The extent to which social media contributes to body image dissatisfaction and lower self-esteem is currently under debate

This research seeks to study the relationship between the use of Instagram (one of the main platforms used by young people nowadays) and the degree of dissatisfaction with body image and the level of self-esteem among their younger users

A sample of 585 Spanish adults between 18 and 40 years old was used, to whom the Body Shape Questionnaire (BSQ), the Rosenberg Self-esteem Scale and the Social Comparison of Appearance Scale (PACS) were applied.

A positive correlation was observed between the frequency of use of the social network and dissatisfaction with body image and low self-esteem. In addition, it was found that content observation time significantly predicts body dissatisfaction and low self-esteem. On the other hand, the type of content both published and observed, showed no effect on any of these variables, although it has been found that the relationship between the use of the platform and the study variables seems to be mediated by the tendency of their users to compare their appearance with others.

These results invite us to reflect on the use of social networks and their impact on constructs as relevant to the person as self-esteem and body image and on how different policies should be taken into account to prevent a negative impact on the mental health of their users

No significant relationships.

Sleep disturbances (SDs), such as insomnia or regular nightmares, are associated with multiple mental health disorders, most notably PTSD, where SDs are reported in up to 92% of cases. Examining the effect of changing sleep on psychological symptomology is essential to develop the evidence base on the contribution of sleep to mental resilience.

To examine the effect a short skills-based sleep intervention on psychological symptomology and actigraphy measured sleep.

A 4-session sleep skills training programme was used to treat active SDs in participants likely to have experienced occupation-associated trauma, namely military and first responders.

Nineteen participants were included in the study. Insomnia Severity Index (ISI) measured; difficulty sleeping, difficulty staying asleep, waking too early, sleep satisfaction, sleep interference on quality of life and total ISI insomnia score improved significantly post-treatment (M = 9.44, SE = 7.35, p <0.001). No significant difference was identified post-treatment for actigraphy-measured sleep. The severity of depression (M = 5.27, SE = 1.41, p = 0.002), anxiety (M = 5.07, SE = 1.66, p = 0.008), and PTSD symptoms among participants with likely PTSD, were significantly lower following treatment (M = 29.4, SE = 4.19, p = 0.002).

A short sleep skills intervention based on CBT-I was effective at reducing self-report insomnia symptoms and severity of psychological symptomology but failed to improve actigraphy sleep metrics. These findings highlight a differing contribution of night-time sleep and current insomnia symptoms to the severity of self-reported psychological symptomology.

No significant relationships.

Postpartum and peripartum depression are debilitating disorders that impact the mother and their ability to care for their children’s emotional, social, and physical needs. Current treatments include psychotherapy, pharmacotherapy, and electroconvulsive therapy. These treatments are moderately effective or come with side effects that can negatively impact mother and child. As a result, many mothers view some treatments as unacceptable while pregnant or breastfeeding. Over the last decade, repetitive transcranial magnetic stimulation (rTMS) has shown promise as an effective and safe treatment option for postpartum and peripartum depression. However, little is known regarding people’s knowledge and attitudes towards this emerging technology, with no research assessing this in Canada.

We aim to identify gaps in knowledge and to assess attitudes toward rTMS as a treatment for postpartum and peripartum depression in mental health professionals, patients, and the general public living in Canada.

A mixed methods study design will be employed. The qualitative portion will consist of individual semi-structured interviews. An inductive thematic analysis will be completed. The quantitative portion will consist of an anonymous, self-administered survey shared through REDCap. Focus groups with rTMS experts will be conducted to inform survey creation.

No resulst at this time.

Understanding gaps in knowledge and attitudes toward rTMS is the first step toward ensuring that everyone is well informed and able to access safe and effective treatments. With limited treatment options available to a postpartum and/or peripartum depression patients being well informed on all treatments is crucial towards accessing treatments that best suit their needs.

No significant relationships.

BPD are often characterized by dependence, affectability, unpredictability, impulsivity and self-destructiveness. Paradoxically, the symptoms associated with BPD are the same behaviors that makes them difficult to accommodate by health professionals. They constitute the most excluded and stigmatized patient group.

To gain knowledge on how BPD patients felt acknowledged when they experienced the need for professional help.

