Hush little baby, don't you cry: How aversion to infant distress calls drives caregiving.

Historically associated with aversion, the lateral habenula has a poorly characterized role in parenting. In this issue of Neuron, Lecca and colleagues show that these seemingly opposing roles converge in a subnucleus where aversion to pup cries may drive motivation for caregiving.

Urocortin-3 neurons in the perifornical area are critical mediators of chronic stress on female infant-directed behavior.

Infant avoidance and aggression are promoted by activation of the Urocortin-3 expressing neurons of the perifornical area of hypothalamus (PeFA) in male and female mice. PeFA neurons have been implicated in stress, and stress is known to reduce maternal behavior. We asked how chronic restraint stress (CRS) affects infant-directed behavior in virgin and lactating females and what role PeFA neurons play in this process.

neurons in the mouse perifornical area promote infant-directed neglect and aggression.

While recent studies have uncovered dedicated neural pathways mediating the positive control of parenting, the regulation of infant-directed aggression and how it relates to adult-adult aggression is poorly understood. Here we show that ()-expressing neurons in the hypothalamic perifornical area (PeFA) are activated during infant-directed attacks in males and females, but not other behaviors. Functional manipulations of PeFA neurons demonstrate the role of this population in the negative control of parenting in both sexes.

Cerebellar modulation of the reward circuitry and social behavior.

The cerebellum has been implicated in a number of nonmotor mental disorders such as autism spectrum disorder, schizophrenia, and addiction. However, its contribution to these disorders is not well understood. In mice, we found that the cerebellum sends direct excitatory projections to the ventral tegmental area (VTA), one of the brain regions that processes and encodes reward.

[Determinations of hospitalization from psychiatric ER from S. Gerardo hospital in Monza: epidemiological cross-sectional study].

Objective: The study aims to identify the predicting factors of hospitalization in patients who come in Emergency Room with psychiatric symptoms.

Method: Cross-sectional study using data collected by E.R.

The effects of psychotherapies: a study on patients' perception of results in an Italian public setting.

Enquiries centred on the perspective of users of psychiatric treatments and their families, has become an increasingly widespread method to improve the quality of treatments administered by health services. In this study, in particular, we examine the users' perception of the quality and variability of the effects of psychotherapies, the difficulties met, and the perceived help factors. The sample consists of 216 users of psychotherapy and 223 patients in psychiatric treatment with psychological support.

[Psychotherapies in psychosocial centers in Lombardia: a point of view of psychiatrists and psychologists].

Objective: The purpose of this study is the systematic analysis of operators' points of view about psychotherapies concretely performed in the Public Psychiatric Public Services and inside the global operating mode of the assistance.

Setting: The study has involved 26 CPS selected randomly in Lombardia. The sample has been built with 73 psychiatrists and 42 psychologists.

The training of the psychiatrist in relation to the new trends in psychiatry.

One of the most important things to realize about modern Psychiatry is that many factors are involved in the pathogenesis and especially in the evolution of mental diseases. The results of epidemiological research and the development of different schools with separate specializations have shown the importance of extrasubjective factors such as family environment, social context, life events and life stressors, and therefore the need to find therapeutic strategies which are able to influence the different areas. From this wide spectrum arises the necessity for a functional integration of the different therapeutic areas in the operative context, also because of the nonhomogeneity and the frequent random choice of reference models by the operators and the mental health services.

Substance abuse and psychopathology. A diagnostic screening of Italian narcotic addicts.

This report evaluates, using DSM III, the psychopathological profile of 226 heroin users taken in at the clinical centre of "Cascina Verde" Therapeutic Community (Milan, Italy) and admitted to a psychotherapeutic, retraining, integrated, both out-and-in-patient treatment. The outcome shows that 30% of subjects are to be diagnosed according to Axis I while 61% are to be considered among Axis II personality disorders. A portion of 16% is to be referred to the "schizophrenic spectrum", 25% has histrionic, narcissistic, antisocial and borderline personality disorders and the remaining are to be referred to an extremely heterogeneous category.

Integrated psychotherapy in the project of the treatment of psychoses.

We present a model of integrated psychotherapy of schizophrenia. When we do an integrated therapy with a patient, attention must always be directed to the calibration of the interventions which constitute the therapeutic compound. This kind of calibration has to be done by a therapist with an integrative function.

Involvement of families in group therapy of heroin addicts.

In a follow-up study of 98 heroin addicts staying in a therapeutic community for different periods of time the effectiveness of involving family members in the group therapy was investigated. In subjects who terminated the treatment programme prematurely on their own the length of abstinence was linked to the frequency of parental attendance at group therapy.

Representation of psychosomatic disturbances: metaphor and metonymy.

The purpose of this study was to explore the expressive capacities of our psychosomatic patients. We invited them to represent their illness in a drawing through the design test. Following this, we investigated 43 patients affected with bronchial asthma, 30 patients affected with refractory massive obesity and compared them with a control group of 25 'normal' subjects (medical students in a situation where stress and anxiety were strongly suspected as they were awaiting to sit for an examination in the Medical School).

Psychotherapy of the family as a measure for preventing relapses and improving the prognosis in schizophrenic patients.

The increasing interest in the relationship among psychoanalysis, linguistics and higher nervous activity (neurodynamic) is recalled. As most of the works on the therapy of the family have been based upon psychodynamic interpretations, the authors shall try to speculate on how much room this field should be given in the phenomena related to higher nervous activity. The study of Pavlov, Gantt and others on biological and social factors influencing human behaviour have been discussed in relation to the system represented by the family nucleus.