Mental capacity can be reliably assessed. The majority of psychiatric in-patients have capacity, and socio-demographic variables do not have a major impact but clinical ones do.

Summary Background Early immunotherapy administration improves outcomes in patients with N-methyl-D-aspartate receptor (NMDAR)-antibody encephalitis. As most patients with NMDAR-antibody encephalitis present to psychiatrists, the psychopathology of NMDAR-antibody encephalitis needs to be clearly defined to encourage accurate clinical identification and prompt treatment. Methods For this systematic review, we searched PubMed for all studies published in English between Jan 1, 2005, and Oct 7, 2017, to identify individually reported adult patients (≥18 years) who satisfied consensus criteria for definite NMDAR-antibody encephalitis. After generating a list of 50 fine-grained, lower-level features, we extracted psychopathological data in addition to demographic and aetiological data. The lower-level features were later ordered within higher-level categories. As a means of quality control, we filtered the data according to proxy markers of psychiatric involvement in their description. Subsequently, we compared lower-level features from individual patient data with operationalised psychiatric syndromes using a constrained combination approach and principal component analysis, and did a network analysis to explore the inter-relationships between multiple lower-level features. The review protocol was prospectively registered with PROSPERO, number CRD42017068981. Findings Of 1096 records identified in PubMed, 333 satisfied inclusion criteria and described 1100 patients in total with NMDAR-antibody encephalitis. The psychopathology of 505 (46%) patients with reported psychiatric symptoms was described in more detailed terms than only psychiatric or behavioural. 464 (91%) of the 505 patients were from papers in which patient data were reported individually. The remainder of the analyses focused exclusively on these 464 patients. Median age was 27 years (IQR 22–34), 368 (79%) of 464 patients were female and in 147 (32%), NMDAR-antibody encephalitis was associated with ovarian teratoma. The five higher-level categories into which the 464 patients most frequently grouped were behaviour (316 [68%]), psychosis (310 [67%]), mood (219 [47%]), catatonia (137 [30%]), and sleep disturbance (97 [21%]). The overall pattern of lower-level features was statistically stable across subgroups classified by age, sex, pregnancy association, presence of ovarian teratoma, prior herpes simplex virus encephalitis, and isolated psychiatric presentations (two-way ANOVA p=0·6–0·9). Constrained combination and principal component analyses found that mixtures of mood and psychosis syndromes fit each patient better than any single diagnosis alone, particularly for the patients in the psychiatric-described subgroup (mean ΔAkaike information criterion −0·04 in non-psychiatric-described subgroup vs 0·61 in psychiatric-described subgroup). The overlapping nature of the higher-level features was also enriched upon analysis of the psychiatric-d...

Objective: To test the effects of a novel cognitive-behavioral therapy (CBT)-based intervention delivered by a nurse therapist to patients with Parkinson disease (PD) with clinically significant impulse control behaviors (ICB).Methods: This was a randomized controlled trial comparing up to 12 sessions of a CBT-based intervention compared to a waiting list control condition with standard medical care (SMC). A total of 27 patients were randomized to the intervention and 17 to the waiting list. Patients with a Mini-Mental State Examination score of ,24 were excluded. The coprimary outcomes were overall symptom severity and neuropsychiatric disturbances in the patients and carer burden and distress after 6 months. Secondary outcome measures included depression and anxiety, marital satisfaction, and work and social adjustment in patients plus general psychiatric morbidity and marital satisfaction in carers.Results: There was a significant improvement in global symptom severity in the CBT intervention group vs controls, from a mean score consistent with moderate to one of mild illness-related symptoms (x 2 5 16.46, p , 0.001). Neuropsychiatric disturbances also improved significantly (p 5 0.03), as did levels of anxiety and depression and adjustment. Measures of carer burden and distress showed changes in the desired direction in the intervention group but did not change significantly. General psychiatric morbidity did improve significantly in the carers of patients given CBT.Conclusions: This CBT-based intervention is the first to show efficacy in ICB related to PD in terms of patient outcomes. The hoped-for alleviation of carer burden was not observed. The study demonstrates the feasibility and potential benefit of a psychosocial treatment approach for these disturbances at least in the short term, and encourages further larger-scale clinical trials.

Background: Cognitive impairment commonly affects renal patients. But little is known about the influence of dialysis modality on cognitive trends or the influence of cognitive impairment on decision-making in renal patients. This study evaluated cognitive trends amongst chronic kidney disease (CKD), haemodialysis (HD) and peritoneal dialysis (PD) patients. The relationship between cognitive impairment and decision-making capacity (DMC) was also assessed. Methods: Patients were recruited from three outpatient clinics. Cognitive function was assessed 4-monthly for up to 2 years, using the Montreal Cognitive Assessment (MoCA) tool. Cognitive trends were assessed using mixed model analysis. DMC was assessed using the Macarthur Competency Assessment tool (MacCAT-T). MacCAT-T scores were compared between patients with cognitive impairment (MoCA <26) and those without. Results: In total, 102 (41 HD, 25 PD and 36 CKD) patients were recruited into the prospective study. After multivariate analysis, the total MoCA scores declined faster in dialysis compared with CKD patients [coefficient = −0.03, 95% confidence interval (95% CI) = −0.056 to − 0.004; P = 0.025]. The MoCA executive scores declined faster in the HD compared with PD patients (coefficient = −0.12, 95% CI = −0.233 to − 0.007; P = 0.037). DMC was assessed in 10 patients. Those with cognitive impairment had lower MacCAT-T compared with those without [median (interquartile range) 19 (17.9–19.6) versus 17.4 (16.3–18.4); P = 0.049]. Conclusions: Cognition declines faster in dialysis patients compared with CKD patients and in HD patients compared with PD patients. Cognitive impairment affects DMC in patients with advanced kidney disease.

for excellent technical support. No compensation from funding sources was received for these contributions.

