The Italian consensus conference on psychological therapies for anxiety and depressive disorders: findings and recommendations.

A Consensus Conference of clinicians, researchers, public health specialists and users was convened in Italy to review efficacy, effectiveness, treatment appropriateness and access to care for anxiety and depression, and to consider the role of psychological therapies. Expert opinion was sought concerning identification of people requiring psychological therapies according to levels of symptom severity matched to corresponding levels of treatment intensity, suitability of psychological therapies for subclinical anxiety or depression, definition of a minimum level of information on evidence-based psychotherapies to be provided by university medical and psychology courses, initiatives to raise awareness among potential users and decision makers on the role and effectiveness of psychological therapies in healthcare. The expert jury concluded that a number of psychological therapy models endorsed by most authoritative guidelines are supported by research showing their effectiveness at least equal to the drugs used in common mental disorders (CMDs).

Renaming schizophrenia? A survey among psychiatrists, mental health service users and family members in Italy.

This survey explores how psychiatrists, service users and family members in Italy perceive the term schizophrenia and if they consider a name change a useful option in order to overcome the stigma attached to it. Opinions on the term schizophrenia were collected by a self-rated questionnaire used in previous international surveys. Questionnaires were delivered members of the Italian Psychiatric Association.

Symptoms of psychosis in anorexia and bulimia nervosa.

Despite evidence from case series, the comorbidity of eating disorders with psychosis is less investigated than their comorbidity with anxiety and mood disorders. We investigated the occurrence of symptoms of psychosis in 112 female patients diagnosed with DSM-IV eating disorders (anorexia nervosa=61, bulimia nervosa=51) and 631 high school girls in the same health district as the patients: the items of the SCL-90R symptom dimensions "paranoid ideation" and "psychoticism" were specifically examined. No case of co-morbid schizophrenia was observed among patients.

Aggressiveness, anger, and hostility in eating disorders.

Objective: Despite evidence of a link between the behavioral and cognitive dimensions of aggressiveness and eating disorders, only few studies have tested this relation empirically.

Methods: A total of 112 female patients with anorexia nervosa (n = 61) or bulimia nervosa (n = 51) and 631 young girls attending 7 high schools in the same health district as the patients (northeast Italy) were invited to fill in a set of self-report instruments including the Eating Attitudes Test, the Bulimic Investigatory Test of Edinburgh, the Body Attitudes Test, and the Buss-Perry Aggression Questionnaire (AQ).

Results: In both healthy controls and patients, scores on the measures of eating disorder symptoms were positively related to the scores on the AQ: the strength of the association did not differ between healthy controls and patients.

[Heterogeneity of the Departments of Mental Health in the Veneto Region ten years after the National Plan 1994-96 for Mental Health. Which implication for clinical practice? Findings from the PICOS Project].

Aims: This study aims to present data on structural and human resources of public mental health services located in the Veneto Region, Italy, and to discuss them in the light of implementation of the first National Target Plan for Mental Health ("Progetto Obiettivo 1994-1996") ten years after its launch.

Methods: The study was conducted in the context of the PICOS (Psychosis Incident Cohort Outcome Study) Project, a large first-presentation multisite study on patients with psychotic disorders attending community mental heath services in the Veneto Region. Human and structural resources were surveyed in 26 study sites using a structured interview administered by the PICOS local referents.

[Internet and psychopathology: an analysis of the use of the Web by 1075 students at secondary school].

Aims: The purpose of this research is to make a contribution to analysing the complex issue of the relationship between Internet use and psychological disorders, and proposes a survey of the typical features and effects of such use among a sample of secondary school students. PATTERN: The research was carried out on a sample of 1075 students aged 14-21 from two secondary schools, where students are prevalently male in one and female in the other; computer science is part of the teaching programme in both institutes. INSTRUMENTS USED: General Health Questionnaire (GHQ), Goldberg's 28-item version, together with a form to collect individual and social data and information about the actual use of Internet, such as number of years, number of hours a day/a week, subjective experience, quantitative-qualitative perception of the connection.