Comorbidity of autism spectrum and attention deficit/hyperactivity disorder symptoms and their associations with 1-year mental health outcomes in adolescents and young adults.

Autism spectrum (ASD) and attention deficit/hyperactivity disorders (ADHD) share genetic, neurological, and behavioural features. However, related research in Asia is limited. We collected self-reported ASD and ADHD symptoms from 2186 Hong Kong adolescents and young adults aged 15-24 years, among whom, 1200 provided 1-year data on mental health-related outcomes.

Evaluation of a Low-Intensity Online Intervention (LiON) for Reducing Distress and Mental Health Symptoms in Young People.

Purpose: Enhancing young people's mental health is crucial given that most adult mental disorders develop before age 24 years. However, it is unclear whether low-intensity interventions delivered online can be effective. This study aimed to provide preliminary evidence on whether a low-intensity online intervention (LiON) can effectively lower young people's distress levels and mental health symptoms.

Effects of a culturally adapted counselling service for low-income ethnic minorities experiencing mental distress: a pragmatic randomised clinical trial.

Background: Culturally competent early mental health interventions for ethnic minorities (EMs) with no formal diagnoses are needed.

Objectives: To determine whether 8-12 weeks culturally adapted counselling (CAC) is better than waiting (waitlist (WL) group) to reduce depressive and anxiety symptoms and stress levels among EMs with elevated mental distress.

Methods: Hong Kong EMs with mild and above-mild mental distress were randomly assigned to CAC or WL in this pragmatic, randomised, WL-controlled trial.

Excessive fear of clusters of holes, its interaction with stressful life events and the association with anxiety and depressive symptoms: large epidemiological study of young people in Hong Kong.

Background: Excessive and persistent fear of clusters of holes, also known as trypophobia, has been suggested to reflect cortical hyperexcitability and may be associated with mental health risks. No study, however, has yet examined these associations in representative epidemiological samples.

Aims: To examine the prevalence of trypophobia in a population-representative youth sample, its association with mental health and functioning, and its interaction with external stress.

Prevalence of frequent nightmares and their prospective associations with 1-year psychiatric symptoms and disorders and functioning in young adults: a large-scale epidemiological study in Hong Kong.

Study Objectives: No study has yet examined the prevalence of frequent nightmares in representative youth populations in Asia and how they may contribute to future mental health risks. We aimed to fill this gap using data from a large-scale household-based youth sample in Hong Kong.

Methods: Participants were consecutively recruited from a large-scale epidemiological youth mental health study in Hong Kong (n = 3132).

Assessing anxiety among adolescents in Hong Kong: psychometric properties and validity of the Generalised Anxiety Disorder-7 (GAD-7) in an epidemiological community sample.

Background: The development of a valid and simple-to-use self-administered tool in Asian adolescents for clinical screening and intervention remains limited. The present study assessed the psychometric characteristics and validity of the Generalised Anxiety Disorder Scale-7 (GAD-7) among adolescents in Hong Kong.

Methods: Epidemiological data from 3,261 Hong Kong adolescents aged 15 - 24 years were analysed for the construct validity, criterion validity, concurrent validity, and Rasch Model.

Impact of restrictive COVID-19 measures on daily momentary affect in an epidemiological youth sample in Hong Kong: An experience sampling study.

Unlabelled: Restrictive COVID-19 measures can have significant mental health impacts, particularly on young people. How such measures may influence day-to-day momentary affect, nonetheless, remains to be explored. Experience sampling data were collected from 165 young people (aged 15-24) as part of a larger epidemiological youth mental health study in Hong Kong.

LevelMind@JC: Development and evaluation of a community early intervention program for young people in Hong Kong.

