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To link to full-text access for this article, visit this link: http://dx.doi.org/10.1016/j.addbeh.2006.07.002 Byline: Fernando L. Vazquez, Vanessa Blanco, Maria Lopez Keywords: Drug abuse; Substance abuse; Screening Abstract: Little research has been done on the development of brief screening instruments for the identification of persons meeting diagnostic criteria for drug dependence in non-clinical populations. In the work described in this paper, a new instrument, the Substance Dependence Screening Questionnaire (SDSQ), was drawn up and administered by interviewers to 554 subjects aged 18-34 years (65.9% women), and its results were compared with the diagnoses arrived at by expert clinicians using the Structured Clinical Interview of DSM-IV Axis I Disorders (Clinician Version) (SCID-CV). The SDSQ exhibited satisfactory agreement with SCID-CV (kappa=0.904), and had a sensitivity of 0.914, a specificity of 0.990, positive and negative predictive values of 0.914 and 0.990, respectively, and positive and negative likelihood ratios of 90.65 and 0.087, respectively, for SCID-CV-diagnosed drug dependence. These results suggest that the new instrument may, as intended, prove useful for screening for substance dependence in non-clinical populations. Author Affiliation: University of Santiago de Compostela, Spain

Background Although burnout is a widespread phenomenon among healthcare professionals, there are no studies about its prevalence in Ecuador. This study assesses the prevalence of burnout syndrome among Ecuadorian healthcare professionals and examine the relationship with their personal and organizational characteristics. Methods A total of 2404 healthcare professionals (average age 40.0 years; 68.4% women) from the capitals of all 24 provinces in Ecuador participated in this study. Trained psychologists assessed the presence of burnout by applying the Maslach Burnout Inventory. Sociodemographic variables, emotional distress, social support and coping styles as well as organizational variables were also collected. Results Of all healthcare professionals surveyed, 2.6% presented burnout syndrome. By dimensions, 17.2% of the participants presented a high level of emotional exhaustion, 13.5% of depersonalization, and 18.2% had reduced personal accomplishment. Being non-mestizo, being classified as a probable case of mental disorder and using more passive coping were associated with a greater probability of presenting burnout; having > 10 years of experience was associated with a lower probability of burnout. Conclusions A significant number of active health professionals suffer from burnout. It is necessary to develop effective psychotherapeutic interventions for those who have the syndrome and to evaluate potential prevention strategies in those who have not yet developed it. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

Objectives: To evaluate the efficacy of a cognitive-behavioral intervention for the prevention of depression in caregivers with elevated depressive symptoms through 12 months of follow-up.Design: Randomized controlled trial.Setting: Community in Galicia (Spain).Participants: 170 caregivers with elevated depressive symptoms.Interventions: Caregivers were randomized to a cognitive-behavioral intervention (N = 88), administered to groups of five participants in five weekly 90-min sessions, or to a usual care control group (N = 82).Measurements: Major depressive episodes (according to the Structured Clinical Interview for Axis I Disorders of the DSM-IV), depressive symptoms, emotional distress, caregiver burden, pleasant activities, depressive thoughts, social contacts. Trained blinded interviewers conducted assessments at 1, 3, 6, and 12 months of follow-up.Results: At the 12-month follow-up, there was a lower incidence of major depressive episodes in the intervention group compared with the control group (3.4% versus 22.0%). The relative risk was 0.15 (95% CI: 0.05-0.51) and the number needed to treat was 5 (95% CI: 3-11). The time of delay of the depressive episode onset in the intervention group was significant. Caregivers with good compliance to the intervention had a lower incidence of depression. The effects of the intervention on depressive symptoms, emotional distress, and caregiver burden were maintained for 12 months. Younger caregivers were more likely to benefit from the intervention. The change in depressive thoughts mediated the reduction in depressive symptoms.Conclusions: Depressive episodes can be successfully prevented in caregivers, with long-term effects. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

Despite research demonstrating the psychological burden associated with caregiving, there is limited information regarding the real rates of clinical depression among non-professional caregivers (NCs) of dependent patients. The goals of the current study are (a) to report the prevalence of major depressive episodes (MDEs) and the frequency of depressive symptoms in NCs from Galicia (Spain) and (b) to examine the relationship between MDEs and characteristics of caregivers, care recipients, and the care situation. A sample of 504 NCs providing care to persons with all kinds of disorders that result in dependency was randomly selected, and the occurrence of MDEs was assessed by trained interviewers who applied the Structured Clinical Interview for DSM-IV Axis I Disorders-Clinician Version (SCID-CV). Overall, 8.9% of NCs met the criteria for a current MDE. Sleep problems, diminished ability to think or concentrate, and depressed mood were the clinical depressive symptoms most frequently reported. MDEs were significantly more common among NCs older than 55 years old (odds ratio [OR]=1.96; 95% confidence interval [CI]: 1.02–3.75) and those who were unemployed (OR=3.43; 95% CI 1.02–11.48). The findings highlight the magnitude of major depression in this population. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

