The inter-critical phase in bipolar disorder may contain symptoms that do not meet the diagnostic criteria for a thymic episode. According to studies, these symptoms are common and usually associated with impaired psychosocial and family functioning.

Study the subsyndromal symptoms in remitted patients with bipolar disorder, and their functioning repercussions.

We conducted a cross-sectional, descriptive and analytical study, in the outpatient psychiatry department of the University Hospital in Sfax (Tunisia) among 30 remitted patients with bipolar disorder. We used: the Montgomery And Asberg Depression Rating Scale (MADRS), the Angst Hypomania Questionnaire and the FAST test to assess functioning levels.

The average age of our population was 44.37±15.45 years with a sex ratio (M/F) =0.66. Most of them lived in urban areas (60%) and half of them did not go beyond the primary school level. Most did not have a constant job (76.6%). The average number of previous thymic episodes was 2±1.33 times/year. A quarter of the patients (26.6%) had hypomanic symptoms in the intercritical phase and 20% had depressive symptoms. Hypomanic symptoms were correlated with tobacco use (p=0.035). Depressive symptoms weremore frequent in men (p=0.074). Functioninglevel was lower in subjects living in rural areas (p=0.065).

Our study suggests that residual symptoms were frequent with a significant functional impact. As a result, their identification and management are highly essential to improve the overall functioning of patients with bipolar disorder.

Shared psychotic disorder or Folie a deux is an unusual mental disorder characterized by the transfer of delusions between two or more people who have a close relationship. An individual (inductor or primary) who suffers from a psychotic disorder, influences one or more individuals (induced or secondary). Delusional disorders or schizophrenia are the most commonly diagnosed disorders in the inductor individual.

The objective of this study is to describe the clinical characteristics of an unusual entity such as shared psychotic disorder.

Description of a clinical case of shared psychotic disorder of a family treated in the emergency room during confinement.

47-year-old woman, goes to the emergency room with her husband. No psychiatric history. Both the patient and her husband verbalize delusions of harm and surveillance from neighbors. They also report that two of their children hold this belief. The mother, unlike the rest of the cohabitants, presents disqualifying auditory hallucinations. Her husband decides to take her to the emergency room because he finds her distressed, “between two realities” and aggressive when she is confronted about hallucinations. We start treatment with oral paliperidone in the mother and a subsequent follow- up, and a total remission of symptoms in all cohabitants.

As in other mental disorders, the correct diagnosis and subsequent referral are essential. The separation of the inductor individual from the induced one is useful for the correct management of this disorder. With timely intervention and a regular follow-up, the Folie a deux has a good prognosis.

No significant relationships.

The course of the epidemics such as COVI9 -19 and SARS has taught us that the management of the epidemic depends primarily on people’s adherence to and implementation of the recommended measures.

This study aimed to determine the knowledge and opinions of individuals about COVID-19 and transmission methods, sources of information, application status about protection measures and related factors.

1444 people participated into the digital survey between March 22-April 6, 2020 for this descriptive study. For data collection, a 12-questions questionnaire consisting of questions about the sociodemographic characteristics, information sources they used about the COVID-19, their thoughts the practices to prevent the transmission of COVID-19 was conducted. Using descriptive statistics and comparison tests, individuals’ perceptions about methods of protection from Covid-19 and related variables were investigated.

The participants have had sufficient knowledge about Covid-19 and measures.They were using social media platforms, official web sites and TV news to get information about the COVID-19. The rates of believing and applying measures such as staying distant from people, washing hands, staying at home, avoiding from public transportation, using alcohol disinfectants were quite high. The women, people living in large cities, healthcare workers, regular commuters to work believed in measures more, however, their level of anxiety and seeing themselves and their environment at risk were higher.

Despite all the positive results regarding coronavirus infection and protection measures, the fact that the epidemic is spreading rapidly indicates the need for studies to continuously evaluate what has changed in the process and as time increases.

No significant relationships.

Under-diagnosis of depression is a concerning problem for Latvia. According to our previous research at least 115 000 new cases have to be diagnosed each year, but the data of National Health Service show that most of the cases remain undiagnosed and untreated.

To determine the point prevalence of depressive episode and associated factors in Latvian general population.

