Addiction has long been recognized as a disease that may have a dramatic influence on the addicted individual’s family members, manifesting as stress or trauma-related physical and psychological symptoms, resulting in increase in the usual family’s use of health-care services. There is little research available to identify and explore problems of families associated with such patients. In this study, we will evaluate stress among family members of substance abuse patients and try to focus on how these family members are dealing with these stress factors. The study will also compare different types of coping mechanisms among family members of patients taking licit and illicit substances.

To identify stress among families of patients abusing licit and illicit drugs and assess and compare their coping mechanisms.

175 family members of patients with licit substance abuse cases and 175 family members of patients with illicit substance abuse were taken for study after informed consent. Stress among participants was evaluated using Symptom Rating Test and The Depression Anxiety and Stress Scales (DASS). Coping Questionnaire (CQ) and Breif COPE was used to assess coping among them.

The study demonstrated that the total number and severity of symptoms, including psychological and physical symptoms, are found lesser in caregivers (participants) of patients abusing licit substances than in patients abusing illicit drugs. These symptoms among family members grow as the patient’s age rises. Symptoms in participants are more if their patient is female as compared to male. And also, total symptoms are more if they are living in nuclear family (Table 1). In our results, total coping and engaged coping mechanisms in family members are found to be not significant as per drug type and remains the same for both licit and illicit drugs abusing patients’ families. Avoidant coping mechanisms in family members are more if their patient is female and in nuclear family.Table 1

In our study, it was clearly noticed that the total symptoms, both physical and psychological, were found more in family members of patients abusing illicit drugs. Impact of substance abuse related problems is found more in female members compared to male members of family.

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Many different long-term neuropsychiatric sequelae of the novel Coronavirus have been described after the pandemic outbreak. One of the most common symptoms in the months following infection is related to “brain fog”. This condition includes several signs of cognitive impairment like mental slowness, deficits in attention, executive functions, processing, memory, learning, and/or psychomotor coordination, which can be perceived on a subjective level and further confirmed by objective data. Since this kind of mental status has been documented in previous viral infections, and the SARS-COV-2 has been characterized by a worldwide diffusion, investigation into this condition in post-covid individuals is warranted. Currently, several hypotheses on its pathophysiology have been put forward, mostly hypothesizing a direct effect of the virus on the central nervous system or indirect consequences of the inflammatory response.

The aim of our research is to analyze brain correlates of subjective cognitive complaints in Covid-19 survivors using multimodal brain imaging.

We performed a voxel-based morphometry (VBM) and a resting state functional connectivity analysis on 60 post-COVID-19 individuals recruited from the San Raffaele Hospital in Milan, that underwent a 3 tesla MRI scan. We assessed the perceived cognitive impairment both after the infection and at the time of the MRI scan through the PROMIS Cognitive Abilities scale. The difference of the two scores (delta PROMIS) was calculated as a measure of cognitive improvement over time.

We found the perceived amelioration of cognitive abilities (delta PROMIS) to be positively associated to grey matter volumes in the bilateral caudate, putamen and pallidum (pFWE: ˂0.001). Moreover, in the resting state fMRI analysis, subjective cognitive status at MRI was found to be associated with functional connectivity between the right putamen and pallidum, and two clusters belonging to the attentional (pFWE: ˂0.001) and salience (pFWE: 0.02) networks.

This is one of the first studies investigating brain correlates of subjective cognitive impairment after COVID-19 infection; our main finding is the convergence of structural and functional results on brain areas located within the basal ganglia, implying their possible role in the pathophysiology of the condition. Moreover, this research could be interpreted as the first step toward understanding a very complex condition, with potential implications for the development of treatment and neurorehabilitative strategies.

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Armed conflicts produce a wide series of distressing consequences, including death, all of which impact negatively on the lives of survivors. This presentatiin focuses specifically on the mental health consequences of war on adults and child/adolescent refugees or those living in war zones basing upon review of all systematic reviews and/or meta-analyses published from 2005 up until the current time, that is Fifteen systematic reviews and/or meta-analyses conducted in adult populations, and seven relating to children and adolescents. Prevalence rates of Anxiety, Depression and Post-traumatic Stress Disorder (PTSD) were two-three-fold higher amongst people exposed to armed conflict compared to those who had not been exposed, with women and children being the most vulnerable sujects. A series of war-related, migratory and post-migratory stressors contribute to short- and long-term mental health issues in the internally displaced, asylum seekers and refugees. Based upon these evidences psychiatrists and psychiatric associations should take also the ethical responsibility for raising awareness of political decision-makers as to the mental health consequences caused by armed conflicts as a further reason for improving peace-keeping initiatives.

