Teen dating violence affects between 8.2% and 30% of adolescents, leading to significant mental and physical health consequences including depression, anxiety, substance use disorders, and increased risk of sexually transmitted infections. This narrative review synthesizes current evidence on prevention interventions for teen dating violence, examining their effectiveness and exploring applications for clinical practice. Based on findings from a comprehensive systematic review of 28 studies, this review identifies several types of effective prevention approaches. School-based universal programs such as Green Dot, Me & You, and Dating Matters have demonstrated effectiveness in reducing violence perpetration and changing attitudes toward violence. Targeted interventions for high-risk populations, particularly adolescents with previous violence exposure, often show stronger effects than universal approaches. Brief interventions using motivational interviewing and personality theory-based approaches show promise for healthcare settings, while digital prevention programs offer scalability and accessibility advantages. The evidence reveals that interventions are generally more effective at changing attitudes and norms than directly modifying violent behaviors, suggesting that cognitive shifts may precede behavioral change. Programs show differential effectiveness across gender, previous violence exposure, and socioeconomic characteristics, highlighting the importance of tailored approaches. Healthcare provider training demonstrates significant improvements in knowledge and screening practices, though implementation barriers remain. Economic evaluation suggests that prevention investments can yield substantial returns, with one program showing a benefit-cost ratio of 62.9. Sustained effects remain challenging to achieve, with some programs requiring multiple years of implementation. The predominantly U.S.-based research raises questions about generalizability across different cultural contexts. Future research priorities include long-term outcome studies, implementation research, culturally adapted interventions for diverse populations, and economic evaluations. Effective teen dating violence prevention requires comprehensive, multi-level approaches that address individual, family, school, and community factors, with sustained commitment and resources for implementation.

Reflective functioning and interoceptive awareness are core domains in the psychological functioning of individuals with eating disorders (EDs). Alterations in these dimensions may contribute to emotional dysregulation and body image disturbances, which are hallmark features of EDs. To compare reflective functioning and interoceptive awareness between individuals with EDs and a non-clinical control group, and to explore associations with general psychological functioning and eating disorder symptomatology within the clinical sample.

Obesity is a multifaceted condition with biological, psychological, and social determinants. Despite the effectiveness of bariatric surgery for severe obesity, long-term outcomes often depend on the patient's psychological adjustment and capacity for behavioral change. Emerging evidence suggests that mentalization, i.e., the ability to understand behavior in terms of mental states, may play a key role in sustaining these changes. To explore the effects of a group intervention on psychological functioning, reflective function, and health-related behaviors in individuals following bariatric surgery.

Patients with psychotic disorders often have low levels of physical activity, and there's limited data on implementing exercise programs and systematically evaluating physical health among inpatients. This study, conducted in a closed psychosis unit, aimed to explore the feasibility of a 1-hour weekly walk activity, alongside assessing self-esteem.

Psychological functioning has a significant impact on the body since and represents a critical component in the management of chronic diseases, potentially affecting their onset, prognosis and trajectory. Chronic conditions may affect the increase of emotional distress, potentially leading to autonomic function dysregulation of both the sympathetic nervous system and the hypothalamic-pituitary-adrenal. The present paper aims to summarize current research on the role of personality and emotion regulation in determining both physical and mental well-being of chronic patients with particular attention to cancer, psoriasis and asthma. Findings highlighted that despite their distinct clinical manifestations, cancer, chronic respiratory diseases, and psoriasis share important common features. In addition to the physical impact they have on patients, they show meaningful, bidirectional relationships with psychological functions and inner processes. Across these pathologies, maladaptive emotion regulation strategies, immature defense mechanisms, and alexithymia were consistently found associated with poorer quality of life, reduced adherence to treatment and, consequently, worse prognoses.

