Childhood depression is a serious medical problem that causes an agonizing feeling of sadness and loss of interest in activities. It affects adolescents thinking, feeling and behavior, and it can cause emotional, functional and physical problems. Although mood disorders, such as depression, can occur at any time in life, symptoms may be different between teens and adults.

This cross section study assessed the prevalence of childhood depression from age 12 through 16 years and examined using Revised behavioral problem checklist (RBPCL) as a screening instrument. Prevalence rates were estimated on the basis of clinical diagnoses and other measures as MINI-KID and Childhood Depressive Inventory (CDI).

A representative population sample of 739 children and adolescents aged between 12 and 16 years were assessed for ICD 10 fordepressive disorders

From the sample studied results reveal that 353 males and 386 females and was divided according to the presence or absent of depressive symptoms into Group 1 without depression (89%) and Group 2 (10.5%) with depressive symptoms according RBPCL . further analysis of group 2 showing that mean age was (14±1)year, where (67%) were males (33%) females regarding the academic achievement of depressed adolescents denoting that (74%) were average, (20.5%) below average,(5%) failed in academic records. Using CDI for assessing severity of depression revealing that(40%) have mild, 24% moderate, 36% severe depression

The prevalence rates obtained vis-a-vis the availability of mental health services in Egypt reflected a major public health problem

Cognitive strategies have received considerable attention in the field of pain management, together with more traditional approaches based on physical interventions and behavior modification. Distraction is a technique that lately has been often studied.

Distraction is based on an individual's limited attention capacity; it diminishes attention aimed to a painful stimulus with a subsequent pain reduction (Wismeijer & Vingerhoets, 2005).

To study the effect of VR as a distraction technique in an experimental pain task.

37 healthy participants were induced pain through two consecutive immersions using the cold-pressor test. All participants went through two experimental conditions: VR and black screen. The order of conditions was counterbalanced and a design of repetitive measures was used.

A virtual environment “Surreal World” was developed based on distraction techniques designed to surprise participants. The effect of VR as a distraction technique was evaluated using objective measures of pain (threshold, tolerance, pain intensity and time estimation) and other cognitive measures (self-efficacy and catastrophic thinking in vivo).

VR significantly decreased tolerance and pain intensity, influenced participants to underestimate the length of immersion. A higher self-efficacy in VR and a lower rumination and helplessness were registered in the pain experience. Thus, VR may help improve the efficacy of cognitive strategies.

The study shows the relevance of VR as an adjunctive method in the treatment of acute pain and allows studying its efficacy in patients with chronic pain.

Lyme disease, caused by the spirochete Borrelia burgdorferri as recognized as a possible cause of multisystemic signals and symptoms, including symptomatology of the central as well as the peripheral nervous system.

Identification of neuropsychiatric symptoms associated with Lyme disease.

Literature review in the light of researched articles published in Pubmed/Medline as well as related bibliography.

Since the identification of the etiology of syphilis in the early twentieth century, mental health professionals consider the fact that serious psychiatric symptoms can be caused by infections of the central nervous system and that early antibiotic treatment can prevent permanent neurological/psychiatric damage. Syphilis was known as “the great imitator” because its multiple manifestations mimic other known diseases. In recent years, a new epidemic, also with multiple manifestations emerged–Lyme disease, also known as the “new great imitator”. Like syphilis, Lyme disease may be associated with neuropsychiatric symptoms, which means that often these cases are initially referred for psychiatric services, before another diagnosis is made. The incorrect assessment of these patients as individuals with functional psychiatric disease can result in a delay in the start of antibiotic treatment and may cause serious neurological and psychiatric damage.

According to the review, the authors propose that in the evaluation of acute psychiatric disease or atypical chronic disease, with poor therapeutic response, Lyme disease should be considered and ruled out, especially if there is epidemiological context and absence of psychiatric family antecedents.

The authors have not supplied their declaration of competing interest.

Studied the psychological mechanisms of mental states’ self-regulation of students in the course of the educational activities: at lectures, seminars and exams.

The main aims of the study were: 1. To identify the typical methods and techniques of mental states’ self-regulation and regulatory abilities in everyday and stressful conditions of educational activity; 2. To establish the relationships between the quality of subject training, regulatory abilities and states of students; 3. To study the influence of mental structures (semantic, reflective) on self-regulation and regulatory abilities of students.

