Alzheimer’s Disease (AD) is associated with neuropsychiatric symptoms such as agitation depression and apathy. It has been proposed that the pathophysiology of apathy, that is defined as quantitative reduction in goal-directed activity compared with previous functioning, in AD is associated with degeneration of prefrontal cortex and dysfunction of dopamine and norepinephrine neurons in the brain. Methylphenidate (MPH) is a dopamine and norepinephrine reuptake inhibitor and its action increase the availability of these neurotransmitters in the extracellular space of striatum and prefrontal cortex. Over the past decade there has been an effort to study the benefit of the use of MPH for treatment of apathy in patients with Alzheimer’s dementia.

Study the benefit of methylphenidate in the treatment of apathy in AD.

Basic literature review collecting data from PubMed (2010-2020) using the words “Methylphenidate”, “Apathy”, “Alzheimer”, “Dementia”.

Clinical trials using 10 to 20mg of MPH per day, for 6 weeks, demonstrated a mitigation in apathy symptoms in one third of patients, with good tolerability. Another clinical trial using the same dosage, for 12 weeks, led to improvement in cognition, functional status, depression and caregiver burden.

New clinical trials with larger groups of patients over a longer period are needed to consolidate the existing results. Although there are still many questions concerning the usefulness of methylphenidate in this population that need to be answered, methylphenidate might be an option to deal with one of the most prevalent neuropsychiatric symptoms, apathy, in some AD patients.

The influence of personality on how people deal with stressful situations has long been discussed. In bipolar disorder, these two entities seem to have a role in the outcome of the disease.

To study the relationships between coping strategies in stressful situations and personality dimensions in euthymic bipolar patients.

This is a cross-sectional, descriptive and analytical study of 30 patients followed for bipolar disorder in remission, at the psychiatric outpatient clinic at the Hédi Chaker Uuniversity Hospital in Sfax. We used a socio-demographic and clinical data sheet and the Ten Items Personality Inventory (TIPI) to evaluate personality dimensions and the Ways Of Coping Checklist (WWC) for the assessment of coping.

The mean age of the patients was 43.77 years, the sex ratio was 0.5. Bipolar I disorder was diagnosed in 93% of patients. WCC : -Coping focused on the problem : 70% of the patients. -Emotion-centered coping : 20% of patients -Coping focused on seeking social support : 10% of patients. TIPI : Conciousness was the most represented trait of personality (36.7%), agreableness (30%) and extraversion (20%). Extraversion was associated with coping focused on the problem: (p=0.015). Agreableness was associated with coping focused on seeking social support:(p=0.033).

Our study showed that conciousness is the most common trait of personality in bipolar disorder patients. The coping focused on the problem is the most frequent strategy which correlated with extraversion, so, personality dimensions appear as a target for cognitive interventions.

No significant relationships.

Patients with substance use disorders (SUD) have higher alexithymia levels and present frequently suicidal ideation (SI) and suicide (SA) [1,2]. Beside, alexithymia has been related to suicidal behaviors in several psychiatric disorders[3]. Although, there are some studies on alexithymia and suicidality in SUD patients, to our knowledge there are no studies on this issue in Spanish population.

To compare the alexithymia levels in SUD patients with and without SI and SA in an outpatient addiction treatment center in Spain.

This is a cross-sectional study performed on 110 patients (74.3%males; mean age 43.6±14.5years old) for whom we had information from the Toronto Alexithymia Scale(TAS-20) and the presence or not of lifetime SI and SA.

Lifetime SI and SA were present in 55.5% and 35.5% of the sample respectively. The mean score of TAS-20, difficulties identifying feelings (DIF), difficulties describing feelings (DDT), and externally-oriented thinking(EOT) were 57.2±13.3, 20.0±7.0, 14.7±4.5, and 22.5±4.5 respectively.

SI and SA may be related to alexithymia levels. Hence, alexithymia should be further analyzed in SUD patients in longitudinal studies in order to analyze the bilateral association with suicidal spectrum behaviors. REFERENCES Rodríguez-Cintas L, et al. Factors associated with lifetime suicidal ideation and suicide attempts in outpatients with substance use disorders. Psychiatry Res. 2018;262:440-5. Morie KP, et al. Alexithymia and Addiction: A Review and Preliminary Data Suggesting Neurobiological Links to Reward/Loss Processing. Curr Addict Rep. 2016;3(2):239-48. Hemming L, et al. A systematic review and meta-analysis of the association between alexithymia and suicide ideation and behaviour. J Affect Disord. 2019;254:34-48.

