Alcohol use disorders can be conceptualised as a learned pattern of maladaptive alcohol-consumption behaviours. The memories encoding these behaviours centrally contribute to long-term excessive alcohol consumption and are therefore an important therapeutic target. The transient period of memory instability sparked during memory reconsolidation offers a therapeutic window to directly rewrite these memories using targeted behavioural interventions. However, clinically-relevant demonstrations of the efficacy of this approach are few. We examined key retrieval parameters for destabilising naturalistic drinking memories and the ability of subsequent counterconditioning to effect long-term reductions in drinking.

Hazardous/harmful beer-drinking volunteers (N = 120) were factorially randomised to retrieve (RET) or not retrieve (No RET) alcohol reward memories with (PE) or without (No PE) alcohol reward prediction error. All participants subsequently underwent disgust-based counterconditioning of drinking cues. Acute responses to alcohol were assessed pre- and post-manipulation and drinking levels were assessed up to 9 months.

Greater long-term reductions in drinking were found when counterconditioning was conducted following retrieval (with and without PE), despite a lack of short-term group differences in motivational responding to acute alcohol. Large variability in acute levels of learning during counterconditioning was noted. ‘Responsiveness’ to counterconditioning predicted subsequent responses to acute alcohol in RET + PE only, consistent with reconsolidation-update mechanisms.

The longevity of behavioural interventions designed to reduce problematic drinking levels may be enhanced by leveraging reconsolidation-update mechanisms to rewrite maladaptive memory. However, inter-individual variability in levels of corrective learning is likely to determine the efficacy of reconsolidation-updating interventions and should be considered when designing and assessing interventions.

Many studies have reported an increased risk of autism spectrum disorder (ASD) associated with some maternal diagnoses in pregnancy. However, such associations have not been studied systematically, accounting for comorbidity between maternal disorders. Therefore our aim was to comprehensively test the associations between maternal diagnoses around pregnancy and ASD risk in offspring.

This exploratory case–cohort study included children born in Israel from 1997 to 2008, and followed up until 2015. We used information on all ICD-9 codes received by their mothers during pregnancy and the preceding year. ASD risk associated with each of those conditions was calculated using Cox proportional hazards regression, adjusted for the confounders (birth year, maternal age, socioeconomic status and number of ICD-9 diagnoses during the exposure period).

The analytic sample consisted of 80 187 individuals (1132 cases, 79 055 controls), with 822 unique ICD-9 codes recorded in their mothers. After extensive quality control, 22 maternal diagnoses were nominally significantly associated with offspring ASD, with 16 of those surviving subsequent filtering steps (permutation testing, multiple testing correction, multiple regression). Among those, we recorded an increased risk of ASD associated with metabolic [e.g. hypertension; HR = 2.74 (1.92–3.90), p = 2.43 × 10−8], genitourinary [e.g. non-inflammatory disorders of cervix; HR = 1.88 (1.38–2.57), p = 7.06 × 10−5] and psychiatric [depressive disorder; HR = 2.11 (1.32–3.35), p = 1.70 × 10−3] diagnoses. Meanwhile, mothers of children with ASD were less likely to attend prenatal care appointment [HR = 0.62 (0.54–0.71), p = 1.80 × 10−11].

Sixteen maternal diagnoses were associated with ASD in the offspring, after rigorous filtering of potential false-positive associations. Replication in other cohorts and further research to understand the mechanisms underlying the observed associations with ASD are warranted.

In two experimental studies, we tested the hypothesis that negative mood would hinder the revision of negative beliefs in response to unexpectedly positive information in depression, whereas positive mood was expected to enhance belief updating.

In study 1 (N = 101), we used a subclinical sample to compare the film-based induction of sad v. happy mood with a distraction control group. Subsequently, participants underwent a well-established paradigm to examine intra-individual changes in performance-related expectations after unexpectedly positive performance feedback. In study 2, we applied the belief-updating task from study 1 to an inpatient sample (N = 81) and induced sad v. happy mood via film-clips v. recall of autobiographic events.

