BACKGROUND: The existing research has mainly focused on exploring how the duration of untreated psychosis effects the further course of the disease. By contrast, the duration of an untreated illness (DUI) in youth depression and its impact on the further course of the disease has remained scarcely investigated.
OBJECTIVE: The current study aims to determine how the duration of untreated illness affects the severity of the symptoms during the first depressive episode and the degree to which the symptoms are reduced after treatment.
METHODS: Fifty-two young male patients (15-29 years old) were examined. First, they were hospitalized with a severe without psychotic symptoms (F32.2) and moderate (F32.1) depressive episode. The Hamilton Depression Rating Scale (HDRS), the Scale of Prodromal Symptoms (SOPS), and the Scale for Assessment of Negative Symptoms (SANS) were used to achieve the research goals. The examination was conducted twice at the time of patient admission to the hospital and before discharge. Our statistical analysis was carried out with the Statistica 12 software. The Mann-Whitney U test was used to compare the differences between two independent groups. The Spearman\'s rank correlation coefficient was used to uncover any correlation between how long the illness has remained untreated and the severity of its clinical symptoms.
RESULTS: All patients were hospitalized at the first depressive episode. The average duration of an untreated illness was 35.8±17.0 months. The patients were divided into two groups: the first group (59.6%, n=31), with a duration of the untreated illness of more than 36 months, and the second group (40.4%, n=21), with a duration of the untreated illness of less than 36 months. A cross-group comparison between the participants showed that the reduction of HDRS scores was significantly higher in the second group (p=0.019) at the time of discharge, with no differences in the severity of depressive symptoms (p=0.544) at the time of admission. Comorbidity was detected in 83.9% of the patients in the first group and in 42.9% of the patients in the second group. A greater therapy effectiveness was found to exist in the second group, as the depressive symptoms score on the HDRS scale (p=0.016; U=196.0) and prodromal symptoms score on the SOPS disorganization subscale (p=0.046; U=218.0) were found to have been reduced significantly.
CONCLUSIONS: The study showed that DUI has an impact on the reduction of depressive, negative symptoms and symptoms of disorganization in youth patients at the first depressive episode. A high level of comorbidity has been uncovered, confirming that a variety of non-psychotic and psychotic disorders in youth manifest themselves in depression at a prodromal stage, causing difficulties in establishing diagnoses and requiring subsequent verification. Future research might need to focus on exploring depressive symptoms as predictors of mental disorders in youth patients.
UNASSIGNED: В настоящее время большинство исследований сфокусированы на изучении влияния длительности нелеченого психоза на дальнейшее течение заболевания. В отношении длительности нелеченого заболевания при депрессии таких работ значительно меньше.
UNASSIGNED: Целью данного исследования является: установить влияние длительности нелеченого заболевания на тяжесть симптомов депрессии, на степень их редукции за время лечения.
UNASSIGNED: Обследованы 52 больных мужского пола 15–29 лет, впервые госпитализированных по поводу депрессивного эпизода тяжелой степени без психотических симптомов (F32.2) и средней степени тяжести (F32.1). Применялись Шкала оценки депрессивных симптомов (HDRS), Шкала оценки продромальных симптомов (SOPS) и Шкала оценки негативных симптомов (SANS). Обследование проводилось дважды: на момент поступления пациента в стационар и на этапе редукции психопатологических расстройств перед выпиской. Статистический анализ проводился с помощью программы Statistica 12. Для сравнения различий между двумя независимыми группами применялся непараметрический метод Манна — Уитни и ранговый коэффициент Спирмена для оценки взаимосвязей между длительностью нелеченного заболевания и тяжестью клинических симптомов.
UNASSIGNED: Выборка включала больных, впервые госпитализированных с диагнозом «Депрессивный эпизод», средняя длительность нелеченого заболевания составила 35.8±17.0 месяцев. Пациенты были разделены на две группы: 1 группа (59.6%, n=31) с длительностью нелеченого заболевания более 36 месяцев, 2 группа (40.4%, n=21) — менее 36 месяцев. Межгрупповые сравнения показали, что редукция баллов по шкале HDRS к моменту выписки была значительно выше во второй группе (р=0.019) при отсутствии различий по степени выраженности депрессии при поступлении (р=0.544). Коморбидность отмечалась у 83.9% пациентов первой группы и у 42.9% — у второй. Лучший эффект терапии был установлен у больных второй группы по степени выраженности депрессивных симптомов (p=0.016; U=196.0) и продромальных симптомов, оцененных по подшкале симптомов дезорганизации шкалы SOPS (p=0.046; U=218.0) при выписке.
UNASSIGNED: Исследование показало влияние длительности нелеченого заболевания на степень редукции депрессивных, негативных симптомов и симптомов дезорганизации у молодых людей с первым депрессивным эпизодом. Также была установлена большая степень коморбидности, подтверждающая, что различные непсихотические психические расстройства, а также психотические заболевания на продромальных стадиях могут проявляться депрессивной симптоматикой, что затрудняет диагностику юношеских депрессий и требует последующей верификации диагноза. Будущие исследования должны быть направлены на определение предикторной значимости юношеских депрессий в отношении развития психических расстройств в юношеском возрасте.

