Failure to find association between childhood abuse and cognition in first-episode psychosis patients

2012

AbstractThis study investigated the relationship between severe childhood abuse and cognitive functions in first-episode psychosis patients and geographically-matched controls. Reports of any abuse were associated with lower scores in the executive function domain in the control group. However, in contrast with our hypothesis, no relationships were found amongst cases.

Are there specific neuropsychological deficits underlying poor insight in first episode psychosis?

2011

Insight in psychosis is a multi-dimensional phenomenon, and has been hypothesised to have some sort of neuropsychological basis. It is unclear to what extent specific neuropsychological abilities are able to predict insight beyond the effect of generalised cognitive ability. We aimed to test this, alongside the relationship of insight with illness duration and diagnosis, in a sample of first episode psychosis patients. We recruited 102 patients experiencing their first episode of psychosis and assessed their insight, symptoms, diagnosis as well as administering a full neuropsychological battery. Low insight was related to worse performance in a variety of neuropsychological tasks. Regressio…

Association of extent of cannabis use and psychotic like intoxication experiences in a multi-national sample of first episode psychosis patients and …

2021

AbstractBackgroundFirst episode psychosis (FEP) patients who use cannabis experience more frequent psychotic and euphoric intoxication experiences compared to controls. It is not clear whether this is consequent to patients being more vulnerable to the effects of cannabis use or to their heavier pattern of use. We aimed to determine whether extent of use predicted psychotic-like and euphoric intoxication experiences in patients and controls and whether this differs between groups.MethodsWe analysed data on patients who had ever used cannabis (n = 655) and controls who had ever used cannabis (n = 654) across 15 sites from six countries in the EU-GEI study (2010–2015). We used multiple regres…

O4.8. CAN YOU SPOT EMOTIONS? FACIAL EMOTION RECOGNITION AND GENETIC RISK FOR PSYCHOSIS

2019

Background Facial emotion recognition (FER) is a key component of social cognition which has been found consistently impaired in schizophrenia. Deficits in global facial affect recognition have been also found in First Episode Psychosis (FEP) with the same severity as at further stages, especially for anger recognition. Literature to date has shown intermediate emotion recognition ability in either people with family history for psychotic disorders and unaffected relatives of psychotic patients, in a continuum between patients and healthy controls. Furthermore, Polygenic Risk Score (PRS) for schizophrenia has been found associated with social cognition, especially with facial emotion identi…

Psychological and Psychiatric Impact of the Coronavirus Pandemic

2022

On the eve of 4th May, the date when the lockdown was to end, people could stand it no more! The wait was not only hard, but also full of doubts about what level of freedom people could enjoy in their future. That caused a serious crisis which came after a previous, serious legitimacy crisis that the western political system, and not only Italian, had been going through for a long time. In an interview available in L’Avvenire of last 15th April, the ninety-year-old sociologist Edgar Morin defined the present situation as a “poly-crisis.” Long ago, citizens had already ceased to trust the political system and every other type of power. But, since nowadays, in Europe and the United States, th…

The EUropean Network of National Schizophrenia Networks Studying Gene-Environment Interactions (EU-GEI)

2020

Funder: FP7 Ideas: European Research Council; doi: http://dx.doi.org/10.13039/100011199; Grant(s): HEALTH-F2-2010-241909

Are Polygenic Risk Scores for Major Mental Disorders Associated with General or Specific Psychosis Symptom dimensions?

2019

Background Psychotic symptoms can be conceptualised as dimensions of psychopathology cutting across diagnostic boundaries. Thus, they might be considered enhanced quantitative phenotypes to relate to genetic variants as summarised by Polygenic Risk Scores (PRSs) for Major Mental Disorders (MMDs), including Schizophrenia (SZ), Bipolar Disorder (BP), and Major Depressive Disorder (MDD). The objectives of this study were to: 1) identify the dimensional structure of symptoms at First Episode Psychosis (FEP), testing whether a bi-factor model statistically fits the conceptualization of psychosis as a single common construct (general psychosis factor) while also recognising multidimensionality (p…

Lifestyles and Quality of Life of People with Mental Illness During the COVID-19 Pandemic

2023

AbstractThe COVID-19 pandemic has had a significant impact on the quality of life (QoL), daily lifestyle, and mental health of people suffering from a mental disorder. This study aimed to investigate the effects of the prolongation of the COVID-19 emergency on QoL and lifestyles in a sample of 100 outpatients at the Psychiatry Unit in Palermo University Hospital, Italy. QoL was measured through the 12-item Short Form Survey and the COV19-Impact on Quality of Life. Lifestyle changes during the pandemic were measured through the lifestyle change questionnaire. The majority of participants reported a great impact of COVID-19 on the QoL, and almost half reported worsened lifestyles. Worsened li…

Synergistic effects of childhood adversity and polygenic risk in first-episode psychosis

2023

The European Network of National Schizophrenia Networks Studying Gene-Environment Interactions (EU-GEI) Project is funded by grant agreement HEALTH-F2-2010-241909 (Project EU-GEI) from the European Community’s Seventh Framework Programme.

The Relationship Between Polygenic Risk Scores and Cognition in Schizophrenia

2020

Abstract Background Cognitive impairment is a clinically important feature of schizophrenia. Polygenic risk score (PRS) methods have demonstrated genetic overlap between schizophrenia, bipolar disorder (BD), major depressive disorder (MDD), educational attainment (EA), and IQ, but very few studies have examined associations between these PRS and cognitive phenotypes within schizophrenia cases. Methods We combined genetic and cognitive data in 3034 schizophrenia cases from 11 samples using the general intelligence factor g as the primary measure of cognition. We used linear regression to examine the association between cognition and PRS for EA, IQ, schizophrenia, BD, and MDD. The results wer…

Migration history and risk of psychosis: results from the multinational EU-GEI study.

2022

The European Network of National Schizophrenia Networks Studying Gene-Environment Interactions (EU-GEI) Project was funded by grant agreement Health-F2-2010-241909 (Project EU-GEI) from the European Community’s Seventh Framework programme.

Perceived major experiences of discrimination, ethnic group, and risk of psychosis in a six-country case-control study

2021

AbstractBackgroundPerceived discrimination is associated with worse mental health. Few studies have assessed whether perceived discrimination (i) is associated with the risk of psychotic disorders and (ii) contributes to an increased risk among minority ethnic groups relative to the ethnic majority.MethodsWe used data from the European Network of National Schizophrenia Networks Studying Gene-Environment Interactions Work Package 2, a population-based case−control study of incident psychotic disorders in 17 catchment sites across six countries. We calculated odds ratios (OR) and 95% confidence intervals (95% CI) for the associations between perceived discrimination and psychosis using mixed-…

Plenary Session

2016

S77. JUMPING TO CONCLUSIONS AND FACIAL EMOTION RECOGNITION IMPAIRMENT IN FIRST EPISODE PSYCHOSIS ACROSS EUROPE

2018

Abstract Background Jumping to conclusions (JTC) is a well-established reasoning and data gathering bias found in patients with psychosis even at illness onset (First Episode Psychosis, FEP). Preliminary work in this field focused primarily on the association with delusions, although jumping to conclusions has also been found in non-deluded schizophrenia patients after remission, and in individual with at risk mental state. Moreover, psychotic patients tend to show impairments in social cognition, struggling in identifying, processing and interpreting social clues. Deficits in facial emotion recognition (FER) – a key component of the construct – represent a well-replicated finding in schizo…

T110. FIRST EPISODE PSYCHOTIC PATIENTS WITH A HISTORY OF FREQUENT CANNABIS USE EXPRESS MORE POSITIVE SYMPTOMS AT ILLNESS ONSET THAN THOSE WHO NEVER U…

2018

Abstract Background Robust evidence has demonstrated that cannabis use increases the risk to develop psychotic disorders. However, a limited number of studies have investigated if and how cannabis use influences psychopathology profiles at first episode psychosis (FEP). Based on the evidence that dopamine dysfunction contributes to explain positive symptoms in psychosis, and that the main cannabis’ psychoactive component, Δ9-Tetrahydrocannabinol (THC), modulates the dopamine system, we hypothesise that: 1) positive symptoms at FEP are more common among psychotic patients who used cannabis compared with never users; 2) this association is a dose-response relationship. Methods We analyzed a s…

Schizophrenia polygenic risk score and cannabis use modify psychosis expression in first episode psychosis patients and population controls

2019

AbstractBackgroundDiagnostic categories within the psychosis spectrum are widely used in clinical practice, however psychosis may occur on a continuum. Therefore, we explored whether the continuous distribution of psychotic symptoms across categories is a function of genetic as well as environmental risk factors, such as polygenic risk scores (PRSs) and cannabis use.MethodsAs part of the EU-GEI study, we genotyped first episode psychosis patients (FEP) and population controls, for whom transdiagnostic dimensions of psychotic symptoms or experiences were generated using item response bi-factor modelling. Linear regression was used, separately in patients and controls, to test the association…

FIRST EPISODE PSYCHOTIC PATIENTS WITH A HISTORY OF FREQUENT CANNABIS USE EXPRESS MORE POSITIVE SYMPTOMS AT ILLNESS ONSET THAN THOSE WHO NEVER USED CA…

