The ongoing pandemic of coronavirus disease 2019 (COVID-19) has made a serious public threat worldwide. The first case in the Republic Croatia was reported on 25th February 2020 and the first case in Psychiatric hospital Ugljan was diagnosed on 3rd December 2020. To maximize protection and prevent spreading to other patients, COVID-infected-individuals were isolated. This poster will describe treatment outcomes of COVID 19 in Psychiatric hospital Ugljan.

This rapid review summarizes outcomes of COVID-19 infected psychiatric patients with mild disease severity to provide synthesized evidence to support policy decision making.

PubMed, Medline, PsychINFO were systematically searched from January 2021 for COVID-19, with studies describing epidemiology, treatment and outcomes in various long-term care facilities. Studies were excluded if they did not report clinical evidence.

In the time of COVID-19 breakthrough in psychiatric hospital, in December 2020 328 patients were hospitalized of whom 44 tested positive for SARS-CoV-2 infection: of 307 hospitalized patients in January 2021 36 tested positive for SARS CoV-2. By that time, there were no treatment options available, so we focused on repurposing efficacy of the currently used drugs. Five patients needed admission to ICU, we reported one death from coronavirus disease 2019 in that period.

The COViD-19 pandemic has highlighted extreme vulnerability of psychiatric patients who reside in long-term care psychiatric hospitals and there is an urgent need for evidence-based policy that can protect adequately psychiatric patients.

No significant relationships.

We present the clinical case of a patient where the psychotic clinic coexists with gender dysphoria. This scenario can be the result of a change in gender identity derived from the psychotic process or appear independently of it.

We want to explain the importance of knowing how to act with a patient in whom these two processes coexist.

20-year-old woman, with no history of mental health. She comes to the emergency department for behavioral alteration. The family observes strange behaviors, unmotivated laughter, soliloquies and aggressive episodes. Abandonment of studies, hobbies and radical physical change. Delusions of prejudice and self-referential delusions. Possible phenomena of echo and diffusion of the thought. Auditory hallucinations talking to her in male gender, since then she presents doubts about her sexual identity and manifests her desire to change sex. Altered judgment of reality.

During admission, we started treatment with an antipsychotic with good tolerance and she was referred to mental health team, where psychopharmacological treatment was adjusted with good response. In the following medical appointments the psychotic clinic disappeared at the same time that sexual identification was completely restored and made a critique of the behavior and experiences.

This case highlights the importance of assessing the chronology of symptoms, the patient’s criticality, the response to antipsychotic treatment and the need to exclude the psychotic background of the desire for gender reassignment before making a therapeutic decision.

No significant relationships.

The COVID-19 pandemic provoked emotional reactions in Russian student populations. Hardiness is seen as a personality predisposition that increases individuals’ resilience to stress.

The study aimed to determine the severity of depression, anxiety, stress, and various components of hardiness in Russian students. In addition, the correlations between emotional reactions and hardiness components were also analysed.

Data collection was carried out between 29 May and 06 July 2020. A total of 129 medical and non-medical students participated in the study. The DASS-21 was used to measure depression, anxiety, and stress levels, while the Personal Views Survey-III examined hardiness. Both questionnaires were adapted for use in Russia.

We found that medical students were less likely to be depressed than non-medical students (M = 4.03 and M = 6.01 respectively, p < 0.05). Medical students had higher levels of the component of hardiness such as commitment (M = 20.95 and M = 18.43 respectively, p < 0.05). In both groups, all hardiness components have negative relationships with depression, anxiety, and stress, but in the medical group control is associated only with depression (rx = -0.446, p < 0.01), whereas the other group also has associations with anxiety (rx = -0.356, p < 0.01) and stress (rx = -0.407, p < 0.01).

Hardiness was negatively related to depression, anxiety, and stress in a pandemic setting. Medical students were more adaptable to the pandemic than non-medical students.

No significant relationships.

Depression is the most common comorbidity of migraine. The brain of migraineurs with depression shows differences compared to migraine only or depression only patients. The comorbidity may affect specific regions such as the periaqueductal gray matter (PAG) which is important in negative emotion regulation and pain modulatory system.

We hypothesized that the alterations in PAG functional connectivity (FC) may play a role in migraineurs vulnerability for depression.

