French validation of the Stigma Resistance Scale in a sample of people with psychotic disorders.

Objectives: The aim of this study was to translate the Stigma Resistance Scale into French and to examine its psychometric qualities to measure stigma resistance in people with psychotic disorders.

Methods: The Stigma Resistance Scale was rigorously translated into French, involving translation, back-translation, and adjustments based on focus groups. The French version of the Stigma Resistance Scale comprises 20 items divided into five subscales measuring resistance to stigma at different levels.

Perceptions, facilitators and barriers to the implementation of interpersonal group therapy to treat depression among people living with HIV in Senegal: a qualitative study.

Background: Depression is highly prevalent in people living with HIV (PLWH) but remains under treated in Sub-Saharan Africa. In this context, we conducted the first study of Group Interpersonal Therapy (IPT) to treat depression in PLWH in Senegal. We assessed the perceptions and experiences of patients and group facilitators, as well as barriers to implementation.

Management of depression in people living with HIV/AIDS in Senegal: Acceptability, feasibility and benefits of group interpersonal therapy.

Depression is highly prevalent in people living with HIV (PLWH) and has negative consequences for daily life and care. We evaluated for the first time the acceptability, feasibility and benefits of group interpersonal therapy (IPT), combined with a task-shifting approach, to treat depression in PLWH in Senegal. PLWH with depression received group IPT following the World Health Organization protocol.

[How to assess curative and/or preventive effects of psychotropic drugs?].

Proving the efficacy of a psychotropic drug is a medical, scientific and ethical need. Psychotropic drug development is now a highly complex process, which takes several years and which is very expensive. It involves multiple steps of preclinical and clinical pharmacological refinement and testing.

[How may practitioners interpret the results of clinical trials?].

To correctly interpret the results of a randomised controlled trial (RCT), practitioners have to spot bias and other potential problems present in the trial. Internal as well as external validity of the trial are linked to the presence of such bias. The internal validity is ensured by a clear definition of the objectives of the trial.

[Inclusion criteria and rating scales for RCTs in Psychiatry. The future of qualitative studies].

An inventory on the two critical dimensions that structure the Randomized Controlled Trial in Psychiatry, namely the definition of inclusion criteria for eligible patients for testing and the choice of psychometric methods of pathology assessment and its evolution during the experiment, considers the importance of increasingly numerous and precise international recommendations. Taking into account the formal constraints of industrial, questioning the cultural differences of the methodological approach of the tests, meeting the requirements of feasibility and ever increasing security, frequent cumbersome procedure often contrasts with the modest nature of the results. A better definition to include patients in randomized trials is desirable and it asks to return to the clinic studying the expectations of patients and their response to the therapeutic situation.

Telephone-administered psychotherapy in combination with antidepressant medication for the acute treatment of major depressive disorder.

Background: Telephone-administered psychotherapies (T-P) provided as an adjunct to antidepressant medication may improve response rates in major depressive disorder (MDD). The goal of this study was to compare telephone-administered social rhythm therapy (T-SRT) and telephone-administered intensive clinical management (T-ICM) as adjuncts to antidepressant medication for MDD. A secondary goal was to compare T-P with Treatment as Usual (TAU) as adjunctive treatment to medication for MDD.

[Interpersonal psychotherapy from research to practice].

Theoretical Background: Interpersonal therapy (IPT) is a brief, structured psychotherapy initially intended to treat adult depression that was developed in the 1970s and manualized in 1984 by G. Klerman and his team. Two main theories served as a basis for its design: Bowlby's attachment theory and communication theory.

[Interpersonal and social rhythm therapy (IPSRT)].

Bipolar disorder is common, recurrent, often severe and debiliting disorder. All types of bipolar disorder have a common determinant: depressive episode. It is justify to propose a psychotherapy which shown efficacy in depression.

[Bipolar affective disorders: Models and assessment of psychological treatments].

Psychological therapies dedicated to bipolar patients have attracted major interest and many publications have been devoted to them in the last five years. The efficiency of Psychoeducation, Cognitive and behavioral therapy, Behavioral family therapy and Interpersonal and Social Rhythm Therapy, have specially been focused on. These approaches share a common background of psychoeducation and are closely linked with the transnosographical model from Zubin and Spring as well as basic behavioral and cognitive technical requirements.

[Affective disorders, antipsychotics and mood stabilizers: Therapeutic innovations].

Management of bipolar disorder has undergone many revisions in recent years as new agents and treatments have been developed and studied with variable success. In conjunction with the advent of novel therapies and indications, there has been an increase in the understanding of the phenomenology and neurobiology of bipolar disorder that has made the classification and management of the illness necessarily more sophisticated. However, there remains a significant delay of 8 years in detecting and diagnosing bipolar disorder, and a further need to improve treatments.

[Gene-environment interactions in affective disorders].

Kindling and behavioural sensitization were probably the first among the animal models of affective disorders, to suggest that genes-environment interactions were likely to be involved in the pathophysiology of these disorders. Cross-sensitization among stressors, drugs of abuse and illness episodes was deemed to be supported by the induction of a series of transcription factors, such as the proto-oncogene c-fos that subsequently alter gene expression by binding at DNA sites and inducing mRNAs for substances that may exert effects over long time periods. This was an anticipation of epigenetics which is currently defined as a functional modification to the DNA that does not involve an alteration of sequence.

[Affective disorders: News in chronobiological models].