Electroconvulsive Therapy (ECT) is one of the most effective treatments for Depressive Disorder. Although its safety and tolerability have been throughout the years, it still holds common mild and rarely persistent side effects.

The aim is to review some of the most recent data on the connection between inaugural seizures in psychiatric patients being submitted to ECT for treatment of Major Depressive Disorder, while also discussing the possible contribution of the concomitant use of clozapine and clomipramine.

The authors present a case report of an episode of an inaugural seizure in a patient submitted to ECT, with concomitant use of clozapine and clomipramine. A search on Pubmed and Clinicalkey was performed, from which the relevant publications were selected and reviewed.

The authors present a 62 year old woman who developed an inaugural generalized tonic-clonic seizure after being submitted to ECT for treatment of Recurrent Major Depressive Disorder (RMDD), while also carrying out clozapine and clomipramine dosage reduction, with the purpose of discontinuation. The patient had no history of previous seizures, nor were there relevant findings in the patient’s neurological examination, blood work, brain CT or EEG.

There is a plethora of possible factors involved in the development of an inaugural seizure. Although, the risk of spontaneous seizure during ECT is low, it may be increased by the concomitant use of drugs which can lower the seizure threshold. In most cases, when ECT was resumed after removal of such triggers, there were no further complications.

The data on gender differences in mental health make the investigation of the specific impact of the pandemic and of the stay-at-home orders on men and women relevant.

The study focuses on the quality of the relationship in couples and mental health in men and women during the COVID-19 pandemic.

The study was conducted through an online survey a few weeks after the pandemic was declared and the stay-at-home order was introduced in Russia. 274 participants (50 men and 224 women) engaged in long-term relationships aged from 18 to 62 (M=34.2; SD=9.1) took part in the research. The instruments included the Warwick-Edinburgh Mental Well-Being Scale, the Perceived Relationship Quality Components, and the Depression Anxiety Stress Scales.

Women show a considerably higher level of stress (t=3.805; p<0.001), depression (t=3.76; p<0.001) and anxiety (t=2.959; p=0.003). The quality of relationship for women is significantly connected with mental wellbeing (r=0.423; p<0.001) and negatively correlated with the stress level (r= -0.60; p<0.001), depression (r= -0,381; p<0,001) and anxiety (r=-0,313; p<0,001). Meanwhile for men, the quality of the relationship is connected to mental wellbeing (r=0.280; p=0.049), opposed to stress levels (r= -0.316; p=0.025) and is neither connected to depression (r= -0.210; p=0.144) nor to anxiety (r= -0.126; p=0.383).

During the pandemic, a favorable partnership has a positive effect on the mental health of both men and women. However, while the relationship quality affects all investigated indicators of mental health in women, in men the relationship quality is only connected to the level of mental wellbeing and stress. The reported study was funded by RFBR, project number 20-04-60174.

No significant relationships.

Major depressive disorder (MDD) constitutes the leading cause of disability worldwide. Although efficacious antidepressant pharmacotherapies exist for MDD, only about 40-60% of the patients respond to initial treatment. However, there is still a lack of robustly established and applicable biomarkers for antidepressant response in everyday clinical practice.

This study targets the assessment of the vasopressin (AVP) surrogate marker Copeptin (CoP), as a potential peripheral hypothalamic-level biomarker of antidepressant treatment response in MDD.

We measured baseline and dynamic levels of plasma CoP along with plasma ACTH and cortisol (CORT) in drug-naive outpatients with MDD before and after overnight manipulation of the hypothalamic-pituitary-adrenal (HPA) axis [i.e., stimulation (metyrapone) and suppression (dexamethasone)] on three consecutive days and their association with treatment response to 4 weeks of escitalopram treatment.

Our findings suggest significantly higher baseline and post-metyrapone plasma CoP levels in future non-responders, a statistically significant invert association between baseline CoP levels and probability of treatment response and a potential baseline plasma CoP cut-off level of above 2.9 pmol/L for future non-response screening. Baseline and dynamic plasma ACTH and CORT levels showed no association with treatment response.

This pilot study provide first evidence in humans that CoP may represent a novel, clinically easily applicable, endocrine biomarker of antidepressant response, based on a single-measurement, cut-off level. These findings, underline the role of the vasopressinergic system in the pathophysiology of MDD and may represent a significant new tool in the clinical and biological phenotyping of MDD enhancing individual-tailored therapies.