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Forensic studies often found high rates of major psychiatric and substance use disorders among inmates. These factors are linked to criminality in general, however, their involvement in recidivism among this population seems to be more important to determine.

The aim of this study is to determinesociodemographic, psychiatric and forensicfactors of criminal recidivism among prisoners

We studied the medical files of all the offenders referred to the forensic psychiatry unit in Razi hospital for an examination between January 2010 and October 2020 and we analyzed sociodemographic, psychiatric and forensic characteristics of this population.

The number of people who have undergone a forensic psychiatric examination was 256. Three files were not usable due to lacking data. The offenders were men in 95.7% (242) of the cases.

Male inmates were found to be more likely to be re-incarcerated (p=0.029). The study showed that the level of education was an important factor in the recidivism of criminal acts (p=0.001) whilst no impact of marital status and employment were found (p=0.848; p=0.088).

Family history of psychiatric illness was significantly higher among recidivist (p=0.022).

Psychiatric factors associated with multiple convictions were the presence of a major psychiatric discord (p=0.0013), a personality disorder (p=0) or a substance use disorder (p=0.025).)

The reason of conviction was linked with criminal recidivism as violent offense were factors of incarceration (p=0) as well as the age at first conviction (p=0) and the number of anterior incarcerations (p=0).

Our study underlines that predictive factors of criminality in general are also involved in recidivism among prisoners which is useful in establishing strategies of secondary but also primary prevention of violent crimes in particular.

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Not only children with autism spectrum disorders (ASD) need specialized care, but the whole family as a whole. The family is seen as an important resource in the treatment and rehabilitation process.

To identify coping strategies for parents of children with ASD after psychoeducation.

The study involved 75 families (75 mothers and 68 fathers aged 27 to 38) raising children with ASD (age range from 3 to 5 years). All children were diagnosed under subheading F84 “Pervasive developmental disorders” according to ICD-10 (F84.01; F84.02; F84.11; F84.12). Diagnosis period for a child: from 6 months to 1 year.

The main instrument was “Ways of Coping Checklist” (R. Lazarus & S. Folkman) (in Russian adaptation by L.I. Wasserman et al.).

Psychoeducational work was carried out with all parents, including:

- attitude and acceptance of the child’s illness;

- awareness of the disease and ways of helping a child with ASD;

- compliance with the recommendations of specialists working with the child (psychiatrist, psychologist, speech therapist, social pedagogue);

- skills of interaction with the child in the conditions of the house and society;

- emotional experiences of parents (anxiety due to insufficient information about the child’s illness);

- emotional acceptance of the child.

After completing the psychoeducational program, the parents’ scores on the “positive reappraisal” scale increased, which may indicate that parents, in spite of everything, are looking for positive aspects in the situation of raising a child with ASD and focus their attention on their own personal growth. Thus, mothers of children often undergo training in programs for working with children with ASD, begin to conduct educational webinars, blogs, and share their experience in solving problems with other parents. There is also an increase in scores on the “confrontation” scale, as well as a decrease on the “distancing” scale.

Conducting psychoeducation with the parents of underage patients allows us to come closer to solving one of the main issues of psychosocial rehabilitation - the socialization of a child with ASD and the whole family as a whole.

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Evidence suggests that the media plays an important role in shaping public beliefs and attitudes towards mental illness and people with mental illness. On the one hand, holistic and balanced portrayals that focus on treatments and recovery can help reduce stigma and prejudice by increasing knowledge and understanding. On the other hand, sensational and one-dimensional portrayals can create and perpetuate stigmas and stereotypes, which can contribute to prejudice, fear and social exclusion.

Related research indicates that the media can also influence suicidal behaviour. On the one hand, research indicates an increase in suicide mortality following romanticized, sensational and detailed media coverage of a suicide (the Werther effect). On the other hand, emerging research indicates a decrease in suicidal mortality following media coverage focused on suicide prevention, available resources and hopeful narratives (the Papageno effect).