Computer assisted face-to-face interviews were carried out between November 2019 and March 2020 to gather information on a representative sample of the Latvian adult population (n=2687). The study sample was selected using a stratified random sampling method. The participants were interviewed using the Patient Health Questionnaire-9; a score of ≥10 was defined as indicating the presence of a clinically relevant depressive symptoms. Multinomial logistic regression was applied.

There were 1238 males (46.1%) and 1449 females (53.9%) recruited. Mean age of respondents was 49.9 (SD 18.2). The point prevalence of depressive episode in general population was 6.5% with statistically significant difference between genders: 4.8% in men and 7.7% in women (p=0.02). Lower level of education (p<0.001) and unemployment (p=0.01) were statistically significant associated factors for depressive episode among women. The odds of having depressive episode were higher in male urban dwellers (p=0.03) (but not in the capital city) and in man, who live separately, are divorced or widowed (p=0.004).

Females, especially unemployed women and those with unfinished education, are at particular significant risk of depression, which should be adressed in developing prevention strategy and screening programmes of depression.

Studies about Game Transfer Phenomena (GTP) have demonstrated lingering effects of playing video games manifesting as sensory, cognitive, and motoric intrusions (e.g., seeing images or hearing voices from the game after playing), transient changes in perception and self-agency. GTP are common among non-clinical players, though those with mental disorders are more susceptible. Gamers tend to appraise GTP as pleasant. Distress has been reported when GTP are experienced frequently and with specific content.

To show the interplay between GTP and patients’ symptomatology and the benefits of using the GTP framework in clinical contexts.

GTP were assessed via clinical interviews and with a validated GTP scale (three cases, males, 10-16 years old, playing time 6-10 h/day).

The cases were characterised by i) incorporation of videogame content into hallucinations and delusions, ii) identification with a videogame character and subsequent distress provoked by hearing the character’s voice and iii) self-induced GTP as self-soothing behaviour when reducing playing time. Main GTP manifestations were in the auditory modality as sounds or voices. The primary clinical diagnoses were gaming disorder, depressive disorder, and psychosis.

On one hand, GTP can be pleasurable and a way to cope with withdrawal symptoms from gaming disorder, though it can lead to compulsive behaviours and dissociation. On the other hand, GTP can be interpreted negatively and fulfil delusions that provoke distress and compromise mental stability. The cases reveal that the GTP framework can be an effective psycho-pedagogic method and support differential diagnosis.

No significant relationships.

Conceptualising Schneider’s first-rank symptoms (FRS) as a diagnostic test whose performance can be measured in terms of sensitivity and specificity involves some issues that require reflection. The first formal proposal was contained in a 1939 monograph Schneider wrote, but little is known of their prehistory. In recent years there has been renewed interest in their clinical value.

This work aims to review the the diagnostic the evolution and diagnostic accuracy of FRS.

A non-systematic review was performed, searching Pubmed/MEDLINE for articles using the keywords “schizophrenia” and “first rank symptoms”.

From the beginning of Western descriptive psychopathology in the early 19th century, symptoms have been observed later described as first-rank by Schneider. When FRS are conceived as simple clinical indicators at a low level of inference, the results of the meta-analytic estimate of their diagnostic accuracy can be considered as a valid appraisal of their performance and usefulness. However, when FRS are conceptualised from a psychopathological perspective as strange and incomprehensible experiences that cannot be reduced merely to their propositional content and require substantial expertise and skill to be properly evaluated, the meta-analytic estimates can hardly be seen as a valid evaluation of their diagnostic significance, considering that some FRS are extremely difficult to assess properly.

The descriptions of these symptoms present substantial temporal and geographical continuity, over two centuries and in many countries. There is contradictory information concerning the validity of FRS as a clinical indicator. Phenomenologically informed studies are needed to address this research gap.

Recent studies showed that stress and anxiety increased during the Covid-19 pandemic (Bäuerle et al., 2020; Salari et al., 2020). It is important to identify factors which are related to this increase.

In present study we investigated how perceived value threat of Covid-19 is related to anxiety and depression symptoms in April – May 2020 during the lockdown in Russia.

Three hundred and four participants were recruited online (Mage=33.18, SD=13.33, 108 males, 194 females). Participants completed the Short Schwartz’s Value Survey (SSVS; Lindeman & Verkasalo, 2010). They were next asked to rate how likely their values could be threatened because of the Covid-19. They also completed the State-Trait Anxiety Inventory (Spielberger, 1983) and Beck Depression Inventory-II (Beck et al., 1996).