It’s established that aesthetic dysfunctions can be associated with psychiatric conditions. In present times, considering the exponential growth of minimally invasive and accessible techniques, alongside with ideals of beauty present in everyday life through exposure in social media, the importance of early detection of mental illness and its impact on the respective outcome should be emphasized.

To review evidence regarding psychiatric disorders in people searching for aesthetic treatments and their impact on the outcome.

Literature review using Medline database.

Around 50% of individuals seeking aesthetic procedures fulfill the diagnostic criteria for psychiatric disorders. The prevalence of Body Dysmorphic Disorder (BDD) can vary from 5-15%, with some studies showing a prevalence of more than 50%. Patients with heightened BDD symptoms are less satisfied with the outcomes of aesthetic procedures which could result in exacerbation of said symptoms. With regards to eating disorders, evidence suggests the initial satisfaction following aesthetic procedures, when observed, is usually transitory, not leading to long-term changes in self-perception relating to body image, nor improving prognosis or quality of life. There’s also some evidence suggesting that personality disorders may be a predictor of poor satisfaction with the results of aesthetic treatments.

Awareness should be raised in this matter, since psychiatric conditions are more common in patients seeking aesthetic treatments and early identification can lead to a better prognosis by providing patients with the mental health treatment they need; this could also reduce the probability of dissatisfaction and subsequent aggravation of psychiatric symptoms following aesthetic interventions.

In times of pandemic as Covid-19, as in disaster situations, there is an increased risk of Post-Traumatic Stress Disorder, Depression, and Anxiety (Kaufman et al., 1997; Douglas, Douglas, Harrigan, & Douglas, 2009; Guessoum et al., 2020). The measures taken have affected individual freedoms for the benefit of community health by seeking to reduce the spread of the virus, although the side effects can cause profound damage to society, especially in those most vulnerable populations such as children and adolescents with ADHD.

This study aims to assess the psychopathological state and possible consequences of the first wave of the Covid-19 pandemic.

This study is part of the Kids Corona, an institutional research project of the Hospital de Sant Joan de Déu and the Fundació de Sant Joan de Déu to provide a social and research response to the Covid-19 Pandemic. To assess the impact of Covid on children and adolescents with ADHD a cross-sectional study was conducted between 20 and 30 July 2020 with a battery of questionnaires. The Child Behavior Checklist (CBCL), the Sleep Disturbance Scale for Children (SDSC), the Screen for Child Anxiety Related Disorders (SCARED), the Children’s Depression Inventory (CDI) were used.

70% of children and adolescents aged 7 to 12 years with ADHD had sleep disorders, the 54% had anxiety symptoms and 9% had a depressive disorder.

Children and adolescents with ADHD are a vulnerable population to the effects of Covid, with anxiety, depression, and sleep disorders.

No significant relationships.

The aim of this paper lies in demystifying, historicizing, and de-alienating the relationship between psychiatry and psychoanalysis. Both psychiatry and psychoanalysis inform each other and are informed by each other in various ways which are on one hand similar and on the other hand unique. Medicine can be seen psychoanalytically, and a presenting complaint to a psychoanalytic psychotherapist can be seen in psychiatric terms.

This paper theorizes the ‘and’ between psychiatry and psychoanalysis. What is that bridging telling us? There is already an invisible ‘and’ which joins psychiatry and psychoanalysis even before this visible ‘and’ was placed in between them. The effort here is not to undermine the difference. It is to be aware that the thing which separates is also a thing which connects. In other words, each separation is a link. It is to understand how psychiatrists have contributed to the method and practice of psychoanalysis and visa versa. It is about witnessing the continuum that is ever-present between psychiatry, psychology, and psychoanalysis.

This research used primary sources like books and articles to historicize the psychiatric conceptualization of the medical body.

It shows how psychiatry and psychoanalysis inform each other and are informed by each other. To locate the historical conceptions which are still ever-present in modern psychiatry. How the 18th-century division between normal and abnormal is based on an older division between good and evil.

Good and evil continue to operate in the realm of psychiatry and the confessional becomes a prime source for psychiatry and psychoanalysis.

Gender identity is each person’s internal and individual experience of gender. Gender expression is how a person publicly expresses their gender. Gender incongruence (GI) is defined as a condition in which a person has a marked incongruence between the expressed or experienced gender and the biological sex at birth. Adolescence is a crucial period for the persistence or development of GI, due hormonal changes, peer relations and first romantic experiences.

To make a revision of the literature about GI along childhood throughout adolescence.