Aim: Hong Kong's existing mental health services are inadequate in addressing young people's needs. The LevelMind@JC project established an early intervention platform of community-based youth-specific mental health centres involving youth workers, cross-disciplinary professionals, and young people. The project intends to (1) pilot a community platform that incorporates a youth-friendly early screening tool with preventative intervention capabilities, (2) set up a state-of-the-art training system for youth mental health workers, (3) establish a community clinical support team and (4) develop a timely evaluation system to monitor the service and evaluate its outcome and cost-effectiveness against generic youth services.

Quetiapine lithium in the maintenance phase following a first episode of mania: randomised controlled trial.

Lithium and quetiapine are considered standard maintenance agents for bipolar disorder yet it is unclear how their efficacy compares with each other.To investigate the differential effect of lithium and quetiapine on symptoms of depression, mania, general functioning, global illness severity and quality of life in patients with recently stabilised first-episode mania.Maintenance trial of patients with first-episode mania stabilised on a combination of lithium and quetiapine, subsequently randomised to lithium or quetiapine monotherapy (up to 800 mg/day) and followed up for 1 year.

Diagnostic specificity of the insular cortex abnormalities in first-episode psychotic disorders.

Volume reductions of the insular cortex have been described in schizophrenia, but it remains unclear whether other psychotic disorders such as affective psychosis also exhibit insular cortex abnormalities. In this study, we used magnetic resonance imaging to investigate the gray matter volume of the anterior (short) and posterior (long) insular cortices in 162 first-episode patients with various psychotic disorders (46 schizophrenia, 57 schizophreniform disorder, 34 affective psychosis, and 25 other psychoses) and 62 age- and gender-matched healthy comparison subjects. Patients with schizophrenia showed bilateral volume reduction of the anterior and posterior insular cortices compared with controls, but the remaining first-episode psychosis subgroups had normal insular volumes.

Structural brain correlates of alcohol and cannabis use in recreational users.

Background: Previous studies on substance-dependent populations have shown that age of first use and duration of use are associated with alterations in regional brain volumes. However, it is not clear whether such alterations are factors that predispose young people to use, and so are also present in recreational users, or are a consequence of chronic exposure to substances and/or comorbid psychopathology.

Objective: To investigate relationships between key brain structures and parameters of alcohol and cannabis use, in otherwise healthy male recreational users.

Hippocampal and amygdala volumes according to psychosis stage and diagnosis: a magnetic resonance imaging study of chronic schizophrenia, first-episode psychosis, and ultra-high-risk individuals.

Context: Magnetic resonance imaging studies have identified hippocampal volume reductions in schizophrenia and amygdala volume enlargements in bipolar disorder, suggesting different medial temporal lobe abnormalities in these conditions. These studies have been limited by small samples and the absence of patients early in the course of illness.

Objective: To investigate hippocampal and amygdala volumes in a large sample of patients with chronic schizophrenia, patients with first-episode psychosis, and patients at ultra-high risk for psychosis compared with control subjects.

Low hospital inpatient readmission rate in patients with borderline personality disorder: a naturalistic study at Southern Health, Victoria, Australia.

Objective: To study how the standard management protocol and the special management contract relate to the clinical profile of patients with borderline personality disorder and their hospital admission pattern.

Method: A retrospective review was undertaken using naturalistic data from the Client Management Interface over a 2-year period. The standard management protocol patient group and the special treatment contract patient group were compared with respect to variables which included basic demographic data, number of admissions, length of stay and comorbidity.

Cortical activation associated with the experience of auditory hallucinations and perception of human speech in schizophrenia: a PET correlation study.

A [H(2)(15)O] PET correlation analysis technique was employed to correlate brain activations associated with self-reports of auditory hallucinations in hallucinating patients (n=8) and perception of transient, random human speech in non-hallucinating (n=7) patients and normal control subjects (n=8). Perception of externally generated human speech amongst the non-hallucinating and normal control participants was associated with a consistent pattern of extensive bilateral auditory cortex activation (Brodmann areas 40/41/42/22). Hallucinating participants demonstrated a network of cortical activations including bilateral auditory cortex, left limbic regions, right medial frontal and right prefrontal regions.