2018

Background: Robust evidence has demonstrated that cannabis use increases the risk to develop psychotic disorders. However, a limited number of studies have investigated if and how cannabis use influences psychopathology profiles at first episode psychosis (FEP). Based on the evidence that dopamine dysfunction contributes to explain positive symptoms in psychosis, and that the main cannabis’ psychoactive component, Δ9-Tetrahydrocannabinol (THC), modulates the dopamine system, we hypothesise that: 1) positive symptoms at FEP are more common among psychotic patients who used cannabis compared with never users; 2) this association is a dose-response relationship. Methods: We analyzed a sample o…

Prevalence of bullying victimisation amongst first-episode psychosis patients and unaffected controls

2013

Background—Despite increasing evidence suggesting that childhood maltreatment is significantly associated with psychosis, the specific role of bullying in the onset of psychotic disorders is still unclear. This study aimed to examine whether bullying was more prevalent amongst individuals presenting to services for the first time with a psychotic disorder than in unaffected community controls. Methods—Data on exposure to bullying, psychotic symptoms, cannabis use and history of conduct disorder were collected cross-sectionally from 222 first-presentation psychosis cases and 215 geographically-matched controls. Bullying victimisation was assessed retrospectively as part of the Brief Life Eve…

Female vs Males inmates: Authors' reply and sample size calculation

2019

Bruno and colleagues highlighted the relatively low absolute-percentage of psychiatric morbidity that we found in our sample, as compared to their male sample. They invited to the use of diagnostic tools, specific for personality disorders and suicidal risk factors, to better investigate these critical issues. In summary, our results showed high percentages of psychiatric morbidity (44%), especially anxiety and depression. Female inmates declared to be most stressed by the distance from family and loved ones, and they did not present any antisocial personality diagnosis. They also showed a resilient reaction to their situation, because more than a half of women requested a supportive psycho…

FIRST EPISODE PSYCHOSIS PATIENTS ACROSS EUROPE DIFFER IN INTELLECTUAL QUOTIENT (IQ) AND EXPOSURE TO ENVIRONMENTAL HAZARDS

2018

Background Children who later develop Schizophrenia on average are more likely to present with lower IQ; this has been considered evidence for the neurodevelopmental theory of schizophrenia. Though, recent studies have shown that first episode psychosis patients with a history of cannabis use have significantly higher premorbid and current IQ compared to those who never used it. This suggests that abnormal early neurodevelopment does not explain the aetiology of all cases of Schizophrenia, leaving space to environmental hazards. The present study aims to: investigate differences in IQ, as a marker of neurodevelopment, and in exposure to environmental risk factors in a large sample first epi…

The influence of risk factors on the onset and outcome of psychosis: What we learned from the GAP study

2020

The GAP multidisciplinary study carried out in South London, recruited 410 first episode of psychosis patients and 370 controls; the aim was to elucidate the multiple genetic and environmental factors influencing the onset and outcome of psychosis. The study demonstrated the risk increasing effect of adversity in childhood (especially parental loss, abuse, and bullying) on onset of psychosis especially positive symptoms. Adverse life events more proximal to onset, being from an ethnic minority, and cannabis use also played important roles; indeed, one quarter of new cases of psychosis could be attributed to use of high potency cannabis. The “jumping to conclusions” bias appeared to mediate …

Low incidence of psychosis in Italy: confirmation from the first epidemiological study in Sicily

2017

Purpose: The incidence of psychotic disorders varies in different geographical areas. As there have been no reports from Southern Italy, this study aimed to determine the incidence rate of first-episode psychosis in Palermo, Sicily. Methods: All patients, aged 18–65 years, presenting with a first episode of psychosis (FEP) (ICD-10 F20–29, F30–33) to mental health services in Palermo, were recorded over a 3-year period. Incidence rates of psychotic disorders and their 95% confidence intervals (95% CI) were estimated. Poisson regression was applied to estimate the differences in incidence rate ratio (IRR) by age, sex and migrant status. Results: Two hundred and four FEP participants were iden…

T42. JUMPING TO CONCLUSIONS IS ASSOCIATED WITH THE POLYGENIC RISK SCORE FOR INTELLIGENCE BUT NOT FOR SCHIZOPHRENIA. PRELIMINARY FINDINGS FROM THE EU-…

2019

Background Psychotic patients tend to require less evidence to make decisions compared to general population. This bias named Jumping to Conclusions (JTC) has been found at First Episode Psychosis (FEP) in schizophrenia patients and associated with proneness to psychotic-like experiences in the general population. Interesting findings showed also strong association with lower cognitive functioning in psychotic patients, which in turn has been shown as a candidate intermediate phenotype for psychosis. Overall, findings to date could suggest a shared genetic liability between the occurrence of JTC and psychosis, potentially via IQ. The present study aims to investigate whether the presence of…

Cannabis users have higher premorbid IQ than other patients with first onset psychosis.

2013

Background: A number of studies have reported that patients with psychosis who use cannabis have better cognitive performance than those who do not. This is surprising as cannabis can impair cognition in healthy subjects. An obvious question is whether the better current performance of psychotic patients who have used cannabis is a reflection of their having a higher premorbid IQ than those psychotic patients who haven't used cannabis. Aim: In a sample of patients at their first episode of psychosis, we tested the hypothesis that patients who smoked cannabis would have a higher premorbid IQ than patients who did not. Methodology: 279 participants (119 patients and 160 healthy controls) were…

The relationship of symptom dimensions with premorbid adjustment and cognitive characteristics at first episode psychosis: Findings from the EU-GEI s…

2021

Premorbid functioning and cognitive measures may reflect gradients of developmental impairment across diagnostic categories in psychosis. In this study, we sought to examine the associations of current cognition and premorbid adjustment with symptom dimensions in a large first episode psychosis (FEP) sample. We used data from the international EU-GEI study. Bifactor modelling of the Operational Criteria in Studies of Psychotic Illness (OPCRIT) ratings provided general and specific symptom dimension scores. Premorbid Adjustment Scale estimated premorbid social (PSF) and academic adjustment (PAF), and WAIS-brief version measured IQ. A MANCOVA model examined the relationship between symptom di…

Opinions about people with schizophrenia among medical students: Findings from an Italian cross-sectional study.

2020

Background: Accumulating evidence suggests that stigmatisation toward people with schizophrenia (PWS) is common among healthcare professionals and represents a major barrier to care. Aim: The study aimed at comparing the opinions about PWS among Italian medical students at different stages of education. Methods: Study participants were 234 medical students, attending either the first three-years pre-clinical or the following three-years clinical stage. Participants read an unlabelled case-vignette of schizophrenia and completed the Opinions on Mental Illness Questionnaire. Results: A greater proportion of students at the clinical stage identified schizophrenia in the clinical description, c…

O12.4. SOME OF THE INDIVIDUAL DIFFERENCES IN RISK TO DEVELOP PSYCHOSIS AMONG CANNABIS USERS CAN BE EXPLAINED BY WHERE THEY LIVE AND BY THEIR AGE AT F…

2018

Abstract Background Cannabis use remains the most widely used recreational drug worldwide. Following from several USA states legalisation policies, European countries are reconsidering their cannabis laws. While a significant amount of Epidemiological evidence has reported that cannabis use increases the risk of psychosis it is still unclear: 1) what underpins individual differences in developing a psychotic disorder following cannabis use; 2) if variations in availability of cannabis have affected rate of Psychotic disorders across Europe. Methods Using detailed data on lifetime pattern of cannabis use from the EUGEI first episode case-control study (N=2300) and the available Incidence rat…

IQ differences between patients with first episode psychosis in London and Palermo reflect differences in patterns of cannabis use.

