[From OPG to REMS: the role of a territorial health service in the implementation of security and non-custodial measures towards offenders with psychological problems]. / Dagli OPG alle REMS: il ruolo di un servizio sanitario territoriale nell'esecuzione delle misure di sicurezza detentive e non, nei confronti degli autori di reato con problemi psichici.

AIMS: Managing health care for people suffering from mental illness is undergoing deep changes in recent years in Italy. The purpose of this study is to describe the progressive process of overcoming the Forensic Hospitals in Italy (OPGs) and to identify the necessary care and rehabilitation pathways in this process, in the experience of the territorial health service in Salerno, Italy. METHODS: An analysis of the recent laws related to the ongoing process and an analysis of epidemiological and structural data referring to the time interval between 2010 and 2017 concerning the OPGs/Residential Services for the Execution of Security Measures (RSESM)/Mental Health System in Campania, Italy and in the territory of Salerno in particular. RESULTS: The acts governing the transition from OPG to RSESM include DPCM 1/4/2008 and subsequent "Conferenza Unificata" agreements, other laws and regional health organizational regulations. A thorough restructuring of the National Health Service is required. A substantial path in Campania has been completed, with the closure of OPGs, the realization of definitive RSESM, the Departments for Mental Health Care in prison, the Regional Technical Group for overcoming the OPGs, the territorial Services for overcoming the OPGs and for Mental Health in Prison. The result of these transformations is a deep change in the health care approach, as evidenced by the current changes in action in indicative parameters of care pathways and their outcomes. CONCLUSIONS: The new approach shows both improvement features and totally or partially unaddressed problematic features. As for the actual management issues, improvements in communication between Mental Health Care and the magistracy. The overall evaluation of the transformations in progress is positive. At this stage, it is crucial to identify and monitor indicators of the pathways of care and their outcomes and to implement synergies among the systems involved.

Childhood trauma and cortisol awakening response in symptomatic patients with anorexia nervosa and bulimia nervosa.

OBJECTIVE: Exposure to trauma during childhood is a risk factor for eating disorders (EDs) in adulthood. The biological mechanisms underlying such increased risk seem to involve the endogenous stress response system (i.e., the hypothalamic-pituitary-adrenal [HPA] axis), which undergoes trauma-induced functional changes that may persist later in life. In the present study, we examined the effects of childhood trauma experiences on HPA-axis activity, comparing saliva cortisol awakening response (CAR) in adult patients with anorexia nervosa (AN) or bulimia nervosa (BN) with CAR in adult healthy controls. METHOD: Twenty-three patients with symptomatic AN, 21 patients with symptomatic BN, and 29 healthy women collected saliva samples at awakening and again after 15, 30, and 60 min. Participants also completed the Childhood Trauma Questionnaire and eating-related psychopathological rating scales. RESULTS: According to the Childhood Trauma Questionnaire, 13 individuals with AN and 12 individuals with BN, but none of the healthy women, reported childhood maltreatment. Compared with the control group, the non-maltreated AN patient group exhibited an enhanced CAR, whereas the group of non-maltreated BN patients showed a normal CAR. Moreover, both AN and BN patient groups with childhood maltreatment exhibited statistically significant blunting of CAR compared with non-maltreated groups. DISCUSSION: The present findings add to the evidence supporting the concept that there is a dysregulation of HPA-axis activity in symptomatic patients with EDs and suggest that childhood trauma exposure may contribute to such dysregulation.

Investigation of factors associated to crossover from anorexia nervosa restricting type (ANR) and anorexia nervosa binge-purging type (ANBP) to bulimia nervosa and comparison of bulimia nervosa patients with or without previous ANR or ANBP.

OBJECTIVE: To characterize factors associated to diagnostic crossover from anorexia nervosa restricting type (ANR) and anorexia nervosa binge-purging type (ANBP) to bulimia nervosa (BN) and to compare BN individuals with initial ANR or ANBP to subjects with stable BN. METHOD: Two hundred thirty-eight patients with current and lifetime diagnosis of AN or BN underwent diagnostic, psychopathological, and historical examinations by means of ad hoc clinical interviews and rating scales. RESULTS: One hundred twenty-three individuals had a stable BN. Seventy patients had a diagnosis of ANR and 45 of ANBP at the time of disease onset; 24 ANR patients and 23 ANBP subjects developed BN, whereas 46 ANR patients and 22 ANBP subjects did not crossover. Although the rate of diagnostic crossover was higher in the ANBP group than in the ANR one, the difference was not statistically significant. Longer illness duration, higher maximum past body mass index (BMI), higher novelty seeking, and lower self-directedness resulted significantly associated to crossover from ANR to BN, whereas higher maximum past BMI, higher desired body weight, higher novelty seeking, and lower harm avoidance were significantly associated to crossover from ANBP to BN. As compared to stable BN subjects, BN patients with initial ANR exhibited lower minimum past BMI, lower desired body weight, higher drive for thinness, ascetism, and social insecurity scores; BN patients with initial ANBP exhibited lower minimum past BMI and decreased enteroceptive awareness scores. CONCLUSIONS: Different clinical and personality factors seem to be associated to crossover from ANR and ANBP to BN. Moreover, BN with initial ANR seems to differ clinically from stable BN. These findings may have therapeutic and prognostic implications.