Emergency Psychiatric Consultations During and After the COVID-19 Lockdown in Italy. A Multicentre Study.

The aim was to analyse the psychiatric consultations in nine Italian hospital emergency departments, by comparing the lockdown and post-lockdown periods of 2020 with the equivalent periods of 2019. Characteristics of psychiatric consultations, patients, and drug prescriptions were analyzed. Joinpoint models were used to identify changes in the weekly trend of consultations.

Metabolic and Electrophysiological Changes Associated to Clinical Improvement in Two Severely Traumatized Subjects Treated With EMDR-A Pilot Study.

Neuroimaging represents a powerful tool to investigate the neurobiological correlates of Eye Movements Desensitization and Reprocessing (EMDR). The impact of EMDR on cortical and sub-cortical brain regions has been proven by several investigations demonstrating a clear association between symptoms disappearance and changes in cortical structure and functionality. The aim of this study was to assess by electroencephalography (EEG) and for the first time by positron emission tomography (PET) the changes occurring after EMDR therapy in two cases of psychological trauma following brain concussion and comatose state due to traffic accident.

Outlining a Population "at Risk" of Parkinson's Disease: Evidence from a Case-Control Study.

The multifactorial pathogenesis of Parkinson's Disease (PD) requires a careful identification of populations "at risk" of developing the disease. In this case-control study we analyzed a large Italian population, in an attempt to outline general criteria to define a population "at risk" of PD. We enrolled 300 PD patients and 300 controls, gender and age matched, from the same urban geographical area.

Neurobiological response to EMDR therapy in clients with different psychological traumas.

We assessed cortical activation differences in real-time upon exposure to traumatic memory between two distinct groups of psychologically traumatized clients also in comparison with healthy controls. We used electroencephalography (EEG) to compare neuronal activation throughout the bilateral stimulation phase of Eye Movement Desensitization and Reprocessing (EMDR) sessions. We compared activation between the first (T0) and the last (T1) session, the latter performed after processing the index trauma.

Altered resting-state EEG source functional connectivity in schizophrenia: the effect of illness duration.

Despite the increasing body of evidence supporting the hypothesis of schizophrenia as a disconnection syndrome, studies of resting-state EEG Source Functional Connectivity (EEG-SFC) in people affected by schizophrenia are sparse. The aim of the present study was to investigate resting-state EEG-SFC in 77 stable, medicated patients with schizophrenia (SCZ) compared to 78 healthy volunteers (HV). In order to study the effect of illness duration, SCZ were divided in those with a short duration of disease (SDD; n = 25) and those with a long duration of disease (LDD; n = 52).

Neurobiological correlates of EMDR monitoring - an EEG study.

Background: Eye Movement Desensitization and Reprocessing (EMDR) is a recognized first-line treatment for psychological trauma. However its neurobiological bases have yet to be fully disclosed.

Methods: Electroencephalography (EEG) was used to fully monitor neuronal activation throughout EMDR sessions including the autobiographical script.

[Neurobiological correlates of EMDR therapy].

The EEGs in a group of ten subjects with major psychological trauma treated with EMDR and in ten controls have been registered both during the listening of the autobiographical narrative of the index trauma (script) and during a whole EMDR session. The EEGs have been performed again during the last EMDR session when patients were free of symptoms. During script listening a prevalent activation of the limbic regions corresponding to prefrontal and orbitofrontal cortex has been registered, being explained as the emotional arousal during trauma reliving at the symptomatic phase.