We conducted semi-structured interviews with six BPD-women, aged between 18 to 46, all inpatient at different psychiatric units in the Capital Region of Denmark. The data were analyzed and interpreted through meaning condensation. We entered the philosophical hermeneutic framework of Hans-Georg Gadamer.

We found that the women experienced that; the diagnosis was a filter, in which they were always viewed and judged through as “just another BPD-patient” and not a unique individual. their cry for help was expected to be verbalized in a certain manner and therefore was often not understood nor heard, but instead they experienced to be scolded by health professionels. the emergency plan became a legitimate way for the health care professionals to avoid spending to many resources, rather than a helpful tool. the psychiatry as a unit was largely characterized by stigmatization and a distrustful attitude towards them. Therefore they felt deeply dependent on meeting that one special health professional who were experienced to have a genuine interest and desire to help them.

Findings correspond with the findings of existing research. Hence, there also seems to be significant barriers nationally for patients with BPD to experience being acknowledged and helped, when in need of professional help.

No significant relationships.

The dissociative disorders are characterized by a disruption of and/or discontinuity in the normal integration of consciousness, memory, identity, emotion, perception, body representation, motor control, and behavior.

We present the case of a 22-year-old patient, who has been following up for just over a year. The patient refers that two people inhabit her body, talk to each other, exchange opinions and both have control over the body, one giving the turn to the other depending on the circumstances. To this is added delusional symptoms of grandeur and sensorial-perceptual symptoms. In turn, depressive symptoms have appeared that have led the patient to have several suicide attempts throughout the follow-up time.

During this time, the patient has required hospital admission on two occasions due to the autolytic ideation. Treatment with neuroleptics and antidepressants has been established that have helped control delusions and thoughts of death, but not the dissociative clinic.

Dissociative Identity disorder 300.14 (F44.81)

The different symptoms presented by the patient, as well as the social and occupational deterioration that he presents, make this an extremely complicated case, both in diagnosis and in treatment. Dissociative identity disorder has been very controversial, changing its diagnostic criteria over time. More studies are needed and perhaps future research can give us more clues about this disorder.

No significant relationships.

Background A 19-year old patient with a history of traumatic childhood events presents herself for suicidal behavior driven by complex auditory hallucinations, self-mutilating behavior, and obsessive-compulsive suicidal images that depicted the patient lying dead on the floor with both wrists cut open. Prior to hospitalization, over the past 10 months, the patient exhibited symptoms of low mood, anhedonia, and an overall decline in school performance which led to a diagnosis of MDD with psychotic symptoms, but treatment with Duloxetine 60mg and Olanzapine 10mg proved to be inefficient.

Case Presentation Upon admission the patient’s mimic and behavior did not support the described sadness, she presented a circumstantial discourse with frequent thought blockages and delusions. Associated the patient also described hypervigilance and avoidance behavior towards men, flashbacks, vivid nightmares, and obsessive-compulsive self-mutilating impulses and images.

Initially, treatment was started with Olanzapine 20mg, which was augmented two months later with Sertraline 50mg and Bromazepam 3mg. This treatment led to an incomplete resolution of the obsessive symptoms, which led to the increase of Sertraline at 100mg, but at her 1-month check-up evaluation, she presented increased suicidal ideation and daily obsessive-compulsive images.

The patient was lastly diagnosed with schizophrenia, and due to the persistence of the suicidal ideations and delusions and the obsessive-compulsive symptoms, the treatment plan was revised.

Improvement of symptoms appeared under treatment with 300mg Clozapine and 50mg Fluvoxamine. In total the patient needed 98 days of hospitalization and lasting remission of symptoms appeared only under treatment with Clozapine and Fluvoxamine.

No significant relationships.

Research into sociocultural mediation of human health engages the role of gender differences in the subjective evaluation of factors that determine health status.

The focus of the research was the respondents’ opinion about the importance of various factors for human health and subjective well-being.

210 men and 403 women aged 14 to 76 years (M = 26.9; SD = 13.7) from six regions of the Russian Federation participated in the study. Participants were asked to rank six factors: genetics, healthy lifestyle, good ecology, regular medical examination, absence of stress (ability to cope with them), financial well-being in terms of their impact on human health (1 is the most important, 6 is the least important).

