PTSD is a chronic, debilitating condition with limited treatment efficacy. Accessing traumatic memories often leads to overwhelming distress, impacting treatment process. Current approved pharmacological treatments have exhibited small to moderate effects when compared with placebo. Evidence suggests 3,4,-methylene-dioxymethamphetamine(MDMA)-assisted psychotherapy as a viable option for refractory PTSD.

Comprehensive review of early clinical research, proposed mechanisms, safety and emerging therapeutic models.

Eligible studies will be identified through strategic search of MEDLINE.

Pre-clinical and imaging studies suggest memory reconsolidation and fear extinction as candidate psychological and neurological mechanisms, involving MDMA’s combined effects of increasing serotonergic activity, as well the release of oxytocin and brain-derived neurotrophic factor in key memory and emotional circuits. Resulting reduction in amygdala and insula activation and increasing connectivity between the amygdala and hippocampus may create a “tolerance window” of neuroplasticity for emotional engagement and reprocessing of traumatic memories during psychotherapy. Early clinical trials report impressive and durable reduction in PTSD symptoms, with a safety profile comparable to that of SSRIs. A recently completed randomized, double-blind, placebo-controlled phase 3 trial reported full remission of PTSD symptoms in 67% of patients at 2 months, with no increase in suicidality, cardiovascular events or abuse behavior. Emerging treatment models underline the importance of unmedicated therapeutic sessions for preparation for the experience and subsequent integration as essential for full benefit and safety of the clinical context.

The psychological impact associated with the COVID-19 pandemic is an reminder of the emotional and economic burden associated with PTSD. MDMA-assisted therapy may be a breakthrough approach meriting further multidisciplinary investment and clinical research.

No significant relationships.

Obsessive phenomena, when present, are usually seen in the depressive phase of bipolar disorder.

The peculiar case with aggravation in ruminative and obsessive thinking with simultaneous hypomania may widen our understanding of the phenomenology of antidepressant induced hypomanic symptoms.

We present a case of ruminative hypomania induced by high dose venlafaxine. Young Mania Rating Scale (YMRS), Hamilton Depression Rating Scale (HAM-D) and Yale Brown Obsessive Compulsive Scale (YBOCS) were used for symptom ratings.

The patient was 30 years old and she had treatment history of depression for 3 months. She had two consecutive suicide attempts with drugs in the week before she was hospitalized for suicidal risk. She was using venlafaxine 300 mg/day and olanzapin 2,5 mg/day; continuous ruminative thinking about the past and imaginary sexual affairs with former friends were apparent with an unremitting pattern, leading to intense psychomotor agitation and suicide attempts. Irritable mood, and increased energy was observed with continuous ruminations. She was diagnosed with bipolar-II-disorder, with mixed features and anxious distress (YMRS:17, HAM-D:22, YBOCS:34). After discontinuing venlafaxine and starting anti-manic treatment with haloperidol 10 mg/day in the first week, both affective symptoms and ruminations were improved (YMRS:2, HAM-D:4, YBOCS:8). Aripiprazol 20 mg/day and quetiapine 100 mg/day which were given for continuation treatment were also effective for preserving full remission.

When prescribing high dose venlafaxine for treatment resistant depression, it should be remembered that this may induce hypomanic symptoms and prominent ruminative thinking which can be ameliorated with anti-manic treatment.

No significant relationships.

The new adoption law, which was introduced in Greece in 2018, brought radical changes in adoption.

This presentation aimed to investigate the emotions of the prospective stepparents, based on the changes which were effectuated by the new law of adoption.

This survey was conducted through mixed methodology. Quantitative research was addressed to investigate the emotions of the to prospective stepparents. Qualitative research was addressed to social workers and its goal was to depict their opinion about the new law and the prospective stepparents’ expressed emotions.

The findings of the survey have demonstrated that the stepparents had a variety of emotions that changed throughout the adoption process. The dominant feelings of parents at the first visit with the social worker were stress and anxiety. However, at the end of the training process, these feelings were replaced by confidence and impatience. This emotional rotation of prospective stepparents was confirmed in the social workers’ interviews. In addition, social workers interviews highlighted the importance of the amendment of the old law of adoption’s process.

To sum up, this research has shown the importance of the new law and therefore the significance of its right application from all children’s placements in Greece. Nevertheless, it seems that due to the recent application of the new law, many placements have not yet complied with it and therefore there is urgent need for reinforcement of its application, according to the guidelines of the European Union that demanded gradual deinstitutionalization using the alternative types of child care.

