Against the background of missing culturally sensitive mental health care services for refugees, we developed a group intervention (Empowerment) for refugees at level 3 within the stratified Stepped and Collaborative Care Model of the project Mental Health in Refugees and Asylum Seekers (MEHIRA). We aim to evaluate the effectiveness of the Empowerment group intervention with its focus on psychoeducation, stress management, and emotion regulation strategies in a culturally sensitive context for refugees with affective disorders compared to treatment-as-usual (TAU).

At level 3 of the MEHIRA project, 149 refugees and asylum seekers with clinically relevant depressive symptoms were randomized to the Empowerment group intervention or TAU. Treatment comprised 16 therapy sessions conducted over 12 weeks. Effects were measured with the Patient Health Questionnaire-9 (PHQ-9) and the Montgomery–Åsberg Depression Rating Scale (MÅDRS). Further scales included assessed emotional distress, self-efficacy, resilience, and quality of life.

Intention-to-treat analyses show significant cross-level interactions on both self-rated depressive symptoms (PHQ-9; F(1,147) = 13.32, p < 0.001) and clinician-rated depressive symptoms (MÅDRS; F(1,147) = 6.91, p = 0.01), indicating an improvement in depressive symptoms from baseline to post-intervention in the treatment group compared to the control group. The effect sizes for both scales were moderate (d = 0.68, 95% CI 0.21–1.15 for PHQ-9 and d = 0.51, 95% CI 0.04–0.99 for MÅDRS).

In the MEHIRA project comparing an SCCM approach versus TAU, the Empowerment group intervention at level 3 showed effectiveness for refugees with moderately severe depressive symptoms.

We studied the cumulative incidence of physical illnesses, and the effect of early environmental factors (EEFs) on somatic comorbidity in schizophrenia, in nonschizophrenic psychosis and among nonpsychotic controls from birth up to the age of 50 years.

The sample included 10,933 members of the Northern Finland Birth Cohort 1966, of whom, 227 had schizophrenia and 205 had nonschizophrenic psychosis. Diagnoses concerning physical illnesses were based on nationwide registers followed up to the end of 2016 and classified into 13 illness categories. Maternal education and age, family type at birth and paternal socioeconomic status were studied as EEFs of somatic illnesses.

When adjusted by gender and education, individuals and especially women with nonschizophrenic psychosis had higher risk of morbidity in almost all somatic illness categories compared to controls, and in some categories, compared to individuals with schizophrenia. The statistically significant adjusted hazard ratios varied from 1.27 to 2.42 in nonschizophrenic psychosis. Regarding EEFs, single-parent family as the family type at birth was a risk factor for a higher somatic score among men with schizophrenia and women with nonschizophrenic psychosis. Maternal age over 35 years was associated with lower somatic score among women with nonschizophrenic psychosis.

Persons with nonschizophrenic psychoses have higher incidence of somatic diseases compared to people with schizophrenia and nonpsychotic controls, and this should be noted in clinical work. EEFs have mostly weak association with somatic comorbidity in our study.

Confrontation with cancer is emotionally challenging in patients. Interestingly, depressed metastatic breast cancer patients show blunted cortisol awakening responses and reduced respiratory sinus arrhythmia, reflecting a physiologic profile often associated with chronic stress. These endocrine changes could alter immune defense mechanisms or act directly on tumor metabolism affecting cancer progression.

Explore the relationship between perceived stress, depression symptoms, neuroendocrine and immune function and cancer progression in breast cancer patients

Elucidate the mechanisms translating psychosocial conditions and lifestyles into individual risk factors for cancer growth and recurrence, allowing the delivery of biomarkers for disease prevention.

Cortisol was assessed in the saliva 30 days after surgery and at months 6 and 12 after chemotherapy. On the same days serum Brain-derived Neurotrophic Factor (BDNF) levels, cytokines (TNF-α, IL-1, IL-6), Cytochrome C, estradiol, IGF-1, leptin, adiponectin, anti-estrogen receptors α and β antibodies was measured and psychological tests administered to assess depressive symptoms, coping style and anxiety.

After six months of chemotherapy, patients showed increased levels of depression as well as plasma cortisol and serum chemokine MIP-1b LFA-IV-, which has not only a tumor-promoting role but also is directly related with a poor prognosis. Interestingly, we found cortisol and depression levels grown up at 12 months follow-up.

Preliminary data indicate that psychological factors can affect physiological responses in breast cancer patients. This is especially relevant since stressful events and negative affective states can amplify the consequences of the pathology precipitating disease progression and promoting recurrence.

