Psychiatric rehabilitation patterns in Italy: Results from the Italian Society of Psychosocial Rehabilitation (SIRP) survey.

Introduction: Psychiatric rehabilitation can be considered a bidirectional technique, designed to allow patients to achieve their personal target, focusing on the individuals' strengths and challenges related to these targets and also on the community organizations in which they will live them out. Unfortunately, psychiatric rehabilitation is too often not considered a first line treatment. Moreover, rehabilitation has been confused with a generic and rough practice, consisting of extemporary actions and aimless entertainments designed to fill "the time passing".

Regulation of oxytocin receptor gene expression in obsessive-compulsive disorder: a possible role for the microbiota-host epigenetic axis.

Background: Obsessive-compulsive disorder (OCD) is a prevalent and severe clinical condition. Robust evidence suggests a gene-environment interplay in its etiopathogenesis, yet the underlying molecular clues remain only partially understood. In order to further deepen our understanding of OCD, it is essential to ascertain how genes interact with environmental risk factors, a cross-talk that is thought to be mediated by epigenetic mechanisms.

The impact of COVID-19 on the psychiatric emergency departments of two Italian hospitals in Milan.

During the first wave of the SARS-CoV-2 contagion in Italy, mental health care services continuity has been granted to the general population. Emergent and urgent conditions, however, are managed in collaboration with Emergency Departments (EDs). This collaboration may have suffered from the overload of the EDs due to the high number of SARS-CoV-2 positive patients.

In Search for Biomarkers in Obsessive-Compulsive Disorder: New Evidence on Saliva as a Practical Source of DNA to Assess Epigenetic Regulation.

Background: Brain-Derived Neurotrophic Factor (BDNF) is a promising candidate biomarker in both the development and aetiology of different neuropsychiatric conditions, including obsessive-compulsive disorder (OCD). Most of the studies in the field have been carried out in blood cells, including peripheral blood mononucleated cells (PBMCs), although DNA of high quality can be easily isolated from saliva.

Objective: The objective of this study was to evaluate the epigenetic regulation of the BDNF gene in the saliva of a clinical sample of OCD patients in order to assess this source as an alternative to blood.

A longitudinal analysis of a work inclusion model for psychiatric patients in the Mental Health Departments of the city of Milan.

Background: Work functioning impairment is a key diagnostic and transnosographic criterion for psychiatric disorders in both DSM-5 and ICD-11. Occupational inclusion is a fundamental aspect of the care path for patients attending the territorial services provided by the Italian Mental Health and Addiction Departments (DSMDs). Since 2009, the Regional Innovative Programme (PIR) TR106, promoted by the Fatebenefratelli-Sacco hospital of Milan, Italy, in collaboration with six other metropolitan DSMDs, was created to promote integration for people suffering from mental health problems in the city of Milan.

Structured Evaluation of Rehabilitation Programs Outcomes in Psychiatry: Application of a Recovery-Centered Model.

Rehabilitation is oriented to psychiatric patients' recovery through specific techniques and structured projects, not yet fully standardized, carried out in territorial services. This study aims to apply an operational structured outcome indicator model (hospitalizations, continuity of care, LAI treatment adherence, working support) through a recovery-centered model in a rehabilitation community in Milan. This observational-retrospective study included 111 patients from a University High Assistance Rehabilitation Community (C.

A preliminary investigation of Cyberchondria and its correlates in a clinical sample of patients with obsessive-compulsive disorder, anxiety and depressive disorders attending a tertiary psychiatric clinic.

This cross-sectional study aimed to investigate the frequency and presentation of cyberchondria (CYB) in patients with obsessive-compulsive disorder (OCD), anxiety disorders (ADs), and major depression disorder (MDD). Seventy-seven patients (OCD:25, ADs:26, MDD:26) referred to a tertiary psychiatry outpatient clinic and 27 healthy controls (HCs) were included. A 'working' definition of CYB was used to measure CYB frequency.

Peripheral Biomarkers in DSM-5 Anxiety Disorders: An Updated Overview.

Anxiety disorders are prevalent and highly disabling mental disorders. In recent years, intensive efforts focused on the search for potential neuroimaging, genetic, and peripheral biomarkers in order to better understand the pathophysiology of these disorders, support their diagnosis, and characterize the treatment response. Of note, peripheral blood biomarkers, as surrogates for the central nervous system, represent a promising instrument to characterize psychiatric disorders, although their role has not been extensively applied to clinical practice.