Inference-Based Cognitive Behavioral Therapy versus Cognitive Behavioral Therapy for Obsessive-Compulsive Disorder: A Multisite Randomized Controlled Non-Inferiority Trial.

Introduction: Although cognitive behavioral therapy (CBT) effectively treats obsessive-compulsive disorder (OCD), many patients refuse CBT or drop out prematurely, partly because of anxiety regarding exposure and response prevention (ERP) exercises. Inference-based cognitive behavioral therapy (I-CBT) focuses on correcting distorted inferential thinking patterns, enhancing reality-based reasoning, and addressing obsessional doubt by targeting underlying dysfunctional reasoning, without incorporating an ERP component. We hypothesized that I-CBT would be non-inferior to CBT.

[The revised version of the Y-BOCS: responsivity and other psychometric properties].

Background: The Yale-Brown Obsessive-Compulsive Scale (Y-BOCS) is a widely used semi structured clinician-rated interview to assess the presence and severity of obsessive-compulsive disorder (OCD). The scale is revised (Y-BOCS-II) to overcome several psychometric limitations, for example by extending the scoring for better discrimination within higher severity levels.

Aim: To examine the responsiveness and other psychometric properties of the Y-BOCS-II in a Dutch clinical sample.

Responsiveness and other psychometric properties of the Yale-Brown Obsessive-Compulsive Scale Severity Scale-Second Edition in a Dutch clinical sample.

The Yale-Brown Obsessive-Compulsive Scale (Y-BOCS) is a widely used clinician-rated interview to assess the presence and severity of obsessive-compulsive disorder (OCD). The scale is revised (Y-BOCS-II) to overcome several psychometric limitations, for example by extending the scoring for better discrimination within higher severity levels. The aim of the present study was to examine the responsiveness and other psychometric properties of the Y-BOCS-II Severity Scale in a Dutch clinical sample.

Proof of Principle: Is a Pre-treatment Behavior Approach Test a Potential Predictor for Response to Intensive Residential Treatment in Patients With Treatment Refractory Obsessive Compulsive Disorder?

Patients with severe and treatment refractory obsessive compulsive disorder (OCD) are usually referred to a specialized center for intensive residential treatment (IRT), consisting of exposure and response prevention (EX/RP), pharmacotherapy and additional therapies. About 50% of the patients does not respond to IRT. Currently we are not able to predict treatment response.

Use of videotaped personal compulsions to enhance motivation in obsessive-compulsive disorder.

Background: Watching videotaped personal compulsions together with a therapist might enhance the effect of cognitive-behavioural therapy in obsessive-compulsive disorder (OCD) but little is known about how patients experience this.AimsTo performed a qualitative study that describes how watching these videos influences motivation for treatment and whether patients report any adverse events.

Method: In this qualitative study, data were gathered in semi-structured interviews with 24 patients with OCD.

Examining the factor structure of the self-report Yale-Brown Obsessive Compulsive Scale Symptom Checklist.

Obsessive-compulsive symptom dimensions are important in studies about the pathogenesis and treatment of obsessive-compulsive disorder. More than 30 factor analytic studies using the Yale-Brown Obsessive Compulsive Scale Symptom Checklist (Y-BOCS-SC) interview version have been published. However, a drawback of the Y-BOCS-SC interview is that it is time-consuming for the clinician.

Chronic obsessive-compulsive disorder: prognostic factors.

Background: The course of illness in obsessive-compulsive disorder (OCD) varies significantly between patients. Little is known about factors predicting a chronic course of illness. The aim of this study is to identify factors involved in inducing and in maintaining chronicity in OCD.

Disparate gain and loss of parasitic abilities among nematode lineages.

Plant parasitism has arisen time and again in multiple phyla, including bacteria, fungi, insects and nematodes. In most of these organismal groups, the overwhelming diversity hampers a robust reconstruction of the origins and diversification patterns of this trophic lifestyle. Being a moderately diversified phylum with ≈ 4,100 plant parasites (15% of total biodiversity) subdivided over four independent lineages, nematodes constitute a major organismal group for which the genesis of plant parasitism could be mapped.

No Effects of D-Cycloserine Enhancement in Exposure With Response Prevention Therapy in Panic Disorder With Agoraphobia: A Double-Blind, Randomized Controlled Trial.

