Evaluation of behavioral impulsivity and aggression tasks as endophenotypes for borderline personality disorder

Borderline personality disorder (BPD) is marked by aggression and impulsive, often self-destructive behavior. Despite the severe risks associated with BPD, relatively little is known about the disorder’s etiology. Identification of genetic correlates (endophenotypes) of BPD would improve the prospects of targeted interventions for more homogeneous subsets of borderline patients characterized by specific genetic vulnerabilities. The current study evaluated behavioral measures of aggression and impulsivity as potential endophenotypes for BPD. Subjects with BPD (N = 127), a non cluster B personality disorder (OPD N = 122), or healthy volunteers (HV N = 112) completed self report and behavioral measures of aggression, motor impulsivity and cognitive impulsivity. Results showed that BPD subjects demonstrated more aggression and motor impulsivity than HV (but not OPD) subjects on behavioral tasks. In contrast, BPD subjects self-reported more impulsivity and aggression than either comparison group. Subsequent analyses showed that among BPD subjects behavioral aggression was associated with self-reported aggression, while behavioral and self-report impulsivity measures were more modestly associated. Overall, the results provide partial support for the use of behavioral measures of aggression and motor impulsivity as endophenotypes for BPD, with stronger support for behavioral aggression measures as an endophenotype for aggression within BPD samples.     

“Social dangerousness and incurability in schizophrenia”: Results of an educational intervention for medical and psychology students

This study explored the influence of an educational intervention addressing common prejudices and scientific evidence about schizophrenia on medical and psychology students’ views of this disorder. The intervention - consisting in two three-hour lessons with an interval of a week between - was run at first for medical students and then for psychology students. Participants’ views of schizophrenia were assessed at baseline vs. at post intervention by matched questionnaires. At medical school, participation was voluntary and also included a six-month online re-assessment, while at psychology school, participation was mandatory. A total of 211 students attended the educational initiative. At post intervention assessment, students more frequently mentioned psychosocial causes of schizophrenia, and more firmly believed that recovery in schizophrenia is possible and that persons with this disorder are not unpredictable and dangerous vs. their baseline assessment. The online six-month assessment confirmed favourable changes in medical students’ views found at post intervention. These results confirm that an educational intervention including personal experiences and scientific evidence can be successful in reducing students’ prejudices toward persons with schizophrenia.     

'Forensic' labelling: an empirical assessment of its effects on self-stigma for people with severe mental illness

Increasingly, specialized ‘forensic’ mental health services are being developed to address the criminogenic and clinical needs of people with mental illness who are involved in the criminal justice system. Theoretically, the construction of such specialized services can produce simultaneous positive benefits and negative consequences. This mixed methods study examined and compared the level of self-stigma that was experienced by people who receive compulsory community-based treatment services in the forensic (n = 52) and civil (n = 39) mental health systems of British Columbia, Canada. The quantitative findings indicate that ‘forensic’ labelling was not associated with elevated levels of self-stigma. Quantitative level of self-stigma was significantly associated with psychiatric symptom severity, history of incarceration, and history of homelessness. The qualitative findings suggest that access to high-quality, well-resourced forensic mental health services may, for some service users, come at the risk of increased exposure to social and structural stigma. Together, these findings reveal some of the strengths and weaknesses that are associated with organizing forensic mental health services using a specialized service delivery model.     

Understanding the perception of stakeholders in reducing adolescent-to-parent violence/aggression

IntroductionAdolescent-to-parent violence/aggression (APV/A) is an understudied yet increasingly common social problem for adolescents and families, particularly those involved in the juvenile justice system. The current study focused on improving interventions for this population by gathering qualitative data from stakeholders to inform treatment targets.MethodsParticipants (N = 23) comprised of court professionals (n = 7), parents/guardians (n = 9), and their male adolescent children (n = 7) in the United States. Parent and adolescent participants were recruited through monthly court-mandated domestic violence education classes offered by the juvenile court. Parent/guardian participants were between the ages of 38 and 77 and consisted of four males and five females. Adolescents were between the ages of 14 and 17. Court professional participants consisted of judges, probation officers, and court psychologists. Semi-structured interviews were analyzed qualitatively using grounded theory.ResultsResults indicated that, from the perspective of key stakeholders, an effective intervention to reduce APV/A likely involves a two-pronged approach: (1) address specific and theoretically modifiable emotional, behavioral, and psychological factors at the adolescent-level; and (2) induce change in the family system by addressing environmental barriers to seeking treatment and by creating positive family relationships.ConclusionsThe present study aimed to gather the perspectives of court professionals, adolescents, and parents/guardians regarding the development of an effective intervention for APV/A-involved families. This study represents the first step toward the development of a feasible, acceptable, sustainable, and effective intervention for adolescents and their families who are involved in the juvenile justice system due to APV/A.     