Good news on chronobiological models of affective disorders are coming from a therapeutic innovation in the field of antidepressive action. Coming back to fundamentals by reconsidering the importance of the role of biological rhythms impairment in dysthymic pathology, a new interest bored on studies exploring short periodicities, so-called "ultradian" ones, on the basis of pharmacodynamics in the concept of therapeutic "window" of administration. The priority of circadian rhythms due to the major external biological desynchronization in depression, as well as the importance of sleep and alertness pathology, the spectacular relief of the depressive mood upon sleep deprivation, and the strong reduction of sleep need in mania, delayed exploration of ultradian exaltation of harmonic circadian components, marking a "buzz" of rhythmic structure and calling a "chronobiotic compound" which would be able to apply a "reset" to the temporal organisation.

Factors associated with medication non-adherence in patients suffering from schizophrenia: a cross-sectional study in a universal coverage health-care system.

Objective: To quantify the factors associated with non-adherence to medication among stable patients suffering from schizophrenia in the context of universal access to care.

Methods: This naturalistic, multicentric study was conducted in 15 French public hospitals in a region of south-eastern France during a 1 week period in 2008. All consecutive outpatients with stable schizophrenia were recruited.

[Prodromes of schizophrenia recurrence].

Schizophrenic disorders are chronic disorders usually characterized by relapses alternating with periods of remission. A better understanding of the course of schizophrenic disorders is available with the models of psychotic vulnerability and the neurodevelopmental hypothesis. The relapses have numerous severe aspects, clinical, biological and conduct to a bad prognosis.

[Non-drug treatment for depression].

The principal alternatives to pharmacological treatment of major depressive disorder (besides electroconvulsive therapy) are different forms of psychotherapy, frequently used in combination with antidepressant drugs. The types of psychotherapy that have proven efficacy are mainly cognitive behavioral therapy (CBT) and interpersonal psychotherapy (IPT). The efficacy of psychoanalytic therapy has not been proven in methodologically sound studies, despite its frequent use.

Antipsychotics and the risk of diabetes: a general data review.

Recently, attention has focused on a potential link between schizophrenia and diabetes, with speculation that this potential association is stronger in patients who are prescribed atypical antipsychotics. Pharmacoepidemiological studies can help to evaluate this potential association. Source data on the incidence of diabetes in patients treated with antipsychotics is available in the FDA MedWatch database, prescription claims databases and other patient registries.

Consensus on the Practical Use of Amisulpride, an Atypical Antipsychotic, in the Treatment of Schizophrenia.

Clinical expectations in schizophrenia treatment have greatly increased since the introduction of new atypical antipsychotics, but the choice of therapeutic strategy has become more complex and reference guidelines are scarce. This paper summarizes the consensus of a broad range of professionals after long-term commercialization in France of an atypical antipsychotic, amisulpride. Participants were from psychiatric hospitals, private clinics, out-patients settings and research; all were experienced with the drug.

Concurrent high-performance liquid chromatographic measurement of loxapine and amoxapine and of their hydroxylated metabolites in plasma.

The dibenzoxazepine neuroleptic loxapine, its N-demethylated metabolite amoxapine, and their 7- and 8-hydroxymetabolites were measured simultaneously in plasma by reversed-phase high-performance chromatographic method. An original liquid-liquid extraction procedure was performed, consisting in coextraction of the substances together with a water-miscible solvent (acetonitrile) by a non-water-miscible solvent (toluene). The substances were separated on a 5-microm CN 25-cm column, and eluted with a mobile phase consisting of acetonitrile-acetic acid 0.

Pilot investigation of thyrotropin-releasing hormone-induced thyrotropin and prolactin release in anxious patients treated with diazepam.

Benzodiazepines have been reported to inhibit thyrotropin (TSH) and prolactin (PRL) secretion in response to stressful and pharmacologic stimuli in experimental animals. The current study investigates basal and thyrotropin-releasing hormone (TRH)-stimulated TSH and PRL release in anxious patients treated with diazepam. Six hospitalized patients having generalized anxiety or adjustment disorder with anxious mood (DSM III-R criteria) were treated during 1 week with diazepam (mean daily dose 33.

Clonazepam in acute mania: time-blind evaluation of clinical response and concentrations in plasma.

This study was performed to evaluate the optimal doses and clinical efficacy of clonazepam as a first-line drug in acute mania, as well as to determine its effective plasma concentrations. Clonazepam was administered orally to 11 newly admitted inpatients. On day 0, the loading dose was titrated upward according to the clinical global impression; the maintenance dose was calculated with intent to maintain the plasma level that had been achieved after initial dose escalation.

An imidazopyridine anxiolytic alters glucose tolerance in patients: a pilot investigation.

We have recently shown that compounds with high affinity for peripheral-type benzodiazepine receptors inhibited glucose-induced insulin secretion in vitro. We therefore performed an oral glucose tolerance test in anxious inpatients treated with the imidazopyridine derivative alpidem, which has been shown to display high affinity for these binding sites. The test was performed before and after 1 week of daily administration of the drug.

A double-blind comparison of clonazepam and placebo in the treatment of neuroleptic-induced akathisia.

The present study was designed to investigate the efficacy of clonazepam in neuroleptic-induced akathisia. Twelve patients were treated during 2 weeks with clonazepam or placebo in a double-blind randomized design. Akathisia was scored by an independent rater before and after treatment, as well as 1 week after medication withdrawal.