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To this day, there exists skepticism about the reliability and clinical utility of the diagnostic criteria and classification of schizoaffective disorder. In addition, the treatment of schizoaffective disorder, especially of treatment-resistant cases, has been minimally investigated. As a result, formulating official treatment guidelines for schizoaffective disorder has been challenging. We present a case of a 27-year-old female, diagnosed with schizoaffective disorder, bipolar type, for whom, for over 5 years, trials of traditional treatments, to include psychotherapy, pharmacotherapy, and electroconvulsive therapy, were either partially effective or discontinued due to intolerable side effects. The subsequent off-label use of lumateperone led to an adequate response. Lumateperone is an atypical antipsychotic, approved by the Food and Drug Administration for schizophrenia and bipolar depression in adults. Interestingly, it has a similar structure and mechanism of action to paliperidone, the only Food and Drug Administration-approved medication for schizoaffective disorder. Through this case report, as an example of lumateperone’s effectiveness and tolerability, as well as a literature review of its pharmacodynamics, we make the case that lumateperone emerges as a promising option for schizoaffective disorder, especially treatment-resistant cases.

OBJECTIVE: To investigate relationship of social media exposure with prevalence of depression and anxiety among general public in Lahore, Pakistan during the COVID-19 outbreak. METHODS: A web-based cross-sectional study was conducted via Google forms in June–July 2020 among Pakistani citizens aged ≥18 years. Purposive convenient sampling was done. The questionnaire constituted socio-demographic data, information regarding social media exposure, and scales to assess depression and anxiety. Social media exposure was measured by a questionnaire based on previous literature while depression and anxiety were measured by WHO-Five Well-Being Index (WHO-5) and Generalized Anxiety Disorder (GAD-7) scale respectively. Differences in depression and anxiety between groups and their associations with their social media use were examined through Chi-square test. RESULTS: Out of 516 participants who completed the questionnaire, 447 (86.6%) had frequent exposure to social media. Facebook (n=345; 66.9%) and WhatsApp (n=224; 43.4%) were the most used platforms to obtain COVID-19 related news. The prevalence of depression, anxiety, and combined depression and anxiety in the sample was 46.3% (n=239), 45.5% (n=235), and 29.7% (n=153) respectively. Statistically significant association was observed between depression and social media exposure (p

Background COVID-19 has posed unique challenges for adolescents in different dimensions of their life including education, home and social life, mental and physical health. Whether the impact is positive or negative, its significance on the overall shaping of adolescents’ lives cannot be overlooked. The aim of the present study was to explore impacts of the pandemic on the adolescents’ everyday lives in Pakistan. Methods Following ethical approval, this cross-sectional study was conducted through September to December, 2020 via an online survey on 842 adolescents with the mean age of 17.14 ± SD 1.48. Socio-demographic data and Epidemic Pandemic Impact Inventory-Adolescent Adaptation (EPII-A) was used to assess the multi-dimensional effects of the pandemic. Results Among the 842 participants, 84% were girls. Education emerged as the most negatively affected Pandemic domain (41.6–64.3%). Most of the adolescents (62.0–65.8%) had reported changes in responsibilities at home including increased time spent in helping family members. Besides, increase in workload of participants and their parents was prominent (41.8% & 47.6%). Social activities were mostly halted for approximately half (41–51%) of the participants. Increased screen time, decreased physical activity and sedentary lifestyle were reported by 52.7%, 46.3% and 40.7% respectively. 22.2–62.4% of the adolescents had a direct experience with quarantine, while 15.7% experienced death of a close friend or relative. Positive changes in their lives were endorsed by 30.5–62.4% respondents. Being male and older adolescents had significant association with negative impact across most domains (pConclusions Results have shown that COVID-19 exert significant multidimensional impacts on the physical, psycho-social, and home related domains of adolescents that are certainly more than what the previous researches has suggested.