2019

Aims: Cognitive impairment is a possible indicator of neurodevelopmental impairment, but not all psychotic patients are cognitively compromised. It has been suggested that heavy cannabis use may precipitate psychosis in those who show no such compromise. This study compares two samples of patients with first-episode psychosis and their respective non-psychotic controls, in London (UK) and Palermo (Italy), and examines whether different patterns of cannabis use are reflected in differences in IQ. Methods: The two studies used the same inclusion/exclusion criteria and instruments. The sample comprised 249 subjects from London (106 patients and 143 controls) and 247 subjects from Palermo (120 …

Psychopathology and female detention at the “Pagliarelli” jail of Palermo: preliminary results

2018

Most of the studies carried out on prisoners have considered male samples or they investigated specific psychiatric disorders. The present study aims to estimate the presence of current and lifetime psychiatric disorders among female inmates. Secondary aims are to evaluate the correlation between a current psychiatric disorder and other variables, and the association with a psycho-pharmacotherapy and a request for a clinical psychological interview. The study included 25 women with a final sentence at the “Casa Circondariale Pagliarelli” from October 2016 to July 2017. The Mini International Neuropsychiatric Interview (MINI) was used to assess the presence of any current or lifetime psychia…

S118. TRANSDIAGNOSTIC SYMPTOM DIMENSIONS OF PSYCHOSIS AND THE PREDICTIVE ROLE OF PREMORBID ADJUSTMENT AND COGNITIVE CHARACTERISTICS IN THE MULTINATIO…

2020

Abstract Background A symptom dimension approach may best examine the heterogeneous expression of psychosis. However, whether and how premorbid predisposition and cognitive factors explain phenotypes variation is still debated. This study aimed to test the predictive value of combined cognition and premorbid adjustment on transdiagnostic symptom dimensions in a large sample of people suffering from the first episode of psychosis (FEP). Methods FEP patients were part of the EUGEI study. Psychopathology was rated using the OPerational CRITeria system. Multidimensional item response modelling estimate a bifactor model of psychosis by Mplus, composed of a general factor and five specific sympto…

F99. FIRST EPISODE PSYCHOSIS PATIENTS WHO USED CANNABIS DEVELOP THEIR ILLNESS AT A SIGNIFICANTLY YOUNGER AGE THAN THOSE WHO NEVER USED CONSISTENTLY A…

2018

Abstract Background Patients presenting to psychiatric services with their first episode of psychosis (FEP) report higher rates of previous cannabis use than the general population (Donoghue et al., 2011; Myles, Myles and Large, 2016). Evidence suggested that patients suffering from psychosis with a history of cannabis use have an earlier age of onset of psychosis (AOP) than those who never used it (Di Forti et al., 2013). We aim to investigate if the reported association between use of cannabis and AOP is consistent across different countries, once having taken into account different patterns of cannabis use (i.e. frequency of use and age at first use). Methods We analysed data on patterns…

A Cross-Sectional Survey on Burnout Prevalence and Profile in the Sicilian Population of Ambulance Driver-Rescuers.

2020

AbstractIntroduction:Burnout is present at a high rate in emergency medicine. The ambulance driver-rescuers, who furnish first aid to the victims, are the non-medical part of the Italian 118-service staff. There is a lack of research on burnout risk in Italian Emergency Medical Services and, particularly, for this category of workers. The two Italian studies, including a little group of ambulance driver-rescuers, reported inconsistent findings.Hypothesis:This survey investigated for the first time the prevalence and exact profile of burnout in a large sample of Italian driver-rescuers. As a secondary aim, the study described how the items of the Italian version of the Maslach Burnout Invent…

Pre-training inter-rater reliability of clinical instruments in an international psychosis research project.

2021

International audience

The impact of healthy lifestyles on academic achievement among Italian adolescents

2021

AbstractWe evaluated the association between healthy lifestyles and academic achievement in a sample of 373 adolescent Italian students. Specifically, we investigated on the association between use of illegal drugs, habits to practice a regular physical, typology of diet, levels of social support, levels of self-esteem, level of Internet use, perceived stress and amount of sleep and academic achievement. Academic performance was positively correlated with good diet, perceived social support, and self-esteem. A statistically significant difference emerged between students with high versus low correct grade point averages in relation to lifetime and current use of illegal drugs. Last, academi…

Jumping To Conclusions, General Intelligence, And Psychosis Liability: Findings From The Multi-Centre EU-GEI Case-Control Study

2019

AbstractBackgroundThe “jumping to conclusions” (JTC) bias is associated with both psychosis and general cognition but their relationship is unclear. In this study, we set out to clarify the relationship between the JTC bias, IQ, psychosis and polygenic liability to schizophrenia and IQ.Methods817 FEP patients and 1294 population-based controls completed assessments of general intelligence (IQ), and JTC (assessed by the number of beads drawn on the probabilistic reasoning “beads” task) and provided blood or saliva samples from which we extracted DNA and computed polygenic risk scores for IQ and schizophrenia.ResultsThe estimated proportion of the total effect of case/control differences on J…

Cognitive thought diary in supportive psychology for people undergoing radiotherapy: a feasibility study

2017

BAC KGROUND: Radiation therapy (RT ) has become one of the most widely-used and efficient treatments for cancer; nevertheless, people who undergo radiotherapy suffer the physical and psychological consequences of this stressful treatment, in addition to the psychosocial distress related to cancer. However, a Radiotherapy Unit is often a place where several patients crowd in from various hospitals with restricted timetables and, for logistic reasons, it is not easy to provide regular psychological sessions for each one. It is important to find a setting that allows us the involvement of the largest number of patients referred to the unit. In this study, we aimed to evaluate the feasibility a…

5.4 BIOLOGICAL AND EPIDEMIOLOGICAL EXAMINATION OF TRANSDIAGNOSTIC AND SPECIFIC SYMPTOM DIMENSIONS AT PSYCHOSIS ONSET: FINDINGS FROM THE EUGEI STUDY

2018

Abstract Background Current diagnostic models of psychosis have been questioned since Kraepelin’s original dichotomy of dementia praecox and manic depression. Indeed, increasing evidence has suggested that a dimensional approach might be a valid alternative platform for research. However, while an increasing number of studies have investigated how environmental risk factors for affective and non-affective psychosis map onto symptom dimensions, only a few have examined these dimensions in relation to genetic variants as summarised by Polygenic Risk Score (PRS). Furthermore, no studies have examined the putative effect of PRS for Schizophrenia (SZ), Bipolar Disorder (BP), and Major Depressive…

Treated Incidence of Psychotic Disorders in the Multinational EU-GEI Study

2018

Importance: Psychotic disorders contribute significantly to the global disease burden, yet the latest international incidence study of psychotic disorders was conducted in the 1980s. Objectives: To estimate the incidence of psychotic disorders using comparable methods across 17 catchment areas in 6 countries and to examine the variance between catchment areas by putative environmental risk factors. Design, Setting, and Participants: An international multisite incidence study (the European Network of National Schizophrenia Networks Studying Gene-Environment Interactions) was conducted from May 1, 2010, to April 1, 2015, among 2774 individuals from England (2 catchment areas), France (3 catch…

Influenze ed effetti della comunicazione politico/mediatica sul cittadino elettore

2009

Influenze ed effetti della comunicazione politico/mediatica sul cittadino elettore - This paper inquire the circular relationship between media, politics and voters examining the theories about the influences of the media on the individuals; media represent sources of knowledge and information about politics and they can be seen as tool of persuasion. Three levels of the influence exerted by media will be described: the dyadic influence, the influence within groups and the influence on individual opinions. Finally the theories about use and rewards offered by media, about media addiction, about the information processing approach and the perspec- tive of social constructivism encompassing i…

FIRST EPISODE PSYCHOSIS IN PALERMO ITALY: PRELIMINARY DATA

2010

The Relationship Between Dissociative Experiences and Cannabis Use: a Systematic Review

2019

Purpose of Review This systematic review aimed to investigate the relation between cannabis use and dissociation. Recent Findings Four analytical and 14 descriptive cross-sectional studies were included. There is no variation in the rates of cannabis use among individuals with dissociative experiences compared with the general population. In addition, the prevalence of dissociative disorders in subjects using cannabis is not different from those not using cannabis. The majority of the studies employed inadequate sampling procedures and a concurrent or retrospective assessment of the two variables, which might have increased the risk of bias, and only a few of them controlled for potential c…

Use of multiple Polygenic Risk Scores for distinguishing Schizophrenia-spectrum disorder and Affective psychosis categories; the EUGEI study

2021

ABSTRACTSchizophrenia (SZ), Bipolar Disorder (BD) and Depression (D) run in families. This susceptibility is partly due to hundreds or thousands of common genetic variants, each conferring a fractional risk. The cumulative effects of the associated variants can be summarised as a polygenic risk score (PRS). Using data from the EUGEI case-control study, we aimed to test whether PRSs for three major psychiatric disorders (SZ, BD, D) and for intelligent quotient (IQ) as a neurodevelopmental proxy, can discriminate affective psychosis (AP) from schizophrenia-spectrum disorder (SSD). Participants (573 cases, 1005 controls) of european ancestry from 17 sites as part of the EUGEI study were succes…

O3.1. ASSOCIATION OF EXTENT OF CANNABIS USE AND ACUTE INTOXICATION EXPERIENCES IN A MULTI-NATIONAL SAMPLE OF FIRST EPISODE PSYCHOSIS PATIENTS AND CON…

2019

Background FEP patients who use cannabis experience more frequent intoxication experiences compared to controls. It is not clear whether this is consequent to patients being more vulnerable to the effects of cannabis use or to their heavier pattern of use. We aimed to determine whether extent of use predicted psychotic-like and euphoric intoxication experiences in FEP patients and controls and whether this differs between groups. Methods We analysed data on lifetime cannabis using patients (n=655) and controls (n=654) across 15 sites from six countries in the EU-GEI study (2010–2015). We used multiple regression to model predictors of cannabis-induced experiences and Factorial ANOVA to dete…

Premorbid Adjustment and IQ in Patients With First-Episode Psychosis: A Multisite Case-Control Study of Their Relationship With Cannabis Use

