Escape from reality or practicing life in the virtual world.

The modern technology contributes to the development of more complex video games, in which the participant can be completely immersed in the game and have the experience of his own presence in the virtual world through his avatar, which assumes the characteristics of the player. A wide range of motives can mediate pleasure in the virtual world. The virtual world provides the illusion of reality. It makes possible to bypass the need for mental processing of connections and transformations that forms a bridge between the inner world of fantasy and objective reality. It is considered that video games shift the focus to control and narcissistic gratification and that communication in virtual reality implies a greater cathexis of skills and performance than emotions and thoughts. Can we understand video games as a type of projective technique? Strategic video games are often among the one of most popular video games. The authors collected data and materials on the mentioned topics from their daily clinical work, and present a case report. Observing video games through virtual spaces and the ways in which young players use them, we can conclude, that they have the capacity to be useful for various aspects of young people's development, but they can also interfere with it.

The Role of COVID-19-Associated Fear, Stress and Level of Social Support in Development of Suicidality in Patients Diagnosed with Affective and Stress-Induced Psychiatric Disorders during the COVID-19 Pandemic-A Comparative Analysis.

Only a few studies seem to address suicidality as an effect of the COVID-19 pandemic in persons previously affected by psychiatric disorders. The relationship between fear and stress caused by the COVID-19 pandemic and the level of social support and suicidality in patients diagnosed with affective and stress-induced psychiatric disorders prior to the onset of the COVID-19 pandemic were investigated. This study was observational and involved 100 participants. The examined period was from April 2020 to April 2022. The Fear of COVID-19 Scale (FCV-19S), the Oslo Social Support Scale 3 (OSSS-3) and general psychiatric interviews were used to obtain data. A statistically significant relationship between the impact of COVID-19-related distress on the occurrence of suicidality and the year of the pandemic χ2(2, N = 100) = 8.347, p = 0.015 was observed. No statistically significant correlation was found between suicidal behavior, stress intensity, fear and the score on the social support scale (p > 0.05). Fear related to the COVID-19 pandemic can only be seen as a contributor to suicidality. Overall, social support does not always act protectively. Previously stressful experiences such as wars, poverty and natural disasters seem to play a significant role in the resilience to each new public health crisis.

Deep brain stimulation in psychiatry.

INTRODUCTION: Deep brain stimulation is a stereotactic neurosurgical method used in the treatment of Parkinson's disease and some other movement disorders. The application of deep brain stimulation in the treatment of certain psychiatric disorders has been intensively investigated taking into account the current knowledge of neurobiological basis of mood regulation, cognition, and behaviour. This paper has been aimed at presenting the available data on experience in the application of deep brain stimulation in the treatment of psychiatric disorders. It gives an overview of scientific and professional literature, bearing in mind all the contemporary approaches in the treatment of certain psychiatric disorders. Research results available so far in the treatment of treatment-resistant depression, obsessive-compulsive disorder, Gilles de la Tourette syndrome, addiction and Alzheimer's dementia, are affirmative concerning the efficacy of the method and low risk of adverse effects. Deep brain stimulation, as a relatively new neurosurgical method in the treatment of psychiatric disorders, is being intensively developed, and it is certainly going to be one of the treatments of choice, primarily of treatment-resistant disorders.

c-Fos protein expression in the anterior amygdaloid area and nc. accumbens in the hypoxic rat brain.

INTRODUCTION: By examining the production of c-Fos protein, we analyzed the response to the ischemic attack in different brain tissue, two of which are regions of the limbic system: the anterior amygdaloid area and nc. accumbens. MATERIAL AND METHODS: We used the model of rat brain ischemia--four-vessel occlusion, and Pulsinelli's method. The rats were treated in two ways, according to which they were divided into two groups: a total ischemia (ligation of four blood vessels, i.e. electrocauterization of the vertebral artery with bilateral ligation of the carotid artery--the so-called R-group rats), and transient ischemic attack (ligation of four blood vessels, i.e. electrocauterization of the vertebral artery, with mutual re-ligation of the carotid arteries in the form of transient ischemia--the so-called T-group rats, which can also be called "pre-conditioned group"). Both groups had their own control group. CONCLUSION: We have concluded that parts of the brain with an important role for the survival have a strong expression of c-fos gene.