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Traditionally, non-suicidal self-injury (NSSI) has been investigated through the lens of borderline personality disorder. The present study tried to overcome such a limitation, considering new criteria suggested by the fifth edition of the Diagnostic and Statistical Manual of Mental Disorders. Specifically, the aim of the current study was to compare the performance of a clinical sample of adolescent inpatients who engage in self-injurious acts with healthy controls on an emotion recognition task. Results showed that adolescents with NSSI scored worse than healthy controls on the recognition of both positive and negative emotions, as well as on the entire task. Conversely, no differences between the two groups were found when they had to discriminate between neutral facial expressions. Theoretical and clinical implications were discussed., Author(s): Fiorenzo Laghi [sup.1] , Rita Cerutti [sup.2] , Arianna Terrinoni [sup.3] , Antonia Lonigro [sup.4] , Annarita Pongetti [sup.1] , Mauro Ferrara [sup.3] , Fiorella Fantini [sup.2] Author Affiliations: [...]

Aim: To investigate whether the core of the pathophysiology underlying non‐suicidal self‐injury (NSSI) relates to poor impulse control due to impaired motor inhibition (i.e. the ability to inhibit a preplanned motor response). Method: We conducted a case–control study to compare the proficiency of two domains of motor inhibition, that is, reactive and proactive inhibition, by giving the reaching arm version of the stop‐signal task and a go‐only task to 28 drug‐naive adolescents with NSSI disorder (NSSID) (mean age [SD] 15 years 8 months [1 year 4 months]; three males and 25 females) and 28 typically developing adolescents (mean age 15 years 8 months [1 year 5 months]; three males and 25 females). Results: Reactive inhibition, as determined by the duration of the stop‐signal reaction time, was enhanced in adolescents with NSSID compared to typically developing controls (194.2 [22.5 ms] vs 217.5 [17.3 ms], p < 0.001). By contrast, proactive inhibition was similar in both groups. Lastly, the level of impulsivity, assessed using the Barratt Impulsiveness Scale Version 11, did not differ between typically developing adolescents and adolescents with NSSID. However, adolescents with NSSID were more impulsive than controls in a subscale of the UPPS‐P Impulsive Behavior Scale. Interpretation: NSSID is not driven by heightened motor impulsivity. Instead, adolescents with NSSID exhibited greater proficiency in reactive inhibition, a proxy for motor impulsivity. We suggest that the enhancement of reactive inhibition strengthens action control, allowing adolescents to suppress their self‐protection instinct and perform NSSI behaviours. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

Aim: Concerns have been raised about possible neuropsychiatric sequelae of COVID-19. The objective of this study was to examine the plausibility of long-term mental health consequences of COVID-19 by assessing a sample of children after the resolution of the acute SARS-CoV-2 infection. Method: As part of a systematic follow-up assessment of pediatric patients with COVID-19 conducted at two university children's hospitals, 50 children (56% males) aged 8 to 17 years (median 11.5), 26% with previous multisystem inflammatory syndrome in children (MIS-C), without a prior history of neuropsychiatric disorders, received a battery of clinical neuropsychiatric and neuropsychological rating scales that included the Pediatric Migraine Disability Assessment (PedMIDAS), Sleep Disturbance Scale for Children (SDSC), Multidimensional Anxiety Scale for Children (MASC-2), Child Depression Inventory (CDI-2), Child Behavior Checklist (CBCL), and the NEPSY II (Neuropsychological Assessment, Second Edition). The assessments were conducted between 1 and 18 months (median 8 months) after the acute infection. Results: The CBCL internalizing symptoms score was in the clinical range for 40% of the participants (vs. a population expected rate of about 10%, p < 0.001). A sleep disturbance was detected in 28%, clinically significant anxiety in 48%, and depressive symptoms in 16%. The NEPSY II scores showed impairment in attention and other executive functions in 52%, and memory deficits in 40% of the children. Conclusions: These data from direct assessment of a sample of children who had SARS-CoV-2 infection show higher than expected rates of neuropsychiatric symptoms, thus supporting the possibility that COVID-19 may have mental health sequelae long after the resolution of the acute infection. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

