The authors have not supplied their declaration of competing interest.

Stress and coping with diabetes can affect the severity of disease directly, through pathophysiological processes or indirectly, through the patient's own perception of disease by deteriorating adherence to therapy and daily functioning.

To investigate emotional distress related to T2DM according to demographic, clinical, psychological, metabolic and anthropometric characteristics.

Eighty-two in- and outpatients of both sexes (<65 years) with endocrinologist-diagnosed T2DM, duration ≥5 years, treated with either oral therapy, insulin or both, were included in this cross-sectional study. The Beck Depression Inventory (BDI) was employed for assessment of severity of depressive symptoms. The Mini Mental State Examination (MMSE) was used for assessment of cognitive status. The Problem Areas in Diabetes (PAID) (subscale related to emotional problems associated with T2DM) was applied for assessment of emotional distress. Clinical characteristics of the illness were obtained from medical records. Laboratory and anthropometric measures (Body mass index, Waist circumference) were also performed. The level of significance in statistical analyses (Student's t-test, Pearson's correlation) was P = 0.05.

The PAID (emotional distress) subscore was significantly higher in patients with psychiatric heredity (P = 0.028) in relation to these without (Student's t-test). Considerable positive correlation between PAID subscore and BDI score (r = 0.588) (P = 0.000), and negative correlation between PAID subscore and MMSE score (r = −0.201) (P = 0.050) were also found (Pearson's correlation).

Psychological factors: psychiatric heredity, higher intensity of depression and poor cognitive functioning were significantly associated with emotional distress related to the illness in patients with type 2 diabetes mellitus.

The authors have not supplied their declaration of competing interest.

Inflammatory bowel diseases (IBDs) have high social impact. Aetiology is still unknown, however multifactorial genesis is surely implicated. We tried to correlate IBDs and psychological distress through evaluated psychometrical instruments and subsequently to relate subjective influences with gastroenteric clinical manifestation, defining new critical elements on which IBD are based.

In our study, we included 57 participants, selected according to their diagnosis, between those attending our gastrointestinal ambulatory: 26 had Chron's disease, while 31 had ulcerative colitis. 78 people without gastroenteric or psychiatric disorder were also included in the study as control group. Psychometric questionnaires were administered to evaluate anxiety and depressive symptoms, quality of live, self-efficacy and resilience (Fig. 1).

Levels of anxiety and depression were higher in patients with IBDs than in the control group. STAI-Y highlighted higher state anxiety and trait anxiety levels in first group. HADS showed higher scores in ill patients, as well as CD-RISC showed a more impaired resilience. EQ-VAS, PGWBI and GSE revealed significant differences in health status, psychological wellness and self-efficacy between the two groups.

IBDs seem related to psychological diseases. Affected patients have higher anxiety and depression levels than general population as well as lower self-efficacy and resilience. Those elements being strictly linked to physical discomfort contributes to develop a loop in which patients get caught. Creating a model of integrated cooperation between gastroenterologist and psychiatrist during treatment of patients with IBDs seems fundamental to grant at once all the professional figures each patient needs for better care.

The authors have not supplied their declaration of competing interest.

There are differences in psychiatric comorbidity and perceived diagnosing and psychological supporting needs depending on professionals, units, programs, awareness, and diagnoses.

This investigation explores possible differences in psychiatric comorbidity, in care intensity and in care priorities by a psychiatric-psychosomatic consultation-liaison service among main physical disease groups.

Three-year survey (n = 1,862 individuals) about all elective referrals from 16 different units in a middle-sized general hospital with 520 beds and 34,000 treated patients per annum. Five clinical and six care variables have been selected from the collected data by means of basic documentation of CLS. Chi-square-tests and ANOVA including Scheffé post-hoc test as well as multivariate regression analyses with robust regression coefficients were performed.

The sample consisting of 55% women is on average 61 years old, 79% showing current and 35% psychiatric comorbidity prior to hospitalisations. Average GAF amounted to 67.2 (SD = 20.5) and ECOG to 1.22 (SD = 1.38). Psychosomatic disorders (F4) amounted to 38%, mood disorders (F3) to 19% and mental organic disorders (F0) to 11% of psychiatric disorders. Each patient received on average 2.11 (SD = 2.63) contacts and 105 minutes (SD = 144) of treatment time, 59% psychopharmacological and 32% psychotherapeutic interventions. Men and older people receive less, but comorbid patients independently of age and gender more intensive psychological support. There are hardly differences according to physical diseases.

Cancer patients show less psychiatric comorbidity, but more psychotherapeutic interventions. Patients suffering from psychiatric comorbidity received more intensive care and more post-discharge recommendations. Patients treated because of chronic pain received much more interventions and treatment time.

The authors have not supplied their declaration of competing interest.

Vitiligo, a dermatological problem, affects a person's emotional and psychological well being, having major consequences on patient's life. Most of the patients of vitiligo report embarrassment, helpless and low self esteem.

To study socio-demographic profile and psychiatric comorbidities and their correlation with site of lesion in vitiligo patients.

100 vitiligo patients and 100 subjects as control group who were well enough to complete the assessment were assessed with a semi-structured self designed Proforma, Hospital Anxiety Depression Scale (HADS) to obtain the relevant information. Data so obtained were tabulated, analyzed and conclusions were drawn using suitable statistics (i.e. Chi2).

