Enhancing social functioning using multi-user, immersive virtual reality.

Rates of loneliness and other forms of social disconnection have been increasing worldwide. Prior studies have suggested that brief behavioral interventions can teach skills that may improve social functioning and connection but, currently, access to such interventions is limited. One previously untested approach for addressing this gap is to teach these skills using immersive, multi-user virtual reality (VR).

The impact of early intervention for first episode psychosis on cognitive functioning.

Importance: Impaired cognitive functioning is a core characteristic of schizophrenia, present from the onset of the illness and relatively stable thereafter. Despite evidence supporting the impact of early intervention services (EIS) on improving symptoms and functioning in first episode psychosis (FEP), controlled research has not examined its impact on cognitive functioning.

Objective: To evaluate the longitudinal course of cognitive functioning in FEP patients participating in a large, controlled study comparing EIS with usual services.

A Pilot Study of Adjunctive Group Therapy to Enhance Coping With Cognitive Challenges and Support Cognitive Health After Electroconvulsive Therapy.

Objectives: Concerns about the cognitive adverse effects of electroconvulsive therapy (ECT) are common among recipients of the treatment despite its relatively small adverse effects on cognitive functioning. Interventions aimed at remediating or improving coping with cognitive adverse effects of ECT have not been developed. The Enhancing Cognitive Domains after ECT (ENCODE) program is a new group intervention aimed at teaching self-management strategies to cope with the cognitive challenges and associated anxiety that often accompanies ECT.

Body image and Black African women: A comparative study of Kenya and Nigeria.

Very few cross-national studies on body image focus on Black African women. In this study, a comparative analytical approach and sociocultural theory framework was utilized in examining measures of body image among 209 Kenyan and Nigerian women aged 18-69 (M = 34.4, SD = 7.

Development of a transdiagnostic, resilience-focused intervention for at-risk adolescents.

Background: Environmental adversity and subclinical symptoms of psychopathology in adolescents increase their risk for developing a future psychiatric disorder, yet interventions that may prevent poor outcomes in these vulnerable adolescents are not widely available.

Aims: To develop and test the feasibility and acceptability of a prevention-focused program to enhance resilience in high-risk adolescents.

Method: Adolescents with subclinical psychopathology living in a predominantly low-income, Latinx immigrant community were identified during pediatrician visits.

Efficacy and acceptability of psychosocial interventions in schizophrenia: systematic overview and quality appraisal of the meta-analytic evidence.

Psychosocial interventions are recommended in schizophrenia and first-episode psychosis/early psychosis (EP). Nevertheless, literature is heterogeneous and often contradictory. We conducted an umbrella review of (network) meta-analyses of randomized controlled trials (RCTs) comparing psychosocial interventions vs treatment as usual (TAU)/active interventions(ACTIVE)/MIXED controls.

A Randomized Controlled Trial of the Effects of Early Intervention Services On Insight in First Episode Psychosis.

Background And Hypothesis: Impaired insight into one's illness is common in first episode psychosis (FEP), is associated with worse symptoms and functioning, and predicts a worse course of illness. Despite its importance, little research has examined the effects of early intervention services (EIS) on insight.

Designs: This paper evaluated the impact of EIS (NAVIGATE) on insight compared to usual community care (CC) in a large cluster randomized controlled trial.

"We don't get a chance to prove who we really are": A qualitative inquiry of workplace prejudice and discrimination among Black adults with serious mental illness.

Objective: Studies focused on prejudice and discrimination have traditionally explored the impact of one kind of prejudicial experience (e.g., race, gender, criminal history) within a particular context and thus, there is weak base of understanding about the experiences of individuals who may contend with concurrent prejudicial and/or discriminatory experiences across multiple characteristics.

Efficacy of a transdiagnostic, prevention-focused program for at-risk young adults: a waitlist-controlled trial.

Background: Prevention programs that are 'transdiagnostic' may be more cost-effective and beneficial, in terms of reducing levels of psychopathology in the general population, than those focused on a specific disorder. This randomized controlled study evaluated the efficacy of one such intervention program called Resilience Training (RT).

Methods: College students who reported mildly elevated depressive or subclinical psychotic symptoms ('psychotic experiences' (PEs)) ( = 107) were randomized to receiving RT ( = 54) or to a waitlist control condition ( = 53).

Promoting resilience in healthcare workers during the COVID-19 pandemic with a brief online intervention.

Introduction: The psychological wellbeing of healthcare workers has been impacted by the high levels of stress many have experienced during the Coronavirus Disease 2019 (COVID-19) pandemic. This study aimed to examine the feasibility and acceptability of a brief online course focused on introducing evidence-based skills that could increase resilience and decreases emotional distress in healthcare workers during the pandemic.

Materials And Methods: Employees of a large healthcare system completed a mental health survey at baseline, and then one month and two months after some employees participated in an online resilience-enhancement course consisting of three 12-19 min videos focused on mindfulness, mentalization, and self-compassion.

Comparison of Black and White participants with severe mental illness in response to cognitive remediation as an augmentation of vocational rehabilitation.

Purpose: Despite evidence that cognitive remediation improves cognitive and employment outcomes in persons with severe mental illnesses (SMI), its effects have not been systematically compared between Black and White participants. Considering that Black adults have more negative experiences receiving mental health treatment, providers may have greater difficulty engaging and retaining Black Americans in cognitive remediation. Due to the effects of structural racism on reducing employment opportunities for Black Americans, it is unclear whether Black participants will reap the same benefits of cognitive remediation on work outcomes as White Americans.

