Psychoeducation for patients with a psychotic disorder: effects on knowledge and coping.

Objective: Psychoeducation is an essential and promising element in the nonpharmacologic treatment of patients with a psychotic disorder. This study examined the effects of patient-directed psychoeducation on knowledge and coping.

Method: This study included 99 primary care patients with a psychotic disorder according to DSM-IV-TR criteria who completed a knowledge questionnaire before and a knowledge and coping questionnaire halfway through, immediately after, and 6 months after a 20-session group psychoeducation program.

Brain anatomy in non-affected parents of autistic probands: a MRI study.

Background: Autism is a neurodevelopmental disorder with an estimated genetic origin of 90%. Previous studies have reported an increase in brain volume of approximately 5% in autistic subjects, especially in children. If this increase in brain volume is genetically determined, biological parents of autistic probands might be expected to show brain enlargement, or at least intracranial enlargement, as well.

Elevated levels of schizotypal features in parents of patients with a family history of schizophrenia spectrum disorders.

There is some evidence that schizotypal traits are related to a genetic or familial liability to develop schizophrenia. However, it is unclear whether the number of schizotypal traits is elevated in parents of schizophrenia patients compared with controls. This study used the Schizotypal Personality Questionnaire to investigate the difference in number of schizotypal traits between both parents of 36 patients with schizophrenia (n = 72 persons) and 26 healthy married control couples (n = 52 persons).

Cognitive deficits in relatives of patients with schizophrenia: a meta-analysis.

Background: Schizophrenia is characterized by a generalized cognitive impairment with pronounced deficits in the domains of verbal memory, executive functioning and attention.

Aim: To investigate whether cognitive deficits found in patients with schizophrenia are also found in non-affected relatives.

Method: A meta-analytic review of the published literature on cognitive performance between relatives of schizophrenic patients and healthy controls.

Memory profiles in parents of patients with schizophrenia.

Recent research shows that categorizing patients with schizophrenia based on frontal-striatal and frontal-temporal memory profiles may yield neurobiologically meaningful disease subtypes. We hypothesize that parents of patients exhibit similar memory profiles. Both parents of 36 patients with schizophrenia (N = 72) and 26 healthy married control couples (N = 52) participated in this study.

Cognitive dysfunctions in parents of schizophrenic patients parallel the deficits found in patients.

Schizophrenia is characterized by a global cognitive impairment, with varying degrees of deficit in all ability domains. Since genetic factors are important in the etiology of schizophrenia we investigated whether parents of schizophrenic patients also show cognitive deficits, particularly on those cognitive ability domains that are most severely affected in patients. Both biological parents of 37 patients with schizophrenia (N=74 subjects) and 28 comparable healthy married control couples (N=56 subjects) were included.

Neurological signs in parents of schizophrenic patients.

The importance of neurological abnormalities in relatives of schizophrenic patients is not completely clear and has been questioned. The hypothesis that neurological abnormalities are trait markers for a vulnerability to develop schizophrenia was tested in 32 parents of patients with schizophrenia and 34 healthy controls. A comprehensive and standardized neurological assessment battery was used.

Release from proactive inhibition in schizophrenia and its potential as a genotypic marker.

Release from proactive inhibition (RPI) in first-episode (FE) schizophrenic patients and the potential of RPI as a genotypic marker of schizophrenia was investigated in two studies. The first study showed that FE patients ( n=35) exhibited weaker RPI than matched obsessive compulsive disorder (OCD) patients (n=20) as well as healthy controls (n=34). OCD patients and controls showed similar RPI.