International Journal of Methods in Psychiatric Research

OBJECTIVE: To employ a novel analytic method-namely, exploratory graph analysis (EGA)-to subclinical attention-deficit hyperactivity disorder (ADHD) trait scores in order to reveal their dimensional structure, as well as compare EGA's performance with traditional factor-analytic techniques in doing so. METHOD: 1149 respondents from a survey panel completed the ASRS, a common ADHD scale made up of 18 distinct trait measures. EGA and factor analysis were applied to identify traits which associate with each other...

OBJECTIVE: This study protocol describes the RIGAB study, a prospective case-control-study assessing online sports betting behaviour and underlying risk factors for the development of gambling disorder (GD). It has two aims: (1) to characterise sports bettors concerning putative risk factors and their gambling behaviour, and (2) to predict the development of GD from these factors. METHODS: At baseline, online sports bettors took part in an online survey comprising a GD screening (DSM-5), questions on gambling behaviour and on the putative risk factors emotion regulation, impulsivity, comorbidities, stress, and substance use...

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BACKGROUND: Parental depression increases children's risk of mental illness and may simultaneously impair the detection of children's symptoms. Here we investigate the nature of parent-child agreement of children's psychopathology in children of parents with current (cMD) versus remitted (rMD) major depression. METHODS: Baseline data from 100 parent-child dyads including healthy children aged 8-17 (M = 11.89, SD = 2.83) and their parents with a history of depression were analysed...

BACKGROUND: We expanded the Multidimensional Assessment Profiles (MAPS) Scales developmental specification model to characterize the normal:abnormal spectrum of internalizing (anxious and depressive) behaviors in early childhood via the MAPS-Internalizing (MAPS-INT) scale. METHODS: The MAPS-INT item pool was generated based on clinical expertise and prior research. Analyses were conducted on a sub-sample of families (n = 183) from the diverse When to Worry early childhood sample...

OBJECTIVES: Characterize the dimensional spectrum of preadolescent (PA) irritability, a robust transdiagnostic vulnerability marker, using the youth version of the Multidimensional Assessment Profiles Temper Loss (MAPS-TL-Youth) scale including common and with developmentally specific items. Based on this, derive and validate a clinically optimized irritability screener to flag psychopathology risk in preadolescents. METHODS: The normal:abnormal irritability spectrum was modeled using MAPS-TL-Youth data from the Multidimensional Assessment of Preschoolers Study (MAPS) Study PA wave (n = 340) via item response theory...

OBJECTIVES: We aimed to develop and validate a new scale of future thinking and adolescent mental health-the Adolescent Future Thinking Rating Scale (AFTRS). METHODS: A provisional AFTRS was developed from interviews with 19 adolescents. It was completed by three samples: exploratory (n = 161) aged 16-21 years, who also completed established measures of future thinking, cognitive risk factors, depression and anxiety; replication (n = 209) aged 16-25 years; and test-retest (n = 102) aged 17-23 years...

BACKGROUND: Evaluating emotional experiences in the life of people with Schizophrenia Spectrum Disorder (SSD) is fundamental for developing interventions aimed at promoting well-being in specific times and contexts. However, little is known about emotional variability in this population. In DiAPAson project, we evaluated between- and within-person differences in emotional intensity, variability, and instability between people with SSD and healthy controls, and the association with psychiatric severity and levels of functioning...

OBJECTIVES: Characterizing the scope and import of early childhood irritability is essential for real-world actualization of this reliable indicator of transdiagnostic mental health risk. Thus, we utilize pragmatic assessment to establish prevalence, stability, and predictive utility of clinically significant early childhood irritability. METHODS: Data included two independent, diverse community samples of preschool age children (N = 1857; N = 1490), with a subset enriched for risk (N = 425) assessed longitudinally from early childhood through preadolescence (∼4-9 years old)...

OBJECTIVES: In light of the youth mental health crisis, as 1 in 5 children have a mental disorder diagnosis by age 3, identification of transdiagnostic behavioral vulnerability prior to impairing psychopathology must occur at an earlier phase of the clinical sequence. Here, we lay the groundwork for a pragmatic irritability measure to identify at-risk infant-toddlers. METHODS: Data comprised N = 350 diverse infant-toddlers and their mothers assessed at ∼14 months old for irritability (Multidimensional Assessment Profiles- Temper Loss-Infant/Toddler (MAPS-TL-IT) and impairment (Early Childhood Irritability-Related Impairment Interview, E-CRI; and Family Life Impairment Scale (FLIS)...

