To assess the mental health literacy of adolescents and young people in relation to depression, schizophrenia and alcohol abuse in the areas of recognition, intention of professional help-seeking and obstacles/barriers.

It was used a random cluster sample of 4938 adolescents and young, having been used QuALiSMental (Loureiro et al., 2012) during the year 2012. The average age is 16.75 years (SD = 1.62), being respectively 43.3% males and 56.7% females.

The recognition of disorders is reduced (27.23% in depression, 26.16% in schizophrenia and 45.27% in alcohol abuse). There is intention of professional and specialized help-seeking, with focus on psychiatrists, nurses and psychologists. As the biggest barriers to help-seeking fear and personal shame, non-recovery of symptoms and breach of confidentiality are referred.

The low mental health literacy is an indicator of the need for developing programs to promote health and prevent mental illness. Despite being valued the intention of help-seeking, fear of stigma and discrimination associated with these diseases is high. Nurses, psychologists and psychiatrists can play a relevant role in this regarding the role they occupy in the context of school health. Increase mental health literacy could reduce the delay between the first signs and symptoms and the professional help.

This study is part of a project [PTDC/CPE-CED/112546/2009] funded by The Portuguese Governement (FCT) and FEDER (EU).

Psoriasis is a multifactorial chronic infiammatory skin disease that often occurs in patients with overweight or obesity; obesity makes psoriasis less susceptible to therapy and a moderate weight loss improves drug response. Many studies shows connections between obesity and eating disorders, but few studies investigated the link between eating disorders and psoriasis.

To evaluate the presence of eating disorders and psychopathological traits in patients affected by psoriasis compared with a control population, and correlate this data with different features of cutaneous disease and BMI.

To suggest the importance of a psychological support that could reduce the occurrence of loss of control over food.

We enrolled 100 consecutive psoriatic outpatients and a control group of 100 selected non psoriatic outpatients, matched by BMI to the study group. The assessment battery was composed by the Psoriasis Area and Severity Index (PASI) score, the EDI and SCL-90R.

Most of EDI and SCL-90R subscales resulted more altered in psoriatic population compared to the controls (p < .001 for IA and ID, and p < .05 for GSI). Moreover, we noticed an association between the progressive weight gain and the impairment of most of EDI subscales, indicating the presence of an ED in only psoriasis group (p < .01).

Psoriasis is associated with psychopathological traits and symptoms commonly associated with eating disorders. A multidisciplinary approach could have an important role to reduce the loss of control over food, to loss weight and to improve the drug response.

Cognitive deficits may compromise patients’ utilization of rehabilitative information. There is an increasing attention on the opportunity to integrate a specific support to cognitive functions in alcohol detox programme and the first step to program the clinical intervention is to have a complete overview of cognitive deficits in alcoholics clinical sample.

62 patients who refer to alcoholism service were screened at admission time. Cognitive functions were assessed by trained psychologist with a specific neuropsychological battery. The impact of clinical features as age, gender, scholarship and concurrent polyabuse was evaluated for each function.

The 45,7% of our sample shows a generalized decline. Subtests shows impairment's different degrees (26,1% verbal memory; 32,6% working memory; 50,0% psychomotor speed and coordination; 30,4% verbal fluency; 58,7% selective attention; 13,0% tower of London task; 41,3% executive functions; 56,5% sustained attention). Clinical features have different impact on cognitive functions.

Alcoholics patients shows a diffuse range of cognitive impairment. For this reasons a cognitive remediation programme could be a useful adjunctive intervention for the treatment of alcohol dependence.

Several studies suggest that people with serious mental illness represent a higher risk of violent acting out than the general population.

To evaluate the prevalence of violent behavior in psychiatric patients and compare the group of patients who committed violent acts with nonviolent patients to identify risk factors for violence.

A retrospective-comparative study was conducted among 160 patients hospitalized in the psychiatric service D of the hospital Razi during the period between 1 July 2011 and 15 October 2011.

Among the patients in our sample 78.75% (N = 126) had submitted an act of violence during the month before hospitalization. The male gender was correlated with violence (OR = 2.7). History of violence and criminal history had significant correlations with violence with OR = 2.5. Schizophrenia diagnosis was the most represented among the mentally ill violent. Monitoring irregular and poor adherence to treatment were important risk factors with OR = 2.6. Addictive behavior was found among 49.2% of violent patients. Substance use was correlated with violence (OR = 4.5).

It is interesting to note that in recent years the interest of clinicians to the question of violence among the mentally ill has increased. There is also an evolution of psychiatric practice with dimensions of legal framework more rigorous. Clinicians and forensics must continue to work together in this area.

