Hormonal changes in aggressive behavior, an idiographic study

Recruitment & Eligibility

Status: Pending

Sex: Not specified

Target Recruitment: 6

Inclusion Criteria

The following participants will be included to the study:
- Participants without any psychiatric disorder. These will be participants who are confronted with aggressive behaviour in their professional daily life, but do not initiate this behaviour (e.g. mental health nurse, policeman).
- Psychotic patients, who have florid psychotic symptoms. They have an axis-I diagnosis of schizophrenia, according to the DSM IV criteria (American Psychiatric Association, 2000) as assessed by a psychiatrist. They have no axis-II diagnosis.
- Antisocial personality disordered patients; according to the DSM IV criteria (American Psychiatric Association, 2000) as assessed by a psychiatrist. They have no axis-I diagnosis and have a PCL-r score <26.
- Anti-social personality disordered patients, according to the DSM IV criteria (American Psychiatric Association, 2000) as assessed by a psychiatrist. They have no axis-I diagnosis and a PCL-r score >26.;In this study, only male participants are included, as it is thought that the hormonal fluctuations in the female reproductive cycle might interact with all our hormonal parameters, especially with the oxytocin levels. Apart from that, the majority of patients treated in the Dutch *TBS* clinics is male.

Exclusion Criteria

Participants who are not able to fulfil the intensive measurements because of their severe psychiatric symptoms will be excluded. To determine whether a patient is able to participate in the study, the psychiatrist who treats the patient will be consulted.

Study & Design

Study Type: Observational non invasive

Study Design: Not specified

Primary Outcome Measures

Name	Time	Method
<p>The total experiment per person will last 30 days. Oxytocin and vasopressin<br /><br>will be measured in urine daily (30 time points), and oxytocin, cortisol and<br /><br>testosterone will be measured in saliva three times per day (90 time points).<br /><br>Motor activity and heart rate will be measured continuously during the 30 day<br /><br>period using a small ambulatory device placed around the non-dominant wrist.<br /><br>Participants will be asked to rate their subjective mood and activity three<br /><br>times per day using a daily log (90 time points). In patients, the nurses of<br /><br>the ward will be asked to rate the mood of the patients as well as any<br /><br>incidents that occurred during the last several hours three times per day (90<br /><br>time point). </p><br>

Secondary Outcome Measures