Psychiatrike = Psychiatriki最新文献

Adolescent aggression has received a wide and longtime attention in scientific research, because of the extent of the phenomenon in this age group and of the negative consequences it inflicts on affected adolescents, and their human environments. The aim of this cross-sectional study was to determine the proportion (of high levels) of aggressive behaviors (physical, verbal, and direct aggression, anger, and hostility) in an urban sample of adolescent students, as well as to investigate associations between the occurrence of these behaviors, and adolescents' characteristics and mental health problems. The sample consisted of 2050 students attending the second grade of 49 random selected High Schools and Senior High Schools of the Regional Unit of the Central Sector of Attica and Piraeus. The Buss- Perry Aggression Questionnaire was administered to measure participants' aggression behaviors, while the Strength and Difficulties Questionnaire was also used to estimate their mental health and behavioral difficulties. Information about adolescents' individual, family, and school characteristics, was also collected. Results of the statistical analysis showed that the occurrence rates of high levels of participants' aggressive behaviors ranged between 2.2 (for total aggression) and 10.5% (for anger). Among individual characteristics, gender (with boys predominating in physical and direct aggression and girls in anger), (older) age, and sports activity (to direct aggression) were related to participants' aggressive behaviors. On the other hand, non-intact family structure and household insecurity food intake were positive correlated with specific aggressive behaviors, while pocket money allowance was positive associated with all of them. Concerning participants' mental health and behavioral issues, conduct problems and hyperactivity/ inattention were positive correlated with all investigated aggressive behaviors. In conclusion, the vast majority of the Central Sector of Attica and Piraeus adolescents did not seem to show high levels of aggressive behaviors (except anger). Nevertheless, considering this study outcomes (such as the "aggressive" burden of older adolescents, the role of family structure and pocket money allowance, as well as the co-occurrence with mental and behavioral problems), further longitudinal study is required to better understand the mechanisms that facilitate adolescent aggression.

Humans, as social beings, rely on interaction in order to survive and "flourish". By nature, they are "weak" and when in solitary, their freedom is jeopardized. Connecting with others, intimacy, physical contact, and the sense of belonging are core needs, and once recognized as such, they ultimately serve one's freedom. In this context, social interaction serves as a fundamental factor for survival. The creation of bonds improves one's position in the evolutionary process, and paves the way towards the ultimate "goal" of existence. The COVID-19 pandemic and the measures to control its spread have disrupted every aspect of human activity. Social, academic, cultural, business, and economic activities have been drastically modified.1 The conscious experience of the threat of life has been a ubiquitous "dramatic reminder of human vulnerability". The environment became unintelligible, death was "present" at all times. People tried to find a new meaning of life and discover a new sense of self-worth. The triggered vulnerability, the isolation from friends and relatives that to date validated one's self-esteem, the unprecedented obstacles with respect to career goals, and unexpected job losses affected the global view of things.1 The restrictive measures and the resulting urgent vaccination created "dystopian" conditions, under which deriving pleasure became a luxury. Scientific data have shown that social distancing has led to high levels of psychological distress. Primary research conducted during the social restrictions as well as subsequent meta-analytical studies have revealed increased irritability, emotional instability, and ultimately an increase in emotional and anxiety disorders' prevalence.2 Undoubtedly, mental and sexual health share a strong and bidirectional relationship.3 International health organizations emphasize the positive impact of a healthy sexual life on psychological well-being. Sexual well-being can serve - along with other factors - as a protective measure against the development of psychopathology, while stable sexual activity acts as a safeguard for well-being in general. The negative relationship between psychological symptoms and sexual gratification has been repeatedly documented by research, highlighting the impact of anxiety on sexual desire, arousal, and overall satisfaction with sexual life.4 Given this relationship and the increased emotional vulnerability during the pandemic, one might wonder how this reciprocal path has been affected. Physical intimacy, one of the basic expressions of the connection between partners, could not remain unaffected. During the first year of the pandemic and the restrictive measures, it became difficult for partners to meet. Due to the measures and discouragement of gatherings, a strong fear of infection gradually developed and avoidance behaviors emerged. In some countries, there were recommendations for physical-sexual interactions' limitation, and use of masks in intimate situa

