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Objective: The aim of the study was to assess whether the auditory brainstem response (ABR) profiling test for schizophrenia (SZ) would recognise schizoaffective disorder (SZA) patients as SZ or not., Method: Male and female SZA patients (n = 16) from the psychosis unit at Uppsala University Hospital were investigated. Coded sets of randomised ABR recordings intermingled with patients with SZ, adult attention-deficit hyperactivity disorder (ADHD) and healthy controls were analysed by an independent party blinded to clinical diagnoses., Results: The ABR profiling test for SZ was positive in 5/16 patients (31%) and negative in 11/16 patients (69%) with SZA. A surprising finding was that 4/16 (25%) SZA patients were positive for the ABR profiling test for ADHD., Conclusion: With the ABR profiling test, a minority of patients with SZA tested positive for SZ. In contrast, a majority (85%) of patients with SZ in a previous study tested positive. These preliminary results leave us ignorant whether SZA should be regarded as a SZ-like disorder or a psychotic mood disorder and add to the questions regarding the validity of this diagnostic entity. However, the ABR profiling method is still in its infancy and its exploration in a range of psychiatric disorders is warranted.

The relationship between psychosocial programming and neurocognition has been established in previous research, but has not been explored in the context of the Illness Management and Recovery Program (IMR). This study examined associations between neurocognition and illness self-management skills acquisition, based on two previous trials of IMR. Neurocognitive functioning was assessed at baseline and post-treatment in 53 participants with schizophrenia or schizoaffective disorder who completed the IMR. Illness self-management was measured by the client and clinician versions of the Illness Management and Recovery Scale. Statistical analyses investigated improvements in neurocognitive functioning and possible association between illness self-management skills acquisition and neurocognitive functioning. Speed of processing as measured by the Trail Making Test A, was related to client-reported acquisition of illness self-management skills, before and after controlling for psychiatric symptoms and medication, but did not predict improvement in clinician ratings of client illness self-management skills. However, when controlling for client session attendance rates, the association between speed of processing and client-reported illness self-management skills acquisition ceased to be statistically significant, which suggests that compromised neurocognitive functioning does not reduce response to training in illness self-management in itself. The association between the frequency of attended IMR sessions and outcome of the IMR seems to decrease the negative impact of compromised neurocognition on illness self-management skills acquisition. Also, clients with slower speed of processing may experience less benefit from the IMR and may attend fewer sessions.

The aim of the present study was to evaluate the psychometric properties of the parallel client and clinician versions of the Illness Management and Recovery Scale (IMRS) developed to monitor the clients' progress in the Illness Management and Recovery (IMR) program in schizophrenia. A total of 107 study participants completed assessments of the IMRS, interview-based ratings of psychiatric symptoms, self-ratings of psychiatric symptoms, perception of recovery, and quality of life. Case managers completed the clinician version of the IMRS. Both versions of the scale demonstrated satisfactory internal reliability and strong test-retest reliability. The results also indicated convergent validity with interview-based ratings of psychiatric symptoms, self-rated symptoms, perception of recovery, and quality of life for both versions of the IMRS. These findings support the utility of the IMRS as a measure of illness self-management and recovery in clients with schizophrenia., (Copyright © 2011 Elsevier B.V. All rights reserved.)

Objective: The aim of the study was to evaluate the effects of the illness management and recovery (IMR) program on symptoms and psychosocial functioning of individuals with schizophrenia or schizoaffective disorder in an outpatient setting in Sweden., Methods: A total of 41 persons with schizophrenia or schizoaffective disorder who were receiving treatment at six psychiatric outpatient rehabilitation centers were randomly assigned to either an IMR group for nine months or to treatment as usual (control condition). Assessments were conducted at baseline, posttreatment (nine months), and follow-up (21 months) and included self-reports and ratings by clinicians (both blind and nonblind to treatment assignment) of illness management, psychiatric symptoms, recovery, coping, quality of life, hospitalization, insight, and suicidal ideation., Results: As measured by self-report and ratings of nonblinded clinicians, IMR program participants demonstrated significantly greater improvement in illness management than participants in the control condition. Ratings of psychiatric symptoms by blinded clinicians using the Psychosis Evaluation Tool for Common Use by Caregivers and self-reported ratings of psychosocial functioning on the Ways of Coping Questionnaire also showed better outcomes than for participants in treatment as usual. A statistically significant decrease in suicidal ideation between baseline and follow-up was found for IMR program participants., Conclusions: The study supports previous findings and suggests that the IMR program is effective in improving the ability of individuals with schizophrenia to better manage their illness.

