The authors have not supplied their declaration of competing interest.

The authors have not supplied their declaration of competing interest.

Risk and protective factors for PTSD can be grouped into pretraumatic, peritraumatic, and posttraumatic. Reported childhood abuse has predictive risk effects for PTSD than most other pretraumatic risk factors.

To examine childhood physical abuse history in war veterans.

To determine whether childhood physical abuse is risk factor for PTSD in war veterans.

Cross-sectional study of 205 war veterans tested by Harvard Trauma Questionnaire and sociobiographic Questionnaire (with data of childhood physical punishment).

A significant difference in reported childhood physical punishment between war veterans with and without PTSD was found. Veterans with PTSD were identified as recipients of childhood physical punishment.

Childhood physical punishment has positive correlation with development of PTSD in war veterans.

The authors have not supplied their declaration of competing interest.

The authors have not supplied their declaration of competing interest.

To identify the prevalence of the PTSD and associated events in adults victims of the displacement in the city of Montería.

Transversal and explorative study, 117 adults (M: 40,41; SD: 13,14). The PTSD was verified with the checklist for PTSD (Weathers, Litz, herman, Huska & Keane, 1993) and according to criteria of DSM-5 (APA, 2014). The 3 factors associated with the disorder were analyzed according to age groups. To evaluate the events associated to the disorder was used the checklist of events (Blake, Weathers & Nagy, 1990). Occurred and witnessed by the subject events were analyzed. Descriptive were used to determinate the existence of the PTSD and an ANOVA to contrast the symptomatology of the PTSD by age groups.

The 26,49% (n = 31) of the sample had the clinic criteria of PTSD. An ANOVA of a factor evidenced that the activation was present in a biggest proportion in the range of 53-59 years old (M = 18.73); intrusion and avoidance was shown mostly in the range of 60-71 years old (intrusion M = 14.00; avoidance M = 14.85). In relation to the associated events occurred to the subjects, there was found that the highest incidence were: natural disasters (42.7%) and unexpected death (35.9%); the witnessed events with higher percentage where: unexpected death (19.70%) and traffic accidents (15.4%).

References not available.

The authors have not supplied their declaration of competing interest.

In a globalized world, violence, present in all forms and in all places, is a public health problem with serious early or late consequences for the mental health of those who are direct or indirect victims. Violence is avoidable and preventable and is not evenly distributed by population groups or regions being among the top 20 causes worldwide of years lost due to disability and with a projected increase by 2030 according to the World Health Organization (Mathers, Fat & Boerma, 2008).

The search was made on ScienceDirect database, using the following keywords: posttraumatic stress disorder; violence and war. It was included documents in English published between 2004 and 2015; as well as textbooks and documents officers.

Violence is a risk factor for the disorder of post-traumatic stress disorder (PTSD) which, in turn, is also a risk factor for perpetrating violence. The PTSD can occur when a person faces or faces an unexpected traumatic stressor, such as war, violent personal assault, have been held hostage or kidnapped confinement as a prisoner of war, torture, terrorist attack, or serious car accidents (Javidi & Yadollahie, 2012). The costs of violence are high and its routinization for a living have important effects on mental health.

Studies in relation to PTSD and violence are necessary for us to have a better understanding of the phenomenon and its consequences for public health, as well as to promote the mental health of all.

References not available.

The authors have not supplied their declaration of competing interest.

Posttraumatic stress disorder (PTSD) has a high prevalence and severe impact in military populations. Cognitive behavioral therapy (CBT) is indicated in this condition but it is a structured therapy that requires patients’ motivation and doctors’ availability.

Assess feasibility and effectiveness of CBT in a military group with PTSD.

A group of six militaries that witnessed the same traumatic event (an armed attack) and were diagnosed with PTSD were involved in a structured individual session CBT with one therapist. An assessment using the PTSD checklist for DSM (PCL) was performed initially and in halfway therapy. The therapy included an education about PTSD, a cognitive restructuring, a behavioral approach via home tasks and relaxation techniques.

The initial PCL scores varied from 25 to 55. All patients were initially on sick leave. Five patients had adjunctive antidepressant medications and one patient was only on therapy. Three patients showed no motivation and were excluded after 3 sessions. Two patients have had 7 weekly sessions and were able to return to work in the same place. One patient with severe PTSD had 2 sessions monthly, he had slight clinical improvement and could not come back to military work. The three patients who are still in therapy have improved PCL scores.