The Charles Bonnet syndrome (CBS) is characterized by distinct visual hallucinations and visual impairment in patients with insight and the absence of psychiatric comorbidity. The number of reported cases of CBS is expanding as the population ages and the prevalence of vision disorders increases. The efficacy of antipsychotics in CBS is based on sketchy evidence. The use of serotonin selective re-uptake antidepressants (SSRI) for CBS is anecdotal.

To describe effectiveness of escitalopram in a series of patients suffering from CBS who were unresponsive to antipsychotic treatment.

Eight consecutive patients suffering from CBS who did not respond to standard antipsychotic treatment were switched to escitalopram. CBS severity prior to escitalopram treatment was quantified using the Clinical Global Impression (CGI) scale and again after 8 weeks of treatment. All had undergone brain -CT and cognitive assessment.

There were 4 men and 4 women, mean age 81.7 ± 7.3 years. Brain-CT imaging was normal except for an incidental finding of a small frontal meningioma in one patient. All had MMSE scores ≥ 27/30. Previous antipsychotic treatment was mostly with risperidone 1.0 to 3.0 mgs/daily. Mean CGI-severity upon switching to escitalopram treatment was 5.7. This was significantly reduced to 1.8 (p < 0.001) after 8 weeks of escitalopram treatment (mean dose: 11.8 mgs/daily). There were no side-effects nor adverse events reported.

This is the first case-series to show that SSRIs are an effective and well-tolerated treatment for visual hallucinations associated with vision impairment such as in the CBS.

Relationships between physicians and pharmaceutical & other medically related industries have received considerable attention in recent years. We surveyed physicians all around Saudi Arabia (SA) to collect information about their knowledge, behaviors and attitudes regarding their relationships with the industry.

A cross-sectional survey that used a 47-item, anonymous, self-administered questionnaire, was sent to all accessible doctors in SA. The questionnaire was developed based on literature review, discussed between authors and reviewed by experts. The survey

600 doctors (physicians and surgeons), 15% of them were psychiatrists who filled in the survey. Preliminary results of only 15% of the total sample indicated that 40.9% (n = 38) of participants have encountered a pharmaceutical company representatives (PRs) at least once in their life. Psychiatrists were among the top specialties in accepting gifts and promotions presented to them by PRs. 4.3% (n = 4) of participants mentioned that PRs almost always offer a gift and promotion after every meeting. The most frequently mentioned gifts presented to participants by PRs are stationary such as pens or notepads (26.9%). Although 60.2% (n = 56) of participants had been educated about the ethics in physician industry relationships, 34.4% of participants accept gifts and promotions presented to them by PRs.

The final results of this study will be ready by Feb 2013. It will be presented fully in the EPA 2013.

The results of this survey indicate that relationships between physicians and industry are common and underscore the variation among such relationships according to specialty, practice type, and professional activities.

Forensic psychiatry is a branch of psychiatry which emphases on the interface between law and psychiatry. It may include psychiatric consultation in a wide variety of legal matters, as well as clinical work with perpetrators and victims.The objective of current study is to visualize the scientific activities in the field of Forensic psychiatry through 2006–2012.

The Science Citation Index Expanded (SCI-E) and Social Science Citation Index from the database of Web of Science were used to obtain all publication entitled as“Forensic psychiatry” through 2006–2012. Restriction of publication entitled into Forensic psychiatry cause to obtain the most relevant papers in the field of Forensic psychiatry.

Analysis of data showed that a total number of 248 papers entitled as Forensic Psychiatry were published in the journals which indexed in Web of Science during the period of study. The most majority of publication came from North America and west Europe. USA sharing 23% of global publication in the field is the most productive country followed by Germany (19%), England (14%), and Canada (7%). More than 63% of global publication came from these four prolific countries. A total number of 271 organization have contributed their works in the field of Forensic Psychiatry, the American private University of Yale was the most productive among them.

The aim of this study was to investigate the relationship between suicidal behavior and chronobiological thyroid axis activity in depressed patients.

The serum levels of TSH, were evaluated before and after 8 AM and 11 PM TRH challenges, on the same day, in 230 medication-free DSM-IV euthyroid major depressed inpatients and 50 healthy hospitalized controls.

Compared to controls: 1) patients with a recent suicide attempt (n = 71) showed lower TSH response to TRH (ΔTSH) at 11 PM, lower ΔΔTSH values (differences between 11PM-ΔTSH and 8AM-ΔTSH) (p < 0.03 and p < 0.00001, respectively), and lower free thyroxine (FT4) levels (p < 0.00001); 2) patients with a past suicide attempt (n = 52) showed no major alteration of the HPT axis activity; 3) patients without a suicide attempt history (n = 107) showed both lower 8 AM-ΔTSH and 11-PM ΔTSH (p < 0.04 and p < 0.000001), and lower ΔΔTSH values (p < 0.000001), but no alteration of circulating thyroid hormone levels.

