The Relationship Between Change in Therapeutic Alliance Ratings and Improvement in Youth Symptom Severity: Whose Ratings Matter the Most?

This paper presents the psychometric evaluation of brief measures of therapeutic alliance (TA) for youths, clinicians and caregivers and a longitudinal analysis of relationships between changes in TA and changes in youth symptom and functioning severity. Psychometric analyses using methods from Classical Test Theory, Item Response Theory, and Factor Analysis indicate that the measures of TA used in this study offer something new for both practice and research. The measures have variability, sensitivity to change over time, brevity and can be used with multiple parties through parallel forms. The longitudinal analyses, employing hierarchical linear modeling with time-varying covariates, found that TA ratings of the clinician correlated with symptom improvement as rated by the clinician, caregiver and youth. Additional analyses showed that decreases in clinician-rated youth TA was most important in predicting a lower rate of youth improvement. Implications for future research and clinical practice are discussed.     

Mothers’ and Fathers’ Ratings of Family Relationship Quality: Associations with Preadolescent and Adolescent Anxiety and Depressive Symptoms in a Clinical Sample

This study examined the independent associations among three family relationship quality factors—cohesion, expressiveness, and conflict—with youth self-reported depressive and anxiety symptoms in a clinical sample of anxious and depressed youth. Ratings of family relationship quality were obtained through both mother and father report. The sample included families of 147 preadolescents and adolescents (56.6 % female; 89.8 % Caucasian), 11–18 years old (M = 13.64, SD = 1.98) assigned a principal diagnosis of an anxiety or depressive disorder. When controlling for age and concurrent anxiety symptoms, regression analyses revealed that for boys, both father- and mother-rated family cohesion predicted depressive symptoms. For girls, mother-rated family expressiveness and conflict predicted depressive symptoms. Youth anxiety symptoms were not significantly associated with any family relationship variables, controlling for concurrent depressive symptoms. Findings suggest that parent-rated family relationship factors may be more related to youth depressive than anxiety symptoms in this clinical sample. In addition, family cohesion, as perceived by parents, may be more related to boys’ depression, whereas expressiveness and conflict (as rated by mothers) may be more related to girls’ depression. Clinical implications and recommendations for future research are discussed.     

Brief Report: Fathers’ and Mothers’ Ratings of Behavioral and Emotional Problems in Siblings of Children with Autism Spectrum Disorder

Debate is ongoing about whether typically developing siblings of children with autism spectrum disorder (ASD) are at greater risk of behavioral or emotional problems than siblings of children without ASD. Most data on behavior is provided by mothers, and we do not know whether fathers’ reports differ. The strengths and difficulties questionnaire (Goodman in J Child Psychol Psychiatry 38(5):581–586, 1997) was completed by 168 mothers and 130 fathers. Parents were more likely to rate siblings as having ‘abnormal’ behavior when compared to a normative population. We found moderate correlations between mother–father ratings. More research may be needed to understand any clinical benefits of gathering data about sibling adjustment from more than one parent in the family. Implications for clinical practice and future research are discussed.     

Do Parents and Clinicians Agree on Ratings of Autism-Related Behaviors at 12 Months of Age? A Study of Infants at High and Low Risk for ASD

Given the emphasis on early screening for ASD, it is crucial to examine the concordance between parent report and clinician observation of autism-related behaviors. Similar items were compared from the First Year Inventory (Baranek et al. First-Year Inventory (FYI) 2.0. University of North Carolina, Chapel Hill, 2003), a parent screener for ASD, and the ADOS-2 Toddler Module (Lord et al. 2013), a standardized ASD diagnostic tool. Measures were administered concurrently to 12-month-olds at high and low risk for ASD. Results suggest that clinicians and parents rated behaviors similarly. In addition, both informants rated high-risk infants as more impaired in several social-communication behaviors. Furthermore, the format of questions impacted agreement across observers. These findings have implications for the development of a new generation of screening instruments for ASD.     

