Current Psychiatry Research and Reviews - Volume 18, Issue 3, 2022

Aims: The study investigated the effects of cognitive behavioral and reality group therapies in fostering human immunodeficiency virus/ voluntary counseling and testing among school-going adolescents in Benin Metropolis, Edo State, Nigeria. Methods: A pre- and post-test true experimental control group design was observed. 120 school-going adolescents from three randomly selected schools were recruited and randomly assigned to two treatments (Cognitive Behavior and Reality Therapies) and control groups, with 11 dropout accounting for a 9% alteration rate. The treatment lasted for six weeks. Two hypotheses were formulated to guide the study. The instruments used for data collection were self-administered scales with a test-retest reliability coefficient of 0.87 after an interval of three weeks. Data generated were analyzed using the inferential statistics of Analysis of Variance tested at a 0.05 level of significance. Results: The results showed that cognitive behaviour and reality therapies were significantly effective in fostering HIV/voluntary counselling and testing among school-going adolescents. The two modes of group interventions improve the willingness of adolescents in these schools towards receiving counselling and performing testing for HIV. Conclusion: It was concluded that cognitive behaviour and reality therapies were found to be potent on school-going adolescents’ willingness toward HIV voluntary counselling and testing for prevention and treatment.

Introduction: Cognitive flexibility and resilience may influence academic achievement. These cognitive functions may be affected during the COVID-19 pandemic. Only a few studies have been conducted to examine these relationships. Objective: This study examined college students' cognitive flexibility and resilience and their relationships with academic achievement during the COVID-19 pandemic. Methods: In this cross-sectional study, 303 students were assessed using sociodemographic and academic proforma, the Cognitive Flexibility Scale, and the Cognitive Resilience Scale. The data were analyzed using descriptive statistics, contingency table analysis, the Kruskal– Wallis H test, the Mann–Whitney U test, and linear regression analysis (with moderation). Results: Cognitive flexibility was significantly greater in success-oriented students who had a backlog and studied a health science subject, whereas resilience was greater in those who had lower course competency and had encountered psychological issues. Exam scores were positively linked with students' economic status and negatively linked with students' perceptions of course competency. Cognitive resilience predicted exam performance positively, which was moderated by cognitive flexibility. Conclusion:Cognitive resilience positively affects academic performance and is moderated by cognitive flexibility. Academic performance may influence by cognitive flexibility and resilience during the COVID-19 epidemic. Enhancing cognitive resilience through intervention may improve academic performance.

Objective: This study aimed to investigate the relationship between the different demographic variables and other social, and health-related factors, and the coping styles used by the general population in Saudi Arabia during the COVID-19 pandemic. Methods: A cross-sectional study involving 5,514 participants was conducted online over two weeks. An online questionnaire was distributed among attendees of a public awareness campaign. The questionnaire consisted of two sections: (1) sociodemographic variables and questions exploring the physical and mental health of the participants, along with COVID-19- related questions, and (2) the brief COPE questionnaire to identify the coping styles used by the participants. Results: The most frequently used adaptive styles involved religion, acceptance, and positive reframing. As for the maladaptive styles, self-distraction, venting, and self-blame were the most frequently used. Comparing the means of coping styles, participants older than 60 and female participants more frequently used religion, acceptance, positive reframing, and active coping, while participants younger than 35 and male participants reported more frequent use of instrumental support and humor. Younger participants used all maladaptive coping styles more frequently than older participants; male and female participants appeared to use different maladaptive coping styles. People with mental health conditions showed less frequent use of adaptive coping styles and more frequent use of maladaptive coping styles. Conclusion: The findings of this study show that multiple sociodemographic and health variables such as age, gender, and the presence of mental health conditions may influence the type of coping styles people use during a crisis. These findings could offer a better understanding of how the general public is coping with this unique situation. This may help mental healthcare workers and public health officials provide appropriate support at both individual and general population levels during this pandemic.