This presentation will discuss an ongoing national action-research project that has been continuously funded since 2010, which aims to decrease inaccurate and stigmatizing coverage, while increasing hopeful and recovery-oriented coverage, in relation to mental illness and suicide. This will include discussion of (i) longitudinal results from a media monitoring project, examining coverage of mental illness from 2010 to the present; (ii) various educational initiatives targeted at journalists and journalism schools during the project; and (iii) an innovative citizen journalism programme aiming to produce alternative positive portrayals.

This presentation will be highly-relevant to people wanting to learn more about media coverage of mental health and suicide, and especially pertinent to people interested in conducting similar research elsewhere.

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Epidemiological studies shows that exposure to early stress in the form of abuse and neglect in childhood increases the risk for later development of severe mental illneses such as schizophrenia and bipolar affective disorder.

•Study the prevalence of childhood trauma in a sample of adult patients diagnosed with schizophrenia and bipolar disorder.

•Identify potential differences of types of childhood trauma between both groups.

This cross-sectional study was conducted on 200 patients admitted to the inpatient unit at Maamoura psychiatric hospital in Alexandria. Assessment of the history and nature of childhood trauma was done by Arabic version of childhood trauma questionnaire (CTQ).

There was no statistically significant difference between the two studied groups regarding past history of childhood trauma (p=0.397). (Table 1) Regarding the nature of childhood trauma, the history of emotional abuse and physical neglect was more commonly associated with developing bipolar disorder whereas the history of physical abuse was sihnficantly more commonamong schizophrenia patients. (Table 2)

History of childhood trauma is common among adult patients with schizophrenia and bipolar disorder with no significant difference between both groups. Nature of trauma may be diffirent where physical abuse might be correlated with later development of schizophrenia.

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We have observed an increase in the number of patients detained under s136 of the Mental Health Act (MHA) within our emergency department. Patients are often transferred to the emergency department as an alternative place of safety. Many of these patients are provided very little information about the detention and the process of assessment. Best practice states that all patients should be provided written information. Currently, there is no such written information available with our emergency department or within the psychiatric liaison team in St Mary’s Hospital.

We aim to produce a user friendly information leaflet which will be distributed to all patients bought into the A&E department under s136. We aim to improve provision of written information from 0% to 50%.

We aim to complete this project in three stages:

Stage 1: involvement of service users using the trust Expert by Experience Forum. We will co-produce a clear and user friendly leaflet detailing information pertaining to s136 and the process of assessment.

Stage 2: Once the leaflet is finalised, we will involve colleagues within the emergency department to ensure that there is an effective system which will ensure adequate distribution of the leaflet.

Stage 3: Once the leaflet is incorporated into our clinical practice, we will audit its distribution.

We will upload the finalised leaflet. We will also assess a random selection of notes from November 2022 to March 2023 to assess % of patients provided with written information.

This project will result in co-production of an information leaflet for patients detained under s136 of the MHA. As such, we will aim to inform and improve the process for patients presenting to St Mary’s Hospital under the MHA.

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A new mental health service specialising in intellectual disabilities in Ireland was set up in January 2022. Its current compliment of staff includes is a Consultant Psychiatrist, Trainee Psychiatrist, Social Worker and Administrator. The current National Directive in Ireland is to prioritize Mental Health of Intellectual Disabilities services.

The aim of the project is to establish the current baseline level of diagnostics and interventions within the new service. Our aim is to develop this service by implementing and following the gold standard guidelines and determine what extra resources does the service need.

The first fifty case notes of patients assessed by the new service were inspected. The reviewer looked for evidence of the following clinical descriptions:Diagnosis of Intellectual Disabilities and its severity; Mental Capacity; Psychiatric Diagnoses; Physical health diagnoses; Medications and evidence of a Positive Behavioural Support Plan to manage complex challenging behaviours.