Attention deficit hyperactivity disorder (ADHD) is one of the most commonly occurring developmental disorders of childhood, which can often be present after adulthood. The main symptoms of ADHD are distraction, impulsiveness, and hyperactivity, which are common in childhood, and for this reason, the diagnosis is usually delayed. At the same time, in several cases, the problems caused by ADHD (such as behavioral and social adjustment problems and problems in school performance) are considered as results of other co-existing situations (such as family problems, environmental change, and developmental pathologies). For this reason, ADHD often remains undiagnosed or misdiagnosed and even when it is accurately diagnosed, a comprehensive model of a combination of therapeutic approaches that are required to treat it, is not always applied. Today, there are a plethora of tests used to assess specific deficits presented by both children and adolescents with ADHD. The purpose of this literature review was to present tools and tests used in the evaluation of children and adolescents with ADHD. Search was performed on PubMed until February 20, 2021, without time limit for the publication of scientific papers. Studies were excluded if they were not published in English language, were conducted on animals and were case studies, editorials, and letters to the editor. Of the scientific papers retrieved, 15 were included in the systematic review. Some of the specialized tests used in the evaluation of children and adolescents with ADHD are the Children's Color Trails Test (CCTT), the Test of Variables of Attention (TOVA), the Continuous Performance Test (CPT), the Conner's' Parent Rating Scale (CPRS), the Child Behavior Checklist (CBCL), the Visual and Auditory Continuous Performance Testing (IVA-CPT), the Visual Analog Scale (VAS), the 30-item Semi-Structured Interview with Parents (CAPA- RAD), the Controlled Oral Word Association Test (COWAT), the Conners' Teacher Rating Scale (CTRS). In conclusion, there are a number of evaluation tools that can be used to evaluate specific deficits presented by children and adolescents with ADHD, as well as to evaluate the course of treatment, but also to distinguish children and adolescents with ADHD from those with other types of cognitive and learning disorders.

One of the issues that have risen the past few decades due to excessive use of technological advances is internet gaming disorder (IGD). Past research has concluded that there is a negative association between IGD and exercise as well as a positive association between IGD and attention deficit hyperactivity disorder (ADHD). However, the existing studies on these subjects are scarce. Furthermore, researchers have showcased that symptoms of depression, anxiety and stress are positively associated with IGD and ADHD but negatively associated with exercise. Consequently, maybe these symptoms mediate the relationships between IGD, exercise and ADHD. The purpose of the present study is to investigate the relationship between IGD and exercise as well as between IGD and ADHD. A correlational study was conducted on 515 adults through Google forms. The Internet Gaming Disorder Scale-Short-Form was used to detect IGD symptoms, the Leisure-Time Exercise Questionnaire was utilized so as to evaluate participants' leisure - time exercise habits, and the Barkley Adult ADHD Rating Scale was used to assess ADHD symptoms. Furthermore, the Depression, Anxiety and Stress Scale-21 was utilized to evaluate symptoms of depression, anxiety, and stress. It was found that there is a negative correlation between IGD symptoms and leisure time exercise as well as a positive correlation between IGD symptoms and ADHD symptoms. Moreover, when taking all the variables that were examined into consideration, it was indicated that inattention symptoms and impulsivity symptoms were significantly associated with IGD symptoms whereas symptoms of depression were partially and significantly mediating the association between IGD symptoms and Attention deficit as well as the association between IGD symptoms and Impulsivity. The findings of the current study suggest that people who deal with IGD symptoms tend to exercise less on their free time. Additionally, people with more IGD symptoms display not only more ADHD symptoms, symptoms of inattention and impulsivity specifically, but also more symptoms of depression. Therefore, clinicians should evaluate the possible coexistence of such symptoms when treating people with IGD, in order to prevent as well as treat more efficiently IGD and its consequences.

