About
207
Publications
22,717
Reads
How we measure 'reads'
A 'read' is counted each time someone views a publication summary (such as the title, abstract, and list of authors), clicks on a figure, or views or downloads the full-text. Learn more
3,597
Citations
Introduction
Skills and Expertise
Publications
Publications (207)
Major Depressive Disorder (MDD) is a growing disabling condition affecting around 280 million people worldwide. This complex entity is the result of the interplay between biological, psychological, and sociocultural factors, and compelling evidence suggests that MDD can be considered a disease that occurs as a consequence of an evolutionary mismatc...
There are discrepancies about if the severity of the symptomatology in schizophrenia is related to neurocognitive performance, functional outcome, and quality of life (QoL). Also, there are controversial data about the comparison between euthymic bipolar patients and different subgroups of schizophrenia in neurocognition, functioning, and QoL level...
Background: Antidepressants are the foundation of the treatment of major depressive disorders. Despite the scientific evidence, there is still a sustained debate and concern about the efficacy of antidepressants, with widely differing opinions among the population about their positive and negative effects, which may condition people's attitudes tow...
Background
Traumatic life events (TLEs) are one of the most robust environmental risk factors for the onset of first-episode psychosis (FEP).
Aims
To explore TLEs in FEP patients and healthy controls (HC), to analyze gender differences and to examine whether TLEs were associated with sociodemographic, clinical and psychofunctional variables in all...
The gut microbiota is a complex and dynamic ecosystem essential for the proper functioning of the organism, affecting the health and disease status of the individuals. There is continuous and bidirectional communication between gut microbiota and the host, conforming to a unique entity known as “holobiont”. Among these crosstalk mechanisms, the gut...
Little is known about the pathophysiological mechanisms of relapse in first-episode schizophrenia, which limits the study of potential biomarkers. To explore relapse mechanisms and identify potential biomarkers for relapse prediction, we analyzed gene expression in peripheral blood in a cohort of first-episode schizophrenia patients with less than...
Background: Antipsychotic medications are the first-line treatment for schizophrenia. However, non-adherence is frequent despite its negative impact on the course of the illness. In response, we aimed to investigate social media posts about antipsychotics to better understand the online environment in this regard.
Methods: We collected tweets conta...
Major Depressive Disorder (MDD) represents a major global health concern, a body-mind malady of rising prevalence worldwide nowadays. The complex network of mechanisms involved in MDD pathophysiology is subjected to epigenetic changes modulated by microRNAs (miRNAs). Serum free or vesicles loaded miRNAs have starred numerous publications, denoting...
Psychotic disorders typically manifest from late adolescence to early adulthood, and an earlier onset might be associated with greater symptom severity and a worse long-term prognosis. This study aimed to compare the cognitive characteristics of patients with first-episode psychosis (FEP) by their age at onset. We included 298 patients diagnosed wi...
Objective
There is high prevalence of cigarette smoking in individuals with first-episode psychosis (FEP) prior to psychosis onset. The purpose of the study was to determine the impact of previous tobacco use with or without cannabis on first psychotic experiences in FEP and the impact of this use on age of onset of symptoms, including prodromes....
The Stroop task, which examines an aspect of executive function/cognitive control, the ability to inhibit prepotent responses, has been relatively little examined in schizophrenia, and the findings have been inconsistent. Whether performance of this task is associated with failure of de-activation in the disorder is also uncertain. We examined 42 s...
Background: Childhood maltreatment (CM) is thought to play a key role in the etiology and
course of psychotic disorders (PD). In addition, CM is related to neurobiological and clinical
characteristics that can lead to poor social functioning. However, the extent to which CM and social functioning are directly associated in individuals with PD, is u...
Auditory hallucinations are common and distressing symptoms of the schizophrenia disease. It is commonly treated with pharmacological approaches but, unfortunately, such an approach is not effective in all patients. In the cases in which the use of antipsychotic drugs is not possible or not recommended, psychotherapeutic interventions are used to h...
To analyse the diagnostic concordance index between Primary Care and Mental Health.
Introduction
Training in Affect Recognition (TAR) is a “targeted” and computer-aided program that has been shown to effectively attenuate facial affect recognition deficits and improve social functioning in patients with schizophrenia. Social Cognition and Interaction Training (SCIT) is a group “broad-based” intervention, that has also been shown t...