A multiple linear regression model was built to assess how own values and values threatened by Covid-19 explain state anxiety during the lockdown. Threat to openness values was positively related to state anxiety (b=1.07, SE=.49, β=.13, p=.032). Threat to conservation values was only marginally related to state anxiety (b=1.03, SE=.58, β=.13, p=.074). The effects of self-enhancement and self-transcendence values were not significant.

When Covid-19 is perceived as a threat to openness to change values – hedonism, stimulation and self-direction – people experience higher level of anxiety symptoms. Interestingly, perceived threat of Covid-19 to security, conformity and tradition was only marginally related to anxiety. Future studies might explore how encouraging people to fulfill their openness to change values in a safe mode might decrease the level of anxiety.

Epigenetics hypothesizes a crucial link between postnatal risk factors, individual response to stress, DNA methylation and psychiatric symptomatology changes during life.

We analyzed methylation within two gene exons: NR3C1 and SLC6A4, which are involved in responses to environmental stressors. We investigated the relationship between methylation, postnatal risk factors and psychopathology assessed by Child Behavior Checklist (CBCL) in our help-seeking sample evaluated in infancy (W1), preadolescence (W2) and adult life (W3).

Postnatal risk factors data were collected at W1 in 205 clinical subjects (156 M, 49 F; age=9,13±1,95). The CBCL scores were collected at W1 and W2 (W2 age=14,52±2,12). Data regarding methylation were collected at W2. At W3 we are also collecting clinical scores. A Spearman correlation coefficient was calculated between methylation percentage and clinical data at W2. The externalizing and internalizing trajectories were evaluated through repeated measure ANOVA with postnatal risk factors (presence/absence) as between-groups factor.

Significant associations were found between methylation and internalizing and total clinical scores (Table 1). The rm-ANOVA results showed a significant interaction between the CBCL internalizing score and presence/absence of postnatal risk, with higher internalizing problems in subjects that were exposed to postnatal risk factors. This effect was significant at W2 but not at W1 (Figure 1).

Psychopathological symptoms trajectories could depend on epigenetics and early environmental risk factors. Further analyses will address a Linear Discriminant Analysis to proceed to a machine learning oriented approach.

No significant relationships.

Psychiatric emergencies are acute disturbances in thought, behavior or mood which require immediate medical intervention. As a substantial number of patients with mental illness present as psychiatric emergencies, the sustainability and management of psychiatric emergency services becomes significant.

In this study we aimed to examine the factors associated with psychiatric emergency care, taking the boarding time in the emergency department as primary outcome measure.

Charts of 466 psychiatric emergency cases admitted to the Hacettepe University Emergency Department (ED) between December 2018 – September 2019 were evaluated. Boarding time (BT) in the ED, presence of self-harm, psychotic symptoms and agitation were noted.

In the examined period, number of patients admitted increased with time significantly (r= 0.562, p <0.01). However, increase in the number of patients was not correlated with an increase in BT. Patients with psychotic symptoms had greater BT compared to non-psychotic patients (7.01 hours vs. 11.24 hours, T= -2.796 df = 182.717 p <0.01). Patients with self-harm also had greater BT (7.47 hours vs. 9.85 hours, T = -2.013 df = 433 p <0.05). Patients with self-harm in relation with previous suicidal ideation displayed significantly a longer BT when compared with patients admitted due to self-harm without any suicidal plan (U=2572,5 p<0.01).

A significant increase in BT with psychosis and self-harm due to a suicidal plan supports the need of intermediate facilities between the ED and inpatient units, as such facilities would create a positive impact in the care of psychotic and suicidal patients.

Accurate and objective risk assessment is important in the evaluation of many mental disorders and behaviours. For example, in the evaluation of suicidal behaviour or the assessment of accidents in ADHD. Video games could contribute to improve the assessment and increase engagement.

Our hypothesis is that the proposed videogame can precisely evaluate risk. In addition, the developed game is able to indirectly assess the risk. This feature is useful in setups where patients are prone to lie.

We have developed a car driving video game where users are told that they should drive near to the border but not too much. We record distance to the border and each key pulsation every 0.1 seconds.

It has been observed that the median of recorded distance positively correlated with the score obtained by Self-report of Risk-taking Behaviors (SRB). In addition, the interquartile range significant correlates with the global score obtained in this questionnaire.

