Childhood trauma and increased stress sensitivity in psychosis

OBJECTIVE

The notion that traumatic experiences in childhood may predict later psychotic outcomes would be strengthened if a plausible mechanism could be demonstrated. Because increased stress sensitivity is part of the behavioural expression of psychosis liability, the possible mediating role of childhood trauma was investigated.

METHOD

Fifty patients with psychosis were studied with the experience sampling method to assess stress reactivity in daily life, defined as emotional and psychotic reactivity to stress. Traumatic experiences in childhood were assessed with the Childhood Trauma Questionnaire.

RESULTS

A significant interaction was found between stress and CT on both negative affect (event stress: β = 0.04, P < 0.04; activity stress: β = 0.12, P < 0.001) and psychotic intensity (event stress: β = 0.06, P < 0.001; activity stress: β = 0.11, P < 0.001), showing that a history of CT is associated with increased sensitivity to stress.

CONCLUSION

A history of childhood trauma in patients with psychosis is associated with increased stress reactivity later in life, suggestive for an underlying process of behavioural sensitization.

Daily cortisol, stress reactivity and psychotic experiences in individuals at above average genetic risk for psychosis

BACKGROUND

Hypothalamic-pituitary-adrenocortical (HPA) axis abnormalities have been found in patients with a psychotic disorder and first-degree relatives of patients with a psychotic disorder react with subtle increases in non-clinical psychotic experiences and negative emotions in the face of everyday stress. The current study investigated whether HPA axis functioning is altered in individuals at above average genetic risk for psychotic disorder, examining diurnal cortisol profiles, cortisol reactivity to daily stressors and the association between HPA axis activity and subclinical psychotic experiences.

METHOD

Participants included siblings of patients with a psychotic disorder (n=60) and a healthy comparison group (n=63). The Experience Sampling Method (a structured diary technique) was employed to assess stress, psychotic experiences, negative affect and salivary cortisol repeatedly in the flow of daily life.

RESULTS

Multi-level analyses revealed higher diurnal cortisol levels and heightened cortisol reactivity to negative daily events in siblings compared with controls. Diurnal cortisol slope did not differ between the two groups, but momentary increases in psychotic experiences and negative affect were associated with increased cortisol in the sibling group.

CONCLUSIONS

Findings support altered HPA axis activity in individuals at above average genetic risk for psychotic disorder, as evidenced by higher diurnal cortisol levels and increased cortisol reactivity to daily stress. Results also suggest a dynamic association between cortisol secretion and the intensity of psychotic-like experiences and negative emotions in daily life, although the direction of this association remains to be elucidated.

Symptomatic remission in psychosis and real-life functioning

BACKGROUND

In 2005 Andreasen proposed criteria for remission in schizophrenia. It is unclear whether these criteria reflect symptom reduction and improved social functioning in daily life.

AIMS

To investigate whether criteria for symptomatic remission reflect symptom reduction and improved functioning in real life, comparing patients meeting remission criteria, patients not meeting these criteria and healthy controls.

METHOD

The Experience Sampling Method (ESM), a structured diary technique, was used to explore real-life symptoms and functioning in 177 patients with (remitted and non-remitted) schizophrenia spectrum disorders and 148 controls.

RESULTS

Of 177 patients, 70 met criteria for symptomatic remission. These patients reported significantly fewer positive and negative symptoms and better mood states compared with patients not in remission. Furthermore, patients in remission spent more time in goal-directed activities and had less preference for being alone when they were with others. However, the patient groups did not differ on time spent in social company and doing nothing, and both the remission and non-remission groups had lower scores on functional outcome measures compared with the control group.

CONCLUSIONS

The study provides an ecological validation for the symptomatic remission criteria, showing that patients who met the criteria reported fewer positive symptoms, better mood states and partial recovery of reward experience compared with those not in remission. However, remission status was not related to functional recovery, suggesting that the current focus on symptomatic remission may reflect an overly restricted goal.

Increased stress reactivity: a mechanism specifically associated with the positive symptoms of psychotic disorder

BACKGROUND

An increased reactivity to stress in the context of daily life is suggested to be an independent risk factor underlying the positive symptoms of psychotic disorder. The aim of this study was to investigate whether positive symptoms moderate the association between everyday stressful events and negative affect (NA), known as stress reactivity. This hypothesis was put to the test in patients with a diagnosis of psychotic disorder. Method The Comprehensive Assessment of Symptoms and History (CASH) and the Positive and Negative Syndrome Scale (PANSS) were used to assess positive and negative symptoms. The experience sampling method (ESM), a structured diary technique, was used to measure stress reactivity and psychotic symptoms in daily life.

