Cognitive Biases and Socio-Occupational Functioning Mediate the Relationship between Executive Functions and the Severity of Psychopathology among Young Adults with Psychotic-like Experiences: 1-Year Follow-Up Study.

The aim of this study was to investigate whether Trail Making Test (TMT) performance is associated with the severity of psychopathological symptoms related to psychosis among young adults with elevated level of psychotic-like experiences (PLEs), and whether this relationship is mediated by cognitive biases and socio-occupational functioning. A total of 187 subjects from a larger population of 6722 young adults participated in this 1-year follow-up study. The inclusion criteria were an elevated level of PLEs (the highest score of the Prodromal Questionnaire) and a lack of schizophrenia diagnosis.

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The use of drama therapy in the treatment of people with schizophrenia in a theatre group has a tradition of almost 40 years in Krakow. The preparation of performances and appearances in front of an audience requires the components known from social skills training. In this work, a brief description of the development of "Psyche" theatre and its place in a community-based comprehensive treatment programme is described, using Shakespeare's "A Midsummer Night's Dream" as an example.

Satisfaction with care in patients with schizophrenia treated in a pilot-program model and traditional care.

Objectives: The purpose of this study was to compare satisfaction with care in patients with schizophrenia in two CMHT models: traditional and pilot program group with concurrent assessment of symptom severity and social functioning.

Methods: Ninety patients with schizophrenia treated in Community Mental Health Teams were included in the study, 60 in the traditional model and 30 in the pilot-program model.A demographic data questionnaire, the Positive and Negative Syndrome Scale (PANSS), the Verona Service Satisfaction Scale (VSSS-54), the Disability Assessment Schedule (WHODAS), the Social Network Index (SNI),and a scale measuring loneliness (UCLA Loneliness Scale) were used.

Burden of caregivers of people suffering from schizophrenia versus symptom severity, social functioning and treatment satisfaction of patients treated by a CMHT.

Objectives: This study aims to assess the caregivers' burden in schizophrenia amongst patients treated by Community Mental Health Teams (CMHTs) and its relation to patients' demographic, clinical and social characteristics, with emphasis on their satisfaction with care, and to evaluate the correlation of selected characteristics of caregivers with the level of their burden.

Methods: A total of 65 patient-caregiver dyads remaining in home treatment were included. Caregivers were assessed with demographic questionnaires, and the Caregiver Burden Inventory (CBI).

The effects of mindfulness-based training in virtual reality on psychotic symptoms, mood and cognitive functioning - a pilot study.

Objectives: Virtual reality (VR) is growing in popularity in treating various psychiatric disorders, including psychotic ones. However, no studies have been published on mindfulness interventions aided by virtual reality in psychotic patients to date.

Methods: 25 patients with schizophrenia or schizoaffective disorder were assessed at three time points with 4-week intervals using the six-item Positive and Negative Syndrome Scale (PANSS-6), Quick Inventory of Depressive Symptomatology (QIDS), Beck Depression Inventory (BDI), Beck Anxiety Inventory (BAI), State-Trait Anxiety Inventory (STAI), Perceived Stress Scale (PSS-10), and the Addenbrooke's Cognitive Examination III (ACE-III).

Application of 360° virtual reality videos in the assessment of paranoia in schizophrenia patients: a pilot study.

Objectives: Virtual Reality (VR) has been widely used in psychiatry, including psychotic disorders. The main advantage of VR is its high ecological validity and controllability of the virtual environment. Our main goal was to test whether, similarly to computer-generated VR, 360-degree videos are able to elicit a state of social paranoia in prone individuals.

Mental Health Centers. Preliminary evaluation of the pilot program implementation process.

Objectives: The aim of the presented research is to characterize the operating Mental Health Centers (MHCs) and to provide a preliminary assessment of the implementation process of the pilot program model in the area of psychiatric care in Poland.

Methods: The study uses the Polish version of the German questionnaire, which covers four areas: (1) basic conditionsof the model project/pilot program; (2) characteristicsof the organizational structure of the treatment entity; (3) statistical characteristics of the services provided;(4) specific features of the psychiatric care system in model regions/pilot program Mental Health Centers.

Results: Nineteen of the 27 Mental Health Centers completed the survey.

Predictors of Satisfaction with Care in Patients Suffering from Schizophrenia Treated Under Community Mental Health Teams.