Both men and women consider “healthy lifestyle” to be the most important factor for human health, while financial well-being - most unimportant. Using the t-test for two independent samples, it was found that: women consider “absence of stress (the ability to cope with it)” significantly more important for health than men (t = -2.569; p = 0.010), while men consider “financial well-being” to be significantly more important than women (t = 2.807; p = 0.005).

It was revealed that men and women equally indicate the most and least important factors determining health. At the same time, subjective assessments of the importance of such factors as absence of stress and financial well-being for health have significant differences. The reported study was funded by the RFBR, project number 17-29-02506.

No significant relationships.

No significant relationships.

Personality disorders (PD) in adolescence are widespread. It creates problems of social adaptation of patients and represents significant risk factors for auto-aggressive behavior, including suicidal one. The neurobiological basis and EEG markers of PD in adolescence have not been adequately studied.

The aim of the study was to reveal the EEG features and their correlations with clinical parameters in male adolescents with borderline personality disorder (BPD) and narcissistic personality disorder (NPD), possibly mediating some aspects of their clinical traits.

28 BPD patients (301.83, by DSM-5) and 24 NPD patients (301.81, by DSM-5), as well as 24 healthy controls (HC) aged 16-25 years were enrolled in the study. HDRS-21 and HAM-A scales were used for quantitative assessment of patient’s conditions. Pre-treatment resting EEG was recorded, and EEG spectral analysis was carried out in 8 narrow frequency sub-bands. Descriptive statistics and correlation analysis of EEG and clinical data were performed.

EEG spectral parameters in BPD group did not differ significantly from those of HC. NPD group shows the EEG signs of more activated brain cortex than in both BPD and norm groups caused by decreased functional state of the anterior cortical regions. The structure of correlations between EEG parameters and clinical scores also differed between BPD and NPD groups.

The data obtained suggests that these features of the brain activity may contribute to the disturbance of emotion regulation and of behavior control in adolescent patients with BPD and NPD, more pronounced in NPD group.

No significant relationships.

The link between school education and art therapy is supported by the fact that it comes to supplement the common school education activities of children with special educational requirements with a dual purpose: to complete and fix their specific content; to train and practice as much as possible the students’ minds and critical thinking through artistic means.

Prevention of absenteeism and school dropout of the child with special educational requirements through art therapy.

In art therapy, the most used methods specific to the fields of visual arts are: drawing, painting, icon, modeling on the wheel, but other techniques can be used. Children are the ones who choose their work materials and activities from the offer that the art therapist makes.

From the offer of materials, the beneficiary prefers to paint porcelain objects and letters. He was challenged to identify letters after which he painted them.

Increasing the feeling of social utility, self-confidence. Improving school situation. Reducing school dropout and literacy.

The beneficiary has an interest in letters and numbers and their writing. Form words quickly, easily identifying letters. Create your own games by comparing numbers. Make puzzles with letters and numbers.

Art education helps the beneficiary to more easily express their emotions, perceptions, desires and way of thinking. Learning numbers and letters becomes a fun activity when using colors.

The child needs education through art, because without it there is an imbalance in the fundamental purpose of man, that of developing harmoniously and multilaterally.

No significant relationships.

Psychiatric conditions can be both a symptom and a consequence of physical disease. Although understanding of this is important for health care delivery, coverage of the relationship between physical and psychiatric illness in undergraduate medical education is sparse. This relationship is particularly pertinent in neurological disorders, where psychiatric symptomatology is commonplace. As part of a student project, the author was tasked with developing accessible teaching materials to increase interest and understanding among medical students, using podcasts.

The aim was to develop podcasts which explored the relationship between psychiatric and neurological illness, for use in undergraduate psychiatric training.

Literature reviews were performed on podcasting in medical education to identify the optimal methods of production to maximise educational value, and on topics covered in podcasts to inform the interview questions. Experts in the relevant areas were contacted for recorded interviews, later used to create podcasts.

Four interviews were conducted between the author and consultant neurologists specialising in the specific neurological condition. A podcast was produced for each of the following topics: depression in multiple sclerosis, frontotemporal dementia in motor neurone disease, Lewy body dementia, and dissociative seizures.

Psychiatric and physical illness are often intertwined. As the prevalence of psychiatric illness rises, it is becoming increasingly important that this connection is recognised, in order to improve patient experiences and outcomes. Novel teaching modalities, such as podcasts, can provide additional ways to support medical education on this important topic.