2020

Abstract Psychotic patients with a lifetime history of cannabis use generally show better cognitive functioning than other psychotic patients. Some authors suggest that cannabis-using patients may have been less cognitively impaired and less socially withdrawn in their premorbid life. Using a dataset comprising 948 patients with first-episode psychosis (FEP) and 1313 population controls across 6 countries, we examined the extent to which IQ and both early academic (Academic Factor [AF]) and social adjustment (Social Factor [SF]) are related to the lifetime frequency of cannabis use in both patients and controls. We expected a higher IQ and a better premorbid social adjustment in psychotic p…

Premorbid social adjustment is better in cannabis-using than non-using psychotic patients across Europe

2016

IntroductionA number of authors have hypothesized that psychotic patients who consume cannabis constitute a differentiated subgroup of patients that have better cognitive and social skills, necessary to engage in illegal drug consumption, than non-using patients.ObjectivesGiven that the prevalence, and patterns, of cannabis use are culturally driven, we wanted to study first-episode psychosis (FEP) cannabis-using and non-using patients coming from different European countries as part of the EUGEI-STUDY.AimsWe tested the hypothesis of better premorbid social adjustment in cannabis-using FEP patients, by comparing them to FEP non cannabis users and to their respective healthy controls.Methods…

O2.1. FIRST EPISODE PSYCHOSIS PATIENTS ACROSS EUROPE DIFFER IN INTELLECTUAL QUOTIENT (IQ) AND EXPOSURE TO ENVIRONMENTAL HAZARDS

2018

Abstract Background Children who later develop Schizophrenia on average are more likely to present with lower IQ; this has been considered evidence for the neurodevelopmental theory of schizophrenia. Though, recent studies have shown that first episode psychosis patients with a history of cannabis use have significantly higher premorbid and current IQ compared to those who never used it. This suggests that abnormal early neurodevelopment does not explain the aetiology of all cases of Schizophrenia, leaving space to environmental hazards. The present study aims to: investigate differences in IQ, as a marker of neurodevelopment, and in exposure to environmental risk factors in a large sample …

FIRST EPISODE PSYCHOSIS PATIENTS WHO USED CANNABIS DEVELOP THEIR ILLNESS AT A SIGNIFICANTLY YOUNGER AGE THAN THOSE WHO NEVER USED CONSISTENTLY ACROSS…

2018

Background: Patients presenting to psychiatric services with their first episode of psychosis (FEP) report higher rates of previous cannabis use than the general population (Donoghue et al., 2011; Myles, Myles and Large, 2016). Evidence suggested that patients suffering from psychosis with a history of cannabis use have an earlier age of onset of psychosis (AOP) than those who never used it (Di Forti et al., 2013). We aim to investigate if the reported association between use of cannabis and AOP is consistent across different countries, once having taken into account different patterns of cannabis use (i.e. frequency of use and age at first use). Methods: We analysed data on patterns of lif…

Daily use, especially of high-potency cannabis, drives the earlier onset of psychosis in cannabis users.

2013

UNLABELLED: Cannabis use is associated with an earlier age of onset of psychosis (AOP). However, the reasons for this remain debated. METHODS: We applied a Cox proportional hazards model to 410 first-episode psychosis patients to investigate the association between gender, patterns of cannabis use, and AOP. RESULTS: Patients with a history of cannabis use presented with their first episode of psychosis at a younger age (mean years = 28.2, SD = 8.0; median years = 27.1) than those who never used cannabis (mean years = 31.4, SD = 9.9; median years = 30.0; hazard ratio [HR] = 1.42; 95% CI: 1.16-1.74; P < .001). This association remained significant after controlling for gender (HR = 1.39; 95% …

The independent and combined influence of schizophrenia polygenic risk score and heavy cannabis use on risk for psychotic disorder: A case-control an…

2019

Background: Some recent studies have challenged the direction of causality for the association between cannabis use and psychotic disorder, suggesting that cannabis use initiation is explained by common genetic variants associated with risk of schizophrenia. We used data from the European Union Gene-Environment Interaction consortium (EUGEI) case-control study to test for the independent and combined effect of heavy cannabis use, and of Schizophrenia Polygenic risk score (SZ PRS), on risk for psychotic disorder. Methods: Genome-wide data were obtained from 492 first episode psychosis patients (FEPp) and from 787 controls of European Ancestry, and used to generate SZ PRS from the summary res…

Interaction between cannabis consumption and childhood abuse in psychotic disorders: preliminary findings on the role of different patterns of cannab…

2015

Aim Several studies have suggested that lifetime cannabis consumption and childhood abuse synergistically contribute to the risk for psychotic disorders. This study aimed to extend existing findings regarding an additive interaction between childhood abuse and lifetime cannabis use by investigating the moderating role of type and frequency of cannabis use. Methods Up to 231 individuals presenting for the first time to mental health services with psychotic disorders and 214 unaffected population controls from South London, United Kingdom, were recruited as part of the Genetics and Psychosis study. Information about history of cannabis use was collected using the Cannabis Experiences Question…

Evaluating the feasibility of the Italian version of the computerized interactive remediation of cognition training for schizophrenia (circuits)

2020

Background: Circuits is a computerized cognitive remediation program for individuals with schizophrenia. this study aimed to evaluate the feasibility of the italian version of circuits. MethODs: Feasibility was measured through ad-hoc questionnaires in a non-clinical sample (N.=30; target-score 70%; study 1); in patients with schizophrenia (N.=5; target-score 60%; study 2) and cr therapists (N.=3; target-score 60%; study 2). study 3 was a pilot study investigating: 1) enrolment, compliance, and retention rates; 2) satisfaction; 3) potential post-treatment and follow-up improvements in patients with schizophrenia (N.=20). these results were used to estimate sample size and feasibility for a …

SOME OF THE INDIVIDUAL DIFFERENCES IN RISK TO DEVELOP PSYCHOSIS AMONG CANNABIS USERS CAN BE EXPLAINED BY WHERE THEY LIVE AND BY THEIR AGE AT FIRST USE

2018

Background Cannabis use remains the most widely used recreational drug worldwide. Following from several USA states legalisation policies, European countries are reconsidering their cannabis laws. While a significant amount of Epidemiological evidence has reported that cannabis use increases the risk of psychosis it is still unclear: 1) what underpins individual differences in developing a psychotic disorder following cannabis use; 2) if variations in availability of cannabis have affected rate of Psychotic disorders across Europe. Methods Using detailed data on lifetime pattern of cannabis use from the EUGEI first episode case-control study (N=2300) and the available Incidence rates of Psy…

PATIENTS WITH THEIR FIRST EPISODE OF PSYCHOSIS (FEP) WHO USE CANNABIS HAVE NORMAL PREMORBID IQ

2012

Cannabis use is highly prevalent among people with schizophrenia and, coupled with impaired cognition, is thought to heighten the risk of illness onset. Paradoxically, several studies report lifetime cannabis use as a predictor of a better cognitive performance in psychotic patients. This case/control study was conducted in order to observe in a First Episode group the association between cannabis use lifetime and two measures of general cognition: current and pre-morbid IQ. The data are derived from the GAP study, a case-control study of first-episode psychosis (FEP) - South London and Maudsley Mental Health NHS Foundation Trust. 279 consenting subjects: 119 FEP patients (age 29.6±8.5; 70%…

188. Does Cannabis Use Worsen Psychotic Symptom Presentation?

2017

Background: While the relationship between cannabis and psychosis is well established, there is a lack of studies into whether cannabis use is associated with a particular pattern of symptoms at psychosis onset. Moreover, there is much evidence that psychotic experiences are common in the healthy population, and again their relationship with exposure to cannabis has been scarcely studied. We hypothesized that psychopathology in first-episode psychosis patients (FEP), and psychotic experiences in controls, would be qualitatively and quantitatively affected by pattern of cannabis use.

Jumping to conclusions, general intelligence, and psychosis liability: Findings from the multi-centre EU-GEI case-control study

2021

This study was funded by the Medical Research Council, the European Community’s Seventh Framework Program grant [agreement HEALTH-F2-2009-241909 (Project EU-GEI)], São Paulo Research Foundation (grant 2012/0417-0), the National Institute for Health Research (NIHR) Biomedical Research Centre (BRC) at South London and Maudsley NHS Foundation Trust and King’s College London, the NIHR BRC at University College London and the Wellcome Trust (grant 101272/Z/12/Z).

Neuropsychological, clinical and cognitive insight predictors of outcome in a first episode psychosis study.