The aim of this study was to assess satisfaction with care and to identify the predictors of this variable among sociodemographic, clinical and social data in a group of patients suffering from schizophrenia under treatment in community mental health teams. The study included 90 patients with a diagnosis of schizophrenia under the care of community mental health teams. Positive and Negative SyndromeScale, Verona Service Satisfaction Scale, Disability Assessment Schedule, Social Network Index and a loneliness scale (UCLA Loneliness Scale)were used in the study.

The Moderating Role of the Gene Polymorphisms in the Relationship between Attachment Style, Perceived Stress and Psychotic-like Experiences in Non-Clinical Young Adults.

Numerous studies have reported that stressful life experiences increase the risk of psychosis and psychotic-like experiences (PLEs). Common variations of the gene have been reported to impact the risk of psychosis by moderating the effects of environmental exposures. Moreover, anxious and avoidant attachment styles have been shown to increase both the level of perceived stress and the risk for psychosis development.

Flexible and Integrative Psychiatric Care Based on a Global Treatment Budget: Comparing the Implementation in Germany and Poland.

The past decade has witnessed the establishment of flexible and integrative treatment (FIT) models in 55 German and Polish psychiatric catchment areas. FIT is based on a global treatment budget (GTB), which integrates funding of all acute psychiatric hospital services for a regional population. Prior research has identified 11 specific program components of FIT in Germany.

Integrating trauma, self-disturbances, cognitive biases, and personality into a model for the risk of psychosis: a longitudinal study in a non-clinical sample.

The hypothesis of the psychosis continuum enables to study the mechanisms of psychosis risk not only in clinical samples but in non-clinical as well. The aim of this longitudinal study was to investigate self-disturbances (SD), a risk factor that has attracted substantial interest over the last two decades, in combination with trauma, cognitive biases and personality, and to test whether SD are associated with subclinical positive symptoms (PS) over a 12-month follow-up period. Our study was conducted in a non-clinical sample of 139 Polish young adults (81 females, age M = 25.

The relationships of need for closure dimensions with psychotic-like experiences and jumping to conclusions. A study of a large cross-population sample.

Objectives: The theoretical affinity between need for closure (NFC) construct and psychotic symptomatology, especially delusionality, has been tested in various studies and brought diverse results. This study tested this relationship on a large sample from the general population using an online survey.

Methods: "Preference for Predictability","Discomfort with Ambiguity" and "Decisiveness" from an abridged NFC scale (NFCS) were used to check for associations with the symptoms of delusion-like ideations and hallucination-like experiences measured with an abridged version of Prodromal Questionnaire (PQ-16).

On the relation of white matter brain abnormalities and the asociality symptoms in schizophrenia outpatients - a DTI study.

Recent MRI studies have shown that abnormal functional connections in schizophrenia coexist with subtle changes in the structure of axons in the brain. However, there is a discrepancy in the literature concerning the relationship between white matter abnormalities and the occurrence of negative psychopathological symptoms. In the present study, we investigate the relationship between the altered white matter structure and specific psychopathology symptoms, i.

The Impact of the Gene Polymorphisms on the Relationship between Traumatic Life Events and Psychotic-Like Experiences in Non-Clinical Adults.

Common variations of the gene are implicated in psychotic disorders, by modulating the hypothalamic-pituitary-adrenal axis reactivity to stress. It has been demonstrated that some of them might moderate the effects of childhood trauma on psychosis proneness. However, these associations have not been investigated with respect to traumatic life events (TLEs).

The Indirect Effect of Trauma via Cognitive Biases and Self-Disturbances on Psychotic-Like Experiences.

Although self-disturbances (SD) are considered to be a core psychopathological feature of schizophrenia spectrum disorders, there is still insufficient empirical data on the mechanisms underlying these anomalous self-experiences. The aim of the present study was to test a hypothesized model in which cognitive biases and exposure to traumatic life events are related to the frequency of SD which, in turn, contribute to the frequency of psychotic-like experiences (PLEs). Our sample consisted of 193 Polish young adults from the general population (111 females; 18-35 years of age, M = 25.

Toward a Complex Network of Risks for Psychosis: Combining Trauma, Cognitive Biases, Depression, and Psychotic-like Experiences on a Large Sample of Young Adults.

Although the linkage between traumatic life events and psychotic-like experiences (PLEs) is well established, the knowledge of potential mechanisms of this relationship is scarce. The aim of the present study was to better understand the structure of connections between traumatic life events and PLEs by considering at the same time the role of cognitive biases and depressive symptoms in the population of young adults (18-35 years of age, M = 26.52, SD = 4.

Efficacy of home treatment of patients with mental disorders - a research review.

