A Social-Emotional Learning Program for Suicide Prevention through Animal-Assisted Intervention.

The aim of the study was to carry out a pilot implementation and evaluation of the OverCome-AAI program, a pioneering program for the prevention of suicidal behavior through animal-assisted interventions for young people with high risk factors for suicidal behavior. The study sample consisted of 30 adolescents (11 boys and 19 girls) aged between 14 and 17 years (Mean age = 15.50, SD = 1.60) from the Basque Country (Northern Spain). After the intervention, subjects presented reductions in suicidal ideation, suicide plans, and non-suicidal self-harm, as well as a greater predisposition to seek help. A reduction in the intensity of mental pain was also found, although no differences were observed in indicators of hopelessness and depression. The preliminary results obtained in this pilot study suggest that the OverCome-AAI program may be effective in reducing suicidal behavior and non-suicidal self-harm in young people in residential care who present high risk factors for suicide.

Insight in first episode psychosis. Conceptual and clinical considerations

Background and Objectives: Poor insight or impaired awareness of illness is a very common feature in psychosis. The purpose of this study is to review critically the conceptual approximations from different perspectives to insight in psychosis and address its relations to other clinical and psychopathological variables. Methods: We reviewed the principal factors that have been proposed to contribute to deficient insight in first episode psychosis patients from different conceptual frameworks, defence mechanisms or coping styles, structural or volumetric brain associations, cognitive deficits, and severity of clinical symptoms. Results: This review of literature suggests that insight is a complex mental faculty heavily influenced by additional factors, such as social and cultural aspects, among others. Results also show the correlates of insight in first episode psychosis and treatment adherence in the course of the illness, although it is not stable over time. In fact, adequate level of insight is a necessary, but not sufficient condition for an adequate adherence (AU)