anxiety

Proactive psychological and psychiatric support of patients with chronic non-communicable diseases in a randomised trial: a Ukrainian experience

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Background
Presently, approaches for the early treatment of pathological anxiety in patients with chronic non-communicable diseases are lacking, thus delaying the initiation of symptom management at the early onset of the illness. Proactive psychological and psychiatric support, to alleviate subclinical symptoms of anxiety and to improve the quality of life in patients with chronic non-communicable diseases, is a promising candidate for the role of such therapy.

Aims
To investigate and determine the effectiveness of proactive psychological and psychiatric support for alleviating subclinical symptoms of anxiety and improving quality of life, in patients with chronic non-communicable diseases.

Methods
The study design was a monocentric randomised controlled trial with parallel groups. The study, involving 193 inpatients with chronic non-communicable diseases, complied with the ethical and deontological norms in accordance with the principles set out in the Declaration of Helsinki. Instruments used in the study included the Hamilton Anxiety Scale (HAM-A) to assess subclinical symptoms, the Scale of Somatic Symptoms and the Chaban Quality of Life Scale. Block randomisation was used to randomise patients to a 2-month-long study group with a proactive counselling psychiatry model care or a control group with standard regulated treatment for chronic non-communicable diseases. The allocation ratio was 1.15:1 owing to the expectancy of a higher percentage of dropout in the intervention group.

Results
After 60 days of treatment (T2), there was a statistically significant difference in all clinical parameters between the study and control groups. The median HAM-A value differed between the groups by 4.87 points, with statistically significant lower results in the study group. The comparison of the study group’s scale values on day 1 and day 60 demonstrated statistically significant changes in all three indicators.

Conclusions
Our results support existing evidence for the effectiveness of proactive psychological and psychiatric support to reduce subclinical anxiety and somatisation symptoms and to improve the quality of life for patients with common chronic non-communicable diseases. However, continued research on the effectiveness of proactive psychological and psychiatric support for patients with chronic non-communicable diseases is needed.

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Investigating genetic causal relationships between blood pressure and anxiety, depressive symptoms, neuroticism and subjective well-being

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Background
High blood pressure is a leading cardiovascular disease risk factor and considered to be associated with psychological factors. However, the causal relationships between blood pressure and anxiety, depressive symptoms, neuroticism and subjective well-being are not clear.

Aims
The current study explored the genetic causal relationships between blood pressure and anxiety, depressive symptoms, neuroticism and subjective well-being.

Methods
Mendelian randomisation (MR) analyses were performed using the generalised summary-data-based MR analysis method with eight large-scale genome-wide association study datasets for hypertension, systolic blood pressure (SBP), diastolic blood pressure (DBP), pulse pressure, anxiety, depressive symptoms, neuroticism and subjective well-being.

Results
A causal effect of DBP on neuroticism was found, and 1074 independent instrumental single nucleotide polymorphisms were identified by the incorporated Heterogeneity in Dependent Instruments-outlier test among the bidirectional causal relationship between blood pressure and the four psychological states.

Conclusions
DBP has a causal effect on neuroticism. Appropriate management of blood pressure may reduce neuroticism, neuroticism-inducing mood disorders and cardiovascular diseases.

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The mental health of China and Pakistan, mental health laws and COVID-19 mental health policies: a comparative review

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Mental health is one of the major causes of disability worldwide, and mental health problems such as depression and anxiety are ranked among the top 25 leading causes of disease burden in the world. This burden is considerable over the lifetime of both men and women and in various settings and ages. This study aims to compare the mental health status of people in China and Pakistan and to highlight the mental health laws and policies during COVID-19 and afterwards. According to the literature on mental health, before the COVID-19 pandemic, mental health problems increased gradually, but during and after the COVID-19 pandemic, an abrupt surge occurred in mental health problems. To overcome mental health disorders, most (but not all) countries have mental health laws, but some countries ignore mental health disorders. China is one such country that has mental health laws and policies and, during the COVID-19 pandemic, China made beneficial and robust policies and laws, thereby succeeding in defeating the COVID-19 pandemic. The mortality rate and financial loss were also lower than in other countries. While Pakistan has mental health laws and general health policies, the law is only limited to paperwork and books. When it came to COVID-19, Pakistan did not make any specific laws to overcome the virus. Mental health problems are greater in Pakistan than in China, and China’s mental health laws and policies are more robust and more widely implemented than those in Pakistan. We conclude that there are fewer mental health issues in China than in Pakistan both before and since the COVID-19 pandemic. China has strong mental health laws and these are robustly implemented, while the mental health law in Pakistan is not applied in practice.

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Interaction Structures in the Online Psychodynamic Psychotherapy of a Patient with Anxiety Symptoms

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Interaction structures (IS) are reciprocal and mutual patterns of interaction between the therapist and patient, sometimes without either being aware of them. IS are mostly unique to each dyad but also can capture patterns that might be due to a particular therapy approach or clinical condition. The identification of IS in online psychodynamic settings can

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Quantitative electroencephalographic biomarker of pharmacological treatment response in patients with anxiety disorder: a retrospective study

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In clinical practice, qEEG is used as an auxiliary tool in the treatment of anxiety disorders, and is gradually proving its usefulness. In addition to diagnosing anxiety disorders, predicting their reactivity prior to treatment is also important, and qEEG has shown promise in this regard. Patients with anxiety disorders who show elevated T3 and T4

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