To solve these problems used a bank of 23 techniques, including 303 indicators. 260 1-st year students took part in the research (aged 18-20).

As a result of the research, identified the states typical for lectures, seminars, exams. Comparison of mental states characteristics of humanities students and students of natural sciences did not reveal any differences. Among the mental states of highly effective students, particular importance have the cognitive mental states: interest, thoughtfulness and concentration. Found that the effectiveness of students’ mental states self-regulation affects the productivity of passing the semester exam. The most commonly used methods are introspection (withdrawal), self-control, the use of logic, a positive attitude and search activity. This pattern is typical for both mathematics and psychology students.

Found that students with high self-regulation efficiency more often use a wide range of regulatory technics. Established the properties of personality, providing high efficiency of self-regulation, these are: adequacy, awareness, independence and assertiveness. This work was supported by the RFBR grant № 19-29-07072.

No significant relationships.

Currently there is no consensus regarding how long anti-psychotics medication should be continued following a first/single psychotic episode. Clinically patients often request discontinuation after a period of remission. This is one of the first double-blind randomized-controlled studies designed to address the issue.

Patients with DSM-IV schizophrenia and related psychoses (excluding substance induced psychosis) who remitted well following a first/single-episode, and had remained well on maintenance medication for one year, were randomized to receive either maintenance therapy with quetiapine (400 mg/day), or placebo for 12 months. Relapse was defined by the presence of (i) an increase in at least one of the following PANSS psychotic symptom items to a threshold score (delusion, hallucinatory behaviour, conceptual disorganization, unusual thought content, suspiciousness); (ii) CGI Severity of Illness 3 or above; and (iii) CGI Improvement 5 or above.

178 patients were randomized. 144 patients completed the study (80.9%). The relapse rate was 33.7% (30/89) for the maintenance group and 66.3% (59/89) for the placebo group (log-rank test, chi-square=13.328, p<0.001). Relapse was not related to age or gender. Other significant predictors of relapse include medication status, pre-morbid schizotypal traits, verbal memory and soft neurological signs.

There is a substantial risk of relapse if medication is discontinued in remitted first-episode psychosis patients following one year of maintenance therapy. On the contrary 33.7% of patients discontinued medication and remained well.

Eating disorders (ED) are severe psychiatric disorders affecting mainly teenage girls and young women. There is evidence that family aspects play important role in the etiology and outcome of ED. Aspects related to the patients’ father have been poorly studied.

To understand emotional experiences and life events of father of adolescent girls diagnosed with anorexia nervosa or bulimia.

Qualitative in-depth interviews were carried out with men, fathers of adolescent girls in outpatient treatment at a southern Brazilian general hospital.

Sample was composed mostly by men who spent their childhood in the countryside. All of them had lived with their parents at least until the adolescence. Contrary to what clinicians often hear from mothers of ED patients, subjects were concerned about their daughters’ health, wished to see them overcome ED and were well informed about the disorder. They reported that one of the most important events of their lives was their daughter birth. Subjects also reported feeling of powerlessness. They tended to blame the mother for the ED emergence or maintenance, but recognized some relation between the disorder onset and a certain distance in father-daughter relationship. They recognized that their aggressive temper might have interfered with family relationships.

Findings may contribute to understand life experiences and emotional characteristics of fathers of ED adolescents and this may help to keep them motivated to the treatment. This understanding can contribute to therapists to help fathers to regain their ability to care for their daughters, getting close to them again and improving father-daughter relationship.

Epidemiological studies of emergency room (ER) psychiatric settings can help monitor unmet needs and improve the quality of care.

To characterize the patients presenting to emergency department with psychiatric complaints in a medium sized health centre in oil sands region of the Northernalberta.

information on a data assessment tool designed to capture all relevant demographic and clinical characteristics of psychiatric patients in the ER was compiled as part of a clinical audit process.

