Intensity dependence of auditory evoked potentials distinguish participants with unmedicated depression from non-depressed controls.

Depression is a heterogeneous syndrome that impacts an individual's emotional, social, cognitive and bodily functioning. Depression is associated with biases in emotional processing, but alterations in basic sensory processing have received less attention in depression research. Here, we measured event-related potentials (ERPs) in response to changes in the intensity of auditory stimuli and the location of somatosensory stimuli in participants with depression and in non-depressed control participants.

What do Professional Helpers Describe as Important Competence when Supporting Persons Bereaved by a Drug-Related Death.

Bereaved persons following a drug-related death (DRD) experience significant stress, an increased risk of health-related problems, complicated grief reactions and a risk of higher mortality. Despite the support received from professional helpers being important, research has yet to examine their perspectives to understand and meet the bereaved's needs and increase the helpers' competence. Hence, this qualitative study explored professional helpers' perspectives on essential skills and competencies when supporting bereaved following DRD.

Beyond troubled and untroubled positions - an intersectional analysis of siblings who are bereaved by drug-related deaths' meaning-making stories about their deceased brothers and sisters.

Purpose: This study investigates how social categories work and intersect in siblings bereaved by drug-related deaths' (DRDs) stories about their relationships to their deceased brother or sister. The sociocultural embedded process of making meaning of the relationship with the deceased individual is essential in adapting to the loss. However, insight into such experiences of siblings bereaved by a DRD is scarce.

Living with sibling' drug use. Bereaved siblings' family stories.

Family members' problematic drug use is challenging for siblings affecting their well-being and their relationships within the family. Research about siblings living with brothers or sisters' problematic drug use and research on bereaved siblings' experiences indicates that life situations and support needs for both minor siblings and adult siblings can easily be overlooked, both in practice and in research. This article contributes to this knowledge gap by examining how siblings provide meaning to their sibling's drug use problem and how they position themselves and other family members accordingly.

The Metamorphosis. The impact of a young family member's problematic substance use on family life: a meta-ethnography.

Purpose: This meta-ethnography seeks to provide insight into the impact that a young family member's problematic substance use has on family life.

Background: Problematic substance use (PSU) usually emerges in adolescence or young adulthood. Living with a family member with PSU is highly stressful.

Professional helpers' experiences of assisting the bereaved after drug-related deaths: A knowledge gap.

Drug-related death (DRD) is a major public health concern in the Nordic countries, in the rest of Europe and in the US. After a DRD, approximately 10-15 next of kin will be left behind. People bereaved after sudden and unexpected deaths have a documented higher risk of reduced quality of life, daily functioning, and early death.

Auditory event-related potentials in separating patients with depressive disorders and non-depressed controls: A narrative review.

This narrative review brings together the findings regarding the differences in the auditory event-related potentials (ERPs) between patients with depressive disorder and non-depressed control subjects. These studies' results can inform us of the possible alterations in sensory-cognitive processing in depressive disorders and the potential of using these ERPs in clinical applications. Auditory P3, mismatch negativity (MMN) and loudness dependence of auditory evoked potentials (LDAEP) were the subjects of the investigation.

Self-invalidation in borderline personality disorder: A content analysis of patients' verbalizations.

Objective: The ability to trust one's own perceptions is crucial for psychological well-being and growth. The relevance of its opposite, self-invalidation (SI), to the psychopathology of borderline personality disorder (BPD) is emphasized in many contemporary theories of evidence-based treatments for BPD. Empirical research on this topic remains scarce, however.

"If you don't have a word for something, you may doubt whether it's even real" - how individuals with borderline personality disorder experience change.

This study explored how psychological change was experienced and what treatment-related factors or events were perceived as supporting or hindering their process by individuals with borderline personality disorder. Eight BPD sufferers attended a 40-session psychoeducational group intervention at a community mental health care center. At intervention end, personal experience of meaningful change was explored in an in-depth interview and data were content-analyzed.

How do family members experience drug death bereavement? A systematic review of the literature.

Despite high rates of drug-related deaths (DRDs), drug-related bereavement has been sparsely investigated. A systematic literature search for qualitative and quantitative studies was conducted. Studies on bereaved DRD family members and systems influencing bereavement were eligible for inclusion.

Comparison of early maladaptive schemas between borderline personality disorder and chronic depression.

Borderline personality disorder (BPD) and chronic depression (CD) are common and challenging mental disorders. Maladaptive cognitive schemas have been proposed to increase vulnerability to both disorders. In order to elucidate the role of maladaptive cognitive schemas in BPD and CD, this study compared psychiatric outpatients with BPD (N = 30) and CD (N = 30) in terms of early maladaptive schemas (EMSs).