RESULTS

Higher levels of positive symptoms (CASH: B = 0.14, p = 0.005; PANSS: B = 0.05, p = 0.000; ESM: B = 0.03, p = 0.000) and lower levels of negative symptoms (PANSS: B = - 0.05, p = 0.001) significantly moderate the association between unpleasant events and NA. No significant moderating effect was found for CASH negative symptoms. Moreover, the moderating effect of lifetime and current symptoms on the stress-NA association was significantly larger for those patients with predominantly positive symptoms (CASH: B = 0.09, p = 0.000; PANSS: B = 0.08, p = 0.000; ESM: B = 0.13, p = 0.000).

CONCLUSIONS

Patients with a 'psychotic syndrome' with high levels of positive symptoms and low levels of negative symptoms show increased reactivity to stress in daily life, indicating that stress reactivity is a possible risk factor underlying this syndrome.

Clinical high risk for psychosis: the association between momentary stress, affective and psychotic symptoms

OBJECTIVE

The aim of this study was to assess associations between momentary stress and both affective and psychotic symptoms in everyday life of individuals at clinical high risk (CHR), compared to chronic psychotic patients and healthy controls, in search for evidence of early stress sensitization. It also assessed whether psychotic experiences were experienced as stressful.

METHOD

The experience sampling method was used to measure affective and psychotic reactivity to everyday stressful activities, events and social situations in 22 CHR patients, 24 patients with a psychotic disorder and 26 healthy controls.

RESULTS

Multilevel models showed significantly larger associations between negative affect (NA) and activity-related stress for CHR patients than for psychotic patients (P = 0.008) and for CHR compared to controls (P < 0.001). Similarly, the association between activity-related stress and psychotic symptoms was larger in CHR than in patients (P = 0.02). Finally, the association between NA and symptoms (P < 0.001) was larger in CHR than in patients.

CONCLUSION

Stress sensitization seems to play a role particularly in the early phase of psychosis development as results suggest that CHR patients are more sensitive to daily life stressors than psychotic patients. In this early phase, psychotic experiences also contributed to the experience of stress.

Evidence for a familial correlation between increased reactivity to stress and positive psychotic symptoms

OBJECTIVE

This study tested the hypothesis that stress-reactivity may represent an intermediary phenotype underlying positive psychotic symptoms. It was examined whether: (i) stress-reactivity clusters within families of psychotic patients and (ii) stress-reactivity in relatives cosegregates with positive symptoms in patients.

METHOD

The sample consisted of 40 patients and 47 siblings of these patients. The Experience Sampling Method (ESM - a structured diary technique) was used to measure stress-reactivity. Positive symptoms in patients were measured with the Comprehensive Assessment of Symptoms and History.

RESULTS

Within-trait, cross-sib associations showed a significant association between stress-reactivity in the patient and stress-reactivity in their siblings. Significant cross-trait, cross-sib associations were established showing a significant association between positive psychotic symptoms in the patient and stress-reactivity in the sibling.

CONCLUSION

The findings show familial clustering of increased stress-reactivity, suggesting common aetiological influences, probably both genetic and environmental, underlying stress-reactivity in the siblings and patients. In addition, the results underscore the hypothesis that increased stress-reactivity is an unconfounded mechanism of risk underlying the positive symptoms of psychotic disorders.

Evidence that interactive effects of COMT and MTHFR moderate psychotic response to environmental stress

OBJECTIVE

A functional interaction between Catechol-O-Methyltransferase (COMT) Val158Met and methylenetetrahydrofolate reductase (MTHFR) C677T has been shown to differentially affect cognition in patients with schizophrenia and healthy controls; the effect of COMT Val158Met × MTHFR interaction on resilience to stress in patients and controls remains to be examined.

METHOD

A total of 98 patients with non-affective psychotic disorder and 118 controls were genotyped for MTHFR C677T, MTHFR A1298C, and COMTVal158Met. Daily life reactivity to stress, modelled as the effect of daily life stress on psychotic experiences, was measured using the experience sampling method (ESM).

RESULTS

The MTHFR C677T genotype moderated the interaction between COMT Val158Met genotype and stress in patients (P < 0.0001), but not in controls (P = 0.68). Further examination of this interaction revealed that in patients with the MTHFR 677 T-allele, COMT Met/Met individuals displayed the largest increases in psychotic symptoms in reaction to ESM stress [χ(2)(2) = 29.51; P < 0.0001], whereas in patients with the MTHFR 677 C/C genotype no significant COMT Val158Met × ESM stress interaction was apparent [χ(2)(2) = 3.65; P = 0.16]. No moderating effect of MTHFR A1298C was found.