Research in the literature with the words “gender identity”, “gender incongruence”, “gender dysphoria”, “childhood” and “adolescence” in scientific databases.

GI is present in a small percentage of children, often provoking psychopathological distress. There is a high prevalence of autism spectrum disorders in these children, compared with the general population. In most cases the dysphoria does not persist until adolescence. There has been an increasing number of adolescents seeking for treatment at gender identity services. The studies show that after the onset of puberty, the probability of persistent GI is high and that adolescents submitted to hormonal suppression tend to continue the medical treatment.

Epidemiological formal studies about gender incongruence in children and adolescents are very few. Studies of prevalence in these populations are community studies and don’t reflect the true prevalence of GI, so it would be necessary to investigate its prevalence and persistence in different world populations. It’s also necessary to make more prospective studies about the long-term effects of the medical treatment of GI.

No significant relationships.

No significant relationships.

We present the case of an 82-year-old patient who was treated by our liaison psychiatry unit after a suicide attempt through prescription-drug overdose. The patient had been diagnosed with Parkinson’s disease (PD) ten years prior to his admittance and was being treated with carbidopa/levodopa and non-ergot dopamine agonists.

Impulse control disorders and depression are the most prevalent neuropsychiatric manifestation of PD. According to several sources, this symptomatology is underdiagnosed and undertreated, causing helplessness and distress to patients and their caregivers. Likewise, the accumulated evidence suggests that certain drugs can contribute to the appearance of the aforementioned symptoms.

A case report is presented alongside a review of the relevant literature regarding the neuropsychiatric manifestations in the context of PD and the diagnosis and treatment of these symptoms.

During his treatment, ropinirole was removed while quetiapine was progressively administered (up to 150mg/day). Carbidopa/levodopa regime was increased causing visual hallucinations and delusional jealousy. A careful balance between antiparkinsonian and antipsychotic medication needed to be achieved before discharge.

Neuropsychiatric manifestations in the context of PD are more prevalent than what was thought in the past. Certain medications, particularly non-ergot dopamine agonists could potentially contribute to the onset of these symptoms. Moreover, these manifestations can be underdiagnosed due to the stigma or social burden imposed upon family and / or caregivers. It is important that recent advances in the understanding of non-motor symptomatology of PD could permeate clinical practice to achieve an adequate identification and treatment of these symptoms.

Mental illness may explain some acting outs, but it does not necessarily lead to a dangerous attitude.

Describe the socio-demographic, clinical and therapeutic characteristics of patients considered dangerous and to identify the determinants of psychiatric dangerousness.

We carried out a descriptive and analytical cross-sectional study during six months including patients hospitalized in the psychiatric department at the University Hospital of Mahdia. The data was collected using a 47-item pre-established questionnaire. The assessment of general psychopathology was carried out using the Brief Psychiatric Rating Scale (BPRS) and that of dangerousness using the Historical Clinical Risk-20 scale (HCR-20).

We have collected 143 patients. The average age was 35 years. The majority of patients were single (70.6%). More than half of the population had addictive behaviors (60.1%). Personal psychiatric and criminal histories were present in 81.1% and 11.9% of cases respectively. More than three-quarters of patients (81.8%) were hospitalized without their consent. Hetero-aggressiveness was the main reason for hospitalization (67.8%). The diagnosis was schizophrenia and bipolar disorder type 2 in 21% of cases for each. The evaluation of psychiatric dangerousness by the HCR-20 scale revealed a mean score of 20.6 with an HCR-20 > 20 in 58.7% of cases indicating a high risk of violence. Factors contributing to violent or criminal behavior in psychiatric inpatients were marital status, presence of personal psychiatric history, presence of criminal history and hospitalization modalities.

The results of our study were generally consistent with the data in the literature.

During the COVID-19 pandemic, health workers represented a group particularly vulnerable to work-related stress, but prevention and management of psychiatric symptoms are still under evaluation. Neurofeedback is a safe and non-invasive neuromodulation technique with the target of training participants in the self-regulation of neural substrates underlying specific psychiatric disorders. Protocols based on the increase of alpha frequencies, associated with the process of relaxation, are used for the treatment of stress, anxiety and sleep disturbances.

The aim of the present study was to assess the effectiveness of an alpha-increase NF protocol for the treatment of stress in healthcare workers exposed to the COVID-19 pandemic.