Up to 80% of first-episode psychosis patients suffer a relapse within five years of the remission. Relapse should be an important focus of prevention given the potential harm to the patient and family. It threatens to disrupt their psychosocial recovery, increases the risk of resistance to treatment and has been associated with greater direct and i...
People with schizophrenia have difficulty recognizing the emotions in the facial expressions of others, which affects their social interaction and functioning in the community. Static stimuli such as photographs have been used traditionally to examine deficiencies in the recognition of emotions in patients with schizophrenia, which has been critici...
Introduction
Social cognition has been associated with functional outcome in patients with first episode psychosis (FEP). Social cognition has also been associated with neurocognition and cognitive reserve. Although cognitive reserve, neurocognitive functioning, social cognition, and functional outcome are related, the direction of their associatio...
Persistent negative symptoms are associated with worse outcome in both first-episode and chronic subjects with schizophrenia. The identification of these symptoms in recent-onset subjects is still controversial as retrospective data are often unavailable. The prospective assessment of persistence of negative symptoms might represent a valid alterna...
The links between psychosis and socio-economic disadvantage have been widely studied. No previous study has analysed the interrelationships and mutual influences between functioning dimensions in first episode of psychosis (FEP) according to their neighbourhood household income, using a multidimensional and transdiagnostic perspective. 170 patients...
Introduction: Trichotillomania (TTM) is characterised by repetitive hair pulling that leads to hair loss, distress and functional impairment. Childhood exposure to interpersonal violence has been linked to neurobiological dysregulations and brain alterations associated with cognitive problems also determining different personality patterns of think...
Objective:
The aims of this study were to assess COVID-19 outbreak-related emotions, to identify vulnerable groups within health care workers (HCW) and to study the relationship between the emotional state and some environmental features.
Method:
We conducted a cross-sectional study on March 29 to April 5, 2020 based on a national online survey...
The relationship between psychotic symptoms and global measures of functioning has been widely studied. No previous study has assessed so far the interplay between specific clinical symptoms and particular areas of functioning in first-episode psychosis (FEP) using network analysis methods. A total of 191 patients with FEP (age 24.45±6.28 years, 64...
The ability to recognise facial emotions is essential for successful social interaction. The most common stimuli used when evaluating this ability are photographs. Although these stimuli have proved to be valid, they do not offer the level of realism that virtual humans have achieved. The objective of the present paper is the validation of a new se...
Public health studies warn of the vulnerability of people with mental disorders during the COVID-19 outbreak. Thus, the aims of this study were to (1) explore the presence of symptoms of anxiety, depression and acute stress among people with a mental disorder (MD); (2) evaluate the rate of COVID-19 infection between MD and non-MD, and (3) study the...
Objective
We aim to explore the differential presence of symptoms of anxiety, depression, and acute stress between men and women during the COVID‐19 outbreak, and to study the relationship between these symptoms and two environmental variables, coexistence, and violence.
Methods
We conducted a cross‐sectional study starting on March 29 to April 5,...
BACKGROUND
As a consequence of the decentralisation of health care provision to the different Regions (called Autonomous Communities) in Spain, different healthcare models and resources have been developed for psychiatric patients. It would be very useful to obtain comprehensive and comparative data on healthcare models, resources and activity of a...
Background:
As a consequence of the decentralisation of health care provision to the different Regions (called Autonomous Communities) in Spain, different healthcare models and resources have been developed for psychiatric patients. It would be very useful to obtain comprehensive and comparative data on healthcare models, resources and activity of...
We aimed to examine the trajectory of psychosocial functioning in a sample of euthymic patients with bipolar disorder (BD) throughout a 5-year follow-up. Ninety-nine euthymic bipolar patients and 40 healthy controls (HC) were included. A neurocognitive assessment (17 neurocognitive measures grouped in 6 domains) was carried out at baseline. The spl...
Introduction: The role of Olanzapine therapeutic drug monitoring is controversial. The present study explores the associations of Olanzapine plasma concentrations with clinical response and metabolic side effects in first episode psychosis (FEP) after 2 months of treatment.
Methods: Forty-seven patients were included. Improvement in clinical sympt...