The interrelationships of motivation, positive symptoms, stigma, and role functioning in early psychosis.

Aim: Avolition, or the lack of motivation, has consistently been shown to be a significant predictor of poor psychosocial outcome, with decreased overall motivation as the single strongest predictor of poor work or school outcome in first episode psychosis. This study aimed to better understand the ways in which motivation impacts work and school functioning. This study first examined the factors related to motivation in people recovering from a recent onset of psychosis, then explored the unique interrelationships between positive symptoms, stigma, and motivation and how they influence role functioning.

Clinical and demographic correlates of stigma in first-episode psychosis: the impact of duration of untreated psychosis.

Objective: To evaluate the relationships between perceived stigma and duration of untreated psychosis (DUP), demographic characteristics, and clinical and psychosocial functioning in persons with a first episode of psychosis (FEP).

Method: A total of 399 participants with FEP presenting for treatment at 34 sites in 21 states throughout the United States were evaluated using standardized instruments to assess diagnosis, symptoms, psychosocial functioning, perceived stigma, wellbeing, and subjective recovery.

Results: Perceived stigma was correlated with a range of demographic and clinical variables, including DUP, symptoms, psychosocial functioning, and subjective experience.

Prevalence and correlates of PTSD in first episode psychosis: Findings from the RAISE-ETP study.

Posttraumatic stress disorder (PTSD) in young individuals is associated with an increased risk to develop psychosis or mania, and both trauma and PTSD rates are elevated in people with schizophrenia and other severe mental illnesses. However, less research has examined PTSD in people who have recently developed a first episode of psychosis (FEP). The present study is a secondary analysis of the baseline data collected for the National Institute of Mental Health Recovery After an Initial Schizophrenia Episode-Early Treatment Program (RAISE-ETP) study to examine the rates of trauma and PTSD, and to explore the demographic and clinical correlates of PTSD in a representative sample of 404 persons with an FEP.

Cognitive functioning as a predictor of response to comprehensive cognitive remediation.

Cognitive remediation is aimed at reducing cognitive impairments in severe mental illnesses such as schizophrenia, but little is known about whether severity of cognitive impairment predicts benefit from this intervention. To address this question, this study aggregated data from five randomized controlled trials (N = 300) of a standardized comprehensive, multimodal outpatient cognitive remediation program, the Thinking Skills for Work program, and evaluated whether baseline level of cognitive impairment differentially predicted improvement in cognitive functioning following cognitive remediation vs. usual services.

Disclosure of mental illness to prospective employers: Clinical, psychosocial, and work correlates in persons receiving supported employment.

Deciding whether to disclose one's psychiatric disorder to a prospective employer is a complex decision for people with severe mental illness seeking to return to work, with potential advantages and disadvantages. The present study examined the rates, patterns, and correlates of disclosure in 51 participants (74.5% schizophrenia or schizoaffective disorder) receiving high fidelity Individual Placement Support (IPS) who obtained competitive work over a two-year study period.

Family burden predicts functional outcome in the early course of schizophrenia beyond psychiatric symptoms and baseline functioning.

The goal of this study was to determine if family burden experienced by the families of individuals with a recent-onset of schizophrenia is associated with whether the individual is able to work or attend school during the first year of treatment. Forty-one participants with a recent first episode of schizophrenia and their families enrolled in two NIMH-funded protocols through the UCLA Aftercare Research Program completed a measure of family burden at baseline. Amount of work during this time was also recorded.

Development and validation of the client engagement and service use scale: A pilot study.

Specialized treatment for first episode psychosis offers clients a menu of services coordinated within a specialized treatment team. To enhance the impact of these services, promoting engagement and preventing early treatment drop-out is critical. However, engagement is poorly tracked and typically quantified through proxy variables such as session attendance, medication adherence, or working alliance.

What does the Managing Emotions branch of the MSCEIT add to the MATRICS consensus cognitive battery?

The Managing Emotions branch of the Mayer-Salovey-Caruso Emotional Intelligence Test (MSCEIT-ME) was included within the MATRICS Consensus Cognitive Battery (MCCB) as the measure of social cognition, although limited research has examined its associations with psychosocial functioning in people with schizophrenia or other severe mental illnesses. This secondary analysis with 107 participants examined what the MSCEIT-ME contributes to our understanding of functioning in this population, and whether it uniquely predicts psychosocial functioning after controlling for performance on the other MCCB tests and negative symptoms. Performance on the MSCEIT-ME was significantly correlated with all three MCCP factors (processing speed, attention/working memory, learning) within schizophrenia-schizoaffective disorder, bipolar disorder, and other mixed diagnoses groups.

Impact on intracortical myelination trajectory of long acting injection versus oral risperidone in first-episode schizophrenia.

Context: Imaging and post-mortem studies suggest that frontal lobe intracortical myelination is dysregulated in schizophrenia (SZ). Prior MRI studies suggested that early in the treatment of SZ, antipsychotic medications initially increase frontal lobe intracortical myelin (ICM) volume, which subsequently declines prematurely in chronic stages of the disease. Insofar as the trajectory of ICM decline in chronic SZ is due to medication non-adherence or pharmacokinetics, it may be modifiable by long acting injection (LAI) formulations.