[Update on Current Care Guideline: Borderline personality disorder].

Borderline personality disorder is a severe disorder that increases disability to a considerable extent. Emotional instability, difficulties in regulating behavior and interpersonal relationships are essential features of the disorder. Borderline personality disorder has a more favorable course than previously thought.

Changes in schemas of patients with severe borderline personality disorder: the Oulu BPD study.

Borderline personality disorder (BPD) is a relatively common and severe psychiatric disorder that can impair quality of life in many ways. The aim of this study was to determine whether a combined treatment model for BPD patients, utilising major principles from schema-focused therapy (SFT) and dialectical behavioral therapy (DBT), could be more effective in relieving early maladaptive schemas of BPD patients, compared to treatment as usual (TAU). This study is a part of the Oulu BPD study conducted at mental health care services run by Oulu city social and health care services.

Preliminary evaluation of psychometric properties of the Finnish Borderline Personality Disorder Severity Index: Oulu-BPD-Study.

Background: Borderline personality disorder (BPD) is a severe disorder decreasing the functional ability of the patient and places an extensive burden on the healthcare system. There is a need for a reliable and valid instrument with which unstable recent BPD symptoms can be assessed in a short-term perspective, and which is applicable for clinical evaluations and treatment-outcome research.

Aims: We evaluated the psychometric properties of the Borderline Personality Disorder Severity Index IV (BPDSI-IV) interview in a sample of Finnish BPD patients.

Medical and psychology students' self-assessed communication skills: A pilot study.

Objective: The purpose of this study was to describe how psychology and medical students assess their own competency and skills before and after training, in which role-play was used to teach interpersonal and communication skills.

Method: Interpersonal and communication skills were assessed with a semi-structured questionnaire before and after the training.

Results: The students of both medicine and psychology estimated their skill levels to be higher after the course.

Quitting a weight loss program is associated with anhedonia: preliminary findings of the Lifestyle Intervention Treatment Evaluation Study in northern Finland.

Objectives: To examine whether a diagnosis for major depression, chronic depression or specific symptoms of depression is associated with the risk of quitting a weight loss program.

Study Design: The study involved 82 overweight adults participating in the Lifestyle Intervention Treatment Evaluation (LITE) follow-up study at Oulu University Hospital in northern Finland.

Methods: Psychiatric diagnostic assessments were based on the Structured Clinical Interview for DSMIV disorders (SCID-I) conducted by a clinical psychiatrist.

Eating behavior in obese and overweight persons with and without anhedonia.

The aim of this study was to evaluate differences in body mass index and eating behavior in obese and overweight persons with and without anhedonia during a weight loss intervention study. Psychiatric diagnostics were based on the Structured Clinical Interview for DSM-IV disorders. Eating behavior was assessed by the Three Factor Eating Questionnaire (TFEQ-18) and binge eating by the Binge Eating Scale (BES).

The prevalence and predictive value of individual criteria for metabolic syndrome in schizophrenia: a Northern Finland 1966 Birth Cohort Study.

The metabolic syndrome (MetS) is associated with elevated risk of diabetes and cardiovascular morbidity. However, little is known of the sensitivity, specificity and predictive value of individual criteria in patients with schizophrenia. We studied the prevalence of MetS using the International Diabetes Federation (IDF) and adapted National Cholesterol Education Program (NCEP-ATPIII) criteria in the Northern Finland 1966 Birth Cohort population.

Agreement between self-reported and pharmacy data on medication use in the Northern Finland 1966 Birth Cohort.

Objective: To compare self-reported (SR) medication use and pharmacy data for major psychoactive medications and three classes of medications used for different indications, and to determine the socio-economic factors associated with the congruence.

Methods: Postal questionnaire data collected in 1997 were compared with the register of the Social Insurance Institution of Finland on the reimbursed prescriptions purchased during 1997. Altogether 7625 subjects were included in this study.

Severe injuries in adolescence predict psychosis: a nested case control study of the Northern Finland 1966 Birth Cohort.

Adolescents who later develop schizophrenia are likely to have problems with motor coordination and many adolescents with schizophrenia have self-injurious behaviour before treatment of first psychosis but association between injuries in adolescence and onset of psychotic disorder is unknown. The aim of this study was to describe what type of injuries psychotic individuals had during adolescence and in which age these injuries occurred. The study population consists of 155 members of the Northern Finland 1966 Birth Cohort with diagnosis of schizophrenia spectrum disease and 620 matched controls.