Holotropic Breathwork: the potential role of a prolonged, voluntary hyperventilation procedure as an adjunct to psychotherapy.

Objectives: To pose the question of whether Holotropic Breathwork (HB), a prolonged, voluntary hyperventilation procedure, might be useful in treatment of common psychiatric conditions such as anxiety and depressive disorders.

Design: This is a hypothesis-posing paper pertaining to a potential novel treatment.

Summary: The neurophysiology and psychology of hyperventilation are reviewed, including findings demonstrating that hyperventilation leads to significant changes in central nervous system activity as measured by various technological means.

Neurocognitive deficits in adolescents with schizophrenia: longitudinal stability and predictive utility for short-term functional outcome.

Objective: Previous cross-sectional studies in adolescents with early-onset schizophrenia (EOS; onset of psychotic symptoms by 18 years of age) have reported patterns of generalized neurocognitive deficits as compared to healthy comparison subjects (HCSs). Here, the authors examined the longitudinal stability of neuropsychological deficits in adolescents with EOS relative to HCS and the associations of these deficits with short-term functional outcome in patients.

Method: Fifty-two subjects (26 EOS, 26 HCS) were evaluated using a comprehensive neuropsychological test battery a median of 13 months after baseline examination.

Early-onset schizophrenia is associated with impaired adolescent development of attentional capacity using the identical pairs continuous performance test.

The authors examined performance on the Continuous Performance Test-Identical Pairs "numbers" task in adolescents with schizophrenia (n=59) and healthy controls (n=55). Adjusting for an estimate of premorbid intelligence and socioeconomic status, patients performed worse than normal controls on all three d' conditions (2-digit, 3-digit, 4-digit). However, there was a significant group-by-age-by-condition interaction (F[4,100]=4.

Neurocognitive profile in adolescents with early-onset schizophrenia: clinical correlates.

Background: Neurocognitive impairments have been documented in adolescents with early-onset schizophrenia (EOS; onset by age 18) and are important treatment targets. Information concerning the severity, pattern, and clinical correlates of these deficits in EOS remains limited.

Methods: Tests assessing motor skills, attention, memory, visuospatial abilities and executive functioning were administered to 54 clinically stabilized adolescents with EOS and 52 age- and sex-matched healthy controls.

Affective reactivity of language and right-ear advantage in schizophrenia.

A subset of schizophrenic patients has demonstrated increased language dysfunction in affectively stressful, compared to non-stressful conditions. Affective reactivity of right-ear advantage has been demonstrated in studies of dichotic listening in schizophrenia. The present study assessed whether participants who showed affective reactivity of speech were also those who showed affective reactivity of right-ear advantage.