Browsing by Subject "nuorisopsykiatria"

Depersonalization refers to the experience of alienation from oneself. It is a common symptom, although not so widely studied in adolescents suffering from mental health problems. Depersonalization is a dissociative symptom, of which a main characteristic is loss of coherence on mental functions. However, compared to more severe forms of dissociation, depersonalization is relatively common also in nonclinical populations. The present study takes a closer look at the comorbid symptoms of adolescents experiencing depersonalization. Is there a connection between depersonalization and psychiatric diagnosis categories, severity of depression or anxiety symptoms, or symptoms associated with risk for psychosis? Based on previous studies, it is expected that mood and anxiety disorders and the severity of depressive symptoms as well as suspiciousness and perceptual abnormalities of the psychosis risk symptoms will be positively correlated with depersonalization. This study is part of the Helsinki Prodromal Study by the National Institute for Health and Welfare. The subjects (N=152) were new patients aged 15-18 in psychiatric treatment with various kinds of mental health problems. They were selected for further assessment after initial screening. Depersonalization was assessed with the Prodromal Questionnaire (PQ) depersonalization factor (Therman et al. 2014). The Structured Clinical Interview for the DSM-IV, Clinical Version (SCID-CV) and medical records were used for the diagnostic assessment. Depressive symptom severity was measured with the Beck Depression Inventory and the Beck Hopelessness Scale and severity of anxiety with the Beck Anxiety Inventory. The severity of psychosis risk symptoms was assessed with the Structured Interview of Prodromal Symptoms (SIPS). Mood disorders were associated with depersonalization as hypothesized. A similar association was not detected for anxiety disorders, though depersonalization was modestly positively correlated with the severity of depressive and anxiety symptoms. All of the positive SIPS-symptoms, especially delusional ideas were correlated with the severity of depersonalization. This was the case also with bizarre thinking, focus and attention problems, decreased experience of emotions and self, dysphoric mood and impaired tolerance to stress. These findings indicate that there are differences in the severity of depersonalization depending on the type of comorbid symptoms. For clinical applicability of the results, further study using more detailed definitions of depersonalization is needed.