Katarina Stengler

The serotonin transporter availability in untreated early-onset and late-onset patients with obsessive-compulsive disorder.

The pathogenetic role of central serotonin transporters (SERT) in obsessive-compulsive disorder (OCD) has been investigated in vivo by positron emission tomography (PET) or single-photon emission computed tomography (SPECT) studies with inconsistent results. This might reflect methodological differences but possibly also the pathophysiological heterogeneity of the disorder, i.e. the age at onset of OCD. The aim of our study was to compare SERT availability in patients with OCD to healthy controls (HC) taking into account the onset type, other factors and covariates (e.g. SERT genotype, age, depression level, gender). We studied 19 drug-naive OCD patients (36±13 yr, eight females) with early onset (EO-OCD, n=6) or with late onset (LO-OCD, n=13), and 21 HC (38±8 yr, nine females) with PET and the SERT-selective radiotracer [11C]DASB. Statistical models indicated that a variety of covariates and their interaction influenced SERT availability measured by distribution volume ratios (DVR). These models revealed significant effects of onset type on DVR with lower values in LO-OCD (starting at age 18 yr) compared to EO-OCD and HC in limbic (e.g. the amygdala), paralimbic brain areas (the anterior cingulate cortex), the nucleus accumbens and striatal regions, as well as borderline significance in the thalamus and the hypothalamus. The putamen, nucleus accumbens and hypothalamus were found with significant interaction between two SERT gene polymorphisms (SERT-LPR and VNTR). These findings suggest that late but not early onset of OCD is associated with abnormally low SERT availability. In part, functional polymorphisms of the SERT gene might determine the differences.

Altered EEG lagged coherence during rest in obsessive–compulsive disorder

OBJECTIVE Functional magnetic resonance imaging (fMRI) studies found alterations of functional connectivity in obsessive compulsive disorder (OCD). However, there is little knowledge about region of interest (ROI) based electroencephalogram (EEG) connectivity, i.e. lagged non-linear and linear coherence in OCD. Goal of this study was to compare these EEG measures during rest and at different vigilance stages between patients and healthy controls (HC). METHODS A 15 min resting-state EEG was recorded in 30 unmedicated patients and 30 matched HC. Intracortical lagged non-linear coherence of the main EEG-frequency bands within a set of frontal ROIs and within the default mode network (DMN) were computed and compared using intracortical exact low resolution electromagnetic tomography (eLORETA) software. RESULTS Lagged non-linear but not linear coherence was significantly decreased for patients in comparison to HC for the beta 2 frequency between frontal brain areas but not within the DMN. When analysing separate EEG-vigilance stages, only high vigilance stages yielded decreased frontal phase synchronisation at beta and theta frequencies. CONCLUSIONS The results underline an altered neuronal communication within frontal brain areas during rest in OCD. SIGNIFICANCE These findings encourage further research on connectivity measures as possible biomarkers for physiological homogeneous subgroups.

Does "thinking about thinking" interfere with memory? An experimental memory study in obsessive-compulsive disorder.

Neuropsychological assessments of participants with obsessive-compulsive disorder (OCD) indicate impaired verbal memory if to be remembered material has to be organized. People with OCD also tend to focus their attention on their thoughts (heightened cognitive self-consciousness). We tested the hypothesis that cognitive self-consciousness causes verbal memory deficits by provoking a division of attention between study task and thoughts. Thirty-six participants with OCD, 36 matched healthy controls and 36 participants with major depressive disorder (MDD) learned under proactive interference in three study conditions: single-task condition, condition with heightened cognitive self-consciousness and condition with an external secondary task. Memory was impaired in the cognitive self-consciousness condition compared to both other conditions. Independent of condition, participants with OCD showed a reduced memory performance compared to healthy controls, but did not differ from participants with MDD. Our results are in line with the hypothesis that cognitive self-consciousness causes memory impairment.

