Emotion Processing and Its Relationship to Social Functioning and Symptoms in Psychotic Disorder: A Systematic Review and Meta-analysis.

Background: Emotion processing (EP) is impaired in individuals with psychosis and associated with social functioning; however, it is unclear how symptoms fit into this relationship. The aim of this systematic review and meta-analysis was to examine interrelationships between EP, symptoms, and social functioning, test whether different symptom domains mediate the relationship between EP and social functioning, and examine the moderating effects of illness stage and EP task type.

Study Design: MEDLINE, Embase, and PsycINFO databases were searched for studies that included individuals with psychosis and reported correlations between EP, symptom domains (positive, negative, depressive, and disorganization), and social functioning.

Early Maladaptive Schemas and Depression in Caregivers of Individuals With Schizophrenia Spectrum and Bipolar Disorders.

Objectives: Early maladaptive schemas represent unhelpful frameworks of cognitions, emotions and subsequent behavioural responses and can be associated with depressive symptoms. Caregivers of individuals with serious mental illness (SMI) frequently report experiencing depressive symptoms. It is unclear whether depressive symptoms in caregivers are influenced by schemas.

Systematic Review and Meta-analysis: Rates of Violence During First-Episode Psychosis (FEP).

Background: Most people with psychotic disorders will never commit an act of violence. However, the risk of violence committed by people with schizophrenia is higher than the general population. Violence risk is also known to be highest during the first episode of psychosis compared to later stages of illness.

Digital technology for addressing cognitive impairment in recent-onset psychosis: A perspective.

Cognitive impairments in psychosis negatively impact functional recovery and quality of life. Existing interventions for improving cognitive impairment in recent-onset psychosis show inconsistent treatment efficacy, small effects, suboptimal engagement and limited generalizability to daily life functioning. In this perspective we explore how digital technology has the potential to address these limitations in order to improve cognitive and functional outcomes in recent-onset psychosis.

Psychometric properties of a brief, self-report measure of social inclusion: the F-SIM16.

Aims: A disproportionate number of people with mental ill-health experience social exclusion. Appropriate measurement tools are required to progress opportunities to improve social inclusion. We have developed a novel measure, the Filia Social Inclusion Measure (F-SIM).

A protocol for the first episode psychosis outcome study (FEPOS): ≥15 year follow-up after treatment at the Early Psychosis Prevention and Intervention Centre, Melbourne, Australia.

Background: Specialist early intervention (SEI) service models are designed to treat symptoms, promote social and vocational recovery, prevent relapse, and resource and up-skill patients and their families. The benefits of SEI over the first few years have been demonstrated. While early recovery can be expected to translate to better long-term outcomes by analogy with other illnesses, there is limited evidence to support this from follow-up studies.

Rates, types and associations of sexual risk behaviours and sexually transmitted infections in those with severe mental illness: a scoping review.

The aim of this scoping review was to: (i) determine rates and types of sexual risk behaviours and sexually-transmitted infections (STIs) in those with severe mental illness (SMI); and (ii) delineate correlates of poor sexual health outcome. The online databases OVID MedLine and PsycINFO were searched from databases inception to February 2018 for any literature with a focus on sexual risk behaviours (inconsistent condom use, multiple sexual partners, substance use and transactional sexual acts) or STIs in SMI populations. Fourteen studies were identified; the quality of these studies ranged from poor to moderate.

Automated and manual hippocampal segmentation techniques: Comparison of results, reproducibility and clinical applicability.

Background: Imaging techniques used to measure hippocampal atrophy are key to understanding the clinical progression of Alzheimer's disease (AD). Various semi-automated hippocampal segmentation techniques are available and require human expert input to learn how to accurately segment new data. Our goal was to compare 1) the performance of our automated hippocampal segmentation technique relative to manual segmentations, and 2) the performance of our automated technique when provided with a training set from two different raters.