Nazanin Alavi

Gender Differences in Life Events Prior to Onset of Major Depressive Disorder: The Moderating Effect of Age

Theoretical models attempting to explain why approximately twice as many women as men suffer from depression often involve the role of stressful life events. However, detailed empirical evidence regarding gender differences in rates of life events that precede onset of depression is lacking, due in part to the common use of checklist assessments of stress that have been shown to possess poor validity. The present study reports on a combined sample of 375 individuals drawn from 4 studies in which all participants were diagnosed with major depressive disorder and assessed with the Life Events and Difficulties Schedule (Bifulco et al., 1989), a state-of-the-art contextual interview and life stress rating system. Women reported significantly more severe and nonsevere, independent and dependent, and other-focused and subject-focused life events prior to onset of depression than did men. Further, these relations were significantly moderated by age, such that gender differences in rates of most types of events were found primarily in young adulthood. These results are discussed in term of their implications for understanding the etiological role of stressful life events in depression.

Bullying Victimization (Being Bullied) Among Adolescents Referred for Urgent Psychiatric Consultation: Prevalence and Association With Suicidality.

Objective: To examine the prevalence of bullying victimization among adolescents referred for urgent psychiatric consultation, to study the association between bullying victimization and suicidality, and to examine the relation between different types of bullying and suicidality. Method: A retrospective chart review was conducted for all adolescents referred to a hospital-based urgent consultation clinic. Our study sample consisted of adolescents with a history of bullying victimization. The Research Ethics Board of Queens University provided approval. Data analysis was conducted using SPSS (IBM SPSS Inc, Armonk, NY). Chi-square tests were used for sex, suicidal ideation, history of physical and sexual abuse, and time and type of bullying, and an independent sample t test was used for age. Results: The prevalence of bullying victimization was 48.5% (182 of 375). There was a significant association between being bullied and suicidal ideation (P = 0.01), and between sex and suicidal ideation (P = 0.001). Victims of cyberbullying reported more suicidal ideation than those who experienced physical or verbal bullying (P = 0.04). Conclusions: Bullying victimization, especially cyberbullying, is associated with increased risk of suicidal ideation among adolescents referred for psychiatric risk assessment. The detailed history of the type and duration of bullying experienced by the victims should be considered when conducting a psychiatric risk assessment.

Effectiveness of online versus live multi-family psychoeducation group therapy for children and adolescents with mood or anxiety disorders: a pilot study

Abstract Objective: [1] To highlight the effectiveness of multi-family psychoeducation group therapy (MFPGT) in children with mood or anxiety disorders; [2] to measure change in knowledge and awareness of mood and anxiety disorders in families and children; and [3] to compare the relative effectiveness of online compared to live MFPGT. Method: Participants included families of children (12 years or younger) referred with a mood or anxiety disorder to the Division of Child and Adolescent Psychiatry at Queen’s University (n=16) who were on a waitlist to see a psychiatrist. Change was measured through questionnaires for all parents before and after the program. Using SPSS v22, comparisons between the online (n=6) and live (n=10) groups were made using the Mann-Whitney U test and within group comparisons were made using Wilcoxon signed-rank test. Results: The online and live education groups showed similar overall improvements in knowledge acquisition and expressed emotion in participating families. However, statistical significance must be interpreted with caution due to the small sample size. Conclusions: Online MFPGT may be an effective way to increase knowledge, provide resources and support and build on skills thus giving individuals more control and confidence when dealing with a mood or anxiety disorder while on a waitlist. MFPGT showed equal efficacy in live and online groups, indicating that the online program has the potential to be a more convenient and accessible program for families. More research is needed with a greater sample size.

