Clozapine as a mood stabiliser for schizoaffective disorder: Effectiveness during a three-month follow-up.

Clozapine has shown signs of effectiveness in treating symptoms of schizoaffective disorder, although little research has been carried out to specifically assess this question. The objective of this current work was to analyse the mood-stabilising effectiveness and tolerability of clozapine in patients with schizoaffective disorder. This was a prospective, longitudinal, and quasi-experimental trial with three months of follow-up in patients with refractory schizoaffective disorder (PANSS score exceeding 80).

The Efficacy of Animal-Assisted Therapy in Patients with Dual Diagnosis: Schizophrenia and Addiction.

The objective of the study was to evaluate the efficacy of an animal-assisted-therapy (AAT) program in patients diagnosed with schizophrenia-spectrum disorders and substance-use disorders in residential treatment in order to intervene in the remission of negative and positive symptoms and improve quality of life and adherence to treatment, favouring the clinical stabilization of patients who participate in the AAT program, within the context of a mental-illness-treatment device. This was a quasi-experimental prospective study with intersubject and intrasubject factors. The sample comprised 36 patients (21 in the experimental group and 15 in the control group) who were evaluated at three time points (in the 3rd, 6th, and 10th sessions).

Sex Differences in Substance Use, Prevalence, Pharmacological Therapy, and Mental Health in Adolescents with Attention-Deficit/Hyperactivity Disorder (ADHD).

Sex differences are poorly studied within the field of mental health, even though there is evidence of disparities (with respect to brain anatomy, activation patterns, and neurochemistry, etc.) that can significantly influence the etiology and course of mental disorders. The objective of this work was to review sex differences in adolescents (aged 13-18 years) diagnosed with ADHD (according to the DSM-IV, DSM-IV-TR and DSM-5 criteria) in terms of substance use disorder (SUD), prevalence, pharmacological therapy and mental health.

Cocaine Increases Sensorimotor Gating and is Related to Psychopathy.

Objective: Prepulse inhibition regulates sensorimotor gating and is a marker of vulnerability to certain disorders. We compared prepulse inhibition, psychopathy, and sensitivity to punishment and reward in patients with cocaine-related disorder without psychiatric comorbidities and a control group.

Methods: This was an observational study of a sample of 22 male cases with cocaine-related disorder and 22 healthy male controls.

Prepulse Inhibition in Cocaine Addiction and Dual Pathologies.

Cocaine addiction is frequently associated with different psychiatric disorders, especially schizophrenia and antisocial personality disorder. A small number of studies have used prepulse inhibition (PPI) as a discriminating factor between these disorders. This work evaluated PPI and the phenotype of patients with cocaine-related disorder (CRD) who presented a dual diagnosis of schizophrenia or antisocial personality disorder.

Sensorimotor Gating in Cocaine-Related Disorder with Comorbid Schizophrenia or Antisocial Personality Disorder.

Schizophrenia, cocaine-related disorder, antisocial personality disorder, and psychopathy share biological bases, but few studies discriminate between these disorders by means of prepulse inhibition. This work studies the phenotype of patients with cocaine-related disorders who are vulnerable to presenting a dual diagnosis of schizophrenia or antisocial personality disorder, by evaluating their prepulse inhibition, impulsivity and psychopathy personality traits. The sample ( = 38) was divided into three groups: (1) cocaine-related disorder (8 individuals diagnosed with cocaine-related disorder who did not present any other mental disorder), (2) cocaine-related disorder and schizophrenia ( = 14), and (3) cocaine-related disorder and antisocial personality disorder ( = 16).