Georgios Garyfallos

Comorbidity of psychiatric disorders with Internet addiction in a clinical sample: the effect of personality, defense style and psychopathology.

This study aims to contribute to the understanding of underlying causes for the development of Internet Addiction Disorder (IAD) and assess comorbidity with other mental disorders through the analysis of data from a clinical sample of college students who presented for treatment of IAD. The clinical sample of our study has demonstrated a high percentage of comorbidity with Axis I and II disorders, while the temporal precedence of the establishment of those disorders cannot lead to specific conclusions. Half of the sample (25/50) presented with comorbidity of another Axis I disorder and 38% (19/50) with a concurrent Axis II personality disorder. The majority of Axis I disorders (51.85%) were reported before the onset of IAD, 33.3% after the onset while it was unclear in 14.81% of cases. The examination of a path model demonstrated that important contributions to the understanding of this disorder can be made through concepts from the neurobiological, trait personality paradigm, as well as from the psychodynamic defense style paradigm. Comorbid psychopathology can further exacerbate the presentation of IAD through a direct link, regardless of the underlying personality structure. The clinician treating IAD patients should complete a clinical evaluation for comorbid Axis I and II diagnoses since their presence may signify a more serious presentation.

Pregabalin abuse after past substance-seeking behavior.

Pregabalin is a prescription drug, structurally related to the neurotransmitter GABA. Following the rapidly increasing use of pregabalin, data signaling its abuse liability have been published recently. We report a case of a 19-year-old man with a history of cannabis and alcohol-seeking behavior that showed similar drug-seeking behavior with pregabalin. This report highlights the potential for abuse of pregabalin in patients with a history of substance-seeking behavior. Considering that the drug has recently been proposed as a treatment for alcohol- and benzodiazepine-dependence a better clarification of its abuse potential is essential.

The Relationship Between Personality, Defense Styles, Internet Addiction Disorder, and Psychopathology in College Students

The purpose of this study is to assess any underlying links between personality, defense styles, Internet addiction disorder (IAD), and psychopathology in a college student sample. This is a cross-sectional study of fourth-year Greek Medical students who responded in a comprehensive test battery, which included validated questionnaires on IAD, personality traits, patterns of psychological defense styles, and psychopathology symptoms. A path model that was tested using Partial Least Squares (PLS) methodology showed that the defense styles employed by the students and certain personality traits (Impulsivity, Sensation Seeking, Neuroticism/Anxiety, and Aggression-Hostility) contributed to the prediction of variability in IAD, with IAD in turn predicting variability in overt psychopathology.

Resilience in Patients With Recent Diagnosis of a Schizophrenia Spectrum Disorder.

Abstract This study focused on resilience in patients who recently received a diagnosis of schizophrenia spectrum disorder (SSD). Psychopathological symptoms, depressive symptoms, and hopelessness were considered as sources of stress in the context of psychosis. Forty-eight SSD patients (mean period between diagnosis and recruitment, 20.79 months) were enrolled. Psychopathological symptoms were assessed by the Positive and Negative Syndrome Scale, depression by the Calgary Depression Scale for Schizophrenia, hopelessness by the Beck Hopelessness Scale, and functioning by the Social and Occupational Functioning Scale. Resilience was evaluated by the Connor-Davidson Resilience Scale, which was additionally completed by 81 healthy controls. Patients demonstrated less resilience than did healthy participants. Female patients showed higher resilience levels and functioning than did males. High resilience levels were associated with less severe positive symptoms, general psychopathological symptoms, depression, and hopelessness. Apart from negative symptoms, results indicated that resilience may be a potential moderator of functioning. Thus, resilience-oriented interventions might constitute an additional therapeutic approach for SSD patients.

ABCB1 and CYP2D6 polymorphisms and treatment response of psychotic patients in a naturalistic setting

The aim of our study was to examine the association between ABCB1 polymorphisms G2677T/A (rs2032582) and C3435T (rs1045642) and common CYP2D6 variants, with the response to antipsychotic treatment of psychotic patients, in a naturalistic setting, in Greece.

Evidence for Hypothalamus-Pituitary-Adrenal Axis and Immune Alterations at Prodrome of Psychosis in Males

We aimed to investigate the inflammatory substrate in psychosis by evaluating both the Hypothalamus-Pituitary-Adrenal axis function and immune state at prodrome. This involved the recruitment of Ultra High Risk (UHR) of Psychosis subjects, Healthy Controls (HC) and patients with established Schizophrenia (CHRON). Serum cortisol at 3 different times throughout the day was measured. The Dexamethasone Suppression Test was performed plus 12 circulating cytokines were measured. The UHR subjects presented increased IL-4 levels compared with both the HC and CHRON patients. In contrast the UHR differed only from the CHRON group regarding the endocrine parameters. In conclusion, IL-4 appears to play a key role at prodrome.

