Factor-structure of the Italian version of the Scale Of Prodromal Symptoms (SOPS): a comparison with the English version.

Aims: The 19-item 'Scale Of Prodromal Symptoms' (SOPS) and its semi-structured interview, the Structured Interview for Prodromal Symptoms (SIPS), have been developed to assess prodromes of psychosis. We assessed psychometric properties of the Italian version of the instrument.

Methods: We collected socio-demographic and clinical data of 128 people seeking first-time psychiatric help in a large Roman area, either as outpatients at community facilities or as inpatients in psychiatric wards of two general hospitals.

[Restraints and psychiatric emergencies in the metropolitan area of Rome].

This research, sponsored by the coordination center for the Psychiatric, Diagnosis, and Cure Services (SPDC), would verify if, and in which measure, the mechanical restraint is still today a mean necessary for the management of the states of agitation in the psychiatric emergencies. The perspective in which the search is developed has been that to consider the restraint a point of synthesis of the matters of ethic, of quality and safety, and not only and exclusively a moral matter. The results of the search have showed a conspicuous and diffused use the mechanical restraint as routine mean in the management of the serious agitation and the incisive influence of endogenous (SPDC) factors of risk and exogenous (catchment's area and mental health department) in to determine a recourse to it.

Treatment choice and psychometric characteristics: differences between patients who choose bariatric surgical treatment and those who do not.

Background: Among the treatment options offered to patients with severe obesity are surgery and psychotherapy plus dieting. The treatment choice may reflect differences in the psychology of these patients. The objective was to assess the psychopathological differences between patients with obesity who choose surgery and those who choose non-surgical treatment to lose weight.