A non-diagnostic, dimensional construct of disinhibitory psychopathology may be a useful tool to guide research and inform treatment. The role of dysphoria is suggested as a further important factor in driving some of these problem behaviours. This opens the opportunity for adjunctive psychological approaches in management.

ObjectiveTo describe the prevalence, natural history, and risk factors for impulse control behaviors (ICBs) among people with Parkinson disease (PD), those with REM sleep behavior disorder (RBD), and controls.MethodsParticipants with early PD (within 3.5 years of diagnosis), those with RBD, and controls were clinically phenotyped and screened for ICBs longitudinally (with the Questionnaire for Impulsivity in Parkinson's Disease). ICB-positive individuals were invited for a semistructured interview, repeated 1 year later. The severity of the ICB was assessed with the Parkinson's Impulse Control Scale. Multiple imputation and regression models were used to estimate ICB prevalence and associations.ResultsData from 921 cases of PD at baseline, 768 cases at 18 months, and 531 cases at 36 months were included, with 21% to 25% screening positive for ICBs at each visit. Interviews of ICB screen–positive individuals revealed that 10% met formal criteria for impulse control disorders (ICD), while 33% had subsyndromal ICD (ICB symptoms without reaching the formal diagnostic criteria for ICD). When these data were combined through the use of multiple imputation, the prevalence of PD-ICB was estimated at 19.1% (95% confidence interval 10.1–28.2). On follow-up, 24% of cases of subsyndromal ICD had developed full symptoms of an ICD. PD-ICD was associated with dopamine agonist use, motor complications, and apathy but not PD-RBD. ICD prevalence in the RBD group (1%) was similar to that in controls (0.7%).ConclusionsICBs occur in 19.1% of patients with early PD, many persisting or worsening over time. RBD is not associated with increased ICD risk. Psychosocial drivers, including mood and support networks, affect severity.

Neuropsychiatric symptoms are common in Parkinson's disease (PD) and have a disproportionate impact on quality of life and carer burden. Pharmacological treatment is the main approach in dealing with these symptoms, but it is limited by variable efficacy and risk of drug interactions. Non-pharmacological approaches using the cognitive-behavioural therapy (CBT) model are viable alternatives and in this review paper we summarise the evidence of CBT for three of the most common psychiatric manifestations of PD: depression and anxiety, impulse-control disorders and insomnia. Most studies modified the usual CBT format to include modules accounting for problems specific to PD: activity scheduling around motoric function, motor symptoms as triggers of anxiety, fear of falling and preparation for disease progression as well as accommodation of materials for suspected executive dysfunction. We found a growing evidence base that CBT (modified to account for PD-specific problems) is effective in the treatment of PD psychiatric symptoms. Where controlled study design was used, moderate effect sizes are reported for the efficacy of CBT for depression, including with distance administration of CBT. The effects were sustained during follow-up which was between 1 and 6 months. In addition, there are some initial data on the effects of CBT on impulse-control disorders and insomnia. The studies were limited by their small and potentially unrepresentative samples and the quality of sample reporting (eg, concomitant antidepressant and dopaminergic therapy use). Additional welldesigned and adequately powered studies are required to determine the utility of CBT in PD. INTRODUCTIONParkinson's disease (PD) is classically defined by a triad of motor symptoms (tremor, rigidity and bradykinesia). It is, however, increasingly conceptualised as a neuropsychiatric disorder 1 in view of the high prevalence of psychiatric features, including depression, impulse control disorders (ICD) and sleep difficulties.2 These non-motor complications are better predictors of disability, distress and rates to institutionalisation than the motor symptoms.3 Of the non-motor complications, mixed depression and anxiety is the most common psychiatric comorbidity, affecting ∼50% of PD patients, significantly more common that rates in the general population.4 Depression and anxiety are the strongest predictors of poorer quality of life, 5 even in the advanced stages of the illness where the motor features have progressed fully.6 ICD are characterised by repetitive, reward-based behaviours, linked to the dopaminergic medication used to treat the motor symptoms. They affect ∼14% of all PD patients 7 and are associated with psychiatric comorbidity and high carer burden.8 Sleep disturbance is another neuropsychiatric symptom that affects up to 60% of all PD patients.9 It is associated with somnolence 10 and impairment in attention and executive function.11 On the basis of their impact on quality of life and outcome, the recognition and treatment of neuropsych...