Research shows the important role of parents\' mental health literacy in detecting depressive symptoms and supporting their children to seek professional help. Improving mental health literacy in parents has recently gained even greater importance due to the negative impact of the COVID-19 pandemic on children and adolescents\' mental health. The aim of the present experimental pre-post-follow-up study was to examine knowledge change after the reception of contents from an innovative web-based platform ( www.ich-bin-alles.de/eltern ) containing evidence-based information on youth depression and mental health in parents of adolescents with a history of depression. A second aim was to assess evaluation of the layout and the acceptance of the platform. N = 33 parents of adolescents with a history of depression (either current or remitted depression) were presented different content domains of the website. Participants\' knowledge about depression was assessed at pre- and post-intervention, and at a four week follow-up. Moreover, parents evaluated the acceptance and the layout of the website. The trial was preregistered at clinicaltrials.gov (NCT05335564). The results showed a significant increase in total knowledge from pre to post, which remained stable over the course of four weeks. Explorative analyses showed that sociodemographic variables did not influence the extent of knowledge gain. Acceptance rates were high and evaluations of the website\'s layout were positive. The findings show that the web-based information portal is a promising and appealing means to increase parental knowledge on youth depression. Low-threshold psychoeducational approaches like websites are particularly relevant in times of crisis and increased prevalence rates of depressive symptoms and disorders (ehealth). These results are an important basis for future studies as well as approaches that aim to impart knowledge about mental disorders like youth depression via web-based means. Furthermore, they bear implications for policy decisions concerning mental health education and campaigns.

Identification and management of major depressive disorder (MDD) in children and adolescents remains a significant area of public health need. The process for identifying depression (e.g. screening) and management (e.g. measurement based care [MBC]) is substantially enhanced by utilization of clinical measures and rating scales. Measures can be self- or caregiver reported or clinician rated. They can aid recognition of at-risk individuals for future assessment and assist in clinical diagnosis and management of depression. In addition to assessing symptoms of depression, rating scales can be used to assess important associated features (e.g. anxiety, trauma) and functional outcomes (e.g. quality of life, performance/productivity). In this manuscript, we discuss practical considerations for clinicians and researchers when selecting rating instruments for assessing depression, associated factors, functioning, and treatment outcomes (i.e. adherence and side effects) as part of MBC in youth and provide a summary of rating scales commonly used in research and clinical settings.

