Background: Continuous performance tasks (CPTs) embedded in a virtual reality (VR) classroom environment have been shown to be a sensitive and user-friendly assessment tool to detect cognitive deficits related to attention-deficit/hyperactivity disorder (ADHD). The aim of the current study was to compare the performance of children with ADHD on a VR-CPT while on and off treatment with methylphenidate (MPH) and to compare the VR-CPT to a cgrrently used CPT, Test of Variables of Attention (TOVA).

Methods:Twenty-seven children with ADHD underwent the VR-CPT, the same CPT without VR (no VR-CPT), and theTOVA, 1 hour after the. ingestion of either placebo or 0.3 mg/kg MPH, in a double-blind, placebo-controlled, crossover design. Immediately following CPT, subjects described their subjective experiences on the Short Feedback Questionnaire.

Results: MPH reduced omission errors to a greater extent on the VR-CPT compared to the no VR-CPT and the TOVA, and decreased other CPT measures on all types of CPT to a similar degree. Children rated the VR-CPT as more enjoyable compared to the other types of CPT.

Conclusions: It is concluded that the VR-CPT is a sensitive and user-friendly assessment tool in measuring the response to MPH in children with ADHD.

Introduction: The clinical and self-report versions of the Quick Inventory of Depressive Symptomatology (QIDS-C16 and QIDS-SR16) have been well studied in patients with major depressive disorder and in one recent study using patients with bipolar disorder. This article examines these measures in a second sample of 141 outpatients with bipolar disorder in different phases of the illness.

Methods: At baseline, 61 patients were depressed and 30 were euthymic; at exit, 50 were depressed and 52 were euthymic. The remaining patients (at baseline or exit) were in either a manic or mixed phase and were pooled for statistical reasons.

Results: Similar results were found for the QIDS-C16 and QIDS-SR16. Scores were reasonably reliable to the extent that variability within groups permitted. As expected, euthymic patients showed less depressive symptomatology than depressed patients. Sad mood and general interest were tne most discriminating symptoms between depressed and euthymic phases. Changes in illness phase (baseline to exit) were associated with substantial changes in scores. The relation of individual depressive symptoms to the overall level of depression was consistent across phases.

Conclusion: Both the QIDS-SR16 and QIDS-C16 are suitable measures of depressive symptoms in patients with bipolar disorder.

Introduction: Individuals who have deep and periventricular white matter hyperintensities may have a higher risk for suicidal behavior. There are mixed results in the literature regarding whether unipolar or bipolar patients who have attempted suicide have more deep white matter hyperintensities (DWMH) or periventricular hyperintensities (PVH) relative to those who have no history of suicide attempts.

Methods: A meta-analysis of studies examining white matter hyperintensities (WMH) in mood disorder patients with and without a history of suicide attempts was performed.

Results: Four studies, including a total of 173 patients who attempted suicide and 183 who did not attempt suicide, were included. A significantly higher number of attempters were found to have WMH than non-attempters. Unipolar depressed patients who had attempted suicide had 1.9 times more DWMH and 2.1 times more PVH than those who did not. Bipolar patients who had attempted suicide had 5.4 times more PVH than those who had not. Taken together, unipolar and bipolar patients who had attempted suicide had 2.8 times more DWMH and 4.5 times more PVH than those who had never attempted suicide.

Attention-deficit/hyperactivity disorder (ADHD) is a highly genetic neuropsychiatric disorder that can cause impairment at school, work, home, and in social relationships. Once considered a childhood disorder, as many as 65% of children with ADHD continue to exhibit symptoms into adulthood. While a mainstay of ADHD patient care, immediate-release stimulant use has been constrained by concerns about safety, tolerability, and issues related to nonmedical use and abuse. These concerns have prompted interest in developing modified versions or new delivery systems for stimulants. Prodrugs have been used in pharmaceutical development to optimize delivery of an active drug or to minimize toxicity. Prodrugs are pharmacologically inactive compounds that require in vivo conversion to release therapeutically active medications. Lisdexamfetamine dimesylate (LDX) is an inactive, water-soluble prodrug in which d-amphetamine is bonded to l-lysine, a naturally occurring amino acid. After oral ingestion, LDX is metabolized into l-lysine and active d-amphetamine. This review of LDX presents the efficacy, safety, and pharmacokinetic profile of this novel stimulant medication, and is intended to help clinicians understand its role in treating children and adults with ADHD.

Background: This analysis evaluated the effects of the serotonin-norepinephrine reuptake inhibitor, desvenlafaxine (administered as desvenlafaxine succinate), on anxiety symptoms associated with depression.

Methods: Data were pooled from 9 randomized, placebo-controlled, double-blind, 8 week studies of desvenlafaxine (50-400 mg/day, fixed or flexible dose) in patients with major depressive disorder (MDD), without a primary anxiety diagnosis. Changes from baseline in scores on the anxiety/somatization factor of the 17-item Hamilton Rating Scale for Depression (HAM-D17) and on the Covi Anxiety Scale at the final evaluation (last observation carried forward) were compared between desvenlafaxine and placebo groups using analysis of covariance.

Results: In the overall data set (intent to treat n=2,913 [desvenlafaxine, n=1,805; placebo, n=1,108]), desvenlafaxine was associated with significantly greater reductions compared with placebo in scores on the HAM-D17 anxiety/somatization factor (-3.41 vs -2.92, P<.001) and Covi Anxiety Scale (-1.35 vs -1.04, P<.001). In the subset of fixed-dose studies, significant differences were observed for all dose groups on the HAM-D17 anxiety/somatization factor (P≤.OH), and for the 50, 100, and 200 mg/day dose groups on the Covi Anxiety Scale (all P≤.015 vs placebo).

Conclusions: Desvenlafaxine was associated with significantly greater improvement in anxiety symptoms compared with placebo in patients with MDD.

Although cognitive-behavioral therapy (CBT) is an effective treatment for posttraumatic stress disorder (PTSD), many patients fail to attain remission with CBT. The authors propose augmentation of CBT with oxytocin in the treatment of PTSD. Oxytocin has a combination of pharmacologic effects that result in a “sense of safety” for the patient, which is a prerequisite to successful treatment of PTSD. We suggest a dual explanatory mechanism as to why oxytocin may be effective: through a reduction of fear response (decreasing amygdala activation, inhibiting fear response, and enhancing extinction learning) and through an increase of social interaction (activating social reward-related brain regions increasing engagement in the therapeutic alliance). Given that PTSD is marked by deficits in anxiety/stress regulation and in social functioning, and that oxytocin is implicated in both of these areas, oxytocin seems a likely candidate for treatment of patients with PTSD. Further clinical studies of the therapeutic value of oxytocin are indicated.

The clinical value of the current Diagnostic and Statistical Manual of Mental Disorders diagnosis of adjustment disorder is controversial. The aim of this article is to review the literature on adjustment disorder and to present suggestions for the improvement of this diagnostic category in future classification systems. The literature utilized for this review was retrieved by MEDLINE (1967 until May 2009) and was supplemented by a manual search of the literature. The analysis of the literature indicates that the diagnosis of adjustment disorder is not characterized by consistent clinical description and prognosis, adequate differentiation from other disorders, or specific psychometric and neurobiologic features. The spectrum of affective disturbances entailed by the diagnosis of adjustment disorder appears to be too broad. A major problem seems to lie in the fact that it is an exclusion diagnosis that overlaps with subthreshold manifestations of mood and anxiety disorders. More precise characterizations of stress-related disturbances are available.