Abstract: To adapt the Center for Epidemiologic Studies Depression Scale for use in non-psychiatric Spanish populations, a Spanish translation of the scale was interviewer-administered to 554 subjects aged 18–34 years (65.9% women) and the ratings so obtained were compared with the SCID-CV-based diagnoses of expert clinicians. The internal consistency of the scale was satisfactory (Cronbach''s α =0.89). Four factors identified by exploratory factor analysis (Depressive/Somatic, Positive Affect, Retarded Activity and Interpersonal Relations) accounted for 55.9% of the variance. A score of 26 was identified as a suitable cut-off for screening purposes, affording a sensitivity of 0.906 and a specificity of 0.918. [Copyright &y& Elsevier]

Genetics plays an important role in alcohol abuse/dependence. Its heritability has been estimated as 45–65%. Rare copy number variations (CNVs) have been confirmed as relevant genetic factors in other neuropsychiatric disorders, such as autism spectrum disorders, schizophrenia, epilepsy, or Tourette syndrome. In the present study, we analyzed the role of rare CNVs affecting exons of coding genes in a sample from Northwest Spain genotyped using the Illumina Infinium PsychArray Beadchip. After rigorous genotyping quality control procedure, 712 patients with alcohol abuse or dependence and 804 controls were used for CNV detection. CNV calling was performed using PennCNV and cnvPartition, and analyses were restricted to CNVs of at least 100 kb and including at least 10 single nucleotide polymorphisms. Logistic regression was used to test for the effect of CNV as well as number of genes affected by CNVs on case/control status, after adjustment for demographic and experimental covariates. We have found an excess of deletions (p = 0.008) and genes affected by deletions (p = 0.017) in cases. This effect was restricted to the 14.8% of affected genes that are intolerant to loss-of-function mutations (gene count p = 0.009). The importance of this subset of genes is emerging in other psychiatric disorders of neurodevelopmental origin, suggesting that disturbance in neurodevelopment mediated by genetic alterations may be a risk factor for alcohol use disorder. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

Abstract: Although cognitive-behavioural programmes for preventing depression have produced promising findings, their administration requires extensive training. Relaxation techniques are more straightforward psychological strategies, but they have not been investigated in the prevention of depression. This trial aimed to compare the results of relaxation training (RT) with that of a cognitive-behavioural programme (CBT) for prevention of depression in university students with elevated depressive symptoms. The 133 participants (mean age 23.3 years, 82% women) were randomly assigned to CBT or RT. Both programmes were administered to groups of 5 or 6 participants in eight weekly 90-min sessions. Participants were evaluated by independent raters before, immediately after, and 3 and 6 months after taking part in the programmes. By itself, intervention type had no significant effect on either depression or anxiety scores. The scores were lower at the follow-up time points with respect to pre-intervention scores. Effect size was greatest between pre- and immediately post-intervention scores for CBT, d = 1.32, 95% CI [1.00, 1.64], and between pre- and 6-month post-intervention scores for RT, d = 0.75, 95% CI [0.47, 1.03]. Anxiety symptoms were significantly improved by both interventions at 3-month follow-up, and by CBT at 6-month follow-up also. In the medium term (3–6 months), relaxation training produced similar reductions in depressive and anxiety symptoms as a more complex cognitive-behavioural programme. [Copyright &y& Elsevier]

Background: High alcohol consumption and alcohol dependence are only partly genetically correlated and they differ considerably in their correlations with other traits. The existence of genetic correlation among alcohol dependence and psychiatric disorders may be attributed to the presence of a general psychopathology factor, the p factor. This study investigates the relationship of polygenic risk to general psychopathology and to high alcohol consumption on alcohol dependence.Methods: Participants were 524 alcohol-dependent patients and 729 controls. Polygenic risk scores (PRS) were computed for alcohol consumption (drinks per week) and nine psychiatric disorders. Principal component analysis (PCA) applied to the psychiatric PRS was used to calculate the first principal component as a proxy of the polygenic p factor.Results: Both the polygenic p factor and the drinks per week PRS were associated with alcohol dependence in our sample. Both variables are only weakly correlated, contributing additively to the risk for alcohol dependence. Sensitivity analyses showed that the polygenic p factor was also associated with alcohol dependence in the subset of patients without any psychiatric or substance use comorbidity.Conclusions: Polygenic risk for alcohol dependence can be split at least into two components, involved in general psychopathology and high alcohol consumption. The first component of PCA based on PRS for different psychiatric disorders allows estimation of the contribution of the polygenic p factor to alcohol dependence. The pleiotropic effects of genetic variants across psychiatric disorders are mainly manifested as alcohol dependence in some patients. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]