COVID19 pandemic had an important emotional and psychological impact due to the higher rates of boredom, fear, stress, anxiety, depression, etc. (Brooks et al., 2020). Cases of suicide during the COVID-19 pandemic are increasingly reported. According to an Indian study, the main cause of suicide was fear or anticipation of COVID-19 infection.

To illustrate a case of suicide attempt after COVID-19 infection.

We report the case of a Tunisian man who did a suicide attempt after his infection with the coronavirus.

A 35-year-old Tunisian man, married, an official, with no medical or psychiatric history who was admitted in the Oto-rhino-laryngology department, after a suicide attempt by strangulation, five days after the diagnosis of COVID-19 infection. In fact, the patient was very stressed about his infection and feared transmitting the virus to his family. During his quarantine, he became anxious, had insomnia and suicidal thoughts. He was isolated in his room, and prohibit his family to approach his room. He told us that he could not support this anxiety and he decided to suicide to end this situation and save his family.

The COVID-19 pandemic may increase suicide rates. Psychological consequences of this pandemic including suicide may continue to incur later than this actual worldwide crisis. Mental health promotion is the key to prevent and mitigate such mental health consequences.

No significant relationships.

Bullying is a serious problem in schools because of the negative impact on a child’s educational outcomes, especially academic achievement. However, the underlying mechanisms and causes are unknown.

To evaluate the educational outcomes, and psychiatric comorbidities in children and adolescents who are victims of bullying

We used 2018–2019 Nationwide Survey of Children’s Health (NSCH) dataset for the study. The participants were children and adolescents (age: 6-17 years, n = 42,790). Data was stratified into two groups: 1) never bullied 2) bullied more than once. Prevalence of different educational outcomes were compared between the groups.

In the never bullied group 21,015 participants were included, and in the bullied more than once group 21,775 participants were included. More females were in the bullied group compared to never bullied group (50.4% vs 47.5%, p=0.006). More White non- Hispanic individuals were in bullied group in contrast to never bullied group (56.7% vs 43.9%, p< 0.001). Individuals whose health status was fair, or poor were bullied more (2.4% vs 1.4%, p=<0.001). Individuals in bullied group were more likely to be repeating the grades compared to the never bullied group (7.1% vs 5.9%, p:0.039). Individuals who were missing >=11 school days, and sometimes or never engaged in school were observed more in bullied group compared to never bullied group (5.9% vs 3.2% and 20.3% vs 10.6% p < 0.001).

Our findings suggest that bullying victimization could be a risk factor and associated with decreased academic outcomes.

No significant relationships.

Most people experience grief-related symptoms after losing a loved one. Approximately 9.8% of bereaved individuals’ symptoms persist over the first year post-loss, emphasizing the importance of research in prolonged grief. The role of self-conscious emotions in prolonged grief, such as self-compassion, state shame, guilt and pride has been proposed in previous studies.

Our aim was to examine the mediating role of state shame, guilt and pride in the relationship between self-compassion and prolonged grief.

This cross-sectional study collected data via online questionnaires based on self-reports (N=177, mean age: 42.26 years [SD=12.32], 97.2% women). Demographic and loss-related variables were measured, and further instruments assessed levels of self-compassion, state shame, guilt, and pride, and prolonged grief. Correlation and mediation analyses were used.

Two significant indirect effects were shown in the mediation model. First, lower levels of self-compassion predicted higher levels of state shame, which in turn predicted elevated levels of prolonged grief. Second, higher levels of self-compassion predicted higher levels of pride, which subsequently contributed to lower levels of prolonged grief. Guilt did not have a significant mediating role.

The results highlight the possible role of elevated levels of state shame and lower levels of self-compassion and state pride in the development of prolonged grief. It is important for researchers and clinicians to be attentive to the role of self-compassion, state shame and pride in grieving.

No significant relationships.

Bipolar disorder (BD) is a chronic deteriorating illness which has a strong impact on functionality. In the past few years, orexins have gained importance as possible biomarkers of circadian rhythms, affected in BD. Up to this date, we have not found any bibliographical review evaluating the association of orexins and BD.

To review published literature in relation to the associaton of orexins and BD.

A bibliographical search was conducted in PubMed. Inclusion criteria were a) the study evaluated orexins in plasma or cerebrospinal fluid, and b) patients with BD were included within the subjects of study.

Reference lists of the articles that met inclusion criteria were also examined.

