Welcome to the 22nd WCP Congress Program Scheduling

Objectives

The aim of this study is to evaluate prospectively if those with previous mental health problems (Major Depressive Episode – MDE; Generalize Anxiety Disorder – GAD; Suicidal Thoughts and Behaviors – STB) before the pandemic are at higher risk of COVID-19 infection in general population, and if they had higher clinical severity of COVID-19 infection among those infected individuals.

Methods

The BIOVAL-D-COVID-19 is a longitudinal cohort study with two online surveys performed on a representative sample of the adult Spanish population before (N=2,005, October/November 2019) and during the pandemic (N=1,357, November/December 2020). Vulnerable groups assessed were socio-demographic, employment situation, number of known infected people, general health, mental disorder (Major Depressive Disorder-MDD, Generalised Anxiety Disorder-GAD, Suicidal Thoughts and Behaviours-STB and subthreshold of panic and bipolar disorder symptoms). Analysis statistic was performed using descriptive analyses were conducte using relative and absolute frequencies in qualitative variables and mean and standard deviation in continuous variables. In bivariate analysis , we used binary logistic regression analyses to examine the association between having a previous mental health problem (MDE; GAD; STB) of COVID-19 infection.

Results

Results showed that groups having a mental health problem before COVID-19 pandemic, are at higher risk of COVID-19 infection and higher clinical severity of COVID-19.

Conclusions

As a conclusion, having a mental health problem before COVID-19 onset is a risk factor of COVID-19 contagion and major severity of this infection.

Objectives

COVID-19 has resulted in long-term psychiatric symptoms because of the immunologic response to the virus itself as well as fundamental life changes related to the pandemic. This immune response leads to altered tryptophan-kynurenine pathway (TK) metabolism, which plays an essential role in the pathophysiology of mental illnesses. We aimed to define TK changes as a potential underlying mechanism of psychiatric disorders in COVID-19 patients.

Methods

We measured plasma levels of several TK markers, including kynurenine (KYN), tryptophan (TRP), kynurenic acid (KYNA), 3 hydroxykynurenine (3-HK), and quinolinic acid (QUIN), as well as the TRP/KYN, KYNA/3-HK, and KYNA/QUIN ratios, in 90 COVID-19 patients and 59 healthy controls. An online questionnaire that included the DASS-21 was used six months after the initial assessment.

Results

A total of 32.2% of participants with COVID-19 showed depressive symptoms, 21.1% exhibited anxiety and 33.3% had signs of stress at follow-up, while 6.6% of healthy controls exhibited depressive and anxiety symptoms and 18.6% had signs of stress. TRP and 3-HK were negative predictors of anxiety and stress, but KYN positively predicted anxiety and stress. Moreover, TRP negatively predicted depression, while KYNA/3-HK was a negative predictor of anxiety.

Conclusions

The correlation between depression, anxiety and stress, and TK activation in COVID-19 could provide prospective biomarkers, especially the reduction in TRP and 3HK levels and the increase in KYN. Our results suggest that the alteration of TK is not only a potential biomarker of viral infection-related long-term psychiatric disorders but also that the therapy targets future viral infections related to depression and anxiety.

Objectives

To build a predictive model of the clinical evolution of a first psychotic episode (affective or non-affective psychosis).

Methods

This is a protocol for a multi-centric prospective study, including patients with first episode psychosis , aging between 15 and 30 years-old. At least 217 patients will be included.

The primary endpoint is the clinical evolution (affective disorder: yes/no) of the first episode psychosis, according to the DSM-5 referential at 2 years, according to the following prosodic linguistic markers measured at T0 during a clinical interview: fundamental frequency, latency time and coefficient of variation.

In a second part, this endpoint will also be studied according to syntactic and semantic linguistic markers, inflammatory markers, radiological markers (brain-MRI) at T0. Ten clinical scales will be stated at T0, T12 and T24.

Results

This study was registered on ClinicalTrial.gov. Certers are enrolling patients.

