About 30% of individuals in ultra-high risk (UHR) of psychosis develop overt psychosis within 3 years, and about 40% of those who don’t will keep experiencing ongoing attenuated psychotic symptoms and persistent functional disability. During this prodromal period, it’s possible to prevent the transition to a first-episode psychosis.

To conduct a short review of literature on the role of cognitive-behavioural therapy (CBT) in preventing psychosis in ultra-high risk patients.

We performed a literature search on PUBMED, using the query: “Cognitive Behavioral Therapy” [Mesh] AND “psychosis” AND “prevention”. We focused on data from systematic reviews, clinical trials and meta-analysis published on last 5 years, either in English or Portuguese.

Some authors claim cognitive-behavioural therapy (CBT) as first-choice treatment in clients with ultra-high risk (UHR) for psychosis. CBT aims to normalize extraordinary experiences with education and to prevent delusional explanations. On a Japanese study, the total score of Positive and Negative Syndrome Scale (PANSS) significantly improved on post-intervention and follow-up assessments, with large effect sizes observed. Teaching families to apply CBT with their offspring may bolster therapeutic gains made in time-limited treatment. CBT showed an 83% probability of being more effective and less costly than routine care.

Patients with UHR for psychosis can be treated successfully with CBT to postpone and prevent the transition to a first-episode psychosis. CBT for UHR has been included in the European guidelines and awaits dissemination and implementation in mental health services.

Mindfulness techniques, which are currently widely used in psychosomatics and psychotherapy, pose challenges when treating people coming from Buddhist groups for several reasons.

For their treatment, it is important to take into account decontextualized terms that underlie crucial group dynamics and the effects of damaging neologisms in international Buddhist organizations.

In the current research project, this topic is approached in combining quantitative with qualitative data. Whereas the data collection is still ongoing, the replies of twelve people are presented.

As commitments to secrecy hinder people to ask for psychotherapy for long, they were asked on their thoughts about secrecy in Buddhist groups. Five of them agreed that acts against them were declared secret, which they then further specified. Six probands agreed having witnessed acts directed toward others being sworn to secrecy, four of which told this was about sexual abuse. Whereas nine agreed having experienced enemy images being built up, three agreed and specified how their own freedom was impaired and six witnessed and specified other group members’ freedom having been constrained. While six persons agreed that it was assumed in their group one or more persons could ‘purify’ someone else in the sense of a ‘karma purification’ and specified their replies, two replied this concept was used to rationalize actions towards themselves and how it has affected.

As for psychotherapy, it is important to take into account rationalization of violence and abuse through neologisms, pseudotherapies and structural issues in context.

This research is funded by the German Federal Ministry of Education and Research (BMBF).

On the basis of complex clinical anamnestic, clinical psychopatological, pathopsychological research, data were obtained about reasons and conditions of formation, abnormal clinical psychopathological structure, syndrome peculiarities of emotional disfunctions for patients with episodic paroxismal disorders, generalized anxiety disorders and mixed anxiously depressed disorders.To realize the aim and tasks of the research, 145 patients were examined with anxiety disorders, that passed the stationary course of treatment.

The purpose of the research was to discover emotional disturbance peculiarities for anxiety disorder patients with different origins of pathological syndromes.

The basic method was a group psychotherapy with the elements of rational, positive, suggestive and family psychotherapy. In relation to disfunctions of emotional sphere, cognitive-behavioral therapy (CBT) was used for the phobic-depressive and anxious-depressed disorders.

Decrease in general level of anxiety and internal anxiety was obtained for most patients. No spontaneous emergence of fear was practically observed. While active interviewing, patients stated that their former worries and fears have lost actuality and apparent emotional colouring, somatic-vegetative correlates of anxious states disappeared. Up to the end of the therapy course, a sense of calmness was attained as a base-line for the background emotional state. Considerable reduction of symptomatic of the depressed circle also took place. Patients’ mood increased, their interests broadened, patients started to feel joy and optimism.

To correct emotional disfunction of patients with episodic paroxismal disorders, generalized anxiety disorders and mixed anxiously depressed disorders, psychotherapeutic correction system is optimal to use, which is built based on stepwise and multimodal principles.

Hospital discharge is a significant transitional phase with varying levels of needs and risks to be managed as lapses in communication commonly happen between secondary/tertiary and primary care.