The fifty patient audit contained 38 (76%) men and 12 (24% women) . One patient had Mild Intellectual Disabilities (ID), 39 (78%) had Moderate ID and 10 (20%) had Severe ID. All patents were very vulnerable and had limited or lacking Mental Capacity. Common diagnoses of the following were recorded in the following numbers and percentages; - Autism diagnosis 30 ( 60% ); Epilepsy 19 (38%); & Down Syndrome 9 (18%). A Formal Psychiatric diagnosis was identified in 26 (52%) of patients. Challenging Behaviour (severe and complex) was identified for 41 ( 82%) of the patients. The full breakdown of psychiatric diagnoses was ‘Psychotic illness’ – 9 (18%); Anxiety – 7(14%); Bipolar Affective Disorder 5 (10%): Depression – 4(8%); Attention Deficit Hyperactivity Disorder (ADHD) 3 (6%); Obsessive Compulsive Disorder (OCD) – 2(4%); Dementia – 2(4%): Post Traumatic Stress Disorder (PTSD) – 1 (2%); & Schizoaffective Disorder 1(2%). A Positive Behavioural Support plan (PBS) was available to support 33 (66%) of patients.

42 (84%) of patients were prescribed antipsychotic medication. 12 (24%) were prescribed more than one antipsychotic. 20 (40%) were prescribed an antipsychotic without a formally documented diagnosis of a psychotic disorder. 12 (24%).

The results of this first survey highlight areas in which the service can be improved. The service has requested funding for a Community Nurse and a Psychologist. Psychological evaluations and Positive Behavioural Support plans are essential for people with complex challenging behaviours. A Community Nurse should assist with Health Promotion and help supervise patients requiring Depot Antipsychotic medication or Clozapine. We also plan to set up a joint clinic with the Consultant Neurologist on a regular basis.

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Medical-technical advances are contributing to the increased life expectancy of children with congenital heart disease (CHD) (Ladouceur et al., 2021). As they grow up into adulthood, they face many challenges (eg. surgeries, hospitalizations, separations from family, cardiac symptoms, anxiety symptoms). It is known that some parenting practices like parental overprotection during childhood are associated with anxiety in the general population, but little is known in this population.

We aim to measure the contribution of parental practices (global; positive: warm care, consistent structure, autonomy support; and negative: overprotection) to explain variance in anxiety symptoms in adults with CHD, beyond sociodemographic and antecedents of pediatric hospitalisations.

An observational cross-sectional study was conducted on 223 adults with CHD followed at the Montreal Heart Institute. We evaluated anxiety symptoms and retrospective parental practices using validated self-reported questionnaires, namely the Hospital Anxiety and Depression Scale, the Parental Bonding Inventory, the Perceived Parental Autonomy Support and the Multidimensional Parental Structure Scale. Sociodemographic and antecedents of pediatric hospitalisations information was collected from medical records and pediatric archives. Hierarchical multiple linear regression analyses were conducted.

The average age of our participants is 46 years and the majority (59 %) were female at birth. The median number of hospitalisation before 18 years old was two. 15 % presented severe anxiety symptoms (HADS-A ≥ 11), 17 % had moderate symptoms (HADS-A = 8-10), and 68 % had mild or no symptoms (HADS-A ≤ 7).

The inclusion of parenting practices significantly increased the proportion of variance explaining anxiety symptoms. They explained more variance (13%) than sociodemographic and pediatric hospitalisations combined (10%).

In this model, only positive parenting practices were significantly associated with anxiety, in contrast to parental overprotection.

When the parental practices were analyzed separately, positive practices (autonomy, care, and structure) were negatively associated with anxiety symptoms, while overprotection was positively associated with anxiety symptoms.

Our results suggest that although our participants’ physical health may be limited by their CHD, the majority report a low anxiety scores. Further, parenting practices appear to be malleable predictors of anxiety. Beyond avoiding overprotective parenting style, positive and supportive parenting practices are potential targets for future initiatives to prevent anxiety symptoms in adults with CHD.

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Specific phobia is an excessive and unreasonable fear of an object or situation that does not represent a real danger. This disorder is widespread among the population. The suffering from the feared situation disturbs the individual’s habits and professional activities.

We report the case of a driving phobia in a professional driver.