Conclusions

The objective of our study is to provide a predictive tools for the evolution of a first episode psychosis that can be used in current practice with a clinical interview recording, a biological assessment and a brain-MRI. What is at stake is to adapt therapeutic choice after a first episode psychosis.

Objectives

Psychomotor symptoms in psychiatric disorders are a controversial subject in modern psychiatry. Since the first description of catatonia by Kahlbaum, different positions have emerged regarding the nosological framework of this clinical entity. It represents a psychomotor syndrome in which symptoms range from inhibition to psychomotor agitation, with prominent disturbance of volition and, in severe cases, important autonomic dysregulation. For a century, catatonia was described only as a variant of schizophrenia, disregarding its recognition in several clinical syndromes of non-psychiatric etiology.

Methods

Bibliographic research using Pubmed® and UpToDate® platforms.

Results

Catatonia is currently recognized in several clinical settings - psychiatric, medical, neurological, autoimmune and toxic-metabolic etiologies. Current speculation of conceptual models recognizes catatonia as a motor syndrome, catatonia possibly as a fear response syndrome, catatonia as a paralysis of the will and, finally, catatonia of toxic-metabolic, infectious or autoimmune etiology. Neuroimaging studies allowed the etiopathological recognition of catatonia as the result of neuronal network disturbance involving motor areas, basal ganglia and association cortices susceptible to neuroimmunomodulation, with downregulation of GABA and dopaminergic receptors and upregulation of NMDA receptors, which in turn, justifies the use of benzodiazepines as the gold standard therapeutic approach.

Conclusions

Considering the myriad of contexts in which catatonic symptoms can develop, the highest priority is the establishment of individualized therapeutic regimens, recognizing specific symptomatological clusters. In addition to studies on already established treatments, the use of new therapeutic approaches (electroconvulsive therapy, transcranial magnetic stimulation) have become imperious, thus implying greater recognition and investigation of this clinical entity.

Objectives

The Mental Health Act establishes the principles of the Portuguese mental health policy and governs the involuntary admission of persons suffering from mental disorders.
However, the COVID-19 pandemic disrupted the national health service balance and also brought unique risks of infectious disease transmission that warranted consideration.
This work aims to compare the numbers and characteristics of involuntary admissions to a Portuguese psychiatric hospital in the periods before and after the pandemic.

Methods

We carried out a retrospective analysis of the mental health records of all the persons admitted to the acute-care unit of hospitalization of Hospital da Senhora da Oliveira's Department of Psychiatry and Mental Health between 1st January 2018 and 31st December 2021 (n=986). We extracted medical, sociodemographic, and socioeconomic data. The statistical analysis was performed using the SPSS software.

Results

The preliminary results show a significant increase in the percentage of involuntary hospitalizations after the COVID-19 pandemic, with a peak in 2020 and a tendency to return to normalization in 2021 (2018: 7.4%; 2019: 8.3%; 2020: 22,3%; 2021: 12,8%).

Conclusions

We consider the increase in involuntary admissions in 2020 to be related to the reorganization of the department's functioning, imposed by the needs of the national health service, with the requisition of psychiatrists for functions related to the pandemic, which may have conditioned difficulties in the follow-up of psychiatric patients and an increase of the number of serious decompensations requiring involuntary hospitalization. These results should make us reflect on the impact on the mental health of our patients.

Objectives

The link between poor mental helath outcomes and migration are well documented. Qatar is a small but wealthy Middle Eastern State that attracts economic migrants from all over the world. These include young female migrants from poor developing countries who work as domestic workers in Qatar.

This study will be one of the first that explores the mental health outcomes in this group and its socio-demographioc correlates.

The study will also generate data that will be utilized to develop our services further and inform public health policy for improved health outcomes of female workers in Qatar

Methods

This study presents reterospective data collected from Electronic Patient Records for this group of patients over the last 2 years.

Results

The data is being collated and analysed at present

Conclusions

This landmark study will present one of the first explorations of mental health and the determinanats of adverse outcomes within female migrant domestic workers in the Middle Eastern and North African Region.