Background: Independence in community living is an important aspect of rehabilitation in schizophrenia. Previous studies investigating relationships of cognitive, symptomatic, and demographic factors in community living ability of schizophrenia showed inconsistent findings. These findings may be due to variations in functional measures used or a heterogenous sample of participants recruited. Aim: To investigate the relationships of cognitive, symptomatic and demographic factors with community living skills for people with schizophrenia living in supported living facilities. Methods: This is a cross-sectional study. Thirty-seven adults with schizophrenia and 32 matched healthy controls were recruited. Both groups completed the Verbal Fluency Test, subtests of Cognistat, and the Color Trail Test. Additional assessments (i.e., Chinese version of St. Louis Inventory of Community Living Skills – SLICLS-C and Positive and Negative Syndrome Scale – PANSS) were used to evaluate participants with schizophrenia. Cognitive profile was compared between the two groups. Correlation analysis was used to explore the relationships of cognitive abilities, symptomatology, and demographic factors with community living skills in schizophrenia. Results: Results showed that participants with schizophrenia performed worse than the control group in verbal fluency, visual memory, immediate memory, delayed memory, and executive function tests. Significant moderate correlations between SLICLS-C score and participants’ years of education, positive symptoms, general psychopathology, and PANSS total score were identified. Discussions and Conclusion: Results indicated that cognitive impairments are persistent in schizophrenia who are in remission and have been partially integrated back into the community. Cognitive deficits that people with schizophrenia experience might be stable over most of the course of the illness. Participants’ years of education, positive symptoms, general psychopathology, and PANSS total score might be important moderating variables to include in future investigations related to predicting community living performance in schizophrenia.

Background: Burnout syndrome is a clinical entity that can negatively affect healthcare workers, especially frontline medical staff. Objective: Determine the prevalence of burnout in emergency physicians at the start of the COVID-19 pandemic. Methods: The Maslach Burnout Inventory was administered to 150 emergency physicians in 2020 during the first months of the pandemic in a Venezuelan hospital. There are two limitations, the size of sample is small and the study physicians have poor social conditions that do not allow generalizing the results. Results: Over three quarters of the physicians surveyed (76.7%) experienced burnout and 55.3% had health problems due to stress. The higher the number of years working in the hospital and/or the lower the job satisfaction, the higher the burnout rate (p <0.05). Conclusion: A large number of physicians in Venezuela experienced burnout during the first months of the pandemic, but half of them believed they did not need psychological help. Prevalence of burnout was high among physicians with more years of service and among those with lower job satisfaction.

Background: The global pandemic which the world has been facing for the past two years has demonstrated the need to study the effects of this virus on mental health. Various studies showed that COVID-19 could be a threat to people's mental health and physical health, yet the findings are still very limited. The purpose of the study was to fill an existing gap in the corresponding literature by analyzing Post Traumatic Stress Disorder (PTSD) symptoms, somatic complaints, depression, and anxiety in COVID-19 patients and studying their comorbidity to determine the impact of the virus on the patients’ mental well-being. Methods: Patients diagnosed with COVID-19 took part in the study one month after their discharge from the hospital, accounting for 10% of all COVID-19 patients across Georgia during the research. PTSD Checklist (PCL-5) was used. Depression, somatic symptoms, and anxiety were assessed using the Patient Health Questionnaire (PHQ). Results: The results have shown that COVID-19, as a traumatic event, presents an association with PTSD, depression, anxiety, and somatic complaints. A high prevalence of depression (38,6%), anxiety (34,9%), and somatic symptoms (47%) was displayed. The overall indirect effect of PTSD on somatic symptoms was significant through depression and anxiety: 0.16, 95% CI [0.08, 0.26]. According to the report, the indirect effect of PTSD on somatic symptoms of depression was 0.12, 95% CI [0.05, 0.20]. Conclusion: The study presents important findings on the relations between COVID-19 and patients mental health. Somatic complaints, depression, anxiety, and PTSD symptoms were prevalent in participants even after a month since they had COVID-19. Correlations between somatic complaints, anxiety, depression, and PTSD were also demonstrated. Even though there are various limitations to this study, how COVID-19 could affect mental health warrants further, more detailed research, which is necessary.

