Shaped before birth: Obstetric complications identify a more severe clinical phenotype among patients presenting a first affective or non-affective episode of psychosis.

Obstetric complications (OCs) may contribute to the heterogeneity that characterizes psychiatric illness, particularly the phenotypic presentation of first episode psychoses (FEP). Our aim was to examine the relationship between OCs and socio-demographic, clinical, functioning and neuropsychological characteristics in affective and non-affective FEP. We performed a cross-sectional,study where we recruited participants with FEP between 2011 and 2021, and retrospectively assessed OCs using the Lewis-Murray scale.

Emotional intelligence: a comparison between patients after first episode mania and those suffering from chronic bipolar disorder type I.

Background: Deficits in emotional intelligence (EI) were detected in patients with bipolar disorder (BD), but little is known about whether these deficits are already present in patients after presenting a first episode mania (FEM). We sought (i) to compare EI in patients after a FEM, chronic BD and healthy controls (HC); (ii) to examine the effect exerted on EI by socio-demographic, clinical and neurocognitive variables in FEM patients.

Methods: The Emotional Intelligence Quotient (EIQ) was calculated with the Mayer-Salovey-Caruso Emotional Intelligence Test (MSCEIT).

Prodromal phase: Differences in prodromal symptoms, risk factors and markers of vulnerability in first episode mania versus first episode psychosis with onset in late adolescence or adulthood.

Objective: This study was aimed at identifying differences in the prodromal symptoms and their duration, risk factors and markers of vulnerability in patients presenting a first episode mania (FEM) or psychosis (FEP) with onset in late adolescence or adulthood in order to guide tailored treatment strategies.

Methods: Patients with a FEM or FEP underwent a clinical assessment. Prodromes were evaluated with the Bipolar Prodrome Symptom Scale-Retrospective (BPSS-R).