CBT can be effective in PTSD. The outcome depends on initial severity of PTSD and assiduity.

The authors have not supplied their declaration of competing interest.

Complex trauma resulting from neglect and abuse in early childhood is frequently misdiagnosed.

This presentation shares emerging “best assessment practices” that help to differentiate complex trauma from Schizophrenia.

The case study demonstrates that a wide-ranging psychometric assessment and the application of Lacter & Lehmann (2008) guidelines provide accurate results while MCMI-III results can be spurious.

“Unbelievable” disclosures of an adult survivor prompted a search for scientific references, experiences in the survivor scene and historical examples. Work-related personality questionnaires, in-depth ability tests and Lacter & Lehmann (2008) guidelines were deployed to differentiate complex trauma from an erroneous diagnosis based largely on MCMI-III results.

The research identified measurement issues with the MCMI-III clinical personality questionnaire that generated spurious elevations on Narcissistic, Delusional and Paranoid scales. Work-related personality questionnaires provided much more useful information showing no “personality disorder” risks at all. WAIS results confirmed an earlier “Twice Exceptional” ability pattern with very high verbal IQ (95%ile) and extraordinarily poor auditory working memory (2nd%ile) i.e. a “Dyslexia” performance pattern. Lacter & Lehmann (2008) guidelines showed that none of the 42 schizophrenia indicators applied and only 1/3 of the complex trauma indicators.

Mental health professionals must remain cognizant to the chilling notion that extreme abusers may “frame” victims in order to make them “appear” schizophrenic. As MCMI-III was developed originally for those seeking therapy, its use in forensic settings with the general population should be avoided. Tests do not diagnose people – people do!

The authors have not supplied their declaration of competing interest.

The authors have not supplied their declaration of competing interest.

Mental trauma may precede persistent changes in a person's mental health in the form of psychosis and dissociation. Presently, there are no subtypes to the diagnosis of PTSD. A psychotic subtype of PTSD has been proposed, and studies show that these patients differ as well in symptoms as biologically from patients with non-psychotic PTSD. Dissociation and psychosis are generally viewed as different phenomena. Where dissociation is understood as a disintegration of the mind, psychosis is viewed as a neurodegenerative disorder on a mainly biological/genetic basis. The delineation of psychotic and dissociative symptoms is not clear however.

Our objective is to clarify, whether psychologists and psychiatrists describe trauma-related changes of consciousness (TCC) differently as dissociative or psychotic. Furthermore, we wish to compare scientific journals, and look for differences in how psychiatrists’ and psychologists’ make use of the terms dissociation and psychosis in relation to TCC.

We aim to investigate whether TCC are interpreted differently among psychiatrists and psychologists.

This study is a systematic critical review of the literature. The databases PubMed, Embase and PsychInfo will be used. Articles involving PTSD with TCC will be included. Studies will be classified as viewing TCC's as either psychotic or dissociative, based on the terms the authors use to describe the observed phenomena.

The results will be presented at the EPA in March 2016 in Madrid.

The study will reveal differences in how psychiatrists and psychologists classify TCC's in PTSD.

The authors have not supplied their declaration of competing interest.

Despite the four factor model of PTSD proposed in the DSM-5 (APA, 2013) has received a better empirical support than three factor model of DSM-IV (APA, 1994), some alternative models proposed can provide a better representation of PTSD's latent structure.

The current study tested the fit of seven models, including the 3-factor DSM-IV model (APA, 1994), the 4-factor DSM-5 model (APA, 2000), the 4-factor dysphoria model (Simms, Watson & Doebbeling, 2002), the 5-factor dysphoric arousal model (Elhai et al., 2012), the 6-factor anhedonia model (Liu et al., 2014), the 6-factor externalizing behaviors model (Tsai et al., 2014) and the 7-factor hybrid model (Armour et al., 2015) that combines key features of the anhedonia and externalizing behaviors models.

It expected that the 7-factor hybrid model (Armour et al., 2015) would be the best fitting model.