No significant relationships.

No significant relationships.

The strong comorbidity between depression and epilepsy is widely acknowledged. However, depression in epilepsy can manifest atypically, leading to its low detection rate and lack of access to treatment in patients with epilepsy

To study the specifics and pattern of depression in epilepsy for its timely diagnosis and therapy and to prevent suicide risk and improve the quality of life in patients with epilepsy

Clinical, statistical, psychometric. A total of 149 patients, mean age 45.0 ± 11.7 years, 74 males, 75 females, were examined

It was found that depression was manifested in 46.3% of patients before the onset of epileptic seizures, and in 20.8% of patients it developed after treatment with some AEDs. The incidence of symptoms characteristic of depression in epilepsy, such as unstable mood, irritability, euphoria, episodes of pain and sleep disturbances, and its’ impact on the quality of life in patients with epilepsy were analysed. Gender differences were identified for a range of symptoms

The authors expanded their understanding of the clinical specifics of depressive manifestations in patients with epilepsy to allow timely detection and medical and rehabilitative care for these patients

No significant relationships.

Individuals with severe mental illnesses (SMI) often present the knowledge about a task but in real-time do not perform it fully, or not as efficient as planned. This performance gap may be explained by difficulties with Executive Functions (EF).

The aim of the presentation is to describe how people with and without SMI experience and perform grocery task. This, with considering this path from several directions including the subjects’ point of view using eye-tracking device during task performance.

Forty-three individuals had answered questions in regards to their shopping habits and performed the Test of Grocery Shopping Skills (TOGSS). The actual performance was accompanied by wearing an eye-tracking device which recorded the behavior and eye movement. We hypothesized that significant differences will be found between people with SMI and controls both in the routine grocery habits and in observed performance.

No significant differences in age or gender. The groups differed significantly only in education, with the SMI group having fewer years of education. As a weekly routine, SMI subjects perform less frequent shopping (40%) than control group subjects (67%). TOGSS sub-outcomes indicated performance efficiency (time and redundancy) were significantly higher in the research group than in the matched control group (p <.01), with the SMI group spending a longer time performing the task and entering more aisles than required – redundancy.

These preliminary findings indicate that individuals with SMI spend more time dwelling while selecting ingredients. Besides the path in the supermarket, it might explain their performance in other everyday activities.

No significant relationships.

Depression and anxiety disorders are among the most prevalent forms of mental illness, with antidepressants frequently used to treat them. Unfortunately, prescription of antidepressant medication is often inexact and relies on a long trial-and-error process.

Using machine Learning (ML) algorithms on readily obtainable clinical and demographic data of individuals diagnosed with depression with anxiety symptoms, we hypothesized that we will be able to derive models which will enable a more accurate treatment selection, focusing on relief from anxiety symptoms.

Patients’ data from the Sequenced Treatment Alternatives to Relieve Depression (START*D) were filtered to include only those who have considerable anxiety symptoms. We then analyzed these patients’ response patterns, focusing on their anxious symptomology. Then, feature selection algorithms were applied to select the most predictive features for anxiety relief. Finally, we trained three ML models for three antidepressants: citalopram, sertraline and venlafaxine, using a training set of participants, and validated them on naïve validation and test datasets. These ML models were then compiled to create a predictive algorithm.

Validating the algorithm on the validation and test sets, our algorithm achieved a balanced accuracy of 64.8% (p<0.001), 79.2% (p<0.001) and 78.03% (p<0.001) for citalopram, sertraline and venlafaxine, respectively.

Our findings support applying ML to accumulating data to achieve an improvement in the treatment of mood disorders. The algorithm we developed may be used as a tool to aid in the choice of antidepressant medication, specifically for depressed patients who exhibit prominent anxiety symptoms.

Dekel Taliaz is the founder and CEO of Taliaz and reports stock ownership in Taliaz. Amit Spinrad and Roni Zoller serve as data scientists in Taliaz.

Cushing’s syndrome is a hormonal disorder caused by chronic exposure to excess glucocorticoids, either exogenous or endogenous. The bronchial carcinoid tumor is an extremely rare origin, described in less than 1% of cases. The most frequent psychiatric symptoms are depression and anxiety, with manic and psychotic symptoms being less frequent. Psychotic symptoms are difficult to manage, as they are usually resistant to antipsychotic treatment, which is why it is considered an indication for medical treatment of Cushing’s syndrome.