A resting-state fMRI was conducted with 34 episodic migraine without aura patients and 41 control subjects. All participants were medication free and they did not have any psychiatric or chronic disorders. Depressive symptoms were measured with Zung Self-Rating Depression Scale. To investigate the relationship between depressive symptoms and PAG functional connectivity, Zung scores were used as covariates in each groups’ PAG-FC analysis using the Statistical Parametric Mapping (SPM12) toolbox in MATLAB environment.

There were no significant difference between migraine and control group in Zung scores (p=0.394). Negative correlation was found between Zung scores and PAG-FC with thalamus, fusiform gyrus, middle occipital gyrus and calcarine (pFWE<0.05) in migraine group. However, there was no significant correlation between Zung scores and PAG-FC in healthy control group.

Our results suggest that PAG-FC with emotion and pain processing areas is affected by depressive symptoms in migraine patients, but not in healthy controls. Migraine patients without comorbid depression might have vulnerable neuronal pathways for depressive symptoms. A follow-up of these patients could be interesting to determine whether these connectivity alterations predict the possible comorbid depression.

Hungarian Brain Research Program (2017-1.2.1-NKP-2017-00002, KTIA_13_NAPA-II/14, KTIA_NAP_13-1-2013- 0001, KTIA_NAP_13-2- 2015-0001); 2020-4.1.1.-TKP2020; ERA PerMed (2019-2.1.7-ERA-NET-2020-00005); ÚNKP-21-4-I-SE-15 (DB).

Nefashot - (meaning “Souls” in Hebrew) is a social activist initiative that aims to promote mental health (MH) awareness in the public domain through cultural, artistic, and dialogue-based events.

The two main objectives of this project are: to raise awareness and promote dialogue about MH issues in the public sphere and to create an inclusive environment for people living with MH conditions where their voices can be heard.

For this purpose, we have created a week of events around the international mental health day on October 10th. Our strategy for producing the MH week is by 4 stages: 1) Call for action which is published widely on social media 2) Collection of forms filled, connections and personal accompaniment 3) Event directed accompaniment, and group meeting around common topics 4) Publication as a group to strengthening the sense of belonging and enhancing community visibility.

Our 80 events over the last three years have been organized by creators, artists, people with and without mental illness, family members, and professionals. Participants are extended in the event production by geographical location, type of art or culture event, type of relation to MH (for example, family member) and by social groups (Arabic/English speakers, LGBT), as well as collaborations within the group.

Promoting MH through public activism is ideal because it enable each participant to shape the process as well as the product. Furthermore, we find the relationship between art and MH enriching in both directions.

No significant relationships.

Covid-19 vaccination in adults become a common behaviour nowadays. It may induce stress in some of the vaccinated patients.

This study aimed to evaluate perceived Stress among university teachers desiring to be vaccinated.

We conducted a cross-sectional study on Tunisian university teachers who participated in a COVID-19 vaccination campaign organized in June 2021. A self-administered questionnaire was administered. The survey dealt with socio-professional data and the level of stress assessed with the Perceived Stress Scale (PSS-10).

A total of 100 participants were included. The mean age was 51 years ±7. The Sex Ratio (M/F) was 1.7. The majority of participants were married and reported living with their families (96%). On a 0 to 10 scale, 71% of participants described an excellent health status and rated it greater than or equal to 8. The average job tenure was 15 years. The PSS-10 showed moderate and high perceived stress in 86% and 4% of participants, respectively. Only 10% of university teachers presented low-stress perception.

Getting vaccinated against Covid-19 is crucial in order to protect the population. This behaviour could be associated with a big amount of stress. Taking into account the psychiatric mental condition is crucial for the vaccinating health care providers in order to alleviate this experience.

No significant relationships.

The spread of media multitasking in the modern world determines researcher’s interest in studying the neurocognitive development features of children who strive to act in this mode since childhood (Minear et al., 2013; Uncapher et al., 2016).

The aim is to study neuropsychological profiles of children and adolescents with single-tasking and multitasking.