Overcoming barriers to disseminating exposure therapies for anxiety disorders: a pilot randomized controlled trial of training methods

The present study evaluated methods for training mental health providers (N = 46) in exposure therapies (ETs) for anxiety disorders. A pilot randomized controlled trial compared: (1) an interactive, multimedia online training (ET OLT), (2) the ET OLT plus a brief Motivational Interviewing-based intervention (ET OLT + MI), and (3) a placebo control OLT. Assessments were completed at baseline, post-training, and one-week following training. Both ET OLT and ET OLT + MI received high satisfaction ratings and were comparably effective at increasing knowledge of ETs as well as clinicians’ overt efforts to learn and use the treatment. ET OLT + MI was the most effective method for improving clinicians’ attitudes toward ETs. Results indicate that OLT is effective for disseminating knowledge about ETs to clinicians, and suggest that supplementing OLT with a brief MI-based intervention may be a promising direction to address potential attitudinal barriers to adopting these highly efficacious treatments.     

Effectiveness of a mental health court in reducing criminal recidivism and violence

OBJECTIVE: In response to the large-scale involvement of people with mental disorders in the criminal justice system, many communities have created specialized mental health courts in recent years. However, little research has been done to evaluate the criminal justice outcomes of such courts. This study evaluated whether a mental health court can reduce the risk of recidivism and violence by people with mental disorders who have been arrested. METHOD: A retrospective observational design was used to compare the occurrence of new criminal charges for 170 people who entered a mental health court after arrest and 8,067 other adults with mental disorders who were booked into an urban county jail after arrest during the same interval. A matching strategy based on propensity scores was used to adjust analyses for nonrandom selection into mental health court. RESULTS: Propensity-weighted Cox regression analysis, controlling for other potential confounding variables (demographic characteristics, clinical variables, and criminal history), showed that participation in the mental health court program was associated with longer time without any new criminal charges or new charges for violent crimes. Successful completion of the mental health court program was associated with maintenance of reductions in recidivism and violence after graduates were no longer under supervision of the mental health court. CONCLUSIONS: The results indicate that a mental health court can reduce recidivism and violence by people with mental disorders who are involved in the criminal justice system.     

Proactive, reactive, and romantic relational aggression in adulthood: Measurement, predictive validity, gender differences, and association with Intermittent Explosive Disorder

The psychometric properties of a recently introduced adult self-report of relational aggression are presented. Specifically, the predictive utility of proactive and reactive peer-directed relational aggression, as well as romantic relational aggression, are explored in a large (N = 1387) study of adults. The measure had adequate reliability and validity and the subscales demonstrated unique predictive abilities for a number of dependent variables. In particular, reactive but not proactive relational aggression was uniquely associated with history of abuse, hostile attribution biases, and feelings of distress regarding relational provocation situations. Reactive relational aggression was also more strongly related to anger and hostility than proactive aggression. In addition, relational aggression in the context of romantic relationships was uniquely related to anger, hostility, impulsivity, history of abuse, hostile attribution biases, and emotional sensitivity to relational provocations, even when controlling for peer-directed relational aggression. Gender differences in overall levels of relational aggression were not observed; however, males were most likely to engage in peer-directed proactive and reactive relational aggression whereas females were most likely to engage in romantic relational aggression. In a second study (N = 150), relational aggression was higher in a sample of adults with Intermittent Explosive Disorder than in a sample of healthy controls or psychiatric controls. The findings highlight the importance of assessing subtypes of relational aggression in adult samples. Ways in which this measure may extend research in psychology and psychiatry are discussed.     

