Childhood Trauma Questionnaire (CTQ): Greek translation and psychometric validation in general and clinical population.

Exposure to childhood trauma experiences shows a high prevalence worldwide, with approximately two-thirds of the general population reporting traumatic experiences during childhood. The valid psychometric assessment of childhood trauma experience represents, however, a significant challenge in clinical research and practice. The Childhood Trauma Questionnaire - Short Form (CTQ-SF) embodies the most valid and internationally widely used tool for the retrospective assessment of traumatic experiences during childhood to date.

Immune Cell Ratios Are Higher in Bipolar Affective than Unipolar Depressive Disorder and Modulated by Mood Episode: A Retrospective, Cross-Sectional Study.

Immune dysregulation is implicated in the pathophysiology of both bipolar and major depressive disorder, while immune cell ratios (IRCs) have recently been proposed as clinically applicable immune biomarkers. We investigated IRCs differences in affective disorders and their association with current mood episodes and clinical features. This retrospective cohort study analyzed neutrophil-lymphocyte (NLR), monocyte-lymphocyte (MLR), and platelet-lymphocyte (PLR) ratios upon admission in 135 affective disorder in-patients with mania (MA, n = 36), bipolar depression (BiD, n = 38), and unipolar depression (MDD, n = 61).

Validation of the Collaborative Outcomes study on Health and Functioning during Infection Times (COH-FIT) questionnaire for adults.

Background: The Collaborative Outcome study on Health and Functioning during Infection Times (COH-FIT; www.coh-fit.com) is an anonymous and global online survey measuring health and functioning during the COVID-19 pandemic.

[Neurobiology of early life traumatic stress and trauma: Prolonged neuroendocrine dysregulation as a neurodevelopmental risk factor].

Early life stressors display a high universal prevalence and constitute a major public health problem with two thirds of youth being exposed to potentially traumatic experiences by the age of 17. Traumatic stress exposure during critical periods of development may have essential and long-lasting effects on the physical and mental health of individuals and represents a developmental risk factor mediating risk for disease. Early-life stress (ELS) and childhood trauma (CT) can both have an impact on sensitive neuronal brain networks involved in stress reactions, and could exert a programming effect on glucocorticoid signaling leading to chronic hyper- or hypo-activation of the stress system.

[Peripheral prognostic biomarkers of response in treatment-resistant depression].

Major depressive disorder is a serious mental health disorder of high prevalence and the leading cause of disability worldwide. While there are several classes of therapeutic agents with proven antidepressant efficacy, only about 40-60% of patients respond to initial antidepressant monotherapy, and 30-40% of patients may even show resistance to treatment even under optimal antidepressant pharmacotherapy. Despite the existence of international guidelines, there are still no clear and widely accepted treatment algorithms, no established predictive biomarkers of response to treatment, while the management treatment- resistant depression is usually based on clinical experience.

The collaborative outcomes study on health and functioning during infection times in adults (COH-FIT-Adults): Design and methods of an international online survey targeting physical and mental health effects of the COVID-19 pandemic.

Background: . High-quality comprehensive data on short-/long-term physical/mental health effects of the COVID-19 pandemic are needed.

Methods: .

The relationship between early symptom severity, improvement and remission in first episode psychosis with jumping to conclusions.

It is suggested that Jumping To Conclusions (JTC) reasoning bias might contribute to the distortion of external reality. However, the association between psychotic manifestations and JTC is obscure, especially if general intelligence is considered as a mediator. The aim of this study is to investigate the relation between severity, early clinical improvement and remission of symptoms in First Episode Psychosis (FEP) with JTC as an explanatory factor.

Physical and mental health impact of COVID-19 on children, adolescents, and their families: The Collaborative Outcomes study on Health and Functioning during Infection Times - Children and Adolescents (COH-FIT-C&A).

Background: The COVID-19 pandemic has altered daily routines and family functioning, led to closing schools, and dramatically limited social interactions worldwide. Measuring its impact on mental health of vulnerable children and adolescents is crucial.

Methods: The Collaborative Outcomes study on Health and Functioning during Infection Times (COH-FIT - www.

Multilevel Interactions of Stress and Circadian System: Implications for Traumatic Stress.

The dramatic fluctuations in energy demands by the rhythmic succession of night and day on our planet has prompted a geophysical evolutionary need for biological temporal organization across phylogeny. The intrinsic circadian timing system (CS) represents a highly conserved and sophisticated internal "clock," adjusted to the 24-h rotation period of the earth, enabling a nyctohemeral coordination of numerous physiologic processes, from gene expression to behavior. The human CS is tightly and bidirectionally interconnected to the stress system (SS).

The role of attachment anxiety in the relationship between childhood trauma and schizophrenia-spectrum psychosis.

Childhood trauma (CT) is a comprehensive concept encompassing experiences of sexual, physical, and emotional abuse, and neglect during childhood and adolescence. Patients with schizophrenia-spectrum psychosis (SSP) display higher rates of CT than healthy controls. Among the potential mediators of this association, insecure attachment has gained attention and empirical validation.

Improved facial affect recognition in patients with first-episode psychosis.

Aim: The present study aimed at assessing whether impaired facial affect recognition (FAR) in patients with first-episode psychosis (FEP) would improve after a brief intervention targeting FAR specifically.

Methods: Thirty-five outpatients and 38 healthy controls were administered an intervention which involved training to recognize emotional information, conveyed by changes in facial features. Using a pre- and post-intervention design, two measurements of FAR were conducted using an experimental procedure with alternative sets of stimuli.

Social cognition in the course of psychosis and its correlation with biomarkers in a male cohort.

Introduction: Patients diagnosed with schizophrenia display deficits in Theory of Mind (ToM) and Emotion Perception (EP) even before the appearance of full-blown symptomatology.

Methods: We evaluated ToM and EP in a male cohort consisting of 25 First Episode Psychosis (FEP) and 16 relapsed schizophrenic patients (CHRON) compared to 12 subjects in Ultra-high Risk (UHR) and 23 healthy controls (CTR). Furthermore, we measured the levels of Cortisol, Insulin like Growth Factor (IGF-1), TNF-a, TNF-b and several interleukins as potential biomarkers.

Emotional perception and theory of mind in first episode psychosis: the role of obsessive-compulsive symptomatology.

The aim of the present study was to investigate the effects of comorbid obsessive-compulsive symptoms on emotional perception and theory of mind (ToM) in patients with first-episode psychosis. Participants were 65 patients with non-affective first episode psychosis (FEP) and 47 healthy controls. The patient group was divided into two subgroups, those with (FEP+; n=38) and those without obsessive-compulsive symptomatology (FEP-; n=27).

Comorbidity of obsessive-compulsive disorder with obsessive-compulsive personality disorder: Does it imply a specific subtype of obsessive-compulsive disorder?

The present study examined whether the comorbidity of obsessive-compulsive personality disorder (OCPD) and obsessive-compulsive disorder (OCD) constitute a specific subtype of OCD. The study sample consisted of 146 consecutive outpatients with a DSM-IV diagnosis of OCD. Diagnoses were established using MINI, IPDE, YBOCS and YBOCS-SC.

Koro-like symptoms in two Greek men.

Koro syndrome is a psychiatric disorder characterised, in its typical form, by acute and intense anxiety, with complaints in men of a shrinking penis or fear of its retraction into the abdomen and resultant death. Initially, this syndrome was described as a culture specific disorder. Sporadic cases referred to as the koro-like syndrome have been observed in western countries recently.