Family therapy for schizophrenia has been demonstrated to be effective and is recommended by international clinical guidelines. Reviews of family therapy research conclude that interventions may prevent relapse of the disease, when symptoms are already reduced under psychotropic medication, by reducing family factors associated with relapse. The purpose of this study was to examine the effectiveness of Brief Solution Focused therapy (BSFT) in patients with schizophrenia focusing on the impact of change in family characteristics such as cohesion, conflict, organization and control on patients' psychopathology measured with BPRS. Thirty patients diagnosed with schizophrenia were randomly assigned to the control or intervention group. The intervention group received treatment according to the BSFT model, whereas the control group received the standard care for schizophrenia. The BSFT is a future-oriented psychotherapy model which encourages clients to focus on ''change-talking'' instead of ''problem-talking'' and on instances where a successful solution has been achieved. The intervention was consisted of 5 sessions delivered in 3 months. Main outcomes were patient-rated family characteristics measured by the Family Environment Scale (FES), and psychiatrist-rated symptom severity measured with the Brief Psychiatric Rating Scale (BPRS). The two groups did not differ in terms of age, sex, number of relapses, previous hospital admissions, and BPRS score at baseline. At the end of treatment compared to baseline there was a reduction of the BPRS score in the intervention group (p<0.001) whereas no statistically significant changes were noticed in the control group after 3 months. Also, following treatment, patients in the intervention group displayed reduced scores on the Conflict FES scale (p=0.001) accompanied by increased scores on the Cohesion (p=0.004), Expressiveness (p=0.004), and Active Recreational subscales (p=0.001) according to patient's perspective. These preliminary findings suggest that BSFT in patients with schizophrenia, appears to be effective in altering the global properties of the whole family system, specifically cohesion, conflict, organization and control which, in turn, have an impact on reducing patient psychopathology.

Patients with borderline personality disorders (BPD) have great difficulties with interpersonal relations. Their extreme difficulties with interpersonal relations are illustrated in psychic family interaction. Parents become the recipients of conflicts and patient's aggressive behaviour, while family stress increases due to suicidal tendency, self-injuries and substance abuse. The current report presents the introduction of group psychotherapy for parents of young adult patients with BPD, treated in a special unit of personality disorders at Eginition Hospital. The aim is, through the parallel group therapy of patients and their parents, to establish the conditions of continuing therapy for the patients as well as maintaining therapy outcomes and to construct a facilitating environment where the family's mental pain, anxieties, anger, shame, guilt and sadness can be contained. Clinical material from the first sessions of a 13-member parent group is presented to illustrate the resistances, the primitive defenses and the basic assumptions of dependency and fight-flight developing in therapeutic work with parents. Furthermore, the groups' split and hostile transference communications and the therapists' countertransference reactions are discussed. Τhe containing function of the group is described as a therapeutic process of transformation of the primitive anxieties and projective identifications, which is gradually established through the therapists' elaboration of their countertransference reactions and their tolerance to hostility and confusion. Containment facilitates the establishment of a group culture of empathic understanding for parents' unconscious resistances, denial of the illness and negative projections onto their child and the therapists, so that resistances gradually to be curbed and archaic projections to be transformed. Hence, the group is expected to function as a safe space to allow the manifestation and relief of destruction anxieties, and the expression of unuttered and intolerable emotions. Finally, the group as a mother-object is expected to be internalised as a model of positive parental care, enhancing the empathic and reflective ability of the parents so that they may repeat the parental role in a process of reparation.

Sleep disorders represent a common comorbidity among children and adolescents with autism spectrum disorder with prevalence ranging from 50 to 80%. Poor quality sleep has negative impact on individuals' cognitive functions such as self-regulation, attention, executive functions, memory, and speed of processing. The aim of this literature review was to examine the correlation between sleep and measures of attention, executive functions, and processing speed among children with autism. This review included research articles published between 2012 and May 2022 in PubMed and Scopus databases, using the keywords "sleep" AND "attention" OR "executive functions" OR "processing speed" AND "autism" AND "children". These key-words were accompanied by synonym, close-related, or underlying terms using the Boolean connector OR. 1226 results yielded but the total number of original papers was reduced to 90 after checking for duplicate publications and title/abstract screening. 68 out of the 90 articles were excluded as irrelevant to the scope of the present study, after reading the full text. As a result, 22 studies were included in the present review, which was compiled by the PRISMA protocol. Exclusion criteria were papers published in any other language rather than English, non-research articles and studies in typically developing and/or adult population. Regarding the measurement of sleep quality, most studies used subjective measures, such as questionnaires with reports and parental observations of participants' sleep habits and behaviours. In terms of measuring the under examination cognitive functions, most studies used subjective rather than objective instruments. In the case of attention, most studies tested it as a unitary construct by using questionnaires. Contrary, regarding Executive Functions, the majority of studies examined specific aspects, such inhibition, shifting and working memory, rather than executive functions as a unitary construct. Results showed a strong correlation between sleep and measures of attention, whereas results for executive functions and processing speed are less clear. Early and accurate diagnosis of sleep disorders could prove to be crucial in the regulation of these cognitive functions in children with autism, as it implies early and targeted intervention. Conclusively, further research on sleep quality improvement interventions is needed in autism individuals.