CONCLUSION

Stress reactivity associated with COMT Val158Met in patients with psychosis may crucially depend on MTHFR C677T genotype.

Hippocampal volume as marker of daily life stress sensitivity in psychosis

BACKGROUND

Reduced hippocampal size and increased stress sensitivity are associated with psychotic disorder and familial risk for psychosis. However, to what degree the hippocampus is implicated in daily life stress reactivity has not yet been examined. The current study investigated (i) whether familial risk (the contrast between controls, patients and siblings of patients) moderated the relationship between hippocampal volume (HV) and emotional daily stress reactivity and (ii) whether familial risk (the contrast between controls and siblings of patients) moderated the relationship between HV and cortisol daily stress reactivity. Method T1-weighted magnetic resonance imaging (MRI) scans were acquired from 20 patients with schizophrenia, 37 healthy siblings with familial risk for schizophrenia and 32 controls. Freesurfer 5.0.0 was used to measure HV. The experience sampling method (ESM), a structured momentary assessment technique, was used to assess emotional stress reactivity, that is the effect of momentary stress on momentary negative affect (NA). In addition, in the control and sibling groups, cortisol stress reactivity was assessed using momentary cortisol levels extracted from saliva.

RESULTS

Multilevel linear regression analyses revealed a significant three-way interaction between group, HV and momentary stress in both the model of NA and the model of cortisol. Increased emotional stress reactivity was associated with smaller left HV in patients and larger total HV in controls. In line with the results in patients, siblings with small HV demonstrated increased emotional and cortisol stress reactivity compared to those with large HV.

CONCLUSIONS

HV may index risk and possibly disease-related mechanisms underlying daily life stress reactivity in psychotic disorder.

Emotion recognition in psychosis: no evidence for an association with real world social functioning

BACKGROUND

Patients with psychotic disorders show impairments in the recognition of emotions in other people. These impairments have been associated with poor social functioning as measured by self-report questionnaires, clinical interviews and laboratory-based tests of social skills. The ecological validity of these tests, however, is low. Associations were examined between emotion recognition and daily life social interactions in 50 patients diagnosed with a non-affective psychotic disorder and 67 healthy controls.

METHODS

All participants were assessed with the Degraded Facial Affect Recognition Task (DFAR), a computer test measuring the recognition of emotional facial expressions. Social functioning in daily life was assessed using the Experience Sampling Method (a random time sampling technique) with focus on measures of social context and appraisal of the social situation.

RESULTS

Groups differed significantly in the recognition of angry faces, whereas no differences existed for other emotions. There were no associations between emotion recognition and social functioning in daily life and there was no evidence for differential associations in patients as compared to controls.

DISCUSSION

Social functioning, when assessed in an ecologically valid fashion, is not sensitive to variation in the traditional experimental assessment of emotion recognition. Real life measures of functioning should guide research linking the handicaps associated with psychosis to underlying cognitive and emotional dysregulation.

Pituitary volume, stress reactivity and genetic risk for psychotic disorder

BACKGROUND

Hypothalamic-pituitary-adrenal (HPA) axis hyperactivity, associated with increased pituitary volume, may mediate observed alterations in stress reactivity in patients with psychotic disorder. We examined the association between pituitary volume, real-life stress reactivity and genetic liability for psychotic disorder.

METHOD

Pituitary volumes were derived from magnetic resonance imaging (MRI) scans of 20 patients with psychotic disorder, 37 non-psychotic siblings of these patients, and 32 controls. The Experience Sampling Method (ESM) was used to measure emotional stress reactivity [changes in negative affect (NA) associated with daily life stress] in the three groups, and biological stress reactivity (changes in cortisol associated with daily life stress) in siblings and controls. Interactions between group, stress and pituitary volume in models of NA and cortisol were examined.

RESULTS

Groups did not differ in pituitary volume. Patients showed significantly higher emotional stress reactivity than siblings and controls. In addition, emotional stress reactivity increased with increasing pituitary volume to a greater degree in patients than in controls and siblings. Siblings had higher cortisol levels than controls but did not show increased cortisol reactivity to stress. There was no interaction between pituitary volume, stress and group in the model of cortisol.

CONCLUSIONS

Higher pituitary volume was associated with increased emotional stress reactivity in patients with psychotic disorder, siblings and controls. The association was significantly stronger in the patient group, suggesting a process of progressive sensitization mediating clinical outcome.

The dynamics of symptomatic and non-symptomatic coping with psychotic symptoms in the flow of daily life

OBJECTIVE

Previous research has suggested that going along with psychotic symptoms (symptomatic coping) is less effective than other coping strategies with psychotic symptoms. This pilot study aims to validate such findings using a momentary assessment strategy of coping with stress in daily life.

