Major depression episode (MDE) and postpartum depression (PPD) have the same diagnosis criteria, but dissimilarities may be present regarding the frequency and structure of depressive symptoms.

We used data from the IGEDEPP Cohort (France) to examine DSM-5 depressive symptoms in two groups of women: 486 with PPD and 871 with a history of non-perinatal MDE. We compare (i) the frequency of each depressive symptom adjusted for the severity of depression, (ii) the global structure of depressive symptom networks, and (iii) the centrality of each symptom in the two networks.

Women with PPD were significantly more likely to have appetite disturbance, psychomotor symptoms, and fatigue than those with MDE, while sadness, anhedonia, sleep disturbance, and suicidal ideation were significantly less common. There were no significant differences in the global structure of depressive symptoms of MDE and PPD. However, the most central criterion of the MDE network was “Sadness” while it was “Suicidal ideations” for the PPD network. “Sleep” and “Suicidal ideations” criteria were more central for PPD network, whereas “Culpability” was more important for MDE network than for PPD network.

We found differences in depressive symptoms expression between PPD and MDE, which justify continuing to clinically distinguish PPD from MDE.

In 2018 Missouri University Psychiatric Center, an inpatient psychiatric hospital established a ketamine infusion team to treat severely depressed and acutely suicidal clients. Over 80 infusions were delivered over three years, with positive outcomes and minimal side effects.

To evaluate outcomes of an inpatient psychiatric intravenous ketamine team to deliver treatment without anesthisia colloabration, which could open the horizon for future intravenous medications in a psychiatric inpatient setting.

A team consisting of a psychiatrist supported by a psychiatric PA, psychiatric pharmacist, and a mental health nurse devloped a protocol including physical and mental health screening, inclusion/exclusion criteria, dosing, and client monitoring. For data collection, the team monitored vital signs and mental status changes for tolerability and depression screening tools for efficacy.

Table 1:

Ketamine Infusion Data

Overall, ketamine infusions were tolerated well with limited adverse drugs reactions reported or observed and were easily addressed by the team without any serious adverse events. Given the rapid improvement of symptoms and overall tolerability, intravenous ketamine infusions conducted solely by a psychiatric-based team advances our field for further treament modalities.

No significant relationships.

Suicidogenic effects COVID-19 pandemic are expected to reveal themselves not immediately, but within a longer period.

To evaluate the prevalence of suicidal tendencies in university students during the COVID-19 outbreak and specify the psychosocial characteristics of the students with a low anti-suicidal barrier to mitigate their suicide risks.

The research was done via an on-line survey, which covered 536 students of both sexes (aged 21.46±2.95), who studied in Russian universities and who filled in a structured questionnaire during their distance learning due to COVID-19 outbreak.

We revealed that 11.38% of the respondents (57.47% of whom are males) with a low anti-suicidal barrier showed suicidal tendencies by allowing the possibility of committing a suicide in a certain situation. Among them were more Russian students than international ones (p=.0272). They also certainly exceeded the students with the developed anti-suicidal barrier in taking alcohol (p=.0126), in underestimating their own health (p=.0053), in expressing happiness (p=.0001), and in degree of religious belief (p=.0001). They perceived the situation associated with the COVID-19 outbreak with a more strongly manifested anxiety due to the fear of their own infection with coronavirus (p=0.0347). At the same time, they acted less responsibly in following personal restrictive measures aimed to reduce the risk of infection (p=.0002).

Students with suicidal tendencies during the COVID-19 outbreak present a risk group in COVID-19 spread and infection. The pandemic can intensify anti-vital sufferings and enhance the risk of committing suicide in individuals with suicidal tendencies, which should be taken into account in prevention programs.