Adults with attention deficit hyperactivity disorder (ADHD) frequently suffer from sleep problems and report high levels of daytime sleepiness compared to neurotypical controls, which has detrimental effect on quality of life.

We evaluated daytime sleepiness in adults with ADHD compared to neurotypical controls using an observer-rated sleepiness protocol during the Sustained Attention Response Task as well as electroencephalogram (EEG) slowing, a quantitative electroencephalographic measure collected during a short period of wakeful rest.

We found that adults with ADHD were significantly sleepier than neurotypical controls during the cognitive task and that this on-task sleepiness contributed to cognitive performance deficits usually attributed to symptoms of ADHD. EEG slowing predicted severity of ADHD symptoms and diagnostic status, and was also related to daytime sleepiness. Frontal EEG slowing as well as increased frontal delta were especially prominent in adults with ADHD. We have validated and adapted an objective observer-rated measure for assessing on-task sleepiness that will contribute to future sleep research in psychology and psychiatry.

These findings indicate that the cognitive performance deficits routinely attributed to ADHD and often conceptualized as cognitive endophenotypes of ADHD are largely due to on-task sleepiness and not exclusively due to ADHD symptom severity. Daytime sleepiness plays a major role in cognitive functioning of adults with ADHD.

Previous studies about young people in conflict with the law (YPCL) have a tendency to focus on the risk factors that contribute to trigger antisocial criminal behavior. Instead, this study aims to research the social determinants that encourage the criminal desistance: understood as a gradual process taking place in the periods of absence of crime and desire to abandon the criminal activity.

From a sample that is made up of 100 YPCL, the main objective is to deduce the social determinants, which encourage the criminal desistance in YPCL, it means young people who commit crimes.

To infer the social determinants (circumstances in which people are born, grow, live, including the health system) which foster the desistance in YPCL.

The results of a sample of 100 YPCL were assessed with three profiles as follows: I: DSM-IV personality disorders (PD T-Scores). II: swap personality syndromes (Q-Factor T-Scores). III. factor T-scores.

This research shows the prevalence of the following social determinants associated with the desistance: (1) integrated families. (2) Educational and cultural opportunities (3) academic progress. (4) Healthy relationships that support and help. (5) Stable living arrangements (6) social conditions preserved the use of psychoactive substances and alcohol abuse.

It is possible to identify the prevalence of social determinants which encourage the desistance in YPCL. Those allows them to transform their risk path in another that shows a positive development, associated with individual transformations that take them away from the criminal life and reintegrate into the community.

To investigate the connection between overweight and first-episode schizophrenia spectrum as well as non-schizophrenia spectrum psychiatric disorders in adolescent male and female drug-naïve psychiatric inpatients, whose illness was early onset.

Three hundred twenty-three adolescents with no past or present psychiatric medication, 12–17 years of age, admitted to the psychiatric inpatient care (Oulu University Hospital, Northern Finland) between April 2001 and March 2006. DSM-IV diagnoses were based on the “Schedule for Affective Disorder and Schizophrenia for School-Age Children Present and Lifetime” (K-SADS-PL). An adolescent was defined as overweight if his or her BMI was greater than or equal to the 85th percentile.

Overweight values were highest in drug-naïve adolescent boys with first-episode schizophrenia spectrum (RR: 2.5, 95%CI: 1.08–4.29) and non-schizophrenia spectrum (RR: 2.80, 95%CI: 2.20–3.45) disorders. The RR in girls with non-schizophrenia spectrum disorders was 1.73 (95%CI: 1.31–2.23), but in those with first-episode schizophrenia spectrum disorders RR did not differ from general population.

In our study sample of first-episode schizophrenia spectrum drug-naïve adolescents, overweight was shown to be prevalent in all diagnostic groups other than first-episode schizophrenia spectrum psychotic girls. To the best of our knowledge, this is the first study in which overweight was analyzed and verified among drug-naïve adolescent boys, suffering from first-episode schizophrenia spectrum disorder. To what extent our results are applicable to other regions and study groups, remains to be seen.

We intended to study the trends of Internet dependence (ID) and to detect possible associations among Greek college students.

