Exploring the subjective experience of researchers and co-researchers with lived experience of psychosis high risk states: a qualitative analysis within a participatory research process.

Background: The involvement and engagement of people with lived experience is considered increasingly important in health research. A growing corpus of literature on the involvement of people with lived experience of mental health conditions, including people at psychosis high risk states, can be found. This study aims to explore the subjective experience of researchers and co-researchers with lived experience of psychosis high risk states who were involved in a participatory research project.

Personality functioning and self-disorders in individuals at ultra-high risk for psychosis, with first-episode psychosis and with borderline personality disorder.

Background: Assessment of personality functioning in different stages of psychotic disorders could provide valuable information on psychopathology, course of illness and treatment planning, but empirical data are sparse.

Aims: To investigate personality functioning and sense of self in individuals at ultra-high risk (UHR) for psychosis and with first-episode psychosis (FEP) in comparison with a clinical control group of individuals with borderline personality disorder (BPD) and healthy controls.

Method: In a cross-sectional design, we investigated personality functioning (Structured Interview of Personality Organization, STIPO; Level of Personality Functioning Scale, LPFS) and disturbances of the basic self (Examination of Anomalous Self-Experience, EASE) in 107 participants, comprising 24 individuals at UHR, 29 individuals with FEP, 27 individuals with BPD and 27 healthy controls.

Determinants of quality of life improvements in anxiety and depressive disorders-A longitudinal study of inpatient psychotherapy.

Background: Quality of life (QoL) is substantially impaired in patients with anxiety disorders (AD) and depressive disorders (DD) and improvements in symptom burden after psychotherapy are not always paralleled by similar improvements in QoL. So far, little is known about treatment outcome in terms of QoL and predictors of QoL improvements following inpatient psychotherapy with a focus on cognitive behavior therapy (CBT). The current study aimed at investigating the relationship between changes in symptoms and QoL across different life domains.

Metacognitive beliefs in individuals at risk for psychosis: a systematic review and meta-analysis of sex differences.

Background: Sex differences were found in several domains in individuals at ultra-high risk for psychosis, but no previous work has systematically reviewed and analysed possible sex differences in metacognition in this population. However, alterations in metacognitive beliefs have been shown in the at-risk mental state for psychosis population. Our aim was to qualitatively review and quantitatively analyse the existing literature for data on sex differences in metacognitive beliefs-mainly depicted by the Metacognitions Questionnaire (MCQ) and its short form (MCQ-30)-in individuals with at-risk mental states.

Psychotic-like experiences in esoterism: A twilight zone?

Background: Over the past decades, research has suggested the existence of a psychosis continuum ranging from psychotic-like experiences (PLEs) in the general population to psychotic symptoms in patients with affective and schizophrenia spectrum disorders. Especially individuals interested in esoterism were more often reported having experienced PLEs. However, there is little information on the extent of PLEs in this subculture.

Electroconvulsive therapy with S-ketamine anesthesia for catatonia in coexisting depression and dementia.

Information on efficacy and safety of electroconvulsive therapy in patients with dementia is sparse. The current case report describes a patient suffering from severe depression and dementia who received electroconvulsive therapy with S-ketamine anesthesia at our psychiatric intensive care unit for the treatment of her therapy-resistant catatonic stupor. The patient's condition improved remarkably through the treatment.

[Diagnosis of 22q11.2 deletion syndrome in the context of newly developed psychosis].

22q11.2 deletion syndrome (clinically also known as velocardiofacial or DiGeorge syndrome) is the most common human microdeletion syndrome and can be associated with a multitude of clinical features. In this article we report the case of a 22-year-old patient from Austria who was diagnosed with previously unknown 22q11.

[Pain Symptoms as Predictors of Depressive or Anxiety Disorders in Patients with Physical Illness].

Objective: The aim of this study was to investigate the frequency of pain symptoms reported by patients of non-psychiatric hospital departments and to explore their association with affective and anxiety disorders.

Methods: Patients of non-psychiatric hospital departments (n = 290) reported pain symptoms by filling in a self-rating questionnaire. Psychiatric examinations were performed by psychiatrists using a structured diagnostic interview.

[Comorbid somatic illnesses in psychiatric inpatients - an analysis of administrative data].

Purpose: This study intended to analyze the prevalence of physical diagnoses at psychiatric inpatient hospital wards.

Methods: For this purpose we used partially aggregated administrative data from routine diagnostic documentation of Austrian hospitals. All psychiatric and physical main and secondary diagnoses according to ICD-10 of all psychiatric inpatient units in Austria of the years 2007 were used.