The results of study 1 showed no significant group differences in belief updating; the severity of depressive symptoms was a negative predictor of belief revision, though, and there was a non-significant trend suggesting that the presence of sad mood hindered belief updating in the subgroup of participants with a diagnosed depressive episode. Study 2 revealed that participants updated their expectations significantly less in line with positive feedback when they underwent the induction of negative mood prior to feedback, relative to positive mood.

By indicating that the presence of negative mood can hinder the revision of negative beliefs in clinically depressed people, our findings suggest that learning from new experiences can be hampered if state negative mood is activated. Thus, interventions relying on learning from novel positive experiences should aim at reducing state negative mood in depression.

The human face and body are rich sources of socio-emotional cues. Accurate recognition of these cues is central to adaptive social functioning. Past studies indicate that individuals with schizophrenia (SZ) show deficits in the perception of emotion from facial cues but the contribution of bodily cues to social perception in schizophrenia is undetermined. The present study examined the detection of social cues from human gait patterns presented by computer-generated volumetric walking figures.

A total of 22 SZ and 20 age-matched healthy control participants (CO) viewed 1 s movies of a ‘digital’ walker's gait and subsequently made a forced-choice decision on the emotional state (angry or happy) or the gender of the walker presented at three intensity levels. Overall sensitivity to the social cues and bias were computed. For SZ, symptom severity was assessed.

SZ were less sensitive than CO on both emotion and gender discrimination, regardless of intensity. While impaired overall, greater signal intensity did improve performance of SZ. Neither group differed in their response bias in either condition. The discrimination sensitivity of SZ was unrelated to their social functioning or symptoms but a bias toward perceiving gait as happy was associated with better social functioning.

These results suggest that SZ are impaired in extracting social information from gait but SZ benefited from increased signal intensity of social cues. Inaccurate perception of social cues in others may hinder adequate preparation for social interactions.

The loss of a close relative is one of the most stressful life events. In pregnancy, this experience has been associated with a higher risk of fetal death and under-five mortality, but little is known about potential effects on long-term mortality in offspring. We examined the association between prenatal maternal bereavement and mortality in a cohort of 5.3 million children followed until up to 37 years of age.

The population-based cohort study included 5 253 508 live singleton births in Denmark (1973–2004) and Sweden (1973–2006). Children born to mothers who lost a child, spouse, sibling, or parent during or 1 year before pregnancy were categorized as exposed.

Prenatal maternal bereavement was associated with a 10% increased all-cause mortality risk in offspring [mortality rate ratio (MRR) 1.10, 95% confidence interval (CI) 1.03–1.18]. The association was the most pronounced for children of mothers who lost a child/spouse (MRR 1.28, 95% CI 1.14–1.44) and was stronger during the first 10 years of life. Prenatal maternal bereavement may have stronger effects on natural causes of death in offspring, including infectious/parasitic disease (MRR 1.86, 95% CI 1.07–3.23), endocrine/nutritional/metabolic diseases (MRR 3.23, 95% CI 2.02–5.17), diseases of nervous system (MRR 3.36, 95% CI 2.47–4.58), and congenital malformations (MRR 1.39, 95% CI 1.08–1.80). No excess mortality risk in offspring was observed for unnatural causes of death.

Prenatal maternal bereavement was associated with an increased long-term mortality risk in offspring, particularly for selected natural causes of diseases and medical conditions. Our results support the fetal programming hypothesis that prenatal stress may contribute to ill health from physical diseases later in life.

Undergraduate students present high rates of psychological distress, including suicide risk. Due to the coronavirus disease 2019 (COVID-19) pandemic, this scenario may have been aggravated. Thus, the objective of the current study was to evaluate changes in the suicide risk rate from the period before to during the COVID-19 pandemic, as well as the factors associated with this outcome among Brazilian undergraduate students.

This was a nationwide survey carried out in Brazil with a cross-sectional design, including two data collection periods: a single-center in-person collection in 2019 and another multicenter online collection in 2020/2021. Data were collected using self-administered instruments. The outcome was a high risk of suicide, measured through the Mini International Neuropsychiatric Interview. Analyses were carried out on data from two periods, i.e. before and during the pandemic (bivariate analysis and interaction tests), and a model of associated factors (multivariate analysis using Poisson regression) was developed including all participating universities distributed in the five regions of Brazil.