Case report

The man was 32 years old, a smoker at 5 PA. He had no family or personal psychiatric history. He has been a Dumper machine driver in a phosphate extraction company since 2011. He presented to our institute for a fit-to-work assessment. The history of the disease dates to 2019, the patient had witnessed a work accident that caused the death of his colleague (engine driver). Since this accident, he had a state of anxiety associated with tachycardia, a feeling of suffocation, excessive sweating and headaches. This symptomatology occurred suddenly while driving and prevented the patient from performing his professional task. At the psychiatric interview, the patient had coherent and dynamic speech without psychomotor slowing. The rest of the clinical examination was normal. The patient had been referred to a psychiatrist. The diagnosis of a specific phobia had been retained. Given the anamnestic and clinical data and the opinion of a medical specialist, the patient had been placed on temporary incapacity for the driving position. A reassessment of his medical fitness for the position of the driver will be made after the end of the psychiatric intake.

Professional conduct is a complex task that requires the integrity of physical and mental abilities. The assessment of medical fitness for this position is essential for road safety. However, it can sometimes be difficult, especially in the face of psychiatric pathologies.

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Research suggests that the COVID-19 pandemic and related stressors have triggered OCS for many individuals. However, the extent to which the pandemic and related stressors have influenced OCS seems to vary by individual factors, with some individuals being at greater risk than others. Despite the well-known role of cognitive inflexibility as a marker of risk for OCS, no study to date has examined the extent to which it influences individual susceptibility to developing OCS during the current pandemic. Toward this aim, the current study examined whether cognitive flexibility moderates whether exposure to COVID-related stressors is associated with OCS. Research suggests that the COVID-19 pandemic and related stressors have triggered OCS for many individuals. However, the extent to which the pandemic and related stressors have influenced OCS seems to vary by individual factors, with some individuals being at greater risk than others. Despite the well-known role of cognitive inflexibility as a marker of risk for OCS, no study to date has examined the extent to which it influences individual susceptibility to developing OCS during the current pandemic.

Toward this aim, the current study examined whether cognitive flexibility moderates whether exposure to COVID-related stressors is associated with OCS.

Participants were 169 students (age = 22 years, 62% female) from two student cohorts at Monash Business School who reported experiencing current OCS symptoms. All cohorts completed an online visual search task to measure flexibility of reward-related attentional capture (as an index of cognitive flexibility; measured using the VMAC-R task) and questionnaires gauging exposure to COVID-related stressors, pre-pandemic OCS, and current/lockdown OCS. A negative binomial regression examined the extent to which a) number of COVID-related stressors, b) cognitive flexibility, and c) their interaction was associated with lockdown OCS, adjusting for pre-COVID OCS.

The interaction between COVID-related stressors and cognitive flexibility was significantly associated with OCS (p = 0.048). Follow-up analyses showed that this interaction was driven by exposure to COVID-related stressors being associated with greater OCS among individuals with high cognitive inflexibility scores only (p = .029). Among cognitively flexible individuals, we did not find a relationship between COVID-related stressors and OCS (p = .470).

The result of this study highlight the role of cognitive flexibility as a potential moderator between COVID events and OCS. Critically, these findings have implications for detecting who is at risk of developing OCS following exposure to COVID-related stressors, and suggest that future interventions aimed at modifying cognitive flexibility may hold promise for boosting resilience against the effects of COVID-related stressors on OCS.

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The COVID-19 outbreak had significant implications worldwide, including mental health. Consultations in the Emergency Service of the Hospital Clínic of Barcelona varied in terms of reasons for consultations, psychopathology, and other aspects, before and during the pandemic.

This study aims to assess differences in the profile of patients admitted within the last three years to the Psychiatric Emergency Service of a third-level hospital, in order to analyze variations in the number of patients visited, diagnoses and admissions throughout the different seasons.

All adults admitted from 2019 to 2021 to the Psychiatric Emergency Service of Hospital Clínic of Barcelona, Spain, were retrospectively included for analysis and divided into three groups depending on the year they attended the Emergency Service. SPSS v25.0 and R statistics were used in order to compare differences between groups.