Our aim was to look at inclusion of delirium diagnosis in discharge summaries based on standards set by: 1. Health Information and Quality Authority (HIQA) National Standard for Patient Discharge Summary Information 2. NICE Guidelines on Delirium: prevention, diagnosis and management (CG 103)

All inpatients referred to Liaison Psychiatry from 9thJuly 2019 till 5th January 2020 were included, n = 729. Compared discharge summaries diagnoses to the internal Liaison Psychiatry ICD 10 consensus diagnosis and also HIPE coded diagnosis specifically for delirium.

Delirium diagnoses and inclusion of delirium-specific information on discharge summary

Hospital discharge summaries are essentially the main communication link between hospitalists and general practitioners to ensure continuity and future care of patients. Delirium diagnosis is not always recorded in discharge summaries. This is a risk to be managed. Education is vital to ensure awareness, prevention, early recognition and to ensure recording of diagnosis of delirium.

The reception of a patient in the psychiatric ward is an important step that determines the proper course of care. The welcome is the first stage of the relationship, it is essential to take the measure of the importance of this moment.

Assess psychiatric inpatients’ knowledge of their rights and obligations.

This was a descriptive and cross-sectional study based on a self-administered questionnaire containing about twenty questions (20), which assessed the knowledge of patients hospitalized in the HMPIT psychiatry department about their rights and obligations.

Twenty-five (25) patients agreed to answer the questionnaire and two (2) patients refused. Sixty percent (60%) of the patients were unaware of their rights. Sixty-eight percent (68%) of the patients did not know their duties. Forty-eight percent (48%) of the patients did not know the rules and conditions of hospitalization in psychiatry.

Patients hospitalized in the psychiatric ward have limited knowledge about their rights and duties and about the conditions and rules governing hospitalization. In addition to the poster on patients’ rights and duties, a welcome leaflet will provide all the information on the rules of hospitalization.

Therapeutic seclusion, consist of locking a patient alone in a room dedicated to this type of care. It poses real questions about respect for fundamental rights, in particular the right to liberty.

The objectives of our work were to evaluate the practices of psychiatric doctors and nurses in seclusion.

Our study is descriptive-based. Using a self-questionnaire, a set of questions about the decision of seclusion, its prescription, its means, its surveillance, the information of the patient and his relatives as well as the characteristic of the seclusion room, were asked. Our target population consisted of medical and paramedical staff working in the HMPIT Psychiatry Department.

Our study covered eleven doctors and fourteen nurses. The average age was 35 years with 52% having more than 5 years of psychiatric experience. Fifty-two percent used seclusion while 72% had no specific training. Twelve (12%) percent felt that no accidents could occur in seclusion. Twenty percent (20%) did not find it necessary to transcribe the monitoring parameters on the medical file.

Our study showed that the psychiatric staff lack sufficient exposure to in the area of therapeutic seclusion. A seclusion protocol has been drawn up to guarantee patient safety.

At Coombe Wood Mother and Baby unit (MBU) there are daily multi-disciplinary team (MDT) handover meetings and a weekly MDT ward round attended by 7-8 team members. There are concerns that the handover is too time consuming, utilising time which could be spent on other clinical duties, and concerns regarding the relevance of information that is handed over.

To perform a service evaluation to determine the efficiency and quality of MDT handover meetings in an MBU setting.

Data was collected from September to October 2020. A checklist was designed listing information felt to be relevant to handover and contained the following data points – ‘current situation’, ‘mental health’, ‘level of observations’, ‘risk’, ‘physical health’, ‘baby care’, ‘baby supervision levels’ and ‘tasks and responsibilities’. The start and stop times of each MDT handover meeting were noted and a record was made as to whether these topics were discussed.

Mean meeting duration was 32.2 minutes (range: 13 – 45 minutes) and amounted to 2.68 hours spent in MDT handover over a 5-day working week. This equates to 21.4 person-hours (based on 8 staff) a week. 928 data points were generated. 50.7% (468) data points were recorded and commonly omitted data points were – ‘tasks and responsibilities’, ‘risk’, ‘level of observations’ and ‘physical health’. On all occasions, ‘current situation’, ‘mental health’ and ‘baby care’ were handed over.

The results of this service evaluation provide compelling evidence for a wider improvement project. Involving MDT staff in designing interventions will make handover meetings more meaningful.

There is a need to study therapies that may contribute to the successful rehabilitation of veterans with traumatic brain injury (TBI) and increase their effective interaction with the stressful environment, reduce the severity of symptoms. Combined short-term therapies may have potential.

