Adaptive thinking demands a balance between manifestations of intrapsychic activity and reliance on requirements of the outer reality. Features of responses to Rorschach’s III card could provide information about subject’s ability to preserve the dialectical tension between the two poles of external and internal realities during solving tasks related to interpersonal relationships.

To compare reality-fantasy relations during Rorschach’s III card responding in patients with schizophrenia, neurocognitive impairment and normal subjects.

Participants were 12 young adult inpatients with schizophrenia, 14 students without mental disorders and 12 inpatients with neurodegenerative diseases of old age. Reality-Fantasy Scale (RFS) was applied to assess responses to Rorschach’s III card. RFS scale ranges from –5 (reality collapse into fantasy) to 5 (fantasy collapse into reality) (Tibon-Czopp et al., 2015).

Patients with schizophrenia (M= –3,38, SD= 1,9) demonstrated tendency to fantasy domination (and reality collapse) if compared with the students (M= –1,47, SD= 2,0, p<0,05). Patients with neurodegenerative diseases (M= 0,75, SD= 2,1), conversely, had difficulties to apply fantasy during solving Rorschach task (p<0,01).

Express Rorschach testing using III card could be useful to provide screening data of thinking tendencies related to situations of social interaction. Also it provides a mental pabulum regarding role of cognitive impairment in schizophrenia in relation to significance of affective dependence of their thinking process.

The reported study was funded by RFBR, project number 20-013-00772

The evidence that supports an association between domestic violence and abuse (DVA) perpetration and mental disorders is increasing. Since 2011, authorities in England and Wales have been required to conduct Domestic Homicide Reviews (DHRs) into deaths caused by violence, abuse or neglect of individuals aged 16 or over, by a family member or a current or ex-partner.

The aim of the study is to describe the characteristics of perpetrators of domestic homicide in a sample of DHR reports in which the perpetrator was known to mental health services in the 12 months before the offence. This sample will undergo qualitative framework analysis as part of another study conducted by the authors.

The researchers compiled a list of DHRs available online and randomly sampled 168 reports; in 20 of those reports, the perpetrators were under the care of mental health services in the 12 months prior to the offence. We have applied descriptive statistics to report on the sample characteristics.

The common mental illnesses diagnosed amongst perpetrators were depression (20%), anxiety (15%) and schizophrenia (15%). 25% of the perpetrators didn’t have a psychiatric diagnosis and 70% had a history of self-harm and suicidal ideation. Substance use was prevalent (60%). Half of the homicides involved children.

This report describes the demographic and mental health characteristics of a sample of perpetrators of domestic homicides. Further research is needed into the patterns of mental health service use by DVA perpetrators in order to improve identification and risk management.

No significant relationships.

Physical and psychological health, social relationships and professional environment determine the quality of life of nurses.

This study aims to evaluate the quality of life of Hospital nurses and to identify the factors that influenced this assessment.

We conducted a cross-sectional study concerning nurses who answered a questionnaire developed and structured in order to assess the quality of life and with the appliance of the World Health Organization Quality of Life Instrument (WHOQoL-BREF). The statistical processing was done with IBM SPSS Statistics for Windows, Version 21.0.

Most of the nurses were women (78.30%), married (81.70%) and with a specialization degree (65 %). The mean age of the study population was 50.20 years (±7.20 years). Most of them considered their quality of life good or very good (46.7%) and were satisfied or very satisfied with their health (48.4%). There is a significant association between quality of life and satisfaction with life (p=0.000). The average score of Physical health was 55.76(±13.89). The average scale of Psychological health was 61.45 (±15.14). A significant correlation was observed between lack of antecedents and a better physical health (p=0.000).The psychological health was correlated with age (p=0.000) and social relationships (p=0.000).

Studying the quality of life of nurses is particularly important, since it can lead to the development of a policy for improving the working conditions in the public sector.

No significant relationships.

Characterizing neuroanatomical markers of different stages of schizophrenia (SZ) to assess of how the disorder develops is extremely important for the clinical practice. It still remains uncertain how abnormalities are formed as SZ progresses.