This paper focuses on the validation of a tool designed to improve affect recognition, a fundamental aspect of social cognition as it greatly affects the functionality and quality of life of patients with mental disorders. The presented tool facilitates the generation of multi-modal avatar-based therapies by mental health professionals in this impo...
The SARS-CoV-2 pandemic has caused an unprecedented clinical situation. A retrospective cross-sectional study was designed with the aim to evaluate psychiatric emergencies from March 14 to May 1, 2020, coinciding with the start of the emergency state and the lockdown until the attenuation of the confinement. Data obtained during this period were co...
Individuals with psychoses have brain alterations, particularly in frontal and temporal cortices, that may be particularly prominent, already at illness onset, in those more likely to have poorer symptom remission following treatment with the first antipsychotic. The identification of strong neuroanatomical markers of symptom remission could thus f...
Up to 80% of first-episode psychosis patients suffer a relapse within five years of the remission. Relapse should be an important focus of prevention given the potential harm to the patient and family. It threatens to disrupt their psychosocial recovery, increases the risk of resistance to treatment and has been associated with greater direct and i...
Introduction: Experiencing negative life events as Childhood
Trauma (CT) would lead to individual differences in reaction and
perception of stress. Neuroticism and low Conscientiousness have
been linked to worse physical and mental health-related behaviors.
However, the association between different types of CT with personality
traits has been poor...
Introduction: Childhood maltreatment (CM) not only influences
child´s cognitive functioning and psychological wellbeing, but also
domains of social development in individuals with major psychiatric
disorders. However, less is known about howCMaffects social
cognition and functionality in healthy adults.
Objectives: To assess the relationship betwee...
Introduction: It is well known that besides cognitive impairments, individuals with psychotic disorders experience deficits in their functional capacity. Indeed, the recovery of the functional capacity is one of the most important aims in the treatment of patients with
First-Episode Schizophrenia (FESz). As far as we know, this is the first study i...
Introduction: Several studies have shown that the Maintenance
Electroconvulsive Therapy (M-ECT) is a safe and effective therapy
to treat elderly patients with affective and certain schizophreniaspectrum
disorders. Despite its clinical efficacy, the use of M-ECT is
not as extended as it might be expected, which could be a consequence
of the need of...
Introduction: Insight or awareness of illness is one of the most important predictors of future outcomes in patients with First-Episode Schizophrenia (FESz). The relationship between cognition and insight has been well established. However, the potential associations of social cognition and neurocognition with insight have been less characterized a...
Cannabis use is considered an established risk factor for psychosis development. Differentiating between cannabis-induced disorders and schizophrenia is useful for prognostic and therapeutic purposes. Three inpatients groups were differentiated: cannabis-induced psychosis (CIP) (n = 69; mean age = 27.4, SD = 6.5; 82.6% males), schizophrenia with ca...
Background
We aim to assess COVID-19 outbreak-related emotional symptoms, identify gender differences, and study the relationship between the emotional state and environmental features in the elderly.
Methods
We conducted a cross-sectional study starting on March 29 to April 5, 2020 based on a national online survey using snowball sampling techniq...
Mental health impact of COVID-19 pandemic on Spanish healthcare workers - Lorena García-Fernández, Verónica Romero-Ferreiro, Pedro David López-Roldán, Sergio Padilla, Irene Calero-Sierra, María Monzó-García, Jorge Pérez-Martín, Roberto Rodriguez-Jimenez
Background
A history of Childhood Trauma (CT), i.e., physical or emotional abuse or neglect, and sexual abuse, is reportedly more prevalent in individuals suffering from psychosis than in the general population. Crucial questions remain unclear about the nature of interpersonal functioning in CT survivors, involving the capacity to understand and i...
The evolution of social cognition throughout the course of schizophrenia is unclear not being possible to state whether it remains stable from early stages to chronicity, or it changes as the disease develops. For this purpose, 90 patients with schizophrenia and 139 healthy controls have been compared establishing 4 different groups paired by age a...
Negative symptoms are associated with poor clinical and psychosocial outcome in schizophrenia. Their prevalence and identification in first-episode patients remains controversial.
In a large cohort of patients in the early stage of schizophrenia, schizophreniform or schizoaffective disorder, we investigated, over the different phases of the OPTiMiS...