Improving suicide risk assessment in the emergency department through physician education and a suicide risk assessment prompt

OBJECTIVE To determine the efficacy of two interventions on suicide risk assessment within emergency departments (EDs) on improving the documentation of suicide risk factors by emergency medicine and psychiatric physicians during suicide risk assessment. METHOD An educational intervention on suicide was provided to all emergency medicine and psychiatry physicians and was followed by the placement of a suicide risk assessment prompt within local EDs. The medical charts of all ED patients presenting with suicidal ideation or behaviours were reviewed immediately and six months after the interventions and compared to pre-intervention. Differences in the documentation of 40 biopsychosocial suicide risk factors between specialties and after the interventions were determined. RESULTS The documentation of 34/40 (p ≤ 0.008) and 33/40 (p ≤ 0.009) suicide risk factors was significantly improved by emergency medicine and psychiatry physicians, respectively, after the interventions and maintained six months later. Immediately and six months after the interventions, the documentation of 8/40 (p ≤ 0.041) and 14/40 (p ≤ 0.048) suicide risk factors, respectively, significantly differed between specialties. CONCLUSION This suggests that providing a brief educational intervention on suicide to emergency medicine and psychiatry physicians followed by placing a prompt for important, yet commonly undocumented risk factors within the ED is a low-cost and effective intervention for improving documentation of suicide risk assessments within the ED.

Assessing Suicide Risk: What is Commonly Missed in the Emergency Room?

Objective: Although risk assessment for suicide has been extensively studied, it is still an inexact process. The current study determined how busy emergency clinicians actually assessed and documented suicide risk, while also examining the differences between psychiatric and emergency medicine opinions on the importance of various suicide predictors. Method: Phase 1 of the study involved the administration of a survey on the relative importance of various suicide predictors for the specialties of psychiatry and emergency medicine. In phase 2 of the study, a chart review of psychiatric emergency room patients was conducted to determine the actual documentation rates of the suicide predictors. Results: Several predictors that were deemed to be important, including suicidal plan, intent for suicide, having means available for suicide, and practicing suicide (taking different steps leading up to suicide but not actually attempting suicide), had low documentation rates. Conclusions: Medical specialties have different opinions on the importance of various suicide predictors. Also, some predictors deemed important had low documentation rates. Educational interventions and simple assessment tools may help to increase documentation rates of several suicide predictors in busy clinical settings.

Online CBT Is Effective in Overcoming Cultural and Language Barriers in Patients With Depression.

Objective: The goal of this study was to evaluate the efficacy of weekly email in delivering online cognitive behavioral therapy (CBT) to treat mild to moderately depressed individuals. The effectiveness of the online CBT was measured following treatment and then again at a 6-month follow-up and was compared with outcomes in a waitlist control group. Methods: Participants were recruited through announcements on psychology Web sites, Iranian organization Web sites, and weblogs and flyers. Ninety-three individuals who met inclusion criteria, including a score >18 on the Beck Depression Inventory (BDI), participated in the study, with 47 randomly assigned to the CBT group and 46 to the control group. The CBT group received 10 to 12 sessions of online CBT conducted by a psychiatrist and a psychiatry resident. Following completion of the CBT, a second BDI was sent to participants. Another BDI was then sent to participants 6 months after the completion of treatment. Results: Email-based CBT significantly reduced BDI scores compared with results in a waitlist control group following 10 to 12 weeks of treatment and at 6-month follow-up. Conclusions: Email is a viable method for delivering CBT to individuals when face-to-face interaction is not possible. Limitations and future directions are discussed.

Outcome Study of Intensive Day Treatment for Children with Pervasive Developmental Disorders

Objectives: a) To study the characteristics of children referred to day treatment for Pervasive Developmental Disorders (PDD). b) To study association between outcome and the variables understudy. Method: This was a retrospective chart review of all children and adolescents with PDD, who attended a hospital based Day treatment program. Demographic data and variables such as type of community classroom they came from, Length of Stay (LOS), full scale IQ scores, DSM-IV Diagnosis and type of placement at discharge were extracted. Descriptive statistic was used for categorical data and multinomial logistic regression was used for association between outcome and variables understudy. Results: There was an association between gender and outcome, females had better outcome than males. 2/3 of the patients with and without comorbidities had a significant reduction in behavioral symptoms allowing successful reintegration into community schools. Conclusions: A proportion of children with Autistic Spectrum Disorder (ASD) present with severe emotional and behavioral dysregulation which are unmanageable. These children have multiple comorbidities and require more intensive longitudinal assessment by a skilled multidisciplinary team and specific evidence -based interventions to enable them to return to community school. Intensive Day treatment in a therapeutic classroom by skilled multidisciplinary staff reduces the impairing behaviors and allows families and schools to better manage these children.

