COVID-19-related intrusive thoughts and associated ritualistic behaviors.

This study evaluated COVID-19-related intrusive thoughts and associated ritualistic behaviors (CITRB). From March to May 2020, 1,118 Chinese high school students, college students, psychiatric outpatients, and community members completed a survey assessing CITRB, generalized anxiety, depression, somatization, obsessive-compulsive symptoms, and pandemic-related disruptions. Overall, participants reported mild to moderate CITRB, although certain thoughts/behaviors were more frequently endorsed, such as repeatedly telling others to take precautions against COVID-19 and checking COVID-19-related news. Being male, younger, a health-care worker, or in isolation/quarantine was associated with CITRB severity in community members. Obsessive-compulsive symptom severity, depression, somatic symptoms, and anxiety were associated with CITRB severity, although only obsessive-compulsive symptoms were uniquely associated with CITRB. This study provided evidence for the construct of CITRB, which may help mental health providers identify the nature and sources of COVID-19-related distress for some individuals as well as serve as a framework for evaluating obsessive-compulsive symptoms specific to large-scale crises.

Translating Developmental Neuroscience to Understand Risk for Psychiatric Disorders.

The transition from childhood to adulthood represents the developmental time frame in which the majority of psychiatric disorders emerge. Recent efforts to identify risk factors mediating the susceptibility to psychopathology have led to a heightened focus on both typical and atypical trajectories of neural circuit maturation. Mounting evidence has highlighted the immense neural plasticity apparent in the developing brain. Although in many cases adaptive, the capacity for neural circuit alteration also induces a state of vulnerability to environmental perturbations, such that early-life experiences have long-lasting implications for cognitive and emotional functioning in adulthood. The authors outline preclinical and neuroimaging studies of normative human brain circuit development, as well as parallel efforts covered in this issue of the Journal, to identify brain circuit alterations in psychiatric disorders that frequently emerge in developing populations. Continued translational research into the interactive effects of neurobiological development and external factors will be crucial for identifying early-life risk factors that may contribute to the emergence of psychiatric illness and provide the key to optimizing treatments.

[Grief: from the physiological reaction to the psychopathology.] / Lutto: dalla reazione fisiologica al disturbo da lutto prolungato.

The death of a loved one is a universal experience, and marker of the human condition. Grief, the cognitive, emotional, and behavioral responses to bereavement, is both a ubiquitous and a unique psychological process. Thus, health providers often find themselves in a dilemma, caught between the need to alleviate an individual's distress and impairment, and the danger of overly "pathologizing" their grief reaction. This chapter reviews how acute grief reactions generally evolve over time, the clinical presentation of complicated grief, and finally, other psychiatric disorders that might develop or be precipitated in the aftermath of the death of a loved one, particularly prolonged grief disorder.

HHS Urges Primary Care Clinicians to Help Patients Manage Long COVID's Mental Health Symptoms.

This Medical News article discusses a US federal advisory that could help clinicians identify and treat mental health symptoms related to post­COVID-19 condition, or long COVID.

Population-Based Incidence of Influenza-Associated Serious Neuropsychiatric Events in Children and Adolescents.

This cohort study assesses the incidence of influenza-associated serious neuropsychiatric events among US children and adolescents.

Ecological correlation between short term exposure to particulate matter and hospitalization for mental disorders in Shijiazhuang, China.

The associations between particulate matter (PM) and overall and specific mental disorders (MDs) are investigated using data from two general hospitals in Shijiazhuang, China, from January 2014 to December 2019. A longitudinal time series study, as one type of ecological study, is conducted using a generalized additive model to examine the relationship between short-term exposure to PM2.5, PM10, and daily hospital admissions for MDs, and further stratification by subtypes, age, and gender. A total of 10,709 cases of hospital admissions for MDs have been identified. The significant short-time effects of PM2.5 on overall MDs at lag01 and PM10 at lag05 are observed, respectively. For specific mental disorders, there are substantial associations of PM pollution with mood disorders and organic mental disorders. PM2.5 has the greatest cumulative effect on daily admissions of mood disorders and organic mental disorders in lag01, and PM 10 has the greatest cumulative effect in lag05. Moreover, the effect modification by sex or age is statistically significant, with males and the elderly (≥ 45 years) having a stronger effect. Short-term exposure to PM2.5 and PM10can be associated with an increased risk of daily hospital admissions for MDs.

[Psychological and mental aspects of increased tooth abrasion]. / Psikhologicheskie i psikhicheskie aspekty povyshennoi stiraemosti zubov.

The analysis of literary and other information sources (in PubMed, Google Scholar, KiberLeninka and eLibrary databases) devoted to the study of dental manifestations of psychological conditions and the analysis of the ability of dentists to identify psychological predictors of increased tooth erasure in adolescents and young people. Disorders such as stress, depression, attention deficit hyperactivity disorder, alcohol dependence, eating disorders - may be risk factors for the development of increased tooth abrasion. Comorbid conditions such as bruxism and gastroesophageal reflux are also considered. Due to the high mortality of adolescents due to mental illness, early diagnosis of disorders of psychological and mental health of adolescents is extremely relevant. Attention is focused on the possibility of early diagnosis by dentists of psychological and mental problems by the presence and type of increased erasability of teeth. Effective examination and treatment of such patients requires a holistic, interdisciplinary approach.