METHOD

Patients with psychosis (n = 35) were studied with the Experience Sampling Method (ESM; a structured diary technique) to assess coping with stress in daily life. This was analysed in relation to coping with psychotic symptoms using a previously validated interview (Maastricht Assessment of Coping Strategies).

RESULTS

Symptomatic and non-symptomatic coping were negatively associated with each other. Symptomatic coping was negatively associated with the level of coping in daily life, whereas a positive association was apparent for non-symptomatic coping. Non-symptomatic coping, but not symptomatic coping, predicted appraisals of distress associated with psychotic symptoms.

CONCLUSION

Effective coping may be associated with the tendency to develop conscious appraisals of distress associated with psychotic symptoms.

[Changes in the number of suicide attempts in the NPC region since the start of VigilanS: First estimates]

BACKGROUND

The implementation of a surveillance program after a suicide attempt (SA) is a very innovative step in the evolution of our system of care. It was interesting to know if we observe a decline in suicide attempts in the region, in particular of recurrences of SA.

METHOD

We measured the evolution of the number of suicide attempts before and after implantation of VigilanS, using two types of analysis: a first from the national medical information systems in Medicine-Surgery-Obstetrics (PMSI-MCO) and a second from the collection of the ER stays for SA in the hospitals involved in the VigilanS program.

RESULTS

In 2014 (year before start of VigilanS), a total of 10 119 ER stays for SA was observed (5626 women and4463 men); in 2017, the total was 9.230 stays for SA (5047 women and 3 839 men), representing a decrease of 13.5%. The reduction was balanced between men (-14%) and women (-10%). Based on the figures of PMSI, we see an acceleration of the reduction of stay for SA in the Nord-Pas-de-Calais after 2014 (-16% instead of -6%), instead of the two Picardy departments the most comparable which show a degradation of the phenomenon (+13%), and opposed to the Department of the Oise which shows a stable maintenance of the current decline (-12%).

CONCLUSION

These two indicators are imperfect, but evolution over three years since the implementation of VigilanS goes in the same direction. We find a uncoupling of a hospital stay in connection with a SA. The intensity of this decline seems correlated to the penetrance of the program.

[Sleep disorders and their treatment in post-traumatic stress disorder]

Subjects suffering from post-traumatic stress disorder present sleeping disorders like a chronic insomnia, traumatic nightmares, but also less expected, sleep breathing disorders. Sleep problems are a factor of development and maintenance of PTSD, but also a factor of resistance to treatment. After a therapy focused on PTSD, they represent frequent residual symptoms. It is necessary to couple, with the usual management of PTSD, targeted approaches for sleep problems. These targeted approaches allow an improvement of the nocturnal properties but also diurnal specific symptoms of PTSD. Stakes around primary, secondary and tertiary prevention of PTSD emerge around these sleep disorders.

Régulation contextuelle du seuil de décision par le noyau sous-thalamique : enregistrements cérébraux profonds chez le patient souffrant de trouble obsessionnel-compulsif

Décider, c’est sélectionner une alternative parmi l’ensemble des options possibles pour atteindre nos buts. Les décisions perceptuelles correspondent à la sélection d’action sur la base de perceptions. Elles résultent de l’accumulation d’information sensorielle en faveur de chaque alternative jusqu’à un seuil de décision [1]. Nous avons précédemment montré que le cortex cingulaire antérieur (ACC) joue un rôle clé dans l’ajustement du seuil de décision en fonction de la quantité d’information contextuelle, et qu’il est fonctionnement connecté aux ganglions de la base [2]. Il a été proposé que les ganglions de la base implémentent le seuil de décision, et que le noyau sous-thalamique (NST) pourrait plus particulièrement contribuer à son ajustement au niveau d’incertitude associé au choix [3]. Le rôle exact du NST dans la régulation contextuelle du seuil de décision reste cependant mal compris. Dans le but de caractériser les opérations algorithmiques implémentées par le NST permettant l’ajustement contextuel du seuil de décision, nous avons enregistré les champs de potentiel locaux dans les NST de deux patients souffrant de trouble obsessionel-compulsif, et ayant bénéficié d’une neuro-stimulation cérébrale profonde, durant une tâche de décision perceptuelle simple. La prédictibilité et l’incertitude contextuelle étaient systématiquement manipulées à l’insu des patients. Leur temps de réaction diminuaient avec la prédictibilité, et augmentaient avec le niveau d’incertitude. L’activité électrophysiologique enregistrée dans le NST était prédictive de l’effet comportemental de l’incertitude contextuelle et de la prédictibilité. De plus, celle-ci était corrélée à ces deux quantités dans la bande de fréquence gamma (100–200 Hz). Pris ensemble, ces résultats suggèrent un rôle exécutif du NST dans la régulation contextuelle du seuil de décision, via la voie hyper-directe cingulo-sous-thalamique. L’implication manifeste du NST dans la régulation de fonctions cognitives de haut niveau comme la prise de décision renforce l’intérêt de cette cible dans le traitement de certaines pathologies neuropsychiatriques.

