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Patients with alcohol use disorders (AUD) have difficulties with certain aspects of higher-order language functions (HOLF) but there is no data on a wide range of these functions in this group. Therefore, the aim of this study was to compare different aspects of HOLF in patients with AUD and healthy controls (HC). A total of 31 patients with AUD and 44 HC took part in the study. We assessed HOLF with the Right Hemisphere Language Battery (RHLB) and measured control variables: depression using the Patient Health Questionnaire (PHQ) as well as the speed of processing and executive functions with the Color Trails Test (CTT). Patients with AUD had lower results on nine RHLB tests. Moreover, AUD patients had higher scores on PHQ and longer reaction times on CTT. The differences in most RHLB results remained significant after co-varying the control variables. Patients with AUD have difficulties with making inferences from the text, understanding the meaning of individual words, metaphorical content, and prosody, which may impede the comprehension and production of discourse in which linguistic elements must be integrated with non-verbal cues and contextual information. These disturbances may impact various spheres of everyday life and negatively influence social, private, and professional functioning.

Objectives: The aim of the pilot study was to demonstrate that PhD students declare lower psychological well-being, and more often complain about psychosomatic symptomsand illnesses compared to individuals who did not continue education after university., Methods: A total of 270 participants were involved in the study: 135 PhD students (mean age = 30.03 years) and 135 control individuals (mean age = 30.13 years) who did not continue education beyond their master's degree. The following methods were used: a sociodemographic survey taking into account a list of illnesses and psychosomatic symptoms, the General Health Questionnaire (GHQ-28) and the SPP-25., Results: The results were calculated using ANOVA. The results show a significantly higher severity of the following: somatic symptoms (F = 12.913; p < 0.001), anxiety and insomnia (F =19.769;p < 0.001), behavioral disorders (F =8.782;p = 0.003), symptoms of depression (F = 8.560; p = 0.004) among PhD students when compared with individuals who chose not to continue education., Conclusions: The results suggest that PhD students demonstrate a significantly lower level of general mental well-being, a higher level of behavioral disorders, somatic symptoms, anxiety and sleep problems, as well as depressive symptoms - compared to individuals who did not continue education after achieving a master's degree.

Background: Patients with schizophrenia have difficulties comprehending metaphors, which significantly impedes communication. However, this topic has not been thoroughly studied in people with a dual diagnosis. On this basis, we formulated two research aims: a) to compare the ability to comprehend metaphors in schizophrenia patients without (SZ) and with substance use disorder (SZ-SUD) and b) to determine the relationship between the processing of metaphorical content and the severity of psychopathological symptoms in both clinical groups., Methods: A total of 40 individuals with SZ and 40 individuals with SZ-SUD took part in the study. The control group was composed of 40 individuals without a psychiatric or neurological diagnosis. Four subtests from the Right Hemisphere Language Battery (Picture Metaphor Test, Written Metaphor Test, Picture Metaphor Explanation Test, Written Metaphor Explanation Test) were used to measure the ability to understand and explain metaphors., Results: Both groups of individuals with schizophrenia (SZ and SZ-SUD) scored lower than individuals from the control group on all tests of metaphor processing. However, no differences were observed between the two clinical groups. SZ-SUD patients had better results for Picture Metaphor Explanation than for Written Metaphor Explanation. Negative symptoms were found to be significant predictors of difficulties with understanding and explaining metaphors., Conclusion: Individuals with schizophrenia, regardless of their substance use disorder (SUD) status, exhibit impaired metaphorical content processing. SUD in schizophrenia is not associated with significant impairments in understanding and explaining metaphorical content. Moreover, impairments in processing metaphorical content are associated with more severe negative symptoms of schizophrenia., (Copyright © 2020 Karabanowicz, Tyburski, Karasiewicz, Sokołowski, Mak, Folkierska-Żukowska and Radziwiłłowicz.)

