To compare mental health of 136 young adults without neurosensory handicaps born with low birthweight (LBW, birthweight less than 2000 g) with 132 adults with normal birthweight (NBW).

A cohort of moderate LBW and NBW young adults were assessed with the Mini-International Neuropsychiatric Interview (MINI) at 19 years and the Children Assessment Schedule (CAS) at 11 years of age.

At 19 years of age, 44 out of 136 (32%) LBW young adults were diagnosed with a psychiatric disorder compared to 10% NBW (OR: 2.8; 95% CI: 1.1, 4.5, P = 0.02). Among the LBW young adults, affective-, anxiety-, ADHD- and antisocial personality disorders were most common, and nine subjects (20%) had more than one diagnosis. Of 97 LBW subjects examined both at 11 and 19 years of age, 54 (56%) were mentally healthy though out adolescence. This was half as many as for controls (OR: 0.6; 95% CI: 0.3 to 0.9).

Moderate LBW was associated with an increased risk of psychiatric disorders in young adulthood. Only half of LBW young adults stayed healthy throughout adolescence.

Mental health literacy (MHL) refers to an individual's knowledge of mental disorders, including the ability to recognize psychopathology and being aware of help options. Most studies of MHL have focused on adults.

The purpose of this study was to examine levels of MHL among adolescents.

MHL was examined using two pre-established vignettes that presented an adolescent with symptoms of either depression or schizophrenia. The respondents were 426 adolescents (age mean = 16). Vignette data were analyzed both qualitatively and quantitatively.

The data showed that 42.7% and 34.7% of the respondents identified depression and schizophrenia, respectively. Depression was recognized more often by females than males. Professional help was suggested by a minority of the respondents for managing symptoms of depression (22.5%) or schizophrenia (32.6%). Altruistic behaviors, examined through the willingness to help an acquaintance with mental illness symptoms, were apparent among 58.2% of the respondents and to a greater extent in females than males. Answers following the schizophrenia vignette also revealed stigmatizing attitudes in 11.5% of the participants.

There are relatively low levels of MHL among teenagers in Sweden. Awareness campaigns and the implementation of psychoeducation in the school curriculum could increase MHL in this group.

22q11.2 deletion syndrome (22q11DS) associates with schizophrenia spectrum disorders (SSDs), autism spectrum disorders (ASDs), and other psychiatric disorders, but co-occurrence of diagnoses are not well described.

We evaluated the co-occurrence of SSDs, ASDs and other axis I psychiatric diagnoses in 31 adolescents and adults with 22q11DS, assessing ASDs using either stringent Collaborative Program for Excellence in Autism (ASD-CPEA) criteria, or less stringent DSM-IV criteria alone (ASD-DSM-IV).

Ten (32%) individuals met criteria for an SSD, five (16%) for ASD-CPEA, and five others (16%) for ASD-DSM-IV. Of those with ASD-CPEA, one (20%) met SSD criteria. Of those with ASD-DSM-IV, four (80%) met SSD criteria. Depressive disorders (8 individuals; 26%) and anxiety disorders (7; 23%) sometimes co-occurred with SSDs and ASDs. SSDs, ASDs, and anxiety occurred predominantly among males and depression predominantly among females.

Individuals with 22q11DS can manifest SSDs in the presence or absence of ASDs and other axis I diagnoses. The results suggest that standard clinical care should include childhood screening for ASDs, and later periodic screening for all axis I diagnoses.

Evidence for the recommendation to deliver Cognitive Behavioural Therapy (CBT) and Family Interventions (FI) to under-18s with psychosis derives from adult research, and no previous study has focused exclusively on an adolescent population. We evaluated adaptations of these therapies for adolescent inpatients with psychosis (CBTpA and FIpA), delivered as an adjunct to inpatient standard care (SC).

Thirty adolescent inpatients with psychotic symptoms on admission were sequentially allocated to receive CBTpA + SC (n = 10); FIpA + SC (n = 10) or SC alone (n = 10). Psychotic symptoms and functioning were measured at admission and discharge.

Group comparisons did not reach conventional significance, but effect sizes in this pilot study showed a promising impact of CBTpA compared to SC alone, in reducing symptoms (ES: d = 0.6), with smaller effect sizes for functioning (d = 0.2) and for FIpA (symptoms, d = 0.1 and functioning, d = 0.4). There was no advantage of either additional treatment in reducing length of stay, but self-report satisfaction ratings were higher for both psychological therapies.

The study is the first to focus on an exclusively adolescent population, using appropriately adapted therapy protocols. Findings suggest that the interventions are feasible, acceptable and helpful for adolescents with psychosis. Larger randomised controlled trials are now needed.