Purpose: The aim of this study is to review research on the efficacy of home treatment for mental disorders compared to other forms of community-based treatment. The first section describes studies comparing treatment as usual with CMHT (Community Mental Health Team), the second section compares CMHT with more intensive forms of community-based care, such as CM (Case Management) and ACT (Assertive Community Treatment, and the third section focuses on interventions that are alternatives to hospitalization, described as CRT or MCHT (Crisis Resolution Team or Mobile Crisis Home Treatment).

Views: The community-based model of psychiatric health care is nowadays recognized as the best systemic solution to improve its organization and functioning.

Implementation of virtual reality (VR) in diagnostics and therapy of nonaffective psychoses.

Immersive virtual reality is a technology that allows the user to immerse in the virtual world in isolation from external stimuli. It enables the simulation of different social situations, often impossible to arrange in reality, with high control over the confounding variables. Thanks to the VR realism, the viewer of this reality behaves similarly and experiences similar emotions to those in natural conditions, which results in high ecological validity of this environment, making it useful for diagnostics and therapy.

Sheltered employment in schizophrenia is related to disorganization symptoms, processing speed and metaphor comprehension.

Objectives: The significance of cognitive functioning deficits in schizophrenia is already well acknowledged. The relationships among lower and higher order cognitive skills and symptoms, as well as their relevance to holding a paid job are relatively less researched, though. The purpose of this study was to conduct an analysis concerning these issues.

Effects of interactions between variation in dopaminergic genes, traumatic life events, and anomalous self-experiences on psychosis proneness: Results from a cross-sectional study in a nonclinical sample.

Background: There is a growing number of studies showing interactions between genetic polymorphisms associated with dopaminergic neurotransmission and traumatic life events (TLEs) on a risk of psychotic-like experiences (PLEs). Anomalous self-experiences (ASEs) have been associated both with TLEs as well as with PLEs. However, it remains unknown what is the role of ASEs in the complexity of gene-environment interactions on the emergence of PLEs.

Premorbid social relationships and the course of schizophrenia in a 20-year follow-up study.

Objectives: An important dimension indicating a growing risk of psychosis outbreak and its subsequent unfavorable course is deteriorating social functioning, especially the lack of sufficient social relationships. The aim of the study was to evaluate the association of the quality of social contacts and the scope of support system before the onset of the illness with treatment outcomes in clinical and social dimension in various time intervals of the 20-year illness course.

Methods: During the first hospitalization, an 80-person group living in Krakow and suffering from schizophrenia was selected, diagnosed according to DSM-IV-TR criteria and examined six times: at admission and discharge during first hospitalization, after 3, 7, 12 and 20 years.

The role of dance/movement therapy in the treatment of negative symptoms in schizophrenia: a mixed methods pilot study.

Background: Optimizing psychosocial functioning by reducing the severity of negative symptoms are important outcomes for individuals with schizophrenia. Movement-based interventions could be uniquely capable of addressing the non-verbal nature of negative symptoms.

Aims: To examine the treatment effects of a 10-week group dance/movement therapy program on negative symptoms and psychosocial functioning of individuals diagnosed with schizophrenia.

The interplay between childhood trauma, cognitive biases, and cannabis use on the risk of psychosis in nonclinical young adults in Poland.

Background: Childhood traumatic events are risk factors for psychotic-like experiences (PLEs). However, the mechanisms explaining how trauma may contribute to the development of PLEs are not fully understood. In our study, we investigated whether cannabis use and cognitive biases mediate the relationship between early trauma and PLEs.

Effects of traumatic life events, cognitive biases and variation in dopaminergic genes on psychosis proneness.

Aims: Recent studies have provided evidence that interactions between variation in dopaminergic genes and stressful experiences might impact risk of psychosis. However, it remains unknown whether these interactions impact the development of subclinical symptoms, including psychotic-like experiences (PLEs). In this study, we aimed to test the effects of interactions between variation in dopaminergic genes and traumatic life events (TLEs) on a severity of PLEs.

Humor perception in schizophrenia appears to be related to disorganization syndrome.

Perception of humor seems to be often disturbed in schizophrenia, yet current literature is limited and ambiguous on its relationship to psychopathology. A sample of 40 schizophrenia-diagnosed subjects provided humor comprehension and funniness ratings for 60 cartoons and 60 stories with funny, neutral and absurd punchlines. Disorganization syndrome was found to associate with deficits in humor comprehension and experienced funniness in non-humorous stimuli after controlling for cognitive performance, age, sex and medication.