Purpose/background: D-cycloserine (DCS) is a partial N-methyl-D-aspartate receptor agonist that potentially augments response to exposure therapy in anxiety disorders by enhancing extinction learning. This randomized, double-blinded, placebo-controlled augmentation trial examined (1) the effectiveness of adding 125 mg of DCS to exposure therapy (before or directly after the first 6 treatment sessions) in patients with panic disorder with agoraphobia and (2) the effectiveness of DCS augmentation preceding exposure relative to DCS augmentation directly postexposure.

Methods/procedures: Fifty-seven patients were allocated to 1 of 3 medication conditions (placebo and pre-exposure and postexposure DCS) as an addition to 6 exposure sessions within a 12-session exposure and response prevention protocol.

Presence and Predictive Value of Obsessive-Compulsive Symptoms in Anxiety and Depressive Disorders.

Objective: Obsessive-compulsive symptoms (OCS) co-occur frequently with anxiety and depressive disorders, but the nature of their relationship and their impact on severity of anxiety and depressive disorders is poorly understood. In a large sample of patients with anxiety and depressive disorders, we assessed the frequency of OCS, defined as a Young Adult Self-Report Scale-obsessive-compulsive symptoms score >7. The associations between OCS and severity of anxiety and/or depressive disorders were examined, and it was investigated whether OCS predict onset, relapse, and persistence of anxiety and depressive disorders.

Borderline or Schizotypal? Differential Psychodynamic Assessment in Severe Personality Disorders.

Considerable overlap in symptoms between patients with borderline personality disorder (BPD) and schizotypal personality disorder (STPD) complicates personality diagnostics. Yet very little is known about the level of psychodynamic functioning of both personality disorders. Psychodynamic assessment procedures may specify personality characteristics relevant for differential diagnosis and treatment planning.

d-cycloserine addition to exposure sessions in the treatment of patients with obsessive-compulsive disorder.

Background: Preliminary studies have shown that the addition of the partial NMDA-agonist d-cycloserine (DCS) might be promising in enhancing the results of exposure therapy in obsessive-compulsive disorder (OCD). We examined the effect of DCS addition to exposure therapy in a somewhat larger sample of OCD patients with special attention to subgroups, because of the heterogeneity of OCD.

Methods: A randomized, double-blind, placebo controlled trial was conducted in 39 patients with OCD.

Inference-Based Approach versus Cognitive Behavioral Therapy in the Treatment of Obsessive-Compulsive Disorder with Poor Insight: A 24-Session Randomized Controlled Trial.

Objective: Obsessive-compulsive disorder (OCD) with poor insight has severe consequences for patients; nonetheless, no randomized controlled trial has ever been performed to evaluate the effectiveness of any treatment specifically for poor-insight OCD. A new psychotherapy for OCD, the inference-based approach (IBA), targets insight in OCD by strengthening normal sensory-driven reality testing. The goal of the present study is to compare the effectiveness of this new treatment to the effectiveness of cognitive behavior therapy (CBT) for patients with OCD with poor insight.

The relationship between adverse childhood experiences and symptom severity, chronicity, and comorbidity in patients with obsessive-compulsive disorder.

Background: Studies on the relationship between adverse childhood experiences (ACEs) and obsessive-compulsive disorder (OCD) symptom severity are scarce. Available studies leave a considerable degree of uncertainty. The present study examines the relationship between ACEs and symptom severity, chronicity, and comorbidity in a sample of patients with OCD.

Obsessive-compulsive disorder; chronic versus non-chronic symptoms.

Objective: Understanding chronicity in OCD is hampered by contradictory findings arising from dissimilar definitions of chronic OCD. The purpose of this study was to investigate the magnitude of chronicity in OCD and to examine if chronic OCD is critically different from non-chronic OCD, using a chronicity definition that reflects empirical findings.

Method: Baseline data of the Netherlands Obsessive Compulsive Disorder Association (NOCDA) study, in which 379 OCD patients participated, were analyzed.

The association between CYP2D6 genotype and switching antipsychotic medication to clozapine.