The proposed videogame is able of performing an accurate risk assessment. Our game takes seven minutes and it does not need complicated nor expensive hardware and could be deployed online. Results obtained open up new possibilities of creating video games which make an objective assessment risk.

The presence of psychological impact on relatives of patients admitted for Covid-19 has been described. The effectiveness of psychological first aid in critical situations has also been described. The first psychological aid describes a human response supporting another person who is suffering. This intervention is indicated for those affected by a traumatic event.

To present a theoretical review about psychological first aid and to describe data about it on relatives of patients admitted for Covid-19.

Literature review about psychological first aid and data description of telephone intervention carried out by mental health professionals on family members of patients admitted for Covid-19.

From an initial pool of 77 Covid-19 patients, 50 were selected as telephone contact with relatives was possible. Mean age was 68.9 years, 13 were female and 37 male. 90% were admitted in internal medicine department and 10% in intensive care unit. First telephone intervention in all cases was to introduce the psychiatrist in charge of the follow-up and provide contact number of psychiatry department. In 13 relatives` support, emotional ventilation and active listening was provided and 2 of them also received therapeutic guidelines. Further phone contact was required in 12 relatives. In follow-up phone calls, all relatives received therapeutic guidelines and 3 was referred to our outpatient clinic.

Family members of patients admitted for covid-19 may present emotional symptoms, many of them normal reactions in context of a crisis situation. A large percentage do not require a structured psychotherapeutic intervention but can benefit from a first psychological help.

No significant relationships.

Personal and environmental factors may contribute to psychological distress in medical students. As a result, they are more susceptible to suicidal ideation, a serious public health problem.

Estimate the prevalence and recognize associated factors of Suicide Ideation and Suicide Attempt among medical students at the Federal University of Sergipe, Brazil.

A cross-sectional study was performed with randomly selected students between April and June 2019. A structured online questionnaire about sociodemographic characteristics, educational process, and the current psych emotional experiences, besides Beck Scale for Suicide Ideation (BSI), which detects the presence of suicidal ideation, were applied. Statistical evaluation was performed with descriptive analysis and logistic regression for the evaluation of multiple variables.

The study included 133 students, with an average age of 22.9±3.5 and 51,9% were male. Among this sample, 27,1% had suicidal ideation. The frequency is higher in those students who family income <10 minimum wages (OR=3.47) and who were not satisfied with the course (OR=3.52). Furthermore, the frequency of suicide attempt was 15.8%. It was higher among those who claimed to use a doctor-prescribed psychopharmaceutical (OR=10.46) and who lost some discipline in the course (OR=8.17). Ideation and attempt were significantly associated (p<0.001).

Frequency of suicidal ideation was high, associated with dissatisfaction related to the educational process, as well as lower family income. History of attempted suicide was also frequent and associated with ideation. Intervention and prevention measures are required.

Insomnia is a frequent reason of consultation in psychiatry. Always it is associates to other psychiatric pathologies.After stabilisation of the main disorder, it can become the only complaint.

This study aimed tob assess the prevalence of severe insomnia among patients suffering from different psychiatric disorder, and their sociodemographic profile.

It is a cross sectional study conducted in February 2020 at the psychiatric ward of the military hospital of Tunis, including 80 patients who responded to the questionnaire of Insomnia Severity Index (ISI).

The study included 80 patients (18 to 66) years old with average age 38.78.The questionnaire showed that 26.92% didn’t have any sleep disorder, 25% had light insomnia, 42,30% had mild insomnia and only 5.76% suffered from severe insomnia.The patients counseling for anxiodepressive disorders were 48%, for PTSD were 17.46% and 17.3% for psychosis. Military population represented 80% of total patients interviewed and the average of years of service was17.7 years. The single patients were 46% th others were married. 70% of the patients were under hypnotic drugs besides the main treatment.

Sleep disorders have a significant impact on cognitive functions and life quality which should be separately studied. Despite of well conducted pharmacotherapy, some patients still suffering from severe insomnia, it can be attributed to the main psychiatric disorder, relapse, treatment resistance, substance abuse…The importance of the psychiatrist involvement in screening and treatment can obviously enhance the prognosis. Other therapeutic alternatives which are non pharmacological such as phytotherapy ans CBT should be proposed to patients.

Following the national lockdown in the UK in March 2020 in response to the COVID-19 pandemic, we instigated regular online tutorials for fourth year medical students undertaking their psychiatry placement.