EEG recording in children on the autism spectrum is often a challenging task due to their frequent hypersensitivity to even mild sensory stimuli and difficulty coping with novel situations outside of familiar routines. This article describes the video electroencephalography (EEG) preparation process carried out with five children diagnosed with Autism Spectrum Disorder (ASD), using a structured protocol of gradual exposure and environmental desensitization involving outpatient staff and the presence of parents. The high success rate in both EEG acquisition and patient cooperation underscores the clinical importance of structured preparation and desensitization protocols in facilitating EEG procedures for children and adolescents with ASD. In this study, gradual and playful exposure - anchored in predictable routines and symbolic play - helped modulate sensory input, addressing a core challenge in ASD. The intervention also leveraged the psychological benefits of increased environmental predictability, which plays a crucial role in reducing anxiety driven by uncertainty in individuals on the autism spectrum. Moreover, the active involvement of caregivers likely supported co-regulation and emotional safety, further contributing to the successful outcomes observed. These findings advocate for the integration of individualized, behaviourally informed protocols into routine clinical practice for neurophysiological assessments in children with ASD.

During the 2024-2025 school year, the "P. Secco Suardo" Institute in Bergamo organized an educational orientation project for all those students who, having reached the end of their studies, were either afraid of choosing their future path or had no idea what they wanted at all and lived in mental confusion. Orientation is an essential new concept introduced within the educational themes of Europe, which we can no longer do without in our schools.

Here we discuss whether the type of love which is expressed as religious Catholics who want to offer their suffering in union with the suffering of Jesus Christ has the same neurological pathways as the usual pathways related to love, that is a neurological pathway linked with the the Reward System and based on Dopamine as the main neurotransmitter. We propose that this type of love is probably based on an input from the Mirror Neuron System, which is related to Empathy. and the Default Mode Network. We accept that there are different inputs for the different types of love but the main output in all cases is the release of Dopamine as a Neurotransmitter. We argue that, while all types of love have, as a final pathway, the release of Dopamine from the Reward system, the type of love which is associated with suffering in union with the suffering of Jesus Christ is related to inputs related to Empathy. and the identifying of the self. By highlighting this perspective, we underscore the importance of recognising and respecting the profound dignity of individuals who choose to engage with their suffering in this meaningful way.

Chronic diseases represent one of the most pressing global health challenges, with increasing prevalence due to aging populations and lifestyle-related factors. In recent decades, clinical psychology has played a pivotal role in understanding and managing the psychological aspects of chronic illnesses. This paper aims to synthesize current research on the bidirectional relationship between psychological factors and chronic disease progression, emphasizing recent advances in theoretical models, empirical findings, and clinical interventions. Defensive functioning, alexithymia, and psychological flexibility emerge as crucial dimensions. A greater use of mature defense mechanisms appears to be linked to better psychosomatic well-being, while reliance on immature defenses is associated with increased anxiety-depressive symptoms and a more negative perception of health. Similarly, higher levels of alexithymia are connected to greater psychological distress and reduced interoceptive awareness. In contrast, psychological flexibility shows a protective role, promoting better mental health and adaptive functioning. These findings highlight the need to deepen our understanding of the psychological underpinnings of chronic illness, especially through approaches that account for individual differences in emotional regulation and coping. While existing research has offered promising directions, the field would benefit from longitudinal studies and the systematic inclusion of psychological variables in chronic care pathways. Integrating such perspectives may support more comprehensive and person-centered interventions, improving both clinical outcomes and patients' subjective experiences.