BACKGROUND: Parental depression increases children\'s risk of mental illness and may simultaneously impair the detection of children\'s symptoms. Here we investigate the nature of parent-child agreement of children\'s psychopathology in children of parents with current (cMD) versus remitted (rMD) major depression.
METHODS: Baseline data from 100 parent-child dyads including healthy children aged 8-17 (M = 11.89, SD = 2.83) and their parents with a history of depression were analysed. The presence of sub-clinical psychopathology (yes/no) in children was assessed using semi-structured diagnostic interviews with child and parent (K-DIPS). Self- (YSR) and parent-report (CBCL) questionnaires were used to measure the severity of symptoms. Parent-child agreement was calculated using Chi-square tests and Cohen\'s kappa respectively. We compared whether agreement differed between children of parents with cMD (n = 52) versus rMD (n = 48).
RESULTS: In the interviews parents more frequently reported sub-clinical child psychopathology than the children themselves (χ2 1,100  = 4.63, p < 0.001, d = 0.59). This pattern characterised parents with cMD (χ2 1,52  = 7.99, p = 0.005; κ = 0.582) but not rMD (χ2 1,48  = 000, p = 0.686; κ = -0.010), a difference which was statistically significant (z = 3.14, p < 0.001, d = 0.66).
CONCLUSIONS: Since agreement between parents and children about the severity of children\'s symptoms was particularly poor in families where parents were currently depressed, parental mental illness should be taken into account when assessing youth psychopathology.

Parental depression is a well-established risk factor for youth psychopathology; however, depression is highly heterogeneous, and different parental symptom profiles may be differentially associated with risk mechanisms and youth psychopathology outcomes. Thus, this study examined associations between parental anhedonic symptoms of depression, specifically, and (1) parenting and (2) youth outcomes using a multi-method, multi-informant approach. Participants included 595 parents (89% mothers) and youth (ages 8-16; M[SD] = 12.07[2.39]). Regression analyses indicated that parental self-reported anhedonic symptoms at baseline demonstrated relatively specific prospective associations with chronic parent-child stress assessed using contextual stress interview methods, as well as youth self-reported depressive symptoms at 18-month follow-up. Findings also indicated concurrent associations between parental anhedonic symptoms and observed parental criticism, conflict, and responsiveness in the context of a 5-min discussion task, as well as parent self-reported monitoring/supervision, although results were no longer significant after controlling for parental co-occurring non-anhedonic depressive symptoms. Findings suggest that parental anhedonic symptoms may contribute to relatively unique reductions in the quality of the parent-child relationship and may be a particularly salient risk factor for youth depression.

Youth depression has been associated with heterogenous patterns of aberrant brain connectivity. To make sense of these divergent findings, we conducted a systematic review encompassing 19 resting-state fMRI seed-to-whole-brain studies (1400 participants, comprising 795 youths with major depression and 605 matched healthy controls). We incorporated separate meta-analyses of connectivity abnormalities across the levels of the most commonly seeded brain networks (default-mode and limbic networks) and, based on recent additions to the literature, an updated meta-analysis of amygdala dysconnectivity in youth depression. Our findings indicated broad and distributed findings at an anatomical level, which could not be captured by conventional meta-analyses in terms of spatial convergence. However, we were able to parse the complexity of region-to-region dysconnectivity by considering constituent regions as components of distributed canonical brain networks. This integration revealed dysconnectivity centred on central executive, default mode, salience, and limbic networks, converging with findings from the adult depression literature and suggesting similar neurobiological underpinnings of youth and adult depression.