No significant relationships.

Most people experience grief-related symptoms after losing a loved one. Approximately 9.8% of bereaved individuals’ symptoms persist over the first year post-loss, emphasizing the importance of research in prolonged grief. The role of self-conscious emotions in prolonged grief, such as self-compassion, state shame, guilt and pride has been proposed in previous studies.

Our aim was to examine the mediating role of state shame, guilt and pride in the relationship between self-compassion and prolonged grief.

This cross-sectional study collected data via online questionnaires based on self-reports (N=177, mean age: 42.26 years [SD=12.32], 97.2% women). Demographic and loss-related variables were measured, and further instruments assessed levels of self-compassion, state shame, guilt, and pride, and prolonged grief. Correlation and mediation analyses were used.

Two significant indirect effects were shown in the mediation model. First, lower levels of self-compassion predicted higher levels of state shame, which in turn predicted elevated levels of prolonged grief. Second, higher levels of self-compassion predicted higher levels of pride, which subsequently contributed to lower levels of prolonged grief. Guilt did not have a significant mediating role.

The results highlight the possible role of elevated levels of state shame and lower levels of self-compassion and state pride in the development of prolonged grief. It is important for researchers and clinicians to be attentive to the role of self-compassion, state shame and pride in grieving.

No significant relationships.

The Internet increasingly influences the lives of people in pandemic times. Although there are many positives, there are also risks related to excessive use and addiction. Internet addiction subject has been explored worldwide.

The aim of this pilot study was to analyze the relationships between social connectedenss, connectedness to nature and the occurrence of Internet addiction.

The data were collected from a group of 200 young adults. A cross-sectional observational study using an online questionnaire was conducted via social media. The semi-structured online questionnaire covered the following areas: (1) general sociodemografic data; (2) Internet usage, measured by Generalized and Problematic Internet Use Scale (GPIUS2) (Caplan, 2002), Internet Gaming Disorder Scale–Short-Form (IGDS-SF9) (Pontes & Griffiths, 2015), the Bergen Facebook Addiction Scale (BFAS) (Andreassen et al., 2012); (3) nature conectedness, measured by the Connectedness to Nature Scale (CNS) (Mayer, Frantz, 2004); (4) social connectedness, measured by the Social Connectedness Scale Revised (SCS) (Lee et al., 2001); (4) psychological impact and mental health, measured by Depression, Anxiety, Stress Scale (DASS-21) and (5) psychological features, such as coping strategies (Mini-COPE, Carver et al.,1989) and personality traits (TIPI -Gosling, Rentfrow, Swann Jr., 2003)

The detailed results and key findings will be presented during the congress.

As the research of the desribed area is insufficient so far, this pilot study may provide a significant contribution to the knowledge on new aspects of internet addictions’ mechanisms. Moreover, it is predicted that our result may have scientific influence on both research in connectedness and eco-psychology.

No significant relationships.

Approximately 30% of individuals diagnosed with schizophrenia suffer from treatment-resistant or refractory schizophrenia. The gold standard for treatment is clozapine. However, a significant number of patients discontinue clozapine treatment and this carries a poor prognosis.

This study explores patients’ motives for cessation of clozapine therapy and its prevalence.

A longitudinal, retrospective and descriptive study on a period of 20 years, at the psychiatry department A of the Razi hospital in Tunisia. Data was collected from the medical files of patients trated by clozapine using a pre-established sheet.

The studied sample included 64 patient records. Treatment with clozapine was stopped spontaneously or following a medical decision in 37 patients (57.8%). The total number of clozapine stops in these 37 patients was 70. Indeed, each one of these patients had stopped treatment at least once. Clozapine was discontinued by some patients in the study sample for poor compliance(45.9%), for adverse side effects of treatment (16.2%) and by treating physicians for poor response treatment (8.1%). Clozapine was discontinued by 11 patients for hematological adverse reactions, representing 27.9% of the total number of clozapine discontinuations. Withdrawal of clozapine was indicated in 2 cases of agranulocytosis(18.2%), in 2 cases of moderate neutropenia(18.2%), in 3 cases of eosinophilia (27.2%), in 3 cases of thrombocytopenia (27.2%) and in 1 case of severe anemia (9.2%).