Negative Affect Predicts Adults’ Ratings of the Current, but Not Childhood, Impact of Adverse Childhood Events

Adverse childhood events (ACE’s) have been empirically related to a wide range of negative health and mental health outcomes. However, not all individuals who experience ACE’s follow a trajectory of poor outcomes, and not all individuals perceive the impact of ACE’s as necessarily negative. The purpose of this study was to investigate positive and negative affect as predictors of adults’ ratings of both the childhood and adult impact of their childhood adversity. Self-report data on ACE experiences, including number, severity, and ‘impact’ were collected from 158 community members recruited on the basis of having adverse childhood experiences. Results indicated that, regardless of event severity and number of different types of adverse events experienced, high levels of negative affect were the strongest predictor of whether the adult impact of the adverse childhood events was rated as negative. All individuals rated the childhood impact of events the same. Implications are discussed.     

Behavioral Ratings of Executive Functioning Explain Instrumental Activities of Daily Living beyond Test Scores in Parkinson’s Disease

Objective: Executive dysfunction is common in Parkinson’s disease (PD), yet the relationship between executive functioning (EF) and instrumental activities of daily living (IADLs) is inconsistent. This inconsistency may be due to the limited relationship between EF test scores and behaviors. Rating scales provide a potential way to supplement test scores in predicting patient’s ability to complete IADLs by capturing a wide range of EF behaviors in their everyday environment. We hypothesized that informant-rated EF would provide incremental validity in predicting IADLs above and beyond EF test scores. Methods: Eighty-five patients were selected from a clinical neuropsychological database of PD patients evaluated for deep brain stimulation surgery at The Johns Hopkins Hospital between September 2006 and January 2015. Hierarchical regression was completed to determine the relationship between an EF behavioral rating scale (i.e., FrSBe), EF test scores, and IADLs. Results: The EF behavioral rating scale added incremental validity to neuropsychological test scores in predicting IADLs. Conclusions: Behavioral ratings of EF may provide additional information about how PD patients’ EF is influencing their everyday life.     

Parent–Teacher Disagreement on Ratings of Behavior Problems in Children with ASD: Associations with Parental School Involvement Over Time

ASD symptomology and behavioral problems pose challenges for children with ASD in school. Disagreement between parents and teachers in ratings of children’s behavior problems may provide clinically relevant information. We examined parent–teacher disagreement on ratings of behavior problems among children with ASD during the fall and spring of the school year. When child, teacher, and class characteristics were considered simultaneously, only ASD symptom severity predicted informant disagreement on internalizing and externalizing behavior problems. We also examined associations between informant disagreement and parent school involvement. Cross-lagged panel analyses revealed that higher informant disagreement on children’s behavior problems in the fall predicted lower parent school involvement in the spring, suggesting that greater informant agreement may foster parental school involvement over time.

     

Sperry and Hebb: oil and vinegar?

The interface between so-called activity-dependent and activity-independent mechanisms of circuit development is discussed here in light of recent findings that question the role of activity in brain development. This debate is presented simplistically here in terms of Sperry's chemoaffinity hypothesis versus Hebb's rules of correlation-based synaptic change, which are often presented as being mutually exclusive – much like oil and vinegar.     

Are the SSRIs and atypical antidepressants safe and effective for children and adolescents?

PURPOSE OF REVIEW: This article summarizes recent developments in the use of selective serotonin reuptake inhibitors and atypical antidepressants to treat children and adolescents with depression at a time when their use in this context has generated considerable controversy and confusion for clinicians, patients and their families. Recent reports and recommendations from drug regulators in the UK and the US are discussed, alongside other reviews and recently published randomized controlled trials. RECENT FINDINGS: It is now widely accepted that these drugs increase the risk of suicide-related behaviours and although recently published trials have been more positive, a meta-analysis of published and unpublished trials has cast doubt about efficacy. The evidence for publication bias in the studies considered is also raised and the implications discussed. There is some evidence, however, that the combination of psychological treatment with fluoxetine may be both effective and protective against the increased risk of suicide-related behaviours, although problems over blinding suggest further research is needed to clarify this potentially positive combination treatment. SUMMARY: Current evidence supports the conclusions of the UK drug regulator in warning against the use of all the newer antidepressants except fluoxetine in this age group, and alternative therapies should be sought in the first instance. Caution is needed in interpreting drug company sponsored trials given the evidence of selective reporting and publication bias. Combining fluoxetine with a psychological treatment such as cognitive-behavioural therapy is also worth considering.     