Qatar aims to transform its health system into a world class that delivers evidence based healthcare to all its residents as stated in its seminal National Startegy for Health.The mental healthcare needs of domestic workers is an understudied and hitherto unexplored topic and remains of vital importance in informing develoment of services and in fulfilling the startegic vision. This study will also contribute to the dveleopment of gender aware mental health sevrices in Qatar.

Objectives

The authors aimed to identify genetic correlates of suicidal ideation (SI) while accounting for the confounding effects of comorbid brain and somatic disorders.

Methods

This study analyzed 35,989 participants in the MassGeneral Brigham (MGB) Biobank study (mean age, 59 years; 55% female), characterized by deeply-phenotyped electronic health record data and genome-wide genotype data. Our primary aim was to examine whether individuals with an elevated burden of genetic susceptibility to SAs, self-harm, and psychiatric disorders, are at increased risk of suicidal behaviors in the MGB Biobank. We also examined whether those genetic associations are due to a different burden of comorbid psychiatric and/or somatic disorders each person carries. We also performed multivariate PRS analyses to tease apart unique contributions of each disorder’s PRS, using both within and without certain psychiatric diagnoses.

Results

Of the study participants, 4.17% (N=1,499) and 0.24% (N=87) reported SI and suicide attempts (SAs), respectively. Among these participatns, genetic liability to SAs, assessed based on the largest independent GWAS of 550K individuals, was associated with increased risk of SI. Individuals with higher genetic liability to several psychiatric and substance use disorders were also at increased risk of SI, independent of the genetic risk for SAs and depression. Last but not the least, our within- and without-diagnosis analyses demonstrated robust genetic associations of SI with genetic liability to MD and SCZ under various ascertainment strategies for case/control selection.

Conclusions

Understanding biological risk mechanisms and neurogenetic correlates of SBs will be a critical step toward evidence-based suicide prevention

Objectives

To help millions of people around the world who speak SINDHI (soy) language as their first language by translating Leaflets about various mental health disorders made by Royal College of Psychiatrists into Sindhi Language

Methods

have translated leaflet about DEPRESSION into SINDHI (Soy ) language which will help them to understand their mental health problems in better way . It will also enable them to get right help and will reduce stigma

it has been published on Royal college website and Sindhi language has been added to Royal college's website for the first time in translation section

Results

It has been published on official website of Royal college of Psychiatrist and has been widely appreciated from all sections of society and community.

I was highly appreciated by Dean of college and Ex-president and Ex-Dean of Royal college of psychiatrist

I have been approached by many Sindhi speaking people to continue such work and translate more mental health conditions leaflet in SINDHI language which I will continue to do so

Conclusions

It will help millions Sindhi Speaking people around the world to understand mental health disorders in better way by reading a scientific leaflet in their native language. It will help to reduce stigma around the world about mental health and will encourage millions more people to get the right help which they need .

Objectives

Introduction: One of the strategies for optimizing the identification and management of mental health cases in primary care is collaborative care, which in Brazil is called matrix support. During the pandemic caused by the new coronavirus, services had to adapt these workflows. Objective: to describe the reorganization of mental health colaborative care in a primary care unit in the city of Rio de Janeiro, Brazil.

Methods

Method: Before the beginning of the pandemic, the matrix support at the Heitor Beltrão Health Center took place through joint consultations, case discussions and a group for follow-up of psychotropic drugs adequate use. As the pandemic began, work was reorganized on two fronts: synchronous joint teleconsultations and a list of users with mental disorders.

Results

Results: 50 joint teleconsultations were carried out in a period of 12 weeks, with the most frequent diagnoses being depressive and anxiety disorders followed by personality disorders and substance use disorders. The mental health user list identified 2,428 patients already in treatment in colaborative care, in a territory of 32000 people. This new format allowed the maintenance of mental health users' access to the service, absorption of new cases, improved access to users in the risk group for coronavirus infection and modernization of work.

Conclusions

Conclusion: Telecolaborative care between psychiatrists and Primary care have demonstrated to be an alternative for integrating mental health in PC, what is very useful in a country like Brazil, but it demands adaptations appropriate to local realities.