Ten articles were retrieved from the initial search. Only three met inclusion criteria and another one was selected from the reference list examination. One study observed significantly higher levels of orexin A in plasma of BD patients versus depression and controls. Other found higher concentration of orexin A of unipolar and bipolar depression versus controls, but this result was not statistically significant. Another one did not find differences in orexin A concentration between mania, depression and controls. The remaining study detected significantly lower concentration of orexin A in BD versus depression, schizophrenia and controls.

Despite being heterogenous, the results point out there are differences in orexin levels in BD when compared to other diagnostic groups or controls. This sets a starting point to focus research on this subject and continue analyzing the role of orexins as biomarkers in BD.

No significant relationships.

The COVID-19 pandemic led to the implementation of digital psychiatry (DP) in everyday clinical practice, resulting in the need for a skilled healthcare workforce.

Our purpose was to investigate the level of training, knowledge and expertise of young mental health professionals and medical students in DP, as well as exploring their beliefs and experiences in this field.

An ad hoc cross-sectional survey was designed and administered to Italian medical students, psychiatry trainees, and early career psychiatrists.

Most of the sample declared that the topic of DP was never discussed within their academic training (89.1%), mainly revealing an overall lack of knowledge on DP. Nevertheless, they mostly declared that DP represents a valuable therapeutic tool in mental health (80%) and that the academic background should include a dedicated course/module (54.4%). Moreover, most subjects declared that DP is less effective than in-person interventions (73.2%), despite the emerging evidence that being trained in DP is significantly associated with the belief that digital and in-person interventions are comparable in their effectiveness (p≤0.05).

During the current pandemic, DP represented an ideal response to the need for physical distancing by ensuring the advantage of greater access to care. However, DP interventions are still uncommon, and there remains a certain resistance to their use in mental health care. The lack of formal training during the academic training could be a limiting factor. Therefore, addressing these issues in academic settings could be crucial to spreading this innovative practice also in the post-COVID-19 era.

No significant relationships.

Long Acting Buprenorphine (LAB) – Buvidal (CAM2038) – is a prolonged release treatment for opioid dependence in adults. Its extensive use was funded by Welsh Government during the pandemic in Wales and it has been found to be a significantly better than oral medications in improving quality of life, possibly through providing allostatic craving and anxiety reduction

This is a case series of 10 patients who were referred to Community Addiction Services in North and South West Wales with OAD.

Patients were mainly using Codeine or Tramadol and were referred due to either ongoing illicit use or via primary care services requesting support. As part of the pandemic initiative, they were initiated on Buvidal and followed up.

All ten patients successfully started on Buvidal without significant issues. As a group, if transferred straight to Buvidal, they tended to have fewer significant withdrawal symptoms prior to starting on the Buvidal compared to those on Methadone or Heroin. They were treated on the usual range of Buvidal doses (1 on 64mg, the others on 96-128mg monthly). They have all stabilised and successfully moved on with their lives on Buvidal. One has used the time on Buvidal to have psychological input around past traumas and successfully detoxified in the community using Buvidal.

Recommendations for services considering OAD - it is a surprisingly effective treatment which is easy to start. It has the scope for being both an effective OAD recovery medication and a potentially simple detoxification strategy for this patient group.

Professor Melichar has provided consultancy work, presentations, training and chaired panel discussions for all the companies in this area in the UK and some outside the UK. Recent work includes Althea (UK), Britannia (UK), Camurus (UK and Global), Martin

Family members caregivers (FMCs) of patients with severe psychiatric disorders (SMPD) are subjected to a complex system of fatigue and stress. FMCs can be subjected to a care burden defined as “Family Burnout”. Caring of family members of patients affected by psychiatric disorder suffered an additional burden during the pandemic period.

To investigate the stress, burnout and compassion fatigue in FMCs during the pandemic vs non-pandemic period.

In our observational study we recruited family members (FMCs) of SMPDs (DSM-5). The severity was assessed with BPRS > 31; from March 2021 to July 2021 (T1), in 66 FMCs (38 females, 28 men) that completed following questionnaires: CBI (Caregiver Burden Inventory), ProQOL (compassion satisfaction and compassion fatigue (burnout and secondary trauma) subscales]. These data (T1) were compared with the scores obtained in the same family members in 2019 (T0) in a pre-pandemic period.

ProQOL data /T1) have a higher total score than those observed in a previous study (T0). They show a lower main score in Compassion Satisfaction (CS) subscale [T1 vs T0; 34.27 vs 38.89 (p < .00.5). CS subscale T0 vs T1= 34.84% vs 12.12%). High levels of burnout were found in 28.79% (T1) vs 13.64% (T0) of FMCs group. Similar results showed in the Secondary Trauma subscale and CBI with higher scores in T1 vs T0.