Quasi-experiment was conducted among 154 children of three age groups (7-10; 11-13; 14-16) and included simultaneous tasks performance on a computer and a smartphone. Neuropsychological indicators were studied (Akhutina, 2016): programming and control, serial organization, visual and auditory-speech memory, neurodynamics. The behavior social modeling and executive functions were studied with WISC (Information and Comprehension subtests) and Dots-test (Akhutina et al., 2017). The multitaskers groups were identified according to the number of returns to tasks: single-taskers (42.9%), single-taskers with multitasking elements (1-2 returns) (40.9%), multitaskers (3 and more returns) (16.2%).

The number of multitaskers increased by adolescence. In children aged 7-10 single-taskers were more productive than multitaskers in programming, switchability, the volume of auditory-speech and visual memory, neurodynamics. They performed Dots-test faster. At the age of 11-13, multitaskers had higher scores on the Comprehension subtest and higher verbal activity when composing a story. Regulation and switchability errors in multitaskers aged 11-13 were episodic. At the age of 14-16 multitaskers were more productive in some parameters of switchability.

In primary school single-taskers have a neurocognitive advantage, but by adolescence differences are leveled, and in some parameters multitaskers are ahead of single-taskers. The study was funded by RFBR, project No. 19-29-14181.

The reported study was funded by RFBR, project No. 19-29-14181.

No significant relationships.

The Nordic countries have similar health care and welfare systems, and rather homogenous populations. Therefore, it is reasonable to expect similar use of psychotropic drugs. However, recent studies show marked differences in a range of psychotropic drug classes among children and adolescents in Sweden, Norway, and Denmark.

To review the literature regarding psychotropic drug use among children and adolescents in the Nordic countries.

We performed a critical systematic literature review according to PRISMA guidelines and registered the study protocol at PROSPERO. Three scientific databases were used: PsycINFO, EMBASE and PubMed. Inclusion criteria were: 1) Age: 3-19 years, 2) Country: Denmark, including Faroe Islands and Greenland, Sweden, Norway, Finland, including Aland, and Iceland, 3) Drug of interest: Psychotropics, including Antidepressants, ADHD medication, antipsychotics, hypnotics, anxiolytics, 4) Population based study sample, 5) Observational study design, 6) Original data, 7) English language, 8) Publication date: 2010-2021. The review process was performed by four reviewers in three steps: 1) title/abstract screening, 2) full text screening, and 3) data extraction, including risk of bias assessment. Before study initiation, acceptable interrater reliability was ensured by pilot tests.

The literature search was conducted October 6th, 2021. The PsycINFO database gave 285 hits, EMBASE 1190 hits and PubMed 2185 hits. In total, the literature search gave 3660 hits, of which 294 were duplicates, leaving us with 3366 references. The first screening phase is in process and results will be presented at the EPA conference.

The results of the systematic review will be interpreted and discussed.

No significant relationships.

Central glucocorticoid receptor (GR) has been found to play an important role in the interpretation of cognitive abnormalities of posttraumatic stress disorder (PTSD), particularly focused on the extinction failure of fear memory. Potential of using GR antagonist as a pharmacological agent to prevent PTSD-related fear memory disruption is worth investigating.

We aimed to examine whether GR antagonist Mifepristone (RU486) administered before single prolonged stress (SPS) can prevent rats from fear memory extinction impairment.

In the present study, SPS was employed in rats to induce a rodent model of PTSD. 60 minutes before SPS, RU486 (20 mg/kg) was administered by intraperitoneal injection. Seven days after SPS, rats received a protocol of behavioral testing to measure their abilities of specific fear memory (by a cue-dependent fear conditioning paradigm) and nonspecific spatial memory (by T-maze). Neurochemically, we measured plasma corticosterone with or without dexamethasone suppression, activation ratio of GR and levels of norepinephrine, dopamine, and serotonin in amygdala, paraventricular nucleus, dorsal and ventral hippocampus.

Our results found that RU486 exerted protective effects on SPS-induced fear extinction impairment. Corticosterone of SPS-RU486 rats was less suppressed by dexamethasone. GR became less activated in dorsal hippocampus of SPS-RU486 rats.

The findings supported the utility of GR antagonism in preventing the development of PTSD.

No significant relationships.

