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Background: Resilience is defined as the ability to modify thoughts to cope with stressful events. Patients with schizophrenia (SCZ) having higher resilience (HR) levels show less severe symptoms and better real-life functioning. However, the clinical factors contributing to determine resilience levels in patients remain unclear. Thus, based on psychological, historical, clinical and environmental variables, we built a supervised machine learning algorithm to classify patients with HR or lower resilience (LR). Methods: SCZ from the Italian Network for Research on Psychoses (N = 598 in the Discovery sample, N = 298 in the Validation sample) underwent historical, clinical, psychological, environmental and resilience assessments. A Support Vector Machine algorithm (based on 85 variables extracted from the above-mentioned assessments) was built in the Discovery sample, and replicated in the Validation sample, to classify between HR and LR patients, within a nested, Leave-Site-Out Cross-Validation framework. We then investigated whether algorithm decision scores were associated with the cognitive and clinical characteristics of patients. Results: The algorithm classified patients as HR or LR with a Balanced Accuracy of 74.5% (p < 0.0001) in the Discovery sample, and 80.2% in the Validation sample. Higher self-esteem, larger social network and use of adaptive coping strategies were the variables most frequently chosen by the algorithm to generate decisions. Correlations between algorithm decision scores, socio-cognitive abilities, and symptom severity were significant (p FDR < 0.05). Conclusions: We identified an accurate, meaningful and generalizable clinical-psychological signature associated with resilience in SCZ. This study delivers relevant information regarding psychological and clinical factors that non-pharmacological interventions could target in schizophrenia. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

The COVID-19 pandemic has had a profound negative impact on the mental health of the general population. The COVID-19 pandemic and its related containment measures have increased structural disadvantages faced by marginalized communities, such as LGBTQ+ people. LGBTQ+ is an acronym used to identify lesbian, gay, bisexual, transgender and queer people plus all community members using different terms to describe their sexual orientation or gender identity. It is likely that the COVID-19 pandemic has exposed them to increased minority stress, which can also affect their physical health. Since the beginning of the pandemic, the few available studies on the mental health of LGBTQ+ have reported frequent worries about the future, negative emotions, and feelings of uncertainty. Moreover, they have faced further difficulties such as undertaking hormone therapy, accessing to health facilities or living with family members not accepting their condition. The COVID-19 pandemic has added a significant burden to the well-being of LGBTQ+ people, and therefore there is the need to provide them with dedicated supportive interventions in order to promote the early detection of mental health problems or of full-blown mental disorders. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

Background: People with anxiety disorders tend to focus on unpleasant and threatening stimuli. Our aims were to evaluate: (1) the presence of paranoid ideation, and the jumping to conclusions (JTC) bias in young suffering from an anxiety disorder and (2) the effectiveness of a cognitive‐behavioural intervention (CBT) to manage anxiety combined with 2 modules to reduce the JTC bias. Methods: Psychopathology, social functioning, metacognition and the JTC bias were investigated in 60 subjects, randomly assigned to the experimental CBT group + treatment‐as‐usual (TAU) (n = 35) or to a wait‐list group (n = 25) receiving only TAU. Each group was divided into 2 subgroups based on the score of the SCL‐90 subscale paranoid ideation (high paranoid ideation, HP; low paranoid ideation, LP). The experimental group received a weekly session of a CBT for a 3‐month period. Results: At baseline, 46.7% of our sample showed a HP and 38% showed a JTC biasAt the end of the intervention, greater effectiveness in improving anxious symptoms, paranoid ideation, interpersonal sensitivity and interpersonal relationship was reported in the experimental CBT + TAU group, with a statistically significant reduction of the JTC bias, displayed by 14.3% of the experimental group versus the 36% of the TAU group. In the same variables, greater benefits were reported for the HP experimental subgroup. Conclusions: Our study suggests the gains to integrate an anxiety CBT with modules to reduce the JTC bias in subjects with paranoid ideation, which may negatively impact the course of the disease. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

