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Validation study of PECC (Psychosis Evaluation tool for Common use by Caregivers): Interscale validity and inter-rater reliability

INTRODUCTION: PECC (Psychosis Evaluation tool for Common use by Caregivers) is a recently developed tool for the longitudinal evaluation and follow-up of psychotic patients. This integrated evaluation tool covers different functional and symptomatic outcome measures, which are relevant for both the patient and the planning of interventions. PECC was especially designed to be easily implementable in the daily practice of nursing work. In this study we aimed to evaluate the inter-rater and interscale validity of PECC. RESULTS: The results indicate that both the inter-rater validity and the interscale validity of PECC are satisfactory. CONCLUSION: PECC can now be implemented on a large scale. (Int J Psych Clin Pract 2002; 6: 135-140)

The assessment of creativity in creativity/psychopathology research – a systematic review

Introduction The possible link between creativity and psychopathology has been a long time focus of research up to the present day. However, this research is hampered by methodological problems, especially the definition and assessment of creativity. This makes interpretation and comparison of studies difficult and possibly accounts for the contradictory results of this research. Methods In this systematic review of the literature, research articles in the field of creativity and psychopathology were searched for creativity assessment tools. The tools used in the collected articles are presented and discussed. Results The results indicate that a multitude of creativity assessment tools were used, that many studies only used one tool to assess creativity and that most of these tools were only used in a limited number of studies. A few assessment tools stand out by a more frequent use, also outside psychopathological research, and more solid psychometric properties. Conclusion Most scales used to evaluate creativity have poor psychometric properties. The scattered methodology to assess creativity compromises the generalizability and validity of this research. The field should creatively develop new validated instruments.

Creativity and psychiatric illness: the search for a missing link--an historical context for current research.

Creativity is an important human quality upon which many achievements of humankind are based. Defined as the ability to produce something that is novel and useful or meaningful, it is difficult to operationalize for research. This text provides an overview of the historical and cultural context of this research. The assumption that creativity is related to psychiatric vulnerability dates back to antiquity. The modern interest in the subject stems from the romantic era and gained a scientific aura in the 19th century. In the 20th century, a further entanglement of creativity and psychopathology came about through the influence of patient artists on regular art. Psychometric, psychodiagnostic and genetic research supports a connection between creativity and psychiatric illness within the bipolar-psychotic continuum, with schizotypy/thymotypy as prototypes of creativity-related disorders. Evolutionary hypotheses link the schizophrenia paradox to a survival advantage through enhanced creative ability. The relevance of scientific research in this complex and heterogeneous area can be increased if creativity and psychopathology are further operationalized and if underlying art concepts are made explicit and placed in a broader cultural context. There is a continuing need for meaningful definitions and measures, as well as a multidisciplinary collaboration.

Creativity and Psychopathology: A Systematic Review

Background: The possible link between creativity and psychopathology has been a long-time focus of research up to the present day. However, the research results in this field are heterogeneous and contradictory. Links between creativity and specific psychiatric disorders have been confirmed and refuted in different studies. This disparity is partly explained by the methodological challenges peculiar to this field. Methods: In this systematic review of the literature from 1950, research articles in the field of creativity and psychopathology are presented, focusing on the methodology and results of the collected studies. Results: This review confirms the methodological problems and the heterogeneity of the study designs and results. The assessment of psychopathology, but more so of creativity, remains a fundamental challenge. On the whole, study results cautiously confirm an association between creativity and both bipolar disorder and schizotypy. Conclusion: The research on creativity and psychopathology is hampered by serious methodological problems. Study results are to be interpreted with caution and future research needs more methodological rigor.