The aims of these tutorials were threefold: to ensure that students covered a range of key psychiatry topics, to enable them to have the opportunity for interactive tutorials with experienced psychiatrists and, not least, to create a sense of continuity and connection with their tutors and peers across the mental health block.

Each student was allocated to a tutorial group comprising 10 – 15 medical students and a psychiatrist facilitator. These groups met weekly for 7 consecutive weeks at an agreed time for 60 – 90 minutes via an online platform and all covered the same allocated topic each week. We evaluated these groups via an online survey sent to the students following the programme.

The students rated the tutorials on average as 4.5/5 on whether they met the defined learning outcomes. On average the students did not consider that the virtual format made a significant difference to their learning, but this disguised a wide range of views that were expressed via a comment box.

The evaluation of this project supports the use of virtual tutorials as a valuable learning tool but educators need to be aware that student views’ on these can be varied and so, long-term, a blend of virtual and face to face learning is most likely to meet the needs of all students.

In anxiety disorders with a lot of research on the effectiveness of treatment procedure it is important to consider patients’ implicit attitude towards mental health services, especially psychological help.

To investigate the attitude towards psychological help in anxiety disorders.

In order to reconstruct an implicit attitude towards psychological help the method of color-emotional semantic associations (Kiselnikov et al., 2014) was used. Ten patients with anxiety disorders and 25 subjects from control group with no history of attending mental health services evaluated subjective differences between 15 semantic objects, 10 basic emotions and 10 colors. Factor analysis was used.

The analysis revealed the two-factor structure: “Valence” and “Arousal”. The semantic object “Psychological help” got 0.92 and 0.72 as first factor loadings and 0.26 and -0.65 as second factor loadings in anxiety disorders and in control group, respectively. The comparison showed a more intense and positive attitude towards psychological help in anxiety disorders. Contrariwise, the data for other semantic objects showed the tendency of more intense and negative evaluations in the clinical group.

In anxiety disorders a shift in the categorical structure of consciousness to more negative and intense attitudes could be associated to anxiety and threat readiness. However, the attitude towards psychological help was an exception as more intense and positive which could be considered as an important factor of the effectiveness of the treatment in anxiety disorders. The research was supported by Russian Foundation for Basic Research with the Grant 17-29-02506.

Huntington Disease (HD) is an autosomal-dominant, neurodegenerative disorder, with a progressive course, that typically involves a triad of cognitive, motor and psychiatric disorders. Its pathogenic mechanisms are not fully understood, although a faultily encoded version of the protein huntingtin—resulting from a cytosine-adenine-guanine (CAG) trinucleotide expansion in the HTT gene—has been shown to cause intracellular toxicity in neural tissue. Patients usually presents with prodromic psychiatric perturbances, such as depression, delusions or personality changes. Occasionally HD gives rise to criminal behavior.

To understand HD clinical presentation and underlines the differencial diagnosis. We present a case of a 31-year-old male offender, whose mother was diagnosed with HD, and during his forensic-psychiatric evaluation, HD was considered, but not confirmed.

Case report.

A 31-year-old male offender was under a forensic-psychiatric evaluation due to a crime of domestic violence, after he discovers that his wife had an affair. He reports previous personality changes and depression, and compares himself with his mother, stating she was diagnosed with HD due to psychiatric prodromic disturbances. He shows concern about having a disease, and was waiting for genetic test result. After a clinical evaluation, and despite a family history of HD and genetic suspicion, it was important to consider differential diagnosis. The case refers to a passionate crime, which attempted to simulate a HD, considering his genetic background.

Psychometrically identifiable features in HD appear to be important in the context of analyzing circumstances occasioning criminal acts, but the medical history is the most important part of the examination.

No significant relationships.

There is suggestive evidence linking hoarding with several problems in emotional regulation, and though this is shared with OCD patients, it may not correlate to the presence of obsessive symptoms.

The present study aimed to examine self-reported deficits in emotion regulation (ER) and obsessiveness among individuals with hoarding disorder (HD) in comparison with others with obsessive compulsive disorder (OCD) and healthy controls

Twenty-two adult outpatients with HD, twenty-two with OCD and twenty-two age and gender matched healthy control (HC) participants completed the Emotion Regulation Questionnaire (ERQ) which measures respondents tendency to regulate their emotions in two ways: Cognitive Reappraisal and Expressive Suppression. They fulfilled as well the OCI-R which evaluates six groups of OCD symptoms: Washing, Checking, Ordering, Obsessing, Hoarding, and Neutralizing.