A total of 13677 adult individuals who attended the psychiatric emergency service of Hospital Clínic of Barcelona between 2019 and 2021 were included in the analysis. 4814 patients were visited in 2019, 4007 in 2020 and 4856 in 2021. The majority of patients were male (50.1%), with a mean age of 40.47 years (SD 15.83). In terms of acute admission rates, 24.6% of the total sample were hospitalized in an acute psychiatric unit, whereas in the spring of 2020, 34.3% of patients attending the Emergency Service were hospitalized. This revealed significant differences when compared with spring of 2019 and 2021 and with the rest of seasons (p<0.05). With regard to suicide attempts and intentional poisonings, significant differences were only observed between winter of 2019, with the lowest rate, and autumn of 2020, with the highest proportion. In spring of 2019, the lowest rate of patients attending with suicidal ideation was observed, which showed significant differences compared to winter of 2020, spring of 2021, summer of 2021 and autumn of 2021 (p<0.05). Also, statistically significant differences between winter of 2019 and summer of 2021 and also between summer of 2019 and summer of 2021 were observed, with the highest rate in the last one. No significant differences were observed in rates of patients with severe mental disorders visited.

The COVID-19 pandemic and the situation of lockdown lead to an overall reduction in the overall consultations to the Emergency Service, being this reduction non-significant in patients with severe mental disorders, such as psychotic disorders. In addition, our study shows a decrease in consultations with suicidal ideation in summer of 2019 and a significant increase in summer of 2021. In contrast, an increased tendency in suicide attempts was not observed.

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Healthcare practitioners (HCPs) are facing a mental health crisis. Group therapies have long been used to treat symptoms associated with PTSD, anxiety and/or depression, however no studies have investigated the role of implementing group therapy with and without ketamine-assisted therapies (KaT).

The current study investigated the effects of the Roots to Thrive (RTT) group therapy intervention both with and without adjunctive KaT.

In the present study we conduct a secondary analysis of data derived from the 12-week group psychotherapy program to that of the same program with adjunct KaT. Participants were administered a series of validated psychiatric assessment tools before and after the 12-weeks. Inclusion criteria included a diagnosis of treatment resistant mental health condition (depression, PTSD and/or generalized anxiety disorder) and a score of 15 or greater on the PTSD Checklist for DSM-5 (PCL-5). To assess the effects of time x group interaction and calculate differences between the RTT only and RTT-KaT subgroups, a repeated measures ANOVA was conducted. Effect sizes were calculated through partial eta-squared.

Forty-nine HCPs with treatment-resistant PTSD, anxiety and/or depression were treated with the RTT group therapy model to target their symptoms. A total of 49 individuals (34 female, 10 male, 3 other) with a median age of 47 years old (SD 14.19) participated in the study. There were no statistically significant differences between RTT only (n=14) and RTT KaT (n=35) subgroups across gender [X2 (1, N=44) = 2.84, ns] or age [F (1, 36) = .257, p = .615]. From pre- to post-treatment, all patients showed significant reductions in scores of PTSD (from 39.3 to 20.99), depression (from 15.5 to 7.7) and anxiety (from 15.5 to 6.2). Two-way repeated measures ANOVA did not reveal any significant between-group differences between the RTT and RTT-KaT subgroups.

This observational study provides preliminary support for the potential of the RTT community of care model of group therapy and adds to a small but growing body of knowledge on the integration of group therapy and the broad category of psychedelic psychotherapies. Given the rapid proliferation and expansion of KaT clinics throughout North America, the finding that KaT did not appear to impact changes related to the RTT intervention suggests the need for further research to better explain the potential impacts of relational transference between the two groups, and the distinct contributions of ketamine administration in a group therapy context.

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Cannabis is an illicit substance whose use is very common among the patients we see daily in hospitals. Its use is not simply a “recreational” desire, but above all an attempt at self-medication in order to manage emotions that have become too painful. However, even if cannabis reduces the symptomatology in the moment, it worsens most psychiatric pathologies.

The purpose of this study is to assess the experiences of cannabis users’ families.

The survey was carried out among the families of patients hospitalized at the Arrazi Hospital in Salé and those followed in consultation and who use cannabis. The collection of information is done with the help of an exploitation form.

34.6% of the participating families put bad company as the cause of consumption, followed by family problems, psychiatric problems come in 3rd position with a percentage of 19.2%. Cannabis use is considered as a disease in 52.8% of the families participating in the study. 58.5% of the families distinguish between good and bad cannabis use and define bad use by the use of large quantities of cannabis in 34.2% of the cases. The majority of the participating families (86.8%) saw cannabis as aggravating their loved one’s mental illness.