Eighteen medical doctors belonging to the Sacco Hospital were recruited during the COVID-19 health emergency and underwent a 10 sessions NF alpha-increase protocol during two consecutive weeks. The level of stress was assessed at the beginning (T0) and at the end (T1) of the protocol through the following questionnaires: Severity of Acute Symptoms Stress (SASS), Copenhagen Burnout Inventory (CBI), Pittsburgh Sleep Quality Index (PSQI), Brief-COPE. Statistical analyses were performed with Paired Samples t-Test for continuous variables, setting significance at p < 0.05.

A significant increase in alpha waves mean values between T0 and T1 was observed. In addition, a significant reduction in the PSQI test score between T0 and T1 was observed.

Alpha-increase protocol showed promising results in terms of stress modulation, sleep quality improvement and safety profile in a pilot sample of health-care workers. Larger controlled studies are warranted to confirm present results.

The COVID-19 pandemic represents a stressful event for humanity. The spread of this disease mainly affects health professionals and interests them closely.

Identify the impact of the COVID-19 pandemic on the mental health of healthcare personnels and associated factors exposing them to increased psychological fragility.

The current article is a narrative review of the existing literature. A search on electronic database like PubMed was undertaken using the search terms “coronavirus mental health healthcare workers”. 20 articles were included in this review.

Studies revealed that health care workers have prensented considerable psychiatric symptoms such as anxiety, depression, PTSD, stress, insomnia, somatization, mental and physical exhaustion, addiction and obssessive compulsive symptoms. The prevalence of these symptoms varies from study to another with almost a more notable prevalence of anxiety and depressive symptoms. The following factors that predispose to developing mental distress were noted: being a frontline health worker, having direct contact with infected patients, working in a city with a high infection rate, female sex, isolation, being a suspected case, stigmatization, change of organization, lack of materials, lack of information, lack of communication, lack of support, fear of contamination or of contaminating loved ones, having an organic pathology.

This notable impact of the pandemic on the mental health of healthcare workers alerts us as colleagues and civil society to the ultimate need for an urgent adequate and up-to-date intervention to alleviate this distress.

Tuberculosis is still a challenging disease, infecting around a third of the world’s population. As comorbidity with mental disorder is common, it is relevant to associate them at a diagnostic, therapeutic and prognostic level.

We present a clinical case describing a patient with psychosis, further diagnosed with tuberculosis during psychiatric treatment. Moreover, we present a summarized revision of the state of the art.

Revision of the state of the art, drawing from PubMed and using the keywords “mental health”, “psychosis” and “tuberculosis”, in the last 10 years.

Male, 61 years old, heavy smoker and alcohol drinker. Admitted for allegedly feeling “worms” in his body. After medical examination, a weight loss of 13 kg in five months and symptoms compatible with tenesmus stood out. Following diagnostic tests, the patient was diagnosed with Ekbom Syndrome and Ganglionar Tuberculosis; he was then medicated with the adequate antipsychotic and tuberculostatic agents, which resulted in overall clinical improvement.

This case illustrates the relationship between tuberculosis and mental disorders, in a patient with a low literacy level and a precarious socioeconomic background, known risk factors for mental disorder in patients with tuberculosis and are often associated with poor therapeutic adherence. Although proper treatment of the mental disorder is key to reducing the risk of tuberculostatic dropout, the stigma of mental disorder and tuberculosis decreases the probability of these patients seeking proper treatment. Thus, we alert the medical community for the possibility of psychiatric comorbidity in patients with diagnosed tuberculosis – and vice-versa –, allowing for an early intervention,

No significant relationships.

Recovery in psychotic disorders is a concept that evolved through the last decades. Thanks to the contribution of different researchers, together with the recovery movement, a switch happened from a service-based to a client-based approach towards recovery. The Dutch framework considers recovery as the interplay of symptomatic, personal, functional and societal aspects, determined by different biological, psychological, personal and social factors. Literature on this fourdimensional perspective is still scarce. In addition, even if an increased incidence of psychotic disorders has been recognized in ethnic minority populations and migrants, studies on the influence of ethnicity and migration on recovery in psychotic disorders is limited.

To write a systematic literature review on how ethnic minority status and migration history may affect symptomatic, personal, functional and societal recovery.

A systematic search of the main databases, followed by a four-step selection process to include studies comparing migrants or ethnic minority populations and the non-minoritarian/autochthonous population in terms of recovery. A qualitative, narrative summary has been performed.

Thirty-eight articles have been included. Literature is heterogeneous, focused on clinical outcomes and mostly based on data from the UK and the USA. As a common thread, ethnic minority status and migration history result to negatively influence societal, personal and, to a lower extent, clinical recovery.

