Italian social psychiatry research: What gets published in peer reviewed journals?

Publisher version: http://journals.cambridge.org/action/displayAbstract?fromPage=online&aid=8264025&fulltextType=RA&fileId=S1121189X0000231

Morale of mental health professionals in Community Mental Health Services of a Northern Italian Province.

Publisher version: http://journals.cambridge.org/action/displayJournal?jid=EPSAIMS: To explore morale of psychiatrists and psychiatric nurses working in Community Mental Health Centres (CMHC) in an Italian Province, and identify influential factors. METHODS: Thirty psychiatrists and 30 nurses working in CMHCs in Modena completed questionnaires on burnout, team identity and job satisfaction. They also answered open questions about different aspects of their work. Answers were subjected to content analysis. Regression analyses were used to identify factors that predicted morale across groups. RESULTS: Psychiatrists had higher scores on emotional exhaustion and depersonalisation. There were no significant differences between the two groups in job satisfaction and job or role perception. Professionals reported positive relationships with patients as the most enjoyable aspects of their job, whilst team conflicts and high workloads were seen as most difficult to cope with. Multivariate analyses showed that being a psychiatrist and perceiving team conflicts as a main cause of pressure in the job predicted higher burnout. CONCLUSIONS: Simple open questions coupled with quantitative measures appear a promising tool to investigate morale of mental health professionals and identify factors determining morale. Research, training and service development should focus on relationship aspects both with patients and within teams to reduce burnout in CMHCs

Do financial incentives increase treatment adherence in people with severe mental illness? A systematic review

Published by CUP from 2011. Publisher version available from: http://journals.cambridge.org/action/displayJournal?jid=EP

The difficult task of predicting the costs of community-based mental health care. A comprehensive case register study.

Previous studies have attempted to forecast the costs of mental health care, using clinical and individual variables; the inclusion of ecological measures could improve the knowledge of predictors of psychiatric service utilisation and costs to support clinical and strategic decision-making

Condotte compulsive in paziente con sindrome di Aicardi. agenesia del corpo calloso

The corpus callosum, which is the largest white matter structure in the brain of all placental mammals, connects the left and right cerebral hemispheres. An alteration in its morphology, hypoconnectivity or hyperconnectivity is a common marker of various neuropsychiatric pathologies. One of these is Aicardi syndrome, which is characterized by a triad of callosal agenesis, infantile spasms and chorioretinal lacunae. Patients affected by Aicardi syndrome frequently display other malformations together with congenital defects of the eyes, ribs and vertebrae. Based on the current clinical knowledge, this syndrome is now recognized as a complex neurodevelopmental disorder that includes neurological and constitutional symptoms. However, literature data have not yet defined the presence of a particular set of symptoms in psychiatric patients with this condition. The present case is the first report in which an on-going compulsive behaviour focused on the insistence to order objects has been observed in Aicardi syndrom

Sante De Sanctis (1862-1935), a forerunner of the 20th century research on sleep and dreaming

This article aims to reconstruct the elements of continuity and/or discontinuity in Sante De Sanctis' (1862–1935) contributions in the scientific understanding of sleep and dreaming as compared to the scientific research of his time. An Italian psychologist and psychiatrist, De Sanctis, in his work conducted between the 19th and 20th centuries, has framed the study of dreams using multi-methodology. In addition, De Sanctis experimentally established the correspondence between the deep and desynchronization phases of sleep with respect to dreaming. In this context, De Sanctis' subjects described the periodicity of sleep and consciousness, influencing the explanations of the themes that modern sleep research has, after decades, systematically studied. We demonstrate that De Sanctis' work has been underestimated, and in our opinion, deserves to be reconsidered as a source of the psychophysiological explanation of dreams and sleep. Finally, we present a graphical representation of De Sanctis' psycho- and neurophysiological model of dreamin

Perinatal depression and patterns of attachment: a critical risk factor?

Background. This study aims to verify if the presence and severity of perinatal depression are related to any particular pattern of attachment. Methods. The study started with a screening of a sample of 453 women in their third trimester of pregnancy, who were administered a survey data form, the Edinburgh Postnatal Depression Scale (EPDS) and the Experience in Close Relationship (ECR). A clinical group of subjects with perinatal depression (PND, 89 subjects) was selected and compared with a control group (C), regarding psychopathological variables and attachment patterns. Results. The ECR showed a prevalence of “Fearful-Avoidant” attachment style in PND group (29.2% versus 1.1%, < 0.001); additionally, the EPDS average score increases with the increasing of ECR dimensions (Avoidance and Anxiety). Conclusion. The severity of depression increases proportionally to attachment disorganization; therefore, we consider attachment as both an important risk factor as well as a focus for early psychotherapeutic intervention

Prominent autistic traits and subthreshold bipolar/mixed features of depression in severe anorexia nervosa

Autistic traits are associated with a burdensome clinical presentation of anorexia nervosa (AN), as is AN with concurrent depression. The aim of the present study was to explore the intertwined association between complex psychopathology combining autistic traits, subthreshold bipolarity, and mixed depression among people with AN

Predicting costs of mental health care: a critical literature review

Cost evaluation research in the mental health field is being increasingly recognized as a way to achieve a more effective deployment of scarce resources. However, there is a paucity of studies that seek to identify predictors of psychiatric service utilization and costs. This paper aims to critically review the published research in the field of psychiatric service utilization and costs, and discusses current methodological developments in this field

Psychopathological risk in parentally bereaved adolescents

For a child, the death of a parent is a traumatic experience and can give rise to several difficulties during the child’s development. International literature in this field has focused on clinical populations; evaluations of the psychological difficulties in adulthood have rarely been aimed at non-referred samples. The present study assessed the psychological functioning of a non-referred sample of adolescents, with consideration given to the impact of the loss of a caregiver during childhood on their psychological profiles. It also evaluated the association between the adolescents’ psychological profiles and possible psychopathological risk in the surviving parents. Three groups of subjects (N=96) were considered: adolescents who had suffered the loss before 3 years of age (Group A); adolescents who had experienced loss between 3 and 10 years of age (Group B); and adolescents who had experienced no loss (Group C). Psychological profiles, eating difficulties, and dissociative symptoms were evaluated during adolescence (14-16 years of age). Also assessed were the psychological profiles of the surviving caregivers. Group A had higher scores than Group B and C, indicating that there had not been an improvement in their psychological well-being. In addition, it was found that the psychological profiles of the surviving caregivers may have had an influence on the adolescents’ psychological difficulties. This result is important for prevention, and it could direct clinical work and early intervention in this specific field by taking into account the influence of the surviving parent