OBJECTIVES: Developmentally specified measures that identify clinically salient irritability are needed for early school-age youth to meaningfully capture this transdiagnostic risk factor for psychopathology. Thus, the current study modeled the normal:abnormal irritability spectrum and generated a clinically optimized screening tool for this population. METHODS: The irritability spectrum was modeled via the youth version of the Multidimensional Assessment Profile Scales-Temper Loss Scale (MAPS-TL-Youth) in children (n = 474; 6...

OBJECTIVES: Heightened irritability in adolescence is an impairing symptom that can lead to negative outcomes in adulthood, but effective screening tools are lacking. This study aimed to derive clinically-optimized cutoff scores using the Multidimensional Assessment Profile Scales-Temper Loss (MAPS-TL) to pragmatically identify adolescents with impairing irritability. METHODS: A diverse sample of 79 adolescents and their parents completed the MAPS-TL-Adolescent version...

Rigorous validation of the full developmentally sensitive normal:abnormal spectrum, including evaluating the incremental value of age-specific behaviors, is necessary for nuanced characterization of dimensional features of psychopathology. To maximize the clinical utility of transdiagnostic approaches to risk identification, derivation of psychometrically sound, pragmatic versions with empirically derived cutoffs is also key. This special section has a central focus on rigorous, developmentally-based measurement of irritability as an exemplar of this theory- and pragmatically-based approach...

OBJECTIVE: Aim of this study was to assess the cost-effectiveness and cost-utility of mindfulness-based cognitive therapy (MBCT) and treatment as usual (TAU) compared to TAU alone in adults with Bipolar disorder (BD). METHODS: An economic evaluation with a time horizon of 15 months was conducted from a societal perspective. Outcomes were expressed in costs per quality adjusted life years (QALYs) and costs per responder using the inventory of depressive symptomatology clinician rating score...

OBJECTIVES: This study explored the potential of non-parametric and complexity analysis metrics to detect changes in activity post-ketamine and their association with depressive symptomatology. METHODS: Individuals with treatment-resistant depression (TRD: n = 27, 16F, 35.9 ± 10.8 years) and healthy volunteers (HVs: n = 9, 4F, 36.4 ± 9.59 years) had their activity monitored during an inpatient, double-blind, crossover study where they received an infusion of ketamine or saline placebo...

OBJECTIVES: Cost containment and quality of care considerations have increased research interest in the potential preventability of early re-hospitalisations. Various registry-based retrospective cohort studies on psychiatric re-hospitalisation have focused on the role of early post-discharge service contacts, but either did not consider their time-dependent nature ('immortal time bias') or evaded the issue by analysing late re-hospitalisations. The present study takes care of the immortal time bias in studying early psychiatric re-hospitalisations...

OBJECTIVES: To investigate the role of Brain derived neurotrophic factor (BDNF) in the psychotic symptoms in first-episode patients with schizophrenia and whether BDNF levels were associated with the improvement of psychotic symptoms after risperidone treatment. METHODS: 89 schizophrenia patients and 90 healthy controls were recruited, the schizophrenia patients were assigned into early response or early non-response groups at 2 weeks based on improvement in the positive and negative symptoms scale (PANSS) total score...

OBJECTIVES: Derived from classical conditioning theory and rooted in motivational mechanisms, cue reactivity paradigms (CRPs) are used in addictions research to measure participants' propensities for substance-relevant responses (e.g., craving) during exposure to substance-relevant cues (e.g., drug paraphernalia). CRPs are also useful in PTSD-addiction comorbidity research, allowing the study of affective and substance-relevant responses to trauma cues. However, studies using traditional CRPs are time-consuming with high attrition rates due to repeat testing...

OBJECTIVES: Compulsory mental health care includes compulsory hospitalisation and outpatient commitment with medication treatment without consent. Uncertain evidence of the effects of compulsory care contributes to large geographical variations and a controversy on its use. Some argue that compulsion can rarely be justified and should be reduced to an absolute minimum, while others claim compulsion can more frequently be justified. The limited evidence base has contributed to variations in care that raise issues about the quality/appropriateness of care as well as ethical concerns...

OBJECTIVE: Therapeutic alliance is often considered as a predictor for therapeutic success. This study explored dyadic synchrony of skin conductance response (SCR) during naturalistic therapeutic interactions and investigated its potential as an objective biomarker for predicting therapy effectiveness. METHODS: In this proof-of-concept study, skin conductance from both dyad members was continuously measured via wristbands during psychotherapy. Patients and therapists completed post-session reports capturing their subjective appraisal of therapeutic alliance...