Sociodemographic and clinical characteristics of eating disorder patients treated in the specialized residential settings in Belgium.

Introduction: Epidemiologic information on sociodemographic and clinical characteristics in eating disorders in Western European countries are scarce.

Purpose: In this study, we report demographic and clinical characteristics of eating disorder (ED) patients undergoing treatment in five specialized ED centers in Flanders (Belgium).

Method: Data from 642 ED patients were collected by means of a structured questionnaire.

A psychoanalytically informed hospitalization-based treatment of personality disorders.

This study presents a model of psychic change in personality disorders focusing on three dimensions: felt safety, mentalization and self-object relations. Based upon this model a hospitalization-based therapy program was created. Four scales to measure these three dimensions on the Object Relation Interview are discussed: the Felt Safety Scale, the Reflective Functioning Scale and the Bion Grid Scale and the Differentiation-Relatedness Scale.

EEG correlates of impaired self-other integration during joint-task performance in schizophrenia.

Deficits in a wide variety of social cognitive processes are well established in schizophrenia. However, research focusing on actual interacting individuals is surprisingly scarce. Problems in low-level processes such as self-other integration may importantly underlie often-reported higher-level deficits.

Treatment and outcomes for patients with depression who are partial responders to SSRI treatment: post-hoc analysis findings from the FINDER European observational study.

Background: Remission is the goal in depression, but in practice many patients only experience a partial response to treatment. We sought to determine the prevalence, management and subsequent outcomes of partial responder patients.

Methods: Patients enrolled in the naturalistic Factors Influencing Depression Endpoints Research (FINDER) study with the Hospital Anxiety and Depression Scale depression subscale (HADS-D) score >10 at baseline who received only SSRI(s) between 0 and 3 months comprised the study cohort (n=1147).

A cognitive- behavioral therapeutic program for patients with obesity and binge eating disorder: short- and long- term follow-up data of a prospective study.

The goal of this study is to investigate the efficacy of a manualized cognitive-behavioral therapeutic (CBT) approach for patients with obesity and binge eating disorder (BED) on the short and longer term. A prospective study without a control group consisting of three measurements (a baseline measurement and two follow-up assessments up to 5 years after the start of the CBT treatment) was used. A total of 56 patients with obesity and BED (age = 39.

Time course of improvement of different symptom clusters in patients with major depression and pain treated with duloxetine or placebo.

Objective: This post hoc analysis assessed improvements in a broad range of psychopathological dimensions and in interference of pain with functioning as well as the time course of these improvements in patients with major depressive disorder (MDD) and pain treated with duloxetine versus placebo.

Research Design And Methods: Data were derived from an 8-week, double-blind, placebo-controlled study in adult outpatients with MDD and non-specific physical pain. Mean times between improvement in Brief Pain Inventory (BPI) pain severity and interference of pain with functioning, depression severity, and dimensions of the Symptom Checklist-90 Revised (SCL-90-R) subscales were evaluated by responder analysis.

Agomelatine: a narrative review.

Long-term antidepressant treatment success should be viewed as the result of the cumulative effects of treatment at each stage of major depressive disorder (MDD), and as a balance between efficacy and tolerability/safety. Depression is a heterogeneous disorder and different mechanisms of action of different antidepressants probably capitalize on this response heterogeneity. Results from clinical trials with agomelatine, a melatonergic receptor agonist (MT(1)/MT(2)) and 5HT(2C) receptor antagonist, have shown that it is efficacious in both the acute phase and the continuation phase of treatment of depression.

Do different psychopathological pathways into eating disorder necessitate different therapeutic goals and/or approaches?

This paper present a plea for a more flexible therapeutic approach which focuses not only on the underlying cognitions, behaviours and emotions related to the eating disorder, but an approach that adapts its focus depending also on the psychopathological pathway which has led to the development of the eating disorder.

Pain and depression in older people: comorbidity and patterns of help seeking.

Background: Chronic pain and mood disorders are common in older people. Their relationship however remains unclear. Only a few studies have investigated the role of pain in mental health service use and received psychopharmacological treatment.

Review: Bupropion and SSRI-induced side effects.

Selective serotonin reuptake inhibitors (SSRIs) are a first line treatment option for millions of patients, due to the positive balance between efficacy and tolerability. However, some side effects associated with their use, can impair quality of life and compliance with treatment. This paper reviews the prevalence of sexual dysfunction, weight gain and emotional detachment during SSRI treatment, the profile of bupropion for each of these events and the ability of bupropion to reverse them.