Design of a randomized clinical trial of brief couple therapy for PTSD augmented with intranasal oxytocin.

Background: Leveraging military veterans' intimate relationships during treatment has the potential to concurrently improve posttraumatic stress disorder (PTSD) symptoms and relationship quality. Cognitive-Behavioral Conjoint Therapy (CBCT) and an 8-session Brief Cognitive-Behavioral Conjoint Therapy (bCBCT) are manualized treatments designed to simultaneously improve PTSD and relationship functioning for couples in which one partner has PTSD. Although efficacious in improving PTSD, the effects of CBCT on relationship satisfaction are small, especially among veterans.

Compassion Meditation for Distressed Older Veterans: A Feasibility Study.

Objectives: Older Veterans are at elevated risk for psychological distress and may encounter barriers to accessing mental health services. Compassion Meditation (CM) promotes positive emotions and outcomes among distressed individuals; thus, we conducted a preliminary feasibility study of CM among distressed older Veterans.

Methods: Participants included 25 Veterans aged 55+ ( = 69.

Mitochondrial DNA m.13514G>A heteroplasmy is associated with depressive symptoms in the elderly.

Objectives: Mitochondrial DNA (mtDNA) heteroplasmy is a mixture of normal and mutated mtDNA molecules in a cell. High levels of heteroplasmy at several mtDNA sites in complex I lead to inherited neurological neurologic diseases and brain magnetic resonance imaging (MRI) abnormalities. Here, we test the hypothesis that mtDNA heteroplasmy at these complex I sites is associated with depressive symptoms in the elderly.

Obstructive Sleep Apnea and Cognition in Parkinson's disease.

Objective: Obstructive sleep apnea (OSA) is very common in Parkinson's disease (PD). OSA is known to affect patients' cognition. The present study assessed whether PD patients with OSA (PD + OSA) score lower on cognitive measures than those without OSA (PD - OSA).

Associations of PER3 and RORA Circadian Gene Polymorphisms and Depressive Symptoms in Older Adults.

Background: Depressive symptoms are common in older adults and associated with poor outcomes. Although circadian genes have been implicated in depression, the relationship between circadian genes and depressive symptoms in older adults is unclear.

Methods: A cross-sectional genetic association study of 529 single nucleotide polymorphisms (SNPs) representing 30 candidate circadian genes was performed in two population-based cohorts: the Osteoporotic Fractures in Men Study (MrOS; N=270, age: 76.

Subjective and objective sleep disturbance and longitudinal risk of depression in a cohort of older women.

Objective: To investigate the longitudinal relationship between subjective and objective sleep disturbance and depressive symptoms.

Design: Longitudinal.

Setting: Three US clinical centers.

Parkinson's disease and REM sleep behavior disorder result in increased non-motor symptoms.

Objective: Rapid eye movement (REM)-sleep behavior disorder (RBD) is often comorbid with Parkinson's disease (PD). The current study aimed to provide a detailed understanding of the impact of having RBD on multiple non-motor symptoms (NMS) in patients with PD.

Methods: A total of 86 participants were evaluated for RBD and assessed for multiple NMS of PD.

Late-onset schizophrenia: do recent studies support categorizing LOS as a subtype of schizophrenia?

Purpose Or Review: To review recent literature about late-onset schizophrenia (LOS): schizophrenia with onset between ages 40 and 60 years. New findings are presented in the context of the previous literature.

Recent Findings: Newer studies continue to suggest that early-onset schizophrenia (EOS) and LOS share fundamental clinical features (i.

Continuous positive airway pressure improves sleep and daytime sleepiness in patients with Parkinson disease and sleep apnea.

Study Objectives: Obstructive sleep apnea (OSA), common in Parkinson disease (PD), contributes to sleep disturbances and daytime sleepiness. We assessed the effect of continuous positive airway pressure (CPAP) on OSA, sleep, and daytime sleepiness in patients with PD.

Design: This was a randomized placebo-controlled, crossover design.

Atypical antipsychotics for older adults: are they safe and effective as we once thought?

The initial enthusiasm for atypical antipsychotics as being safe and effective for treating older adults with psychotic disorders has diminished. Despite multiple short-term double-blind trials, these drugs have not been approved by the FDA for the most common form of psychosis in this population – i.e.

Effects of sleep disorders on the non-motor symptoms of Parkinson disease.

Study Objectives: To evaluate the impact of sleep disorders on non-motor symptoms in patients with Parkinson disease (PD).

Design: This was a cross-sectional study. Patients with PD were evaluated for obstructive sleep apnea (OSA), restless legs syndrome (RLS), periodic limb movement syndrome (PLMS), and REM sleep behavior disorder (RBD).

Actigraphy for the assessment of sleep measures in Parkinson's disease.

Objectives: To assess the usefulness of actigraphy for assessment of nighttime sleep measures in patients with Parkinson's disease (PD).

Design: Participants underwent overnight sleep assessment simultaneously by polysomnography (PSG) and actigraphy.

Setting: Overnight sleep study in academic sleep research laboratory.

Sleep Disturbances and Risk of Depression in Older Men.

Introduction: Self-reported sleep disturbances are associated with an increased risk of depression in younger and older adults, but associations between objective assessments of sleep/wake disturbances via wrist actigraphy and risk of depression are unknown.

Methods: Depressive symptoms (Geriatric Depression Scale [GDS]), self-reported (questionnaires), and objective (actigraphy) sleep parameters were measured at baseline in 2,510 nondepressed men 67 y or older. Depressive symptoms were reassessed an average of 3.

Depressive symptoms and circadian activity rhythm disturbances in community-dwelling older women.

Objectives: Aging is associated with changes in circadian rhythms. Current evidence supports a role for circadian rhythms in the pathophysiology of depression. However, little is known about the relationship between depressive symptoms and circadian activity rhythms in older adults.

Treating older adults with schizophrenia: challenges and opportunities.

Schizophrenia affects people of all age groups. Treatment plans for older adults with schizophrenia must consider the effects of age on the course of the illness as well as on the response to antipsychotics and to psychosocial interventions. Positive symptoms of schizophrenia tend to become less severe, substance abuse becomes less common, and mental health functioning often improves.

Depressive symptoms and subjective and objective sleep in community-dwelling older women.

Objectives: To examine the relationship between depressive symptoms and subjective and objective sleep in older women.

Design: Cross-sectional.

Setting: Four U.

Psychiatric issues in palliative care: recognition of delirium in patients enrolled in hospice care.

Objectives: Delirium is prevalent, difficult to assess, under-recognized, and undertreated in hospice and palliative care settings. Furthermore, it is associated with significant morbidity and mortality. Under-recognition of delirium results in under-treatment and increased suffering.

Psychiatric issues in palliative care: recognition of depression in patients enrolled in hospice care.

Major depression is prevalent, difficult to assess, underrecognized, and undertreated in hospice settings. Furthermore, it is associated with significant morbidity and mortality. A retrospective chart review of 2716 patients receiving hospice care was conducted in order to determine the baseline rate of recognition of depression in patients with advanced, life-threatening illnesses by frontline hospice clinicians.