypy across age and sex in clinical and research settings. These findings are highly relevant and essential for ensuring the clinical utility and applicability of the SPQ in cross-cultural research.

Mediation effect of insomnia symptoms between positive psychotic like experiences and suicidal ideation among Lebanese young adults

BACKGROUND

Psychotic symptoms reported by healthy individuals in the general population are referred to as psychotic-like experiences (PLEs) and have been proven to increase the risk of suicidal ideation (SI) in these individuals. As it is well established that PLEs and insomnia share a bidirectional association and also that insomnia is linked to SI, we hypothesized that insomnia may represent a mediator underlying the relationship between PLEs and SI. Our aim was to validate this hypothesis among Lebanese young adults.

METHODS

A total of 3103 young adults (mean age 21.73 ± 3.80 years; 63.6% females) recruited from all Lebanese governorates completed a self-administered online questionnaire. PLEs were assessed using the CAPE-42 scale, SI using the Columbia Suicide Rating Scale, and insomnia using the Insomnia Severity Index). We conducted a mediation analysis using SPSS PROCESS v3.4 model 4 with three pathways. Variables that showed a p < 0.25 in the bivariate analysis were entered in the path analysis.

RESULTS

A total of 1378 participants (44.4%) had insomnia; 18.8% had SI; 42.5% reported at least one positive PE 'nearly always', and 30.5% reported at least one negative PE with this frequency. The results of the mediation analysis showed that insomnia severity partially mediated the association between positive dimension and SI; higher positive dimension was significantly associated with more insomnia severity, which was, in turn, significantly associated with more SI. Finally, more positive dimension was significantly and directly associated with more SI.

CONCLUSION

These preliminary findings might encourage the implementation of new preventive measures to reduce SI among PLEs patients. Treating symptoms of insomnia might help reduce the risk of suicide.