Surgeon General Sounds the Alarm on Social Media Use and Youth Mental Health Crisis.

This Medical News article discusses potential harms and benefits of social media use and what primary care physicians can do to protect children and adolescents and support families.

Nowhere Else to Go-Solitary Confinement as Mental Health Care.

This Viewpoint examines the clinical, ethical, and legal concerns of the use of solitary confinement to manage acute psychiatric distress among incarcerated people.

Association of Plant-Based Diet Indices and Abdominal Obesity with Mental Disorders among Older Chinese Adults.

We aimed to explore the correlation between plant-based diet indices and abdominal obesity with depression and anxiety among older Chinese adults. This study used a cross-sectional design using data from the 2018 Chinese Longitudinal Healthy Longevity Survey (CLHLS). We used a simplified food frequency questionnaire to evaluate the overall plant-based diet index (PDI), the healthful plant-based diet index (hPDI), and the unhealthful plant-based diet index (uPDI) separately, based on the potential health effects of the foods. Waist circumference (WC) was used to define abdominal obesity. The 10-item Center for Epidemiologic Studies Depression Scale (CES-D-10) and the 7-item Generalized Anxiety Disorder Scale (GAD-7) were applied to estimate depression symptoms and anxiety symptoms, respectively. Multi-adjusted binary logistic regression models were conducted to explore the effects of the three plant-based diet indices, abdominal obesity status, and their interaction on depression and anxiety. We enrolled a total of 11,623 participants aged 83.21 ± 10.98 years, of which 3140 (27.0%) participants had depression and 1361 (11.7%) had anxiety. The trend in the prevalence of depression/anxiety across increasing quartiles of the plant-based diet indices was statistically significant after controlling for potential confounders (p-trend < 0.05). Abdominal obesity was related to a lower prevalence of depression (OR = 0.86, 95% CI: 0.77-0.95) and anxiety (OR = 0.79, 95% CI: 0.69-0.90) compared with non-abdominal obesity. The protective effects of the PDI and hPDI against depression (OR = 0.52, 95% CI: 0.41-0.64; OR = 0.59, 95% CI: 0.48-0.73, respectively) and anxiety (OR = 0.75, 95% CI: 0.57-1.00; OR = 0.52, 95% CI: 0.39-0.70, respectively) were more pronounced in non-abdominally obese participants. The harmful effects of the uPDI against depression (OR = 1.78, 95% CI: 1.42-2.23) and anxiety (OR = 1.56, 95% CI: 1.16-2.10) were more pronounced in non-abdominally obese participants. In addition, a significant interaction between the plant-based diet indices and abdominal obesity was observed in terms of causing the prevalence of depression and anxiety. Consuming more of a healthful plant-based diet and less of an animal-based diet is related to a lower prevalence of depression and anxiety. A healthful plant-based diet plays a vital role in non-abdominally obese individuals.

[Pharmacological trials evaluating treatment options for neuropsychiatric symptoms in post-COVID. A narrative review]. / Essais pharmacologiques sur les traitements des symptômes neuropsychiatriques du post-Covid. Revue narrative de la littérature.

Post-COVID prevalence's is estimated at 10 % in the general population. The neuropsychiatric symptoms, which are frequent (up to 30 %), can severely affect the quality of life of patients affected by this condition, notably by significantly reducing their working ability. To date, no pharmacologic treatment is available for post-COVID, apart from symptomatic treatments. A large number of pharmacological clinical trials for post-COVID are underway since 2021. A number of these trials targets neuropsychiatric symptoms, based on the various underlying pathophysiological hypotheses. The objective of this narrative review is to provide an overview of these ongoing trials targeting neuropsychiatric symptoms in post-COVID.

La prévalence du syndrome post-Covid est évaluée à 10 % dans la population générale. Les symptômes neuropsychiatriques, fréquents (jusqu'à 30 %), peuvent sévèrement affecter la qualité de vie des patients qui en sont atteints et, notamment, en réduisant significativement leur capacité de travail. À ce jour, il n'existe pas de traitement médicamenteux pour le syndrome post-Covid, en dehors des traitements symptomatiques. C'est pourquoi, un grand nombre d'essais thérapeutiques concernant le post-Covid sont en cours depuis 2021. Un certain nombre d'entre eux ciblent les symptômes neuropsychiatriques en se basant sur les diverses hypothèses physiopathologiques élaborées sur le post-Covid. L'objectif de cette revue narrative est d'établir un état des lieux des essais thérapeutiques en cours ciblant les symptômes neuropsychiatriques du post-Covid.

Editorial of the Special Issue "Neurobiological Mechanisms Implicated in Stress-Related Psychiatric Disorders".