The diagnosis of neurodegenerative and psychiatric disorders (NPDs) in primary care can suffer from inefficiencies resulting in misdiagnoses and delayed diagnosis, limiting effective treatment options. The development of speech and language-based profiling biomarkers could aid in achieving earlier motor diagnosis for PD for instance, or more accurate diagnosis of clinically similar or late presenting NPDs.

RHAPSODY aims to investigate the feasibility of the remote administration of a battery of speech tasks in eliciting continuous narrative speech across a range of NPDs. The project also aims to determine the feasibility of using acoustic and linguistic biomarkers from speech data to support the clinical assessment and disambiguation of common NPDs

All participants (n=250) will take part in a single virtual telemedicine video conference with a researcher in which they are screened and complete a battery of speech tasks, in addition to cohort-specific screening measures. Over the following month, participants will be asked to complete a series of short, self-administered speech assessments via a smartphone application.

The speech tasks will be audio-recorded and analysed on Novoic’s technology platform. Objectives will be analysed using measures including average length of speech elicitation for speech tasks, intra- and inter-subject variance, differences in linguistic patterns, and response rates to speech assessments.

The analyses could help to identify and validate speech-derived clinical biomarkers to support clinicians in detecting and disambiguating between NPDs with heterogeneous presentations. This should further support earlier intervention, improved treatment options and improved quality of life.

In terms of significant financial interest and relationships, it is emphasised that the private organisation Novoic, who aim to develop speech algorithms for diagnostic use, is the study’s sponsor and employees or former employees of this company comprise

Throughout this period we were confronted with news and information about the Corona virus and its consequences. Which led to the development of a huge sense of fear among people. Although fear has helped to maintain restrictions, it has also had a significant impact on mental health, especially among patients with a psychiatric history.

In this paper I will highlight the consequences of the nocebo effect of the pandemic among people with a psychiatric history.

To complete this work I used medical articles, studies, and specialized information on the subject.

The pandemic’s restrictions have made it difficult for psychiatric patients to be compliant treatment by avoiding regular psychiatric exams.Isolation and fear of infection has led to new decompensations in existing psychiatric pathologies.

The exacerbations of psychiatric pathology increased both in number and in their intensity, ultimately determined by the increase in the number of hospitalizations in psychiatric emergencies.

No significant relationships.

Despite the high prevalence of substance use disorders, the majority of affected individuals do not seek any medical help or receive treatment targetting mainly symptoms of intoxication, withdrawal or general medical conditions due to chronic use of psychoactive substances. Patients with substance use disorders are more likely to remain undiagnosed regarding other psychiatric illnesses. Electronic patient-reported outcomes (ePRO) provide an easy-to-use instrument for detailed assessment at low economic cost.

To assess patients’ attitude towards self-reporting of symptoms related to substance use, mood, anxiety, quality of sleep, medication intake, social performance, and psychotic symptoms.

Mobile application consisting of seven questionnaires (Mood, Anxiety, Substance Use, Sleep, Medication, Social Activity and Various symptoms) was offered for use to patients with substance use disorder. Enrolled subjects were encouraged to use the app to report their actual condition in accordance with their own willingness and lifestyle.

Throughout the study a total of 1077 completed questionnaires were submitted, of which 193 (17.9%) were on mood, 188 (17.5%) - on substance use, 187 (17.4%) – on sleep, 155 (14.4%) – on anxiety, 139 (12.9%) – on medication intake, 111 (10.3%) – on psychotic symptoms, and 104 (9.7%) – on social performance.

Our research revealed that patients with substance use disorder are likely to share concerns regarding variety of psychiatric symptoms besides these attributed to their primary diagnosis. Implementation of ePROs can be a valuable tool for in-depth assessment and subsequent meeting the needs of such patients.

No significant relationships.

Frontal lobe syndrome (FLS) is a clinical condition characterized by personality and behavioral changes that usually occur after a traumatic brain injury (TBI). The main features of this syndrome are related to the deterioration of basic functions of the frontal lobe. Substance use disorder (SUD) is rare but also serious comorbiditiy seen after TBI.

In this case report, we aimed to discuss a case who developed SUD after TBI.