To give visibility to this type of psychotic disorders of organic origin to deepen their study as well as raise awareness among professionals dedicated to clinical care with the intention of improving their prevention.

A description of a clinical case is made, accompanied by a bibliographic review on psychosis of endogenous corticosteroid origin.

We describe the case of a 44-year-old woman who was admitted to the charge of Internal Medicine due to Cushing’s syndrome. During her admission, she presented a debut of positive psychotic symptoms, so the liaison psychiatry team followed her up. She was diagnosed with an ACTH-secreting lung carcinoid tumor.

This entity should be taken into account in cases of atypical psychosis in patients with compatible phenotypic characteristics.

No significant relationships.

The coronavirus disease 2019 (COVID-19) pandemic has had a profound worldwide impact on health. Acute Confusional Syndrome (ACS) is the most common neuropsychiatric complication in COVID-19 infection.

Describe the characteristics of the admited patients attended by the liaison psychiatry service for acute confusional syndrome during the COVID 19 pandemic. Sociodemographical and clinical variables were descrived.

We conducted an observational, descriptive study. All patients attended by the liaison psychiatry service of Hospital del Mar, between February and April 2020, with ACS diagnosis were included.

We included 62 patients with acute confusional syndrom; 35 were men (56.5%), and mean age was 71.71 years (standard deviation [SD]:11.345). The mean duration of admision stay was 41.19 days [SD: 38.039]. The mean number of consultations carried out was 6.5 [SD: 5.422]. 52.5% of our sample of our sample had confusional symptoms for 8 days. 50 patients presented complications during admission (80.6%), of which 43 patients developed infectious complications (69.4%). 59 patients had a history of chronic diseases (95.2%). 54 patiens (88.5%) had potencial risk factors associated with acute confusional syndrome including: isolation in 24 (39.3%), active infection in 46 (74.2%), hypoxemia in 25 (40.3%), previous cognitive impairment in 15 (24.6%)

Acute Confusional Syndrome mainly affects people with risk factors such as isolation, active infection and hypoxemia (which in turn are symptoms of Covid-19).

No significant relationships.

Recent studies in the word found an increase of substance use among medical students.

To determine the prevalence of substance use and associated factors among medical residents in Tunisia.

It was a descriptive and analytical cross-sectional study among medical residents from the 4 medical faculties of Tunisia. A questionnaire was created from Google Forms and was published on the social network Facebook. We asked about the current consumption of different psychoactive substances. We used the Patient Health Questionnaire (PHQ-9) to identify depressive symptoms.

The sample included 241 residents. The female sex was predominant (83.4%, n = 201). The average age was 28.18 (± 2.13) years. Among these residents, 27.8% (n = 67) currently consume at least one psychoactive substance and 71% (n = 171) had depressive symptoms. The substances consumed by residents were: tobacco 18.7% (n = 45), alcohol 18.7% (n = 45), cannabis 6.2% (n = 15) , amphetamine 3.3% (n = 8), sleeping pills (without medical prescription) 2.9% (n = 7), hallucinogens 2.9% (n = 7), cocaine 2.1 % (n = 5) and inhaled solvents 0.4% (n = 1).

The use of at least one psychoactive substance was significantly associated with male sex (p = 0.01), the presence of financial problems (p = 0.08), lack of religiosity (p <0.001), feeling of life dissatisfaction (p = 0.01), uncertainty about life events (p = 0.05) and the presence of depression (p = 0.018).

Psychoactive substance use has become a growing problem among residents in Tunisia. The associated factors should attract attention to identify these subjects.

No significant relationships.

Unlike sex, the association between gender and high-risk drinking has been relatively understudied in post-secondary students. Gender expression may influence the use of protective coping strategies and beliefs about alcohol.

This study evaluated associations between gender expression, protective coping strategies, beliefs about alcohol, and high-risk alcohol use in post-secondary students.

We analyzed data from a cross-sectional study of 3,446 undergraduate students at two Canadian universities in October 2017. The primary outcome was high-risk drinking during the previous month, measured by the Alcohol Use Disorders Identification Test (AUDIT) score. We evaluated gender expression (masculine, feminine, androgynous, and undifferentiated), protective coping strategies, and beliefs about alcohol using validated scales. Multivariable logistic regression models were used to test the association between gender expression and AUDIT scores.