Efficacy of modified constraint induced movement therapy in improving upper limb function in children with hemiplegic cerebral palsy: A randomized controlled trial

Purpose: The objective of this randomized single blind (outcome assessor) controlled trial was to evaluate the efficacy of 4 weeks of modified constraint induced movement therapy (mCIMT) in improving upper limb function in 3–8 years old children with hemiplegic cerebral palsy. Methods: Thirty-one children were randomly assigned to receive the mCIMT (N = 16) with conventional therapy or conventional therapy alone (N = 15). Children were evaluated three times (at enrollment, follow up at 4 weeks and 12 weeks). The primary outcome measure was difference in “change in mean total QUEST scores” at 4 weeks of intervention between the intervention and the control arm. Results: After 4 weeks of intervention, mCIMT group showed significant change in the affected upper limb in QUEST scores (10.7 ± 5.2 vs 1.4 ± 1.7, p < 0.001) and time (s) to complete nine-hole-pegboard test compared with control group [60(0–130) vs 5(−12 to 30), p < 0.001]. The improvement observed in upper limb function after 4 weeks of intervention persisted 8 weeks after discontinuation of intervention in mCIMT group. Conclusion: The modified constraint induced movement therapy appears to be effective in improving upper limb function in 3–8 years old hemiplegic cerebral palsy children.     

Specific language and reading skills in school-aged children and adolescents are associated with prematurity after controlling for IQ

Although studies of long-term outcomes of children born preterm consistently show low intelligence quotient (IQ) and visual-motor impairment, studies of their performance in language and reading have found inconsistent results. In this study, we examined which specific language and reading skills were associated with prematurity independent of the effects of gender, socioeconomic status (SES), and IQ. Participants from two study sites (N = 100) included 9-16-year old children born before 36 weeks gestation and weighing less than 2500 grams (preterm group, n = 65) compared to children born at 37 weeks gestation or more (full-term group, n = 35). Children born preterm had significantly lower scores than full-term controls on Performance IQ, Verbal IQ, receptive and expressive language skills, syntactic comprehension, linguistic processing speed, verbal memory, decoding, and reading comprehension but not on receptive vocabulary. Using MANCOVA, we found that SES, IQ, and prematurity all contributed to the variance in scores on a set of six non-overlapping measures of language and reading. Simple regression analyses found that after controlling for SES and Performance IQ, the degree of prematurity as measured by gestational age group was a significant predictor of linguistic processing speed, β = −.27, p < .05, R² = .07, verbal memory, β = .31, p < .05, R² = .09, and reading comprehension, β = .28, p < .05, R² = .08, but not of receptive vocabulary, syntactic comprehension, or decoding. The language and reading domains where prematurity had a direct effect can be classified as fluid as opposed to crystallized functions and should be monitored in school-aged children and adolescents born preterm.     

Efficacy of a prevention program for postpartum obsessive-compulsive symptoms

Obsessive-Compulsive Disorder (OCD) has emerged as a common and impairing postpartum condition. Prospective studies have identified psychological vulnerabilities for the emergence of postpartum obsessive-compulsive symptoms (OCS), including general anxiety symptoms, pre-existing OCS, and specific cognitive distortions. The identification of these factors makes feasible the development of prevention programs that could reduce the impact of postpartum OCS. The present investigation examined a cognitive-behavioral prevention program using a randomized, double blind, controlled trial. Expecting mothers in their 2nd or 3rd trimester with an empirically established, malleable risk factor for postpartum OCS received either the prevention program (N = 38) or a credible control program (N = 33), both of which were incorporated into traditional childbirth education classes. Results revealed that at 1 month, 3 months, and 6 months postpartum, the prevention program was associated with significantly lower levels of obsessions and compulsions than was the control condition (all p’s < 0.05). Group differences remained significant even after controlling for baseline OCS and depression symptoms. Those in the prevention condition also reported decreasing levels of cognitive distortions, in contrast to the control condition (p’s < 0.05). Results support the potential utility of incorporating a CBT-based OCS prevention program into childbirth education classes.     