2012

The outcome of first episode psychosis (FEP) is highly variable and difficult to predict. We studied prospectively the impact of poor insight and neuropsychological deficits on outcomes in a longitudinal cohort of 127 FEP patients. Participants were assessed on 5 domains of cognitive function and 2 domains of insight (clinical and cognitive). At 12. months, patients were assessed again for symptom severity and psychosocial function. Regression analyses revealed that cognitive insight (a measure of self-reflectiveness and self-certainty) was the best baseline predictor of overall psychopathology at 12. months whereas executive function performance at admission to the study indicated later se…

Healthy lifestyles and academic success in a sample of Italian university students

2019

Scientific literature has shown that healthy lifestyles are implicated both in the risk reduction of several disorders and in the improvement of cognitive functions. The present study evaluated the association between lifestyle behaviors and academic performance in university students from twelve different degree courses at the University of Palermo, Italy. It was hypothesized that healthy lifestyles, measured as the practice of a good diet, satisfying quality of sleep, low-stress levels, perceived social support, abstention from the use of illegal drugs, non-problematic Internet use, and regular sports habits, were associated to academic success. A total of 466 students were surveyed (26.5…

Working Memory, Jumping to Conclusions and Emotion Recognition: a Possible Link in First Episode Psychosis (Fep)

2015

Introduction A large body of literature has demonstrated that people affected by psychotic disorders show deficits in working memory, in Emotion Recognition (ER) and in data-gathering to reach a decision (Jumping To Conclusions – JTC). Aims To investigate a possible correlation between working memory, JTC and ER in FEP. Methods 41 patients and 89 healthy controls completed assessments of working memory using WAIS shortened version, JTC using the 60:40 Beads Task and ER using Degraded Facial Affect Recognition Task. Results According to the literature, cases had poorer performance in working memory tasks (Digit Span: μ7,72 [ds=2,98] vs μ10,14 [ds=3,10], U=865,00, p=0,00; Digit Symbol: μ5,36 …

Facial Emotion Recognition in Psychosis and Associations With Polygenic Risk for Schizophrenia

2022

The EU-GEI Project was funded by the European Community’s Seventh Framework Programme under grant agreement No. HEALTH-F2-2010-241909 (Project EU-GEI). The Brazilian study was funded by the Säo Paulo Research Foundation under grant number 2012/0417-0.

Efficacy of a fasting-mimicking diet in functional therapy for depression: A randomised controlled pilot trial.

2020

Objective: This randomized controlled trial examined the efficacy of adding a fasting‐mimicking diet to a structured psychotherapy protocol for treating depression.Design: Of 20 patients with depression, 10 were randomly assigned to psychotherapy and dieting (i.e., experimental group) and the other 10 to psychotherapy only (i.e., control group). Patients in both groups received20 individual sessions of functional therapy along with nutrition consultation. Patients in the control group were instructed to maintain their usual daily diets. Results: Both treatments were effective in reducing depression as well as increasing self‐esteem and quality of life. The experimental group showed improved…

Metacognitive Therapy in Patients with Tinnitus: a Single Group Study

2019

Tinnitus is often in comorbidity with anxiety and depression, and several authors have proposed a reduced efficiency of the top-down executive control in its perception. This single-group study describes a novel application of the metacognitive therapy (MCT), which works on a top-down engagement of proactive attentional control mechanisms on a group of patients with tinnitus, to see its impact on the perception of tinnitus and its anxiety and depression correlates. Eight metacognitive therapy group-sessions were proposed to a group of nine patients, as part of a regional project conducted at the University General Hospital “Paolo Giaccone” of Palermo. The last was a follow-up session, propo…

S126. THE RELATION OF THE PSYCHOSIS CONTINUUM WITH SCHIZOPHRENIA POLYGENIC RISK SCORE AND CANNABIS USE

2020

Abstract Background There has been much debate about whether research into psychosis should be conducted using symptom dimensions as opposed to diagnostic categories. Indeed, dimensions, like categories, may be practical but arbitrary tools for research and clinical practice; hence, they should not be based on psychometric data only. The aim of this study was to externally validate empirically derived symptom dimensions using combined genetic and environmental data. Specifically, we examined the hypothesis that the continuous multivariate distribution of psychosis is a function of cannabis use and genetic liability to schizophrenia, as summarised by polygenic risk score (SZ-PRS). Methods As…

The efficacy of a functional therapy program for gambling disorder: A Pilot study

2018

Background: Despite the great progress achieved by treatment approaches for Gambling Disorder (GD) the relevance of studying efficacious therapies still remains high. This pilot study aims at the evaluation of the efficacy of a standardized protocol based on Functional theory for GD. Functional Therapy (FT) is an integrated body-mind therapy.Methods: Twenty-eight pathological gamblers completed the FT protocol consisted in 16 sessions, two times a week for a total duration of two months, in an individual setting. No one of the patients was taking any psychopharmacological therapy. Psychological assessment both at baseline (T0) and at the end of the treament (T1) includes the South Oaks Gamb…

Cannabis-associated symptom profiles in patients with first episode psychosis and population controls

2019

AbstractObjectiveThe evidence is mixed on whether cannabis use is associated with a particular symptomatology in first episode psychosis (FEP) patients.The authors set out to investigate a) patterns of association between cannabis use and transdiagnostic symptom dimensions; b) whether the extent of use of cannabis contributes to the variation in clinical and subclinical symptom profiles.MethodThe authors analysed data from 901 patients and 1235 controls recruited across six countries, as part of the European Network of National Schizophrenia Networks Studying Gene-Environment Interactions (EU-GEI) study. Item response modelling was used to estimate two bifactor models, which included genera…

Use of multiple polygenic risk scores for distinguishing schizophrenia-spectrum disorder and affective psychosis categories in a first-episode sample…

2022

This work was supported by funding from the European Community’s Seventh Framework Programme under grant agreement No. HEALTH-F2-2010-241909 (Project EU-GEI). (...) CA was supported by the Spanish Ministry of Science and Innovation; Instituto de Salud Carlos III (SAM16PE07CP1, PI16/02012, PI19/024), co-financed by ERDF Funds from the European Commission, ‘A way of making Europe’, CIBERSAM. Madrid Regional Government (B2017/BMD-3740 AGES-CM-2), Fundación Familia Alonso and Fundación Alicia Koplowitz. MB was supported by the Ministry of Economy and Competitivity (PI08/0208; PI11/00325; PI14/00612), Instituto de Salud Carlos III – ERDF Funds from the European Commission, ‘A way of making Europ…

JUMPING TO CONCLUSIONS AND FACIAL EMOTION RECOGNITION IMPAIRMENT IN FIRST EPISODE PSYCHOSIS ACROSS EUROPE

2018

Background Jumping to conclusions (JTC) is a well-established reasoning and data gathering bias found in patients with psychosis even at illness onset (First Episode Psychosis, FEP). Preliminary work in this field focused primarily on the association with delusions, although jumping to conclusions has also been found in non-deluded schizophrenia patients after remission, and in individual with at risk mental state. Moreover, psychotic patients tend to show impairments in social cognition, struggling in identifying, processing and interpreting social clues. Deficits in facial emotion recognition (FER) – a key component of the construct – represent a well-replicated finding in schizophrenia. …

T52. COGNITION, METACOGNITION AND SOCIAL COGNITION AFTER A FIRST EPISODE PSYCHOSIS. PRELIMINARY RESULTS FROM A 5-YEAR-FOLLOW-UP STUDY

2020

Abstract Background Cognitive impairment is considered a core feature of psychotic disorders. Deficits in cognition, metacognition and social cognition have been reported to be correlated, and indeed predictors, of functional outcome or level of disability. Psychotic patients tend to present lower IQ and show impairment in specific cognitive domains, and in social cognition, than controls. Several studies have found deficits in facial emotion recognition (FER) and a higher prevalence of the jumping to conclusions (JTC) reasoning and data gathering biases among psychotic patients, even at time of illness onset, compared to controls. However, the trajectory of this impairment remains unclear.…

BIOLOGICAL AND EPIDEMIOLOGICAL EXAMINATION OF TRANSDIAGNOSTIC AND SPECIFIC SYMPTOM DIMENSIONS AT PSYCHOSIS ONSET: FINDINGS FROM THE EUGEI STUDY

2018

Background Current diagnostic models of psychosis have been questioned since Kraepelin’s original dichotomy of dementia praecox and manic depression. Indeed, increasing evidence has suggested that a dimensional approach might be a valid alternative platform for research. However, while an increasing number of studies have investigated how environmental risk factors for affective and non-affective psychosis map onto symptom dimensions, only a few have examined these dimensions in relation to genetic variants as summarised by Polygenic Risk Score (PRS). Furthermore, no studies have examined the putative effect of PRS for Schizophrenia (SZ), Bipolar Disorder (BP), and Major Depressive Disorder…

The contribution of cannabis use to variation in the incidence of psychotic disorder across Europe (EU-GEI): a multicentre case-control study.