Do pregnancy and childbirth adversities predict infant crying and colic? Findings and recommendations

Bouts of unexplained crying in 1- to 3-month-old infants are a common problem for parents and health services. One proposed explanation has linked the crying to preceding adversities, such as maternal stress and cigarette smoking during pregnancy and complications during childbirth. In the first part of this review, we argue that studies of these links have methodological shortcomings, and make recommendations about the safeguards needed to overcome these shortcomings. In part two, we present a study that assesses the relations between adversity indices and validated measures of crying in two separate cohorts of infants. Four indices of childbirth adversity predicted infant crying separately and cumulatively in cohort 1, but not in cohort 2. We conclude that there is a need for further research that includes replication and other safeguards. Infant crying is a highly emotional issue for many parents. Before researchers add to their burden by claiming that maternal prenatal anxiety, cigarette smoking, or labour medication, contribute to their baby's crying, we need to be sure of our grounds.     

α-Synuclein and Parkinsonism: Updates and Future Perspectives

Mutations in the SNCA gene, which encodes the α-synuclein protein, were the first discovered genetic causes of familial parkinsonism with Lewy pathology. To date, six different SNCA missense mutations as well as multiplications are known to cause parkinsonism. For this review, we performed a literature search to identify all published cases of SNCA-related parkinsonism to provide an updated summary of the clinical and neuropathological features of parkinsonism due to SNCA mutations. Familial parkinsonism associated with SNCA is rare, but α-synuclein aggregation is a core feature of sporadic parkinsonism, including Parkinson’s disease, dementia with Lewy bodies, and multiple system atrophy. Research into α-synuclein and parkinsonism has impacted how we define the pathology and understand the pathogenesis of Parkinson’s disease and related neurodegenerative disorders. We briefly discuss some of the lessons we have learned from research into the physiological role of α-synuclein and its pathological links to neurodegeneration and parkinsonism.     

Ethics and pain: why and for whom?

This paper gives a historical overview to the development of this special issue of Pain Medicine. A brief synopsis of the articles of this issue is offered followed by a review of characteristics of pain, pain patients, and the system we practice in, that can lead to ethical dilemmas. These issues include the inherent difficulty of "curing" chronic pain, the psychopathology of chronic pain patients, end-of-life issues, the patient-physician relationship, the use of unproven methods, the vulnerability of pain patients, the increasing economic pressures of pain clinics, litigation, and the workers' compensation system.     

Dual diagnosis and psychosocial interventions—Introduction and commentary

Treatment of patients with concurrent mental illness and substance abuse represents a challenge to the traditional treatment systems. This article gives: 1) an introduction of the concept and frequency of dual diagnosis (DD), 2) a presentation and discussion of the latest guidelines on DD treatment, 3) status on the current situation in the DD field in Denmark, and 4) potentials for future research. The article is based on systematic examination of evidence-based research and popularized latest guidelines on DD treatment. Methodologically, both treatment and research is challenged by the diversity in DD combinations. Although integrated treatment with the inclusion of cognitive–behavioural therapy, motivational interviewing and family intervention in DD treatment show promising results, it remains to establish which treatment programme is the most qualified in improving mental health and reducing substance use. A future priority is the development of DD treatment that targets specific co-morbid combinations and treatment needs.     

Psychiatric and behavioral symptoms in Alzheimer’s disease and other dementias: Etiology and management

Psychiatric and behavioral symptoms are common in all types of dementia and have important consequences for patients, caregivers, and society. This paper reviews recent studies of the etiology and management of these symptoms. Genetic and neurochemical studies indicate that cholinergic, serotonergic, and dopaminergic systems may influence the risk of psychiatric symptoms in patients with dementia. There is still no consensus regarding the management of such symptoms. Controlled studies of psychosocial interventions, usually performed in the nursing home setting, report encouraging results. Atypical antipsychotics may be effective in some cases but have a high risk of adverse events. There is emerging evidence that cholinesterase inhibitors may reduce and prevent such symptoms. More studies are needed to clarify the role of cholinergic and other psychotropic agents as well as nonpharmacologic interventions for psychiatric and behavioral symptoms in patients with dementia.