The most prevalent gender expression was androgynous (35.1% overall), while the undifferentiated role was the least prevalent (17.4% overall). Those who adhered to an androgynous gender role (OR = 1.45, 95% CI: 1.10, 1.90) were significantly more likely to engage in problem drinking. In addition, greater scores on the protective behavioural strategies scale were associated with reduced odds of problem drinking (OR = 0.96; 95% CI: 0.95, 0.97) while higher alcohol saliency scores were associated with higher odds of problem drinking (OR = 1.12; 95% CI: 1.10, 1.13).

Higher protective behavioural strategies and lower alcohol salience beliefs were associated with lower alcohol use. Androgynous gender roles were associated with high-risk alcohol use.

No significant relationships.

1.Introduction MDD is a heterogeneous disorder, with a wide variety of symptoms and inconsistent treatment response, and is not completely understood. A dysregulated stress system is a consistent finding, however, and exhaustion is a consistent trait in adolescent patients. In order to open up our thinking about MDD we take up the challenge to reframe depression, specifically focusing on the possible role of the Microbiota-Gut-Brain-Axis in the etiology of MDD.

We propose a ‘bidirectional feedback hypothesis’: microbiota can promote or inhibit a pro-inflammatory state, (in)directly altering the hypothalamic pituitary adrenal (HPA) axis response and the microbiome and further increasing or decreasing its pro-inflammatory state. The aim is to show that the pro-inflammatory state is an integral part of a HPA axis stress spiralling mechanism that plays a role in the etiology of MDD.

A systematic review based on publications from PubMed, Embase and PsycInfo

The etiology of MDD can be understood as sliding down a spiral. This stress spiralling mechanism can be promoted or inhibited by: 1.factors such as a poor lifestyle or (pre-existing) illness 2.bettering someone’s lifestyle, coping behavior or providing pro-/prebiotics in combination with personalised therapeutics.

We argue that an interdisciplinary One Health approach is the most promising preventive and therapeutic option for MDD.

No significant relationships.

Mental health and psychosocial support (MHPSS) staff in humanitarian settings have limited access to clinical supervision and are at high risk of experiencing burnout. We previously piloted an online, peer-supervision program for MHPSS professionals working with displaced Rohingya (Bangladesh) and Syrian (Turkey and Northwest Syria) communities. Pilot evaluations demonstrated that online, peer-supervision is feasible, low-cost, and acceptable to MHPSS practitioners in humanitarian settings.

This project will determine the impact of online supervision on i) the wellbeing and burnout levels of local MHPSS practitioners, and ii) practitioner technical skills to improve beneficiary perceived service satisfaction, acceptability, and appropriateness.

MHPSS practitioners in two contexts (Bangladesh and Turkey/Northwest Syria) will participate in 90-minute group-based online supervision, fortnightly for six months. Sessions will be run on zoom and will be co-facilitated by MHPSS practitioners and in-country research assistants. A quasi-experimental multiple-baseline design will enable a quantitative comparison of practitioner and beneficiary outcomes between control periods (12-months) and the intervention. Outcomes to be assessed include the Kessler-6, Harvard Trauma Questionnaire and Copenhagen Burnout Inventory and Client Satisfaction Questionnaire-8.

A total of 80 MHPSS practitioners will complete 24 monthly online assessments from May 2022. Concurrently, 1920 people receiving MHPSS services will be randomly selected for post-session interviews (24 per practitioner).

This study will determine the impact of an online, peer-supervision program for MHPSS practitioners in humanitarian settings. Results from the baseline assessments, pilot evaluation, and theory of change model will be presented.

No significant relationships.

Autism spectrum disorder (ASD) is a neurodevelopmental disorder characterized with ritualized behavior, difficulties in communication/ social interaction, restricted interests, and sensitivity to external stimuli. The ASD has gained attention in recent years, however it’s still difficult in geropsychiatric setting to identify high-functioning ASD, especially when patients’ coping mechanisms are successful. Not to determine high-functioning ASD structure in older age can lead to wrong diagnosis and inappropriate treatment trials.

The aim of this presentation is to emphasize the importance of the evaluation of ASD-structure in old-age-psychiatry through the case study of a 65-years-old man.

One case report from the inpatient unit of a psychiatric clinic in Lower Saxony, Germany will be presented.

