Hypothalamic-pituitary-adrenal axis function in the offspring of parents with bipolar disorder and the impact of the family environment: A pilot study of the Reducing Unwanted Stress in the Home (RUSH) prevention program.

Background: The home environment of offspring of parents with bipolar disorder (OBD) has been characterized by high levels of stress and disorganization, which may impact development of the hypothalamic-pituitary-adrenal (HPA) axis and their subsequent risk for affective disorders. The present study examined the effects of a family-based preventative intervention on the OBD's HPA axis functioning and whether intervention-related changes in the home environment might have driven change in the HPA axis.

Methods: Fifty-five children (6-11 years) were recruited from families having a parent with bipolar disorder (n=26) or families having two parents with no current mental disorders (n=29).

Hypothalamic-pituitary-adrenal axis functioning in offspring of parents with a major affective disorder: a meta-analytic review.

Because the offspring of parents with an affective disorder (OAD) are at high risk for developing mental disorders, and persons with an affective disorder (AD) show dysfunctional hypothalamic-pituitary-adrenal (HPA) axis activity, changes in HPA functioning in OAD might be an etiological risk factor that precedes the development of ADs. The primary aim of the meta-analysis was to quantitatively summarize the existing data on different indices of diurnal cortisol in the OAD. The secondary aim was to explore potential moderators of this relation.

The perceived social support of parents having bipolar disorder impacts their children's mental health: a 10-year longitudinal study.

Background: The offspring of parents with bipolar disorder (OBD) are at higher risk of developing psychopathology than the offspring of parents with no affective disorder (control). In addition to genetic predisposition, childhood adversity and a stressful family environment are important risk factors for the OBD. Protective factors in parents, such as social support and coping strategies, may buffer the effects of stress on at-risk children.

Family dysfunction, stressful life events, and mental health problems across development in the offspring of parents with an affective disorder.

Background: Offspring of parents with affective disorders (OAD) are at risk of developing a wide range of mental disorders. Deficits in the rearing environment and high levels of stress are well-known risk factors for negative outcomes in OAD. Building on prior research, we aim to examine the longitudinal relationships between family dysfunction, stressful life events, and mental health in OAD and control offspring of parents with no affective disorder.

The effects of intranasal oxytocin on the efficacy of psychotherapy for major depressive disorder: a pilot randomized controlled trial.

Background: Although both pharmacotherapy and psychological treatments are considered to be efficacious in the treatment of major depressive disorder (MDD), one third of patients do not respond to treatment and many experience residual symptoms post-treatment. In this double-blind placebo-controlled randomized control trial (RCT), we assessed whether intranasal oxytocin (OT) augments the therapeutic efficacy of psychotherapy for MDD and improves the therapeutic alliance.

Methods: Twenty-three volunteers (12 female) with MDD underwent 16 sessions of interpersonal therapy.

Fear of depression recurrence among individuals with remitted depression: a qualitative interview study.

Background: Major Depressive Disorder (MDD) is a prevalent psychiatric condition and the largest contributor to disability worldwide. MDD is highly recurrent, yet little is known about the mechanisms that occur following a Major Depressive Episode (MDE) and underlie recurrence. We explored the concept of fear of depression recurrence (FoDR) and its impact on daily functioning among individuals in remission from MDD.

Reduced parenting stress following a prevention program decreases internalizing and externalizing symptoms in the offspring of parents with bipolar disorder.

Background: Offspring of parents with bipolar disorder (OBD) are at risk for developing mental disorders, and the literature suggests that parenting stress may represent an important risk factor linking parental psychopathology to offspring psychopathology. We aimed to investigate whether improvements in parenting stress mediated the relationship between participation in a prevention program and offspring internalizing and externalizing symptoms at follow-up.

Methods: Families having a parent with BD (N = 25) underwent a 12-week prevention program.

Intranasal oxytocin alters attention to emotional facial expressions, particularly for males and those with depressive symptoms.

Intranasal oxytocin (OT) can enhance emotion recognition, perhaps by promoting increased attention to social cues. Some studies indicate that individuals with difficulties processing social information, including those with psychopathology, show more pronounced effects in response to OT. As such, there is interest in the potential therapeutic use of OT in populations with deficits in social cognition.

Depressive symptoms and social context modulate oxytocin's effect on negative memory recall.

Oxytocin promotes social affiliation across various species, in part by altering social cognition to facilitate approach behaviour. However, the effects of intranasal oxytocin on human social cognition are mixed, perhaps because its effects are context dependent and subject to inter-individual differences. Few studies have included explicit manipulations of social context to test this supposition.

Intranasal oxytocin increases state anhedonia following imagery training of positive social outcomes in individuals lower in extraversion, trust-altruism, and openness to experience.

Psychological disorders such as major depressive disorder are characterised by interpersonal difficulties and anhedonia. A cognitive mechanism proposed to contribute to the maintenance of these problems is a diminished ability to generate positive mental imagery, especially regarding social interactions. The current study examined whether the effects of social imagery training on social activity and anhedonia could be enhanced with the addition of intranasal oxytocin, and whether these effects might be augmented in persons with a high propensity to engage socially (i.

Improved Parent-Child Interactions Predict Reduced Internalizing Symptoms Among the Offspring of Parents with Bipolar Disorder Undergoing a Prevention Program: A Proof-of-Concept Study.

The offspring of parents with bipolar disorder (OBD) exhibit elevated rates of psychopathology. However, preventative interventions are lacking. Using a quasi-experimental design with an assessment-only control group, we examined if a 12-week program (entitled Reducing Unwanted Stress in the Home, RUSH) decreases internalizing and externalizing symptoms in the OBD (aged 6-11 years) via intervention-related gains in parent-child interaction quality.