Despite the implementation of various suicide prevention strategies - such as means restriction, school-based education and follow-up interventions - their overall effectiveness remains limited, particularly in early detection, continuity of care and user engagement. The rapid advancement of digital technologies presents a unique opportunity to transform suicide prevention by enabling timely, scalable and personalized interventions. This article presents a narrative review of emerging digital solutions for suicide prevention, based on a structured literature search (2015-2025) across PubMed, Medline and Google Scholar. Five main categories of tools were identified: (1) mobile applications, (2) empathic chatbots, (3) machine learning-based risk prediction models, (4) passive sensing combined with ecological momentary assessment (EMA), and (5) simulations and embodied conversational agents (ECAs). These technologies show significant promise in enhancing risk identification, user engagement and continuity of care. Among them, blended care models - integrating digital tools with clinician-delivered interventions - emerge as particularly effective, improving adherence, therapeutic alliance and clinical outcomes. However, challenges remain, including algorithm transparency, user dependency and ethical management of acute crises. This paper advocates for a paradigm shift in suicide prevention: from reactive, episodic approaches to proactive, data-driven and human-centered care pathways. Ensuring safety, equity, and clinical relevance will require co-designed development, rigorous validation and governance frameworks tailored to real-world mental health systems.

Here we describe one Locution-or thought - that Saint John of the Cross experienced, and how this locution led to the important devotion of the Redentur or Nazzareno, - Christ carrying the Cross - which still draws huge crowds of devotees worldwide. We have traced how this single thought of Saint John of the Cross has been transmitted across time and space to influence large groups of people across the centuries and continue to do so. To do this we have used numerous disciplines including Church History, Art History, Iconography, Anthropology as in Popular Religion and Story Telling and Neuroscience. In Neuroscience, we attribute this transmission through artworks to Embodied cognition, which is mediated via the Mirror Neuron System and the Default Mode Network, which also mediate Empathy and The Perception of The Self.

Machine learning (ML) offers powerful tools to address the complexity and data richness of mental health research. By detecting subtle patterns, integrating diverse datasets, and supporting precise decision-making, ML holds promise for enhancing diagnosis, prognosis, and personalized treatment. In child and adolescent psychiatry - characterized by marked clinical heterogeneity and developmental variability - ML may help disentangle complexity and guide clinical care. This systematic review examined studies applying ML to psychiatric disorders in individuals aged 0-18 years. Of 65 identified studies, 33 met inclusion criteria. Most focused on attention-deficit/hyperactivity disorder (ADHD) and autism spectrum disorder (ASD), with others addressing schizophrenia, bipolar disorder, eating disorders, suicidal behaviors, and depression. Overall, the emphasis was on diagnostic applications. Findings were heterogeneous due to variability in algorithms, datasets, and outcome measures, with performance ranging from modest to high. However, small sample sizes, lack of external validation, and overfitting remain major barriers. ML in child and adolescent psychiatry is at an early stage but shows considerable promise, requiring standardized methods, interpretability, and ethical safeguards for clinical translation.

The application of telemedicine technologies in providing psychiatric care to children with autism spectrum disorders (ASD) became widespread during the COVID-19 pandemic. This review aims to describe the types, structure, and features of tools used for the remote diagnosis of ASDs in children, based on contemporary scientific literature and our own experience.

This paper describes the multifaceted realm of culture of mind, human rights and mental health and essential link between them. Culture plays an important part in modulating our personalities and how we view self and world we live in, how we interact with others, and how we understand, define and promote mental health and human rights as well as how we cope with mental illness. The intellectual legacy of Ciceron's concept of cultura animi (culture of mind/soul) is today more relevant than ever. Narcissism, paranoidism, maniaism, depressiveness and nihilism today are more than individual mindsets and behavioral patterns. They are toxic cultural conditions and mindsets, modes of perception and mental orientations in the world, self-perception and interpersonal relationships. Toxic psycho-cultures refer to collective psychological and emotional climates in which harmful values, behaviors, and mental states are normalized, celebrated, or weaponized within a culture - particularly in family, political, institutional, or social environments. These psychocultures lead to alienation from oneself and others, erode mental health, civic trust, ethical norms, and human dignity/rights, often producing long-term damage across all layers of society, from family systems to global politics. Common dynamics of toxic psychocultures involves harmful behavior to be culturally acceptable (normalization), toxic emotions and beliefs spread through media and public discourse (contagion), toxic patterns are embedded in law, education, or policy (institutionalization), critical and holistic thinking and self-awareness are discouraged (suppression of reflection) and complex emotions are replaced by entitlement, admiration, suspiciousness, distrust, rage, cynicism, or numbness (emotional flattening). Empathic culture of mind involving human rights respect provides a powerful transformative vision of mental health promotion, protection and restoration.

