Engaging Youth in the Bipolar Youth Action Project: Community-Based Participatory Research.

Background: We describe the methodological dimensions of community-based participatory research through a description of study design, youth engagement, and methods/processes in the cocreation of knowledge within a Canadian study, the Bipolar Youth Action Project. This collaborative partnership-carried out by a team composed of academic, community, and youth partners-was designed to investigate self-management and wellness strategies for young adults living with bipolar disorder.

Objective: The aim is to describe the opportunities and challenges of this collaboration and to reflect upon the process of involving youth with bipolar disorder in health research that concerns them, and share lessons learned.

Take me back to move me forward: Re-enactment of the family system as a pathway to better quality of life for alexithymic patients in group therapy.

Background: Despite much attention in the clinical literature, research on alexithymia in the treatment setting has only recently gained traction. While several reports indicate limited benefit from therapy amongst patients with high alexithymia, this seems to be less so in the context of group therapy. This study considers a specific aspect of the group therapy process - family re-enactment - in facilitating improvement in overall quality of life for patients with high levels of alexithymia.

Narcissism and Interpersonal Problems Among Psychiatric Outpatients: What Is the Role of Defensive Style?

A growing body of evidence points to significant interpersonal problems associated with narcissism in clinical samples. Less well understood are the mechanisms by which narcissism negatively impacts one's interpersonal functioning. The present study investigated defensive style as a possible mediator of the relationship between narcissism and interpersonal problems.

A pilot randomized clinical trial evaluating the impact of genetic counseling for serious mental illnesses.

Objective: The serious mental illnesses schizophrenia, schizoaffective disorder, and bipolar disorder are complex conditions affecting 1% to 4% of the population. Individuals with serious mental illnesses express interest in genetic counseling, an intervention showing promise for increasing patient knowledge and adaptation. This trial aimed to evaluate the effects of genetic counseling for people with serious mental illnesses as compared to an educational intervention or wait list.

"Nothing is absolute in life": understanding uncertainty in the context of psychiatric genetic counseling from the perspective of those with serious mental illness.

No genetic tests are currently clinically available for serious mental illnesses such as schizophrenia and bipolar disorder. Rather, the full spectrum of genetic variants that confer susceptibility remain unknown, and estimates of probability of condition recurrence typically have the form of ranges rather than single absolute numbers. Genetic counselors have been shown to feel that the information that can be provided for patients with serious mental illness could be more confusing than helpful.