When does shared decision making is adopted in psychiatric clinical practice? Results from a European multicentric study.

To identify factors associated with the use of shared decision making in routine mental health care in a large multicenter European study. Data have been collected within the study "Clinical decision making and outcome in routine care for people with severe mental illness" (CEDAR), which is a naturalistic, longitudinal, observational study carried out in six European countries. Patients with a severe mental illness attending outpatient units and their treating clinicians have been recruited.

Negative affect moderates the effect of social rejection on frontal and anterior cingulate cortex activation in borderline personality disorder.

Patients with borderline personality disorder (BPD) have a heightened sensitivity to social exclusion. Experimental manipulations have produced inconsistent findings and suggested that baseline negative affect (NA) might influence the experience of exclusion. We administered a standardized social exclusion protocol (Cyberball paradigm) in BPD (n = 39) and age-matched and sex-matched healthy controls (n = 29) to investigate the association of NA on social exclusion and activation in brain regions previously implicated in this paradigm.

Long-acting atypical antipsychotics in schizophrenia: A systematic review and meta-analyses of effects on functional outcome.

Objective: Impairment in psychosocial function is common in schizophrenia. Long-acting injectable atypical antipsychotics are thought to enhance psychosocial function by boosting adherence. However, no systematic review has examined the effects of long-acting injectable atypical antipsychotics on psychosocial function in clinical trials.

In situ postmortem ethanol quantification in the cerebrospinal fluid by non-water-suppressed proton MRS.

Determination of the ethanol concentration in corpses with MRS would allow a reproducible forensic assessment by which evidence is collected in a noninvasive manner. However, although MRS has been successfully used to detect ethanol in vivo, it has not been applied to postmortem ethanol quantification in situ. The present study examined the feasibility of the noninvasive measurement of the ethanol concentration in human corpses with MRS.

Effective connectivity changes in LSD-induced altered states of consciousness in humans.

Psychedelics exert unique effects on human consciousness. The thalamic filter model suggests that core effects of psychedelics may result from gating deficits, based on a disintegration of information processing within cortico-striato-thalamo-cortical (CSTC) feedback loops. To test this hypothesis, we characterized changes in directed (effective) connectivity between selected CTSC regions after acute administration of lysergic acid diethylamide (LSD), and after pretreatment with Ketanserin (a selective serotonin 2A receptor antagonist) plus LSD in a double-blind, randomized, placebo-controlled, cross-over study in 25 healthy participants.

Individual OCD-provoking stimuli activate disorder-related and self-related neuronal networks in fMRI.

For patients with Obsessive-Compulsive Disorder (OCD), whose triggers are highly idiosyncratic, individual stimulus material has been used in several fMRI studies. This study aims at comparing individual to standardized picture sets and at investigating a possible overlap of the former with the self-referential neuronal network. During fMRI-scanning, 17 inpatients with OCD and 17 healthy controls were exposed to pictures of their personal triggers, photographed in their domestic environments, to standardized pictures designed to provoke OCD symptoms, and to neutral pictures.

"A change would do you good": Training medical students in Motivational Interviewing using a blended-learning approach - A pilot evaluation.

Objectives This study aims to assess medical students' interest in a Motivational Interviewing (MI), the objective need for a special training, and students' satisfaction with and the effectiveness of such a course. Methods A mandatory MI course was implemented for sixth-semester medical students. Their interest in learning MI was evaluated, along with their satisfaction with the course, which was delivered in a blended-learning teaching approach.

Neuronal connectivity in major depressive disorder: a systematic review.

Background: The causes of major depressive disorder (MDD), as one of the most common psychiatric disorders, still remain unclear. Neuroimaging has substantially contributed to understanding the putative neuronal mechanisms underlying depressed mood and motivational as well as cognitive impairments in depressed individuals. In particular, analyses addressing changes in interregional connectivity seem to be a promising approach to capture the effects of MDD at a systems level.

Changes in global and thalamic brain connectivity in LSD-induced altered states of consciousness are attributable to the 5-HT2A receptor.