Abstract Background Non-suicidal self-injury (NSSI) is a common concern among hospitalized adolescents, and can have significant implications for short and long-term prognosis. Little research has been devoted on how personality features in severely ill adolescents interact with NSSI and "attitude toward life and death" as a dimension of suicidality. Developing more specific assessment methodologies for adolescents who engage in self-harm without suicidal intent is relevant given the recent proposal of a non-suicidal self-injury (NSSI) disorder and may be useful in predicting risk in psychiatrically impaired subjects. Methods Consecutively hospitalized adolescents in a psychiatric unit (N = 52; 71% females; age 12-19 years), reporting at least one recent episode of self-harm according to the Deliberate Self-harm Inventory, were administered the Structured Clinical Interview for DSM Mental Disorders and Personality Disorders (SCID I and II), the Children's Depression Inventory and the Multi-Attitude Suicide Tendency Scale (MAST). Results Mean age onset of NSSI in the sample was 12.3 years. All patients showed "repetitive" NSSI (high frequency of self-harm), covering different modalities. Results revealed that 63.5% of adolescents met criteria for Borderline Personality Disorder (BPD) and that the rest of the sample also met criteria for personality disorders with dysregulated traits. History of suicide attempts was present in 46.1% of cases. Elevated depressive traits were found in 53.8%. Results show a statistically significant negative correlation between the score on the "Attraction to Life" subscale of the MAST and the frequency and diversification of self-harming behaviors. Conclusions Most adolescent inpatients with NSSI met criteria for emotionally dysregulated personality disorders, and showed a reduced "attraction to life" disposition and significant depressive symptoms. This peculiar psychopathological configuration must be addressed in the treatment of adolescent inpatients engaging in NSSI and taken into account for the prevention of suicidal behavior in self-injuring adolescents who do not exhibit an explicit intent to die.

Objective: The Affective Neuroscience Personality Scales (ANPS) 2.4 is a self-report questionnaire, based on neurobiological considerations relating to the activity in 6 core emotional systems (FEAR, ANGER, SADNESS, CARE, PLAY , SEEKING). These subcortical brain emotional systems are foundations of personality development in both humans and animals, having a great deal of individual variability related to them. Method:We investigated the psychometric properties of ANPS 2.4 among 843 Adolescents and Adults of both nonclinical and clinical nature. Results: Internal consistency was satisfactory and the factor structures were similar to the original version of ANPS. 703 participants out of the larger sample also completed the Big-Five Inventory (BFI: John et al. 1991, Italian version: Fossati et al. 2011) in order to study the external validity of ANPS. The inter-correlations between Italian version of ANPS and the BFI are largely congruent with the original ANPS findings. ANPS was applied to an extended age range that includes not only adulthood but also adolescence which could increase the heuristic value of the test. Conclusions: ANPS scores and correlations were discussed in order to find out if they could be interpreted for the characterization of emotional endophenotypes involved in the personality and individual differences, including psychiatric disorders. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

Importance: There are suggestions that school pressure may be stressful and a factor in child and adolescent mental health disturbances, but data about this association are scarce and inconclusive., Objective: To assess whether varying degrees of school interruption were associated with changes in emergency department (ED) psychiatric visits of children and adolescents before and after the COVID-19 outbreak., Design, Setting, and Participants: A cross-sectional observational study was conducted at 9 urban university hospitals in Italy. All ED visits from January 1, 2018, to December 31, 2021, for psychiatric reasons of patients younger than 18 years were examined for demographic characteristics and type of psychopathologic factors. Data analysis was conducted from July 1 to August 31, 2023., Exposure: The disruption in the usual succession of school and holiday periods brought on by the COVID-19 pandemic at different times and with various degrees of intensity., Main Outcomes and Measures: Total number of pediatric ED visits, psychiatric ED visits, and psychiatric ED visits categorized by specific reasons (eg, psychomotor agitation, suicide ideation [SI] or suicide attempt [SA], and eating disorders) on a weekly basis., Results: A total of 13 014 psychiatric ED visits (1.3% of all pediatric ED visits) were recorded (63.2% females; mean [SD] age, 13.8 [3.8] years). The number of ED psychiatric visits increased over time (incidence rate ratio [IRR], 1.19; 95% CI, 1.16-1.22 for each year). Significant increases in ED visits were observed for eating disorders (294.8%), SI (297.8%), and SA (249.1%). School opening, but not social lockdown restriction, was associated with an increase in the number of ED psychiatric visits (IRR, 1.29; 95% CI, 1.23-1.34), which was evident for females and for SI with SA. Socioeconomic status was associated with an increase in psychiatric visits for males (IRR, 1.12; 95% CI, 1.04-1.20) but not females (IRR, 1.04; 95% CI, 0.98-1.10)., Conclusions and Relevance: In this study, school opening was associated with an increased incidence of acute psychiatric emergencies among children and adolescents, suggesting that school can be a substantial source of stress with acute mental health implications.