No significant relationships.

The impact of the coronavirus disease 2019 (COVID-19) pandemic on mental health is still being unravelled. It is important to identify which individuals are at greatest risk of worsening symptoms. This study aimed to examine changes in depression, anxiety and post-traumatic stress disorder (PTSD) symptoms using prospective and retrospective symptom change assessments, and to find and examine the effect of key risk factors.

Online questionnaires were administered to 34 465 individuals (aged 16 years or above) in April/May 2020 in the UK, recruited from existing cohorts or via social media. Around one-third (n = 12 718) of included participants had prior diagnoses of depression or anxiety and had completed pre-pandemic mental health assessments (between September 2018 and February 2020), allowing prospective investigation of symptom change.

Prospective symptom analyses showed small decreases in depression (PHQ-9: −0.43 points) and anxiety [generalised anxiety disorder scale – 7 items (GAD)-7: −0.33 points] and increases in PTSD (PCL-6: 0.22 points). Conversely, retrospective symptom analyses demonstrated significant large increases (PHQ-9: 2.40; GAD-7 = 1.97), with 55% reported worsening mental health since the beginning of the pandemic on a global change rating. Across both prospective and retrospective measures of symptom change, worsening depression, anxiety and PTSD symptoms were associated with prior mental health diagnoses, female gender, young age and unemployed/student status.

We highlight the effect of prior mental health diagnoses on worsening mental health during the pandemic and confirm previously reported sociodemographic risk factors. Discrepancies between prospective and retrospective measures of changes in mental health may be related to recall bias-related underestimation of prior symptom severity.

The severe acute respiratory syndrome coronavirus 2 (SARS-CoV-2) pandemic, with its impact on our way of life, is affecting our experiences and mental health. Notably, individuals with mental disorders have been reported to have a higher risk of contracting SARS-CoV-2. Personality traits could represent an important determinant of preventative health behaviour and, therefore, the risk of contracting the virus.

We examined overlapping genetic underpinnings between major psychiatric disorders, personality traits and susceptibility to SARS-CoV-2 infection.

Linkage disequilibrium score regression was used to explore the genetic correlations of coronavirus disease 2019 (COVID-19) susceptibility with psychiatric disorders and personality traits based on data from the largest available respective genome-wide association studies (GWAS). In two cohorts (the PsyCourse (n = 1346) and the HeiDE (n = 3266) study), polygenic risk scores were used to analyse if a genetic association between, psychiatric disorders, personality traits and COVID-19 susceptibility exists in individual-level data.

We observed no significant genetic correlations of COVID-19 susceptibility with psychiatric disorders. For personality traits, there was a significant genetic correlation for COVID-19 susceptibility with extraversion (P = 1.47 × 10−5; genetic correlation 0.284). Yet, this was not reflected in individual-level data from the PsyCourse and HeiDE studies.

We identified no significant correlation between genetic risk factors for severe psychiatric disorders and genetic risk for COVID-19 susceptibility. Among the personality traits, extraversion showed evidence for a positive genetic association with COVID-19 susceptibility, in one but not in another setting. Overall, these findings highlight a complex contribution of genetic and non-genetic components in the interaction between COVID-19 susceptibility and personality traits or mental disorders.

People with eating disorders (ED) are at high risk for suicidal behavior. Among different ED, anorexia nervosa (AN) has the highest rates of completed suicide whereas suicide attempt rates are similar or lower than in bulimia nervosa (BN). Attempted suicide is a key predictor of completed suicide, thus this mismatch is intriguing. We sought to explore whether the clinical characteristics of suicidal acts differ between suicide attempters with AN, BN or without an ED.

Case-control study in cohort of suicide attempters (n = 1563). Forty-four patients with AN and 71 with BN were compared with 235 non-ED attempters matched for sex, age and education, using interview measures of suicidal intent and severity.

AN patients were more likely to have made a serious attempt (OR = 3.4, 95% CI 1.4–7.9), with a higher expectation of dying (OR = 3.7, 95% CI 1.1–13.5), and an increased risk of lethality (OR = 3.4, 95% CI 1.2–9.6). BN patients did not differ from the control group.

There are distinct features of suicide attempts in AN. This may explain the higher suicide rates in AN. Deaths from suicide in AN may not be the result simply of their greater physical frailty.

The concept of endophenotypes has attracted considerable interest in psychiatry. It is thought that endophenotypes might be more closely related to the underlying biological processes and the genetic basis that give rise to a particular disorder than the relatively crude diagnostic categories defined in our conventional classificatory systems. In order to qualify as an endophenotype a characteristic has to be measurable and heritable, cosegregates with the illness, is state independent, is observed in unaffected family members and is a biologically plausible causal mechanism. In the field of eating disorders the study of endophenotypes is still in its infancy. The aims of this paper are to:

1. a. give an introduction to the concept of endophenotypes and its criticism,

2. b. review what is known about endophenotypes in eating disorders, and

3. c. present recent data from our own recent work on putative social cognitive endophenotypes.