A descriptive questionnaire survey using the attitudinal part of Aging Sexual Knowledge and Attitudes Scale (ASKAS).

Students of medicine and nursing of Oporto University.

We know from previous studies that little experience in the work with older people is predictive of negative attitudes towards sexuality. Nevertheless, in this sample we found a mean ASKAS score of 66 which reflects moderately positive and permissive attitudes toward later life sexuality. Medicine students were more permissive than nursing students (p< 0.01).

Undergraduate students and psychiatry residents have positive attitudes toward sexuality of older people. Later life sexuality study should be included in the curriculum of undergraduate formation of doctors and nurses.

Help-seeking and service utilization depends on the patients’ interpretation of their illness and treatment needs. Worry, denial of illness, need for treatment and need for hospitalization in first-time admitted patients was studied.

New patients in two mental hospitals were consecutively recruited. Three hundred and thirty-four satisfied the inclusion criteria and 251 gave informed consent. One hundred and ninety-six had complete datasets (56% of those eligible).

Demography was recorded with the Minimal Basic Dataset by Ruud et al. (1993) [45]. Experiences of hospitalisation were measured with the Patient's Experience of Hospitalisation Questionnaire by Carskey et al. (1992) [9]. MINI was used for diagnosing and SCL-90-R by Derogatis (1997) [13] for subjective symptoms. Standard multiple regressions were performed with the PEH subscales (Denial, Worry, Need for treatment and Need for hospitalisation) as dependents and demography, diagnosis and SCL-90-R subscales as explanatory variables.

(a) Psychoticism and the diagnosis of schizophrenia were associated with little worrying, denial of illness, of treatment needs and of need for hospitalisation. (b) Anxiety and affective disorders were related to worries, acknowledgement of illness, need for treatment and for hospitalisation.

In contrast to patients with mainly anxiety and affective disorders, psychotic patient tended to deny illness-related worries, that they had an illness and that they needed treatment and hospitalisation. An affective disorder together with suicidal thoughts (not attempts) was a strong drive towards hospital admission.

Although gamblers and investors have been found to exhibit many common traits, no existing studies associate retail investors with an explicit addictive behavior, or account for the degree of addiction's influence on investors’ and gamblers’ risk attitude and risk perception.

The study explores whether trading in the stock market is a potentially compulsive form of behavior. Furthermore, it explores the psychological risk perception versus economic risk taking of individuals engaged in active stock market trading and those in gambling, for various degrees of addiction.

The study aims to develop the profile of an addicted retail investor across demographic and risk variables.

The South Oaks Gambling Screen (Lesieur & Blume, 1987), adapted for stock market trading, the financial part of the Risk Taking Scale and Risk Perception Scale (Weber et al., 2002) and a demographics questionnaire was completed by a sample (582 responses) of active investors, gamblers and a control group in Greece at three distinctive time periods.

Results suggest that retail trading in the stock market exhibits significant incidence of compulsive behavior (11.2%) across diverse stock market environments, probably more for females. The decision to become an active investor or gambler entails greater risk friendliness. Pathologically addicted retail investors underestimate the risk of trading in the stock market. Demographics also play a critical role in risk perception and risk underestimation.

There is an apparent addiction problem between active retail investors that should be taken into account. Psychotherapeutic interventions are discussed.

The Schema Therapy model proposes that early maladaptive schemas (EMS) play a key role in the development and maintenance of many psychological disorders. Although the identification of these schemas has received much attention in disorders such as depression and personality disorders, the studies focused on social anxiety are scarce. Therefore, a primary aim of this study was to evaluate the relationships between early maladaptive schemas and social anxiety. On the other hand, according to the Schema Therapy, once developed, the role of schemas in the development of psychological disorders depends largely on how the individual copes with those schemas. Therefore, a second aim was to evaluate the moderating role of coping styles (overcompensation and avoidance) in the relationships between the schemas and social anxiety.

539 students of Bizkaia (Basque Country) aged between 18 and 25 years (M = 20.44, SD = 3.90) completed measures of social anxiety (Caso-A30; Caballo et al., 2010), Early Maladaptative Schemas (YSQ-3; Young, 2005) and coping styles (YRAI-1 and YCI-1 -1; Young, 2003).