PTSD symptoms were assessed using the Global Assessment of Posttraumatic Stress Disorder (EGEP-5; Crespo, Gómez & Soberón, 2016) in a sample of 165 victims of different traumatic events. Confirmatory Factor Analysis (CFAs) were conducted on each of the seven models using Maximum Likelihood (ML) estimation method.

All the models tested (except for DSM-IV model) yielded an adequate fit to the data. However, 7-factor hybrid model (Armour et al., 2015) provided a better fit than other competing models.

The current findings suggest that the dimensional structure of DSM-5 PTSD symptoms may be best represented by the 7 factors proposed in the hybrid model instead of 4 factors of DSM-5.

References not available.

The authors have not supplied their declaration of competing interest.

The authors have not supplied their declaration of competing interest.

The use of valid and practical screening scales might ease the burden for greatly needed universal testing for mental health, substance use and dual disorders, but do they work well with all populations? Do they miss correct identification of certain groups?

To understand discrepancies in diagnostic prediction using the AC-OK screen in conjunction with other standardized assessment scales.

Two hundred and twenty-six Latino participants were recruited from primary care and community clinics in Madrid, Barcelona and Boston and assessed with standardized mental health and substance abuse measures including the AC-OK screen and with a Computerized adaptive test for mental health (CAT-MH). A measure of frequency of discrepancies and an adjusted and unadjusted comparison of results and demographic characteristics or respondents were made for mental health, substance abuse or for discrepancies in both categories.

35.4% of cases were discrepant in mental health (AC-OK-Mental Health vs. Patient Health Questionnaire-9, Generalized Anxiety Disorder 7 or PTSD Checklist) and 14.2% in substance abuse (AC-OK-substance abuse vs. drug abuse screening test or Alcohol use disorders identification test). When CAT-MH scale was incorporated, discrepant results were found in 24.3% and 14.2%, respectively. No association was found between substance abuse discrepancies and patient demographics. In logit regressions being from Barcelona, of younger age and male were significant predictors of discrepancies.

Discrepancies were observed in the diagnostic prediction, with differences detected for site and sociodemographic characteristics of participants suggesting the importance of testing screeners for site and population differences. Evidence for the misclassification of young males is discussed. Caution is warranted in the implementation of screeners for at risk populations.

The authors have not supplied their declaration of competing interest.

Burn injuries occupy 11th place in the list of causes of infant mortality and 5th in the list of the most common non-fatal childhood injuries (WHO, 2014). The situation of getting a burn injury, prolonged hospitalization, painful medical procedures, the threat of a child's life results in mother's unusual and heavy emotional experience. Adequate processing of this experience will be an important factor in her future mental health. The study involved 35 mothers hospitalized with their children because of burn trauma.

The aim of the study was to describe the characteristics of emotional regulation and emotional response of mothers bringing up children with burn injury.

(1) Describe the phenomenа of emotional regulation, found in mothers whose children have experienced a burn injury; (2) determine factors that cause appearance of special emotional phenomena among these mothers.

Сlinical interview, Beck Depression Inventory, State Trait Anxiety Inventor, Cognitive Emotion Regulation Questionnaire (CERQ).

A significant numbers of mothers shows a high level of anxiety and depression, which may be predictive of the development of PTSD. The main cognitive strategies of emotion regulation – self-blame and disasterization are maladaptive. An important role played by unconscious strategy of emotion regulation, basically – situation selection and attentional deployment, as well as the social regulation of emotions: the availability of a good support from family members with adaptive strategies of emotional regulation, adequate reactions of other mothers in hospital associated with less emotional distress above mothers. There is no correlation between the severity of burn injury and the emotional response of the mother.

The authors have not supplied their declaration of competing interest.

Minor but positive changes occurred in the dyadic mother-baby relationship. This was more patent concerning breastfeeding, relationships with their couple and extended family and pediatricians, and attitudes toward job seeking. In addition, the frequent contact with these mothers elicited markedly positive reactions in the 8-9 children/adolescents currently residing in our community.

The authors have not supplied their declaration of competing interest.

The authors have not supplied their declaration of competing interest.

Ubiquitous negative emotional states such as depression, anxiety and stress in adulthood are related to individual life scenario, particularly influenced by exposure to environmental risk factors. Here, we investigated if sub-threshold negative emotional states in general population can be predicted by experience of trauma in the childhood.

