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‘Worrying less,’ ‘feeling happier,’ and sleeping better were among top targets identified

 

Patients with nonaffective psychosis want the “causal mechanisms” for their psychotic experiences treated, according to a study conducted by researchers at the University of Oxford (England).

“The findings indicate a need to adopt into services for people with severe mental health difficulties interventions shown by research to treat anxious avoidance, worry, low self-esteem, insomnia, and other such transdiagnostic mechanisms and evaluate the outcomes,” wrote Daniel Freeman, PhD, DClinPsy, of the department of psychiatry at Oxford, and colleagues. The study was published in Schizophrenia Research.

In previous research, Dr. Freeman and colleagues identified factors that appear to maintain symptoms of nonaffective psychosis, such as paranoia (Behav Cogn Psychother. 2016 Sep;44[5]:539-52).Those factors include anxious avoidance, worry, low self-esteem, insomnia, and reasoning bias. In additional research, the researchers demonstrated that addressing those targets can lead to led to reductions in paranoia.

In the current study, 1,809 patients were recruited from 39 National Health Services mental health trusts across England. The researchers analyzed responses to eight clinical assessment tools and a patient-reported questionnaire about treatment preferences.

Dr. Freeman and colleagues found consistency in the relationships observed among the factors and nonaffective psychosis with the theoretical model they had developed, such as positive correlations between paranoia and anxious avoidance (correlation coefficient [r] = 0.37), worry (r = 0.40), and hallucinations (r = 0.54). They found negative correlations between paranoia and levels of positive self-beliefs (r = –0.17), rational reasoning (r = –0.14), and psychological wellbeing (r = –0.29). Those correlations were all statistically significant with P values less than .001.

Most of the patients (90.3%) wanted at least one of the eight problem areas assessed in the study treated, and on average, they wanted more than four (mean, 4.5) treated. The most frequently identified top treatment priorities identified by patients were worrying (50.8%), feeling happier (42.9%), and sleeping better (41.2%).

“Patients are likely to engage with treatments focused on these targets and we believe that there should be consequent clinical benefits for psychotic experiences,” the researchers wrote.

Among the study limitations: The assessments selected were based on the theoretical model the researchers had developed and therefore may not have captured all difficulties experienced by the patients. Furthermore, although the sample was large, it’s unclear whether it was truly representative because they were drawn from certain mental health services that, for example, patients with milder symptoms might not seek out.

Dr. Freeman is a cofounder and chief clinical officer of Oxford VR. He has received funding from the National Institute of Health Research, Medical Research Council, and Wellcome Trust. No other authors reported conflicts of interest.

SOURCE: Freeman D et al. Schizophr Res. 2019. doi: 10.1016/j.schres.2019.07.016.

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‘Worrying less,’ ‘feeling happier,’ and sleeping better were among top targets identified

‘Worrying less,’ ‘feeling happier,’ and sleeping better were among top targets identified

 

Patients with nonaffective psychosis want the “causal mechanisms” for their psychotic experiences treated, according to a study conducted by researchers at the University of Oxford (England).

“The findings indicate a need to adopt into services for people with severe mental health difficulties interventions shown by research to treat anxious avoidance, worry, low self-esteem, insomnia, and other such transdiagnostic mechanisms and evaluate the outcomes,” wrote Daniel Freeman, PhD, DClinPsy, of the department of psychiatry at Oxford, and colleagues. The study was published in Schizophrenia Research.

In previous research, Dr. Freeman and colleagues identified factors that appear to maintain symptoms of nonaffective psychosis, such as paranoia (Behav Cogn Psychother. 2016 Sep;44[5]:539-52).Those factors include anxious avoidance, worry, low self-esteem, insomnia, and reasoning bias. In additional research, the researchers demonstrated that addressing those targets can lead to led to reductions in paranoia.

In the current study, 1,809 patients were recruited from 39 National Health Services mental health trusts across England. The researchers analyzed responses to eight clinical assessment tools and a patient-reported questionnaire about treatment preferences.