OBJECTIVE: To establish the structural features of the brain (cortical and subcortical) in depressive patients at clinical risk for psychosis.
METHODS: Nineteen right-handed male patients with youth depression, who were assessed for high risk of psychotic manifestation, and 20 healthy controls underwent MRI and clinical examination. T1-weighted images were processed in FreeSurfer 7.1.1. For each subject average values for the cortex thickness and area, volumes of subcortical structures, and separately volumes of the amygdala nuclei were obtained. Intergroup comparisons and correlations with clinical scales (SOPS, HDRS) were calculated.
RESULTS: Patients showed decreased gray matter thickness in the left (p=0.002) and right (p=0.003) postcentral gyri and increased thickness in the right posterior cingulate cortex (p=0.003) and rostral anterior cingulate cortex (p=0.001).
CONCLUSIONS: These findings may reflect cortical changes at early stages of the psychotic process, including the gray matter loss in some areas and the opposite phenomena in others (it cannot be ruled out that the latter may be the result of altered ontogenesis and/or certain compensatory changes).
UNASSIGNED: Установить структурные особенности серого вещества коры головного мозга у больных депрессиями с клиническим риском манифестации психоза.
UNASSIGNED: Девятнадцать праворуких пациентов мужского пола с юношескими депрессиями, соответствующие критериям высокого риска манифестации психоза, а также 20 подобранных по полу и возрасту психически здоровых испытуемых в качестве контрольной группы прошли клиническое и МРТ-обследование. Т1-взвешенные изображения были обработаны в пакете FreeSurfer 7.1.1, в результате чего для каждого испытуемого были получены средние показатели толщины серого вещества коры, объема подкорковых образований и отдельных ядер миндалевидного тела. Были проведены межгрупповые сравнения и рассчитаны корреляции с психометрическими показателями (SOPS, HDRS).
UNASSIGNED: В группе пациентов было обнаружено снижение толщины коры в левой (p=0,002) и правой (p=0,003) постцентральных извилинах и увеличение в правой задней поясной коре (p=0,003) и передней части передней поясной извилины (p=0,001).
UNASSIGNED: Данная картина может отражать изменения коры головного мозга на ранних этапах эндогенного процесса, включающие редукцию серого вещества в одних областях и противоположные явления в других (нельзя исключить связь последнего с измененным онтогенезом и/или определенными компенсаторными изменениями).

This paper summarizes many findings about depression among children and adolescents. Depression is prevalent, highly distressing, and exerts considerable burden worldwide. Rates surge from childhood through young adulthood and have increased over the last decade. Many risk factors have been identified, and evidence-based interventions exist targeting mostly individual-level changes via psychological or pharmacological means. At the same time, the field appears stuck and has not achieved considerable progress in advancing scientific understanding of depression\'s features or delivering interventions to meet the challenge of youth depression\'s high and growing prevalence. This paper adopts several positions to address these challenges and move the field forward. First, we emphasize reinvigoration of construct validation approaches that may better characterize youth depression\'s phenomenological features and inform more valid and reliable assessments that can enhance scientific understanding and improve interventions for youth depression. To this end, history and philosophical principles affecting depression\'s conceptualization and measurement are considered. Second, we suggest expanding the range and targets of treatments and prevention efforts beyond current practice guidelines for evidence-based interventions. This broader suite of interventions includes structural- and system-level change focused at community and societal levels (e.g., evidence-based economic anti-poverty interventions) and personalized interventions with sufficient evidence base. We propose that by focusing on the FORCE (Fundamentals, Openness, Relationships, Constructs, Evidence), youth depression research can provide new hope.