Effects of music-based social stories on comprehension and generalization of social skills in children with autism spectrum disorders: A randomized effectiveness study

The purpose of this randomized controlled study was to examine the effects of music-based social stories on the comprehension and generalization of social skills in children with autism spectrum disorders. The principle investigator (PI) collected data during three separate one-week summer camps. Participants (N = 30) were randomly assigned by cluster to one of three non-music control groups (social story read to them) or one of three experimental music therapy groups (social story sung to them). Participants’ parents completed the autism social skills profile (ASSP) at pre- and posttest and five comprehension check (CC) questions over time pertaining to their child's assigned social story. The only main effect for the ASSP that was significant was subcategory but there were numerous significant two- and three-way interactions confounding results. Main effects for time on the CC were significant, with scores being highest on the posttest. Overall, the lack of significant main effects was likely a function of minimal treatment dose. Although results of the study were confounded by numerous significant interactions, clinicians might pair social stories with music to facilitate comprehension, generalization, and on-task behaviors conducive to learning social information. Implications for clinical practice, limitations, and suggestions for future research are provided.     

Cerebrospinal fluid GABA concentration: relationship with impulsivity and history of suicidal behavior, but not aggression, in human subjects

The objective of this study was to assess the relationship between cerebrospinal fluid concentrations of the neurotransmitter gamma-aminobutyric acid (GABA) and measures of impulsivity and related behaviors (aggression and suicidality) in healthy volunteer and personality disordered subjects. CSF GABA levels, and measures of impulsivity, aggression, and history of suicidal behavior were obtained by morning lumbar puncture in 57 healthy volunteer subjects and in subjects with personality disorder. CSF GABA levels were not found to correlate with measures of aggression but were found to correlate directly with measures of impulsivity; e.g., a composite measure of impulsivity in all subjects (r = 0.35, df = 46, P = 0.015) and in personality disordered subjects examined separately (r = 0.39, df = 30, P = 0.029). In the personality disorder group, CSF GABA levels were higher among subjects with a history of suicidal behavior compared with those without this history. These data suggest that central GABAergic function correlates directly with impulsiveness and history of suicidal behavior, but not aggressiveness, in personality disordered subjects. This may be consistent with observations that high doses of benzodiazepines can lead to “behavioral disinhibition” in human subjects. Further work assessing this and other aspects of the central GABA system in personality disordered subjects are warranted.     

Students’ artistic experience before and during graduate training

This qualitative study investigated creative arts therapies students’ relationship with the arts during a pre-training phase beginning student phase, and advanced student phase. Thematic analysis was used to identify themes and patterns within the data. Major findings suggest that during the pre-training phase, art therapy students, followed by dance movement therapy students, had more extensive learning and practical experience in their art form than drama therapy students. Also during this phase, art therapy students use their art form for self-care more often than did dance movement therapy students, and there were no indications of drama being used for self-care by drama therapy students. During training, most students refrained from personal art making outside of training due to lack of time and money; students’ conception of their art form changed from aesthetic product to expressive process; and in-training exposure to different modalities as well as professional socialization in practicum cultivated students’ individual and collective professional identity. Policy and practice implications are suggested and recommendations for further research are offered.     

Psycholinguistic abilities of children with Williams syndrome

The objective of this study was to investigate the psycholinguistic abilities of children with Williams syndrome (WS) and typically developing children using the Illinois Test of Psycholinguistic Abilities (ITPA). Performance on the ITPA was analysed in a group with WS (N = 20, mean age = 8.5 years, SD = 1.62) and two typically developing groups, matched in mental (MA, N = 20, mean age = 4.92 years, SD = 1.14) and chronological age (CA, N = 19, mean age = 8.35 years, SD = 3.07). Overall, within-group analyses showed that individuals with WS displayed higher scalar scores on the visual reception and visual association subtests. When groups were compared, we observed inferior performance of the WS group on all ITPA subtests when compared with typically developing groups. Moreover, an interaction between reception and group was found, only the WS group demonstrated superior performance on the visual reception subtest when compared to the auditory reception subtest. Evidence from this study offers relevant contributions to the development of educational intervention programs for children with WS.     