Mental disorders may seriously impair the quality of life of affected individuals and cause a significant public health burden [...].

Early life stress impairs brain and mental development during childhood increasing the risk of developing psychiatric disorders.

In recent years, it has become known that stress in childhood, called early life stress (ELS), affects the mental health of children, adolescents, and adults. Child maltreatment (CM) is an inappropriate form of childcare that interferes with children's normal brain and mind development. Previous studies have reported that CM severely affects brain development and function. For example, ELS causes brain vulnerability and increases the risk of developing psychiatric disorders. In addition, it is known that the different types and timing of abuse have different effects on the brain. Epidemiological and clinical studies are being conducted to understand the mechanism underlying abuse on a child's mental health and appropriate brain development; however, they are not fully understood. Therefore, studies using animal models, as well as humans, have been conducted to better understand the effects of CM. In this review, we discuss the effects of comparing previous findings on different types of CM in human and animal models. However, it should be noted that there are differences between animal models and humans such as genetic polymorphism and susceptibility to stress. Our review provides the latest insights into the negative effects of CM on children's development and on psychiatric disorders in adulthood.

[Air pollution and incidence of psychiatric disorders in the Rome longitudinal study.] / Inquinamento atmosferico e incidenza di patologie psichiatriche nello Studio longitudinale romano.

The literature on the impact of long-term exposure to air pollution on the incidence of psychiatric disorders is steadily increasing reflecting a growing interest. In the 2011 Rome longitudinal study, strong associations between long-term exposure to air pollution and the incidence of some psychiatric conditions and medication prescriptions were observed. More studies investigating this relationship in large populations are needed to provide consistent scientific evidence even on the etiology of mental disorders, which are a public health priority.

Psychopathology in Acromegaly-Real and Perceived.

Acromegaly is a chronic condition caused by the excessive production of growth hormone and is characterized by progressive morphological and systemic complications, as well as increased prevalence of psychopathologies, which markedly affect patients' quality of life. The advancing multimodal therapies, while significantly improving the morbidity and mortality, have limited impact on psychopathologies, which often persist despite disease remission. The most common psychopathologies in acromegaly include depression, anxiety and affective disorders, together with sexual dysfunction, which may be considered as either a consequence or potentially even a contributory factor to these psychopathologies. Approximately one-third of patients with acromegaly manifest depression, whereas two-thirds of patients display anxiety, with both conditions tending to be more prevalent and severe in younger patients with shorter duration of disease. Apparently, a major impact of psychological discomfort in women compared with men appears to be the fact that women tend to internalize whereas men tend to externalize their distress. Personality disorders also commonly associated with acromegaly, especially due to body image suffering, are linked to sexual dysfunction, which seems to affect women more than men. In summary, psychopathology in acromegaly is a major determinant of the quality of life and a complex array of psychological abnormalities are associated with acromegaly.

Relative Age Within School Grade, Including Delayed and Accelerated School Start: Associations With Midlife Psychiatric Disorders, Suicide, and Alcohol- and Drug-Related Mortality.

Within a school grade, children who are young for grade are at increased risk of psychiatric diagnoses, but the long-term implications remain understudied, and associations with students who delay or accelerate entry underexplored. We used Norwegian birth cohort records (birth years: 1967-1976, n = 626,928) linked to records in midlife. On-time school entry was socially patterned; among those born in December, 23.0% of children in the lowest socioeconomic position (SEP) delayed school entry, compared with 12.2% among the highest SEP. Among those who started school on time, there was no evidence for long-term associations between birth month and psychiatric/behavioral disorders or mortality. Controlling for SEP and other confounders, delayed school entry was associated with increased risk of psychiatric disorders and mortality. Children with delayed school entry were 1.31 times more likely to die by suicide (95% confidence interval: 1.07, 1.61) by midlife, and 1.96 times more likely to die from drug-related death (95% confidence interval: 1.59, 2.40) by midlife than those born late in the year who started school on time. Associations with delayed school entry are likely due to selection, and results thus underscore that long-term health risks can be tracked early in life, including through school entry timing, and are highly socially patterned.

Psychosocial aspects of Noma (Cancrum Oris) in sub-Saharan Africa: A scoping review.

Noma is a neglected tropical disease of an underserved population. Our review describes the volume and scope of existing research evidence on psychosocial aspects of Noma in sub-Saharan Africa (SSA). Our literature search was conducted on all original peer-reviewed research articles on the psychosocial aspects of Noma in each country in SSA using PubMed, Google Scholar, and a direct search of reference list of pertinent journal articles. The Preferred Reporting Items for Systematic Reviews and Meta-Analyses extension for Scoping Reviews guidelines was used to describe the review. A total of six studies were found in four countries of the region. One in three persons with Noma has a mental health condition, indices of social disadvantage and belief in the supernatural causation of the disease are very common. However, despite evidence of enormous need, a huge gap still exists in the area of psychosocial alleviation.