GDNF and miRNA-29a as biomarkers in the first episode of psychosis: uncovering associations with psychosocial factors.

Aim: Schizophrenia involves complex interactions between biological and environmental factors, including childhood trauma, cognitive impairments, and premorbid adjustment. Predicting its severity and progression remains challenging. Biomarkers like glial cell line-derived neurotrophic factor (GDNF) and miRNA-29a may bridge biological and environmental aspects.

Questionnaire for the Perception of Psychotherapy Process by the Psychotherapist (QPPP) - a preliminary presentation of a research tool.

Objectives: The emotional reactions of therapist in the treatment process constitute the core of therapeutic work, but they are poorly represented in research area. The article presents the results of work on the creation of a new tool the Questionnaire for the Perception of Psychotherapy Process by the Psychotherapist (QPPP).

Methods: The Questionnaire containing 267 statements assessing cognitive, affective and behavioural reactions of psychotherapists in interaction with a specific patient was uploaded on the website.

[Transcranial magnetic stimulation in psychiatric therapy].

Transcranial magnetic stimulation (TMS) is one of new techniques of the physical treatment in psychiatry. Its advantage is painlessness, so as lack of invasiveness and evoking a convulsive effect. The technique of TMS was introduced into the clinical practice in 1985--originally as a diagnostic method in neurology.

[Contemporary place of the electroconvulsive therapy. Part 2. Clinical aspect].

Electroconvulsive therapy (ECT) is an important method of biological treatment in serious psychic disturbances. Similarly to drug therapy it is marked by a determined schematics of applying including the list of indications, contraindications, procedures of the performance, as well as the list of adverse invents. Applying defined schemas allows for minimizing the risk and influences the final effectiveness of therapy.

[Resilience and responses to the experience of trauma--a fascinating but difficult study area].

The notion of resilience, which attempts to explain the phenomenon of positive adaptation (coping) of people exposed to adversities or traumatic events, is becoming a significant area of research in Poland. It is a complex and multidimensional notion, on the borderline between genetics, neurophysiology, anthropology of culture, sociology, medicine, political science, developmental psychology and psychiatry. The phenomenon of resilience is interactive (as it combines the experience of trauma with adaptation to it), it is difficult to measure and it raises serious methodological concerns.

[Contemporary place of the electroconvulsive therapy Part 1. The historical context arnd the biological basis].

Electroconvulsive therapy (ECT) is a former physical therapy method in psychiatry which is applicable up till today in relation to its high effectiveness and the safety. Centuries of applying nonconvulsive methods of the electric stimulation preceded introducing this method into the clinical practice. ECT is arousing a lot of controversies; populous myths are connected with its applying--that demands explanations.

[Revealing new contexts of violence in therapeutic work with families (from label to description)].

The authors present numerous contexts which create and support the phenomenon of violence. They describe family psychotherapy as a tool which reveals a variety of factors in the ethology and creation of aggressive behaviors. They also present the possibilities and limitations of family therapy as a method of changing violent behaviors in and outside family.