Intérêt d’un agoniste dopaminergique dans le traitement des dépressions bipolaires : ce que nous dit la littérature

Le pramipexole est un agoniste dopaminergique, connu pour son utilisation dans la maladie de Parkinson idiopathique, dont la particularité est d’avoir une affinité sélective pour les récepteurs D3 de la voie mésolimbique. Le rôle de la dopamine ayant été mis en évidence dans la physiopathologie de la dépression, des études se sont intéressées à l’action antidépressive du pramipexole et ont démontré une efficacité comparable à celle d’un inhibiteur sélectif de la recapture de la sérotonine dans le traitement des épisodes dépressifs unipolaires . Du fait de la résistance aux traitements conventionnels de certaines formes de dépressions bipolaires, plusieurs études ont testé l’intérêt de thérapeutiques moins conventionnelles, en particulier le pramipexole, dans le traitement des dépressions bipolaires réfractaires . Les données actuelles concernant l’efficacité antidépressive de ce traitement dans les dépressions bipolaires résistantes sont peu nombreuses, et semblent toutefois en faveur de taux de réponse et de rémission significativement plus importants et plus précoces (dès la 3e semaine) en comparaison à des antidépresseurs classiques ou d’un placebo. Nous détaillerons les données de la littérature concernant les dépressions bipolaires. La dose moyenne quotidienne entre les études était d’1,6 mg au profil d’une bonne tolérance , ce qui était confirmé par les études de suivi au long court. Toutefois, le faible nombre d’études réalisées ne fournissait pas d’informations sur le profil clinique des patients qui pourraient bénéficier de ce type de traitement. Du fait de son action agoniste sélective centrale sur une voie impliquée dans les processus motivationnels et de récompense, on peut supposer que certaines dépressions caractérisées par une apathie et une hyporéactivité émotionnelle seraient davantage susceptibles de bien répondre à ce traitement. Afin de confirmer cette hypothèse, nous présenterons une série d’observations cliniques chez des patients souffrant de dépression bipolaire, pour lesquels nous avons évalué l’efficacité du pramipexole sur les symptômes de dépression.

Prise en charge des internes de psychiatrie en souffrance : résultats d’une enquête déclarative chez les représentants et les coordonnateurs locaux

L’internat est une période de stress chronique élevé pour les étudiants en médecine et des travaux récents révèlent une prévalence importante des trouble psychiatriques au cours de cette période [1,2]. L’Association française fédérative des étudiants en psychiatrie (AFFEP) a mené une enquête afin de faire un état des lieux sur la prise en charge des internes de psychiatrie en souffrance psychologique au cours de leur cursus. Trois groupes ont été interrogés : les référents AFFEP, qui représentent les internes de psychiatrie dans chaque subdivision, les coordinateurs locaux et interrégionaux du DES de psychiatrie et du DESC de psychiatrie de l’enfant et de l’adolescent. Entre 2013 et 2015, 86 internes ont présenté des difficultés psychologique soit environ 4 % des internes. Cela s’est principalement traduit par des difficultés ou un absentéisme en stage, la mise en arrêt de travail, et quelques rares cas de suicides ou tentatives de suicide ont été décrits. Les premières personnes à signaler les difficultés étaient majoritairement le médecin chef de service, l’interne lui-même ou son co-interne. Une fois les difficultés signalées, des mesures professionnelles étaient mises en place dans 35 % des cas, et 15 % des internes concernés bénéficiaient de soins. La médecine du travail était peu sollicitée, tandis que le coordinateur local, les co-internes, et l’association locale représentaient les principaux intervenants. Pour tous, ce sont les coordinateurs locaux qui sont jugés les intervenants les plus légitimes dans ces situations. Les dispositifs d’évaluation de la santé des internes, en particuliers les comités médicaux, étaient peu connus des référents même s’ils sont jugés utiles par les internes et les coordinateurs locaux. Du fait de la prévalence importante des internes concernés, de l’hétérogénéité et du manque de prises en charge , il semble crucial de proposer des recommandations consensuelles avec les enseignants universitaires, favorisant le parcours professionnel et l’accès aux soins pour ces internes.