The comparative mean results (2019 vs 2021) showed that in the same group of FMCs, the mean values obtained with same scales were higher during the lockdown. During health crisis, FMCs of psychiatric patients are subjected to high levels of stress.

No significant relationships.

Poor academic performance has been linked to factors such as sleep, health, illicit drug use, physical fighting, social media use, cyber bullying, physical activity, homelessness, times spent in video games and television. It is difficult to get a sense of the interplay between and relative importance of different behaviours/factors on academic performance as only limited research has been aimed at quantifying these factors.

To evaluate association of school performance and variables in five categories of the YRBSS: physical fighting, diet/lifestyle, electronic device usage, concurrent substance use, and violence/self-harm.

The CDC Youth Risk Behavior Surveillance System (YRBSS) data from 1991-2019 was used in study. Respondents were grouped by good and poor school performance and variables related to nutrition/lifestyle, electronic device use, concurrent substance use, mood/violence/self-harm were analyzed using chi-square test.

A total of 41,235 student respondents.Nutrition/Lifestyle, electronic device use, concurrent substance use, mood/violence/self-harm are found to be significantly correlated with school performance.

In national data, we found school performance is affected by nutrition, lifestyle, substance use, mood and exposure to surrounding violence, and self-harm. Further studies should be planned to evaluate benefits from the risk stratification to reduce this burden amongst US adolescents.

No significant relationships.

A major pathophysiological hypothesis of schizophrenia states an increased activity of glutamatergic neurons leading to an imbalance of neural excitation and inhibition (E/I-imbalance). One potential molecular mechanism of E/I-imbalance is a dysfunction of voltage-gated sodium channels, which are crucial for the generation of action potentials, the fundamental event of neuronal excitation. Indeed, patients with schizophrenia exhibit an increased burden of rare exonic variants of sodium channel genes, but the literature describing their electrophysiological effect is scarce.

The aim of this project is to assess the functional impact of three mutations of the Sodium Voltage-Gated Channel Alpha Subunit 2 (SCN2A) gene / NaV1.2 channel which were identified in four patients with schizophrenia, using a heterologous expression system.

Three variants of the human SCN2A gene (R850P, V1282F and S1656P) were created using site-directed mutagenesis. HEK293T cells transfected with either the mutant or wild type constructs are being investigated by voltage-clamp technique, applying activation, steady-state fast inactivation, use dependency and ramp protocols.

All three mutated constructs were successfully created. Preliminary recordings from the V1282F mutant indicate a shift of both the activation and steady-state fast inactivation to the hyperpolarized direction.

In a subgroup of patients, E/I imbalance may be a consequence of Nav1.2 mutations leading to increased excitability of glutamatergic neurons. By integrating insights from different mutations we aim to identify traits of a potentially shared disease pathway which may provide a basis for the development of novel therapeutics.

No significant relationships.

Exposure to violence affects employees and has implications for the quality of care provided.

This study aims to describe the effects of workplace violence on nurses in psychiatric and emergency departments.

This was a cross-sectional and descriptive study involving 60 nurses practising in the psychiatry and emergency services at the Hedi Chaker and Habib Borguiba University Hospital in Sfax. We collected the socio-demographic and professional data of the participants using a pre-established questionnaire.

The average age was 35 years and 51 % of respondents were female. Ninety-three percent of the respondents were victims of an act of violence. The violence was verbal in 90%, physical in 70%, psychological in 62% and sexual in 11% of cases. The classification of acts of violence according to the scale of seriousness of the national observatory of violence in health care revealed a predominance of level 1 violence characterised by insults (66%) and level 2 violence with threats to physical integrity (65%). Level 3 violence (physical violence) was the most frequent (70%). Two cases of level 4 violence with knives were reported. These acts of violence generated wounds in 21%, fractures in 10%, haematomas in 10% and bruises in 8% of cases. Thirty-six nurses (60%) reported that the act of violence was responsible for a feeling of insecurity.

The results of this study indicate the need for hospital center managers to set up organizational policies against workplace violence and to apply them in a rigorous and transparent manner.

No significant relationships.

Little is known about the need for mechanical restraint during non-voluntary transfers from patient’s homes to the psychiatric emergency department in patients diagnosed with Paranoid Schizophrenia. Although there is no evidence of its efficacy, one of the main tools used for the reduction of mechanical restraints is verbal de-escalation training.