We reviewed and analyzed 113 voxel based morphometry studies on people at risk of or with schizophrenia to assess GM alterations at different stages of the disorder and to functionally characterize these GM variations.

We performed a meta-analysis of voxel-based morphometry studies of genetic and clinical high-risk subjects (g-/c-HR), recently diagnosed (RDSZ) and chronic SZ patients (ChSZ). We quantified gray matter (GM) changes associated with these four conditions and compared them with contrast and conjunctional data. We performed the behavioral analysis and networks decomposition of alterations to obtain their functional characterization.

Compared to previous investigations, results reveal a robust cortical-subcortical, left-to-right homotopic progression of GM loss. The right anterior cingulate is the only altered region in all conditions. Contrast analyses show left-lateralized insular, amygdalar and parahippocampal GM reduction in RDSZ, which appears bilateral in ChSZ. An overlap between RDSZ and ChSZ is observed in the left insula, amygdala, precentral and inferior frontal gyri. Functional decomposition shows involvement of the salience network, with an enlargement of the sensorimotor network in RDSZ and the thalamus-basal nuclei network in ChSZ.

These results can help the research on diagnostic and neuroimaging biomarkers of SZ staging, as well as on the identification of new therapeutics neuroanotomic targets that could be addressed with focused magnetic or non-invasive electric stimulation.

No significant relationships.

Triple Network Model (TNM), which considers the dynamic interaction between Default Mode (DMN), Salience (SN), and Central Executive (CEN) networks, explains clinical features in mental disorders from a neurophysiological perspective. Some studies highlight the increased connectivity in TNM in adults with Borderline Personality Disorder (BPD), but little is known about adolescents.

The aim of our preliminary study was to investigate TN functional connectivity (FC) in BPD adolescents with a history of traumatic experiences, and its correlation with dissociative symptoms.

15 BPD adolescents (DSM-5 criteria) with early traumatic experiences were compared to 15 healthy controls, matched for sex and age. Dissociation Questionnaire (DIS-Q) was administered. Eyes-closed resting-state (RS) EEG recordings were performed (19 electrodes; 10- 20 system) and analyzed using Exact Low-Resolution Electromagnetic Tomography software (eLORETA). FC was computed for all frequency bands and 9 Regions of Interest for TNM.

BPD adolescents showed a hyper-connection between CEN and DMN [dorso-lateral prefrontal cortex (dlPFC) and posterior cingulate cortex (PCC); PCC and left posterior parietal cortex (PPC)] and within the CEN (left and right PPC). The strength of PCC-dlPFC and left-right PPC connections was correlated with dissociative symptoms severity.

FC alterations can already be identified in BPD adolescents, supporting the need for early diagnosis. Normally DMN and CEN show opposite functioning. In our BPD adolescents, the absence of this “anti-correlation” reflects the typical confusion between internal and external mental states, which clarify their difficulties in metacognition or mentalization. Moreover, in dissociative symptoms, two CEN nodes are also involved, not only DMN as previously described.

No significant relationships.

Multiple epidemiologic and clinical studies have explored the relationship between physical pain and suicidal thoughts and behaviours.

The aim of this meta-analysis was to provide an update of the data already present in literature about this specific association in adults.

Starting from a meta-analysis published by Calati and colleagues in 2015, 28 studies were included in this work. After searching on Pubmed (until March 2020), data were extracted from articles comparing the rates of current and lifetime suicidal thoughts and behaviours (death wish, suicidal ideation, suicidal planning, suicide attempt and suicide death: DW, SI, SP, SA, and SD) in adults with any type of physical pain and in individuals who did not report this condition. Data were analysed using Cochrane Collaboration Review Manager software (RevMan, version 5.4).

Although high between-study heterogeneity was detected in most analyses, results suggested that adults with physical pain are more likely to report any form of suicidal outcome, except for death by suicide, compared to individuals not affected by pain. No evidence of publication bias was reported in the main analysis (lifetime SA).