Case report

A 40-year-old male patient with history of using cannabis, methamphetamine, synthetic cannabinoid was admitted to our alcohol and substance use disorders research and treatment centre (AMATEM) inpatient unit for detoxification. He has reported that he was injured by a car accident five years ago, had a surgery and was hospitalized for a few months, and started to use substance to relieve pain. According to the medical records, the left frontal and temporoparietal regions were affected. He reported no history of substance abuse before injury, no previous history of psychiatric admission. Personality and behavior changes had been observed after TBI. In the first examination he had depressed mood and loss of interest. Sertraline (gradually titrated up to 150 mg/d) and risperidone (1 mg/d) were started. Also N-acetylcysteine (1,200 mg/d) was added to reduce craving and drug-seeking behaviours for four weeks.

Frontal lobe syndrome and TBI may differ in terms of clinical presentations. Substance use may be a way to cope with mental, cognitive or behavioural changes, psychosocial stressors, anxiety, sleep problems or pain after TBI.

No significant relationships.

SARS-COV 2 virus and the disease caused by the virus is a challenge for the healthcare workers since the beggining of the Covid-19 pandemic. Working with huge number of patient who need hospital care at the same time but also having scare information about the virus resulted with physical exhaustion, increased workload and mostly fear among the healthcare workers.

The purpose of the study was to expand our knowledge about the mental health of the healthcare workers and explore most common psychological problems they faced during the Covid-19 pandemic over a period of three month.

All participants in the study work in the same public hospital in Skopje, North Macedonia in one of the following job positions: physicians, nurses, paramedics, and hygienists. They anonymously filled out a google form answering questions about their mental health. Questions in the form were created based on Beck Depression Scale and the GAD-7 Scale for Anxiety along with questions about the gender, age, and job position.

The results we gained from this study are showing that the participants experienced insomnia, reduced concentration, intense feelings of restlessness and fatigue, less energy and mostly lack of job satisfaction.

Those symptoms indicates that healthcare workers developed anxiety and depression while working with patient infected by the SARS-COV 2 virus.

No significant relationships.

Many women during the different phases of the menstrual cycle experience significant emotional and cognitive changes; for some, these changes can affect their everyday living. Premenstrual Dysphonic Disorder (PMDD) is a health problem that affects up to 5% of women of childbearing age. The exact cause is unknown; still, hormonal changes throughout the menstrual cycle may play a role. Women with a family history of Postpartum Depression (PPD) may be at increased risk.

The purpose was to examine if Emotion recognition processing across menstrual cycle and a history of PPD are potential risk factors for PMDD.

We identified 34 women with a history of PPD and contacted their daughters to explain the purpose of our study. Of those meeting the criteria to participate, 38 volunteered (aged 18-30 y.o., right handed, educational level >9 y., regular cycle duration). The Emotion Recognition Task (ERT) was administered in the luteal and the follicular phase. Women found to present significant differences in emotion recognition depending on the estradiol and progesterone levels were clinically interviewed (DSM-V).

Of the 16 women who have showed significant differences across the two phases of the menstrual cycle, 7 were diagnosed with PMDD (43,7%). Among the ones who have not presented differences (22), only 2 received a diagnosis of PMDD (9%).

This study shows that Emotion recognition processing across menstrual cycle and a history of PPD may predict which women could be at risk for PMDD, playing, therefore a key role in PMDD early diagnosis.

No significant relationships.

Resilience has attracted much attention, not least since the pandemic. It is characterised by a person’s ability to bounce back from adversity. Although there is no exact definition of what adversity means, it assumes that the individual is aware of the event. Here, we would like to challenge this preconception by putting forward a case of an individual who shows remarkable resilience without being aware of his disadvantages.

We present a case of a fully-functioning middle-aged man with corpus callosum agenesis of which he has been unaware. We sought to demonstrate that personality traits which have been associated with resilience may not necessarily be characteristic of a resilient individual.

T.C. is a 44-year-old individual who enrolled as a healthy participant in a research study at the University of Cambridge, which involved cognitive and personality assessments and a structural brain scan.

T.C.’s psychological profile portrayed a well-balanced man who had attained a high level of education, stable employment, a healthy personal life and good community integration. T.C.’s cognitive performance fell well within normal ranges, but was superior in terms of self-control, as measured by the stop-signal task. To our surprise, he scored below-average on questionnaires of resilience and sense of coherence beliefs and reported subclinical tendencies of obsessive-compulsive behaviours.