Comparison of alternate personality models in psychopathology assessment.

This study assessed the results from the parallel application of two alternate personality models, the Zuckerman-Kuhlman trait model and Bonds Defense Styles, in a sample of 268 Greek medical students (172 women, M age = 22.0 yr., SD = 1.1; 95 men, M age = 22.3 yr., SD = 1.2) in relation to psychopathological symptoms, so as to clarify whether this practice yielded accurate results while avoiding shared variance. Data from both models are cross-checked with canonical correlation analysis to validate whether there was significant conceptual overlap between them that would mean that their parallel use is an ineffective research practice. Following this analysis, factors from both models are utilized to predict variance in sample psychopathology, so as to compare their relative usefulness. Results indicated that the two models did not share a significant amount of variance, while a combination of personality aspects from both models, including Impulsive Sensation-Seeking, Neuroticism-Anxiety, Aggression-Hostility, and Sociability traits and Maladaptive Action, Image Distorting, and Adaptive Action defense styles, predicted high variance in psychopathology symptoms.

Compulsive buying: a review

Background Compulsive or pathological buying (or oniomania) is defined as frequent preoccupation with buying or impulses to buy that are experienced as irresistible, intrusive, and/or senseless. The buying behavior causes marked distress, interferes with social functioning, and often results in financial problems. It should be diagnosed as impulse control disorder not otherwise specified (ICD-10 F63.9). Compulsive buying has received increased research attention in the last decade.

Social cognition in the course of psychosis and its correlation with biomarkers in a male cohort

ABSTRACT Introduction: Patients diagnosed with schizophrenia display deficits in Theory of Mind (ToM) and Emotion Perception (EP) even before the appearance of full-blown symptomatology. Methods: We evaluated ToM and EP in a male cohort consisting of 25 First Episode Psychosis (FEP) and 16 relapsed schizophrenic patients (CHRON) compared to 12 subjects in Ultra-high Risk (UHR) and 23 healthy controls (CTR). Furthermore, we measured the levels of Cortisol, Insulin like Growth Factor (IGF-1), TNF-a, TNF-b and several interleukins as potential biomarkers. Results: Deficits in EP and ToM were found in FEP, CHRON patients and UHR subjects compared to CTR. The impairments in these two domains seem to follow different patterns in the course of psychosis. EP was more impaired in subjects with a longer history of symptomatology whereas there was no statistically significant difference regarding ToM. On the other hand IL-4 was the only biomarker correlated to ToM and EP scores in two different samples of our study. Conclusion: Social Cognition (SC) domains are impaired in patients with psychosis as well as in UHR subjects compared to healthy controls. There are differences in the progress of ToM and EP deficits in the course of psychosis. Interleukins as IL-4 could correlate to SC.

Substance Use Among Medical Students in Greece

Introduction Limited research exists worldwide on medical students’ substance use patterns including alcohol and marijuana use. Aim The aim of the study was to examine the prevalence of substance use, including marijuana, alcohol and other illicit substances (i.e. cocaine, hallucinogens and ecstasy) in a sample of medical students in Greece. Methods 655 students from the School of Medicine of Thessaloniki completed an anonymous, web-based survey including the CAGE questionnaire for alcohol abuse. Students were asked to report the frequency (lifetime, past year, past month) and the motive of the use. Results 72% percent of the students reported having never used any illegal substance and 21% reported marijuana use at least once in their lifetime. 20.9 % were nicotine smokers. No gender difference regarding marijuana use was observed. Marijuana users underestimated the risk of marijuana use on their health compared to non users. Although the relative mean Cage scores are low indicating a lack of severe alcohol related problems in our sample, there is a significantly higher mean CAGE score in students who use marijuana. The use of other illicit substances was rare (3% used inhalers, 2.3 % cocaine, 2.3% ecstasy, 2% ketamine, 1.8% amphetamines and 1.7% mephedrone). However, the use of marijuana was significantly correlated with use of cocaine, LSD, ecstasy, ketamine, amphetamine and mephedrone. Conclusions The findings represent initial data on the prevalence of substance use among Greek medical students. Nationwide studies are needed further investigating the prevalence, the motivation and the impact of this risky behaviour among this population.