Collected data are therefore in line with previous literature on this topic, which considered physical pain an extremely relevant risk factor for suicidal thoughts and behaviours. Future studies should specifically focus on alternative types of physical pain (such as medically unexplained pain or psychogenic pain) or explore the different impact of acute versus chronic pain in terms of increased suicide risk.

The covid-19 virus pandemic is another risk factor not only for the lives of older people, but also for their mental health, as the threat is immediate and intense.

The aim of the study was to investigate depression during the pandemic in a population of elderly people over 65 years of age living in the Greek countryside.

The research was synchronous and was conducted in the autumn of 2020 in Crete. The sample of the study was random and consisted of 200 elderly users of services of the Health Center of the Municipality of Phaistos, Crete. The Geriatric Depression Scale (GDS-15) was used to conduct the study in combination with 24 questions related to pandemic perceptions.

40.5% of the sample were men and 59.5% were women. The mean age was 75.70 years (SD ± 6.29). The mean value of GDS-15 was found to be 5.97 (SD, 3.07), while the comparison of depressive symptoms showed that women, lonely people and the elderly with chronic health problems are more vulnerable to the development of depressive symptoms. In relation to covid-19 and depressive symptoms, there was a positive correlation with twelve factors (p <, 05) with the most important being the fear for their family health, sleep disorder, loneliness and inability to deal with the virus.

The research showed moderate depressive symptoms, while a clear effect of the pandemic due to Covid-19 was found on the emotional mood of the elderly, a fact that makes their psychosocial support necessary.

No significant relationships.

Generalized problematic internet use/GPIU has recently been associated with the impulsive-compulsive spectrum/ICS, but its mapping onto these behaviour dimensions is relatively unexplored.

To compare patterns of internet use and scores of BIG-5 personality traits, perfectionism and psychological distress between groups with low/high levels of GPIU.

475 university students (78.9% girls; mean age 20.22±1.695) answered the Portuguese versions of: GPIU Scale, Multidimensional Perfectionism Scale-13, NEO-FFI-20, Depression, Anxiety and Stress Scales and other questions about internet use. Chi-square and Mann-Whitney tests were performed using SPSS.

Individuals with high levels of GPIU (median+2SD; n=18; 3.8%) spent significantly more time/day in online activities, exceeding what they have planned; had no other hobbies and used social networks to meet friends; reported that GPIU interfered with affective/work relationships and academic performance (all p<.05). There were no significant differences in the purposes of the internet use (e-mail, social networks, shopping, videogames, multimedia, sexual, work…), unless for general information searching and betting games (both p<.05). High-PGIU group also presented significant higher levels of neuroticism, negative (but not positive) perfectionism, depression, anxiety, and stress (all p<.001).

Our results indicate that unlike the purposes of internet use, personality, perceived interference and the associated cognitive-emotional processes and symptoms (psychological distress) may help distinguishing between functional vs. dysfunctional internet use. Considering the preponderance of processes over contents and the presence of certain dimensions, such as perception of uncontrollability, interference and social isolation we add more evidence to consider PGIU as falling within the spectrum of impulsive-compulsive disorders.

No significant relationships.

Compared with adult onset, early onset schizophrenia is typically characterized by greater illness severity and less favorable prognosis.

To evaluate the proportion of adolescent patients with schizophrenia who achieved sustained remission and recovery during 2 years of treatment with lurasidone.

Patients aged 13-17 years with a DSM-IV-TR diagnosis of schizophrenia, and a Positive and Negative Symptom Scale (PANSS) total score ≥70 and <120, were randomized to 6 weeks of double-blind (DB), fixed-dose treatment with lurasidone (37 or 74 mg/d) or placebo. Patients who completed 6 weeks of DB treatment were eligible to enroll in a 2-year, open-label (OL), flexible dose extension study of lurasidone (18.5-74 mg/d). Criteria for sustained remission, were the 6-month consensus criteria summarized by Andreasen (Am J Psych 2005;162:441-9). Criteria for sustained recovery consisted of meeting sustained remission criteria with a Children’s Global Assessment Scale (CGAS) score ≥70 for at least 6-months indicating no clinically significant functional impairment.

