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Introduction: Working on the development of pupil's cognitiveemotional skills has been shown to be a key factor for the success of anti-bullying interventions in primary and secondary school. Virtual Reality (VR) technologies, which have been claimed to be a powerful "empathy machine", could have great potential in this regard. Objectives: To examine whether immersion on a first-person VR experience representing a situation of school bullying impacts empathy and attitudes towards victims in secondary school students. Methods: Students participated in a co-creation task for creating the VR scenes, which were pre-tested with a different sample of pupils. Self-reported measures of the experience and attitudes towards bullying were collected, together with psychophysiological measures during the viewing. Results: Preliminary results suggest that the immersive experience elicits realistic responses in participants, enhances emotional reactions towards the situation, and might contribute to more prosocial attitudes. Conclusions: The results encourage further research exploring the specific aspects of VR interventions in school bullying prevention programs and their impact on behavior. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

Introduction: A growing number of studies support that subjects who have experienced Childhood Trauma (CT) show deficits in general cognitive performance. However, this correlation has been scarcely studied in patients with bipolar disorder. Objectives: Our aim is to examine the potential association of CT on cognitive performance in euthymic patients diagnosed with bipolar disorder. Methods: We conducted a cross-sectional study on a sample of 64 bipolar outpatients recruited from the Bipolar Disorder Program of the Parc Taulí University Hospital in Sabadell (Spain). Participants underwent a comprehensive clinical interview, which specifically included the Child Trauma Questionnaire (CTQ) and a cognitive evaluation with a battery of neuropsychological tests. Inclusion criteriawere as follows: (a) bipolar I or II (DSM5) diagnosis, (b) age >18, (c) fulfilling euthymia criteria for at least 3 months, (d) the capacity to provide written informed consent. Exclusion criteria were: (a) IQ < than 80 (b) a course of electronvulsive therapy within the past year, (c) substance abuse, (d) medical condition affecting neuropshychological performance. No restrictions were made regarding pharmacological treatment. A two-step cluster analysis will be applied to delimit different groups of bipolar patients based on the presence of CT and their clinical features and cognitive performance. Results: Our preliminary results suggest that the history of child abuse measured by CTQ is associated with a worse performance in different cognitive domains. Conclusions: Exposure to CT has lasting consequences in the clinical presentation of bipolar disorder; fact that reinforces the need to establish specific prevention and treatment strategies. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]