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Introduction: Dysfunctions in the oxytocin system have been reported in patients with borderline personality disorder (BPD). Deficits could be related to interpersonal hypersensitivity, which has been previously associated with failures in social cognition (SC) in this disorder, especially in Theory of Mind (ToM) skills. The aim of this work is to study the links between the oxytocin system and SC impairments in patients with BPD. Method: Plasma oxytocin levels (OXT) and protein expression of oxytocin receptors in blood mononuclear cells (OXTR) were examined in 33 patients with a diagnosis of BPD (age: M 28.85, DT = 8.83). Social cognition was assessed using the Movie for the Assessment of Social Cognition (MASC). Statistical associations between biochemical factors and different response errors in MASC were analyzed through generalized linear regression controlling for relevant clinical factors. Results: Generalized linear regression showed a significant relationship between lower OXTR and overmentalization in BPD patients (OR = 0.90). Conclusions: This work supports the relationship between alterations in the oxytocin system and ToM impairments observed in BPD patients, enhancing the search for endophenotypes related to the phenotypic features of the disorder to improve current clinical knowledge and address more specific therapeutic targets. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

Background: The coronavirus disease 2019 (COVID‐19) pandemic has constrained opportunities in social, educational and professional domains, leading to developmental challenges for adolescents initiating their transition to adulthood. Meta‐analysis indicated that there was a small increase in psychological distress during the first year of the COVID‐19 pandemic. However, significant heterogeneity in the psychological response to the COVID‐19 pandemic was noted. Developmental antecedents as well as social processes may account for such heterogeneity. The goal of this study was to characterize trajectories of psychological distress in late adolescence during the COVID‐19 pandemic. Methods: 5014 late adolescents born between 2000 and 2002 from the UK Millennium Cohort Study completed online self‐reported assessments at three occasions during the first year of the COVID‐19 pandemic (May 2020, September/October 2020 and February/March 2021). These surveys assessed psychological distress, loneliness, social support, family conflict, as well as other pandemic stressors. Information on developmental antecedents were obtained when cohort members were 17 years of age. Results: Four distinct trajectories class were identified. Normative class (52.13%) experienced low and decreasing levels of psychological distress, while moderately increasing class (31.84%) experienced a small, but significant increase in distress over time and increasing class (8.75%) exhibited a larger increase in distress after the first wave of the pandemic. Inverted U‐shaped class (7.29%) experienced elevated psychological distress during the first wave of the pandemic, followed by a decrease in distress in subsequent waves of the pandemic. Larger longitudinal increases in loneliness were noted among individuals in the elevated distress trajectory, compared to other trajectories. Pre‐pandemic psychopathology was associated with elevated distress early in the pandemic. Conclusions: The largest trajectory showed low and declining psychological distress, highlighting the resilience of the majority of late adolescents. However, a subgroup of adolescents experienced large increases in psychological distress, identifying a group of individuals more vulnerable to pandemic‐related stress. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

Background: The concept of European psychologisation of depression versus somatisation in non-European populations has been the basis of several studies of cultural psychopathology in the general population. Little is currently known about cross-cultural differences and similarities in late-life depression symptom reporting. We cross-culturally compared symptom reporting in the context of Major Depressive Disorder (MDD) among community-dwelling older adults from Spain and Nigeria.Methods: We relied on data from two household multistage probability samples comprising 3,715 persons aged 65 years or older in the Spanish and Nigerian populations. All participants underwent assessments for MDD using the World Mental Health Survey version of the Composite International Diagnostic Interview. Cross-cultural comparison of broad somatic and psychological categories as well as relationship and influence of individual symptoms were analysed using the Symptom Network Analysis approach.Results: Current MDD was diagnosed in 232 and 195 older persons from Spain and Nigeria, respectively. The symptom network of the two samples were invariant in terms of global strength, S(GSPAIN , GNIGERIA ) = 7.56, P = .06, with psychological and somatic symptoms demonstrating centrality in both countries. However, country-specific relationships and influence of individual symptoms were found in the network structure of both samples, M(GSPAIN , GNIGERIA ) = 2.95, P < .01.Conclusion: Broad somatic and psychological symptoms categories contributed to the structural network of older Africans and their peers from the Spanish population. Variations in the relationship and influence of individual symptoms suggests that the functional and "communicative" role of individual symptoms may be differentiated by context specific imperatives. J Am Geriatr Soc 68:-, 2020. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]