Stigmatization of schizophrenia in Flemish newspapers

A considerable social stigma is attached to psychiatric disorders in general (Thornicroft, 2006). However, research also suggests differences between psychiatric disorders regarding stigma (Crisp et al., 2000; Rose et al., 2011). There are indications that the portrayal of schizophrenia in the media is particularly negative (Clement and Foster, 2008; Gerlinger et al., 2012). In order to assess this specific stigma,we systematically searched the websites of all seven Belgian Dutch-language newspapers over five years (2008–2012) for articles containing the Dutch equivalents for the words schizophrenia and schizophrenic(s). We followed the same procedure with the words autism and autist(ic/s). We chose autism as a comparator because of similarities in lifetime prevalence, genetic and neurodevelopmental etiology, chronicity, treatment and possible symptoms such as difficulty in abstract thinking and theory of mind, and social withdrawal. The articles obtained (N = 4181, 64.3% autism 37% schizophrenia and 1.3% both terms) were divided into four categories: positive (articles about fund raising, destigmatizing movies etc.), neutral (medical or administrative information), negative (stigmatizing information, e.g. linking the pathology with crime) and figurative use of the terms. As regards autism, the newspapers show a similar profile. The positive category is the largest for all newspapers (between 39.7% and 80.3% of the articles); the neutral category comes second for all but one newspaper. Articles with a negative content about autism (between 7.6% and 16.1% of the articles) and a figurative use of the term typically form the smallest categories. The figurative use of “autism” (referring to inappropriate social behavior), is very rare in newspapers with a large daily circulation but less rare in smaller newspapers (called “quality newspapers” in Flanders). An infamous incident involving figurative use of autism involved a politician calling the prime minister autistic, and afterwards apologizing... to people with autism. As regards schizophrenia, the general picture is very different. In most newspapers the negative category is the largest (up to 59.2% of the articles). Many of these articles state or suggest a link between schizophrenia and crime, e.g. in heavily mediatized murder cases. In most newspapers the second largest category is the figurative use of “schizophrenia” (up to 61.5% of the articles). Almost always, these are pejorative references to multiple personality, ambivalence or hypocrisy. In all newspapers, positive information about schizophrenia constitutes the smallest category. In summary, the Flemish newspapers paint a sympathizing, positive picture of people with autism, while predominantly stigmatizing people with schizophrenia. The difference in distribution of the categories between the two terms is highly significant (p b 0.0001). When correcting the data for differences in daily distribution, the con-

The Relationship between the Personality Inventory for the DSM-5 (PID-5) and the Psychotic Disorder in a clinical sample

Recent studies have successfully investigated the validity of the DSM-5 Alternative Model for Personality Disorders. In a final sample of 174 psychiatric patients, the present study examined the relationship between the Personality Inventory for the DSM-5 (PID-5) and syndromal psychosis. Results showed that patients diagnosed with versus without a psychotic disorder significantly differed on all PID-5 domains except Antagonism. Discriminant function analysis indicated that lower Detachment, lower Negative Affect, lower Disinhibition, and higher Psychoticism best discriminated patients with a psychotic disorder from patients with other psychiatric conditions. Subsequent stepwise discriminant analysis on all facet scales of the contributing PID-5 domains revealed that higher Unusual Beliefs, lower Depressivity, and lower Distractibility contributed the most to this differentiation. PID-5 Psychoticism scores showed moderate correlations with current psychotic symptoms and were not influenced by dose of antipsychotic medication. Our results support the ability of the PID-5 to discriminate between patients with and without psychotic disorder.

EPA-0679 - Stigmatization of schizophrenia in flemish newspapers

Background A considerable social stigma is attached to psychiatric disorders in general. However, research also shows differences between psychiatric disorders related to stigma. There are indications that the portrayal of schizophrenia in the media is particularly negative. Aim To compare the coverage of autism and schizophrenia in the Flemish newspapers regarding stigma. Method On the websites of the seven Flemish newspapers all articles published between 2008 and 2012 were screened for the keywords autism/autistic and schizophrenia/schizophrenic. The collected articles (N=4,181) were then graded to stigmatizing content. Results In the collected articles the coverage of autism was mostly positive and the coverage of schizophrenia was predominantly negative. The contrast is very substantial (p Conclusion The social stigma that rests on schizophrenia is poignantly reflected in the Flemish newspapers. The observation that a somewhat similar disorder such as autism is covered in a clearly more favorable way indicates that a more positive image of schizophrenia is not only desirable but also possible.