Evaluating the use of poetry to reduce signs of depression, anxiety and stress in Iranian female students

The aim of the present study was to explore the effectiveness of group poetry intervention on signs of depression, anxiety and stress in female undergraduate students in Iran. A sample of 29 participants were randomly assigned to either an intervention (n = 14) or a no intervention group (n = 15). The intervention group took part in seven sessions of group poetry therapy of 90-120 min duration each while the no intervention group was put on a waiting list. All participants completed the Depression, Anxiety and Stress Scale (DASS) before the intervention and after second, fifth and the last session.Results showed that the use of poetry as an intervention technique plays a significant role in reducing signs of depression, anxiety and reported stress. This confirms previous research. Results are discussed in terms of the viability of poetry as a possible therapeutic method in alleviating depressive and anxiety related disorders considering some important characteristics of the Iranian culture.     

Le questionnaire de fonctionnement ordalique (QFO) : premiers éléments de validation et résultats préliminaires chez des toxicomanes et des anorexiques

Risk-taking behaviours among adolescents have become a clinical reality and are related to a significant mortality and morbidity. Many of these behaviours are ordalique ones and consist in braving death with repetitive and deliberate risk-taking. Adolescents’ll leave their life to chance, fate, supernatural or divine powers in order to know if they must die or not. If subjects survive to fatal situations, they have a deep conviction that they’re protected and they feel therefore invincible. The ordalique behaviour is not equivalent to suicide. It’s a pathological way to restore a serious lack of narcissism and identity deficiencies. The ordalique functioning is a main characteristic of addictions, especially drug addiction. This article presents the construction of the ordalique functioning questionnaire (QFO) and initial validity studies. The QFO is composed of 71 items and four dimensions are evaluated : risk-taking, transgression, positive representation of risk-taking and believes. First dimension refers to the propensity of having dangerous activities (extreme sports, drugs use, risky sexuality, dangerous driving…). Second dimension refers to the subject’s relation to law, rules, prohibition and authorities and his tendency to have transgression behaviours. Third dimension refers to heroic representation of subjects who have risk-taking behaviours. This dimension mainly applies to narcissistic function of risk-taking. Fourth dimension refers to various believes (luck, fate, chance, god…) and the implication of these believes in risk-taking behaviours. In a first study, QFO was administrated to a population of 826 students from several universities of Toulouse. Four hundred and two of them were men and 424 were women. The age ranged from 18 to 37 with a mean of 21,13. The component analysis with varimax rotation allowed to find the four factors of construction. Alpha’s Cronbach are > 0.60 for the four factors (from 0.73 to 0.79) and therefore underline the internal consistency of the questionnaire. There’s a good inter-correlation between the factors (from 0.44 to 0.60) except for believes which is not significantly correlated with the other three factors. Each result shows that believes could be an independent dimension. A test-retest study after an interval of 15 days among 80 students indicates excellent temporal reliability (from 0.93 to 1). In a second study, QFO was administrated to 150 subjects (60 drugs addicts, 30 restrictive anorexics, 60 controls). The 60 drugs addicts (30 men and 30 women with a mean age of 27, 28) were in aftercare centers. They have a very strong dependence on drugs and alcohol according to the Addiction Severity Index (ASI, McLellan) and all of them are polyaddicted. The 30 women anorexics (mean age of 19,50) were restrictive type according to the anorexia and bulimia sections of the MINI (Mini International Neuropsychiatric Interview, Sheehan and al.). Twenty anorexics were hospitalized during the research, four anorexics were met in childhood guidance structures and five anorexics were having psychotherapy treatment. The mean weight is 37,12 kg and the mean body mass index (BMI) is 14,67. The 60 controls are composed of 30 men and 30 women with a mean age of 23,55. Thirty eight of them are students and 22 are working people. The controls don’t have any psychiatric troubles listed in DSM-IV (according to the 17 diagnostic sections of the MINI), don’t smoke more than 10 cigarettes per day, don’t suffer from eating disorders and don’t have present problems with drugs or alcohol. Anova analysis and Mann Whitney tests were used to compare means between the three groups. Results of drug addicts are significantly higher than controls on risk-taking (U = 0 ; P < 0.0000), transgression (U = 0 ; P < 0.0000), positive representation of risk-taking (U = 240 ; P < 0.0000) and believes (U = 15,5 ; P < .0000). Drug addicts also present results significantly higher than anorexics on risk-taking (U = 1 ; P < 0.0000), transgression (U = 0 ; P < 0.0000), positive representation of risk-taking (U = 0 ; P < 0.0000) and believes (U = 11 ; P < 0.0000). Anorexics have results significantly lower than controls on risk-taking (U = 216,5 ; P < 0.0000), transgression (U = 288 ; P < 0.0000), positive representation of risk-taking (U = 217 ; P < 0.0000) and believes (U = 118 ; P < 0.0000). These results underline in drug addicts an important psychic ordalique functioning that we can illustrate for example by the “russian roulette” with overdose, a risky sexuality and the share of syringes despite the threat of VIH. The very important differences between drugs addicts and anorexics indicate that anorexics would have a subjective relation to risk-taking different from drugs addicts. Indeed, unlike drug addicts, anorexics are not aware of the immediate and fatal risk of their behaviour. They don’t have a heroic representation of their risk-taking. They have not other risky activities apart from addiction. Anorexics don’t transgress laws and don’t have delinquent behaviours, they are rather conformist. They have few believes in chance, fate, destiny or god. Their results lower than controls on all dimensions of QFO showed that anorexics avoid sensations seeking and dangerous situations. The seeking of an ideal body is more important than braving death which is not even perceived. So, the subjective relation to risk-taking in anorexics wouldn’t be ordalique but “sacrificial”, that is to say focused on pathological self-control. These differences of functioning (ordalique versus sacrificial) between drug addicts and anorexics must be taken into account for therapeutic care. In this way, our results support the thesis of the existence of two types of addictions : those focused on sensations seeking, impulsivity, dangerous activities and those focused on sensations avoiding, pathological self-control, and no attraction for risk-taking. Moreover, this research shows that addictions could be classified according to a continuum from the more ordalique dependences (drug addiction) to the more accepted and passive ones (tobacco dependence) with at the other extremity the more sacrificial dependences (anorexia). In this second study, the Sensation Seeking Scale (SSS, Zuckerman) was also administrated. Correlations between SSS and QFO (from .70 to .87) indicated a very good concurrent validity. Moreover, there’s a very good inter-correlation between the four dimensions of QFO (from .76 to .90). These results, more satisfactory than in first study, can be due to the population which isn’t a run of the mill population but a pathological one with drugs addicts who have an important ordalique functioning. And notably, believes dimension, central in ordalique behaviours, is here strongly correlated with the three others dimensions of QFO. Therefore our thesis indicated above of an independent dimension can be excluded. In conclusion, QFO appears to be a promising tool for research in psychopathology.     