A sample of 106 healthy young adult participants from Belgrade and surroundings (43.4% male, age 29.2 ± 6.6 years, mean IQ 106.4 ± 15.9) fulfilled Childhood Trauma Questionnaire (CTQ) to identify emotional or physical abuse/neglect or sexual abuse. Present level of negative affectivity was measured by Depression Anxiety Stress Scale (DASS). Hierarchical linear regression analysis was conducted to identify subtypes of trauma as predictors of the negative affectivity.

Mean CTQ and DASS scores were 31.2 ± 6.7 and 16.4 ± 16.8, respectively. An exposure to given risk factors in the past correlated significantly with intensity of the present negative affective states (r = 0.290, P = 0.004). For the prediction of anxiety, the most important traumatism subtypes were emotional abuse, emotional neglect and physical abuse (P = 0.001; 0.028; and 0.041, respectively). Depressive symptoms were predicted only by the emotional abuse in the past (P = 0.008).

Based on clinical samples, findings from the literature yielded greater risk for mood and anxiety disorders after exposure to emotional, in comparison to the physical trauma. We confirmed the same pattern of correlations in the healthy subject's sample, who had no history mental disorders. Evaluation of the interaction effects among emotional trauma and genotype is strongly recommended in the identification of subjects at risk and for the prevention.

The authors have not supplied their declaration of competing interest.

Under conditions of growing of mental pathology in population, the European Psychiatric Association proposes an early detection of such pathology and timely medical interventions as the main strategy. First of all, this concerns psychoses at whole, and schizophrenia particularly, as the most disabling mental disorders. Here, a special role belongs to early interventions in the prodromal stage of psychosis (PSP). Such interventions might prevent development of the pathological process, promote solving of everyday and financial problems of patients, an early restoring of cognitive deficits and social functioning.

To investigate clinical-psychopathological peculiarities and quality of life (QoL) of patients with PSP 72 patients (first hospitalization) with acute polymorph psychotic disorder (F23.0, F23.1) were examined both in the format of real time and retrospectively.

A clinical-psychopathological and psychometric (PANSS, Scale of Suicidal Risk, SOPS, Scale for Detection of Clinical-Dynamic Variant of Course of Prodromal Period, PAS-SI) methods; the Method for Assessment of Integrative QoL Index.

In the patients clinical-psychopathological impairments in the PSP period manifested in form of a lowered stress tolerability (80.5%), agitation (40.2%), anxious conditions (72.2%), tension, concentration and attention problems (68.0%), sleep disorders (93.0%), contents of thoughts (56.9%). The patients had low QoL indexes on scales of personality realization (81.9%), psychological well-being (87.5%), and a general QoL impression (95.8%).

The abovementioned clinical manifestations should be considered as PSP diagnostic criteria, which open possibilities for an early interventions and prevention of consequences of this pathology.

The authors have not supplied their declaration of competing interest.

If we are what we eat, are we eating ourselves into depression and anxiety? There has been an emerge evidence supporting a role for lifestyle factors in the development of these conditions.

To review evolving concepts and gain insight on the phenomenon of dietary pattern and mental health.

Bibliographic search in Pubmed for articles published between 2010 and 2015, using the keywords words mental health, diet and depression, from the 220 articles found, 68 were included.

From the 68 selected articles, 19 were reviews, 3 randomized controlled trials and 2 meta-analysis. The scientific community agrees that substantial global changes in the food system have had a highly detrimental impact on dietary patterns. Thirty-three articles found a positive correlation between unhealthy dietary patterns and poorer mental health or better mental health with healthy eating habits, such as a potential protective role of mediterranean diet (or similar) with regard to the prevention of depressive disorders. A recent systematic review by Baskin et al (2015) revealed positive associations between poor quality and unhealthy diets and antenatal depressive and stress symptoms. Healthy diets were inversely associated with antenatal depressive and anxiety symptoms.

Although there is some evidence on the association between dietary quality and mental health, we can’t tell if it's a casual linkage or what are the biological pathways that mediate these relationships. Therefore, randomized control trials of diet are necessary to disentangle the effects of multiple health behaviors on mental health.

The authors have not supplied their declaration of competing interest.

The authors have not supplied their declaration of competing interest.