Further studies based in different cultural backgrounds and focused on recovery in its multiple aspects are needed, to get a better understanding of the contextual and structural factors that affect the interaction between ethnicity, migration and recovery in psychotic disorders.

No significant relationships.

One of the most recent topics in addictive disorders is videogame-use disorder which is continuously under research, especially in adolescents. The specific structure of digital games (immortality, infinity, etc.) can sensitize adolescents to the development of problematic use. The number of researches about problematic video game use has increased significantly during the last decade. In 2013, this problem was included among “Disorders requiring further research” in DSM-5, and it was also included in ICD-11 as a separate diagnostic category in 2019.

We review studies investigating the association between the co-occurrence of ADHD and video game use in adolescents. We attempt to summarize new theoretical approaches to video game use disorder and the areas of present research.

We conducted a literature search in 4 databases (PubMed, Medline, Google Scholar, Web of Science) using keywords (ADHD, adolescents, video game use disorder, internet addiction, game addiction) over the past 5 years. Exclusion criteria were the following: publication date before 2014, adult population, or comorbidity beside ADHD.

The comorbidity of video game use disorder and ADHD was frequent. Primarily cross-sectional studies examined the presence of hyperactivity, attention deficit, and impulsivity symptoms separately. The presence of attention deficit clearly showed an association with the development of video game use disorder.

Adolescents diagnosed with ADHD have a greater possibility of developing video game use disorder and/or problematic psychoactive substance users. More attention should be paid to this comorbidity in not only the diagnostic process, but also in the development of prevention programs.

No significant relationships.

Designer drugs, as a term, first came about in the 1980s. Most of these “designer drugs” have synthetic cannabinoids and other psychoactive formulas difficulty to detect.

A 28 year man was referred to the hospital.

CT brain and EEG were also normal.

Among 7 days before attending the hospital the patient had a strange behaviour. He was staying like in changed reality. The day before admission he got irritable in the evening was reporting that he could hear animal’s imperative voices “we together with squirrel, dolphin visited giraffe, that someone told to jump from the window”. That symptoms were temporary after that he was shocked when realized that he was in a room. The patient has the history of marihuana use in the past 5 years, periodically. There is no evidence data about the usage of other narcotic substances. On examination he was alert, sitting on a same place looking at one point, sometimes trying to find something or suddenly standing and trying to go somewhere. He has a change of catatonic stupor and excitement. The psychomotor activity was changeable. While observing the patient during few days several times he disrobed all his clothes, staying or laying on a bed or suddenly freezing in one pose.

Taking into account clinical symptoms, the patient developed, the conclusion was made about connection of patients’ oneiroid catatonia with the usage of “Spice” or “Designer drug”. Thus, designer drugs may sound like a safer alternative, but often can lead to serious mental disturbances.

No significant relationships.

In bipolar patients cognitive deficits are an important feature. Persisting neurocognitive impairment is associated with low psychosocial functioning.

The aim of this presentation is to discuss potential cognitive, clinical and treatment-dependent predictors for functional impairment in bipolar patients.

In a first study (1) at the Medical University of Vienna 43 remitted bipolar patients and 40 healthy controls were assessed testing specifically attention, memory, verbal fluency and executive functions. In a randomized controlled trial, patients were assigned to two treatment conditions as add-on to state-of-the-art pharmacotherapy: cognitive psychoeducational group therapy over 14 weeks or treatment-as-usual. At 12 months after therapy, functional impairment and severity of symptoms were assessed. In a second, ongoing study, in-patients from a defined catchment area in Vienna (12th, 13th and 23rd district) were assessed via SCIP (Purdon S. 2005. The screen for cognitive impairment in psychiatry: Administration and psychometric properties. Edmonton, Alberta, Canada: PNL Inc.). The SCIP was performed before and after cognitive remediation. The effects of treatment on functioning were measured with the clinical Global Impression Scale (CGI).

Compared to controls, bipolar patients showed lower performance in executive function, sustained attention, verbal learning and verbal fluency. Cognitive psychoeducational group therapy and attention predicted occupational functioning. In the second study, SCIP and CGI values showed improvement after treatment.

Our data support the idea that cognition affects outcome. Bipolar patients benefit from cognitive psychoeducational group therapy in the domain of occupational life. (1) Sachs G et al. Front. Psychiatry, 23 November 2020 | https://doi.org/10.3389/fpsyt.2020.530026

No significant relationships.