This article presents a qualitative study on the use of humour in Self-Help Groups. It investigates four Self- help Groups with different targets, in order to understand what motivates individuals to use humour, whether its perception differs when used by a participant or by the facilitator, and what types of humour are employed, following Martin's classification: Affiliative, Self-Enhancing, Aggressive, and Self-Defeating. The results show that humour serves the function of cohesion, cognitive restructuring, and emotional management. It appears to benefit both the individual and the group as a whole (e.g., reducing anxiety and sadness). No significant differences were found in the perception of humour when used by a participant versus the facilitator.

Anxiety disorders are common, affecting about one-third of people globally and often persist despite standard treatments. Visual art therapy, involving guided creative activities such as drawing or painting, has emerged as a complementary approach to alleviate anxiety. We systematically reviewed randomized controlled trials (RCTs) to evaluate the effectiveness of visual art therapy for reducing anxiety in adults.

Impulsivity is a frequent feature in patients with psychiatric disorders. Its evaluation can facilitate therapeutic interventions. In our study, we evaluated the impulsivity of 55 patients residing in psychiatric rehabilitation facilities using the BIS-11 scale. We evaluated its relationship with educational and social rehabilitation intervention programs.

From time to time, tragic cases occur when patients with serious Mental illness commit homicide. We describe two cases which are in the public domain.These cases are not isolated incidents but part of a broader, systemic failure to provide sustained, assertive, and well-resourced community-based mental health care. It is crucial that the techniques of Assertive Outreach we have discussed are not only adopted in principle but also fully integrated into everyday practice, backed by proper funding, staff training, and institutional support. Without this commitment, we risk continuing the tragic cycle of preventable deaths, where both patients with severe mental illness and innocent bystanders pay the price for gaps in the system. By applying assertive outreach models effectively, we have the opportunity to change the trajectory of care, ensuring that vulnerable individuals receive the intensive, proactive support they need to remain stable, safe, and ultimately, to prevent such tragedies from happening again.

It is known that youth aged 16 to 23 are more vulnerable to mental distress than other age groups. This vulnerability can be explained by several factors such as the high prevalence of mental illnesses, the changes in the environment, the social expectations and so on. Moreover, in this age group the transition between Child and Adolescent Mental Health Services (CAMHS) and Adult Mental Health Services (AMHS) impacts the continuity of care, leading to a negative impact on the prognosis. This article aims to characterize this population based on risk factors, history of care and care plan.

Delusional Parasitosis (DP), or Ekbom Syndrome, is a rare psychodermatological condition marked by a fixed false belief of infestation with parasites despite the absence of objective evidence. Patients often resist psychiatric referral and frequently disengage from mental health services. Complex identity factors, including professional roles, may complicate insight and treatment engagement. This report presents a longitudinal case of a female psychotherapist with DP who remained engaged with psychiatric services for nine years, offering an opportunity to explore the ethical and therapeutic implications of professional identity in the context of psychosis.

Bipolar disorder in its various forms is a widespread, often poorly treated condition. This observational study highlights how patients with bipolar I and bipolar II disorder can benefit from engaging in hobbies, in addition to their pharmacological and psychotherapeutic treatments.