Objectives: The aim of the study was to analyze relationships between the variables: severity of depression symptoms, feelings towards one's own body, dissociation, the number and type of traumatic life events experienced by adolescents who engage in deliberate self-injury and are psychiatrically hospitalized., Methods: We examined 60 patients aged 13-17 (M = 15.48, SD = 1.19). More than a half (55%) were diagnosed with a mixed disturbance of emotions and conduct, 23.5% with depressive behavior disorders, 10% were diagnosed a depressive episode. The research tools: a socio-demographic survey; original Feelings Towards the Body Questionnaire created on the basis of Tomkiewicz's description; Kovacs's CDI; Scharfetter's Ego-Psychopathology questionnaire., Results: The examined individuals have negative feelings toward their bodies, more than half of them experience severe depression symptoms. There are links between traumatic events, dissociation, body image and the severity of depression symptoms. The strongest links were found: between dissociation vis-a-vis the severity of depression symptoms and the feelings towards one's body; and between the severity of depression symptoms and the feelings towards one's body., Conclusions: Two thirds of the examined individuals attempted suicide. Various forms of direct self-destructive behaviors very often occur simultaneously. It also provokes reflection about the conditions under which self-inflicted injury does (or does not) prevent suicide attempts. Self-mutilation along with the interaction between clinical variables may form a self-destruction syndrome in various mental disorders and contribute to clinical pictures of these disorders, this should be taken into account in diagnosing and treatment of adolescents.

Objectives: The aim of the study was to analyze the relationships between clinical variables (the severity of depression symptoms, feelings towards the body, dissociation, number and type of traumatic events) and deliberate self-injury functions. Moreover, we investigated whether the of group self-mutilating adolescents is internally diverse in terms of how important individual functions of self-mutilation are, and whether the subgroups singled out by these functions differ between each other in terms of clinical variables., Methods: The Inventory of Statements about Self-Injury was used. Characterizations of examined individuals and other research tools are included in our previous article (year, issue, pages)., Results: Associated with negative feelings towards the body are the functions of self-injuries (anti-dissociation, self-punishment) that can be described as interpersonal. High levels of depression symptoms (self-depreciation included) are mainly associated with the self-injury functions: self-punishment, anti-dissociation, establishing interpersonal boundaries. Affect regulation becomes more important as a function of self-inflicted injuries in cases of biological dysregulation and intense dissociative symptoms., Conclusions: The adolescents psychiatric inpatients are internally diverse in terms of dominant functions of self-injuries, which can be categorized into intra- and interpersonal. Intrapersonal functions dominate when an individual experiences severe depression, dissociative symptoms, and negative feelings towards the body. In cases of moderate intensity of depression, dissociative symptoms and negative feelings towards the body, both intrapersonal and interpersonal functions of self-mutilation are similarly important. Further research is required to explain the lowest severity of depression symptoms, dissociative symptoms and negative feelings towards the body co-occurs with no awareness of self-injuries functions.

Aim: The aim of the study was an analysis of the efficacy, the progress and the structure of disturbances of the visuospatial learning process in patients with dementia, depression and ageing. 96 people were examined altogether. Each of the tested groups was of the same size--32 patients with dementia, depression and ageing., Method: The following tools were applied: Global Deterioration Scale, Beck Depression Inventory, Hamilton Depression Scale, Diagnostics of Cerebral Injuries (Weidlich, Lamberti), MMSE--subscales: Information, Vocabulary, Comprehension of the Wechsler Intelligence Scale., Results: Their retrieval process was most disturbed in patients with dementia. Tendency to forget turned out to be the greatest in patients with dementia. In the course of the learning process in patients with dementia, the recency effect dominated. In patients with ageing and depression one did not observe relative superiorities of the primary effect or of the recency effect. Patients with depression and ageing did not differ in the general number of errors and the number of each kind of errors. Confabulations, perseverations, reversals in the recoil trials and confabulations in the delayed recognition trial turned out to be characteristic for patients with dementia., Conclusions: Patients with dementia and patients with depression were characterized by different efficacy, progress and structure of disturbances of the learning process. In all the examined groups there were characteristic interdependencies between efficacy, progress and structure of disturbances of the learning process.

