Publications by authors named "Gregory Strauss"
Background And Hypothesis: In accordance with the Cognitive Model of Negative Symptoms, defeatist performance beliefs (DPBs) are an important psychosocial mechanism of negative symptoms in schizophrenia-spectrum groups. DPBs are also mediators of negative symptom improvement in clinical trials. Despite the clinical significance of DPBs and their inclusion as a mechanism of change measure in clinical trials, the psychometric properties of the DPB scale have not been examined in any schizophrenia-spectrum group.
View Article and Find Full Text PDFBackground And Hypotheses: The lack of psychometrically validated assessment tools designed specifically to assess negative symptoms in individuals at clinical high risk (CHR) for psychosis represents a significant barrier to the early identification and prevention of psychosis. To address this need, the Negative Symptom Inventory-Psychosis Risk (NSI-PR) was developed based on the iterative, data-driven approach recommended by the National Institute of Mental Health consensus conference on negative symptoms.
Study Design: This manuscript reports the results of the second study phase that psychometrically validates the final 11-item version of the scale in data collected across 3 sites.
Social network reductions are associated with negative symptoms in schizophrenia.
Soc Psychiatry Psychiatr Epidemiol
December 2024
Background: A recent environmental systems theory of negative symptoms in schizophrenia (SZ) proposes a role for reductions in social networks that exist within microsystems (i.e., the contexts in which social interactions occur).
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- The study investigates the Cognitive Model of Negative Symptoms, focusing on how defeatist performance beliefs (DPB) influence negative symptoms in individuals with schizophrenia compared to healthy controls.
- Researchers utilized ecological momentary assessment (EMA) over six days with 52 outpatients with schizophrenia and 55 healthy individuals to assess daily experiences.
- Findings revealed that those with schizophrenia had higher DPB and that these beliefs were directly linked to escalations in negative symptoms like anhedonia and avolition, supporting the model's implications for treatments like Cognitive Behavioral Therapy.
Article Synopsis
- Roluperidone is a medication that has shown effectiveness in treating negative symptoms of schizophrenia, particularly avolition, based on results from phase 2b and phase 3 clinical trials.
- The study analyzed data from 496 schizophrenia patients to replicate earlier findings, confirming that targeting avolition leads to broad improvements in other negative symptoms.
- Network intervention analysis revealed that the higher dose of 64 mg/day of roluperidone directly influences avolition, indicating its central role in improving overall negative symptoms within the condition.
Aim: Black individuals in the Unites States endure compounded and unique experiences of discrimination and structural racism that may not be as overtly evident in other countries. These distinctive forms of discrimination and racism can impact the mental health of Black individuals in the Unites States, in this case, their risk for psychosis. Adolescence and early adulthood are vulnerable periods in life where mental illness typically begins to manifest.
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- Youth at clinical high risk for psychosis (CHR) experience higher levels of stigma compared to a control group without psychotic symptoms, indicating that stigma plays a significant role in their lives.
- CHR youth face both perceived devaluation (negative views from others) and internalized mental health stigma, with perceived devaluation being more closely linked to depressive symptoms rather than positive symptoms.
- The study suggests that addressing the stigma surrounding mental health is crucial for improving the mental well-being of CHR youth, particularly in relation to managing depression.
Article Synopsis
- The prediction error account of delusions explains some unfounded beliefs, like paranoia, but struggles with different types of delusions.
- Research comparing two cognitive tasks shows that higher paranoia is linked to excessive learning behavior in one task, while non-paranoid beliefs impact learning in a specific way without general learning issues.
- Findings indicate distinct learning deficits in paranoia and non-paranoid beliefs, suggesting different mechanisms at play in how these delusions develop and affect behavior.
Article Synopsis
- The study investigates whether anhedonia in individuals with schizophrenia (SZ) is due to emotional memory impairment for positive experiences instead of a reduced ability to feel pleasure.
- The research involved 30 SZ participants and 30 healthy controls who completed an eye-tracking task to measure how they remembered pleasant, unpleasant, and neutral stimuli, assessing their emotional responses during and after viewing.
- Results showed that both groups initially processed emotional stimuli similarly, but SZ participants showed worse recognition for pleasant items over time, indicating a specific issue with remembering positive experiences linked to higher anhedonia severity.