The aim is to describe which symptoms predispose to mechanical restrain in patients with Paranoid Schizophrenia transferred in a non-voluntary manner from home to the psychiatric emergency department, and the effect on reducing mechanical restraints after receiving verbal de-escalation training.

All patients with Paranoid Schizophrenia who, after being visited by a home psychiatry team, have required non-voluntary transfer from their homes to the psychiatric emergency department were selected (N = 442).

Young age, being male, having a poor adherence to treatment, higher scores for de following variables; Excitement, Grandiosity, Suspiciousness, Hostility, Abstract thinking, Motor tension, Uncooperativeness, Poor attention, Lack of insight and Poor impulse control as well as lower scores in motor retardation on the PANSS, are related to a higher frequency of mechanical restrain (P<0,005). Before the verbal de-escalation training, 43.9% of the transferred patients required mechanical restraint, after the training, the need for restraints was reduced to 25.5% (P<0.001).

Training in verbal de-escalation has allowed an important reduction in mechanical restraints in patients with schizophrenia who have required non-voluntary transfers from home to the psychiatric emergency department.

No significant relationships.

No significant relationships.

No significant relationships.

No significant relationships.

Research into sociocultural mediation of human health engages the role of gender differences in the subjective evaluation of factors that determine health status.

The focus of the research was the respondents’ opinion about the importance of various factors for human health and subjective well-being.

210 men and 403 women aged 14 to 76 years (M = 26.9; SD = 13.7) from six regions of the Russian Federation participated in the study. Participants were asked to rank six factors: genetics, healthy lifestyle, good ecology, regular medical examination, absence of stress (ability to cope with them), financial well-being in terms of their impact on human health (1 is the most important, 6 is the least important).

Both men and women consider “healthy lifestyle” to be the most important factor for human health, while financial well-being - most unimportant. Using the t-test for two independent samples, it was found that: women consider “absence of stress (the ability to cope with it)” significantly more important for health than men (t = -2.569; p = 0.010), while men consider “financial well-being” to be significantly more important than women (t = 2.807; p = 0.005).

It was revealed that men and women equally indicate the most and least important factors determining health. At the same time, subjective assessments of the importance of such factors as absence of stress and financial well-being for health have significant differences. The reported study was funded by the RFBR, project number 17-29-02506.

No significant relationships.

Play activity has been studied from a scientific point of view relatively recently. Until the middle of the twentieth century, any games were considered only as a way of leisure and/or a tool for transmitting cultural experiences.

The research is aimed at studying play activity as a factor of mental development of a child.

The method of work is a bibliographic analysis.

In psychology, the interest in the role of games in the psychological development of a child is primarily associated with the works of Z. Freud, J. Piaget, L.S. Vygotsky, D.B. Elkonin, who showed the importance of children’s imitation games: role-playing, directing, event-based (classification of E.O. Smirnova).

Since the 90s of the XX century, this hobby is becoming ever more common. At first, modern board games were created by adults for adults, and then there appeared board games specially designed for adults to play with children (family games) and for playing children’s groups.

Most of the board games popular with parents belong to the German school. Such games are characterized by relatively simple rules, a short or medium duration of the game, no direct confrontation between players and a low randomness in the course of the game (for example, Carcassonne, Catan, Ticket to Ride, etc.).

German-style board games develop children’s communication skills, voluntary activity, abstract and formal-logical thinking, symbolic function, attention, the ability to cooperate (in cooperative games), imagination, and many games develop the child’s outlook and enrich the ideas about the world around and options for social interaction.

No significant relationships.

Contemporary in Ukraine the special priority has been the somatoform disorders increase. The most significant complications belong to the patient’s self-evaluation of the influence of the disease on their social functioning, influence essential part of the self-evaluation of the disease and the important point of therapeutic personality accomodate intervention.

Develop the stages of personalized models of psychotherapy

On the basis of the examined 270 somatoform disorders patients and 190 ischemic cardial disease patients we have elaborated a formal test that allows to evaluate quantitatively the influents of the disease on various spheres of patients´ social status.

It was absolutely unrespectable the common for ischemic cardial and somatoform disorders patients rise of significance of personal individual, common life factors in cases of aggravation of the main disease course. We created the personification accomodate psychotherapy system consist with CBT, suggestive and autosuggestive implementations. Elucidation of peculiarity of personal perception of the disease served as basis of elaboration of psychotherapy system, consulting, psychological support for patients with high-effectiveness 1,5 - 3 years catamnes in 85% patients.

