Many studies show that people experiencing psychosis find religion and spirituality to be helpful during times of distress, yet nurses often lack training and confidence to respond to the spiritual needs of their patients. This article begins with an overview of the largely medical model through which psychosis is assessed and addressed in the UK, followed by some definitions of spirituality and religion. Then using a case study of Lucy, a 60-year-old African-Caribbean woman, a critical analysis considers if and how engagement with her religious beliefs in an acute inpatient setting could have improved the nurse-patient relationship and promoted recovery from an acute psychotic episode. The impact of task-driven nursing care upon meaningful engagement is explored and nurses are encouraged to focus on quality rather than length of nurse-patient interactions. The association between religiosity and psychopathology is then considered in terms of impact upon person-centred care. The value of co-creating a narrative with patients in order to promote engagement and recovery is discussed. To read the full article, log in using your NHS OpenAthens details.
Child maltreatment is a widespread public health problem associated with a range of mental health disorders later in life. In order to effectively address these disorders, there is a need to understand more about the mental health consequences of different types of child maltreatment. This study examines the associations between prospectively substantiated child maltreatment (ages 0–14 y) and reports of hallucinations and delusional experiences at 21 years after birth. Please contact the library to request a copy of this article - http://bit.ly/1Xyazai
Neuroimaging studies investigating dopamine (DA) function widely support the hypothesis of presynaptic striatal DA hyperactivity in schizophrenia. However, published data on the striatal DA transporter (DAT) appear less consistent with this hypothesis, probably partly due to methodological limitations. Moreover, DAT in extrastriatal regions has been very poorly investigated in the context of schizophrenia. In order to address these issues, we used a high resolution positron emission tomograph and the selective DAT radioligand [11C]PE2I, coupled with a whole brain voxel-based analysis method to investigate DAT availability......Please contact the library to request a copy of this article - http://bit.ly/1Xyazai
Treatment-resistant schizophrenia (TRS) affects around one-third of individuals with schizophrenia. Although a number of sociodemographic and clinical predictors of TRS have been identified, data on the genetic risk of TRS are sparse. We aimed to investigate the association between a polygenic risk score for schizophrenia and treatment resistance in patients with schizophrenia. Please contact the library to request a copy of this article - http://bit.ly/1Xyazai
Nearly one-third of individuals with 22q11.2 deletion syndrome (22q11.2DS) develop a psychotic disorder during life, most of them by early adulthood. Importantly, a full-blown psychotic episode is usually preceded by subthreshold symptoms. Please contact the library to request a copy of this article - http://bit.ly/1Xyazai
Altered connectivity of dorsolateral prefrontal cortex (DLPFC) and hippocampus during working memory is considered an intermediate phenotype for schizophrenia (SCZ), but the relevance for other mental disorders with shared genetic background remains unknown. Here we investigated its presence in unaffected first-degree relatives of patients with bipolar disorder (BD) or major depressive disorder (MDD). Furthermore, we aimed to provide an independent replication of this phenotype in first-degree relatives of SCZ patients. Please contact the library to request a copy of this article - http://bit.ly/1Xyazai
Exposure to an urban environment during early life and low IQ are 2 well-established risk factors for schizophrenia. It is not known, however, how these factors might relate to one another. Data were pooled from the North Jutland regional draft board IQ assessments and the Danish Conscription Registry for men born between 1955 and 1993. Excluding those who were followed up for less than 1 year after the assessment yielded a final cohort of 153170 men of whom 578 later developed a schizophrenia spectrum disorder. We found significant effects of having an urban birth, and also experiencing an increase in urbanicity before the age of 10 years, on adult schizophrenia risk. The effect of urban birth was independent of IQ. Please contact the library to request a copy of this article - http://bit.ly/1Xyazai
Cognitive deficits in schizophrenia have been hypothesized to reflect N-methyl-D-aspartate receptor (NMDAR) dysfunction. However, the mechanisms through which the NMDAR contributes to individual cognitive functions differ. To explore how NMDAR signaling relates to specific cognitive deficits in schizophrenia, we tested the effects of enhancing NMDAR signaling on working memory and experience-dependent plasticity using D-cycloserine (DCS). Please contact the library to request a copy of this article - http://bit.ly/1Xyazai
Social defeat has been proposed as the common mechanism underlying several well-replicated risk factors for sub-threshold psychotic experiences (PEs) identified in epidemiological research. ..... These findings support the need for community-based outreach efforts and greater police training to reduce the prevalence of this exposure, particularly in socially disadvantaged urban communities.
Prader–Willi Syndrome (PWS) is a complex neurogenetic disorder caused by loss of the paternal 15q11.2–q13 locus, due to deletion (DEL), maternal uniparental disomy (mUPD), or imprinting center defects. Individuals with mUPD have up to 60% risk of developing psychosis in early adulthood. Given the increasing evidence for white matter abnormalities in psychotic disorders, we investigated white matter microstructure in children and adolescents with PWS, with a particular emphasis on the DEL and mUPD subtypes. Please contact the library to request a copy of this article - http://bit.ly/1Xyazai