Clozapine discontinuation was essentially caused by poor patients’ observation and hematological adverse reactions appearance.Future research should seek to further investigate clozapine cessation factors in order to better benefit from the medical virtues of this molecule.

No significant relationships.

The major clinical outcomes of COVID-19 in the brain are associated with its deleterious neurological and mental health actions.

Today, there are limited findings concerning the studying of neuropsychiatric action for SARS-Cov-2 in humans after COVID-19 disease.

The aim of the present study was to compare the efficacy of SSRIs (escitalopram, sertraline and fluoxetine) for 6 months therapy on the affective profile of man and women with the clinically confirmed Major Depressive Disorder (MDD) or Generalized Anxiety Disorder (GAD) cases following COVID-19 disease.

. For the assessment of affective profile in man and women (30-55 years) with the initial clinically confirmed MDD or GAD cases after COVID-19 disease, we used the different tests: Montgomery-Asberg Depression Rating Scale (MADRS) and anxiety scale (ShARS Scale). The hormonal and monoamines levels in the serum blood were measured by ELISA tests before and after SSRIs therapy.

After 6 months of SSRIs therapy, MADRS Scale showed a incomplete disappearance of the depressive/anxiety manifestations in both men and women with the initial clinically confirmed MDD case after COVID-19 (p<0,05). We found that SSRIs were able to reduce depression/anxiety levels only on 20% in man or on 30% in women with the initial MDD case after COVID-19 before treatment.

SSRIs treatmet alone failed to produce the decrease of depression/anxiety in the patients of both gender with the initial MDD or GAD diagnosis after COVID-19. The further randomized clinical trials involving new pharmacological therapies for psychiatric pations after COVID-19 disease are needed.

No significant relationships.

The number of children with developmental language delay is growing. But the isolated use of speech therapy doesn’t always help to improve the long-term prognosis. It was found that developmental language delay is almost never the only violation of a child.

To develop the prevention program of emotional and behavioral disorders in children with developmental language delay.

100 children with developmental language delay (70 boys; Mage= 26.9 months, SD = 5.5) and 50 children with typical language development were studied by clinical follow-up method. The clinical method was supplemented by the Bayley Scale, the Language Development Survey and the Child Behavior Checklist 1½ -5.

A comprehensive children examination revealed developmental language delay risk factors, the psychomotor profile of the children, and the types of emotional and behavioral impairments, which were determined by us as: emotionally labile, emotionally detached and oppositional. The presence of subclinical disorders symptoms in children makes it necessary to carry out preventive measures. The primary prevention consists of pregnancy planning, effective care in pregnancy and childbirth. The secondary prevention aims to early diagnosis of developmental language delay, risk factors assessment of emotional and behavioral disorders and effective methods application of language and psychomotor development correction. Tertiary prevention have to individualized solves the children problems in accordance with revealed types of emotional and behavioral impairments. But the most important part is psychoeducation (special courses for parents and children with developmental language delay).

The prevention program was developed to prevent numerous psychiatric problems in childhood and adolescence.

No significant relationships.

Schizophrenia and bipolar disorder are severe mental illnesses that are known to have a considerable overlap in underlying pathophysiological mechanisms. More specifically, disturbances in the kynurenine pathway have been hypothesized as processes bridging altered immune responses and clinical manifestations of these illnesses.

The aim of this study was to investigate the abnormalities in serum kynurenine metabolites in schizophrenic and bipolar patients and the impact of clinical factors.

Four patient groups were included in the current study: 1) Acute bipolar inpatients (n=205); 2) stable bipolar outpatients (n=116); 3) acute schizophrenia inpatients (n=111) and 4) stable schizophrenia outpatients (n=75); and one healthy control group (n=185). Clinical symptoms were established using symptom severity scales. The quantitative determination of serum kynurenine metabolites was performed using LC-MS/MS. General linear model and multivariate linear regression analyses were used to perform the statistical analysis with JMP Pro 15.

In line with previous research, the results indicate that serum kynurenine metabolites are disturbed in schizophrenic and bipolar patients compared to healthy controls. Whereas no differences were observed between schizophrenia and bipolar disorder, illness state and duration of illness clearly impacted kynurenine metabolite levels. Acutely ill patients had significantly lower levels compared to stable patients, which seemed to be driven by psychotic symptoms.