Background: Lysergic acid diethylamide (LSD) has agonist activity at various serotonin (5-HT) and dopamine receptors. Despite the therapeutic and scientific interest in LSD, specific receptor contributions to its neurobiological effects remain unknown.

Methods: We therefore conducted a double-blind, randomized, counterbalanced, cross-over studyduring which 24 healthy human participants received either (i) placebo+placebo, (ii) placebo+LSD (100 µg po), or (iii) Ketanserin, a selective 5-HT2A receptor antagonist,+LSD.

Psychedelics and music: neuroscience and therapeutic implications.

From the beginning of therapeutic research with psychedelics, music listening has been consistently used as a method to guide or support therapeutic experiences during the acute effects of psychedelic drugs. Recent findings point to the potential of music to support meaning-making, emotionality, and mental imagery after the administration of psychedelics, and suggest that music plays an important role in facilitating positive clinical outcomes of psychedelic therapy. This review explores the history of, contemporary research on, and future directions regarding the use of music in psychedelic research and therapy, and argues for more detailed and rigorous investigation of the contribution of music to the treatment of psychiatric disorders within the novel framework of psychedelic therapy.

The effect of physical activity in an alpine environment on quality of life is mediated by resilience in patients with psychosomatic disorders and healthy controls.

Objective: Physical activity (PA) in an outdoor environment has been shown to exert positive effects on mental well-being beyond those found for PA indoors. The specific effect of an alpine environment has not been investigated so far. Here we evaluate the association of PA in an alpine environment with resilience and quality of life (QOL) in patients with psychosomatic disorders and controls.

Attitudes towards severe mental illness and social distance: A survey of volunteer befrienders in Austria.

Background: Research suggests there is a propensity for people in the general population to distance themselves from people with severe mental illness (SMI), which reportedly decreases with increased contact with individuals with SMI. Volunteer befrienders in the mental health sector have ongoing contact with this population, yet little data exist to reflect their attitudes towards people with SMI.

Method: A questionnaire was distributed to all volunteer befrienders for people with SMI within volunteering programmes organised in five Austrian regions.

Characteristics and motivations of volunteers providing one-to-one support for people with mental illness: a survey in Austria.

Purpose: Large numbers of volunteers provide one-to-one support for people with mental illness, sometimes referred to as befriending. However, there has been very little research on their characteristics and motivations. This study aimed to assess the personal characteristics and motivations of such volunteers across different regions in Austria.

Role of the 5-HT Receptor in Self- and Other-Initiated Social Interaction in Lysergic Acid Diethylamide-Induced States: A Pharmacological fMRI Study.

Distortions of self-experience are critical symptoms of psychiatric disorders and have detrimental effects on social interactions. In light of the immense need for improved and targeted interventions for social impairments, it is important to better understand the neurochemical substrates of social interaction abilities. We therefore investigated the pharmacological and neural correlates of self- and other-initiated social interaction.

Risk preference and choice stochasticity during decisions for other people.

In several contexts, such as finance and politics, people make choices that are relevant for others but irrelevant for oneself. Focusing on decision-making under risk, we compared monetary choices made for one's own interest with choices made on behalf of an anonymous individual. Consistent with the previous literature, other-interest choices were characterized by an increased gambling propensity.

Serotonin 2A Receptor Signaling Underlies LSD-induced Alteration of the Neural Response to Dynamic Changes in Music.

Classic psychedelic drugs (serotonin 2A, or 5HT2A, receptor agonists) have notable effects on music listening. In the current report, blood oxygen level-dependent (BOLD) signal was collected during music listening in 25 healthy adults after administration of placebo, lysergic acid diethylamide (LSD), and LSD pretreated with the 5HT2A antagonist ketanserin, to investigate the role of 5HT2A receptor signaling in the neural response to the time-varying tonal structure of music. Tonality-tracking analysis of BOLD data revealed that 5HT2A receptor signaling alters the neural response to music in brain regions supporting basic and higher-level musical and auditory processing, and areas involved in memory, emotion, and self-referential processing.