By definition, adolescence is an age of transition, full of numerous small and major crises. Over the past few years, various data underscore the prominence of adolescent distress. In some cases, the malaise manifests through acting out and self-destructive behaviours. During adolescence, young people may experience a range of physical, emotional and social changes that can increase the risk of non-suicidal self-injury. Non-suicidal self-injury is a complex behaviour of intentionally inflicting pain or injury on oneself, frequently as mechanism to handle stress, anxiety, or other negative emotions. The scientific literature on self-injury is complex and multifactorial, encompassing several psychological, social, and biological factors. This paper describes the risk factors, the prevalence of the phenomenon, and its potential psychological meanings. Furthermore, 5 case reports are presented, involving female adolescents aged 15 to 18 who exhibit non-suicidal self-injury. Anamnestic data and each adolescent's own life history were collected through in-person and online interviews in school-based listening services. Non-suicidal self-injury is a significant problem which requires an integrated prevention approach among the various stakeholders in the school system. Network synergy between school, family and social workers is crucial in order to promote the adolescent well-being.

Food-related problems in Feeding and Eating Disorders (hereafter referred to as eating disorders - EDs) might be considered as the expression of dysfunctional individual and relational patterns based on emotional and behavioral dysregulation. Dysphoria is a transnosographic syndrome found in a multitude of psychiatric disorders including EDs, our cross-sectional study aims to analyze its presence in Anorexia Nervosa (AN), Bulimia Nervosa (BN) and Binge Eating Disorder (BED) to define its socio-demographic, clinical correlates and phenomenological expression in the three types of EDs.

Climate change is increasingly affecting not only physical health but also mental well-being. Psychological consequences such as eco-anxiety, depression, and post-traumatic stress disorder (PTSD) following climate-related disasters are being reported with growing frequency.

Healthcare workers (HCWs) face significant occupational stressors that increase their risk of psychological symptoms, including anxiety, depression, and burnout. In particular, nurse may experience higher psychological distress due to unique workplace demands. However, direct comparisons between nurses and other HCWs within tertiary care hospitals remain limited. This retrospective study aimed to compare work-related stress levels and mental health outcomes in nurses versus other HCWs seeking psychological or psychiatric support through the Occupational Health Service (OHS) of a tertiary care hospital in central Italy.

"FareAssieme" is a recovery-oriented community psychiatry model that has been implemented by the Mental Health Service of Trento since 1999. The approach is grounded in the active involvement of users and family members, with particular emphasis on experiential knowledge - the insights derived from lived experience of mental illness and recovery - as a resource for improving the quality of care and rehabilitation processes. At its core, the model involves the structured integration of Peer Support Experts (ESPs, Esperti in Supporto tra Pari), individuals with personal or familial experience of psychological distress who have attained a stable life balance and developed effective coping strategies. ESPs are embedded across all domains of the mental health service (SSM), including community teams, crisis services (territorial and hospital-based), residential settings, and front-office activities. Their role is to support others in their recovery journeys through narrative sharing and emotional proximity. ESPs have contributed to enhanced user engagement, improved service climate, and increased trust in providers. They have proven particularly effective in engaging individuals initially resistant to treatment, thereby facilitating stronger therapeutic alliances. The model also fostered the creation of the Participatory Planning Group (GPP), a deliberative body comprising users, families, ESPs, and professionals, which has developed several Operational Guidelines to standardize and disseminate shared practices within the SSM. "FareAssieme" stands as a validated model of participatory, recovery-oriented psychiatry. It highlights the transformative value of experiential knowledge within mental health services and makes a meaningful contribution to anti-stigma efforts and the co-construction of inclusive care pathways.

To evaluate cognitive function of patients with newly diagnosed paroxysmal atrial fibrillation.

In Europe, 14.7% of the population suffer from chronic tinnitus. Regarding pharmacological treatment of tinnitus, there is currently no evidence-based protocol recommendation. Tinnitus Retraining Therapy is the only effective method available in specialized multidisciplinary centers.

This study aims to analyse certain populations' sociodemographic factors and to investigate the use of polypharmacy for inpatients assigned to involuntary treatment at the National Center of Mental Health, Riga, Latvia.

This study explores the relationship between cognitive deficits, cognitive reserve (CR), and rehabilitation outcomes in psychiatric offenders and non-offenders. The objective is to analyze how neurocognitive functioning, impulsivity, and CR influence the duration and effectiveness of psychiatric rehabilitation.