The retrospective results showed the necessity the personification oriented models of psychotherapy, parted on stages. On the first stage - sedative-adapting the receptions of CBT and suggestive psychotherapy are used. There is group therapy on second stage. On the third stage-supportive elements of the autogenic training mastered.

No significant relationships.

The COVID epidemic has forced psychiatrists to introduce changes in outpatient clinics. A significant proportion of visits began without the patient’s face-to-face contact with the doctor. Are these visits stigmatized with a worse assessment of mental state? We know that much of the information flow takes place outside of verbal contact. In telephone contact, psychiatrists are limited to listening to the patient’s response and we know that non-verbal speech does not always go hand in hand with words.

The aim of the study is to compare face-to-face visits with a psychiatrist with outpatient visits by telephone in terms of changes in the treatment applied by psychiatrists.

The frequency of introducing changes in the current pharmacological treatment of patients was compared. Face-to-face visits to the outpatient clinic and visits where psychiatrists contacted patients via telephone were analyzed. Treatment change was defined as a reduction or increase in drug dose, drug discontinuation or the initiation of a new drug by a psychiatrist.

We assumed that visits without non-verbal contact do not provide as much information as direct visits. Consequently, patients who are often negative about the need to take medications over the phone will present themselves better to psychiatrists, thus the change in treatment will be used less frequently in this group. The results will be presented at the conference.

Currently, various forms of psychiatric care are evolving to adapt to new needs. We should also be aware of the consequences of these changes.

No significant relationships.

The use of technological supports in psychotherapeutic interventions has been widespread in recent years. Since the COVID-19 pandemic, the increase has been greater. The feasibility of online group interventions has been proved in previous studies. Research comparing dropout rates in group interventions with clinical population that include mindfulness training is infrequent.

To compare the difference in dropout rates between online and face-to-face mindfulness-based group interventions.

This study was carried out in a Mental Health Unit in Colmenar Viejo (Madrid, Spain). One hundred thirty-five adult patients with anxiety disorders were included in group interventions (74 face-to-face; 61 online). The group treatments were Acceptance and Commitment Therapy and a Mindfulness-based Emotional Regulation intervention, during 8 weeks, guided by two Clinical Psychology residents. A descriptive analysis of dropout rates (participants attending 3 or fewer sessions out of the total number of participants starting the intervention) was performed.

Of the 135 patients included, 8 did not participate in the interventions (5 face-to-face; 3 online), which represents a 5.93% rejection rate; 6.76% for the face-to-face intervention and 4.92% for the online intervention. Of the remaining sample (127 participants), a total dropout rate of 12.6% was obtained, with 8.69% in the face-to-face intervention versus 17.24% online.

A higher dropout rate was obtained in online interventions compared to face-to-face, with an increase of almost double. Research on specific factors that may interfere with treatment adherence to online group interventions is needed.

No significant relationships.

Childhood maltreatment (CM) is one of the best described environmental risk factors for developing any psychiatric disorder, while it also confers increased odds for obesity, cardiometabolic disorders and all-cause mortality. Inflammation has been suggested to mediate the widespread clinical effects of CM. Previously, Ligthart et al. (2016) identified a polyepigenetic signature of circulating CRP levels, a measure of chronic low-grade inflammation, that has been reliably associated with a wide array of complex disorders. The study of this biomarker could dilucidate the mechanistic relationship between CM and psychiatric outcomes.

Thus, CRP-associated epigenetic modifications were explored regarding proximal exposure to CM.

Genomic DNA was extracted from peripheral blood mononuclear cells of 157 children and adolescents (7 to 17 years old). Exposure to CM was assessed following the TASSCV criteria. Genome-wide DNA methylation was assessed by means of the EPIC array. Fifty-two out of the 58 original CRP-associated CpG sites surpassed quality control and were included in the analysis. Age, sex, psychopathological status and cell type proportions were included as covariates.

DNA methylation at 12 out of 52 CpG sites (23%) was significantly associated with exposure to CM (p < .05); 8 of these associations survived correction for multiple testing (q < .05).

This is the first study to date to explore the relationship between childhood maltreatment and an epigenetic signature of chronic low-grade inflammation. Our findings underscore the presence of immune dysregulation early after exposure to CM; further studies are needed to assess the long-term clinical implications of this signature in psychiatric patients.

No significant relationships.