A total of 271 patients completed the 6-week DB study and entered the extension study, and 186 (68.6%) and 156 (57.6%) completed 52 weeks and 104 weeks of treatment, respectively. During OL treatment with lurasidone, 52.8% met sustained remission criteria, with a Kaplan-Meier (KM) estimate of 64.1 weeks for median time to sustained remission; and 28.8% met sustained recovery criteria, KM estimate of 104.6 weeks for median time to sustained recovery.

For adolescents with schizophrenia, treatment with lurasidone was associated with high rates of sustained remission and sustained recovery over a two-year period.

Employee of Sunovion Pharmaceuticals Inc. The study summarized in this Abstract was supported by funding from Sunovion Pharmaceuticals Inc

There is no clinical difference between depressive episodes in bipolar disorder compared to major depressive disorder, which is why bipolar disorder remains unrecognized. Correctly distinguishing these disorders is of great importance because the therapeutic approach differs significantly. According to previous research, zinc, albumin, C reactive protein (CRP), and interleukin-6(IL-6) seem to play a role in differentiating these two types of depressive episodes.

To determine zinc, albumin, CRP and IL-6 serum concentrations in patients with major depressive disorder and depressive episode of bipolar disorder.

Research involved 60 participants. Participants signed informed consent prior to inclusion in the study. Sociodemographic data have been collected using a previously structured questionnaire. The severity of depressive symptoms has been measured by the Montgomery Asberg Depression Rating Scale (MADRS) and the Hamilton Depression Scale (HAM-D-17). Blood samples were obtained from each study participant’s brachial vein, to determine zinc, albumin, C reactive protein and interleukin-6 serum concentrations.

Statistically significant difference was found in zinc serum levels between the two analysed groups. In the overall sample, there is a significant positive correlation between the results on the rating scales and the serum level of CRP.

We confirmed an association between serum levels of CRP and the severity of the illness. Regardless, these are preliminary results of the research. Sufficient final conclusion cannot yet be drawn because it is being limited by the sample size and further investigation is needed.

Rape resulting in pregnancy warrants special attention due to the associated psychosocial and physical adversities. There are no guidelines for the management of teenage pregnancies resulting from rape in Sri Lanka.

This case series aims to describe the experience of four teenagers who became pregnant as a result of rape in Sri Lanka.

This is a case series of 4 pregnant teenagers who became pregnant as a result of rape

This case series highlight the deficiencies in services in Sri Lanka such as lack of legal framework to terminate pregnancy following rape, delay in legal procedure leading to prolonged institutionalization of pregnant teenager, not giving the teenage mothers the choice of breastfeeding and lack of awareness about the psychological consequences of rape and teenage pregnancy.

Formulating a national guideline on managing rape related pregnancy in teenagers in Sri Lanka, with the involvement of all stakeholders is a need of the hour.

No significant relationships.

Abdominal obesity is currently a growing problem in public health and has a high comorbidity with depressive and anxiety disorders. Obesity significantly decreases life quality, causes disability and decreases life expectancy.

The objective of this study was to examine anxiety and depressive symptoms among women, who received individual or group psychotherapy sessions due to obesity control.

577 women aging from 18 to 65 were examined. Height and weight were measured, Body mass index (BDI) was calculated based on received data. Depressive symptoms were determined with the PHQ-9 questionnaire [Kroenke K, Spitzer RL, Williams JB]. Anxiety symptoms were determined with the GAD-7 questionnaire. The level of social adaptation was examined.

The prevalence of mild depression in our sample of women with obesity was 31.5%, 19.1% - moderate depression, 1% - severe depression, 48.4% had no depression symptoms. Anxiety symptoms were found in 38.2% of examined women, 61.8% showed no anxiety symptoms. Furthermore, when patients were divided into subgroups accordingly to BMI, anxiety was mostly registered among ones with normal BMI. An average correlation between indicators of anxiety and depressive symptoms was identified (r=0,62, p<0,05). Average correlation between indicators of anxiety and depression and the level of social adaptation (r=0,59 and r=0,48 relatively, p<0,05). Anxiety and depressive symptoms’ dependency on BMI was not established.