Based on a review of the literature and our own research findings a handful of different temperamental and personality traits, neurocognitive and social characteristics can be identified that fulfill all the criteria to qualify as an endophenotypes. Other candidate endophenotypes need further study to ascertain whether they qualify.

The implications of this research for the classification of eating disorders are potentially far reaching.

Data about quality of life (QoL) are important to estimate the impact of diseases on functioning and well-being. The present study was designed to assess the association of different aspects of panic disorder (PD) with QoL and to examine the relationship between QoL and symptomatic outcome following brief cognitive-behavioral group therapy (CBGT).

The sample consisted of 55 consecutively recruited outpatients suffering from PD who underwent CBGT. QoL was assessed by the Medical Outcomes Study 36-item Short-Form Health Survey (SF-36) at baseline, post-treatment and six months follow-up. SF-36 baseline scores were compared with normative data obtained from a large German population sample.

Agoraphobia, disability, and worries about health were significantly associated with decreased QoL, whereas frequency, severity and duration of panic attacks were not. Treatment responders showed significantly better QoL than non-responders. PD symptom reduction following CBGT was associated with considerable improvement in emotional and physical aspects of QoL. However, the vitality subscale of the SF-36 remained largely unchanged over time.

Our results are encouraging for cognitive-behavior therapists who treat patients suffering from PD in groups, since decrease of PD symptoms appears to be associated with considerable improvements in QoL. Nevertheless, additional interventions designed to target specific aspects of QoL, in particular vitality, may be useful to enhance patients’ well-being.

We studied the frequency of PLEs in a representative sample of 4483 participants of the German population recruited through the Mental Health Module of the German Health Interview and Examination Survey for Adults (DEGS1-MH). Participants were asked if they had had psychotic or psychosis-like experiences over their lifetime. We used the psychosis section of the Composite International Diagnostic Interview (CIDI), the Launay-Slade Hallucination Scale (LSHS) and the Peter's Delusion Inventory (PDI).

33.3% of the participants endorsed at least one item of the CIDI psychosis scale, 68.8% of the PDI and 49.0% of the LSHS. In the PDI assessments, conspiracy-related delusional experiences were most often experienced as distressing, while religious beliefs were experienced less distressing, but with high levels of conviction.

Our findings show frequent endorsement of lifetime psychotic or psychotic-like experiences in the general population in self-report questionnaires with varying degrees of distress and conviction. This provides the needed baseline assessment for follow-up studies observing the development of mental disorders with a view to determine the predictive values of these tests.

Frowning expresses negative emotions like anger, fear, and sadness. According to the facial feedback hypothesis, suppression of frowning will also diminish the corresponding negative emotions. Hence, mood improvement has been observed in patients who underwent treatment of glabellar frown lines with botulinum neurotoxin. This observation suggests the possibility that the intervention may be employed for the management of psychiatric disorders associated with negative emotions. Preliminary data from an open case series indicate that the intervention might improve the symptoms of depression.

To test whether an onabotulinumtoxinA injection into the glabellar region is benefical as an adjunctive treatment of major depression within a clinical trial.

We used a randomized, double-blinded, placebo-controlled study design (n = 30; ClinicalTrials.gov, number, NCT00934687).

We show that a single onabotulinumtoxinA treatment shortly leads to a strong and sustained improvement in partly chronic major depression that did not respond sufficiently to previous treatment. As for the primary end-point, Hamilton Depression Rating Scale (HAM-D17) six weeks after treatment compared to baseline, scores of onabotulinumtoxinA recipients showed 37.9% (8.34 points) more improvement than those of placebo-treated participants (F = 12.30, p = 0.002, η2 = 0.31, d = 1.28).

Our findings support the concept that the facial musculature not only expresses, but also regulates, mood states. As it stands, treatment of glabellar frown lines with botulinum neurotoxin can be considered for depressed patients with the objective of inducing mood-lifting effects.

Attachment and companionship are fundamental basic needs of human beings and contribute the feeling of security and social affiliation. It is assumed that dysfunctional attachment behaviour in people with Borderline Personality Disorder leads to difficulties in the interpersonal contact. Unsecure and especially disorganized manners of attachment seem to be frequently represented by mentally ill people. In this study the release of oxytocin according to attachment relevant situations was investigated and attachment representations of people with BPD have been analysed.

In order to determine attachment representations of healthy people and of people with BPD we used the validated ‘Adult Attachment Projective’/ ‘AAP’ by George, West and Pettem (1999). The projective contains eight contour drawings of attachment relevant situations. The participant should make up a story of each picture, which was evaluated by its coherence, its content and the used defence mechanisms. Attachment representations of 30 patients with BPD were surveyed. Furthermore we measured the release of oxytocin evoked by an activation of the attachment system via the ‘AAP’ in 10 healthy people. Therefor blood drawings were performed at four different points of time.

Here, we present pilot data on oxytocin measures induced via the ‘AAP’. We could detect a decrease of oxytocin in healthy people caused by an activation of the attachment system. Moreover attachment representations of patients with BPD will be presented and discussed. These preliminary data could lead to further studies on a possible dysregulation of the attachment- and the oxytocin system of people with BPD.