Background
Functional impairment is commonly encountered among patients with bipolar disorder (BD) during periods of remission. The distribution of the impairment of the functional outcome is heterogeneous. The objective of this current investigation was to identify neurocognitive and clinical predictors of psychosocial functioning in a sample of p...
Gene-environment (GxE) interactions have been related to psychosis spectrum disorders, involving multiple common genetic variants in multiple genes with very small effect sizes, and several environmental factors that constitute a dense network of exposures named the exposome. Here, we aimed to analyze GxE in a cohort of 310 first-episode psychotic...
Bullying, i.e., the intentional, repetitive and persistent aggressive behavior toward a victim during childhood and adolescence (Olweus, 1994) has been shown to be associated with the emergence of psychotic symptoms (van Dam et al. 2012). In this regard, first episode of schizophrenia (FESz) patients are twice as likely to report bullying experienc...
Childhood neglect (CN), i.e., the failure of a parent or any adult with
responsibility for the child to provide needed food, clothing, medical care
or supervision to the degree that the child ́s health, safety and well-being
are threatened (WHO, 2014), is a recognized risk factor for psychosis
(Teicher & Samson, 2013). It has been proposed that tra...
Recent diffusion imaging studies using free-water (FW) elimination have shown increased FW in gray matter (GM) and white matter (WM) in first-episode psychosis (FEP) and lower corrected fractional anisotropy (FAt) in WM in chronic schizophrenia. However, little is known about the longitudinal stability and clinical significance of these findings.
T...
Background and objective
Psychosocial impairment in schizophrenia is related to deficits in functioning and quality of life. Virtual reality (VR) is an interesting tool that has been started to use in remediation therapies. The aim of this study is to carry out a systematic review to describe the state-of-the-art in VR for psychosocial intervention...
Background
Social cognition has been associated with functional outcome in patients with first episode psychosis (FEP). Social cognition has also been associated with neurocognition and cognitive reserve. Although cognitive reserve, neurocognitive functioning, social cognition, and functional outcome are related, the direction of their associations...
A precise description of the inflammatory response in first-episode psychosis (FEP) by age of onset does not exist. We explored baseline and 6-month follow-up differences in the pro/anti-inflammatory balance in plasma and peripheral blood mononuclear cells in adolescent-onset FEP (≤ 18 y.o., N = 27) and adult-onset FEP (≥ 25 y.o., N = 43) using non...
Patients with schizophrenia show cognitive impairments that have been linked to poor social functioning. Computerized cognitive remediation therapy has shown to be effective in improving both cognition and functioning in chronic schizophrenia, but relatively little is known about how these approaches improve cognition and functioning when applied t...
Antipsychotics are an essential component in the treatment of schizophrenia. Long-acting injectable formulations (LAI) arose to improve adherence with the associated potentialof reducing the risk of relapse. The objective of this article is to analyze the use of LAI antipsy-chotics in Spain, which is similar to other European countries but with a p...
The objective of the study was to examine the cognitive profile of Spanish patients with a first episode of schizophrenia (FESz) and to compare that to the profile of patients with a chronic schizophrenia (CSz) and non-psychiatric (NP) control subjects. The study included 106 FESz, 293 CSz, and 210 NP, assessed with the Spanish version of the MATRI...
Background:
Impairments in social cognition have been described in several psychiatric and neurological disorders. Given the importance of the relationship between social cognition and functioning and quality of life in these disorders, there is a growing interest in social cognition remediation interventions. The aim of this study was to carry ou...
This paper introduces the design process of facial expressions on virtual humans to play basic emotions. The design of the emotions is grounded on the Facial Action Coding System that enables describing facial expressions based on Action Units. All the tools employed to attain the final human avatar expressions are detailed. Then, an experiment wit...
Background
Negative symptoms represent an unmet need of schizophrenia treatment, occurring since the early phases of the disorder. Primary and persistent negative symptoms are associated with the worst outcome in terms of treatment response and psychosocial functioning. The prevalence of these symptoms in first episode patients, especially early af...
BACKGROUND:
Bipolar disorder (BD) and schizophrenia (SZ) are characterized by neurocognitive and functional deficits with marked heterogeneity. It has been suggested that BD with a history of psychotic symptoms (BD-P) could constitute a phenotypically homogeneous subtype characterized by greater neurocognitive and functional impairments, or by a di...