Justice résolutive de problèmes : efficacité des tribunaux en santé mentale aux États-Unis et présentation du dispositif lyonnais

People with mental disorders are over-represented in the criminal justice system. Mental Heath Courts are problem-solving oriented courts developed as a means of providing treatment to individuals with mental illness involved in the criminal justice system in order to avoid recidivism and to improve access to community mental health care services. MHCs are an alternative to the incarceration and the innovation behind his model is the collaboration between the judiciary and mental health services. The first MHC was created in 1997 in Florida; there are now more than 300 such courts in the United States. In Lyon, France, thought work with Canadian team at the Montreal Mental Health court, a new program called Contrainte Pénale Justice Thérapeutique was created in 2016. CPJT is also based on the collaboration of legal, social and pre-existing mental health services in order to treat recidivist offenders suffering from psychiatric and/or addictive disorder. The aim of this interview with Constance Baheux and Dr Sabine Mouchet–Mages is to present the results of American mental health court in terms of effectiveness and to introduce the French program Contrainte Pénale Justice Thérapeutique in Lyon according to French law.     

Fréquences de la consommation de substances psychoactives et de la psychopathologie chez de jeunes adultes en première année d’Université

Understanding the etiology of alcoholism and drug addiction requires knowledge of the frequency of substance use in young cohorts, as well as the role of specific vulnerabilities that may explain the later development of these disorders. In the public health domain, efficient programs of prevention depend on the understanding of substance use in general population. The present study examined these issues in a large sample of university students, with particular attention to the risk factor of comorbid psychopathology.A two-phase sampling plan was used with post-stratification on substances use. In the first stage, an initial sample of 1 517 students was pre-selected based on responses to a battery of self-questionnaires, including information concerning recent consumption of substances (alcohol, cannabis, cocaine, heroin, acid, solvents…). 224 subjects were then selected in the second phase to compose four groups of substance users: infrequent consumers (those who did not use any substance during the last month; N = 80); frequent consumers of alcohol only (with a consumption of alcohol of several times a week to several times a day, regardless of tobacco use but with no other substance use; N = 44), frequent consumers of cannabis (consumption of cannabis of several times a week to several times a day, regardless of tobacco and alcohol use but with no other substance use; N = 54) and consumers of other illicit substances (consumption of hallucinogens, cocaine, heroin, ecstasy, or other illicit substance at least once during the last month; N = 46). These representative subgroups of infrequent and frequent users were then administered a psychiatric diagnostic interview (Mini International Neuropsychiatric Interview; MINI, version 5.0) to assess affective and mood disorders and substance use disorders. At the end of the study, all participants received 75 € ($100).The findings indicate maintenance of trends observed in France since 2000 for the stabilisation of alcohol use, a decrease in tobacco use, and an increase in cannabis among this age cohort. Nevertheless, it’s important to note that these frequencies are based on frequent use of substances and, even if most of users do not fulfil criteria for abuse or dependence, such levels of consumption may have serious consequences for daily functioning and physical or mental health. In examining this issue, the percentage of comorbid psychopathology was found to be generally higher in substance using groups than in the control group, but these differences were significant only for consumers of illicit drugs. The findings are discussed in terms of consequences for the overall psychosocial functioning of young substance users and relative to the increased risk of developing a substance use disorder.     

An evaluation of Miranda rights and interrogation in autism spectrum disorders

The primary deficits present in autism spectrum disorders (ASD) may lead to increased susceptibility to involvement in the criminal justice system. The same deficits may also cause individuals with ASD to be more vulnerable to interrogation techniques and other aspects of the legal system. Due to the increased level of vulnerability as well as impairments in social cognition, individuals with ASD may have difficulty understanding their legal rights, more specifically their Miranda rights. This review explores Miranda comprehension in general and how the specific deficits found in ASD may impact Miranda comprehension.     

Inverse relationship between numbers of 5-HT transporter binding sites and life history of aggression and intermittent explosive disorder

The objective of this study was to determine if platelet 5-HT transporter (5-HTT) sites vary as a function of aggression, and/or impulsiveness, and differ as a function of Intermittent Explosive Disorder (IED). Accordingly, the number of platelet 5-HTT sites was assessed in 100 personality disordered (PD) individuals with varying degrees of aggressiveness. The number of platelet 5-HTT sites was assessed by examining the Bmax of H³-Paroxetine Binding to the blood platelet. Life history of aggression was assessed by Life History of Aggression. Impulsivity was assessed by the Barratt Impulsiveness Scale. Diagnoses of IED were made by both DSM-IV and Research Criteria. Examination of the data revealed that Bmax, but not Kd, values of Platelet H³-Paroxetine Binding correlated inversely with the LHA Aggression score (r = −.42 n = 87, p < .001) but not with the BIS-11 Impulsivity score (r = .03, n = 77, p = .777). PD subjects meeting Research Criteria for IED demonstrated a significant reduction in Bmax values for Platelet H³-Paroxetine Binding. These results were similar after accounting for the effect of lifetime history of depressive mood disorder on Bmax values for Platelet H³-Paroxetine Binding. These data indicate a significant inverse relationship between platelet 5-HTT and aggression, though not impulsivity, as a dimensional variable in personality disordered individuals. Results from the examination of IED as a categorical aggression variable suggest that Research, rather than DSM-IV, criteria better identify individuals with reduced numbers of platelet 5-HTT sites.