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Under the COVID-19 epidemic, the families of front-line rescue workers are under unusual pressure. We aim to understand the extent of their psychological distress in this epidemic and whether they have received sufficient support. Thus targeted to provide support for them and indirectly reduce the concerns of the rescue workers. From February 27 to March 1, 2020, we used the scales of Perceived Stress Scale, 10-items Connor-Davidson Resilience Scale, Generalized Anxiety Disorder-7, Patient Health Questionnaire-2, and primary care-posttraumatic stress disorder (PTSD) to evaluate the mental health level of the family members of front-line rescue workers online. Six hundred and seventy one family members voluntarily filled out the questionnaire after reading the purpose of the study. A total of 671 family members of front-line rescue workers participated in the survey, including 194 husbands/wives, 52 parents, 49 children, 76 brothers and sisters, and 300 other relationships. Among them, 55% of the family members reported sleep problems, 49.0% of the family members had mild, and above anxiety symptoms, 12.2% of the family members reported clinically significant depression symptoms, and 10.4% of the family members may have PTSD, 8.3% of family members had thoughts of self-injury or suicide. The feeling of stress was positively correlated with anxiety and depression, but there was no significant correlation between psychological elasticity and various symptoms. Family members who are more worried about the safety, physical condition and living security of front-line rescue workers are more likely to report symptoms such as sleep disorders, anxiety, and depression. Family members' first-line rescue has a significant impact on their daily life, raising children and supporting the elderly, which is also related to the occurrence of mental and psychological symptoms. During the period of front-line support, they received support from the units or organizations of the first-line workers, mainly including telephone greetings and daily necessities. The top three concerns about the information of the epidemic were the time of the end of the epidemic, the time of the return of the family and the progress of COVID-19's treatment. After the end of the epidemic, what they most want to do is to pay more attention to and accompany their families, family gatherings, and do more exercise. The psychological impact of this epidemic on the families of front-line rescue workers is mainly sleep problems and anxiety. The psychological intervention of family members should mainly start from the relief of stress and increase of material and spiritual support. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

Background: The 32-item Hypomania Checklist (HCL-32), a questionnaire for screening bipolar disorders, has been utilised in several countries, but it unclear if the Chinese version of the HCL-32 is valid. Methods: Consecutive patients with bipolar disorders (BP, N = 300) and unipolar major depression (UP, N = 156) completed the Chinese version of the HCL-32. The subjects underwent a structured clinical interview for DSM-IV Axis-I disorders (SCID). Results: The eigenvalues for the first three factors in the HCL-32 were calculated as 5.16 (active/elated), 2.72 (risktaking) and 2.48 (irritable) using factor analysis. Cronbach's alpha for the HCL-32 was calculated to be 0.88. Positive responses to twenty-eight items were significantly more frequent by patients with BP than those with UP, and the other four items (7th, 21st, 25th and 32nd) showed no such trend. Fourteen was the optimal cut-off for discriminating between BP and UP. The HCL-32 distinguished between BP-II and UP, with 13 being the optimal cut-off. A cut-off of 13 yielded a sensitivity of 0.77 and a specificity of 0.62 between BP and UP. Conclusions: This study demonstrated that the simplified Chinese version of HCL-32 was valid for patients with mood disorders. The optimal cut-off of 13 for distinguishing between BP-II and UP was valid and could be used to improve the sensitivity of screening BP-II patients when the HCL-32 is used in psychiatric settings in China. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

Sui SG, Wu MX, King ME, Zhang Y, Ling L, Xu JM, Weng XC, Duan L, Shan BC, Li LJ. Abnormal grey matter in victims of rape with PTSD in Mainland China: a voxel-based morphometry study. Objective: This study examined changes in brain grey matter in victims of rape (VoR) with and without post-traumatic stress disorder (PTSD). Previous research has focused on PTSD caused by various traumatic events, such as war and disaster, among others. Although considerable research has focused on rape-related PTSD, limited studies have been carried out in the context of Mainland China. Methods: The study included 11 VoR with PTSD, 8 VoR without PTSD and 12 healthy comparison (HC) subjects. We used voxel-based morphometry to explore changes in brain grey-matter density (GMD) by applying statistical parametric mapping to high-resolution magnetic resonance images. Results: Compared with HC, VoR with PTSD showed significant GMD reductions in the bilateral medial frontal cortex, left middle frontal cortex, middle temporal gyrus and fusiform cortex and significant GMD increases in the right posterior cingulate cortex, postcentral cortex, bilateral precentral cortex and inferior parietal lobule. Compared to VoR without PTSD, VoR with PTSD showed significant GMD reductions in the right uncus, left middle temporal gyrus, and the fusiform cortex, and increases in the left precentral cortex, inferior parietal lobule and right post-central cortex. Conclusion: The findings of abnormal GMD in VoR with PTSD support the hypothesis that PTSD is associated with widespread anatomical changes in the brain. The medial frontal cortex, precentral cortex, posterior cingulate cortex, post-central cortex and inferior parietal lobule may play important roles in the neuropathology of PTSD. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]