The HD and OCD groups scored higher, (p 0.04), on Cognitive Reappraisal than did the HC group. There was no significant difference between groups in Expressive Suppression. HD and HC groups scored significantly lower, (p < 0.001), in OCI-R than OCD patients.

Results suggest that OCD and HD are characterized by self-reported deficits in ER, but this relationship in HD patients is not solely attributable to obsessive symptoms.

Common Mental Disorders (CMD) are minor manifestations of depressive, anxious or somatoform symptoms, which do not fit the diagnostic criteria of the International Code of Diseases (ICD). In medical students, this panorama can generate even more repercussions given the complexity of the medical education process.

Estimate the prevalence and recognize associated factors of CMD among medical at the Federal University of Sergipe, Brazil.

A cross-sectional study was performed with randomly selected students between April and June 2019. The Self Report Questionnaire (SRQ-20) were used, along with a questionnaire about socioeconomic and demographic characteristics, personal aspects and educational process, prepared by the authors and previously tested in a pilot study. Statistical evaluation of multiple variables was performed through backward stepwise logistic regression analysis.

The study included 80 students, equivalent to 22.59% of the total population of the studied Campus. There was an age average of 23.2 years (± 4.12), mostly female (52.5%) and single individuals (35%). The prevalence of CMD was 50% and an association was observed with the following factors: feeling of dissatisfaction with the course (p = 0.034); consider their own academic performance poor or regular (p = 0.12); lack of physical activity (p = 0.043); being anxious when not using a cell phone (p = 0.007); and the retraction pattern in the face of conflict situations in their interpersonal relationships (p = 0.025).

Results suggest a high prevalence of CDM, associated mainly with the personal perspective about the educational process and personal habits.

The year 2020 was marked by the COVID-19 pandemic that killed more than one million people. Scientists around the world are looking for prophylactic treatment against this virus.

The objective of our study was to assess the acceptability of prophylactic treatment against COVID-19 by paramedics.

Descriptive and cross-sectional study including paramedics (nurses, orderlies) from the military hospital of Tunis. Data collection was carried out by a clinical psychologist. We studied the acceptability of prophylactic treatment by paramedics, reasons for refusal and factors that may affect this choice.

A total of 161 paramedics agreed to answer our questionnaire. The average age was 37.73 years. The average number of years worked was 14.95 years. There were 85 women (52.8%) and 76 men (47.2%). Only 59 (36.6%) agreed to take prophylactic treatment for COVID-19. The main reason for refusal was fear of side effects 57 (34.7%). Sufficient hindsight was the main factor that could make them change their decisions. This refusal was definitive for 55 (34.2%) paramedics.

Fear of drug side effects exceeds the fear of COVID.19. An information and communication strategy on the value of prophylactic treatments during a pandemic must be developed.

The COVID-19 pandemic caused employment related challenges worldwide. Adults diagnosed with Autism Spectrum Disorders (ASD) are especially vulnerable, due to pre-existing employment challenges, intolerance to changes and uncertainty and high levels of related anxiety.

To examine COVID-19 related changes in work experiences and mental health of employees with ASD who held a steady job before the COVID-19 outbreak.

Data were collected from 23 participants diagnosed with ASD (4 females), aged 20–49, who answered an online administered survey at two timepoints: prior to the COVID-19 outbreak, and during the outbreak. Self-reports included measures of background and employment status; mental health (General Health Questionnaire-12); job satisfaction (Minnesota Satisfaction Questionnaire); and satisfaction of psychological needs at work (Psychological Need Satisfaction and Frustration – Work domain).

Participants who continued to physically attend work maintained pre-COVID-19 levels on all assessed variables. Participants who transitioned to remote work from home preserved their salary levels and job satisfaction, but showed a marginally significant deterioration in mental health and a significant decrease in the satisfaction of their needs for competence and autonomy at work. Unemployed participants showed a significant decrease in mental health.

Results highlight employment as a protective factor from the potential negative implications of COVID-19 on mental-health of employees with ASD. Employees who transition to working from home require personalized work-support plans due to the possible negative effects of this transition on mental health. Maintaining the routine of physically reporting to work should be preferred, when possible.