2019

Background: Cannabis use is associated with increased risk of later psychotic disorder but whether it affects incidence of the disorder remains unclear. We aimed to identify patterns of cannabis use with the strongest effect on odds of psychotic disorder across Europe and explore whether differences in such patterns contribute to variations in the incidence rates of psychotic disorder. Methods: We included patients aged 18–64 years who presented to psychiatric services in 11 sites across Europe and Brazil with first-episode psychosis and recruited controls representative of the local populations. We applied adjusted logistic regression models to the data to estimate which patterns of canna…

Identifying gene-environment interactions in schizophrenia: contemporary challenges for integrated, large-scale investigations

2014

European Community Recent years have seen considerable progress in epidemiological and molecular genetic research into environmental and genetic factors in schizophrenia, but methodological uncertainties remain with regard to validating environmental exposures, and the population risk conferred by individual molecular genetic variants is small. There are now also a limited number of studies that have investigated molecular genetic candidate gene-environment interactions (G x E), however, so far, thorough replication of findings is rare and G x E research still faces several conceptual and methodological challenges. in this article, we aim to review these recent developments and illustrate h…

F115POLYGENIC RISK SCORES FOR SCHIZOPHRENIA, BIPOLAR, AND MAJOR DEPRESSIVE DISORDERS PREDICT TRANSDIAGNOSTIC SYMPTOM DIMENSIONS AT FIRST EPISODE PSYC…

2019

Background: The value of the nosological distinction between non-affective and affective psychosis has consistently been challenged. Indeed, psychotic syndromes are composed of dimensions of psychopathology cutting across diagnostic boundaries. Such transdiagnostic symptom dimensions might be enhanced phenotypes to test for association with common genetic variants for Major Mental Disorders (MMDs) as summarized by Polygenic Risk Scores (PRSs) for Schizophrenia (SZ), Bipolar Disorder (BP), and Major Depressive Disorder (MDD). The objectives of this study were to: 1) identify the symptom dimension structure at First Episode Psychosis (FEP); 2) examine the extent to which MMDs PRSs explain the…

Better IQ but worse Premorbid Academic Adjustment in cannabis-users psychotic patients: another brick in the intuition

2016

Purpose: several studies report that patients with psychosis who used cannabis in their lifetime have a better cognitive performance than those who did not and this association is most likely due to a better premorbid functioning. We aimed to test the hypothesis of a better premorbid functioning in First Episode Psychosis (FEP) cannabis-using and non-using patients coming from different European countries. Materials and Methods: 1.745 people (746 cases; 999 healthy controls) completed the assessment for Intellectual Quotient (IQ) (WAIS-brief version) premorbid adjustment (Premorbid Adjustment Scale – PAS) and cannabis use (CEQ-Revised). We first obtained two main factors from PAS: “Premorbi…

Amici di Facebook: tra empatia mediatica ed indi-vidualismo di massa

2008

Psicopatologia delle realtà virtuali e influenza sui movimenti religiosi del nuovo millennio

2006

L’azione dei farmaci antipsicotici atipici sul profilo dei sintomi cognitivi e negativi

2007

Blog Generation

2005

Studio longitudinale degli effetti della psicoterapia sulla funzionalità immunitaria in soggetti affetti da disturbo depressivo unipolare

2010

THE RELATION OF THE PSYCHOSIS CONTINUUM WITH SCHIZOPHRENIA POLYGENIC RISK SCORE AND CANNABIS USE

2020

Transdiagnostic dimensions of psychopathology at first episode psychosis: findings from the multinational EU-GEI study.

2019

Background\ud The value of the nosological distinction between non-affective and affective psychosis has frequently been challenged. We aimed to investigate the transdiagnostic dimensional structure and associated characteristics of psychopathology at First Episode Psychosis (FEP). Regardless of diagnostic categories, we expected that positive symptoms occurred more frequently in ethnic minority groups and in more densely populated environments, and that negative symptoms were associated with indices of neurodevelopmental impairment.\ud \ud Method\ud This study included 2182 FEP individuals recruited across six countries, as part of the EUropean network of national schizophrenia networks st…

I suicidi rituali nella civiltà tecnologica: aspetti culturali tra science-fiction e new age

2007

Eventi di vita stressanti in un campione di pazienti affetti da psicosi all’esordio: prevalenza, sintomatologia ed età d’esordio

2011

Introduzione: Un consistente numero di studi suggerisce un’elevata prevalenza di eventi traumatici nella storia di soggetti con disturbi psicotici (Shevlin et al, 2008). Piu’ che l’impatto di un singolo evento di vita stressante, l’esposizione cumulativa ad esperienze traumatiche sembra incrementare il rischio di psicosi (van Winkel et al, 2008). Scopo dello studio e’ valutare la prevalenza di tali eventi in soggetti al primo episodio psicotico a confronto con controlli sani e la possibile correlazione con la sintomatologia psicotica e l’età di esordio. Metodologia: In atto sono stati reclutati 74 soggetti al primo episodio psicotico (51 m, 23 f; em=26.39, ds=9.36) e 27 controlli sani (18 m…

Fattori economici nella diagnosi e nel trattamento della schizofrenia

2017

Nonostante la schizofrenia colpisca una piccola proporzione della popolazione mondiale, si tratta di un disturbo destabilizzante che impone costi significativi sugli individui, le loro famiglie, i datori di lavoro, gli Stati e le comunità. Mentre alcuni di questi costi sono simili a quelli cui vanno incontro individui con altre gravi patologie, molti sono specifici delle persone con gravi disturbi mentali, in parte a causa dell’organizzazione dei trattamenti e dei finanziamenti del sistema sanitario per i disturbi mentali gravi. In questo capitolo, esamineremo gli incentivi inerenti alla diagnosi e al trattamento della schizofrenia in diversi sistemi sanitari del mondo. Questo capitolo è or…

Tra Ermes e Dioniso: culture dell’estremo e patologie dell’eccesso

2007

Effetti dell’uso di cannabis e sintomi psicopatologici in un campione di primi episodi psicotici

2014

Introduction: Cannabis is one of the most common substances used by patients with a first episode of psychosis. The aim of the study was to investigate the most frequent effects of cannabis use, their relationship with psychotic symptoms and characteristics of the consumption. Methods: 116 first episode psychosis were recruited, 50% of which (n=58) used cannabis lifetime. We investigated the characteristics of the consumption and the effects of cannabis using the Cannabis Experience Questionnaire-mv (CEQmv) and the psychotic symptoms using the Positive and Negative Symptoms Scale (PANSS). Results: The effects more often experienced by cannabis users were slowed down thinking and feeling to …

CAPIRE E GESTIRE LA VIOLENZA NELLA SCHIZOFRENIA

2017

Il problema della violenza nelle persone affette da schizofrenia pone spinosi dilemmi clinici e sociali. Da una parte, il comportamento aggressivo nella schizofrenia può essere una pericolosa, anche se rara, complicanza della malattia. I medici sono tenuti ad anticipare, valutare, gestire e ridurre i rischi di violenza dei loro pazienti, con interventi e trattamenti adeguati. D’altra parte, pazienti psichiatrici capaci di decidere autonomamente, spesso riducono o sospendono il trattamento nel corso del tempo, il che è un loro diritto, e in ogni caso molte cause di violenza non possono essere trattate con i farmaci (Swanson et al., 2008a). Inoltre, concentrarsi semplicemente sul potenziale d…

Interaction between cannabis consumption and childhood abuse in psychotic disorders:preliminary findings on the role of different patterns of cannabi…

2014

Aim: Several studies have suggested that lifetime cannabis consumption and childhood abuse synergistically contribute to the risk for psychotic disorders. This study aimed to extend existing findings regarding an additive interaction between childhood abuse and lifetime cannabis use by investigating the moderating role of type and frequency of cannabis use. Methods: Up to 231 individuals presenting for the first time to mental health services with psychotic disorders and 214 unaffected population controls from South London, United Kingdom, were recruited as part of the Genetics and Psychosis study. Information about history of cannabis use was collected using the Cannabis Experiences Questi…

Visual Field defects, type A personality,anxiety and coping style in patients with primary open angle glaucoma.

2012

Classification of glaucomatous visual field defects for different severity levels is important. The reasons for this are numerous, and include: to distinguish between healthy and diseased individuals, to have homogeneous grouping criteria when perimetry is used to define the severity of glaucoma, to adjust therapy on the basis of disease severity, to describe visual field conditions in a short and simple format, to monitor the progression of the disease, and to provide a common language for both clinical and research purposes. Many severity classification methods have been proposed, although none have had widespread use in clinical practice. Other methods, like the cumulative defect curve (…

Visual field defects,type A personality,anxiety and coping styles in patients with primary open angle Glaucoma

2012

IS THE ERA OF CANDIDATE GENES X CANNABIS USE REALLY DEAD?

2019

Background: Historically, gene X environment examinations in psychotic disorders have employed candidate gene methods and environmental determinants impacting on similar biological mechanisms. However, genome wide association studies (GWAS) show that many variants associated with schizophrenia have a modest effect size on risk. In this respect, it is unclear whether the effect of cannabis on psychosis phenotypes is modified by a few genes, e.g. those involved in dopamine signalling, or by the overall genetic susceptibility to schizophrenia. Indeed, candidate gene approaches might be complementary to GWAS to test gene X cannabis interaction. We aimed to investigate the interactive effects of…

Le metafore tecnologiche della relazione

2007

I videogiochi, gli stili di vita e la salute mentale di bambini e adolescenti

2007

Il terzo punto di vista “dal ponte”. Un modello integrato di psicoterapia cognitivo-comportamentale e musicoterapia

2010

Quella del ponte è una figura simbolica di grande pregnanza e ricchezza di rimandi in ogni ambito culturale e scientifico. Le sue trasparenze ci aiutano a cogliere con intensa e precisa risonanza quei significati nascosti che rendono più intellegibili e apprezzabili molti aspetti della vita dell'uomo, dalla dimensione interiore a quella dei suoi prodotti tecnici, artistici e culturali. Spaziando dalle neuroscienze all'arte e dal mito alla psicopatologia, il volume si presenta come un'occasione per apprezzare le innumerevoli metafore che il ponte evoca alla nostra riflessione, intrecciando, ibridando e connettendo branche diverse del sapere. La proposta che offriamo al lettore è quella di co…

Terapia Cognitivo Comportamentale delle psicosi

2017

La terapia cognitivo comportamentale delle psicosi (Cognitive Behavioral Therapy for psychosis, CBTp) pone al centro del suo interesse le esperienze psicotiche (vale a dire, pensieri, credenze e immagini) e i tentativi di comprensione di queste da parte del paziente. Da questo punto di vista, si differenzia da altre forme d’intervento psicologico o psicosociale per le psicosi, come ad esempio i programmi di social skills training, di riabilitazione lavorativa o la terapia di rimedio cognitivo, che hanno come scopo primario quello di modificare il funzionamento del soggetto e non si occupano di discutere con il paziente l’esperienza psicotica. Storicamente, la CBTp è stata utilizzata allo sc…

La psicodiagnosi

2009

Childhood Maltreatment, Educational Attainment, and IQ: Findings From a Multicentric Case-control Study of First-episode Psychosis (EU-GEI).