Results showed that social anxiety is associated with several schemas: Subjugation, Pessimism, Emotional Inhibition, Grandiosity (negative relationship), Abandonment, Enmeshment, and Self-Sacrifice. Moreover, the relationship between the schema of emotional deprivation and social anxiety is moderated by the coping style of overcompensation, whereas the relationship between enmeshment and sacrifice schemas and social anxiety is moderated by avoidance. Finally, we discuss the implications of these results for understanding social anxiety and its treatment.

Illicit drug use in India is quite serious and Kashmir is also one of the hardest hit places and the scenario is worsened by the prevailing turmoil. The present study was conducted to find the epidemiological profile of substance abusers visiting De-addiction Centres in Srinagar Kashmir India.

To study the socio-demographic profile of substance use disorder patients seeking treatment and to identify the reasons for starting the use of substance.

The present cross sectional study, was conducted at two Drug De-addiction and treatment Centers in Srinagar. Total of 125 Substance Use Disorder Patients were interviewed by using pretested semi-structured proforma, emphasizing on socio-demographic profile and reasons for starting use of substance.

Majority (50.4%) of patients belonged to young and productive age group. Most of the patients started taking substances in the age group of 10-19 years and more so in case of nicotine (76.8%), volatile substances (76.9%) and cannabis (70.5%). Besides nicotine (89.6%), the most common substances used were cannabis (48.8%), codeine (48%), propoxyphene (37.6%), alcohol (36.8%) and benzodiazepines (36%). Peer pressure was the most common (72.8%) reason for starting the use of substance.

Whether the society views substance misuse primarily as a moral or legal problem; when it creates difficulties for the user, it becomes concern of all people including parents, teachers, doctors, sociologists and psychologists. An integrated approach of early detection, treatment and rehabilitation is essential for preventing and minimizing the long term negative consequences of substance abuse.

The authors have not supplied their declaration of competing interest.

School dropout and subsequent youth unemployment are important risk factors for mental problems. It is important to understand which factors that may lead to youth dropping out of high school.

The aims were to explore the subjective experiences of people who had not completed high school and who had problems getting work. To examine how the parents’ involvement in the children's lives influenced their schooling experiences.

Five Norwegian men and five women (aged 18–28) who had not completed high school and who had not been able to find work were interviewed qualitatively. The interviews were transcribed in full and analyzed drawing on Grounded Theory.

The informants had struggled with an accumulation of risk factors constantly challenging their resilience, eventually resulting in dropout. In these individual educational trajectories, one experience was shared by most: the lack of stable parental involvement. Moving between parents or losing contact with parental figures all together made the direct involvement from parents in the child's learning activities over time more complicated. Several had experienced intense levels of marital conflict often ending in divorce with periods of little or no contact with one parent, thus threatening the child's emotional security and resulting in withdrawal or aggressive behavior. The low-achieving boys gave the non-practical focus of the high school curricula as an explanation for dropout. The high-achieving boys reported shyness. The girls focused on social and family issues.

This qualitative study suggests that parental involvement may be of importance to drop-out from school.

Cognitive impairment is a debilitating symptom of schizophrenic patients causing functional disability. Neither typical nor atypical antipsychotic drugs are able to control it. There is a strong potential that Bacosides A and B from the plant Bacopa monnieri (Brahmi) could be a novel neuroprotective compound for the prevention of cognnitive deficits in schizophrenia.

To study neuroprotective effects of Brahmi on novel object recognition tasks and the cerebral VGLUT2 density in rat models that are schizophrenia induced through sub-chronic phencyclidine (PCP) administration.

Rats were divided into 3 groups; Group-A: Control; Group-B: PCP and Group-C: Bacosides A and B + PCP. Discrimination ratio (DR) representing cognitive ability was obtained from novel object recognition test. VGLUT2 density was measured in prefrontal cortex, striatum, cornu ammonis fields 1 (CA1) 2/3 (CA2/3) of hippocampus using immunohistochemistry.

DR in the PCP-group was significantly decreased compared with the control group. This occurred alongside reduced VGLUT2 in the cingulate gyrus. Bacosides A and B + PCP group showed a significant increase in DR score compared with PCP alone. This occurred alongside a significant increase in VGLUT2 in the cingulate gyrus.

Cognitive deficit observed in rats receiving PCP administration was mediated by VGLUT2 reduction in the cingulate gyrus. Administration of Bacosides A and B before PCP administration can restore this cognitive deficit by increasing VGLUT2 density in this brain area to normal level. Conclusively, Bacosides A and B could be a novel neuroprotective compound for prevention of cognitive deficits in schizophrenia.