To analyze the clinical case of combined psychological treatment of TBI in a Ukrainian combat veteran with reduced resilience

The clinical case of Ukrainian combat veteran with TBI is presented. Montreal Cognitive Assessment (MoCA) was used to assess cognitive domains. Neurobehavioral symptom inventory (NSI) was used to assess neurobehavioral symptoms of TBI. CD-RISC was used to assess resilience. In addition to pharmacotherapy, the patient agreed to undergo a combined program of psychological therapy of 3 short-term positive intervention sessions and 3 cognitive training sessions.

MoCA result prior to treatment was 24 p., NSI – 38 p., CD-RISC – 44 p. (lower than in population). After the combined therapy, the results of the assessment with MoCA were 26 points, NSI was 17 points, CD-RISC – 47 points. Subjectively, the patient noted an improvement in emotional state, better resilience, and a significant reduction in the intensity of cognitive symptoms.

Combining positive interventions with cognitive training can have the potential to significantly improve the neurobehavioral and cognitive functioning of war veterans with traumatic brain injury, and also possibly increase resilience. Further research in this direction will be conducted to obtain more reliable results.

The active development of psychosocial rehabilitation (PSR) has been taking place in Russia within latest two decades. In this regard, analysis of the accumulated experience and problems’ identification in the PSR field is relevant.

Conducting a sociological study in the Volga Federal District (VFD) to work out measures for further PSR system development.

Sociological, statistical, original semi-structured questionnaire on PSR application, including 26 questions.

63 institutions providing psychiatric care in 14 large regions of the VFD participated in the study. Achievements in the field of PSR include: introduction of new forms of rehabilitation care, modern psychosocial interventions; development of the volunteer sector and others. A number of systemic problems were also identified: more pronounced decrease in the availability of psychiatrists in VFD compared to the Russian Federation (RF) as a whole (in the VFD 0.76 psychiatrists per 10 thousand population in 2017 and 0.74 per 10 thousand population in 2018; in RF: 0.83 psychiatrists per 10 thousand population in 2017, 0.82 per 10 thousand in 2018); insufficient provision with psychotherapists, psychologists, social workers, which varies considerably in different territories (up to 10 times); insufficient use of non-profit organizations’ (NPOs) potential; lack of a unified system for assessing PSR effectiveness.

Measures for development of PSR were proposed: improving staffing levels and qualifications of employees, introducing psychosocial interventions with proven effectiveness; dissemination of successful experience of NPOs, development of methodological tools for assessing effectiveness of PSR, its standardization and others.

It was shown that children with specific language impairments (SLI) have deficits not only in producing and understanding language but also in visuospatial abilities (Kiselev et al., 2016). We assume that training programs that are aimed to develop the visuospatial abilities can help children with SLI.

The goal of this study was to assess the impact of visuospatial training on the language abilities in 6–7 years old children with SLI.

The participants were 20 children aged 6–7 years with SLI. Children were randomly assigned to the intervention and comparison group. Children from intervention group participated in 8 weeks of visuospatial training. This programme trains the child to do different visuospatial exercises both on motor and cognitive level. This programme is built on the conceptual framework derived from the work of Luria’s theory of restoration of neurocognitive functions (Luria, 1963, 1974). We used the subtests from Luria’s child neuropsychological assessment battery to assess language abilities in children before and after the intervention period.

Analysis of covariance tested the effect of visuospatial training programme on five language subtest from Luria’s child neuropsychological assessment battery. Group differences (p<.05) were found for subtest that assess understanding prepositions that describe the spatial relations between objects. Posttest mean for the intervention group were significantly (p<.05) greater than the control group.

It can be assumed that visuospatial training in children with SLI benefits specific language abilities for understanding sentences with spatial prepositions.

The process of recovery of mental reactions in children after acute traumatic brain injury is determined by complex methods with an interdisciplinary approach. Studies of emotional, communicative and behavioral reactions are based on an assessment by a psychiatrist and a teacher-defectologist.

To study mental reactions and identify predictors of positive recovery of consciousness after acute brain injury in children in early rehabilitation.

48 children (14–36 months) with acute severe traumatic brain injury who were admitted for treatment and rehabilitation (in CRIEPST). Methods: psychiatric and pedagogical examinations; also - neuroimaging data and others.