Three years after the outbreak of COVID-19 pandemic, numerous epidemiological studies confirm its significant psychological impact. Recent meta-analyses with 50,000-70000 participants noted the increase in anxiety, depression and feelings of loneliness in the general population.1 Patients with pre-existing mental disorders were a vulnerable group at high risk of deterioration.1,2 As part of the measures to combat the pandemic, the operation of mental health services was reduced, the access to them became more difficult and the provision of supportive and psychotherapeutic interventions continued through telepsychiatry.2 Of particular interest is the study of the impact of the pandemic on patients with personality disorders (PD).3 These patients experience severe difficulties related to interpersonal relationships and identity, which lie at the basis of intense affective and behavioral manifestations.4,5 Most studies on the impact of the pandemic on patients with personality pathology have focused on borderline personality disorder (BPD).6 Social distancing measures during the pandemic and increased sense of loneliness are serious aggravating factors for patients with BPD and may cause anxieties of abandonment and rejection, social withdrawal, and feelings of emptiness. Consequently, the patients' susceptibility to risky behaviors and substance use increases.3,7 The anxieties caused by the condition, as well as the feeling of not being in control of the situation by the subject, may mobilize paranoid ideation in patients with BPD, which further exacerbates the difficulties in their interpersonal relationships.7 In a Nordic multicenter study of 1120 outpatients with PD during the first wave of the pandemic, results showed an increase in anxiety, depression, aggression, substance use, social isolation and a decrease in work activity, while the rates of suicidal behaviors remained the same.8 On the other hand, for some patients the restricted exposure to interpersonal triggers could lead to amelioration of symptoms.7 Several papers have studied the number of visits of patients with PD or patients with self-harm to hospital emergency departments during the pandemic.6,9 In the studies that examined self-injury, the psychiatric diagnosis was not recorded, but they are mentioned here because the presence of self-harm is closely associated with PD.10 The number of emergency department visits of patients with PD or self-harm was found to be increased in some papers, decreased in others, and stable in others, compared to the previous year.6,9 During the same period, however, both the distress of patients with PD and rates of self-harm thoughts in the general population increased.3,6-8 The decreased number of emergency department visits could be the result of reduced access to services or amelioration of symptomatology due to decreased social contact or sufficient remote therapy through telepsychiatry. A critical issue that mental health services provi

Exposure to traumatic life events is one of the most robust predictors for psychosis. The Childhood Trauma Questionnaire-Short Form (CTQ-SF), a version of Childhood Experience of Care and Abuse (CECAEUGEI) and a version of the Bullying Questionnaire (BQEUGEI) refer to early life adversities, traumatic episodes and bullying. Those scales belong to a battery of psychometric tools detecting environmental and genetic factors associated with First Episode Psychosis (FEP) that was employed in the Athens-FEP study. The goal of this paper is to present those three versions, regarding their content, their use in the international research, their translation in Greek and their test-retest reliability. The three questionnaires were translated by two independent translators, administered twice to 32 subjects with FEP, with a three weeks intermediate period. Intraclass correlation coefficients (ICCs) were used to investigate agreement between scores of the first and second administration. There was a statistically significant agreement for all measurements of the three questionnaires. Cronbach's a were also calculated and were acceptable and over 0.7. Our study is an indication that the translated versions are reliable, although a more thorough test of their psychometric properties is needed. Both might be used in the Greek research field as part of a broad package of psychometric tools, specifically addressed to patients with FEP.