2022

[Background and hypothesis] Evidence suggests that childhood maltreatment (ie, childhood abuse and childhood neglect) affects educational attainment and cognition. However, the association between childhood maltreatment and Intelligence Quotient (IQ) seems stronger among controls compared to people with psychosis. We hypothesised that: the association between childhood maltreatment and poor cognition would be stronger among community controls than among people with first-episode of psychosis (FEP); compared to abuse, neglect would show stronger associations with educational attainment and cognition; the association between childhood maltreatment and IQ would be partially accounted for by ot…

Ruolo delle caratteristiche di personalità nel rapporto tra aspetti sintomatologici, qualità della vita ed andamento della patologia nelle pazienti c…

2008

Traumi infantili in un campione di pazienti affetti da psicosi all’esordio: associazione con psicopatologia e funzioni cognitive. Risultati prelimina…

2011

Introduzione: Numerosi studi hanno evidenziato l’associazione tra traumi infantili e psicosi (Morgan, Fisher, 2007). Sebbene inizialmente fosse enfatizzato il ruolo dell’abuso sessuale, recentemente l’associazione con l’abuso fisico e’ stata riportata come piu’ forte (Fisher et al, 2010; Rubino et al, 2009). Scopi dello studio sono valutare la prevalenza di eventi avversi infantili in un campione di soggetti al primo episodio psicotico e la sua relazione con la psicopatologia e le funzioni cognitive. Metodologia: Sono stati reclutati 74 soggetti al primo episodio psicotico (51 m, 23 f; em=26.39, ds=9.36). Sono state somministrate le seguenti interviste e test: CECA-Q (Bifulco et al, 2005) p…

Ansia,stili di coping e danno campimetrico in pazienti con Glaucoma cronico ad angolo aperto

2011

Eventi suicidari e scenari mediatici: l'influenza della civiltà della comunicazione sulle geografie interiori dei soggetti a rischio

2009

RUOLO DELLE CARATTERISTICHE DI PERSONALITA' NEL RAPPORTO TRA ASPETTI SINTOMATOLOGICI, QUALITA' DELLA VITA E DECORSO DELLA PATOLOGIA NELLE PAZIENTI CO…

2008

The effects of different levels of exposure on persistence of stress disorders in rescue volunteers: the case of the ATR 72 air disaster in Palermo (…

2011

L’insostenibile ricerca del piacere: le dipendenze patologiche, tra desiderio di vita e auto distruttività

2011

Psichiatria, Psicologia e Medicina Generale. La Consulenza Psicologica nei Reparti di Medicina.

2016

Il capitolo descrive Il progetto “Interventi Psicologici e Riabilitativi nei Reparti ad alta Criticità” Nato da una collaborazione tra l’Azienda Ospedaliera Universitaria Policlinico “Paolo Giaccone” dell’Università degli Studi di Palermo e l’Assessorato della Salute della Regione Sicilia, si è inscritto nel Progetto Obiettivo di Piano Sanitario Nazionale (intesa Stato Regione del 20/04/2011) con l’obiettivo di rispondere all’esigenza di ascolto e sostegno che molte persone sperimentano attraversando momenti critici, in grado di mettere a dura prova la loro qualità di vita. Avvalendosi di una equipe di psicologi che, nel primo anno ha annoverato tre unità, affiancate da un Tecnico della Ria…

La creatività inflattiva: dimensioni individuali e collettive dell’immaginario simbolico post-moderno

2007

Does clinical or cognitive insight predict outcome in psychosis? Findings from a longitudinal first episode cohort

2013

Smoke High-Potency Cannabis and Become Psychotic Younger?

2016

PURPOSE: Cannabis use is associated with an earlier age of onset of psychosis (AOP). However, the reasons for this remain debated. METHODS: We applied a Cox proportional hazards model to 410 first-episode psychosis patients to investigate the association between gender, patterns of cannabis use, and AOP. RESULTS: Patients with a history of cannabis use presented with their first episode of psychosis at a younger age (mean years = 28.2, SD = 8.0; median years = 27.1) than those who never used cannabis (mean years = 31.4, SD = 9.9; median years = 30.0; hazard ratio [HR] = 1.42; 95% CI: 1.16-1.74; P &lt; .001). This association remained significant after controlling for gender (HR = 1.39; 95% …

I Simpson e la filosofia

2008

What does augment the risk to use cannabis on an everyday-basis in psychotic patients?

2017

Introduction There are strong enough evidences of the fact that risk of psychosis is augmented by cannabis use. In a recent analysis, the strongest predictor of case-control status was daily-skunk use, i.e. the ORs for skunk users increase with the frequency of use5. We know also that FEP who smoked cannabis in their lifetime are less neuropsychologically impaired i.e. they have better premorbid and current IQ6. In this study we wanted to test what augments the probability to be everyday users, taking into account premorbid social and academic adjustment and cognition as predictors, along with age at first cannabis-use and % of THC in cannabis used. Methods The sample was made of 834 First …

La psicoterapia come laboratorio di metafore. Una prospettiva integrata di psicoterapia cognitivista e musicoterapia

2010

Il trend attuale in campo epistemologico e teorico-concettuale aspira alla scoperta di linguaggi condivisi e condivisibili tra i diversi approcci psicoterapeutici. Spesso è accaduto che all’avvicinamento tra tecniche a matrice diversa non seguisse un accurato studio teorico orientato a definire e fornire un substrato concettuale a ciò che si era già rivelato utile nella pratica. Di contro, gli sviluppi delle neuroscienze hanno fornito oggi elementi molto utili alla comprensione di ciò che accade nelle stanze di psicoterapia; a partire dalla contestazione di antiche acquisizioni, date per consolidate, come la presunta incapacità della cellula neuronale di riprodursi e arborizzare in età adul…

The EUropean Network of National Schizophrenia Networks Studying Gene-Environment Interactions (EU-GEI): Incidence and First-Episode Case-Control Pro…

2020

Purpose: The EUropean Network of National Schizophrenia Networks Studying Gene-Environment Interactions (EU-GEI) study contains an unparalleled wealth of comprehensive data that allows for testing hypotheses about (1) variations in incidence within and between countries, including by urbanicity and minority ethnic groups; and (2) the role of multiple environmental and genetic risk factors, and their interactions, in the development of psychotic disorders. Methods: Between 2010 and 2015, we identified 2774 incident cases of psychotic disorders during 12.9 million person-years at risk, across 17 sites in 6 countries (UK, The Netherlands, France, Spain, Italy, and Brazil). Of the 2774 incident…

Surrogati di Presenza

2007

Better social but worse academic premorbid adjustment in cannabis-users psychotic patients across Europe

2016

Background: Several studies report that patients with psychosis who used cannabis have a better cognitive performance than those whodid not (Rabin et al. 2011). In a previous study we found out a higher premorbid IQ, and a better IQ in psychotic patients who smoked cannabis in their lifetime, and our findings were consistent with the idea that this association is due to a better premorbid functioning rather than to an ameliorative effect of cannabis use on cognitive performance (Ferraro et al., 2013). A number of authors have hypothesized that psychotic patients who consume cannabis constitute a differentiated subgroup of patients that have better cognitive and social skills, necessary to e…

Durata di psicosi non trattata e consumo di cannabis in un campione di pazienti al primo episodio psicotico

2011

Introduzione: la durata di psicosi non trattata (DUP) nei pazienti affetti da psicosi all’esordio rappresenta un fattore predittivo dell’outcome e del decorso del disturbo (Perkins, 2005). La relazione tra consumo di cannabis e DUP è ancora controversa. In questo lavoro viene analizzato il rapporto tra DUP ed età di esordio, consumo di cannabis, funzionamento cognitivo, livello di istruzione e stato di occupazione in un gruppo di pazienti affetti da psicosi all’esordio reclutati nell’ambito dello studio SGAP (Sicilian Genetic and Psychosis) svolto in collaborazione con l’Institute of Psychiatry, King's College of London. Metodologia: sono stati reclutati 74 pazienti di età compresa tra 18 e…