Purpose: Genetic variation in the cytochrome P450 2D6 (CYP2D6) enzyme is responsible for interindividual differences in the metabolism of many antipsychotic drugs, but the clinical relevance of polymorphisms in CYP2D6 for response to antipsychotic treatment is relatively unknown. In the Netherlands, clozapine is prescribed only when patients are non-responsive to or intolerant of at least two different antipsychotics. The aim of our study was to determine the association of the CYP2D6 genotype with switching to clozapine, which served as a surrogate outcome marker for treatment response to antipsychotics.

Clinical relevance of comorbidity in obsessive compulsive disorder: the Netherlands OCD Association study.

Background: This study describes lifetime and current rates of comorbidity, its onset and its consequences in a large clinical sample of patients with obsessive compulsive disorder (OCD). A wide range of risk factors and clinical characteristics were also examined to determine whether pure OCD is different from OCD with current comorbidity. Finally, the temporal sequencing of the disorders was examined.

An evaluation of irreversible psychosurgical treatment of patients with obsessive-compulsive disorder in the Netherlands, 2001-2008.

Admissions for irreversible psychosurgical treatment of obsessive-compulsive disorder (OCD) by the Working Group for Indication Psychosurgery in the Netherlands were analyzed, and the postsurgical effects on symptom severity and quality of life were evaluated. The data were extracted from patient records in the period 2001-2008, and there was a postoperative assessment with a semistructured interview. Fourteen patients applied, having severe OCD with mostly one or more comorbid disorders.

Rather than by direct acquisition via lateral gene transfer, GHF5 cellulases were passed on from early Pratylenchidae to root-knot and cyst nematodes.

Background: Plant parasitic nematodes are unusual Metazoans as they are equipped with genes that allow for symbiont-independent degradation of plant cell walls. Among the cell wall-degrading enzymes, glycoside hydrolase family 5 (GHF5) cellulases are relatively well characterized, especially for high impact parasites such as root-knot and cyst nematodes. Interestingly, ancestors of extant nematodes most likely acquired these GHF5 cellulases from a prokaryote donor by one or multiple lateral gene transfer events.

The Netherlands Obsessive Compulsive Disorder Association (NOCDA) study: design and rationale of a longitudinal naturalistic study of the course of OCD and clinical characteristics of the sample at baseline.

In half of Obsessive Compulsive Disorder (OCD) patients the disorder runs a chronic course despite treatment. The factors determining this unfavourable outcome remain unknown. The Netherlands Obsessive Compulsive Disorder Association (NOCDA) study is a multicentre naturalistic cohort study of the biological, psychological and social determinants of chronicity in a clinical sample.

[The characterisation of anxiety disorders: staging and profiling based on common sense].

Background: Clinicians need to be well informed about staging and profiling so that they can divide patients with anxiety disorders into groups according to the phase and severity of their illness. The group to which the patient is assigned determines the types of treatment he or she receives.

Aim: To investigate ways in which clinicians can be helped to apply staging and profiling procedures to patients with anxiety disorders.

SSU ribosomal DNA-based monitoring of nematode assemblages reveals distinct seasonal fluctuations within evolutionary heterogeneous feeding guilds.

Soils are among the most complex, diverse and competitive habitats on Earth and soil biota are responsible for ecosystem services such as nutrient cycling, carbon sequestration and remediation of freshwater. The extreme biodiversity prohibits the making of a full inventory of soil life. Hence, an appropriate indicator group should be selected to determine the biological condition of soil systems.

Small subunit ribosomal DNA-based phylogenetic analysis of foliar nematodes (Aphelenchoides spp.) and their quantitative detection in complex DNA backgrounds.

Foliar nematodes, plant-parasitic representatives of the genus Aphelenchoides, constitute a minority in a group dominated by fungivorous species. Distinction between (mostly harmless) fungal feeding Aphelenchoides species and high impact plant parasites such as A. besseyi, A.

Clinical relevance of comorbidity in anxiety disorders: a report from the Netherlands Study of Depression and Anxiety (NESDA).

Background: To study the clinical relevance of type of comorbidity and number of comorbid disorders in anxiety disorders. Four groups were compared according to sociodemographic-, vulnerability- and clinical factors: single anxiety disorder, anxiety-anxiety comorbidity, anxiety-depressive comorbidity and "double" comorbidity (i.e.