Overall, 477 patients were assessed by the psychiatric team over the 12 month period, comprising 230 (48.2%) males and 247 (51.8%) females. There was a fairly balanced distribution by age, ethnic background, and relationship status between the male and female patients. The majority of patients with a history of self-harm or childhood sexual abuse were female while male patients were significantly more likely to report medication non-compliance.a higher proportion of the female patients had depressive disorders and personality disorders while a higher proportion of male patients had anxiety disorders, bipolar and related disorders, schizophrenia spectrum disorders, and substance-related disorders.approximately half of all the patients had an impaired clinical insight. Majority of the patients had a G aF score of 70 or less. Nearly one in five patients were admitted for inpatient treatment with a significantly higher proportion of male patients being admitted involuntarily.

There are sex-specific differences in many of the demographic and clinical measures collected in our ER psychiatric sample.

The authors have not supplied their declaration of competing interest.

Rat gambling task (rGT) is a recently developed animal model making translational research possible in psychiatric disorders related to decision-making deficits. Methiopropamine (MPA) is a structural analog to methamphetamine and a temporary controlled substance. Although increasing concerns have been raised regarding MPA's abuse, few sources of information exist regarding its psychopharmacology. Thus, we investigated whether MPA produces any changes in the choice of preference in rGT.

Rats were trained in a touch screen chamber to learn the relationships between 4 different light signals on the screen and accompanied reward outcomes and punishments set up with different schedules, for one session of 30 min each day. Once animals showed a stabilized pattern of preference, they were given a total of 5 IP injections (a single injection per day, every other day) with saline or MPA followed by 2 weeks of withdrawal. Upon MPA challenge injection, their preference of choice was re-tested in rGT chambers.

Depending upon their preference of choice, rats were separated as risk-averse or risk-seeking groups. When they were pre-exposed to and challenged with MPA, rats in the risk-averse group significantly changed their preference toward more disadvantageous choices. These effects were not shown when they were pre-exposed to saline and challenged with MPA.

These results indicate that MPA badly influences decision-making behavior as in gambling task, implying that it may aggravate pathological symptoms of bad choices, resulting in negative consequences, observed in the patients with behavioral addictions.

The authors have not supplied their declaration of competing interest.

For a long time, cognitive deficits were considered as part of depressive episodes and were expected to improve as other affective symptoms diminished with treatment. Because of this, cognitive impairment was rarely assessed for Major depressive disorder, but in the present time this has changed.

The study included 35 patients (age between 18 and 70) diagnosed with recurrent major depressive disorder (according to ICD-10 and DSM-V) which were evaluated during an acute depressive episode. The severity of depression was quantified clinically and with the help of Hamilton Depression Rating Scale -17 items- whereas cognitive functions were evaluated with standard cognitive tests.

Out of the 35 patients included, 25 were female patients, the rest of 10 being represented by male participants. A median score of 81,5 seconds on the Trail Making Test part A showed attention focusing deficits when compared with standard scores. For semantic fluency, ten words represented the mean score; whereas for phonemic fluency the mean score was lower (seven words). A median score of 5 words resulted from the assessment of the verbal learning and memory, these are considered to be associated with memorization and retention of a list of words given.

These results sustain what the majority of studies revealed, that cognitive deficits are present in all cognitive domains, mostly in attention, verbal fluency and memory.

The authors have not supplied their declaration of competing interest.

Patients hospitalized in the case of COVID19 have had to face a complex and potentially very stressful situation. In this context a screening program for psychological distress in patients with COVID19 is necessary.

To screen for post-traumatic stress disorder post COVID19 and to identify the epidemiological and clinical factors correlated with this disorder in post COVID19 patients.

A descriptive and analytical cross-sectional study that took place during the period from 1st March to 15th May 2021 with 154 patients who were hospitalized at the COVID19 unit at Hedi Chaker Hospital Sfax.

We used a pre-established form to record sociodemographic, clinical and therapeutic data. The post-traumatic stress disorder was assessed by the “Impact of Event Scale-Revised”.

The mean age was 66.62 ± 13.34 years with a male predominance of 60.4%. In our sample, 77.9% of the patients had a somatic history, of which hypertension was the most frequent pathology (46.1%). The average length of hospitalization was 9.5 days ± 6.3. The form was considered severe in 27.9 cases.

According to the IES-R scale, twenty-one patients (13.6%) had post-traumatic stress disorder, with a predominance of women (57.1%).