The understanding of the perceptions of the families towards the use of cannabis by their close relatives as well as the correction of the false perceptions will help to establish better prevention programs and better patient care especially with the family therapy which showed its utility in the management of the patients having disorders related to the use of cannabis.

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Impulsive personality Traits have been highly associated with both alcohol abuse and drug addiction, but have been accorded little attention in the context of food addiction.

To study the relationship between impulsivity and food addiction in school-aged adolescents.

It is a cross-sectional, descriptive and analytical survey, conducted in a sample of secondary school students, randomly collected in 6 schools in the region of Sfax during February 2022. A pre established form of 33 questions, including socio- demographic and family information was used. Impulsivity was evaluated by the Barratt Impulsivity Scale (BIS-11; Patton et al., 1995). The BIS is a 30-item questionnaire that measures impulsivity along the following dimensions: cognitive, motor, and non-planning. The validated arabic version was used. *

The 25-item Yale Food Addiction Scale (YFAS), validated in Arabic, was used to assess food addiction in adolescents.

Our sample consisted of 360 adolescents, with an average age of 16.62 years, being male in 52.2% and with a low to medium socio-economic level in 72.7% of them.

A total of 20% of the adolescents showed a tendency to impulsivity, 23.6% had impulse control disorder.

The food addiction score of our sample ranged from 0 to 56 with an average of 16.37 ± 12.380.

The average food addiction score for adolescents with impulse control disorder was 20.21 ±14.819 while the average food addiction score for adolescents without impulse control disorder was 15.18 ± 11.291.

Food addiction was strongly associated with impulsivity (p < 0.001).In particularly, Non-planning impulsivity was most strongly correlated with food addiction (p < 0.001, r ꞊ 0.252)

Impulsivity, commonly related to addictive substance use behaviors, may be a significant risk factor for food addiction. Early monitoring of impulse control disorder may help to reduce addictive food consumption.

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Machine learning (ML) approaches are a promising venue for identifying vocal markers of neuropsychiatric disorders, such as schizophrenia. While recent studies have shown that voice-based ML models can reliably predict diagnosis and clinical symptoms of schizophrenia, it is unclear to what extent such ML markers generalize to new speech samples collected using a different task or in a different language: the assessment of generalization performance is however crucial for testing their clinical applicability.

In this research, we systematically assessed the generalizability of ML models across contexts and languages relying on a large cross-linguistic dataset of audio recordings of patients with schizophrenia and controls.

We trained ML models of vocal markers of schizophrenia on a large cross-linguistic dataset of audio recordings of 231 patients with schizophrenia and 238 matched controls (>4.000 recordings in Danish, German, Mandarin and Japanese). We developed a rigorous pipeline to minimize overfitting, including cross-validated training set and Mixture of Experts (MoE) models. We tested the generalizability of the ML models on: (i) different participants, speaking the same language (hold-out test set); (ii) different participants, speaking a different language. Finally, we compared the predictive performance of: (i) models trained on a single language (e.g., Danish) (ii) MoE models, i.e., ensemble of models (experts) trained on a single language whose predictions are combined using a weighted sum (iii) multi-language models trained on multiple languages (e.g., Danish and German).

Model performance was comparable to state-of-the art findings (F1: 70%-80%) when trained and tested on participants speaking the same language (out-of-sample performance). Crucially, however, the ML models did not generalize well - showing a substantial decrease of performance (close to chance) - when trained in a language and tested on new languages (e.g., trained on Danish and tested on German). MoE and multi-language models showed a better increase of performance (F1: 55%-60%), but still far from those requested for achieving clinical applicability.

Our results show that the cross-linguistic generalizability of ML models of vocal markers of schizophrenia is very limited. This is an issue if our first goal is to translate these vocal markers into effective clinical applications. We argue that more emphasis needs to be placed on collecting large open datasets to test the generalizability of voice-based ML models, for example, across different speech tasks or across the heterogeneous clinical profiles that characterize schizophrenia spectrum disorder.

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Children exposed to trauma present particular clinical features, therefore this population requires specific care and support.

Study the clinical features and care modalities of children consulting Trauma & Resilience Unit.

