Schizophrenia is a multifactorial and multifarious disorder with an unidentified etiology and pathogenesis, various clinical symptoms, unpredictable course and definite social significance. It’s social significance manifests in the long inability to work, the decrement of qualification and the burdening of family and social services. Patients find following therapy difficult; they often stop it altogether, which leads to new exacerbations and maintaining a vicious cycle.

To present an analysis of the results of the treatment of patients with LAIs – Trevicta and Xeplion in General Psychiatry Ward of UMBAL "Dr. Georgi Stranski” - Pleven for the period October 2016 – October 2022.

Our retrospective research includes 17 patients treated in General Psychiatry Ward of UMBAL “Dr. Georgi Stranski”- Pleven. A treatment with LAI’s – Trevicta and Xeplion (Paliperidone palmitate) had been initiated in these patients. In consideration of the correct applications of the medication, they are always made by qualified personnel who received training for that purpose in the Ward. For assessment of the patients’ condition are used: Positive and Negative Syndrome Scale (PANSS) and Personal Social Performance (PSP). Standard statistic methods are used for processing results.

Our research includes 17 female patients as the Ward’s profile is such, with the average age of 38.65 years at the initiation of the treatment with Xeplion. Some were later introduced to Trevicta. Of all who participated in the research, 12 patients continue their treatment with regular applications, 2 have changed their address and by unreliable data still continue their treatment and for the other 3 we have no information of their status of treatment. The average count of admissions in the Ward before the initiation of treatment with LAI’s is 3.88 against 0.88 after the initiation. Regarding the PANSS scale – all score in the interval 75-100 points before initiation as opposed to the scores marked after the initiation of the medication that vary in the interval 34-48 points with definite distinctions in P and G items. Regarding the PSP scale – all participants score between 50 and 70 points before the initiation of the treatment as opposed to the scores of 89-95 points after the initiation. During the regular check-ups the patients report of subjective improvement, coupled with reports of objective and positive improvement by family.

Treatment with LAIs – Xeplion and Trevicta has an unquestionable positive and lasting effect in the treatment of schizophrenia. Proof of that is the definite improvement of the symptoms, the increased social engagement and interpersonal communication. Everything mentioned is a valid reason to direct the treatment of schizophrenia in the direction of preservation of the personality of the patients.

None Declared

The EXPERIENCE project aims to enable the creation and sharing of extended-personal realities in virtual reality (VR). Currently, software and hardware technology are under development, that will automatically generate VR environments based on neurophysiological, psychological, cognitive, and behavioral data to support not only the recording of personal experiences but the transmission as well to another user. Potential use cases include enhanced treatment and the assessment of symptom severity of affective disorders.

The objective is to design and create a virtual reality environment that enables the identification of between-group differences in behavioral measures when comparing depressed and healthy-control participants.

We conducted a literature review to identify measures that can be implemented in VR and have the potential to show differences between depressed and healthy-control participants. PubMed and ResearchGate databases were screened to identify potential cognitive tasks. A selection protocol was developed considering effect size, homogeneity of results, risk for cybersickness, cognitive demand, domain heterogeneity, and VR compatibility to choose 4 out of the 47 initial tasks. In addition to the cognitive tasks, behavior measures were considered as well and a virtual environment has been equipped to assess (1) exploratory behavior; (2) engagement with emotionally valenced stimuli (via eye-tracking); (3) metacognitive sensitivity, (4) persistence/grit, and (5) possible effects of mood induction.

Based on the above review, a virtual environment has been developed which is composed of four rooms and a hallway where the starting point is. After an initial tutorial on how the environment/controllers work participants are free to explore and instructions are only provided for the specific cognitive tasks which have to be solved to open the doors and move between rooms. The rooms are equipped with numerous interactive objects and images with varying emotional valence. The engagement with the environment and general activity are continuously recorded and can be retrieved for analyses after participants exit the environment.

If the controlled VR environment will be proven effective for the assessment of depressive symptoms in future studies, the EXPERIENCE system could incorporate direct and objective behavioral measures into the assessment depressive symptoms. Consequently, the system has the potential to support the clinical diagnosis of affective disorders.

The EXPERIENCE project is funded by the European Commission H2020 Framework Program with the Grant No. 101017727.

None Declared

Schizophrenia is associated with working memory (WM), executive dysfunction and access visual WM dysfunctions among patients with paranoid schizophrenia (PSz).

We examined 89 patients (41.35 ± 11.52 years old, 65 males, 24 females, 15 with basic, 52 with middle and 22 with high formal education) with PSz (65% with prevalence of positive and 31 of negative syndromes) by Benton visual retention test (BVRT, var.A and E).