Case: The patient was referred to our acute-psychiatric-ward due to delusional thoughts, depressive symptoms and lorazepam dependency. Delusional disorder was diagnosed in the outpatient-setting since he had interpreted some external stimuli in an eccentric way. During the therapeutic process, some features of high-functioning ASD such as social difficulties, dislike of change and repetitive/restrictive habits were prominent. Developmental history of the patient and the Autism-Spectrum-Quotient-50 also supported the clinical diagnosis of the ASD. Delusional disorder was excluded, and the therapy organized according to the structure characteristics of the high-functioning ASD which yielded to significant amelioration of depressive symptoms and increased perceived life quality of the patient.

Although coping mechanisms of the patients can be successful, identifying high-functioning ASD-structure even in an old-age can be quite helpful in diagnostic/therapeutic processes. An elaborate discussion of the subject through contemporary literature will be presented.

No significant relationships.

The emotional, behavioral and psychosocial effects of chaotic environments following wars and armed conflicts in terms of exposure to trauma and displacement is well recognized. School-age children who are directly exposed to or witnessed negative effects of armed conflicts show an array of emotional and behavioral problems.

Our study aimed to examine the mental health conditions of children living in war and conflict zones and attending primary schools in Agdam.

The study sample comprised of 617 children (mean age 8.9, SD 1.24; 50.7% female), residing in the conflict areas in the southwestern of Azerbaijan. The children were evaluated with the previously validated Azerbaijani version of the Strengths and Difficulties Questionnaire (SDQ) Teacher Form.

About a third of children (32.7%) had abnormal total scores, and a fifth (21.4%) were in borderline range. The SDQ subscale scores included emotional problems (19.4%); conduct problems (20.3%), hyperactivity/inattention (12.2%), peer relationship problems (31.1%), and pro-social behavior difficulties (13.1%). As a result, externalizing problem scores were higher in males (p<.001) and internalizing problems in females (p<.05). Due to correlation analysis, age is negatively and significantly related with externalising (p<.05), internalising (p<.01), and total difficulty (p<.05) scores.

The findings of the study show that more than half of the children living in the war zone in Azerbaijan suffer from mental health problems and highlight the need for child mental health services and family supports in the region.

No significant relationships.

Cognitive reappraisal (CR) is a cognitive regulation strategy aimed at changing how people think about certain stimuli in order to change their emotional impact. CR strategies have been used in research to try to change eating behaviors and other food-related responses. This study is the first to use a behavioral measurement to examine the effect of CR on food attentional bias (FAB) in people with elevated FAB.

It was hypothesized that CR would reduce FAB. Ninety-five participants were randomly assigned to one of three groups: CR, upregulation (UP) or controls (CN).

All participants performed a computerized Visual Dot Probe (VDP) task using food stimuli to measure their FAB before and after the manipulation. The CR group recited five sentences aimed at curtailing the reward of high caloric food. Participants in the UP group recited five sentences aimed at strengthening the reward of high caloric food. The CN group recited five mundane sentences about their day. Participants also self-reported on eating disordered symptomology and BMI.

People with elevated FAB had more disordered eating than people low on FAB. A significant interaction was observed between group and time (pre/post-test), with the lowest FAB levels in the CR group following the manipulation.

CR, a self-administered strategy can be effective in reducing FAB. CR may be an effective strategy for developing resistance to tempting food stimuli and curbing high caloric food intake. Being highly attentive to food cues may contribute to obesity. The attentional bias paradigm can be used to detect early signs of FAB.

No significant relationships.

Mortality from intentional self-harm is an urgent medical and social problem in most countries of the world. According to the World Health Organization, suicide mortality is the second leading cause of death among young people aged 15-29 years globally. In the Republic of Belarus, this is one of the main causes of death from external causes.

To identify statistically significant social factors and individual characteristics of people who had attempted suicide.

Three patient groups were formed: persons who had suicidal attempt with high probability of death (mainly hanging) (GSAD), persons who had suicidal attempt in other ways (GSAO), and persons who had diagnosed adjustment disorder and did not have suicidal attempts (comparison group CG). The groups consisted of 40, 80 and 40 people, respectively. Socio-demographic data were determined, the level of stress was assessed according to the Holmes and Rahe Stress Scale, depressive symptoms on the Montgomery-Åsberg Depression Rating Scale, individual features were determined using the Eysenck personality questionnaire and the Leonhard-Shmishek personality characteristics questionnaire. The obtained data were analyzed using the Spearman linear correlation coefficient.

Statistical analysis revealed one significant factor interconnected with a high level of motivation for committing suicide - the method of suicide (rₛ=-0.68) and 2 factors were at the significance boundary: the presence of a diagnosis of mental disorder (rₛ=0.28), and the education factor (rₛ=-0.28).