Resilience does not require awareness of adversity. Our case report shows that resilience may present itself fairly normally and may go unrecognised in daily life. Hardship should not be limited to traumatic events but also include brain abnormality.

No significant relationships.

Looking back into history, infectious diseases played an important role in human history being responsible, in terms of pathologies, for more deaths than any other disease.

Considering that infectious diseases have a high rate of transmissibility, with an acute debut and sometimes with a fast evolution to exitus, the impact of the news on families of the departed patient diagnosed with an infectious disease can come as a shock. We conducted a literature review regarding the the psychological symptoms, moruning and staging of processing a loss using the international database.

We conducted a literature review regarding the the psychological symptoms, moruning and staging of processing a loss using the international database.

Processing the unexpected death of a family member needs not only the implication of the physician but also the counseling of a specialized psychologist which can help the families through all stages of loss and grief.

For the family of deceased patients in hospitals, mourning and depression are a reality that the psychologist and the attending physician face every day. The team of psychologists and medical doctors are facing cases of severe shock and depression in parents, varying with the age of the child and of the young adult, in cases with an acute or severe disease leading to death.

No significant relationships.

All pandemic outbreaks because of their rapid spread and high mortality rate cause to everyone considerable stress and anxiety.

The aim of the present study is to investigate how news media exposure moderates the relationship between stress, anxiety, depression and self-efficacy, social support, knowledge of the coronavirus and coronavirus perception.

223 healthcare providers, men 46 (20.6%) and women 177 (79.4%), working in hospitals in Greece participated in the study. independent t-test, one-way ANOVAs, Pearson’s correlation, multiple-linear regression and moderator’s analysis were analyzed with SPSS23.

Organization support, friends support, covid-19 knowledge and covid-19 perception are most significant predictors to stress, F (4,218) = 11.47, p < .001 and Adjusted R2- .159. Friends support, covid-19 knowledge and self-efficacy, working with covid19 patients and gender are most significant predictors to anxiety, F (5,217) = 11.16, p < .001 Adjusted R2- .186. Friends support, covid-19 knowledge and self-efficacy and organization support are most significant predictors to depression, F (4,218) = 16.37, p < .001 Adjusted R2-squared: .217. News media exposure did moderate the predictive power of almost all predictors for stress, anxiety and depression, at p<.05.

Therefore, the study verifies previous findings arguing that stress, anxiety and depression are strongly associated with numerous factors. These associations seem to be moderated by news media exposure. It is recommended to further explore the impact news media exposure has during crucial periods, such as covid-19 outbreak.

No significant relationships.

Electronic health (eHealth) interventions integrate different elements of care in treating and preventing mental ill-health in patients with somatic illnesses. Identifying different sociodemographic characteristics that might be associated with higher perceived usability can help in improving the usability of these e-health interventions.

This study aimed to identify sociodemographic characteristics that might be associated with the perceived usability of the NEVERMIND e-health system, comprised of a mobile application and a sensorized shirt, developed to reduce co-morbid depressive symptoms in patients with breast or prostate cancer.

The study included 129 patients with a diagnosis of breast or prostate cancer who received the NEVERMIND system. Sociodemographic data were collected at baseline. Usability outcomes included the System Usability Scale (SUS), the Mobile Application Rating Scale: user version (uMARS), and a usage index.

The analysis was based on 108 patients (68 breast cancer and 40 prostate cancer patients) who used the NEVERMIND system. The overall mean SUS score at 12-weeks was 73.4 with no statistical differences among different sociodemographic characteristics. The global uMARS score was 3.8, and females scored the app higher than males (β coefficient= 0.16; p=.03, 95% CI 0.02 - 0.3). Females had significant lower usage (β coefficient= -0.13; p=.04, 95% CI -0.25 to -0.01) after adjusting for other covariates.

There was a higher favourability of the mobile application among females compared to males. However, males had significantly higher usage of the NEVERMIND system. The NEVERMIND system does not suffer from ‘digital divide’ where certain sociodemographic characteristics are more associated with higher usability.

No significant relationships.