The aim of this paper is to introduce the bases of neurobiology, embryology and pathology of one of the important structures of the limbic system-septum pellucidum. The presented patient was diagnosed with a septum pellucidum cyst, OCD and depression. The following diagnostic methods have been applied: Beck Depression Inventory, Ways of Life, Rorschach test, Subscales: Similarities, Comprehension, Digit Span of the Wechsler Intelligence Scale, Long-term Memory Subscale of the Choynowski's Memory Scale, verbal fluence test, Rey Complex Figure, Diagnosis of Brain Damages (Weidlich, Lamberti). The patient presented global impairment of the examined cognitive functions. Within the personality domain the following features were found: symptoms of obsessive-compulsive disorders (discrepancy of necessity of self-control and with impulsiveness, perfectionism), depression (dependence from other, mood disturbances, psychasthenia), epileptoidal personality (shallowing of mental life, egocentrism, aggressiveness, affect occurrence).

Schizophrenic patients often complain of intellectual functioning impairment. The aim of this survey was to define the subjective memory loss by means of objective tests. The tests were carried out in three steps: before the admission to the clinic, after 6 weeks of hospitalisation, and after approximately 12 months from the beginning of the olanzapine treatment, 36 patients were examined (9 female, 27 male) aged 20-53 (X = 25.4). The following tests were applied: PANSS, Memory Questionnaire (Squire, Zouzounis 1988), subscales: Digit span and Similarities of the Wechsler Intelligence Scale, subtest for Long-term memory of the Choynowski's Memory Scale, Diagnosis of Brain Damages (Weidlich, Lamberti), Clock Completion Test, Decroly Box. The subjective assessment of memory functioning improved during the treatment with olanzapine. Before the hospitalisation and after 6 weeks of treatment patients' memory complaints were associated with the visuospatial memory. After 12 month of the olanzapine therapy the memory complaints were associated with audioverbal memory. Age, level of education and objective intensity of psychopathological symptoms did not influence patients' subjective assessment of memory functioning.

Aim: The aim of this study was to assess whether olanzapine treatment results in an improvement of cognitive functions that became impaired by the schizophrenic process., Method: The correlation of the intensity of schizophrenic symptoms and duration of the disease with the level of cognitive functions were also examined. The schizophrenic patients were examined in three steps: before beginning of olanzapine treatment, after 6 weeks of treatment, and after approximately 12 months since the beginning of the olanzapine treatment, 36 patients were examined (9 female, 27 male) aged 20-53 (X = 25.4). The following tests were applied: Positive and Negative Syndromes Scale--PANSS, Squire's Memory Questionnaire, sub-scales: Digit span and Similarities of the Wechsler's Intelligence Scale, Long-term memory sub-test of the Choynowski's Memory Scale, Diagnosis of Brain Damages, Clock Completion Test, Decroly's Box., Results: The olanzapine treatment of schizophrenia was characterised by significant antipsychotic efficacy including both positive and negative symptoms. The positive symptoms were associated with the attention range, the planning process context and the immediate memory with the tendency towards loosing remembrance in the process of non-verbal learning. The negative symptoms were associated with concrete conceptual thinking. Improvement of cognitive functions was noted for almost all of the examined functions. The effect of olanzapine therapy in schizophrenic patients may be regarded as personality integrating.

The presented paper discusses the orientation processes and simultaneous visuospatial synthesis ability in patients with dementia and depression. The disturbances of the orientation processes and the simultaneous visuospatial synthesis ability have proved characteristic of patients with dementia. The disorder of simultaneous visuospatial synthesis ability constituted one of the cognitive limits in patients with dementia. Patients with dementia aided themselves with long-term memory and the retrieval processes ability in the orientation processes. In patients with dementia simultaneous visuospatial synthesis ability, orientation processes, attention, short-term memory, retrieval processes decreased together with progression of the dementia processes. The simultaneous visuospatial synthesis ability in patients with depression was maintained at a high level. Memory and visuospatial learning and simultaneous visuospatial synthesis ability reflected aptly the level of the orientation processes in patients with depression. Only patients with depression helped themselves with the simultaneous visuospatial synthesis ability in the orientation processes. In ageing simultaneous visuospatial synthesis ability decreased together with age. Notional abstract thinking was related to the orientation processes and the simultaneous visuospatial synthesis ability only in those ageing.