It is a retrospective descriptive study of children consulting Trauma & Resilience unit at the child psychiatry department of Mongi Slim Hospital in Tunis (Tunisia) between January and April 2022. We collected data concerning the course of clinical features and care modalities with help of an exploitation form. Statistical analyses were performed by SPSS26.

Our study included 66 patients. The sex ratio was 1. The mean age was 10.46 ± 3.24 years. The main symptoms initially presented were hypervigilance in preschoolers (p=0.02), avoidance behaviors in school-age children (p<0.05) and flashbacks in adolescents (p<0.05).

The diagnosis of adjustment disorders was made in 38.4% of the cases of which 32% were victims of physical assault. Post-traumatic stress disorder was diagnosed in 25.7% of cases, 35.2% of which were victims of sexual assault. A normal psychiatric examination was significantly frequent in cases of psychological assault (p=0.04). The Child Protection Officer was alerted in 46.2% of cases. The school was notified of the repercussions on children health in 38.4 % of cases. Psychotherapy was provided in 86.2% of cases. We prescribed pharmacological treatment for 14% of patients with 59% antidepressants in 59% and sleep medication in 41%.

Management of children in psychotraumatology units turns out to be challenging. Therefore, working on the links between the various partners involved, while respecting the differences and specificities of each, is an essential prognostic element for the children and adolescents concerned.

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Research findings show that during the COVID-19 pandemic, healthcare workers (HCWs) have been subject to increased workload while also exposed to many psychosocial stressors.

The aim of this study was to investigate Covid’s impact on healthcare professionals’ mental health and their coping strategies

The study population consisted of 144 health professionals from health care facilities in Patras. An internet based questionnaire was distributed,which included demographic survey questions and the following three scales: (1) The Psychological Consequences Questionnaire (PCQ) scale, (2) The Kessler Psychological Distress scale (k6) and (3) Toulouse’s scale for coping strategies (E.T.C.).

144 health care workers participated in the survey, who were basically women (72.2%) and nurses (60%) In terms of psychological consequences, participants felt pressured, stressed (3.12), and sad/depressed (2.78). The most frequently used coping strategies were acceptance (3.44), active focus (3.38), cognitive focus (3.31), cognitive control and planning (3.30), emotional control (3.17), social informational support (3.16) and cooperation (3.15). In contrast, the strategies used to a lesser extent are substance addiction (1.91), emotional focus ( 2.13), denial (2.27) and alexithymia (2.49). Generally, positive strategies (3.11) were chosen to a greater extent than negative ones ( 2.38).

It is very important for hospital administrations to design specific psychological support programs and encourage health professionals to participate in them in order to manage their fear, anxiety and stress experienced.

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Generalized anxiety disorder (GAD) is a highly prevalent mental illness that is associated with clinically significant distress, functional impairment, and poor emotional regulation. Primary functional magnetic resonance imaging (fMRI) studies of GAD report neural abnormalities in comparison to healthy controls. However, many of these findings in the primary literature are inconsistent, and it is unclear whether they are specific to GAD or shared transdiagnostically across related disorders.

This meta-analysis seeks to establish the most reliable neural abnormalities observed in individuals with GAD, as reported in the primary fMRI activation literature.

We conducted an exhaustive literature search in PubMed to identify primary studies that met our pre-specified inclusion criteria and then extracted relevant data from primary, whole-brain fMRI activation studies of GAD that reported coordinates in Talairach or MNI space. We then used multilevel kernel density analysis (MKDA) with ensemble thresholding to examine the differences between adults with GAD and healthy controls in order to identify brain regions that reached statistical significance across primary studies.

Patients with GAD showed statistically significant (α=0.05–0.0001; family-wise-error-rate corrected) neural activation in various regions of the cerebral cortex and basal ganglia across a variety of experimental tasks.

These results inform our understanding of the neural basis of GAD and are interpreted using a frontolimbic model of anxiety as well as specific clinical symptoms of this disorder and its relation to other mood and anxiety disorders. These results also suggest possible novel targets for emerging neurostimulation therapies (e.g., transcranial magnetic stimulation) and may be used to advance our understanding of the effects of current pharmaceutical treatments and ways to improve treatment selection and symptom-targeting for patients diagnosed with GAD.

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