To conclude, the results confirm the involvement of the kynurenine pathway in the pathophysiology of schizophrenia and bipolar disorder by lowered peripheral kynurenine metabolite level. In addition, an important role of acute psychotic symptoms and longer illness duration on these metabolite aberrances is demonstrated.

No significant relationships.

The sudden changes in daily routine due to the containment measures adopted for facing the COVID-19 pandemic have had an impact on the mental health of the general population. In particular, young adults are exposed to a higher risk compared to the general population to suffer from the consequences of the pandemic, in terms of anger and irritability, depressive symptoms and somatic complaints, insomnia, lack of motivation and loneliness. In particular, loneliness can be particularly pronounced during young adulthood.

This study aimed to describe the levels of loneliness in a sample of Italian young people during the national lockdown in 2020, evaluating clinical and socio-demographic differences and the role of coping strategies and levels of resilience.

A sub-analysis of a sample of adults aged 18-34 years has been drawn on a larger cross-sectional observational national trial (COMET, 2020) in which, among other psychopathological dimensions, the levels of loneliness have been assessed by the UCLA scale short version.

Levels of loneliness were particularly severe in a third of cases (risk factors: unemployment, low income and vulnerability in mental health), in association with depression, anxiety, stress, OCD symptoms, higher rates of suicidal ideation, sleep disturbance and excessive use of Internet. Levels of loneliness tended to increase over time.

Overall, during the Italian COVID-19 lockdown young people have experienced quite high levels of loneliness: this dimension could represent a useful domain to assess in routine clinical practice.

No significant relationships.

Delusional parasitosis, first documented in 1946, is a rare psychiatric illness described as both a stand-alone diagnosis, as well as a secondary condition to an underlying psychiatric or medical pathology, or substance use. Interestingly, the fixed false belief of being infested has also been identified in partners of individuals with the disease, and in some cases the delusion permeated families and was thus given the name “folie en famille”.

To describe the first reported case of delusional disorder, somatic type, with similar delusional symptoms in the patient’s husband, in the State of Qatar.

Patient and her husband were interviewed. Her file was reviewed for past history and medications.

34-year-old female with no past psychiatric history, 5 months post-partum, reported fixed beliefs of insect infestation in her baby’s skin, hers, and her husband’s, of 2 months duration. She reports a pruritic rash, and perceives proliferating insects in different life stages. The family relocated 5 times in 2 months. They bathe in vinegar several times a day to exterminate the insects. Husband mirrors her account of infestation with milder symptoms. Repeated medical investigations were insignificant. OCD, mood disorder, and other psychotic illnesses were ruled out.

Delusional parasitosis presents a unique therapeutic challenge to psychiatrists. It is necessary to build rapport with patients, rule out comorbidities, and conduct randomized controlled trials to evaluate the effectiveness of psychotropic drugs in its treatment. In cases of shared delusions, identifying the primary patient is crucial for treatment of all the individuals that share the delusion.

No significant relationships.

The constraints linked to COVID-19 may reduce resilience and intensify depressive feelings especially in vulnerable populations such as teachers.

To understand the psychological distress in terms of depression of the COVID-19 pandemic among secondary school teachers in Sfax, Tunisia and to determine the correlated factors.

This was a descriptive and analytical cross-sectional study of 97 medium and high school teachers from Sfax, Tunisia. The study was conducted on google drive in May 2021, including an information sheet and the Patient Health Questionnaire (PHQ)-9 to assess depression.

In our study, the sex-ratio (M/F) was 0.32 and the average age was 44.23 years old. The median professional seniority was 16 years (minimum=1, maximum=37). Suicidal thoughts were described by 10.4% of teachers while 54.2% reported the presence of sleep disturbances since the onset of the pandemic. The median PHQ-9 score was 8 (Q1=4, Q3=15). The distribution of scores indicated that 59.7% of participants had no to mild symptoms of depression while 40.3% had moderate to severe depression. Furthermore, the presence of depression was associated with an age ≤ 40 years old (p=0.037), a professional seniority ≤ 20 years (p=0.035), the female gender (p=0.005), the presence of sleep disturbances (p<0.001) as well as with suicidal thoughts (p=0.006).

It seems that COVID-19 health situation in education have led to the emergence of a teacher overexertion and a depth adaptation to the new environment demands. Thus, clinical attention to the depression level of the teachers is certainly warranted.

No significant relationships.