This article describes the rationale, aims, and methodology of the Accelerating Medicines Partnership® Schizophrenia (AMP® SCZ). This is the largest international collaboration to date that will develop algorithms to predict trajectories and outcomes of individuals at clinical high risk (CHR) for psychosis and to advance the development and use of novel pharmacological interventions for CHR individuals. We present a description of the participating research networks and the data processing analysis and coordination center, their processes for data harmonization across 43 sites from 13 participating countries (recruitment across North America, Australia, Europe, Asia, and South America), data flow and quality assessment processes, data analyses, and the transfer of data to the National Institute of Mental Health (NIMH) Data Archive (NDA) for use by the research community.
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- Mindfulness-based treatments are effective for psychotic disorders (PD), but it's uncertain which specific mindfulness components (like monitoring and acceptance) are most beneficial.
- A study examined mindfulness levels in individuals with PD compared to non-psychiatric controls, revealing that those with PD report lower levels of global mindfulness, especially in terms of acceptance.
- Results indicated that an increase in monitoring is linked to better neurocognitive performance, while higher acceptance correlates with reduced negative beliefs and lower levels of depression and anxiety, suggesting that focusing on acceptance could enhance treatment for PD, particularly for mood-related symptoms.
Article Synopsis
- - A correction notice was issued for a previous article regarding a study on PTSD in veterans, revealing that symptom severity was overestimated due to scoring errors in the PTSD checklist (PCL-5), changing the interpretation of treatment outcomes following an ayahuasca intervention.
- - The original study aimed to evaluate the effectiveness of ayahuasca, a plant-based psychedelic, for treating PTSD, noting that existing evidence was largely anecdotal and non-systematic.
- - In a new mixed-methods case series study involving eight military veterans, various metrics were used to assess changes in PTSD symptoms pre- and post-treatment as well as during a 3-month follow-up, with the majority of participants reporting positive outcomes.
Article Synopsis
- * The current study involved 192 participants, comparing healthy controls and individuals with various severe mental illnesses, who completed tasks related to different reward processing components.
- * Three distinct reward processing profiles emerged within the severe mental illness group, with only those showing global reward processing deficits experiencing heightened negative symptoms, highlighting a common pathway to these symptoms across different mental health disorders.
Computerized analysis of facial expression reveals objective indices of blunted facial affect.
Eur Arch Psychiatry Clin Neurosci
October 2024
Article Synopsis
- Blunted affect is commonly linked to severe mental illnesses like schizophrenia, but its mechanisms are not well understood due to a lack of clear definitions.
- The study uses machine learning to analyze facial metrics and clinician ratings of blunted affect, achieving a predictive accuracy of 80-82%.
- Key facial movements, such as head orientation and eye/mouth movement, correlate with blunted affect and social cognition, offering insights into the psychological and biological factors involved.
Article Synopsis
- There has been slow progress in developing effective mental health interventions, prompting the National Institute of Mental Health (NIMH) to launch an experimental-therapeutics initiative to speed up research and application.
- The approach focuses on identifying specific "target mechanisms"—processes that lead to improvements in clinical outcomes—and emphasizes collaboration among various stakeholders, including patients and providers.
- The article discusses essential components of this approach, such as selecting clinical outcomes, defining and measuring target mechanisms, and tackling practical challenges for future research directions.
Article Synopsis
- Processing speed dysfunction is a key characteristic of psychosis and can predict who is at high risk for developing it, necessitating the adaptation of assessment tools from traditional methods to computerized formats.
- A study involving 92 individuals at clinical high risk and 60 healthy controls showed strong correlations between traditional and computerized processing speed tasks, with notable differences in performance between groups with progressive and persistent symptoms.
- The findings suggest that while the traditional paper tasks highlight impairments across different levels of risk, the computerized version is more effective in identifying issues specifically in individuals exhibiting worsening symptoms, indicating potential differences in sensitivity and mechanisms of assessment.
Article Synopsis
- Research highlights the importance of mindfulness in helping people manage their emotions, but previous reviews lacked a comprehensive framework for integrating mindfulness with emotion regulation models.