Aim: This study aims to determine the effect of skin-to-skin contact between father and baby within the first three hours following childbirth on the level of paternal attachment. Methods: Data were collected from 69 fathers between May-July 2018 with paternal infant attachment scale in Antalya Medical Park Hospital in Turkey in this quasi-experimental study. Results: Total score of the fathers who established skin-to-skin contact with the babies was 82.34±7.76, and that of the control group was 66.07±18.2 (p<0.05). Moreover, the paternalinfant attachment level of the fathers in the study group who became fathers for the first time was higher than that of the control group. Conclusion: The skin-to-skin contact between father and baby following childbirth was an effective practice in the transition to fatherhood.

Background: Psychiatric manifestations due to space-occupying lesions, although not uncommon, are generally misdiagnosed, leading to unfavorable outcomes. A colloid cyst is a slow-growing, benign tumor in the anterior part of the third ventricle, which frequently presents with neurological complaints like headaches and gait disturbances. However, a patient with a colloid cyst may also present with OPD with a spectrum of psychiatric symptoms. Case Report: We here report a middle-aged man who was brought to the OPD with symptoms of pervasive irritability and disinhibited behavior for three months, along with complaints of increased activity, reduced sleep, and appetite and was suspicious about his wife, family members and neighbors. The patient had frequent episodes of headache in the past 3 months associated with nausea and restlessness, for which neuroimaging was advised, which showed a hyper-dense lesion in the third ventricle. The patient was referred to neurosurgery and was operated on for the same. Post-operatively, family members reported improvement in his behavior. Conclusion: A detailed systemic evaluation for any organic causes or atypical picture of psychiatric conditions is of extreme necessity. There is a dire need for the liaison of psychiatrists with neuro physicians and neurosurgeons to improve patients in both physical and psychological aspects, especially in psychiatric diagnosis with organic causes.

Background: Opioid agonist treatment, as the most effective treatment for opioid dependency, requires patient adherence for its effectiveness in the long run. Previous studies on psychiatric and nonpsychiatric patients indicated that the patient`s temperament has had an effect on their treatment compliance. Some studies on different types of addiction have attributed special temperament and character traits to these patients. Introduction: This study aims to investigate the impact of temperament and characteristics on opioid treatment compliance. In this study, the relationship between demographic variables, type of medication therapy, and temperament and characteristics scales of patients against opioid agonists therapy compliance was examined. Methods: In this cross-sectional study, 150 patients who had initiated the course of opioid agonist maintenance therapy underwent TCI 125-item test and were followed-up for 2 months regarding compliance. The data were inputted into SPSS 24. K-S and Mann-Whitney U tests were employed to explore the relationship between quantitative and qualitative variables, while for examining the relationship between qualitative variables with each other, Chi-square test was utilized. The significance level in the tests was considered p<0.05. Results: The treatment compliance in this study was 67.2%. In patients who did not have treatment compliance, scores of novelty-seeking (16.7±7 versus 11.7±4, p<0.001), harm avoidance (16.5±5 versus 11.8±5, p<0.0001), reward dependence (12.4±3 versus 10.2±3, p=0.005) and self-transcendence (10.6±2 versus 8.7±2 p=0.002) were higher, but in those who had suitable treatment compliance, scores of persistence (3.5±1 versus 2.3±1, p=0.004) and cooperativeness (17.6±3 versus 14.8±4, p=0.004) were higher. Further, some temperament traits were different among patients undergoing treatment with buprenorphine versus methadone (scores of persistence, self-directedness and self-transcendence were higher in the group receiving buprenorphine, while scores of harm avoidance and cooperativeness were higher in the group under methadone treatment). There was also a significant relationship between gender (good compliance: female 100%, male 65%, poor compliance female 0%, male 35%; p=0.04), level of education (higher), as well as the type of medication (buprenorphine) and treatment compliance. Conclusion: The results of this study can help to identify high-risk individuals for withdrawing opioid addiction. These people can be a target for pharmacological and non-pharmacological interventions to have their personality traits modified. Investigation of the effect of performing these interventions on treatment compliance can be a subject of future study in this area. Also, while there are differences in personality characteristics among cultures, this study investigated Iranian culture more precisely.