Background: Low intake of fish, polyunsaturated fatty acids (PUFA) and vitamin D deficiency has been suggested to play a role in the development of schizophrenia. Our aim was to evaluate the association between the intake of different fish species, PUFA and vitamin D and the prevalence of psychotic-like symptoms in a population-based study among Swedish women., Methods: Dietary intake was estimated using a food frequency questionnaire among 33,623 women aged 30-49 years at enrollment (1991/92). Information on psychotic-like symptoms was derived from a follow-up questionnaire in the years 2002/03. Participants were classified into three predefined levels: low, middle and high frequency of symptoms. The association between diet and psychotic-like symptoms was summarized in terms of relative risks (RR) and corresponding 95% confidence intervals and was evaluated by energy-adjusted multinomial logistic regression., Results: 18,411 women were classified as having a low level of psychotic-like symptoms, 14 395 as middle and 817 as having a high level. The risk of high level symptoms was 53% (95% CI, 30-69%) lower among women who ate fish 3-4 times per week compared to women who never ate fish. The risk was also lower for women with a high intake of omega-3 and omega-6 PUFA compared to women with a lower intake of these fatty acids. The effect was most pronounced for omega-6 PUFAs. The RR comparing the highest to the lowest quartile of omega-6 PUFAs intake was 0.78 (95% CI, 0.64-0.97). The associations were J-shaped with the strongest reduced risk for an intermediate intake of fish or PUFA. For fatty fish (herring/mackerel, salmon-type fish), the strongest inverse association was found for an intermediate intake (RR: 0.81, 95% CI, 0.66-0.98), whereas a high intake of fatty fish was associated with an increased risk of psychotic-like symptoms (RR: 1.90, 95% CI, 1.34-2.70). Women in the highest compared with the lowest quartile of vitamin D consumption experienced a 37% (95% CI, 22-50%) lower risk of psychotic-like symptoms., Conclusion: Our findings raise a possibility that adult women with a high intake of fish, omega-3 or omega-6 PUFA and vitamin D have a lower rate of psychotic-like symptoms.

The first central pharmacodynamic action of chlorpromazine to be described was sedation without narcosis. The antipsychotic action and extrapyramidal symptoms were observed later. Sedation can be separated into nonspecific sedation (drowsiness, somnolence) and specific sedation (psychomotor inhibition and psychic indifference). Both types are parts of the clinical profiles of classical neuroleptics. The sedative properties of neuroleptics may contribute to the overall efficacy in the treatment of psychotic patients, depending on the clinical situation. In most patients, however, sedation is only needed for a short period, or not at all. The drug induced sedation may adversely affect the patients' well-being and functional capabilities. The term neuroleptic-induced deficit syndrome (NIDS) has been coined to focus attention on the adverse mental effects of neuroleptics. NIDS still needs to be properly defined and to be differentiated from the deficit syndrome of schizophrenia and postpsychotic depression. Assessment methods are needed to establish the incidence and prevalence of NIDS, to evaluate the importance of NIDS in the overall treatment outcome in psychoses and to facilitate development of better antipsychotic agents.

Nine double-blind studies comparing remoxipride to haloperidol in the treatment of acute schizophrenia formed the basis of this analysis. All studies followed a basic protocol with the main assessments performed regularly during the 4-6 week trial period according to the same methodology, thus allowing the data to be pooled. The results showed that remoxipride in a daily dose of 150-600 mg had a therapeutic effect comparable to that of haloperidol (5-45 mg/day), both on positive and negative symptoms. There was a clear advantage for remoxipride over haloperidol with regard to adverse events/symptoms, particularly extrapyramidal symptoms, but also drowsiness/somnolence and tiredness/fatigue. Anticholinergic drugs were used consistently less frequently as concomitant medication to alleviate extrapyramidal symptoms in the remoxipride group: the use of sedatives/hypnotics was approximately the same in both groups. Based on these and supportive clinical data, remoxipride seems to have a clinical profile characterized by antipsychotic efficacy in acute schizophrenia, apparently equal to that of haloperidol, and good tolerability in being non-sedative (in terms of drowsiness/somnolence) and with low incidences of extrapyramidal, autonomic, and endocrine symptoms.