Three groups of children were identified, depending on the different severity of emotional, communicative and behavioral indicators: Group 1 (11%): The level of consciousness is minimal positive. Reactions: stable gaze fixation; emotional reaction to sound (smile) and the face of an adult; short-term tracking of the gaze of the object; the ability to touch an object and hold it; sits himself. Group 2 (33%): The level of consciousness is minimal positive / negative, with an advantage of positive. Reactions: unstable gaze fixation; emotional reaction and involuntary movements to sound; reflex seizure of an object; sits with support. Group 3 (56%): The level of consciousness is minimal negative. Reactions: no emotional reactions, low motor and sensorimotor activity.

Predictors of emotional-communicative and behavioral indicators of recovery of the level of consciousness were identified: sensory and motor, cognitive and socially-oriented. These predictors are the basis for choosing a rehabilitation program with interdisciplinary support and a treatment strategy.

Psychiatric patients often are self-stigmatized and hardly involve in the treatment.

Associations of self-stigmatizing beliefs in psychiatric inpatients and their treatment motivation.

63 inpatients; ICD-10: F2–65%, F3–13%, F4+F6–14%, F06–8%; mean age 34±13, illness duration 12±11 years. Treatment Motivation Assessment Questionnaire (TMAQ), Internalized Stigma of Mental Illness scale (ISMI); K-mean cluster analysis; dispersion analyses; p≤0.05.

18 patients of cluster 1 (C1) demonstrated explicit self-stigmatization. In comparison with 25 subjects from cluster 3 (C3) stigmatized patients (C1) had higher levels of overall ISMI scores (2.9±0.3) caused by alienation (3.1±0.5), stereotype endorsement (2.5±0.5), social withdrawal (2.7±0.4), and discrimination experience (2.7±0.4). 20 patients of cluster 2 (C2) had an implicit stigma. They were more self-stigmatized (ISMI score 2.7±0.3) in contrast with subjects from cluster 3 (1.9±0.2) due to a lower level of stigma resistance (C2: 3.8±0.5 and C3 3.1±0.6 – reverse scores). Patients with implicit self-stigma (C2) had the lowest intensity of treatment motivation (Z-scores -1.2±0.6) compering with others (C1 and C3) due to the lowest TMAQ factor 1 (reliance on own knowledge and skills to cope with the disorder: -1.0±0.6) and factor 4 (willingness to cooperate with doctor: -0.9±1.0). Differences between explicitly and implicitly stigmatized patients manifested also in lower TMAQ factor 3 for the second group (awareness of the psychological mechanism of maladaptation: -0.5±0.9).

Despite alienation, stereotype endorsement, social withdrawal, discrimination experience some patients could sustain stigma due to cooperation with doctors and reliance on their own knowledge and skills to cope with illness.

Psychosocial rehabilitation is a challenge in a society with demands unsuitable for those with severe mental illness (SMI). The Mental Health Department of Matosinhos Local Health Unity (MHD-MLHU) has developed a solidarity project aiming to evaluate and elaborate individualized rehabilitative responses with people with SMI, including people from the community motivated for solidarity initiatives.

To describe a psychosocial rehabilitation project focused on community integration of people with SMI, considering needs and resources of the population, and to present the individualized rehabilitation plans carried out for people with SMI.

In January 2019, we began the home evaluation of people with SMI monitored in the MHD-MLHU. To develop solidary based play-occupational groups, we interviewed people from the community and from the common mental pathology outpatient clinic willing to participate.

We present the description and evaluation of the psychosocial responses developed by the project. These responses include recreational-occupational groups, tailored to interests of each person with SMI, and using the community support group built for the purpose. These responses promote face-to-face activities, and enhance the destigmatization of SMI. The constraints resulting from the COVID-19 pandemic led to the creation of digital responses aimed at people with SMI and the community in general.

This experience has revealed the great potential of rehabilitating the community context of people with SMI, rather than just contemplating pre-existing structured responses. The pandemic created specific challenges but made the initiative even more relevant for SMI people and for promoting the mental health of the general population.

Children in Autism Spectrum Disorder (ASD) have a qualitative deficit in social interaction. The DIR/Floortime (Stanley Greenspan and Serena Wieder) is based on the Child’s Functional Development, Individual Differences and Relationships (D for development, I for individuality or individual differences and R for relationship), aiming at building the foundations for social, emotional and intellectual skills of children.