The received data showed that anxiety and depression have high prevalence among women with obesity. The study will help medical specialists draw attention to high comorbidity between abdominal obesity and anxiety-depressive disorders.

The notion of subclinical psychosis is as old as Eugen Bleuler’s work on schizophrenia. It is also consistent with psychodynamic theories (see PDM-2) on the organization of personality on different levels including, among others, a psychotic level of personality organization. Research on the continuum of psychosis has offered substantial support to the view that psychotic phenotypes are significantly more prevalent than clinical psychosis.

This may imply that being “psychotic” is not necessarily being ill. This assumption raises important theoretical and clinical questions: what causes psychosis to manifest itself clinically and, conversely, what possibly prevents it from doing so?

At the same time, it potentially frees psychiatry from certain diagnostic and therapeutic impasses. It allows for a shift of emphasis from misguiding classifications and often frustrating “evidence-based” therapeutic attempts to a more personalized approach.

Diagnosis may thus rely on psychoanalytical “markers” or “indicators” regarding the subject (e.g. deficits in the symbolic register, dysregulated rapport with one’s body, problematic inscription in social relations etc.) at least as much as on symptomic phenomenology. Therapy may also take advantage of and deploy the unique coping strategies employed by the psychotic individual.

The diagnostic and therapeutic insights offered by Lacanian psychoanalysis create the possibility of a fruitful theoretical, diagnostic and therapeutic approach for clinical and subclinical psychotic conditions; indicate that psychoanalysis is indispensable for clinical psychiatry; and signal the possibility of a time-honored alternative to the in-vogue neurocognitive paradigm of “personalized” psychiatry.

No significant relationships.

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.

Suicidal phenomena help seeking depends on a broad array of factors, which include climatic variables. Our aim was to analyse the effect of precipitation with help seeking in patients suffering from suicidal behaviour

Our aim was to analyse the effect of precipitation with help seeking in patients suffering from suicidal behaviour

Daily urgency visits from suicidal phenomena (including suicide attempt and ideation) were extracted from electronic medical records of Hospital Universitario La Paz from 1st January 2019 to 31st December 2019. Precipitation data (measured as accumulated litres per square meter) was obtained from a local climate station. Spearman correlation was estimated

The Spearman correlation coefficient was 0.04(p = 0.48)

Precipitation did not influence help seeking for patients affected by suicidal phenomena

No significant relationships.

According to a selective meta-analytical review, weakness of working memory is considered as one of the fundamental disorders in schizophrenia. Some researchers propose identifying this disorder as an endophenotypic marker of schizophrenia diathesis. Many researchers also emphasize violations of “abstract thinking”, that is, the ability of patients to operate with abstract concepts. Many scientists understand the violation of “abstract thinking” as the difficulty of patient in operating with the dominant signs of the concept. Based on these approaches, we assume a dark relationship between working memory and abstract thinking.

The aim of this study is to investigate the relationship between working memory and abstract thinking defect in patients with schizophrenic spectrum disorders.

16 patients with schizophrenic spectrum disorders were studied. To study abstract thinking, the following neuropsychological and psychometric techniques were used: exclusion of objects, D-KEFS understanding of proverbs (latent concepts were recorded). The following techniques were used to study working memory: n-back; Wechsler Test, subtest Digit Repetition.

As a result of preliminary research, the following data was obtained. We found significant differences between the number of irrelevant features (which corresponds to impaired abstract thinking) and the severity of impaired working memory (p = 0.035). The more the memory was impaired, the more the subjects demonstrated the impairment of abstract thinking.

Thus, our results justify our assumption. A relationship between working memory and abstract thinking is founded to be possible. Further studies of this issue requires a wider techniques battery as well as a larger sample.

The reported study was funded by RFBR, project number 20-013-00772

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.

Charles Bonnet syndrome (CBS) is characterized by the presence of visual hallucinations without other sensory-perceptual disturbances or evidence of organic mental disorder nor functional psychosis.

Review differential diagnosis of BCS, searching articles in Pubmed.