646 college students (300 males and 346 females), mean age 20.5 years, from the Technological Educational Institute of Athens, were randomly selected. The students completed special questionnaires which contained questions on their demographics, Young's Addiction Scale (1996), and Lin and Tsai's (2002) Sensation Seeking scale.

1. a. The prevalence of Internet dependents was 7.9%.

2. b. There are more boys (32) Internet addicts than girls (19).

3. c. There is a significant relationship between ID and gender (p < 0.01), average mark in last semester (p < 0.001), and daily use of Internet (p < 0.001). 11% of internet dependent students use the Internet more than 10h per day compare to 1.6% of non-dependent students.

4. d. Internet dependent students have used for more average time per week than non-dependent students online games (p < 0.01), blogs, chat rooms, and forums (p < 0.001).

5. e. Nine (9) factors accounted for 54.467% of the total variance in questions concerning ID, sensation seeking, and relations with others. The three most prominent factors were related problems to internet use, family, and school, compulsive use and withdrawal symptoms and depression.

6. f. There is a substantial correlation between Internet addiction and alcoholism, smoking, and substance taking (p < 0.005).

Internet addicted students are more prone to experience loneliness, withdrawal, depression and rejection from others. Internet over-use affects academic performance and is associated with substance consumption.

The aim of this study was to investigate if Mexican-Mestizo individuals with obesity, with or without binge eating disorder (BED), exhibited mutations or other type of genetic variants in the sequence of ANKK1.

Fifty unrelated individuals (21–53 years of age) with obesity, of Mexican-Mestizo ethnic origin were included; 25 of them had BED and 25 presented obesity without BED. The diagnosis of BED was based on criteria proposed in the Diagnostic and Statistical Manual of Mental Disorders (DSM-5). Besides, we also analyzed 100 individuals with normal body mass index. DNA from blood leukocytes was amplified by the polymerase chain reaction and all exons of ANKK1 were sequenced.

After ANKK1 sequencing we did not find any mutations; however, we observed various polymorphisms. One polymorphism, rs4938013 in exon 2 showed an association with obesity, whilst rs1800497 (also known as Taq1A) in exon 8, showed an association with BED (P = 0.020). Remarkable, for this study, the number of individuals for both polymorphisms for and additive model was sufficient to derive strong statistical power (80%, with a P < 0.05).

To our knowledge, this constitutes the first report where the complete sequences of ANKK1 has been analyzed in individuals with obesity, with or without BED. No mutations were found; however, one polymorphism was associated with obesity, with or without BED, and another one was associated with BED.

We aimed to assess the changes in public stigma towards people with mental health problems in Czechia; and to investigate the association between these and the exposure to the ongoing mental health care reform and one of its implementation projects focused on reducing stigma.

We analyzed data from three cross-sectional surveys representative of the Czech adult population. We used linear regression models to compare population attitudes and desire for future contact with people with mental health problems between the 2013/2014 baseline and the 2019 follow-up. In our 2019 sample, we employed linear regression models to assess the relationship between exposure to mental health care reform and nation-wide anti-stigma campaign, and population stigmatizing attitudes and intended behavior. We utilized a propensity score matching procedure to mitigate potential bias.

The 2013, 2014, and 2019 datasets consisted of 1797, 1810, and 1077 participants, respectively. Population attitudes improved significantly between 2014 and 2019 (B = 0.99, 95% CI = 0.06; 1.93), but we did not detect a change in population desire for future contact with people with mental health problems. Exposure to the nationwide anti-stigma campaign or mental health care reform was associated with more favorable attitudes (B = 4.25, 95% CI = 2.07; 6.42 and B = 7.66, 95% CI = 3.91; 11.42), but not with higher desire for future contact with people with mental health problems.

Mental health care reform and its nation-wide anti-stigma project seems to have a positive impact on population attitudes, but not on desire for future contact with people with mental health problems.

