Frontiers in psychiatry
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Frontiers in psychiatry · Jan 2020
Covid-19 Outbreak In Italy: Are We Ready for the Psychosocial and the Economic Crisis? Baseline Findings From the PsyCovid Study.
The Covid-19 pandemic is burning all over the world. National healthcare systems are facing the contagion with incredible strength, but concern regarding the psychosocial and economic effects is growing quickly. The PsyCovid Study assessed the influence of psychosocial variables on individual differences from the perceived impact of the Covid-19 outbreak on the issues of health and economy in the Italian population. ⋯ Our data suggests that in the Italian population, actual differences in individual perception of the Covid-19 outbreak severity for health are dramatically modulated by psychosocial frailty (i.e., distress and loneliness). At the same time, problem-oriented coping strategies and enhanced empathic abilities increase people's awareness of the severity of the impact of the Covid-19 emergency on economics. There is an immediate need for consensus guidelines and healthcare policies to support interventions aimed to manage psychosocial distress and increase population resilience towards the imminent crisis.
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Frontiers in psychiatry · Jan 2020
P50, N100, and P200 Auditory Sensory Gating Deficits in Schizophrenia Patients.
Sensory gating describes neurological processes of filtering out redundant or unnecessary stimuli during information processing, and sensory gating deficits may contribute to the symptoms of schizophrenia. Among the three components of auditory event-related potentials reflecting sensory gating, P50 implies pre-attentional filtering of sensory information and N100/P200 reflects attention triggering and allocation processes. Although diminished P50 gating has been extensively documented in patients with schizophrenia, previous studies on N100 were inconclusive, and P200 has been rarely examined. This study aimed to investigate whether patients with schizophrenia have P50, N100, and P200 gating deficits compared with control subjects. ⋯ Till date, this study has the largest sample size to analyze P50, N100, and P200 collectively by adopting the passive auditory paired-click paradigm without distractors. With covariates controlled for possible confounds, such as age, education, smoking amount and retained pairs, we found that schizophrenia patients had significant sensory gating deficits in P50-N100-P200. The schizophrenia patients had demonstrated a unique pattern of sensory gating deficits, including repetition suppression deficits in P50 and stimulus registration deficits in N100/200. These results suggest that sensory gating is a pervasive cognitive abnormality in schizophrenia patients that is not limited to the pre-attentive phase of information processing. Since P200 exhibited a large effect size and did not require additional time during recruitment, future studies of P50-N100-P200 collectively are highly recommended.
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Frontiers in psychiatry · Jan 2020
Psychological and Behavioral Responses to the COVID-19 Pandemic in Greece.
Fear of COVID-19 was associated with more severe depressive and anxiety symptoms. This study aimed to explore COVID-19-related fear, depressive and anxiety symptoms, social responsibility, and behavioral responses during the COVID-19 pandemic in Greece. ⋯ Greater behavioral responses to the pandemic, that is, excessive employment of safety/checking behaviors and greater compliance with guidelines, were shown to amplify fear, potentially due to increased contamination awareness. In addition, female gender, older age, and more severe anxiety symptoms were related with higher COVID-19-related fear. Describing and weighing carefully the psychosocial and behavioral impact of the pandemic will enable the implementation of both supportive and preventive interventions.
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Frontiers in psychiatry · Jan 2020
The Association Between Physical and Mental Health and Face Mask Use During the COVID-19 Pandemic: A Comparison of Two Countries With Different Views and Practices.
The physical and mental health of citizens living in a country that encouraged face masks (China) and discouraged face masks (Poland) during the initial stage of the COVID-19 pandemic remained unknown. We conducted a cross-country study to compare the psychological impact of the COVID-19 pandemic on Poles and Chinese. This study aimed to compare the levels of psychological impact of pandemic and levels of anxiety and depression between China and Poland. ⋯ Use of face masks at the community level may safeguard better physical and mental health during the COVID-19 pandemic. There is a need of health education with scientific information from Polish health authority on the proper use of face masks and reduce social stigma. This study was limited by the respondent sampling method that had compromised the representativeness of samples.
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Frontiers in psychiatry · Jan 2020
Early Intervention Services for First Episode of Psychosis in South London and the Maudsley (SLaM): 20 Years of Care and Research for Young People.
Introduction: Early Intervention for a first episode of Psychosis (EI) is essential to improve outcomes. There is limited research describing real-world implementation of EI services. Method: Analysis of service characteristics, outcomes (described through a retrospective 2007-2017 Electronic Health Record (EHR) cohort study) and clinical research relating to the first 20 years of implementation of EI services in South London and Maudsley (SLaM) Trust. ⋯ Average 3 months and 6 year days spent in hospital were 0.82 and 1.85, respectively; mean 6 year attendance at A&E was 3.01. SLaM EI clinical research attracted £58 million grant income and numerous high-impact scientific publications. Conclusions: SLaM EI services represent one of the largest, most established services of its kind, and are a leading model for development of similar services in the UK and worldwide.