Berufliche Rehabilitation bei schweren psychischen Erkrankungen

Work and employment are basic human rights. Work therapy has a long-standing tradition in mental health care. Integrating people with severe mental illness into jobs has always been considered indispensable. Germany has a good legal framework for work rehabilitation and there is solid evidence of effectiveness for a range of interventions. International models of work integration have not been implemented to a sufficient degree and this may be one of the reasons for limited success in work rehabilitation for people with mental illnesses. The need for work rehabilitation measures and the available evidence are outlined. Social legislation, conceptual and organizational aspects of rehabilitation are described. International comparisons suggest that the care system will have to integrate prevention, curative treatment, rehabilitation and long-term care in a better way.ZusammenfassungArbeit ist nicht nur ein Bedürfnis, sondern auch ein Grundrecht aller Menschen. Berufliche Tätigkeit hat in der Psychiatrie eine lange Tradition; ihr wurde zu allen Zeiten ein großer Stellenwert im therapeutischen Prozess beigemessen. Für die berufliche Rehabilitation gibt es in Deutschland hinreichende gesetzliche Grundlagen, gute Evidenz einzelner Maßnahmen und eine breite Basis für strukturelle Umsetzungen. Erfahrungen aus international erfolgreichen Modellen finden allerdings noch zu wenig Anwendung in der praktischen Gestaltung, was die zurückhaltenden Erfolge bei der Integration psychisch Kranker in den ersten Arbeitsmarkt erklärt. Auf der Basis des aktuellen wissenschaftlichen Kenntnisstandes wird dargestellt, wie berufliche Rehabilitation bei Menschen mit psychischen Erkrankungen erfolgreich sein kann. Orientiert an den sozialrechtlichen Gegebenheiten in Deutschland werden Formen, Inhalte, konzeptuelle Schwerpunkte und Organisationsstrukturen der Rehabilitation mit ihren Möglichkeiten und Grenzen aufgezeigt. Mit Blick auf internationale Perspektiven der Rehabilitation bleibt abschließend der Konsens darüber, dass zukünftig Versorgungssysteme anzustreben sind, die Prävention, kurative Behandlung, Rehabilitation und Nachsorge besser miteinander verzahnen.SummaryWork and employment are basic human rights. Work therapy has a long-standing tradition in mental health care. Integrating people with severe mental illness into jobs has always been considered indispensable. Germany has a good legal framework for work rehabilitation and there is solid evidence of effectiveness for a range of interventions. International models of work integration have not been implemented to a sufficient degree and this may be one of the reasons for limited success in work rehabilitation for people with mental illnesses. The need for work rehabilitation measures and the available evidence are outlined. Social legislation, conceptual and organizational aspects of rehabilitation are described. International comparisons suggest that the care system will have to integrate prevention, curative treatment, rehabilitation and long-term care in a better way.

Inpatient or outpatient rehabilitation after herniated disc surgery? - Setting-specific preferences, participation and outcome of rehabilitation.

Objective To examine rehabilitation preferences, participation and determinants for the choice of a certain rehabilitation setting (inpatient vs. outpatient) and setting-specific rehabilitation outcomes. Methods The longitudinal observational study referred to 534 consecutive disc surgery patients (18–55 years). Face-to-face baseline interviews took place about 3.6 days after disc surgery during acute hospital stay. 486 patients also participated in a follow-up interview via telephone three months later (dropout-rate: 9%). The following instruments were used: depression and anxiety (Hospital Anxiety and Depression Scale), pain intensity (numeric analog scale), health-related quality of life (Short Form 36 Health Survey), subjective prognosis of gainful employment (SPE-scale) as well as questions on rehabilitation attendance, return to work, and amount of sick leave days. Results The vast majority of patients undergoing surgery for a herniated disc attended a post-hospital rehabilitation treatment program (93%). Thereby two-thirds of these patients took part in an inpatient rehabilitation program (67.9%). Physical, psychological, vocational and health-related quality of life characteristics differed widely before as well as after rehabilitation depending on the setting. Inpatient rehabilitees were significantly older, reported more pain, worse physical quality of life, more anxiety and depression and a worse subjective prognosis of gainful employment before rehabilitation. Pre-rehabilitation differences remained significant after rehabilitation. More than half of the outpatient rehabilitees (56%) compared to only one third of the inpatient rehabilitees (33%) returned to work three months after disc surgery (p<.001). Conclusion The results suggest a “pre-selection” of patients with better health status in outpatient rehabilitation. Gaining better knowledge about setting-specific selection processes may help optimizing rehabilitation allocation procedures and improve rehabilitation effects such as return to work.