Giving expert opinions within legal psychiatry in civil cases requires more and more strict co-operation of expert psychiatrists with psychologists. Assessment of the cognitive functions with the help of neuropsychological methods is an important diagnostic element that leads to giving the right opinion. The most frequent reasons for appointing experts in psychiatry and psychology are disorders of cognitive functions as a result of various brain injuries. Dementia syndromes are particularly often subjects of doubts in preparing expert opinions as they must be distinguished from other organic dysfunctions and from the age--associated memory impairment. Considering the evidence value the most important thing is to assess all the objective data included in the medical records and subsequently to assess the testimony of the witnesses Usually people from legal circles and families of the people who make declarations of will overvalue the importance of additional examinations. Those examinations are important but they do not settle the patient's psychic state because the decisive factor is not the kind of somatic disease but the influence of that disease on the psychic state. The neuropsychologist's role in giving medical statements is going to increase together with the tendency to objectivization and qualitative assessment of intensification of respective disorders of cognitive functions when examining patients in order to give expert opinions.

The article includes research review in cognitive functions (attention, solving problems and language function) in dementia, depression and ageing. This paper focuses on neuropsychological and anatomical mechanism of progress of cognitive deficits. With reference to the quoted research we depict trends and dynamics of the distinguished cognitive functions.

Authors have analysed 120 inpatients who committed suicidal attempt. Diagnoses in 83 women and 37 men aged between 14 and 73 years according to DSM-V classification were analysed. Patients aged between 14 and 27 constituted 60%, while those more than 28 years old 40% of suicidal attempts. In the outcome of diagnoses the analysis showed that because of psychotic and nonpsychotic mental disturbances among them, patients after suicidal attempt needed scrutinised psychiatric and psychological evaluation. In consulted patients the clinical diagnoses distinguished: conversive reaction (54%), endogenous depression, dysthymic depression, personality disturbances characteropathic type and adolescent crises. Endogenous and dysthymic depression were predominantly found in persons above 28th, they constituted 26% of all diagnosed patients. In particular age groups no characteristic psychopathological diagnoses were found. The diagnosis of characteropathic type of personality disturbances was distributed most regularly.

The thesis aims to answer the questions about the profile of mental ability in endogenous depression and to decide whether self-estimation of depressive symptoms influences the results achieved by patients in memory tests. Fifty six patients suffering from endogenous depression have been examined. The following methods have been applied: Mini Mental State Examination, Benton Visual Retention Test, Beck Depression Inventory, hold tests: Vocabulary, Information, Comprehension and Digit Span of Wechsler Adult Intelligence Scale (WAIS), Rey-Osterrieth Complex Figure, Auditory Verbal Learning Test, DCS Weidlich. General status of cognitive functions correlates with the profile of specific kinds of memory results, particularly with delayed memory. Self-estimation of depressive symptoms intensity is mostly influenced by memory capacity, visuomotorial factor, functions of perception and lingual factor. High correlation between verbal and non verbal learning shows uniform influence of depression on the process of learning.

This study is an attempt at approximating the question of transsexualism as a psycho-biological and socio-legal problem. The authors point out the role of genetic factors in sex determination and sexual features' differentiation. Social and educational environment plays a great role in forming of a psychical sex. However, the subjective feeling of sex is most probably biologically conditioned. Recognition of the problems connected with transsexualism may contribute to an improvement in quality of life of individuals suffering from disorders of sexual identification.

Memory complaints are a common symptom among hospitalized depressed and brain damaged patients. In present work we attempted to identify factors that affected the severity and character of these complaints. 21 hospitalized psychiatric patients with diagnosis of major depressive disorder, and 21 patients with diffuse brain damage, participated in the study. They completed self-reported memory questionnaire, mood questionnaire and performed on neuropsychological memory tests. There were lower performance results on several memory tests in results the brain damaged group but no between-groups difference was found the in self-reported memory questionnaire. The results suggest that different factors contributed to subjectively experienced memory problems in each group. Current mood state and immediate memory deficit were the most important predictors in the depressed group. In brain damaged patients, memory complaints the were associated with delayed story recall problems and learning deficit.