In total, 6716 Brazilian undergraduate students participated (996 in 2019 and 5720 in 2020/2021). The prevalence of a high suicide risk rose from 11.3% to 17.0%, especially among women and poorer individuals. The prevalence of a high risk of suicide among Brazilian undergraduates was 19.6% and was associated with several socioeconomic, academic, pandemic, and mental health factors.

The prevalence of a high suicide risk increased from prepandemic to during the pandemic, appearing to be largely influenced by social determinants, in conjunction with the implications of the COVID-19 pandemic.

The long-term outcomes of bipolar disorder range from lasting remission to chronic course or frequent recurrences requiring admissions. The distinction between bipolar I and II disorders has limited utility in outcome prediction. It is unclear to what extent the clinical course of bipolar disorder predicts long-term outcomes.

A representative sample of 191 individuals diagnosed with bipolar I or II disorder was recruited and followed for up to 5 years using a life-chart method. We previously described the clinical course over the first 18 months with dimensional course characteristics and latent classes. Now we test if these course characteristics predict long-term outcomes, including time ill (time with any mood symptoms) and hospital admissions over a second non-overlapping follow-up period in 111 individuals with available data from both 18 months and 5 years follow-ups.

Dimensional course characteristics from the first 18 months prospectively predicted outcomes over the following 3.5 years. The proportion of time depressed, the severity of depressive symptoms and the proportion of time manic predicted more time ill. The proportion of time manic, the severity of manic symptoms and depression-to-mania switching predicted a greater likelihood of hospital admissions. All predictions remained significant after controlling for age, sex and bipolar I v. II disorder.

Differential associations with long-term outcomes suggest that course characteristics may facilitate care planning with greater predictive validity than established types of bipolar disorders. A clinical course dominated by depressive symptoms predicts a greater proportion of time ill. A clinical course characterized by manic episodes predicts hospital admissions.

Advancing paternal age has been linked to psychiatric disorders. These associations might be caused by the increased number of de novo mutations transmitted to offspring of older men. It has also been suggested that the associations are confounded by a genetic liability for psychiatric disorders in parents. The aim of this study was to indirectly test the confounding hypotheses by examining if there is a genetic component to advancing paternal age and if men with a genetic liability for psychiatric disorders have children at older ages.

We examined the genetic component to advancing paternal age by utilizing the twin model in a cohort of male twins (N = 14 679). We also studied ages at childbirth in men with or without schizophrenia, bipolar disorder and/or autism spectrum disorder. Ages were examined in: (1) healthy men, (2) affected men, (3) healthy men with an affected sibling, (4) men with healthy spouses, (5) men with affected spouses, and (6) men with healthy spouses with an affected sibling.

The twin analyses showed that late fatherhood is under genetic influence (heritability = 0.33). However, affected men or men with affected spouses did not have children at older ages. The same was found for healthy individuals with affected siblings. Instead, these men were generally having children at younger ages.

Although there is a genetic component influencing late fatherhood, our data suggest that the associations are not explained by psychiatric disorders or a genetic liability for psychiatric disorders in the parent.

The aim of the present study was to investigate trajectories of suicide attempt risks before and after granting of disability pension in young people.

The analytic sample consisted of all persons 16–30 years old and living in Sweden who were granted a disability pension in the years 1995–1997; 2000–2002 as well as 2005–2006 (n = 26 624). Crude risks and adjusted odds ratios for suicide attempt were computed for the 9-year window around the year of disability pension receipt by repeated-measures logistic regressions.

The risk of suicide attempt was found to increase continuously up to the year preceding the granting of disability pension in young people, after which the risk declined. These trajectories were similar for women and men and for disability pension due to mental and somatic diagnoses. Still, the multivariate odds ratios for suicide attempts for women and for disability pension due to mental disorders were 2.5- and 3.8-fold increased compared with the odds ratios for men and disability pension due to somatic disorders, respectively. Trajectories of suicide attempts differed for young individuals granted a disability pension during 2005–2006 compared with those granted during 1995–1997 and 2000–2002.

We found an increasing risk of suicide attempt up until the granting of a disability pension in young individuals, after which the risk decreased. It is of clinical importance to monitor suicide attempt risk among young people waiting for the granting of a disability pension.