OBJECTIVE: To analyze the possibilities of using the Russian version of the Thought, Language and Communication Scale (TLC) for early recognition of thought disorders in patients at clinical high-risk for schizophrenia.
METHODS: For the main group, the study included 30 adolescent male patients (19.2±2.2 years) hospitalized with the first depressive episode (ICD-10: F32.1, F32.2, F32.28, F32.8), who demonstrated attenuated schizophrenic symptoms (ASS) in the structure of the depression, which made it possible to attribute the patients to the group of clinical high-risk for schizophrenia. The control group consisted of 27 mentally healthy adolescent males (20.0±2.3 years). In both groups, the severity of thought impairment was assessed using the TLC scale. Psychopathological, psychometric and statistical methods were used.
RESULTS: The median values of the severity of thought impairment using the TLC scale were 20 points [19.75; 26] in the main group, 10.5 points [9.25; 13] in the control group, with a high degree of statistical significance (p<0.001). The most significant differences (p<0.001) were found in following parameters: Incoherence (2 [1; 3] vs 1 [0; 1]), Tangentiality (2 [2; 2] vs 1 [0; 2]), Derailment (2 [1.25; 2] vs 1 [0.5; 2]), Illogical thinking (2 [2; 2.75] vs 0 [0; 1]), Loss of goal (1 [0; 2] vs 0 [0; 0]) and Blocking (1 [0; 1] vs 0 [0; 0] accordingly).
CONCLUSIONS: Specific, not related to depression, disorders of thinking in patients of the clinical group, which indicates signs of disorganization of thinking and suggests the beginning of the endogenous process of the schizophrenic pole were found. The results show that the TLC scale can be used to detect early cognitive disorders in patients at risk of schizophrenia.
UNASSIGNED: Проанализировать возможность применения русскоязычной версии шкалы оценки расстройств мышления, речи и коммуникации (Thought, Language, Communication Scale — TLC) для раннего выявления нарушений мышления у больных, относящихся к группе риска манифестации шизофрении.
UNASSIGNED: Клиническую группу составили 30 больных юношеского возраста (средний возраст 19,2±2,2 года) мужского пола, госпитализированных с первым депрессивным эпизодом (по МКБ-10: F32.1, F32.2, F32.28, F32.8) с аттенуированными симптомами шизофрении (АСШ), что позволяло отнести их к группе риска шизофрении. Контрольную группу составили 27 психически здоровых юношей (средний возраст 20,0±2,3 года). В обеих группах была проведена оценка выраженности нарушений мышления с помощью шкалы TLC. Применялись психопатологический, психометрический и статистический методы исследования.
UNASSIGNED: Медианные значения выраженности нарушений мышления по шкале TLC в клинической группе составили 20 баллов [17,25; 23,5], в контрольной группе — 11 баллов [9; 14,5] (p<0,001). Наибольшие различия между клинической и контрольной группами (p<0,001) были получены по следующим параметрам: инкогеренция (2 [1; 3] и 1 [0; 1]), отклонение от темы на ассоциации (2 [2; 2] и 1 [0; 2]), соскальзывания (2 [1,25; 2] и 1 [0,5; 2]), непоследовательность (2 [2; 2,75] и 0 [0; 1]), нецеленаправленность (1 [0; 2] и 0 [0; 0]) и шперрунги (1 [0; 1] и 0 [0; 0]) соответственно.
UNASSIGNED: Выявлены специфические, не относящиеся к депрессивному состоянию, нарушения мышления у больных клинической группы, что свидетельствует о признаках дезорганизации мышления и позволяет предположить начало эндогенного процесса. Полученные результаты свидетельствуют о возможности применения шкалы TLC для выявления нарушений мышления у больных из группы риска манифестации шизофрении.

UNASSIGNED: Depression is a common psychiatric disorder characterized by persistent low mood, reduced interest, and slowed thinking. Young adults are the main first-onset group for depression in all categories of the population. Program for education and enrichment of relational skills (PEERS) training, a program for the Education and Enrichment of Relational Skills, has been used in Europe and America for people with various types of social disorders with good results. A Chinese adaptation of the PEERS training program may be a new approach to help youth with depression return to society as soon as possible. This study aimed to construct and optimize a social skills training program for Chinese young adults with depression and to validate the impact of the program.
UNASSIGNED: The aim of this trial protocol is to evaluate the efficacy of the localized PEERS training program on social competence, depressed mood in a Chinese young adult population with depression. The primary outcome will be a change in self-reported depressive symptoms from baseline to week 3 post-randomization to week 6 post-randomization measured using the Liebowitz social anxiety scale (LSAS). Secondary outcomes include the rate of decline in severe social anxiety, the Social Avoidance and Distress Scale (SAD), the Social Self-Efficacy Scale (PSSE), and the Hamilton Depression Scale (HAMD-17). Data for each assessment will be collected at baseline, week 3 of the trial, and week 6 of the trial.
UNASSIGNED: Ethics approval was obtained from the Hospital Ethics Committee. Findings will be disseminated through scientific journals, conferences, and university courses.
UNASSIGNED: [http://www.chictr.org.cn/], identifier [ChiCTR2100046050].