To determine the results of 18 months DIR/Floortime™ parent training for an additional benefit in encouraging children with ASD climbing the developmental “ladder”.

The participants are 15 children with ASD aged between 2 and 6 years-old. The follow-up occurs in two private DIR Floortime Model service centers in Brazil. Protocols: Functional Emotional Assessment Scale – FEAS and Functional Emotional Developmental Questionnaire – FEDQ. The participants were followed-up one on one every four months.

At the first month of assessment the children showed lack of self regulation, social interaction and engagement with their parents in a symbolic, sensory and motor play setting. At the following evaluations, they showed increase of social interaction and engagement in the same play setting. Besides the high affect of the parents during the play time promoted a two way purpose communication and behavioral organization.

Children showed a good development of functional and emotional capacities during the study period, demonstrating the effectiveness of the DIR/Floortime model in the intervention.

When parents discover that their child has hearing loss, a new reality presents itself with frustration, a huge amount of work as special care, therapies, exams, etc. Adapting to this new situation is a huge challenge to the development of both parents and children who receive this diagnosis.

This study investigated how Brazilian parents of children diagnosed with hearing loss dealt with this situation from diagnosis to the present day.

In this study it was used the Bioecological Theory of Human Development, which considers the development of both parents and children over time. Two meetings were conducted using a focal group technique, with questions related to the diagnosis and how they faced the situation, prejudice, care of other siblings, etc.

Most parents discovered the diagnosis of hearing loss of their children right after birth. Only one mother said she did not care about the diagnosis of hearing loss while most reported having suffered a lot and glimpsed a life of difficulties. Even knowing the limitations imposed by the condition of the children, no one considered hearing loss as a sickness. Parents reported that the child suffered bullying because of difficulties in speaking and most parents say they worry about their children’s school life.

Parenting kids with hearing impairment is challenging, and involves dealing with prejudice, fear of future, long-term therapies and high costs. Nevertheless parents make great efforts to provide a good environment minimizing the risks of having such condition.

Recovery is much broader than experiencing remission of symptoms. It is understood as the experience of a subjectively significant and satisfying life, even if some symptoms of mental illness persist. The recovery process from borderline personality disorder (BPD) is complex and includes recognizing the need for change and developing greater self-acceptance.

Provide an overview of personal recovery from BPD.

The authors did a non-systematic review in pubmed with the words: “borderline personality disorder” and “Recovery”.

BPD is a serious mental disorder characterized by a pattern of instability in interpersonal relationships, self-image and affections, marked by impulsiveness and (para) suicidal behaviors. Unemployment and difficulties in obtaining and maintaining employment are highly prevalent on BPD and add social exclusion and deterioration of physical and mental health. Recent long-term follow-up studies offer a optimistic scenario, indicating high rates of clinical remission (not equivalent to full recovery). Most psychotherapies, such as dialectical behavioral therapy (DBT) or mentalization-based therapy, have proven their effectiveness in treating emotional dysregulation, impulsivity and interpersonal difficulties. Teams working with people with BPD should develop comprehensive multidisciplinary care plans. The care plan should identify long-term goals that should be realistic, and linked to the short-term treatment aims and develop a crisis plan that identifies potential triggers that could lead to a crisis.

Cognitive rehabilitation and psychoeducational interventions can be effective in individuals with BPD. These interventions can be easily implemented in mental health settings and offer benefits for improving overall functioning, which often remains affected after clinical remission in long-term follow-up.

In Taiwan, residents of mental health halfway houses (MHHH) receive psychiatric rehabilitation services, aiming for independent living and community integration. Research is yet to investigate how MHHH may effectively assist residents’ discharge in this cultural context.

To examine the processes of assessment, preparation, assistance, and appraisal of discharge from MHHH staff’s perspectives.

Semi-structured in-depth interviews were conducted with 11 halfway house staff members. Verbatim transcripts were analyzed with dimensional analysis procedures of the grounded theory methodology.

Successful discharge is a personalized process with integrated approaches addressing three essential factors: (a) regular community involvement, (b) the residents’ capacity to work, and (c) the family’s acceptance and support. Staff supported individual residents’ community involvement by attending to residents’ personal interests, resource availability, financial concerns, and transportation. Moreover, staff provided rehabilitation trainings to develop work capacity. However, residents’ motivation and functioning as well as job opportunities might affect their employment. Finally, in Taiwan, residents were rarely discharged without their family members’ consent because residents tended to co-reside with their family after discharge or rely on family support while living separately. Staff worked to engage families, which was influenced by family relationship quality, past traumatic events, financial concerns, capacity to assist the resident, and/or the resident’s ability to assist with family affairs.