Predicting Interpersonal Outcomes From Information Processing Tasks Using Personally Relevant and Generic Stimuli: A Methodology Study.

Despite evidence of differential processing of personally relevant stimuli (PR), most studies investigating attentional biases in processing emotional content use generic stimuli. We sought to examine differences in the processing of PR, relative to generic, stimuli across information processing tasks and to validate their use in predicting concurrent interpersonal functioning. Fifty participants (25 female) viewed generic and PR (i.

Poor inhibition of personally-relevant facial expressions of sadness and anger predicts an elevated cortisol response following awakening six months later.

Failure to inhibit interference from distracting emotional stimuli may obstruct an individual's ability to regulate their behavioural and emotional responses to environmental stressors. Few studies have examined the longitudinal association between cognitive inhibition and regulation of the hypothalamic-pituitary-adrenal axis (HPA) in the natural environment. Seventy-nine healthy adults underwent two assessments 6 months apart.

A comprehensive assessment of personality traits and psychosocial functioning in parents with bipolar disorder and their intimate partners.

Background: Individuals with bipolar disorder (BD) often possess maladaptive traits and present with various difficulties in psychosocial functioning. However, little is known about the intimate partners of adults with bipolar disorder (BD) and how mental illnesses other than BD within couples may further complicate the picture. Such knowledge is needed to inform both couple and family interventions.

Parenting practices in middle childhood mediate the relation between growing up with a parent having bipolar disorder and offspring psychopathology from childhood into early adulthood.

The offspring of parents with bipolar disorder (OBD) are at high risk for developing mental disorders. In addition to genetic factors, environmental risk is purported to be associated with these negative outcomes. However, few studies have examined this relation.

Oxytocin and Facial Emotion Recognition.

The expression of emotion in faces serves numerous meaningful functions, such as conveying messages of danger or approach, facilitating communication, and promoting the formation of social bonds and relationships. The study of facial expressions of emotion has become integral to research in social psychology and social neuroscience, particularly with respect to the neuropeptide oxytocin. This chapter examines how oxytocin influences the processing of emotion in faces by reviewing intranasal administration studies of automatic processing, selective attention, and emotion recognition.

A meta-analytic review of the correlation between peripheral oxytocin and cortisol concentrations.

The stress dampening effects of exogenous oxytocin in humans have been well documented. However, the relation between endogenous oxytocin and cortisol is poorly understood. We conducted a meta-analysis on the correlation between oxytocin and cortisol levels measured at baseline (k=24, N=739).

Oxytocin and social context moderate social support seeking in women during negative memory recall.

Background: Oxytocin is theorized to promote social support seeking under stress- an alternate biobehavioural response to challenge known as the tend-and-befriend response. These effects may be context dependent, however, and no study has evaluated this effect in the presence and absence of social support. The aim of this study was to evaluate the effects of oxytocin on the experience of recalling emotional autobiographical memories in two contexts-with and without social contact with an experimenter.

Memory response to oxytocin predicts relationship dissolution over 18 months.

Background: Oxytocin is known for its role in pair bonding in non-human animals. To examine the role of oxytocin in human romantic bonding, we examined its effect on recall of memories of past and current romantic experiences as predictors of relationship dissolution.

Method: In a placebo-controlled, within-subject, randomized experiment, 48 participants (24♀; 16 single) self-administered intranasal oxytocin and completed an autobiographical memory test.

Sexual Risk Behaviors in the Adolescent Offspring of Parents with Bipolar Disorder: Prospective Associations with Parents' Personality and Externalizing Behavior in Childhood.

We recently reported that adolescent and young adult offspring of parents with bipolar disorder (OBD), relative to control offspring, were more likely to engage in sexual risk behaviors (SRBs). The present prospective study aimed to determine the contribution of parents' personality and offspring behaviour problems in middle childhood to offspring SRBs 10 years later. We hypothesized that offspring externalizing problems in childhood would mediate the relationship between parents' personality traits of neuroticism and agreeableness and adolescent SRBs.

Early exposure to parental bipolar disorder and risk of mood disorder: the Flourish Canadian prospective offspring cohort study.

Aim: Exposure to postnatal parental depression is associated with offspring mood disorder later in life; however, little is known about exposure to parental bipolar disorder (BD) and subsequent risk of psychopathology. The aim of this study was to determine the association between the duration, severity and timing of exposure to parental BD in early childhood and subsequent risk of mood disorder.

Methods: 189 offspring of a parent with BD completed annual assessments following Kiddie Schedule for Affective Disorders (KSADS) format semistructured interviews as part of an ongoing 16-year prospective cohort study.

Inhibition of personally-relevant angry faces moderates the effect of empathy on interpersonal functioning.

While empathy is typically assumed to promote effective social interactions, it can sometimes be detrimental when it is unrestrained and overgeneralized. The present study explored whether cognitive inhibition would moderate the effect of empathy on social functioning. Eighty healthy young adults underwent two assessments six months apart.

Early parent-child relationships and risk of mood disorder in a Canadian sample of offspring of a parent with bipolar disorder: findings from a 16-year prospective cohort study.

Aim: Exposure to parental bipolar disorder (BD) early in life may increase the risk of developing a mood disorder. However, the impact of early parent-child relationships when a parent is affected and how this impacts an offspring's risk remains unclear. The primary objective of this study was to determine the association between parent-child relationships and risk of mood disorder in offspring of parents with BD and, secondly, to determine the interaction of temperament and life stress on this association.