Our results suggest that in patients without a suicide attempt history increased hypothalamic TRH stimulation (as evidenced by reduced TSH responses to TRH) might be a compensatory mechanism. in patients with a suicide history this compensatory mechanism is not effective. in patients with a recent suicide attempt the evening TSH blunting, associated with reduced FT4 levels, might be indicative of a decreased central TRH activity leading to a reduction in the TSH resynthesis in the thyrotrophs during the day after the morning challenge.

Attention deficit / hyperactivity disorder (ADHD) affects about 60% of adults who suffered from ADHD in childhood. Methylphenidate is a common off-label treatment.

The aim of this pilot study was to assess the neuropsychological effects of a single dose of methylphenidate (10 mg orally) on different attention components and executive functions by using the computerized attention assessment battery TAP 2.2 (Testbatterie zur Aufmerksamkeitsprüfung).

Fifteen DSM IV-ADHD adult patients were enrolled into this study. Neuropsychological evaluations were performed at baseline and after the methylphenidate test. Patients were subsequently treated with adequate dose of methylphenidate and followed over a period of 6 months.

Compared with baseline, a single dose of methylphenidate induced a significant improvement in working memory (p = 0.001), sustained attention (p = 0.0007) and visual scanning (p = 0.0007) in terms of omissions and mistakes. Reaction times also decreased in tonic arousal (p = 0.002), incompatibility (p = 0.008) and flexibility tasks (p < 0.00001). There was a significant correlation between working memory and sustained attention before and after methylphenidate (both p < 0.01). Among our patients, 12 who responded positively to the methylphenidate test, showed favorable long-term outcome with methylphenidate treatment.

Adults with ADHD showed neurocognitive improvements after a single 10 mg dose of methylphenidate. Our results suggest that the methylphenidate test would be useful in predicting subsequent response to methylphenidate treatment in ADHD adult patients. Controlled prospective studies are needed to confirm this hypothesis.

Although the family burden remains one of the most important consequences of schizophrenia, no reports have addressed this important issue in the Arab world.

Determine relationship of family burden with the caregiver’s/patient’s socio-demographics, clinical features and the indices of quality of care.

Consecutive family caregivers of outpatients with schizophrenia were interviewed with the Involvement Evaluation Questionnaire (IEQ-EU). Patients were interviewed with measures of needs for care, service satisfaction, quality of life and psychopathology.

Amongst the 121 caregivers, the higher burden scores were associated with caregiver lower level of education, patient’s female gender and younger age; patient’s lower subjective QOL and needs for hospital care; and not involving the patient in outdoor activities. Disruptive behavior was the greatest determinant of global ratings of burden.

Despite generous national social welfare provisions, results underscore the need for the community-based programs and continued intervention with the families in order to improve the quality of care.

A recent systematic review found a high prevalence of violence and mental distress among women trafficked for sexual exploitation; no data were identified for trafficked men and children.

To describe the clinical characteristics of trafficked people in contact with a large inner city mental health service compared with a non-trafficked cohort.

To investigate whether, compared with a non-trafficked cohort, trafficked people would be significantly more likely to have co-morbid disorders and have significantly smaller improvements in functioning at the end of an episode of care.

Study population: mental health service users who had been trafficked for exploitation and a non-trafficked service user cohort matched for gender and age. Data source: The South London and Maudsley NHS Trust (SLaM) Biomedical Research Centre Case Register Interactive Search (CRIS) database of anonymised full patient records (2006–2012).

We identified case records of 135 people who had been trafficked. 104 (77%) were female; age at first SLaM contact ranged from 8 to 49 years (mean 23.6, SD 8.0). 38 (28%) of the trafficked service users received psychiatric care from an emergency department. Depression (28.1%, n = 38), PTSD (19.3%, n = 26), non-affective psychoses (12.6%, n = 17) were the most frequently recorded diagnoses among trafficked service users. Further analysis is in progress and scheduled for completion by March 2013.

Significant numbers of trafficked people were seen in an inner-city mental health service; services therefore need to understand their complex needs.

Atypical antipsychotics (AAPs) are known to increase the risk of metabolic syndrome (MetS), a predictor for cardiovascular disease and diabetes. This risk differs according to the AAPs.

The objective of this analysis was to examine the incidence of MetS in schizophrenia patients treated with asenapine or olanzapine.

The aim was to estimate the incidence of MetS among schizophrenia patients (DSM-IV criteria) after 52 weeks of exposure to asenapine or olanzapine.

Pooled data from patients completing 52-week extension of randomized trials (041512, 041513, 25544 and A7501014) were included. Patients were treated with asenapine or olanzapine.