Comparison of parental socio-demographic factors in children and adolescents presenting with internalizing and externalizing disorders.

Abstract Objective: This study aimed to: (a) examine parental socio-demographic factors in children and adolescents referred to an outpatient service for internalizing and externalizing disorders, and (b) compare the demographic variables and diagnoses for the two diagnostic groups. Methods: Parents of all children who were referred to the child and adolescent outpatient service were asked to participate. Following their informed consent, they completed a socio-demographic questionnaire for themselves and a Child Behaviour Checklist (CBCL) for their child. The CBCL scores and the diagnoses assigned by the psychiatrists were then recorded for each child. Diagnoses were classified as internalizing or externalizing based on the primary DSM-IV diagnosis assigned by the psychiatrists. Data for the two groups were compared for study variables using Pearson correlation, t-tests, one-way ANOVA and logistic regression. Results: Children who had externalizing disorders tended to live with unemployed single parents who had lower education levels and lived in rented or assisted housing. Children with internalizing problems tended to live in owned homes with employed parents. There was no significant association between age or gender for either group. Conclusion: Previous literature has reported an association between low SES and more mental health problems; however, the relationship between different indicators of SES and diagnosis is not clear. Despite small numbers, our study revealed significant differences between the parental socio-demographic factors for externalizing compared with internalizing disorders.

Challenges of Suicide Risk Assessment in Emergency Rooms

Introduction Suicidal behaviour is one of the most common reasons for presentation to the emergency rooms. Perhaps the most frequently examined topic in the field of suicidology, is the degree to which death by suicide can be predicted. Moreover, some suicide risk factors may not be included consistently in the suicidal risk assessments in the emergency room. Objectives Understand the suicide risk predictors that are most important in decision making in the emergency room, risk factors that often get missed in the emergency room assessments Aim We aim to use the results of this study to implement educational intervention that gears towards improving suicidal risk assessment and documentation in emergency room. Method An online survey was sent to all psychiatry and emergency physicians at Queens university to assess their opinion on predictors of suicide while assessing patients. The importance of predictors was compared between 2 groups. In addition charts of all patients assessed for suicide risk were reviewed. Suicide predictors assessed, the clinical decision made and the suicide predictors missed at the time of assessment, were recorded. Results Our study shows that although there is a significant links between bullying and childhood trauma, and suicidal behaviour, these predictors were not commonly assessed. The result of our study also shows that many predictors deemed important by physicians are missed on actual assessment. Conclusion Our study shows that many important suicidal risk factors are missed in emergency room assessments. It is important that physicians identify these risk factors while assessing suicidality.

Maintenance Repetitive Transcranial Magnetic Stimulation (RTMS) in Relapse Prevention of Depression

Introduction Depression is the most prevalent mental health condition with high morbidity and mortality. rTMS is an alternative treatment of acute depression validated in controlled trials. rTMS was approved by FDA for treatment of unipolar non-psychotic depression in patients who have failed one adequate antidepressant trial (Lisanby, 2009). Maintenance application of rTMS in depression remains under – researched. Objectives To investigate published evidence of maintenance rTMS in unipolar and bipolar depression. Methods Systematic review of maintenance rTMS studies in unipolar and bipolar depression was conducted. An electronic search was carried out including The Cochrane Library, MEDLINE (1988-2014), EMBASE (1974-2014), and Psych Lit (1980-2014). References of selected articles were searched manually. English-language case reports, case series, cohort studies and controlled trials were selected. Studies reporting maintenance rTMS equal or less then 3 month were excluded. Results 8 case reports, 5 case series, 1 retrospective cohort study and 4 prospective open-label studies were critically appraised. No RCTs were available. Most patients reported had prolonged treatment-resistant depression. Considerable heterogeneity in maintenance rTMS frequency and parameters was observed. All studies reported short-term prolongation of remission period or preservation of acute treatment gains. Few rTMS studies reported longer-term maintenance treatment. Conclusions rTMS appears to be a viable well-tolerated option for maintenance treatment of unipolar and bipolar depression either as monotherapy or as an adjunct to maintenance pharmacotherapy. Absence of consistent stimulation parameters makes it difficult to discuss rTMS relapse prevention effectiveness in systematic way. Large sample long-term sham control studies are needed.