Grand opening of the Child- and Adolescent Research Center in Stockholm

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Ribbon cutting.
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Professors NIls Lindefors and David Mataix-Cols assessing the neurodevelopment of a random toddler.

Today the Child- and Adolescent Psychiatry (CAP) Research Center in Stockholm at Gävlegatan 22 had its grand opening. It is so nice to see the rise of CAP research at Karolinska Institutet!

Ny artikel: Om patologiskt samlande i Läkartidningen

Volen Ivanov och Christian Rück skriver i veckans nummer av Läkartidningen om patologisk samlande (hoarding). Att samla på saker är ett allmänmänskligt fenomen; studier har visat att 70 procent av barn och 30 procent av vuxna har en samling.
Men ibland kan samlandet ta sig orimliga proportioner och gå över gränsen till det sjukliga. Patologiskt samlande är svårigheter att göra sig av med saker på grund av ett upplevt behov att behålla dem och obehag förknippat med att göra sig av med dem. Symtomen resulterar i att hemmet blir stökigt och överhopat. Tillståndet är svårbehandlat, men vissa lovande resultat finns med läkemedelsbehandling och psykologisk behandling. Troligtvis krävs samordnade insatser från sjukvård, socialtjänst, bostadsbolag etc. Läs mer här.

delano_input_nr01_sp01.PDF, page 1 @ Preflight ( Omslag34_13.ind

New study out on Hoarding in adolescence!

The first study to present the prevalence comorbidity and heritability of hoarding in adolescents just came out in PLoS ONE. In this study, we report that 2% of Swedish 15-year olds report symptoms of hoarding including distress and/or impairment. This is quite surprising given that hoarding is considered to be a problem most common among the elderly. We also found that hoarding seldom co-occurs with OCD which supports the status of Hoarding Disorder, which has been separated from Obsessive-Compulsive Disorder in the new DSM-5. Finally, using the twin design we were able to conclude that hoarding symptoms are heritable during adolescence but only in boys. In girls, the environment, both the shared, and non-shared between twins accounted for the variability in hoarding symptoms.

Our research group has been collaborating with the Swedish Twin Registry and Professor David Mataix-Cols on this paper and this partnership is only at its start. Keep following us to see what the incredible Swedish Twin data will tell us in the future!

http://www.plosone.org/article/info%3Adoi%2F10.1371%2Fjournal.pone.0069140

Ivanov VZ, Mataix-Cols D, Serlachius E, Lichtenstein P, Anckarsäter H, Chang Z, Hellner Gumpert C, Lundström S, Långström N, Rück C. (2013) Prevalence, Comorbidity and Heritability of Hoarding Symptoms in Adolescence: A Population Based Twin Study in 15-Year Olds. PLoS ONE 8(7): e69140.

Podcast on Obsessive Compulsive Personality Disorder

Summer has arrived which for many means vacation time. Hopefully this also entails greater possibilites for listening to our podcasts. In this episode Dr. Anthony Pinto provides a very clear overview of the somewhat overlooked Obsessive Compulisve Personality Disorder. Dr. Pinto provides details about how it can be distinguished form other related disorders and also, on the treatment of this impairing personality disorder. Enjoy it in your hammock or on the beach!

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=IwIAy5AULYs

New podcast!

In this episode Dr. Rodriguez from Columbia University discusses her research and takes us through how Hoarding Disorder could lead to serious housing problems and how clinicians and others involved can approach this problem.

It has been a while since we posted a podcast but during the next couple of weeks we will have several new ones out, so keep following us!

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=6dSua5XKhlQ

New publication: Why does CBT make someone change?

In a new study that is just out in the Journal of  Consulting and Clinical Psychology, researchers led by Brjánn Ljótsson studied how different possible mechanisms of CBT contributed to its efficacy in Irritable Bowel Syndrome. We used parallel process growth mediational analyses (!) to study weekly ratings of gastrointestinal symptom-specific anxiety (GSA) and stress reactivity. Results  showed that only GSA displayed a pattern consistent with a causal model in which change in process preceded and contributed to symptom change.

Ljótsson B, Hesser H, Andersson E, Lindfors P, Hursti T, Rück C, Lindefors N, Andersson G, Hedman E. Mechanisms of Change in an Exposure-Based Treatment for Irritable Bowel Syndrome. J Consult Clin Psychol. 2013 Jun 10. [Epub ahead of print]

Proud first author Brjánn Ljótsson
Proud first author Brjánn Ljótsson

Rücklab’s Volen Ivanov in NYC

Volen posing outside New York State Psychiatric Institute, encouraging you not to smoke
Volen posing outside Columbia Univeristy,New York State Psychiatric Institute, encouraging you not to smoke

nyc from above

This week, Volen Ivanov vistited Columbia University/New York State Psychiatric Institute to meet with some of Rücklabs favourite OCD researchers and present some of our lab’s recent work on Hoarding Disorder. Big thanks to Dr. Carolyn Rodriguez and Dr. Helen Blair Simpson for having him over! Follow us on Rücklab for some very interesting podcasts on OCD and related disorders coming out soon!