- The Dual-mode Model of Mindful Emotion Regulation (D-MER) is proposed, distinguishing between two modes: Implementation (using mindfulness strategies) and Facilitation (how mindfulness traits impact emotional responses).
- The D-MER model suggests that practicing mindfulness can enhance emotional regulation skills and that these skills can become more automatic over time, with potential implications for future research and clinical applications.
Article Synopsis
- * A study compared SZ outpatients and healthy controls (CN) using a cognitive effort allocation task (COGED), revealing that SZ participants were less willing to work for rewards and showed less flexibility in their effort choices under varying cognitive demands.
- * Those with SZ who held strong defeatist beliefs about their performance were particularly reluctant to choose high-effort tasks when faced with increased cognitive load, indicating that addressing these beliefs could help improve decision-making in this population.
Article Synopsis
- * This study used ecological momentary assessment (EMA) to measure momentary mindfulness (specifically acceptance and monitoring) in individuals with psychotic disorders and healthy controls over six days.
- * The results showed that those with psychotic disorders had lower momentary acceptance but similar monitoring compared to healthy participants; higher mindfulness levels were connected to better emotional outcomes, suggesting that enhancing acceptance could improve emotional experience in psychosis and may help target negative symptoms that are resistant to traditional treatments.
Article Synopsis
- - The study highlights that current treatments for negative symptoms of schizophrenia are ineffective, suggesting that this may stem from not addressing non-person-level environmental factors impacting activities and social interaction.
- - Using a bioecosystem model, the researchers explored how four ecosystems (microsystem to macrosystem) influence personal factors like beliefs and brain functioning, ultimately affecting negative symptoms such as anhedonia and avolition.
- - Results showed that individuals with schizophrenia had less access to resources for activities, which correlated with more severe negative symptoms, indicating that improving environmental conditions alongside addressing dysfunctional beliefs could enhance treatment approaches.
Article Synopsis
- Difficulties in emotion regulation are common among individuals with psychiatric disorders, including schizophrenia, where they tend to favor maladaptive strategies over adaptive ones.
- Recent studies using ecological momentary assessment (EMA) revealed that individuals with schizophrenia (SZ) often opted for interpersonal regulation and avoidance more than control groups (CN), although both groups frequently used reappraisal and distraction.
- Findings indicate that while individuals with SZ have some abnormalities in choosing emotion regulation strategies, those they select can still effectively reduce negative emotions and are adaptive in managing delusions over time, highlighting potential areas for improving cognitive therapy approaches for psychosis.
Article Synopsis
- The study aims to unify two tools used to assess clinical high risk for psychosis: the SIPS and CAARMS.
- Experts conducted workshops and videoconferences to achieve harmonization of symptom ratings and criteria for psychosis.
- The outcome is a new semi-structured interview (PSYCHS) that allows for consistent evaluation and comparison of findings in research studies related to at-risk mental states.
Environmental factors contributing to negative symptoms in youth at clinical high risk for psychosis and outpatients with schizophrenia.
Soc Psychiatry Psychiatr Epidemiol
July 2024
Article Synopsis
- A new bioecosystem theory suggests that environmental factors significantly contribute to negative symptoms of schizophrenia, such as anhedonia, avolition, and asociality, which occur due to resource deprivation in both immediate and broader environmental contexts.
- The study involved outpatients with schizophrenia and at-risk youth, comparing their experiences of negative symptoms against healthy controls while considering their environmental conditions affecting social and recreational activities.
- Results indicated that increased negative symptoms correlated with environmental deprivation, and these impacts were more pronounced in individuals with schizophrenia compared to those at clinical high risk, suggesting that treating negative symptoms may benefit from a focus on improving environmental conditions alongside traditional therapies.
Article Synopsis
- Individuals at clinical high-risk (CHR) for psychosis show impaired social functioning, with factors influencing this impairment not well understood.
- A study involving 105 CHR individuals and 62 healthy controls used ecological assessments to analyze interactions between social motivation and behavior over six days.
- Results indicated that while motivation levels were similar, CHR individuals tended to prefer digital interactions over in-person ones, suggesting that addressing specific social behaviors may improve their social motivation.