Body image distortion is a core symptom of eating disorders. Functional magnetic resonance imaging (fMRI) studies on body image processing, described different patterns of neural response, mainly involving the inferior and superior parietal lobules, and the dorsolateral prefrontal cortex (DLPFC), with conflicting results.

The neural response to the view of their own body pictures (normal size and distorted) was evaluated in 18 female anorexia nervosa (AN) restricting type patients, and in 19 healthy female subjects (HC) using fMRI. Clinical assessment was performed by means of the structured clinical interview for DSM-IV and self-reported questionnaires.

In response to the body image distortion, patients and controls showed an inverse pattern of activation, with the widest extent of activation in the oversize condition in AN, while in the undersize condition in HC. AN and HC showed a similar pattern of neural response to the view of their own body, with an increased activation in the extrastriate body area, superior and inferior parietal lobule and prefrontal areas, although the extent of activation in HC was more limited as compared with AN patients. Increased activity in AN patients, compared with HC, was observed in the DLPFC in response to the oversized body picture and a significant correlation was found in AN patients between DLPFC activation and eating disorder psychopathology.

Our findings suggest the existence of a continuum from normalcy to pathology in neural response to body image, and confirm the clinical relevance of body image distortion in AN, reinforcing the key role of attentive, executive and self-evaluation networks in AN visual processing of own distorted body image.

Social perception is a key aspect of social cognition which has so far not been investigated in eating disorders (ED). This study aimed to investigate social perception in individuals with anorexia nervosa (AN) and bulimia nervosa (BN).

Outpatients with AN (restricting subtype [AN-R]: n = 51; binge-purge subtype [AN-BP]: n = 26) or BN (n = 57) and 50 healthy control (HC) participants completed the Interpersonal Perception Task (IPT-15). This is an ecologically valid task, which consists of 15 video clips, depicting complex social situations relating to intimacy, status, kinship, competition and deception. The participants have to assess relationships between protagonists’ based on non-verbal cues.

Overall, there was no difference between groups on the IPT total score and subscale scores. Group differences on the Intimacy subscale approached significance so post hoc comparisons were carried out. HCs performed significantly better than AN-R participants in determining the degree of intimacy between others.

Social perception is largely preserved in ED patients. Individuals with AN-R show impairments in identifying intimacy in social situations, this may be due to the lack of relationship experience. Further research into different aspects of social cognition is required to establish the link between interpersonal difficulties and ED psychopathology.

As panic disorder often remains unrecognized in the health care system, some screening methods have been developed to enhance its recognition. The aim of this study was to test and compare the Autonomic Nervous System Questionnaire (ANS) and the Brief Patient Health Questionnaire (BPHQ) in primary care.

A total sample of 211 primary care outpatients was studied. The Structured Clinical Interview for DSM-IV was the criterion standard for the presence of panic disorder. Indices of diagnostic utility for both screening methods were calculated and compared.

The AUC (area under the ROC curve) was 0.885 for the ANS and 0.877 for the BPHQ. At the optimal cut-off level, the ANS had the sensitivity of 0.88 and specificity of 0.77; the BPHQ had the sensitivity of 0.79 and the specificity of 0.87. There was not any statistically significant difference between the screens.

Both screening methods can be recommended both for clinical practice and research use. In busy primary care practice, the BPHQ may be more useful, as it can be used together with the depression module of the BPHQ.

Psychometric properties and clinical sensitivity of brief self-rated dimensional scales to supplement categorical diagnoses of anxiety disorders in the DSM-5 were recently demonstrated in a German treatment seeking sample of adults. The present study aims to demonstrate sensitivity of these scales to clinical severity levels.

The dimensional scales were administered to 102 adults at a university outpatient clinic for psychotherapy. Diagnostic status was assessed using the Munich-Composite International Diagnostic Interview. To establish a wide range of clinical severity, we considered subthreshold (n = 83) and threshold anxiety disorders (n = 49, including Social Phobia, Specific Phobia, Agoraphobia, Panic Disorder, and Generalized Anxiety Disorder).

Individuals with either subthreshold or threshold anxiety disorder scored higher on all dimensional scales relative to individuals without anxiety. In addition, individuals with a threshold anxiety disorder scored higher on the dimensional scales than individuals with a subthreshold anxiety disorder (except for specific phobia). Disorder-related impairment ratings, global functioning assessments and number of panic attacks were associated with higher scores on dimensional scales. Findings were largely unaffected by the number of anxiety disorders and comorbid depressive disorders.

The self-rated dimensional anxiety scales demonstrated sensitivity to clinical severity, and a cut-off based on additional assessment of impairment and distress may assist in the discrimination between subthreshold and threshold anxiety disorders. Findings suggest further research in various populations to test the utility of the scales for use in DSM-5.