Rock climbing and acute emotion regulation in patients with major depressive disorder in the context of a psychological inpatient treatment: a controlled pilot trial.

Background: Major depressive disorder is characterized by deficits in emotion regulation. This study examined associations between rock climbing and acute emotion regulating effects in patients with major depression.

Patients And Methods: In a nonrandomized, controlled study, 40 major depressive disorder inpatients were assigned to either a climbing session (n=20) or a relaxation session (n=20).

Two dose investigation of the 5-HT-agonist psilocybin on relative and global cerebral blood flow.

Psilocybin, the active compound in psychedelic mushrooms, is an agonist of various serotonin receptors. Seminal psilocybin positron emission tomography (PET) research suggested regional increases in glucose metabolism in frontal cortex (hyperfrontality). However, a recent arterial spin labeling (ASL) study suggests psilocybin may lead to hypo-perfusion in various brain regions.

The interplay of genetic and environmental factors in shaping well-being across the lifespan: Evidence from the serotonin transporter gene.

Background: Converging evidence suggests that well-being plays an important role in promoting and maintaining mental health across the life span. It has been shown that well-being has a considerable heritable component, but little is known about the specific genes involved.

Methods: In this study, we investigated a healthy sample (N = 298) that was genotyped for the serotonin transporter-linked polymorphic region (5-HTTLPR).

Fully navigated 3 T proton magnetic resonance spectroscopy of liver metastases with inner-volume saturation.

Purpose: To demonstrate that fully navigated magnetic resonance spectroscopy (MRS) with inner-volume saturation (IVS) at 3 T results in high-quality spectra that permit evaluating metabolic changes in hepatic metastases without the need for patient compliance.

Methods: Nine patients with untreated, biopsy-proven large hepatic metastases (minimum diameter of 3 cm) were included. In each patient, localized proton MRS was performed in the metastatic lesion and in uninvolved liver parenchyma.

Experimental Psychosis Research and Schizophrenia-Similarities and Dissimilarities in Psychopathology.

The aim of experimental psychopathology is to delineate overlapping functional disorders of psychoneurobiologically-defined systems where a set of common symptoms may correspond to a variety of nosological entities. According to the vulnerability model of psychosis, experimental research needs to go beyond categories such as "schizophrenia". Prospective studies of the effects of psychoactive substances in normal control subjects offer several methodological advantages over routine clinical reviews of schizophrenic patients, especially in terms of standardization.

Dynamic causal modelling revisited.

This paper revisits the dynamic causal modelling of fMRI timeseries by replacing the usual (Taylor) approximation to neuronal dynamics with a neural mass model of the canonical microcircuit. This provides a generative or dynamic causal model of laminar specific responses that can generate haemodynamic and electrophysiological measurements. In principle, this allows the fusion of haemodynamic and (event related or induced) electrophysiological responses.

The Fabric of Meaning and Subjective Effects in LSD-Induced States Depend on Serotonin 2A Receptor Activation.

A core aspect of the human self is the attribution of personal relevance to everyday stimuli enabling us to experience our environment as meaningful [1]. However, abnormalities in the attribution of personal relevance to sensory experiences are also critical features of many psychiatric disorders [2, 3]. Despite their clinical relevance, the neurochemical and anatomical substrates enabling meaningful experiences are largely unknown.

Neural initialization of audiovisual integration in prereaders at varying risk for developmental dyslexia.

Learning letter-speech sound correspondences is a major step in reading acquisition and is severely impaired in children with dyslexia. Up to now, it remains largely unknown how quickly neural networks adopt specific functions during audiovisual integration of linguistic information when prereading children learn letter-speech sound correspondences. Here, we simulated the process of learning letter-speech sound correspondences in 20 prereading children (6.

Neural correlates of mindful self-awareness in mindfulness meditators and meditation-naïve subjects revisited.

Mindful self-awareness is central to mindfulness meditation and plays a key role in its salutary effects. It has been related to decreased activation in cortical midline structures (CMS) and amygdala, and increased activation in somatosensory regions. However, findings in untrained individuals are contradictory, and scarce in experienced meditators.