To achieve successful discharges, MHHH staff need to assist each resident by developing an integrated plan to enhance conditions of the aforementioned factors, including strategies for different familial situations to garner family support in this cultural context.

An important aspect of rehabilitation programmes is assessment of their effectiveness, which is carried out mainly through clinical and psycho-pathological examinations, psychometric and psychological scales and questionnaires. The use of biological markers of the schizophrenic process to assess the effectiveness of rehabilitation assistance is of considerable interest.

To compare the clinical and socio-psychological characteristics of schizophrenia patients receiving psychosocial treatment in various forms of psychiatric care with the level of immune system activation reflecting the activity and severity of the pathological process in brain.

77 schizophrenia patients in remission of varying quality were examined, of which 52 patients (the 1st group) participated in a long-term comprehensive rehabilitation programme (3.7±2.5 years) in non-profit organization, and 25 patients (the 2nd group) received medical and rehabilitation assistance in the psychiatric day hospital (duration of treatment no more than 60 days). PANSS, HDRS, SAS-SR, SF-36, BRS scales were used. The activity of the pathological process was evaluated by the level of inflammatory markers.

Both patient groups showed a similar increase in the level of inflammatory and autoimmune markers compared to control (p<0,01). The 1st group compared to the 2nd one had a significantly higher level (p<0,05) of social functioning, stress resistance, awareness of the disease, motivation, comprehensiveness, as well as less the severity of psychopathological symptoms.

The results indicate the effectiveness of a long-term comprehensive rehabilitation programme to stabilize clinical remission, improve social functioning and the quality of life in schizophrenia patients, despite the active pathological process in brain.

Social cognition and skill deficits have been largely documented in subjects with schizophrenia (SCZs), and have a strong influence on the functional outcome of these subjects. Different behavioural interventions have been developed to target and improve social skills in SCZs. For instance, the Social Skills Training (SST) focuses on improving communication skills and assertiveness to facilitate disease management, independent living and real-life functioning of SCZs. SST seems also to have an impact on negative symptoms and social cognition.

The study aims to evaluate the effectiveness of SST in improving social cognition and negative symptoms in SCZs.

The sample included 8 chronic SCZs (age between 18 and 60), who completed 6 months of SST. The intervention consisted of two weekly group sessions of 2 hours each. We assessed psychopathology, neurocognition, real-life functioning, functional capacity and social cognition at baseline and after training. Paired samples t-tests were performed to evaluate the differences of the variables considered after completing the treatment.

Significant improvements in negative symptoms (p<.05), social cognition (p<.05), functional capacity (p<.001), activities of daily living (p<.001) and interpersonal relationships (p<.011) were found.

The present findings suggest that SST might ameliorate social cognition and negative symptoms which are generally not influenced by antipsychotic treatment. The integration of pharmacological and SST interventions might have an impact on major determinants of poor real-life functioning in SCZs.

Cognitive deficits are considered a key feature of schizophrenia due to their substantial influence on the psychosocial outcome of subjects affected by this disorder. Several studies showed that moderate to severe cognitive impairments, including dysfunctions of social cognition, are already present during the early phases of the illness, in subjects with first-episode psychosis (FEPs). Psychosocial interventions, such as social skill training (SST), could therefore be implemented already upon occurrence of the first episode of psychosis to improve the overall functional outcome of schizophrenia, which represents to date an unmet need in the care of these patients.

The study aims to evaluate the use of SST to enhance social skills and real-life functioning in FEPs.

The sample included 7 FEPs (age between 15 and 40). The SST intervention included 30 sessions lasting 2 hours and delivered twice a week. Psychopathology, neurocognition, real life functioning, functional capacity and social cognition were assessed at baseline ad after training. Paired samples t-tests were performed to evaluate the effects of the intervention. All subjects were treated with second generation antipsychotics.

Significant improvements were observed in negative symptoms, social cognition, problem solving skills, as well as in global functioning (all p<0.05). Within real-life functioning, the improvement was greater for the domain of interpersonal relationships.

These preliminary findings suggest that SST might complement pharmacological treatment in FEPs to improve functional outcome in these subjects. Further studies with a higher sample size and a longer follow-up are required in order to confirm the present results.