62-year-old woman, undergoing treatment with Sertraline and psychotherapy for three months because of anxious-depressive synthoms. Pathological myopia and retinal detachment in 2012, blind left eye, retaining 33% vision in the right eye. She comes to the emergency room feeling really anxious, she says that for a year now she has had the feeling that her husband is cheating on her with another woman, and she claims with certainty that she sees a woman in her bed at night, as well as flashes of light evidencing her presence. She has also begun to hear voices through the telephone wires. She and her family deny memory loss or other cognitive impairments. We performed a Nuclear Magnetic Resonance with normal results. Family claims good conygal relation until these synthoms began and no signs of cognitive impairment.

The patient lives as real these hallucinations which haven´t appeared during admission. We started treatment with an antipsychotic and a benzodiazepine, with great improvement of anxiety and development of some insight. Executive impairment was observed.

The results obtained, make us think that, although our patient has an important visual loss, it is more a psychiatric pathology. Here lies the importance of a multidisciplinary approach among ophthalmologists, neurologists and psychiatrists in order to avoid misdiagnosis and that the patient can benefit from proper treatment.

No significant relationships.

Schizophrenia patients with auditory verbal hallucinations (AVH) demonstrate impaired functional connectivity (FC) between brain regions, involved in executive functions and language. However, as most studies compare patients to healthy controls, the specificity of these findings either for schizophrenia in general or for AVH is unclear.

We aimed to compare whole-brain resting-state FC of main language brain regions between schizophrenia patients with and without history of AVH and healthy controls.

Schizophrenia male patients with (n=31; mean age 29,8±11,6) or without history of AVH (n=16; 29±12,4) and 39 healthy male controls (30±8,9) underwent resting-state fMRI on 3T Philips scanner. No between-group differences in age, illness duration, and severity of clinical symptoms except AVH were revealed. Regions of interest (ROIs) were taken from the independent fMRI study with conventional language localizer and included left inferior frontal gyrus (l_IFG) and superior temporal gyri (STG) bilaterally. Whole-brain FC of each ROI was compared between groups (ANCOVA; p<.005 voxelwise; p(FDR)<.017 clusterwise, corrected for number of ROIs) with post hoc tests.

Decreased FC between each STG (left and right) and anterior cingulate cortex (ACC) was revealed in all patients, compared to healthy controls. Patients with history of AVH, compared to other groups, showed decreased FC between l_IFG and ACC.

Disrupted fronto-temporal FC is non-specific for AVH and characterizes all schizophrenia patients. Patients with history of AVH have impaired FC between the l_IFG, underlying language production, and ACC, involved in differentiation between language production and comprehension. The study was supported by RFBR grant 18-013-01214.

The study was supported by RFBR grant 18-013-01214.

Obsessive-compulsive disorder (OCD) is characterized by the presence of obsessive thoughts and recurring compulsive acts. The prevalence is 1-3% in the general population. The treatment consists of Cognitive Behavioral Therapy (CBT) alone, or in combination with antidepressants.

Provide an overview of the elements of CBT in this disease and the techniques used.

The authors did a non-systematic review in Pubmed with the words: “Obsessive-Compulsive Disorder” and “Cognitive Behavioral Therapy”.

According to the cognitive-behavioral model model, in this disease intrusive thoughts arise spontaneously, normally and universally, interrupting the normal flow of thought. They are usually neutral and form the basis for vulnerable people to develop obsessive problems. CBT uses techniques that aim to correct dysfunctional thoughts and beliefs, as well as behavioral techniques that aim to change compulsive behaviors. It aims to help people to come to the conclusion that the problem is not in the intrusive thoughts, but in the meaning they attribute to them, and in the various strategies they adopt to try to control them. It basically follows the following steps - patient assessment, through one or more semi-structured interviews; initial phase that includes the assessment of motivation for treatment and psychoeducation; intermediate phase, with the continuation of monitored exercises and reinforcement of cognitive and behavioral techniques; discharge, with discharge preparation working on relapse prevention and maintenance therapy.

Currently, CBT is considered the first-line therapy for the treatment of this disorder, however some patients are still refractory, and very little is known about its predictors of response.