The method of suicide, the presence of a mental disorder and the level of education are the most significant factors interrelated with a pronounced motivation for committing suicide.

No significant relationships.

Nursing is highly demanding and stressful profession. Therefore, maintaining and improving psychological wellbeing among nurses seems essential to have a better life satisfaction and a better productivity.

The aim of this study was to assess the relationship between mental health and life satisfaction among nurses.

The study was conducted in a group of active nurses from Hedi Chaker hospital in Sfax- Tunisia. Standardized questionnaires were used, including the general health questionnaire (GHQ-28) and the satisfaction with life scale (SWLS).

A total of 100 (males = 40; females = 60) nurses participated in this study. The mean age was 50.20 ±7.20 years. The average of job tenure was 25.25 ± 9.70 years. The majority of participants (66.7%) reported having chronic diseases. Rotating shifts work was noted in 72.50% of cases. Average scores for the GHQ-28 and the SWLS were respectively 30.66 ± 11.07 and 21.61± 6.23. The presence of chronic conditions was associated with psychological distress (higher GHQ-28 scores) (p = 0.01). Life satisfaction score was positively correlated with age (r= 0.29, p= 0.023), whereas it was negatively correlated with GHQ-28 scores (r= -0.36, p= 0.01). Low life satisfaction (SWLS scores between 5 and 14) was significantly associated with three domains of the GHQ-28: somatic symptoms (p = 0.008), anxiety (p = 0.001) and social dysfunction (p = 0.01).

According to our study, low life satisfaction was associated with psychological disorder. Hence, nurses need support and subsequent interventions in order to improve psychological wellbeing and life-satisfaction.

No significant relationships.

The age at onset of depression is not only an important clinical predictor of the further disease course, but also a robust marker, reflecting the genetic impact on depression risk.

This study aimed to find whether early-onset depression had an association with specific clinical symptoms, comorbid psychiatric disorders and family history of mood disorders.

This pilot cross-sectional, multicenter study was performed under the supervision of the Russian National Consortium for Psychiatric Genetics. Early-onset depression was defined as the first depressive episode before the median age of onset in the sample (Me=29 years). Logistic regression models were used to determine the independent association of early-onset depression, after adjusting for the effects of sex and age, with binary characteristics.

A total of 172 patients with depression were enrolled in the study (64.5% women; age - 40.9 (15.9) years). Early-onset depression was associated with psychomotor retardation (p=0,025; OR=2,3; 95%CI [1,1 - 4,9]), decreased libido (p=0,014; OR=2,8; 95%CI [1,2 - 6,2]), and lower prevalence of weight loss/decreased appetite (p=0,011; OR=0,4; 95%CI [0,2 - 0,8]). No associations were found with the history of comorbid psychiatric disorders and the family history of mood disorders.

Early-onset depression is associated with specific neurovegetative symptoms. Further clinical and genetic studies are needed to evaluate the specific effects of age at onset of depression on its clinical course.

Research is supported by an RSF grant №20-15-00132.

Executive function organizes and directs behaviour but alterations in this cognitive domain can lead to inaccurate perception, interpretation and response to environmental information, which could be a risk factor for suicide.

To explore executive function performance of depressed recent suicide attempters in comparison to depressed past suicide attempters, depressed non-attempters and healthy controls.

96 participants from the Psychiatry Department of the Araba University Hospital-Santiago were recruited as follows: 20 patients with a recent suicide attempt (<30days) diagnosed with a Major Depressive Disorder (MDD), 33 MDD patients with history of attempted suicide, 23 non-attempter MDD patients and 20 healthy controls. All participants underwent a clinical interview and neuropsychological assessment on executive function with the Wisconsin Sorting Card Test. Backward multiple regressions were performed adjusting for significant confounding variables. For group comparisons ANOVA test and Bonferroni post hoc test were performed with p<0.05 significance level.

Patient groups did not differ regarding severity of depression. All patient groups performed significantly worse than healthy controls on executive function. Adjusted comparisons between patient groups indicated that recent suicide attempters had a poorer performance in this cognitive domain in comparison to both depressed lifetime attempters and depressed non-attempters (B=0.296, p=0.019 and B=0.301, p=0.028 respectively).

Executive function performance is altered in recent suicide attempts. As impaired executive function can be a risk factor for suicide, preventive interventions on suicide should focus on its assessment and rehabilitation.

No significant relationships.