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Introduction: Health care workers (HCW) have been identified as a risk group to suffer psychological burden derived from Coronavirus Disease 19 (COVID-19) pandemic. In addition, possible gender differences in the emotional reactions derived from COVID-19 pandemic have been suggested in this population. The aims of the study were to explore the impact of COVID-19 as well as possible gender differences on mental health status and suicidality in a cohort of HCW., Materials and Methods: One thousand four hundred and thirty-two HCW responded to an online survey including sociodemographic, clinical, and psychometric tests in May 2020 while 251 HCW answered in November 2020. Mental health status was measured by General Health Questionnaire 28 (GHQ-28) in both time periods., Results: HCW informed of a worsening in somatic symptomatology over the follow up period. Gender differences were found in all GHQ-28 dimensions as well in the total score of the questionnaire. Post hoc analyses displayed significant interaction between the time and gender in somatic and anxiety dimensions as well as in GHQ-28 total score. Stress produced by COVID-19 spreading and the feeling of being overwhelmed at work resulted the main predictors of psychological distress although each domain is characterized by a specific set of predictors., Conclusions: Somatic reactions represent the most sensitive dimension over the follow-up period. Moreover, women are characterized by a greater psychological distress at the beginning, although these differences tend to disappear over time. Finally, a complex network of factors predicted different dimensions of psychological distress, showing the complexity of prevention in high-risk populations facing major disasters., (© 2022 Published by Elsevier España, S.L.U. on behalf of SEP y SEPB.)

Introduction: Childhood trauma has been reported as a risk factor for psychosis. Different types of traumatic experiences in childhood could lead to different clinical manifestations in psychotic disorders., Methods: We studied differences in social cognition (emotion recognition and theory of mind) and clinical symptoms in a sample of 62 patients with psychosis (less than five years of illness) and childhood trauma, analysing performance by trauma type., Results: Psychotic patients with a history of childhood trauma other than sexual abuse were more capable of recognizing fear as a facial emotion (especially when facial stimuli were non-degraded) than participants with a history of sexual abuse or with no history of childhood trauma (P = .008). We also found that the group that had suffered sexual abuse did not show improvement in fear recognition when exposed to clearer stimuli, although this intergroup difference did not reach statistical significance (P = .064). We have not found other differences between abuse groups, neither in clinical symptoms (PANSS factors) nor in Hinting Task scores., Conclusion: We have found differences in fear recognition among patients with psychotic disorders who have experienced different types of childhood trauma., (Copyright © 2019 SEP y SEPB. Published by Elsevier España, S.L.U. All rights reserved.)

Background: Selecting the most effective treatment represents a critical challenge with the potential of modifying the long-term prognosis of individuals suffering a first break of psychosis. Head-to-head clinical trials comparing effectiveness among antipsychotic drugs in individuals with a first-episode of non-affective psychosis (FEP) are scarce., Methods: The rationale and design of a 3 phases clinical trial (PAFIP-3, NCT02305823) comparing the effectiveness of aripiprazole and risperidone, and to additionally assess the benefits of an early use of clozapine in primary treatment-resistant patients is reported. The design encompasses of 5 work packages (medication algorithm, cognitive functioning, psychoeducation/vocational functioning, imaging and biological markers) addressing critical issues and needs of first episode psychosis individuals and their cares. The primary outcome measure was treatment effectiveness assessed by all-cause treatment discontinuation rate., Results: 266 individuals have been included in the randomization study phase I (risperidone vs. aripiprazole). At 3 months, the retention rate was of 94% (249/266), 48(19.3%) patients have gone through phase II (olanzapine treatment), and 7(2.8%) entered the clozapine phase (phase III)., Discussion: The PAFIP 3 clinical trial may provide relevant information about clinical guidelines to optimally treat patients with a first episode of non-affective psychosis and the benefits and risks of an early use of clozapine in treatment resistant patients. Clinicaltrials.gov: NCT02305823., (Copyright © 2021 SEP y SEPB. Published by Elsevier España, S.L.U. All rights reserved.)

Introduction: The world is currently undergoing an extremely stressful scenario due to the COVID-19 pandemic. This unexpected and dramatic situation could increase the incidence of mental health problems, among them, psychotic disorders. The aim of this paper was to describe a case series of brief reactive psychosis due to the psychological distress from the current coronavirus pandemic., Materials and Methods: We report on a case series including all the patients with reactive psychoses in the context of the COVID-19 crisis who were admitted to the Virgen del Rocío and Virgen Macarena University Hospitals (Seville, Spain) during the first two weeks of compulsory nationwide quarantine., Results: In that short period, four patients met the Diagnostic and Statistical Manual of Mental Disorders (DSM-5) criteria for a brief reactive psychotic disorder. All of the episodes were directly triggered by stress derived from the COVID-19 pandemic and half of the patients presented severe suicidal behavior at admission., Conclusions: We may now be witnessing an increasing number of brief reactive psychotic disorders as a result of the COVID-19 pandemic. This type of psychosis has a high risk of suicidal behavior and, although short-lived, has a high rate of psychotic recurrence and low diagnostic stability over time. Therefore, we advocate close monitoring in both the acute phase and long-term follow-up of these patients., (Copyright © 2020 SEP y SEPB. Publicado por Elsevier España, S.L.U. All rights reserved.)

