The main aim of this study was to explore whether specific groups of patients with first episode non-affective psychosis could be identified on a psychopathological basis and, then, whether such identified groups could be validated by exploring their correlation with a variety of neurodevelopmental markers.

Eighty-seven patients with a first episode of non-affective psychotic disorder were consecutively recruited. We assessed psychopathology and neurological soft signs using the PANSS and the Neurological Evaluation Scale, respectively. We collected information on obstetric complications, premorbid adjustment and family history.

All PANSS symptoms were analysed using principal component analysis and four factors were obtained (negative, disorganization, positive and paranoid). Subsequently, the four factors were subjected to a cluster analysis where three groups emerged: “paranoid” (n = 40), “low score” (n = 29) and “negative” (n = 18) subtype. After adjusting by sex and age, we found that the “negative group” had poorer social premorbid adjustment, worse verbal fluency and higher prevalence of both obstetric complications and neurological soft signs, when compared with the “low score” group. Similarly, the “negative group” showed significantly poorer social premorbid adjustment and higher number of neurological soft signs than the “paranoid group”.

Our results support that, among non-affective first onset psychotic patients, those with predominant negative symptoms are more likely to correlate with higher presence of neurodevelopmental markers.

This is a secondary analysis of clinical trial data collected in 12 European countries. We examined changes in weight and weight-related quality of life among community patients with schizophrenia treated with aripiprazole (ARI) versus standard of care (SOC), consisting of other marketed atypical antipsychotics (olanzapine, quetiapine, and risperidone).

Five-hundred and fifty-five patients whose clinical symptoms were not optimally controlled and/or experienced tolerability problems with current medication were randomized to ARI (10–30 mg/day) or SOC. Weight and weight-related quality of life (using the IWQOL-Lite) were assessed at baseline, and weeks 8, 18 and 26. Random regression analysis across all time points using all available data was used to compare groups on changes in weight and IWQOL-Lite. Meaningful change from baseline was also assessed.

Participants were 59.7% male, with a mean age of 38.5 years (SD 10.9) and mean baseline body mass index of 27.2 (SD 5.1). ARI participants lost an average of 1.7% of baseline weight in comparison to a gain of 2.1% by SOC participants (p < 0.0001) at 26 weeks. ARI participants experienced significantly greater increases in physical function, self-esteem, sexual life, and IWQOL-Lite total score. At 26 weeks, 20.7% of ARI participants experienced meaningful improvements in IWQOL-Lite score, versus 13.5% of SOC participants. A clinically meaningful change in weight was also associated with a meaningful change in quality of life (p < 0.001). A potential limitation of this study was its funding by a pharmaceutical company.

Compared to standard of care, patients with schizophrenia treated with aripiprazole experienced decreased weight and improved weight-related quality of life over 26 weeks. These changes were both statistically and clinically significant.

Both psychodynamic group therapy (PGT) and clonazepam are used as treatment strategies in reducing symptoms of generalized social anxiety disorder (GSAD). However, many individuals remain symptomatic after treatment with PGT or clonazepam.

Fifty-eight adult outpatients with a diagnosis of GSAD according to DSM-IV were randomized to 12 weeks PGT plus clonazepam or clonazepam. The Clinical Global Impression-Improvement (CGI-I) Scale was the primary efficacy measure. Secondary efficacy measures included the Liebowitz Social Anxiety Scale (LSAS) total score, the World Health Organization Instrument to Assess Quality of Life—Brief (WHOQOL-Bref) Scale and the Beck Depression Inventory (BDI).

CGI-I data from 57 patients (intent-to-treat population) showed that patients who received PGT plus clonazepam presented significantly greater improvement than those who received clonazepam (P = 0.033). There were no significant differences between the two groups in the secondary efficacy measures.

Our study suggests that the combination of PGT with clonazepam may be a promising strategy for the treatment of GSAD, regarding gains in the global functioning. However the present study failed to detect more specific changes in social anxiety symptomatology between the two groups.

The study aimed to examine agreement between patients' and professional staff members' ratings on the Global Assessment of Functioning scale (GAF).

A total of 191 young adult psychiatric outpatients were included in a naturalistic, longitudinal study. Axis I and axis II disorders were assessed by means of the Structured Clinical Interview for DSM-IV. Before and after treatment, patients and trained staff members did a GAF rating. Agreement between GAF ratings was analyzed using the intra-class correlation coefficient (ICC).

The overall intra-class correlation coefficients before and after treatment were 0.65 and 0.86, respectively. Agreement in different axis I diagnostic groups varied, but was generally lower before treatment as compared to after treatment (0.50–0.66 and 0.78–0.90, respectively). Excessive psychiatric co-morbidity was associated with the lowest inter-rater reliability. Agreement, with respect to change in GAF scores during treatment, was good to excellent in all groups.

Overall, agreement between patients' and professionals' ratings on the GAF scale was good before and excellent after treatment. The results support the usefulness of the self-report GAF instrument for measuring outcome in psychiatric care. However, more research is needed about the difficulties in rating severely disordered patients.

The quick and simple Depression Scale (DEPS) has been a popular self-rating depression scale in Finland for nearly 15 years. The purpose was to assess the validity of the DEPS in various subgroups of patients.

Primary care patients, aged 18–64, completed a postal questionnaire including the DEPS. Of the 1643 patients all screen-positive subjects and every 10th screen-negative subject were invited for interview (the Present State Examination, PSE). Complete DEPS scores were available for 410 patients. They were grouped by gender, age, marital status, perceived physical health, basic education and the Michigan Alcoholism Screening Test (MAST) score. Separately for each subgroup, receiver operating characteristic (ROC) curve analyses were done, sensitivity, specificity, area under the curve (AUC), predictive values and likelihood ratios were calculated, and Cronbach's α was estimated.

The DEPS was valid in general, but best for patients with basic education longer than 9 years.

The key statistical figures for the DEPS were comparable to the figures for other short self-rating scales.

The DEPS is a valid case finder for primary care patients in the age group 18–64 years, and especially suitable for more highly educated patients. Future studies comparing the DEPS with other simple depression rating scales are needed.