Prevalence and onset of anxiety and related disorders throughout pregnancy: A prospective study in an Australian sample.

The aims of this study were to investigate the prevalence of anxiety and related disorders (e.g., obsessive-compulsive disorder [OCD]) and major depressive disorder (MDD) at any time during pregnancy and during each pregnancy trimester and ascertain the proportions of women with an onset of these disorders during pregnancy.

Confirmatory Factor Analysis of the Nepean Dysphoria Scale in a Clinical Sample.

The construct of dysphoria has been described inconsistently across a broad range of psychopathology. The term has been used to refer to an irritable state of discontent, but is also thought to incorporate anger, resentment and nonspecific symptoms associated with anxiety and depression, such as tension and unhappiness. The Nepean Dysphoria Scale has been developed to allow assessment of dysphoria, but its factor structure has not yet been investigated in clinical samples.

The Nepean Belief Scale: preliminary reliability and validity in obsessive-compulsive disorder.

Objectives: To examine the psychometric characteristics of the Nepean Belief Scale (NBS), a short clinician-administered scale that assesses the characteristics and intensity of beliefs in obsessive-compulsive disorder (OCD).

Methods: The NBS was administered by two clinicians to 27 subjects with OCD as part of a larger study that included a comprehensive assessment using the Yale-Brown Obsessive Compulsive Symptom Scale (Y-BOCS), the Overvalued Ideas Scale (OVIS) and the Symptom Checklist 90-Revised (SCL-90R). Test-retest reliability of the NBS was assessed by administering the scale 5 days after initial administration.

Routine treatment duration for clients attending a community based anxiety disorders clinic.

Objective: To determine the average duration of treatment at a community-based anxiety disorders clinic.

Method: Data were collected on primary disorder, the presence of co-occurring disorders and treatment length (both in terms of number of sessions and weeks of therapy) for 248 consecutive clients.

Results: The mean number of sessions was 13, and average treatment length was 29 weeks.

The structure and intensity of self-reported autonomic arousal symptoms across anxiety disorders and obsessive-compulsive disorder.

Background: Heightened autonomic arousal symptoms (AAS) are assumed to be a central feature of anxiety disorders. However, it is unclear whether the magnitude and profile of AAS vary across anxiety disorders and whether heightened AAS characterises obsessive-compulsive disorder (OCD).

Aims: We sought to determine whether the intensity and structure of AAS varied across anxiety disorders and OCD.

The familiality of specific symptoms of obsessive-compulsive disorder.

This study aimed to assess whether a family history of specific OCD symptoms was associated with the same OCD symptoms in study participants. Participants were sampled from the Nepean OCD study (N=206) and were assessed with the Yale-Brown Obsessive-Compulsive Scale Symptom Checklist (YBOCS-SC) and the Vancouver Obsessional Compulsive Inventory (VOCI) in order to determine their OCD symptoms. A family history screen was used to determine whether participants had a first-degree relative with a history of any of the following specific symptoms: hoarding, contamination/cleaning, symmetry/ordering, doubt/checking and/or other OCD symptoms.

Does emotional reasoning change during cognitive behavioural therapy for anxiety?

Emotional reasoning refers to the use of subjective emotions, rather than objective evidence, to form conclusions about oneself and the world. It is a key interpretative bias in cognitive models of anxiety disorders and appears to be especially evident in individuals with anxiety disorders. However, the amenability of emotional reasoning to change during treatment has not yet been investigated.

Assessment and treatment of hoarding disorder.

Objectives: To provide a brief selective review of the current literature regarding Diagnostic and Statistical Manual of Mental Disorders, Fifth Edition Hoarding Disorder, with an emphasis on its associated risks, assessment and management approaches.

Conclusions: Hoarding disorder is defined by clear diagnostic criteria. It can be a severe and disabling disorder that can pose significant safety risks to the individual and to others.

Specificity of the Relationships Between Dysphoria and Related Constructs in an Outpatient Sample.

Dysphoria has recently been conceptualized as a complex emotional state that consists of discontent and/or unhappiness and a predominantly externalizing mode of coping with these feelings. The Nepean Dysphoria Scale (NDS) was developed on the basis of this model of dysphoria and used in this clinical study to ascertain the specificity of the relationships between dysphoria and relevant domains of psychopathology. Ninety-six outpatients completed the NDS, Symptom Checklist 90-Revised (SCL-90R) and Depression, Anxiety, Stress Scales, 21-item version (DASS-21).