A significant association was found between marital status and post-traumatic stress disorder. Thus, married or widowed patients are more likely to develop PTSD.

In the present study, we did not find statistically significant associations between the clinical characteristics of the disease (severity of the disease, length of hospitalization, functional signs) and post-traumatic stress disorder.

Psychological support interventions in surviving patients of COVID 19 is necessary aiming to increase resilience, manage coping strategies and decrease the deleterious impact of the pandemic on mental health.

None Declared

Mental health care in Bosnia and Herzegovina (BH) is changing and shows the new trends more than 20 years. In last 6 years is established strong network of community mental health centers (CMHC) as a most important service in the prevention, treatment and rehabilitation of mental illnesses.

Project of mental health in BH (PMH) is the largest reform project, supported by the Swiss Government and it is planned to be implemented in whole BH emphasizing importance of community mental health care and putting patients in the focus of the reform.

To show positive trends and practices in BH as well as obstacles in some fields of the reform.

For the last six years are made positive national mental health policies, established case management model in work with people with severe mental disorders, broad spectrum of services recognized by health insurance (validation of the work for all team members), user initiatives (organization), active role of primary mental health care, reduction of hospitalization, etc. On the other way, yet are not established protected housing, early interventions services and universal methodology or team structure in all CMHC.

Community based mental health care shown as a good choice in the reform of the mental health in BH, confirming positive results from other countries. That is a reason to continue with improvements based on daily practices of the teams in CMHC.

The authors have not supplied their declaration of competing interest.

Denial is a common feature of alcohol addiction that is apparent in the early and late stages of the disease. Defensive psychological mechanisms and cognitive failure have been reported as reasons for addiction denial. Effective therapeutic approaches should consider the reasons for anosognosic denial.

The study investigates the correlations between the degree of denial of alcohol addiction and cognitive status of people in the early stages of alcohol dependence.

Subjects were identified using clinical interview the AUDIT questionnaire investigating compulsive drinking, impaired control of drinking, alcohol tolerance, and symptoms of withdrawal.

Forty-nine alcoholic patients at early stage of alcohol dependence were identified. At assessment, all had been abstinent for at least 7 days. They reported compulsive drinking, impaired control over it, increased alcohol tolerance, but no withdrawal symptoms followed by relief drinking. The level of denial was defined by summing up the quantitative ratings of awareness of alcohol addiction and its harmful effects. Three groups emerged of non/mild, moderate, and severe levels of addiction denial. Neuropsychological evaluation of verbal memory, logical memory, visual-motor coordination, and motor and mental speed was conducted.

The identified cognitive deficiencies in the 3 groups were mild. Correlation between the poorer test performance and higher levels of denial was not significant. In the early stages of alcohol addiction, the anosognosic denial appears to be an unconscious ego defense mechanism leading to rejection of all the addiction-related problems.

The authors have not supplied their declaration of competing interest.

Although the onset of bipolar disorder (BD) is usually estimated in early adulthood (Burke et al., 1990; Kessler et al., 1997), it is still not clear which age-specific triggering factors may contribute to the underlying vulnerability.

The present meta-analysis attempts to clarify the number of untreated years of BD, from first symptoms appearance, to first actions carried out by health services (first diagnosis, treatment and hospitalization).

A literature search of three databases PubMed, Web of Science and Psychology and Behavioral Sciences Collection was performed, looking for peer-reviewed publications in English, French, German and Italian language that reported the AOO of BD; the search string adopted was “bipolar and onset”. Standardized mean differences were calculated between (i) mean AOO, operationally defined as onset of first symptoms/episodes, and (ii) mean AOO, operationally defined according to four criteria: first contact with services, date of the diagnosis, first pharmacological treatment, or first hospitalization.

The searches yielded 8710 articles; 2424 of these articles met the inclusion criteria. A final set of 19 studies presenting multiple definitions of AOO has been analyzed, revealing an overall effect size of 6.96 of untreated years (Cohen's d = 0.65)

To our knowledge, this is the first meta-analysis that addresses the definition and the modulation of the AOO in bipolar disorder. Identifying the time-frame of untreated illness is very important for the best planning of timely interventions.

The authors have not supplied their declaration of competing interest.