Eventi di vita stressanti in un campione di pazienti affetti da psicosi all’esordio: prevalenza, sintomatologia ed età d’esordio. Risultati prelimina…

2011

I videogiochi, gli stili di vita e la salute mentale di bambini e adolescenti

2007

Consumo di cannabis e pattern psicopatologico di pazienti al primo episodio psicotico: confronto tra due campioni

2011

Alcuni studi in letteratura supportano l’associazione tra consumo di cannabis, età di esordio ed espressività psicopatologica nei pazienti al primo episodio psicotico (Orlandi, 2001). Questo lavoro si propone di analizzare la gravità della sintomatologia psicotica in relazione al consumo di cannabis, confrontando due campioni di pazienti all'esordio psicotico (FEP) reclutati a Palermo e a Londra.

geni psicosi e cannabis: caratteristiche di un campione siciliano rappresentativo di pazienti al primo episodio psicotico

2010

TRANSDIAGNOSTIC SYMPTOM DIMENSIONS OF PSYCHOSIS AND THE PREDICTIVE ROLE OF PREMORBID ADJUSTMENT AND COGNITIVE CHARACTERISTICS IN THE MULTINATIONAL EU…

2020

Il problema della comorbilità

2008

Cannabis e Psicosi, un contributo di ricerca

2017

si descrivono i dati relativi ad un campioni di pazienti affetti da disturbo psicotico all'esordio, come parte del progetto SGAP (Sicilian Genetic and Psychosis. tra i fattori di rischio implicati nell'insorgenza del disturbo si prende in esame il ruolo del consumo di cannabis mettendo a confronto i pazienti con un gruppo di cntrollo costituito da soggetti non psicotici. Emerge come l'età media di insorgenza del disturbo psicotico è stata più precoce per coloro che avevano fumato cannabis nel corso della vita (24.2 anni vs. 31.6 anni) mentre non è stata riscontrata nessuna differenza in relazione all'uso recente di cannabis.

Intervento psicologico tramite la tecnica del diario in un gruppo di pazienti oncologici sottoposti a trattamento radioterapico

2013

La gestione del paziente oncologico in corso di trattamento radioterapico non può prescindere da un’attenta valutazione delle variabili soggettive legate all’emotività e al vissuto interno. Questo lavoro si pone gli obiettivi di indagare la presenza di alessetimia, ansia, depressione e qualità della vita in un gruppo di pazienti oncologici e di valutare in che termini l’introduzione di un intervento psicologico possa avere delle ricadute sul benessere psico-fisico.Il campione è costituito da 68 pazienti suddivisi, con modalità random, in un gruppo sperimentale (n= 45) e uno di controllo (n=23), reclutati presso due U.O di Radioterapia di Palermo e di Pisa. Entrambi sono stati valutati al T0…

DOES CANNABIS USE WORSEN PSYCHOTIC SYMPTOM PRESENTATION?

2017

Background: While the relationship between cannabis and psychosis is well established, there is a lack of studies into whether cannabis use is associated with a particular pattern of symptoms at psychosis onset. Moreover, there is much evidence that psychotic experiences are common in the healthy population, and again their relationship with exposure to cannabis has been scarcely studied. We hypothesized that psychopathology in first-episode psychosis patients (FEP), and psychotic experiences in controls, would be qualitatively and quantitatively affected by pattern of cannabis use. Methods: The Operational CRITeria (OPCRIT) system, the CAPE (Community Assessment of Psychic Experiences), an…

Trilogia su: la dimensione simbolica nell’epoca del post-moderno

2007

Ruolo di modulazione sulle funzioni cognitive dell’abuso di cannabis su un campione di soggetti al primo episodio psicotico

2011

Gestione clinica del comportamento suicida in schizofrenia

2017

Circa 1 persona su 20 affetta da schizofrenia morirà prematuramente per suicidio (Inskip, Harris, e Barraclough, 1998; Palmer, Pankratz, e Bostwick, 2005) e si stima che il 20% 50% realizzerà almeno un tentativo di suicidio nel corso della vita (Caldwell &amp; Gottesman, 1990; Meltzer, 2002). La maggior parte dei suicidi portati a termine si verificano precocemente nel corso della malattia, con un rischio particolarmente alto nelle prime settimane dopo la dimissione dal primo ricovero (Appleby, Dennehy, Thomas, Faragher, e Lewis, 1999; Rossau &amp; Mortensen, 1997), seguite dal primo anno e dai primi dieci anni dopo la diagnosi (Nordentoft et al, 2004; Palmer et al, 2005). Anche il periodo …

Creatività poetica e funzione simbolica

2007

La comorbilità delle dipendenze patologiche

2009

Nello specchio di narciso: dalla psicoanalisi alle neuroscienze

2007

Scheda 14: I Videogiochi, gli stili di vita e la salute mentale di bambini e adolescenti

2007

Profilo neuropsicologico di un campione di soggetti al primo episodio psicotico in relazione all'abuso di cannabis

2010

Cannabis Users and Premorbid Intellectual Quotient (IQ)‏

2017

• The chapter focuses on premorbid Intellectual Quotient (IQ) in cannabis users, one of the most controversial topics in studies on the harmful effects of cannabis use on cognition. • Several studies have ascertained acute and residual effects of cannabis use in the memory domain, but only a minimal general cognitive effect after a long-term period of abstinence. • A number of longitudinal studies were able to obtain IQ measures before and after cannabis consumption, but they yielded discordant findings. • Authors, however, observed a relationship between higher premorbid IQ and recreational or discontinued use while a lower premorbid IQ resulted as a predictor for regular or heavy cannabis…

Io, Robot

2006

Il riconoscimento delle emozioni facciali all’esordio psicotico.

2017

La capacità di riconoscere le emozioni facciali fa parte del più ampio dominio relativo alla cognizione sociale. Nel disturbo schizofrenico è presente un deficit dell’esperienza emotiva e dell’espressione appropriata delle emozioni. Numerosi studi hanno riscontrato in questi soggetti deficit a carico della capacità di riconoscimento delle emozioni facciali nonché della modulazione emotiva della voce. L’obiettivo dello studio è stato quello di indagare la presenza di un deficit a carico del riconoscimento delle emozioni facciali nei soggetti con esordio psicotico, posti a confronto con un gruppo di controlli sani. In particolare, si ipotizza nei pazienti una relazione tra il deficit di ricon…

DOES POLYGENIC RISK SCORE FOR SCHIZOPHRENIA IMPACT ON JUMPING TO CONCLUSIONS? PRELIMINARY FINDINGS FROM THE EU-GEI CASE-CONTROL STUDY

2019

Background: Jumping to conclusions (JTC) is a reasoning and data gathering bias that results in the tendency to require less evidence and make hasty decisions. Preliminary work on reasoning bias focused primarily on the association with delusions, although jumping to conclusions has also been found in non-deluded schizophrenia (SZ) patients. Literature to date has shown JTC as a well-established bias in psychosis even at First Episode Psychosis (FEP), after remission, and in individuals with at risk mental state. Furthermore, JTC has been found to be associated with proneness to psychotic-like experiences in the general population. In teresting findings showed also an association with lower…

L’incidenza delle caratteristiche di personalità nel rapporto tra aspetti sintomatologici, qualità della vita ed andamento della patologia nelle pazi…

2008

Familiarità, psicosi e cannabis: caratteristiche di un campione siciliano di pazienti al primo episodio psicotico

2010

Ruolo dell'insight nell'espressività psicopatologica in un gruppo di pazienti affetti da psicosi all'esordio

2011

Una buona capacità di insight pare costituire un fattore predittivo di minore espressività psicopatologica nei pazienti affetti da psicosi. In questo lavoro intendiamo analizzare le relazioni tra grado di insight e gravità dei sintomi psicotici utilizzando i punteggi totali e parziali ottenuti alla Positive and Negative Syndrome Scale (PANSS) in un gruppo di pazienti affetti da psicosi all'esordio nell'ambito del progetto SGAP "Sicilian Genetic and Psychosis" svolto in collaborazione con il GAP Study dell'Institute of Psychiatry, King's College of London.

Gli sviluppi delle neuroscienze e le loro implicazioni nel trattamento integrato della schizofrenia in ambito istituzionale

2007

The continuity of effect of schizophrenia polygenic risk score and patterns of cannabis use on transdiagnostic symptom dimensions at first-episode ps…

2021

The work was supported by Guarantors of Brain post-doctoral clinical fellowship to DQ; Clinician Scientist Medical Research Council fellowship (project reference MR/M008436/1) to MDF; Heisenberg professorship from the German Research Founda- tion (grant no. 389624707) to UR; the National Institute for Health Research (NIHR) Maudsley Biomedical Research Centre at South London and Maudsley NHS Foundation Trust and King’s College London. The views expressed are those of the author(s) and not necessarily those of the NHS, the NIHR or the Department of Health and Social Care. The EU-GEI Project is funded by the European Community’s Seventh Framework Programme under grant agreement No. HEALTH-F2-…