The clinical characteristics of obsessive compulsive disorder associated with high levels of schizotypy.

Objectives: This study aims to examine the characteristics of obsessive compulsive disorder (OCD) associated with high levels of schizotypy.

Methods: Using the Schizotypal Personality Questionnaire (SPQ) with 177 individuals with OCD, patients with OCD and high levels of schizotypy (OCD-HS) were compared to patients with OCD and low levels of schizotypy (OCD-LS) on a range of clinical characteristics. Self-report and clinician-administered instruments were used.

The relationships between obsessive-compulsive symptom dimensions and cognitions in obsessive-compulsive disorder.

Several studies have linked obsessive-compulsive symptoms to specific obsessive-compulsive cognitions, however methodologies have varied, and no study has determined obsessive-compulsive symptoms using the most widely used clinician rating scale, the Yale-Brown Obsessive-Compulsive Scale (Y-BOCS). Considering that almost all studies that used factor analysis to ascertain OCD symptom dimensions were based on the Y-BOCS and that self-report instruments assessing obsessive-compulsive symptoms correlate poorly with the Y-BOCS, there is a need to use the Y-BOCS to examine the relationship between obsessive-compulsive cognitions and obsessive-compulsive symptom dimensions. This study examined the relationship between five Y-BOCS-derived obsessive-compulsive symptom dimensions and the three obsessive-compulsive cognitive domains identified by the obsessive-beliefs questionnaire (OBQ).

Further support for five dimensions of obsessive-compulsive symptoms.

Attempts to explain the phenotypic heterogeneity of obsessive-compulsive disorder (OCD) have resulted in three to six OCD symptom dimensions. This study aimed to clarify the nature of these symptom dimensions using a self-report instrument (Vancouver Obsessional Compulsive Inventory [VOCI]) in addition to the clinician-rated Yale-Brown Obsessive Compulsive Scale-Symptom Checklist (YBOCS-SC). Participants (N = 154) were recruited to a study designed to specifically assess OCD symptom dimensions.

The characteristics of unacceptable/taboo thoughts in obsessive-compulsive disorder.

Background: In the quest to unravel the heterogeneity of obsessive-compulsive disorder (OCD), an increasing number of factor analytic studies are recognising unacceptable/taboo thoughts as one of the symptom dimensions of OCD.

Aims: This study aims to examine the characteristics associated with unacceptable/taboo thoughts.

Methods: Using the Yale-Brown Obsessive-Compulsive Scale Symptom Checklist (YBOCS-SC) with 154 individuals with OCD, obsessive-compulsive symptoms were subjected to principal components analysis.

The use of psychotropic agents for the symptoms of obsessive-compulsive disorder.

Objective: To describe the use of psychotropic agents in a sample of subjects with obsessive-compulsive disorder (OCD), and in particular the differences associated with different OCD symptoms.

Method: A total of 154 subjects participated in a study assessing OCD symptom subtypes, called the Nepean OCD Study. In addition to a comprehensive evaluation of the subjects' OCD symptoms using the Yale-Brown Obsessive-Compulsive Scale (Y-BOCS), Vancouver Obsessive-Compulsive Inventory (VOCI), and the Sheehan Disability Scale (SDS), the subjects' medication history was recorded.

The developmental and social history of repetitively aggressive mental health patients.

Objective: A small subgroup of patients is primarily responsible for the large number of aggressive and violent incidents in psychiatric inpatient units. This study aims to identify the developmental, social and interpersonal histories of repeatedly aggressive patients in order to better understand their treatment needs.

Methods: A total of 1269 consecutive inpatients were studied over 18 months, identifying 64 who were repeatedly aggressive; 128 non-aggressive patients were randomly matched to the aggressive patients by age, sex and diagnosis.

Interpersonal reassurance seeking in obsessive-compulsive disorder and its relationship with checking compulsions.

This study aimed to examine interpersonal reassurance seeking (IRS) in obsessive-compulsive disorder (OCD) and the relationship between IRS and checking compulsions. One hundred and forty adults with OCD underwent a comprehensive assessment, which included obtaining information on seeking reassurance from others because of their obsessions. Sixty-seven (47.