Risk Factors for Postoperative Pain Intensity in Patients Undergoing Lumbar Disc Surgery: A Systematic Review

Objectives Pain relief has been shown to be the most frequently reported goal by patients undergoing lumbar disc surgery. There is a lack of systematic research investigating the course of postsurgical pain intensity and factors associated with postsurgical pain. This systematic review focuses on pain, the most prevalent symptom of a herniated disc as the primary outcome parameter. The aims of this review were (1) to examine how pain intensity changes over time in patients undergoing surgery for a lumbar herniated disc and (2) to identify socio-demographic, medical, occupational and psychological factors associated with pain intensity. Methods Selection criteria were developed and search terms defined. The initial literature search was conducted in April 2015 and involved the following databases: Web of Science, Pubmed, PsycInfo and Pubpsych. The course of pain intensity and associated factors were analysed over the short-term (≤ 3 months after surgery), medium-term (> 3 months and < 12 months after surgery) and long-term (≥ 12 months after surgery). Results From 371 abstracts, 85 full-text articles were reviewed, of which 21 studies were included. Visual analogue scales indicated that surgery helped the majority of patients experience significantly less pain. Recovery from disc surgery mainly occurred within the short-term period and later changes of pain intensity were minor. Postsurgical back and leg pain was predominantly associated with depression and disability. Preliminary positive evidence was found for somatization and mental well-being. Conclusions Patients scheduled for lumbar disc surgery should be selected carefully and need to be treated in a multimodal setting including psychological support.

The impact of attentional and emotional demands on memory performance in obsessive-compulsive disorder

Lower performance on memory tests in obsessive-compulsive disorder (OCD) has been repeatedly observed. However, the origins of these performance deficits are not sufficiently explained. In this study we tested if OCD-related extensive focus of attention on thoughts (heightened self-consciousness) could be an explanatory mechanism for lower memory performance. Heightened situational self-consciousness was manipulated by instructing participants to either monitor neutral thoughts or to monitor OCD-related thoughts. We included a Behavioral Avoidance Task based on individual obsessions and compulsions to induce OCD-related thoughts. Participants were asked to perform these monitoring tasks in parallel to a taxing verbal memory task, resulting in learning under divided attention. The two conditions of learning under divided attention were compared to a single-task condition. Twenty-four participants with OCD and 24 healthy controls took part in these three learning conditions. The results indicate that in both groups memory performance deteriorated in the two conditions with divided attention compared to the single task condition. In the OCD-related thought monitoring condition (OTM) self-consciousness and Behavioral Avoidance Task-induced stress and fear were particularly increased and memory performance further deteriorated in the OCD group. This finding highlights an important and underestimated mechanism (personal involvement) which might serve to better understand lower memory performance in OCD.

The Course of Pain Intensity in Patients Undergoing Herniated Disc Surgery: A 5-Year Longitudinal Observational Study.