The National Cholesterol Education Program, Adult Treatment Panel III (NCEP ATP III) definition of MetS was used, defined as 3 or more of the 5 following risk determinants: waist circumference > 102 cm for male and > 88 cm for female, triglycerides = 150 mg/dL, HDL cholesterol < 40 mg/dL for male and < 50 mg/dL for female, sitting blood pressure ≥ 130/85 mm Hg, or fasting glucose ≥ 110 mg/dL.

Incidence (i.e. new metabolic cases in patients without MetS at baseline) was calculated at week 52.

741 patients were included in this analysis of 52-week studies (asenapine 397, olanzapine 344). After 52 weeks of treatment exposure, the incidence of MetS was significantly higher in olanzapine-treated patients than in asenapine-treated patients (19.44% versus 11.46%, p = 0.01).

These post-hoc analyses confirmed a higher risk of developing a MetS with olanzapine. The incidence of MetS after 52 weeks of treatment with asenapine was found to be significantly lower.

Disfiguring changes in appearance secondary to illness or injury such as burn injury lead to significant body image changes in both sex but particularly in Women. Carrying out educational program about physical appearance may improve their distress and reinforce them to think positively and doing positively throughout their lives. The purpose of this study was to examine the effect of teaching program on body satisfaction of Iranian burn women.

This quasi-experimental one-group pre-post test study investigated the impact of teaching program on Body satisfaction of Burn Women hospitalized in Mottahari Burn Hospital in Tehran. A sample of 65 burn adult women participated in this study after giving information regarding the study objectives and filling in an informed consent. Data gathering was done by the satisfaction With Appearance Scale (SWAP). Study participants completed the questionnaire before intervention. An educational workshop regarding physical appearance and the way of improving was established for the subjects. Data were collected by the questionnaire one month after intervention.

Findings revealed that the age of most of women (60 %) was 20–40 years and 61.5% were employed. Degree of burning in most of participants was 21–40%. There was significant statistical difference between Mean scores of body satisfaction before and after intervention (P = 0.001).

The teaching workshop seems to promote body satisfaction of burn women. The study hypothesis was accepted. These programs should be carried out for all kind of disfigurement.

Individual Cognitive Remediation Therapy (CRT) for AN has been found to improve patients’ neuropsychological functioning and short term outcome. No French speaking country has tested its effectiveness. Moreover, the question whether it is similarly efficient for both restrictive and binge-purging AN remains unanswered. We thus designed a randomized clinical trial on the effectiveness of individual CRT in AN adolescents or young adults.

120 female AN [16-35 years old] (60 AN-R; 60 AN-BP) from three specialized care units (P.Brousse, IMM, Cochin- MDA). Patients of each AN type are randomly allocated to one of the two treatment arms: CRT or Sham Therapy (ST). The Sham therapy (ST) has been designed to match the CRT format: an individual manualised therapist-led 10-sessions long program (2 sessions/week). ST sessions have been designed so as to avoid set-shifting and central coherence training and rather tap 3 domains: soft physical activity, emotional expression and recognition and interpersonal functioning. Primary outcomes are neurocognitive improvement at the end of therapy (TMT, WSCT performances) and better clinical status (GOAS) at the end of therapy and at follow-up (6 months, 1 year). Secondary outcomes are changes in BMI, central coherence, selfreported eating disorders symptoms and cognitive flexibility, and motivation to change.

Inclusions started in September 2012. Preliminary findings (at least 15 participants in each arm are expected by then) on short term CRT effectiveness will be presented.

In experimental psychopathology there is a long tradition of reaction time studies. Especially in schizophrenia there has reliably been observed deficits in attention and reaction time.

To examine if patients with schizophrenia can be differentiated from patients with mood disorder on the basis of their reaction time patterns.

To evaluate if reaction time measures might be useful in the diagnostic process.

58 patients with schizophrenia, 55 patients with mood disorder, and 30 healthy controls participated in a computerbased reaction time experiment. The stimuli were short visual and auditory stimuli presented in a randomized sequence. The subjects were instructed to press a button each time they saw or heard a signal from the computer.

The reaction times of the patients with schizophrenia and mood disorder to both light and sound stimuli were significantly slower than those of the control group. Furthermore, the patient groups’ reaction times were significantly less stable than those of the control group, and they made significantly more errrors. However, no significant differences in reaction times, stability of reaction times, and number of errors were found between the two patient groups. No clear or consistent differences were observed when comparing the reaction time patterns of subgroups of schizophrenia patients with positive, mixed and negative symptoms, and mood disorder patients in manic and depressive phases.

On the basis of simple reaction measures it is not possible to differentiate between patients with schizophrenia and mood disorder.