Dr. Freeman and colleagues found consistency in the relationships observed among the factors and nonaffective psychosis with the theoretical model they had developed, such as positive correlations between paranoia and anxious avoidance (correlation coefficient [r] = 0.37), worry (r = 0.40), and hallucinations (r = 0.54). They found negative correlations between paranoia and levels of positive self-beliefs (r = –0.17), rational reasoning (r = –0.14), and psychological wellbeing (r = –0.29). Those correlations were all statistically significant with P values less than .001.

Most of the patients (90.3%) wanted at least one of the eight problem areas assessed in the study treated, and on average, they wanted more than four (mean, 4.5) treated. The most frequently identified top treatment priorities identified by patients were worrying (50.8%), feeling happier (42.9%), and sleeping better (41.2%).

“Patients are likely to engage with treatments focused on these targets and we believe that there should be consequent clinical benefits for psychotic experiences,” the researchers wrote.

Among the study limitations: The assessments selected were based on the theoretical model the researchers had developed and therefore may not have captured all difficulties experienced by the patients. Furthermore, although the sample was large, it’s unclear whether it was truly representative because they were drawn from certain mental health services that, for example, patients with milder symptoms might not seek out.

Dr. Freeman is a cofounder and chief clinical officer of Oxford VR. He has received funding from the National Institute of Health Research, Medical Research Council, and Wellcome Trust. No other authors reported conflicts of interest.

SOURCE: Freeman D et al. Schizophr Res. 2019. doi: 10.1016/j.schres.2019.07.016.

 

Patients with nonaffective psychosis want the “causal mechanisms” for their psychotic experiences treated, according to a study conducted by researchers at the University of Oxford (England).

“The findings indicate a need to adopt into services for people with severe mental health difficulties interventions shown by research to treat anxious avoidance, worry, low self-esteem, insomnia, and other such transdiagnostic mechanisms and evaluate the outcomes,” wrote Daniel Freeman, PhD, DClinPsy, of the department of psychiatry at Oxford, and colleagues. The study was published in Schizophrenia Research.

In previous research, Dr. Freeman and colleagues identified factors that appear to maintain symptoms of nonaffective psychosis, such as paranoia (Behav Cogn Psychother. 2016 Sep;44[5]:539-52).Those factors include anxious avoidance, worry, low self-esteem, insomnia, and reasoning bias. In additional research, the researchers demonstrated that addressing those targets can lead to led to reductions in paranoia.

In the current study, 1,809 patients were recruited from 39 National Health Services mental health trusts across England. The researchers analyzed responses to eight clinical assessment tools and a patient-reported questionnaire about treatment preferences.

Dr. Freeman and colleagues found consistency in the relationships observed among the factors and nonaffective psychosis with the theoretical model they had developed, such as positive correlations between paranoia and anxious avoidance (correlation coefficient [r] = 0.37), worry (r = 0.40), and hallucinations (r = 0.54). They found negative correlations between paranoia and levels of positive self-beliefs (r = –0.17), rational reasoning (r = –0.14), and psychological wellbeing (r = –0.29). Those correlations were all statistically significant with P values less than .001.

Most of the patients (90.3%) wanted at least one of the eight problem areas assessed in the study treated, and on average, they wanted more than four (mean, 4.5) treated. The most frequently identified top treatment priorities identified by patients were worrying (50.8%), feeling happier (42.9%), and sleeping better (41.2%).

“Patients are likely to engage with treatments focused on these targets and we believe that there should be consequent clinical benefits for psychotic experiences,” the researchers wrote.

Among the study limitations: The assessments selected were based on the theoretical model the researchers had developed and therefore may not have captured all difficulties experienced by the patients. Furthermore, although the sample was large, it’s unclear whether it was truly representative because they were drawn from certain mental health services that, for example, patients with milder symptoms might not seek out.

Dr. Freeman is a cofounder and chief clinical officer of Oxford VR. He has received funding from the National Institute of Health Research, Medical Research Council, and Wellcome Trust. No other authors reported conflicts of interest.

SOURCE: Freeman D et al. Schizophr Res. 2019. doi: 10.1016/j.schres.2019.07.016.

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