Background: The assessment of acute stress reactions and psychiatric symptomatology shortly after the occurrence of a traumatic catastrophic event, like an earthquake, is essential for implementing relief activities and for the identification of the long-term aftermath. The aim of our study was to assess the psychological distress and the occurrence of acute stress disorder (ASD) among individuals seeking help at the General Hospital Psychiatric Unit at San Salvatore Hospital following the earthquake at L'Aquila. Factors (sociodemographic, coping strategies, event-related and postevent variables) associated with the acute stress reactions were also assessed. Methods: For the first 4 weeks following the earthquake, 122 help-seekers were assessed with a checklist of traumatic-event-related variables. Measurement instruments included the Stanford Acute Stress Reaction Questionnaire (SASRQ) for the detection of ASD according to DSM-IV criteria, the 12-item General Health Questionnaire (GHQ-12) for assessing psychological distress, and the Brief Cope questionnaire for assessing coping strategies. Results: Despite the high level of psychological distress (GHQ-12 ≥20, cut-off value) found in 65.6% of the subjects, only 6 subjects (4.9%) could be considered affected by 'full' ASD, whereas 48 subjects (39.3%) could be considered affected by 'partial' ASD, which is defined as showing at least one symptom on each DSM-IV criterion as evidenced by scoring higher than 3 on each SASRQ scale. The strongest predictor of traumatic stress reactions among all the predictor variables included in our study was having been trapped/injured under rubble during the earthquake, and among earthquake stressors (explaining 20% of variance in our model), a weaker predictor was the loss of personal privacy because of home displacement. In our model, more variance (39%) was explained when individual psychopathological variables and coping styles were also included as predictors. Showing coping strategies as exhibiting 'behavioural disengagement' or 'requesting emotional support from others' were found to increase the likelihood of a positive estimate of being an 'ASD case', while the adoption of an 'acceptance' coping style seemed to reduce the likelihood of the positive estimate of being an 'ASD case'. Conclusions: This study underlines the importance of identifying ASD subsyndromal cases and taking appropriate intervention/prevention measures that focus on giving psychological support to individuals trapped/injured under rubble, showing a low acceptance of reality. A relevant underestimated source of distress was the dislocation in large accommodation settings (such as large tent camps) in which individuals lack privacy. Copyright © 2012 S. Karger AG, Basel [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

Background: When facing a traumatic event, some people may experience positive changes, defined as posttraumatic growth (PTG)., Methods: Understanding the possible positive consequences of the pandemic on the individual level is crucial for the development of supportive psychosocial interventions. The present paper aims to: 1) evaluate the levels of PTG in the general population; 2) to identify predictors of each dimension of post-traumatic growth., Results: The majority of the sample (67%, N = 13,889) did not report any significant improvement in any domain of PTG. Participants reported the highest levels of growth in the dimension of "appreciation of life" (2.3 ± 1.4), while the lowest level was found in the "spiritual change" (1.2 ± 1.2). Female participants reported a slightly higher level of PTG in areas of personal strength (p < .002) and appreciation for life (p < .007) compared to male participants, while no significant association was found with age. At the multivariate regression models, weighted for the propensity score, only the initial week of lockdown (between 9-15 April) had a negative impact on the dimension of "relating to others" (B = -.107, 95% CI = -.181 to -.032, p < .005), while over time no other effects were found. The duration of exposure to lockdown measures did not influence the other dimensions of PTG., Conclusions: The assessment of the levels of PTG is of great importance for the development of ad hoc supportive psychosocial interventions. From a public health perspective, the identification of protective factors is crucial for developing ad-hoc tailored interventions and for preventing the development of full-blown mental disorders in large scale.

Aim: In this study we examined the prevalence of internet addiction (IA) and its associated factors in a sample of Italian students., Materials and Methods: This is an observational study that involved 1403 students aged 15-24 and conducted in L’Aquila, Italy. 1129 students accepted to participate in our study and completed the Internet Addiction Test: 41% were male and the mean age of total sample was 19±2.8 years., Results: The prevalence of “average user” was 51% (95% CI: 48-54). The prevalence of “problematic user” was 23% (95% CI: 21-26). Among the students with a problematic use, 8 were addicted, the 0.7% in the whole sample. There was a significant age difference (p=0.029), but no gender difference (p=0.311) between “average users” and “problematic users”. The association of internet use and educational level (School or University) was not significant (p=0.704)., Discussion: Our results showed that about one student out of 100 had an IA. Gender and educational level were not significantly associated with IA. Instead, we found a strong association with age: there was not a decrease of internet use during a lifetime, with negative consequences on quality of life., Conclusion: Our study reported a percentage of 30% of problematic internet use among students. These findings suggest the importance of early detection among youth and of structured interventions that should be carried out to prevent abnormal global life functioning.