Objectives

Our study aims to find out how much of Parkinson’s disease cognitive decline can be attributed to beta amyloid deposition and which brain areas are most susceptible to this burden.

Methods

We examined a cohort of 25 idiopathic Parkinson's disease patients and 30 healthy controls from the Parkinson's Progression Marker Initiative database. These participants underwent [¹⁸F]Florbetaben positron emission tomography scans to quantify beta amyloid deposition in 20 cortical regions. We then analyzed this imaging data alongside longitudinal Montreal Cognitive Assessment scores across 3 years to see how participant’s baseline beta amyloid levels affected their cognitive scores prospectively using hierarchical cluster analysis and linear regression modelling.

Results

In the Parkinson’s disease group, increased beta amyloid burden in cluster 2 was associated with worse cognitive ability, compared to deposition in clusters 1 or 3. We also found an adjusted R² of 0.495 (49.5%) in a linear regression model explaining the Parkinson’s disease group’s Montreal Cognitive Assessment score one-year post-scan, encompassing the left gyrus rectus, the left anterior cingulate cortex, and the right parietal cortex.

Conclusions

Our results suggest regional beta amyloid deposition alone has a moderate effect on predicting future cognitive decline in Parkinson’s disease patients. The patchwork effect of beta amyloid deposition on cognitive ability may be part of what separates cognitive impairment from cognitive sparing in Parkinson’s disease. Thus, we suggest it would be more useful to measure beta amyloid burden in specific brain regions rather than using a whole-brain global beta amyloid composite score.

Objectives

Healthcare professionals are prone to many consequences including job burnout, depression and anxiety which can affect the healthcare systems and societies. This situation has been intensified by the outbreak of the Covid-19 pandemic. Many of the caregivers’ problems are due to insufficient psychosocial competence and lack of proper training for basic skills such as self-awareness, rapport, empathy, compassion, reasoning, decision making, etc.

The main purpose of this study is to design a psychosocial service package for caregivers to help them throughout their lives.

Methods

Data gathering was performed by conducting two focus groups and searching for studies to identify urgent and important healthcare needs and finding the best way to address their necessities through a proactive and sustainable method.

Results

The online platform “healers' healing” is designed for three general objectives; first to present practical and effective materials to support caregivers to improve psychosocial competence, second to monitor the member's progress and measuring the effectiveness of the program. To make the members more active in training and their own health promotion this platform lead and support self-help groups for caregivers as the third purpose of this project. Furthermore, healers can be active in content development and community education to experience a more productive interaction in caregivers’ society.

Conclusions

The result of this research is available in the Persian version on the following site: https://healerhealing.org

Objectives

1] To understand the similarities and differences in key concepts of traumatic stress.

2] to present evicence for an underlying concept of primary traumatic stress.

Methods

Over the last thirty years, the research community has provided substantial evidence on the ubiquitous existence of traumatic experiences and the nature and impact of trauma, both directly and indirectly, on a variety of helping professionals (e.g., social workers, psychologists, nurses, counsellors). This exposure has been conceptualized as indirect and termed secondary traumatic stress (STS) or vicarious traumatization (VT). Most studies do not measure both primary trauma, that is the personal experience, consequently, it has been impossible to determine the extent to which concepts of secondary traumatic stress (STS) and vicarious traumatization (VT) are fundamentally the same or differ from direct (primary) traumatic stress (PTS).

We present results of a series of studies, using identical protocols involving purposeful recruitment rather than convenience samples, sought to examine STS, burnout and PTS in frontline workers serving homeless populations, in seven Canadian cities.

Results

. Correlations between the PTS and STS are relatively high (.56 -.63), and consistent across all four studies, suggesting that they share a common underlying construct of trauma symptoms: intrusion, avoidance, numbing, and hyper-vigilance.

Conclusions

The current DSM-5 criteria now include indirect exposure through repeatedly hearing about traumatic events and an alteration in belief systems as qualifying components of PTSD. As STS and PTS tap into a common underlying construct, their differentiation from PTS is obsolete and they constitute a single construct of traumatic stress.