Previous research has neglected the distinction between childhood physical maltreatment (CPM) behaviors and the physical sequelae resulting from CPM. Prior empirical work has combined CPM behaviors (e.g., beat, hit with a belt) and CPM physical sequelae (e.g., bruises, fractures) into a single conceptual category to predict adverse psychological consequences in adults. This is preventing the examination whether specific subgroups of CPM exposure may report a higher risk of psychopathology symptoms in adulthood. The aim of this study was to examine whether distinct experiences of CPM histories (no physical maltreatment, physical maltreatment only, and physical maltreatment with physical sequelae) would be differentially associated with specific psychopathology dimensions in adulthood. symptoms

Data were drawn from the Portuguese National Representative Study of Psychosocial Context of Child Abuse and Neglect (N = 941). Participants completed the Childhood History Questionnaire and the Brief Symptom Inventory.

Three groups were created based on participants' experience of CPM assessed by the Childhood History Questionnaire. Participants who reported that suffered physical sequelae of the CPM exhibited significantly higher symptoms in all psychopathology dimensions than participants with no history of CPM and participants that were exposed to physical maltreatment without sequelae.

These findings suggest that clinicians should discriminate CPM behavior from CPM physical sequelae in order to increase effectiveness of mental health treatment with adults with history of CPM. Our findings are discussed in light of the evolutionary-developmental frameworks of adaptative development and cumulative risk hypothesis.

Mood instability and sleep disturbance are common symptoms in people with mental illness. Both features are clinically important and associated with poorer illness trajectories. We compared clinical outcomes in people presenting to secondary mental health care with mood instability and/or sleep disturbance with outcomes in people without either mood instability or sleep disturbance.

Data were from electronic health records of 31,391 patients ages 16–65 years presenting to secondary mental health services between 2008 and 2016. Mood instability and sleep disturbance were identified using natural language processing. Prevalence of mood instability and sleep disturbance were estimated at baseline. Incidence rate ratios were estimates for clinical outcomes including psychiatric diagnoses, prescribed medication, and hospitalization within 2-years of presentation in persons with mood instability and/or sleep disturbance compared to individuals without either symptom.

Mood instability was present in 9.58%, and sleep disturbance in 26.26% of patients within 1-month of presenting to secondary mental health services. Compared with individuals without either symptom, those with mood instability and sleep disturbance showed significantly increased incidence of prescription of any psychotropic medication (incidence rate ratios [IRR] = 7.04, 95% confidence intervals [CI] 6.53–7.59), and hospitalization (IRR = 5.32, 95% CI 5.32, 4.67–6.07) within 2-years of presentation. Incidence rates of most clinical outcomes were considerably increased among persons with both mood instability and sleep disturbance, relative to persons with only one symptom.

Mood instability and sleep disturbance are present in a wide range of mental disorders, beyond those in which they are conventionally considered to be symptoms. They are associated with poor outcomes, particularly when they occur together. The poor prognosis associated with mood instability and sleep disorder may be, in part, because they are often treated as secondary symptoms. Mood instability and sleep disturbance need better recognition as clinical targets for treatment in their own right.

Psychotic patients with COMTVal158Met Met alleles were recently found to display more intense psychotic and affective responses to daily life stressors. We aimed to test the hypothesis that the Met allele is implicated in the development of affective and psychotic symptomatology in subjects genetically at risk for schizophrenia, by testing if unaffected first-degree relatives of patients with schizophrenia who share a Met allele have greater concordance of symptomatology than relatives not sharing a Met allele.

Unaffected relatives (n = 38) were arranged in as many genetically related pairs as possible (n = 26), and Met-sharing between Index Unaffected Subject (IUS) and Related Unaffected Subject (RUS) was assessed. Symptomatology was assessed with the Brief Psychiatric Rating Scale (BPRS) total score.

Multilevel regression revealed an interaction between RUS BPRS score and Met-sharing in the model of IUS BPRS score (interaction χ2 = 3.78, p = 0.05). Stratified analyses revealed that IUS–RUS total BPRS scores were significantly associated in the case of Met-sharing (B = 0.57, 95% CI: 0.22–0.93, p = 0.002), but were not when there was no Met-sharing.

These findings support the hypothesis that the Met allele may be involved in the causation of psychopathology, at least in populations with a genetic predisposition to psychosis.

1. 1. Understand the process of migration from a mental health point of view.

2. 2. Learn the role of acculturative stress vis-à-vis mental illness.