Introduction: The world is currently undergoing an extremely stressful scenario due to the COVID-19 pandemic. This unexpected and dramatic situation could increase the incidence of mental health problems, among them, psychotic disorders. The aim of this paper was to describe a case series of brief reactive psychosis due to the psychological distress from the current coronavirus pandemic., Materials and Methods: We report on a case series including all the patients with reactive psychoses in the context of the COVID-19 crisis who were admitted to the Virgen del Rocío and Virgen Macarena University Hospitals (Seville, Spain) during the first two weeks of compulsory nationwide quarantine., Results: In that short period, four patients met the Diagnostic and Statistical Manual of Mental Disorders (DSM-5) criteria for a brief reactive psychotic disorder. All of the episodes were directly triggered by stress derived from the COVID-19 pandemic and half of the patients presented severe suicidal behavior at admission., Conclusions: We may now be witnessing an increasing number of brief reactive psychotic disorders as a result of the COVID-19 pandemic. This type of psychosis has a high risk of suicidal behavior and, although short-lived, has a high rate of psychotic recurrence and low diagnostic stability over time. Therefore, we advocate close monitoring in both the acute phase and long-term follow-up of these patients., (© 2020 SEP y SEPB. Published by Elsevier España, S.L.U. All rights reserved.)

Introduction: Childhood trauma has been reported as a risk factor for psychosis. Different types of traumatic experiences in childhood could lead to different clinical manifestations in psychotic disorders., Material and Methods: We studied differences in social cognition (emotion recognition and theory of mind) and clinical symptoms in a sample of 62 patients with psychosis (less than 5 years of illness) and childhood trauma, analysing performance by trauma type., Results: Psychotic patients with a history of childhood trauma other than sexual abuse were more capable of recognizing fear as a facial emotion (especially when facial stimuli were non-degraded) than participants with a history of sexual abuse or with no history of childhood trauma (P=.008). We also found that the group that had suffered sexual abuse did not show improvement in fear recognition when exposed to clearer stimuli, although this intergroup difference did not reach statistical significance (P=.064). We have not found other differences between abuse groups, neither in clinical symptoms (PANSS factors) nor in Hinting Task scores., Conclusion: We have found differences in fear recognition among patients with psychotic disorders who have experienced different types of childhood trauma., (Copyright © 2019 SEP y SEPB. Publicado por Elsevier España, S.L.U. All rights reserved.)

Introduction: The importance of neuropsychological functioning in First-Episode Psychosis (FEP) has led to the publication of a growing number of studies in this area of research. The present study pursued three goals: First, to examine verbal and visual memory in a sample of Child and Adolescent FEP, second, to evaluate the effect of other cognitive domains on verbal and visual memory, and finally, to examine the relationship between performance in this cognitive dimension and the use of cannabis at this age., Method: A sample of 41 FEPs and 39 healthy subjects were evaluated. The variables assessed were verbal and visual memory, attention, working memory, processing speed, mental flexibility, verbal fluency, motor coordination, planning ability and intelligence., Results: Our results found impairment of short and long-term recall of verbal memory, and short-term visual memory in early psychosis. They also found relationships between cognitive dimensions, such as visual memory and intelligence and motor coordination. Finally, a «paradoxical» effect was found in patients who used cannabis, as the FEP consumers performed the visual memory test better than those who had not used it., Conclusions: Patients showed impairment of short and long-term recall of verbal information and short-term visual reproduction. In the second place, motor coordination and intelligence influenced short-term visual memory in patients in the early stages of the illness. Third, use of cannabis in patients with FEP was associated with better performance in the test that evaluated the short-term visual memory, as measured by task completion time, that is, efficiency in performing the test. However, when measured by task execution accuracy, their visual memory was no better than the controls., (Copyright © 2012 SEP y SEPB. Published by Elsevier España. All rights reserved.)

Introduction: The risk of schizophrenia conferred by cannabis has recently been proposed to be modulated by the Val158Met polymorphism (rs4680) at the COMT gene. To date, these findings have not been replicated in independent samples., Material and Methods: We tested the potential gene-by-environment interaction between Val158Met genotype at the COMT gene and previous use of cannabis in schizophrenia in 192 healthy controls and 91 inpatients with DSM-IV schizophrenia. The functional COMT Val158Met polymorphism was analyzed using TaqMan technology. Cannabis use was measured by taking into account the frequency of intake during the previous month. Logistic regression models were used to test the interaction between genetic and environment factors., Results: Cannabis use was strongly associated with the case condition (p<0.0001). The Val158Met polymorphism at the COMT gene was not associated with schizophrenia, although Val/Val homozygosity tended to be more frequent in the case group than in the control group (34% vs 27%; OR=1.39; 95% CI, 0.78-2.47). Finally, in women we found a non-significant trend toward the association when we tested for the interaction between cannabis use, the number of Val alleles and susceptibility to schizophrenia (p=0.152)., Conclusions: Our results tend to support recent findings suggesting that the Val158Met polymorphism at the COMT gene modifies the risk of schizophrenia conferred by cannabis use. In our study, this possible effect was only detected in women., (Copyright © 2009 Sociedad Española de Psiquiatría and Sociedad Española de Psiquiatría Biológica. Published by Elsevier Espana. All rights reserved.)