The average number of correct performed items was 3.12 ± 1.1.83, the average errors, 13.04 ± 3.70 (6.51 ± 3.05 at left and 5.35 ± 2.30 at right visual field (VF)). Females had more corrects (P = 0.0256). Education is associated with less errors and more corrects. Patients with prevalence of negative syndromes showed more errors at left VF than those with positive, although the total number of errors and corrects were similar. Ageing was not directly associated with total number of corrects and errors. Twenty-three percent of our patients had addictions, 52% had omissions, 96% distortions (average 4.12 ± 2.31), 78% perseverations, 79% rotations, 83% misplacements and 61% size errors. Horizontal displacements were obtained from 42%.

Visual WM dysfunction is frequent among patients with PSz. Female sex and high education are associated with better test performances. Negative syndromes are related with high number of errors at left VF, but not with total numbers of corrects and errors. We suggest horizontal displacement as specific error among patients with PSz.

The authors have not supplied their declaration of competing interest.

Morgellons disease is a delusional disorder that leads to the belief that one has parasites or foreign material moving in, or coming out of, the skin. The name was coined in 2002 by Mary Leitao; a mother who rejected the medical diagnosis of her son's delusional parasitosis. She revived it from a letter written by a physician in the mid-1600s.

In this case report, we aim to describe the clinical characteristics and manifestation of morgellon disease in 26 years man.

Bulgarian athlete of 26 years stopped to be actively involved with the sport after a severe contusion to the right knee during the race. Had a joint surgery in the Netherlands and of course when that will not be able to compete more professional sports began to use cannabinoids daily. After three months patient went to dermatologist because of skin rashes and intense itching, crawling sensation on and under the skin. The patient reported that pull out threads from his skin. Dermatologist Initiated treatment with antibiotic creams and corticosteroids. The symptoms persist and the patient has consulted a psychiatrist regarding appeared complaints of fatigue, poor concentration and increased anxiety. Psychiatrist based on clinical and medical history was diagnosed morgellon disease. We started treatment with risperidone in increasing doses up to 2 mg/day. After a month the patient has a significant reduction of symptoms.

Morgellons disease is a little-known disorder that is often associated with non-specific skin, nerve, and psychiatric symptoms.

The authors have not supplied their declaration of competing interest.

Sexual abuse is of great public and high degree of public danger.

The aim of this study was to evaluate the influence of specific socio-demographic factors among sex crime offenders.

The subjects of study are 66 individuals in total, testified by expert psychiatrist and subsequently charged by law as of December 2010, up until today.

Patient record, providing information about different socio-demographic factors. Retrospective research of the available medical documentation. A statistician conducts data research analysis, using specialised software statistical packages for Statgraphics.

The highest percentage of the participants are from the age groups between 15–24 and 45–54 years old. Both age groups consist of 18 people (27%). The two groups with the lowest percentage of sex offenders are the ones between 25–34 –6 (9%) and above 64–6 (9%). The biggest share have secondary education–26 (40%), followed by those with elementary education–24 (36%). The smallest percentage are those with higher education – 2 (3%). There is no statistically significant correlation between the research sample and their residence–34 (51%) live in a city and 32 (49%) – In a village. There is also not a significant difference in their ethnical origins. The biggest percentage of sex offenders have been raised by both parents – 54 (82%).

Sex offenders represent an exceptionally heterogeneous group, our study did not find significant correlation of socio-demographic factors and the profile of the rapist.

The authors have not supplied their declaration of competing interest.

Childhood maltreatment (CM) has consistently been linked with adverse outcomes including substance use disorders and adult sexual revictimization. Adult sexual victimization itself has been linked with psychopathology but has predominately been studied in women. The current investigation examines the impact of CM and co-occurring psychopathology on adult sexual victimization in men and women, replicating findings in three distinct samples.

We investigated the association between continuous CM factor scores and adult sexual victimization in the Childhood Trauma Study (CTS) sample (N = 2564). We also examined the unique relationship between childhood sexual abuse (CSA) and adult sexual victimization while adjusting for co-occurring substance dependence and psychopathology. We replicated these analyses in two additional samples: the Comorbidity and Trauma Study (CATS; N = 1981) and the Australian Twin-Family Study of Alcohol Use Disorders (OZ-ALC; N = 1537).

Analyses revealed a significant association with CM factor scores and adult sexual victimization for both men and women across all three samples. The CSA factor score was strongly associated with adult sexual victimization after adjusting for substance dependence and psychopathology; higher odds ratios were observed in men (than women) consistently across the three samples.

A continuous measure of CSA is independently associated with adult sexual trauma risk across samples in models that included commonly associated substance dependence and psychopathology as covariates. The strength of the association between this CSA measure and adult sexual victimization is higher in magnitude for men than women, pointing to the need for further investigation of sexual victimization in male community samples.