Obsessive-compulsive personality disorder co-occurring with obsessive-compulsive disorder: Conceptual and clinical implications.

Objectives: There are ongoing uncertainties in the relationship between obsessive-compulsive disorder (OCD) and obsessive-compulsive personality disorder (OCPD). This study aimed to test the proposition that OCPD may be a marker of severity of OCD by comparing groups of OCD individuals with and without OCPD on a number of variables.

Method: A total of 148 adults with a principal diagnosis of OCD were administered the Mini International Neuropsychiatric Interview, Yale-Brown Obsessive-Compulsive Scale, Sheehan Disability Scale, Vancouver Obsessional Compulsive Inventory and Symptom Checklist 90-Revised.

Disgust propensity in obsessive-compulsive disorder: cross-sectional and prospective relationships.

Background And Objectives: Findings from non-clinical samples suggest that disgust propensity is associated with contamination concerns in obsessive-compulsive disorder (OCD). However, studies of clinical samples have yielded conflicting results. We investigated the relationship between disgust propensity and OCD symptoms in a clinical sample and examined whether changes in disgust propensity are associated with changes in OCD symptoms.

Can levels of a general anxiety-prone cognitive style distinguish between various anxiety disorders?

Background: The question of whether certain anxiety disorders are especially related to a cognitive style characterized by an exaggerated perception of threat and appraisal of the future as excessively unpredictable (general anxiety-prone cognitive style) remains open.

Objectives: This study aimed to compare patients with generalized social anxiety disorder (SAD), generalized anxiety disorder (GAD), panic disorder with agoraphobia (PDA), and panic disorder without agoraphobia (PD) in terms of the levels of general anxiety-prone cognitive style when the severity of general distress and psychopathology is controlled for and to ascertain whether a co-occurring depressive disorder contributes substantially to the levels of this cognitive style.

Methods: The Anxious Thoughts and Tendencies Scale, a measure of a general anxiety-prone cognitive style, and Symptom Checklist 90-Revised were administered to 204 patients with various anxiety disorders who attended an outpatient anxiety disorders clinic and were diagnosed based on a semistructured diagnostic interview.

The nature and correlates of avoidance in obsessive-compulsive disorder.

Objectives: Avoidance in obsessive-compulsive disorder (OCD) has been neglected by research. This study aimed (i) to collect information on the nature and frequency of avoidance in people with OCD and ascertain the types of obsessions related to avoidance; (ii) compare OCD individuals with and without avoidance, and (iii) determine predictors of avoidance in people with OCD.

Method: A total of 124 OCD adults underwent a comprehensive assessment.

Functions of compulsions in obsessive-compulsive disorder.

Objectives: The key function of compulsions in obsessive-compulsive disorder (OCD) is to alleviate anxiety or distress caused by the obsessions, but compulsions may also have other functions. The main aim of this study was to systematically ascertain what motivates individuals with OCD to perform compulsions.

Method: A total of 108 adults with OCD were assessed with the Yale-Brown Obsessive Compulsive Scale (Y-BOCS) and the Functions of Compulsions Interview.

Obsessive-compulsive spectrum disorders: a comorbidity and family history perspective.

Objective: The concept of obsessive-compulsive spectrum disorders (OCSDs) has become so influential that there are proposals to introduce it into new diagnostic classificatory systems. The aim of this paper was to assess whether rates of comorbidity and family history of OCSDs in patients with obsessive-compulsive disorder (OCD) supported this concept.

Method: Comorbidity and family history were assessed in a group of participants with a primary diagnosis of OCD, using structured clinical interviews.

The factor structure of the Kessler-10 questionnaire in a treatment-seeking sample.

The Kessler-10 (K10) questionnaire was developed as a screening instrument for nonspecific psychological distress. Although it was validated using epidemiological samples, it is increasingly being used in clinical settings. We sought to determine whether the factor structure of the K10 as established in epidemiological samples, could be replicated in a sample of treatment seeking adults.

Preliminary validation of an ultra-brief version of the Penn State Worry Questionnaire.

The Penn State Worry Questionnaire (PSWQ) is widely regarded as the gold standard self-report questionnaire for pathological worry. However, the factorial structure of the scale remains contentious. We sought to determine whether a psychometrically sound brief version of the PSWQ, which avoids contentious items and yet incorporates the essential features of pathological worry, could be derived from the existing PSWQ item pool.