Objectives The aims of this study are to answer the following questions (1) How does the pain intensity of lumbar and cervical disc surgery patients change within a postoperative time frame of 5 years? (2) Which sociodemographic, medical, work-related, and psychological factors are associated with postoperative pain in lumbar and cervical disc surgery patients? Methods The baseline survey (T0; n = 534) was conducted 3.6 days (SD 2.48) post-surgery in the form of face-to-face interviews. The follow-up interviews were conducted 3 months (T1; n = 486 patients), 9 months (T2; n = 457), 15 months (T3; n = 438), and 5 years (T4; n = 404) post-surgery. Pain intensity was measured on a numeric rating-scale (NRS 0–100). Estimated changes to and influences on postoperative pain by random effects were accounted by regression models. Results Average pain decreased continuously over time in patients with lumbar herniated disc (Wald Chi² = 25.97, p<0.001). In patients with cervical herniated disc a reduction of pain was observed, albeit not significant (Chi² = 7.02, p = 0.135). Two predictors were associated with postoperative pain in lumbar and cervical disc surgery patients: the subjective prognosis of gainful employment (p<0.001) and depression (p<0.001). Conclusion In the majority of disc surgery patients, a long-term reduction of pain was observed. Cervical surgery patients seemed to benefit less from surgery than the lumbar surgery patients. A negative subjective prognosis of gainful employment and stronger depressive symptoms were associated with postoperative pain. The findings may promote multimodal rehabilitation concepts including psychological and work-related support.

Likely impact of the UN Convention on disability on mental health services

Purpose of review After a large majority of UN member states ratified the Convention on the Rights of Persons with Disabilities (UNCRPD), this article aims to provide an overview of its implementation and possible effects in the area of mental health services in individual contract states. Recent findings This article looks at the implementation processes of the UNCRPD in individual industrialized, emerging and developing countries. In addition to changes in national legislation, potential influences on the supply and support systems for persons with mental illness are considered. Positive approaches and efforts are described. Difficulties and barriers that could be responsible for the long process of implementation of the UNCRPD are described, and so is the restructuring and development of adequate supply and support systems in the area of mental healthcare in industrialized, emerging and developed countries. Summary The UNCRPD is a groundbreaking encouragement for various changes in the area of mental health services. The path to subject orientation and individual support structures is long and slow in all countries – in industrialized, emerging and developed countries. National law and health legislation must be adjusted and developed to create an obligatory context for inclusive services required for persons with mental illnesses. Community-based care is prioritized, and this facilitates participation and inclusion.

Supported Employment – ein falsches Konzept für Deutschland? – Kontra

Deutschland etablierten Pre-VocationalTraining (PVT)-Ansatzen. In diesem Zusammenhang wurden die Ergebnisse der europaischen Multicenterstudie EQOLISE [3] mit besonderem Interesse aufgenommen: Aufgrund der nicht signifikanten Wiedereingliederungsergebnisse unter SE-Bedingungen in Deutschland entzundete sich eine bis heute andauernde kontroverse Diskussion hinsichtlich der Ubertragbarkeit des SE-Konzepts auf deutsche Verhaltnisse und es gab einen kontrovers aufgenommenen Niederschlag der internationalen SE-Evidenz in der DGPPN S3Leitlinie Psychosoziale Therapien [2]. Hier wurden beide Formen beruflicher Integration nahezu gleichberechtigt nebeneinander gestellt mit nur geringgradiger Abweichung der Starke der Empfehlungen. Mittlerweile liegen weitere Studien mit starker Evidenz fur den SE-Ansatz vor – die Gruppe um Holger Hoffmann hat jungst in einer 5-Jahres-Katamnesebeeindruckende Daten zur Uberlegenheit des SE-Ansatzes gegenuber PVTvorgelegt [4]. Zudem prasentiert eine aktuell publizierte Arbeit zu Pradiktoren des Erfolgs von SE aus der Gruppe um Kawohl sehr differenziert eine Unterscheidung zwischen den beiden Formen von Arbeitsrehabilitation [5]. Demnach scheint der Erfolg von SE ganz besonders von der Einhaltung der IPS-Prinzipien, also der Modelltreue abhangig zu sein. Daruber hinaus wird sowohl der Kontinuitat als auch der inhaltlichen Qualitat der Beziehung zwischen Betroffenen und Job-Coach ein besonders hoher Stellenwert beigemessen. Wichtig scheintauserdem,dasssichdie(Routine-)