The study confirms a significant impairment in neuropsychological function in a clinical sample of outpatients with MDE, which is likely to have important implications for day-to-day functioning and treatment.

No abstract

ObjectivesThe study investigated facial expression recognition (FER) in posttraumatic stress disorder (PTSD) caused by exposure to earthquakes, and in particular whether people with this condition showed a bias toward interpreting facial expressions as threat-related emotions (i.e., as anger, fear, or disgust). The study included a trauma-exposed control group who had been similarly exposed to the earthquakes but had not developed PTSD. We hypothesized that individuals with PTSD would have increased sensitivity to threat-related facial emotions compared with the trauma-exposed control group. This would be shown by increased accuracy in recognition of threat-related emotions and the misinterpretation of neutral expressions to these emotions (i.e., misidentifying them as anger, fear, or disgust). The availability of a group of healthy controls from a previous study who had been tested on a similar task before the earthquakes allowed a further non-exposed comparison.MethodTwenty-eight individuals with PTSD (71% female, mean age 42.8 years) and 89 earthquake-exposed controls (66% female, mean age 50.1 years) completed an FER task, which featured six basic emotions. Further comparisons were made with 50 non-exposed controls (64% female, mean age 38.5 years) who had been tested before the earthquakes.ResultsThere was no difference in sensitivity to threat-related facial expressions (as measured by accuracy in recognition of threat-related facial expressions and the misinterpretation of neutral expressions as threatening) in individuals with PTSD compared with similarly earthquake-exposed controls. Supplementary comparison with an historical, non-exposed control group showed that both earthquake-exposed groups had increased accuracy for the identification of all facial emotions and showed a bias in the misclassification of neutral facial expressions to the threat-related emotions of anger and disgust.ConclusionThese findings suggest that it is exposure to earthquakes and repeated aftershocks, rather than the presence of PTSD that affects FER accuracy and misinterpretation. The importance of these biases in both PTSD and trauma-exposed controls needs further exploration and is an area for future research.

This is one of the few studies to investigate CCBT for anxiety disorders in patients in a secondary care service. The results show that CCBT in this secondary care setting has the potential to be beneficial and confirms and extends the findings from previous studies of self-referral or primary care settings.

The key finding from this study is that there were no differences in verbal or visuospatial learning and memory in individuals with posttraumatic stress disorder compared with similarly earthquake-exposed controls. Compared with non-exposed controls, both earthquake-exposed groups had poorer performance on a test of visuospatial (but not verbal) learning and memory. This offers preliminary evidence suggesting that it is earthquake (trauma) exposure itself, rather than the presence of posttraumatic stress disorder that affects aspects of neuropsychological functioning. If replicated, this may have important implications for how information is communicated in a post-disaster context.

Some previous studies have suggested that patients with social anxiety disorder (SAD) have a hypoactive central dopaminergic system. Supporting this there have been reports from neuroimaging studies of reduced striatal D2 receptor binding in subjects with SAD. The aim of this study was to investigate D2 receptor sensitivity in patients with SAD compared with a group of matched, healthy controls using a neuroendocrine challenge with the selective D2 antagonist, sulpiride. D2 receptor function was assessed in 23 subjects with generalized SAD and 23 matched, healthy controls using a challenge with 400 mg of a selective D2 antagonist, sulpiride in a randomized, placebo-controlled, crossover design. Response to sulpiride was measured by the change in prolactin level and changes in self-rated measures of social anxiety, mood and the ability to experience pleasure. There was no significant difference in prolactin response to sulpiride between the two groups. Sulpiride resulted in no effect in either the SAD or healthy control group on measures of social anxiety, mood or the ability to experience pleasure. Contrary to our hypothesis, in this study we found no evidence of reduced D2 receptor function in subjects with SAD compared with healthy controls.

CCBT was typically rated favourably by patients referred to a secondary care service and randomised to treatment. However, only a small minority of patients was eligible and consenting for the trial. Therefore, while CCBT may be an acceptable treatment, its suitability for secondary care settings remains unclear.

Social anxiety disorder (SAD) is a prevalent chronic condition with a large demand for treatment. This community outpatient study examined the effectiveness of a group intervention version of the established one-to-one cognitive therapy derived from the Clark and Wells model for SAD. Questionnaires were completed pre-treatment and post-treatment for SAD symptoms (Social Phobia Scale, Social Interaction Anxiety Scale), depressive symptoms (BDI-II), self-focused attention, safety behaviours (Social Phobia Weekly Summary Scale and Subtle Avoidance Frequency Examination), and impaired functioning (Work and Social Adjustment Scale). From an initial sample of 159 participants, 101 completed at least seven of the nine weekly group sessions (Mage = 34.1 years, SDage = 10.8 years, 53% female). Significant improvements were demonstrated on all measures. Large effect sizes were found for social anxiety symptoms and safety behaviour use. Self-focused attention, depressive symptoms, and impaired functioning had moderate effect sizes. Effect sizes for anxiety (d = 1.00 and 1.32) and mood measures (d = 0.71) were as high, or in some cases, higher than previous group treatment studies. Results suggest group cognitive therapy for SAD based on the Clark and Wells model is effective in a clinical setting for individuals with moderate/severe and treatment-resistant social anxiety.