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Background: Mental health, particularly among young adults, has been severely affected during the COVID-19 pandemic, partially because of both forced social isolation measures and loneliness. Numerous papers on the short-term consequences of lockdown measures reported high psychological distress, as well as an increase of depressive and anxiety symptoms and psychotropic drug use. This study evaluated potential risk and protective factors, such as resilience, loneliness, social and family context, in order to detect vulnerable individuals. Methods: This prospective longitudinal study was carried out in a two phase survey: the first one, during lockdown in Spring 2020 (T1), and, the second one, in Summer 2020 (T2), when restrictive measures were slackened. The main outcomes included the Resilience Scale for Adults (RSA) and the University of California Los Angeles (UCLA) Loneliness Scale. The secondary outcomes included mental health care needs (MHCN), use of psychotropic drugs and family and social contacts. Results: This study evaluated risks and protective factors in mental health in 825 emerging adults aged from 18 to 25 years old in Belgium and in Italy. Participants were divided into three groups according to their MHCN before and after lockdown measures. 5% of the participants experienced an increase in MHCN at T1, including the start of a psychotropic treatment. At T1, statistically significant differences were found in mean RSA total scores and RSA Perception of Self scores between groups. At T2, the group who experienced an increase in MHCN displayed a significant decrease of mean loneliness scores compared with the other groups. This decrease is linearly correlated with resilience competencies. Conclusions: The COVID-19 pandemic and its associated restrictive measures cause a negative impact on youth’s mental health, particularly among vulnerable individuals. Resilience and social contacts are protective factors that need to be taken into account. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

ADHD is a neurodevelopmental disorder with multifactorial origins. Several studies have shown that parent-child attachment impacts the expression of ADHD symptoms, while others have highlighted the influence of cognitive impairments on ADHD symptoms. However, few studies have simultaneously examined the respective contributions of child attachment and cognitive functions to ADHD, which is the aim of this study. We included 45 children with ADHD from a university hospital and 44 typically developing children from regular schools. Child attachment was evaluated using a self-report questionnaire, the French Attachment Security Scale (ASS-Fr), and a narrative interview, the Cartes pour l'évaluation de l'Attachement et de la Mentalisation chez l'Enfant (CAME). Cognitive assessment involved both objective and subjective measures. Perceived attachment security to both parents and disorganized attachment were significantly associated with ADHD symptoms, but these relationships were mediated by externalizing symptoms and executive function difficulties. The relationships between attachment and ADHD symptoms are indirect and mediated by the presence of externalizing symptoms and executive function impairments., Competing Interests: Declarations. Conflict of interest: The author(s) declared no potential conflicts of interest with respect to the research, authorship, and/or publication of this article. Ethical Approval: All procedures performed in studies involving human participants were in accordance with the ethical standards of the institutional and/or national research committee and with the 1964 Helsinki declaration and its later amendments or comparable ethical standards. This study was approved by the Ethics Committees of Queen Fabiola Children’s University Hospital (ULB, Belgium) and Erasme Hospital (ULB, Belgium; Reference: P2020/171). Informed Consent: Written informed consent was obtained from parents of all children that were included in the study prior to study participation. Additionally, written assent was obtained from all participating children., (© 2024. The Author(s), under exclusive licence to Springer Science+Business Media, LLC, part of Springer Nature.)

Introduction: Early onset anorexia nervosa accounts for 8% of anorexia cases worldwide. Very few studies on this subject exist, given the difficulty of obtaining a sufficiently significant sample. The aim of this study was to supplement the literature and investigate the clinical characteristics of early onset anorexia nervosa., Subjects and Methods: This is a monocentric retrospective study carried out on the records of patients aged 8 to 12 years with early onset anorexia nervosa, hospitalized in the child psychiatry unit at the Queen Fabiola University Children's Hospital, in Brussels, from 01/01/2000 to 01/07/2023. Descriptive statistics were then performed on the sample and compared with the data found in the literature., Results: This study included 48 children aged 8 to 12 with early onset anorexia nervosa. In the sample, three children were diagnosed with autism spectrum disorder during hospitalization. The sample included 36 girls and 12 boys, with an average age of 11 years and 7 months. The patients had an average body mass index of 13.6 kg/m 2 on admission. A total of 87% of the parents had a history of psychiatric illness. A large majority of the children had underlying depressive and anxiety disorders. The duration of anorexia nervosa in these children was 13.5 months from diagnosis, with an average hospital stay of 5.4 months., Conclusions: This study seems to show the difficulty for parents and caregivers in diagnosing this illness and the probable impact of genetics and maternal depression on the development of early onset anorexia nervosa.

Background: Autism Spectrum Disorders (ASD) are characterized by significant challenges in social interaction and communication, accompanied by repetitive behaviors. Effective early interventions, such as the Early Start Denver Model (ESDM) are crucial but primarily studied in well-resourced Western countries. This study explores the adaptation and effectiveness of ESDM in Senegal, a low-resource setting, to adress gaps in autism care and intervention accessibility in Africa., Subjects and Methods: An observational study was conducted at Diamniadio Children's Hospital, Dakar, Senegal, from January 2019 to July 2021, focusing on children under 10 years suspected of having ASD. Diagnostic assessments were performed using the DSM-5 criteria with tools like the Autism Diagnostic Interview-Revised (ADI-R) and Autism Diagnostic Observation Schedule, Second Edition (ADOS-2). Interventions based on ESDM were adapted to local resources and involved regular family and patient engagement., Results: Of the 114 children referred for ASD suspicion, 80 were diagnosed with ASD. Post-diagnosis, 30 children received follow-up care at the day hospital, and another 30 were managed via outpatient care. 20 children did not receive any follow-up care at Diamniadio Children's Hospital. Significant socio-economic disparities were noted, influencing access to and engagement with intervention programs. No significant differences were found in clinical characteristics between groups, but socio-economic factors significantly affected intervention access., Conclusion: The adapted ESDM interventions show promise for implementation in resource-limited settings like Senegal, although challenges related to socio-economic disparities and service accessibility persist. Future research should focus on the integration of ASD services into broader health policies to enhance efficacy and accessibility.

Background: The transitional age (16-24 years old) is a clinically vulnerable period particularly important in mental health care. While several studies focus on this problem, few consider the specificity of the transgender population, a minority at risk of mental health issues. The purpose of this paper is to establish a review of the current literature addressing the transitional age and the transgender population in order to identify the issues met by this specific population in the transition of mental health care., Methods: A systematic search of the English literature was conducted in Pubmed and ScienceDirect. The PRISMA method was used to illustrate the process of identification, selection, evaluation of eligibility and inclusion of the selected articles., Results: 12 studies were selected, of which five were specifically addressing the transition of care. No specific guidelines were highlighted. The main barriers to mental health care access were the lack of trained professionals, waiting time before a first appointment, past negative experiences of care and the cost of it., Conclusion: Enhancing scientific research focusing on that theme is essential to improve the mental health care of this specifically vulnerable population.