79% of vitiligo patients were between age 13 to 45 years, 67% were males, 33% were females patients in study group. In comparison to healthy controls, the psychiatric morbidity was found to be significantly higher in the vitiligo group (62% v/s 25%). 37%, 18%, and 7% vitiligo patients suffered from Mixed anxiety and depressive disorder, Depressive disorder and Generalized anxiety disorder respectively. Incidence of psychiatric morbidity was higher in patients who had lesions more on exposed body areas.

Vitiligo affected marital, sex life and intimacy. This generates psychological distress and disrupts the social relationship and creates a vicious stress-vitiligo cycle. Among vitiligo cases, psychiatric morbidity was found more frequent in young participants and higher in patients having lesions on exposed body areas.

The author has not supplied his/her declaration of competing interest.

Direct brain stimulation with electrical currents is an effective treatment for depression and considering is an effective supplementary treatment of resistant obsessive-compulsive disorder.

Assess the effects of brain stimulation with direct electrical current in the treatment of resistant obsessive-compulsive disorders.

The present study is a paired clinical trial conducted in a group of 42 patients diagnosed with treatment resistant obsessive-compulsive disorder in the province of Rasht. Direct brain stimulation with electrical current was performed according to the protocol throughout the 15 treatment sessions. The effectiveness of the first, fifth, tenth and fifteenth session(s) of treatment were evaluated based on the Yale-Brown Obsessive Compulsive Scale (Y-BOCS) and results were analyzed using Repeated Measure ANOVA, Spearman Correlation and Pearson Correlation software SPSS version 22.

All 42 participants stayed throughout the study. Mean age of patients was 10.14 ± 29.10. Mean test scores of Yale-Brown Obsessive Compulsive Scale in the first, fifth, tenth and fifteenth session of treatment was 6.78 ± 28.4, 4.58 ± 22.8, 6.3 ± 16.4 and 5.37 ± 10.8,respectively which is significantly lower (P-value = 0.00, F = 80.12). No significant correlation was observed between the participant's age, sex, education level, marital status and employment status and in any of the test scores of Yale-Brown Obsessive Compulsive Scale in the first, fifth, tenth and fifteenth session of treatment (P-value > 0.05).

In order to attain a sustainable long term effects of the proposed treatment, it is recommended that patients be reminded on their next schedule of treatment.

The authors have not supplied their declaration of competing interest.

Clinically, OC-checkers often report staring compulsions and “lack of action completion” sensations, which have been linked to self-agency alterations. Belayachi and Van der Linden (2009) theoretically proposed that “abnormal” checkers self-agency could be due to an over-reliability on environmental cues and to a tendency to specify actions in a procedural and inflexible way, conceiving them as “low-level” agents. Currently, no studies have experimentally address this issue.

To investigate self-agency in OC-checkers subtype, measuring gaze agency (the ability to understand that we can cause events through our eye movements) and taking into account both agency beliefs and agency feelings.

13 OC-checkers and 13 healthy controls underwent two tasks. “Discovery” task, a completely novel task used to examine causal learning abilities. Subjects watched bouncing balls on a computer screen with the aim of discovering the cause of concurrently presented acoustical beeps. “Detection” task, a two-alternative forced choice task that required subjects to tell whether or not the beeps were generated by their own eye movements.

Checkers exhibit:

– lower performance scores and confidence ratings when they have to self-attribute the beep cause, but not eye behavioral differences, during discovery task;

– lower confidence ratings, but a level of accuracy similar to that of controls, during detection task.

Checkers do not show an altered self-agency per se, but what we have called a “doubtful” self-agency: indeed, we argue that agency beliefs alterations found during Discovery task can be due to pathological doubt, rather than to altered agency feelings.

The authors have not supplied their declaration of competing interest.

Previous studies of concentrations of serotonin reuptake inhibitors (SRIs) versus therapeutic efficacy have yielded inconsistent results. Even if the relationships between the individual's serotonergic system and the clinical symptoms of obsessive-compulsive disorder (OCD) are poorly understood, the SRIs are consistently effective in OCD. However, studies on SRI concentrations in OCD treatment are rare.

To identify possible links between paroxetine concentrations and anti-obsessive response.

In a randomised, double-blind trial, comparing clomipramine, paroxetine and placebo in OCD treatment, serum paroxetine levels were measured after 1 week and after 4 weeks of treatment in 18 patients. Anti-obsessive response was assessed with Yale-Brown obsessive compulsive scale (Y-BOCS) and patients’ global evaluation (PGE), after 12 weeks of treatment.

Serum paroxetine concentrations after 4 weeks suggested a therapeutic interval between 50 and 240 nmol/L (13–63 ng/mL). The mean Y-BOCS decrease was 54% inside versus 7% outside this interval (t = 3.96; P = 0.0011).

Paroxetine levels seemingly predicted clinical outcome. Studies with a greater number of patients are necessary in order to confirm this finding and to discern whether it is useful in clinical practice.

The authors have not supplied their declaration of competing interest.

OCD is a common disorder, affecting 1% of the population and usually responds to treatment with serotonin reuptake inhibitors (SRIs) or exposure and response prevention (ERP) and to augmentation with antipsychotics. However, some patients fail to respond. The national inpatient unit for obsessive compulsive disorder (OCD) and body dysmorphic disorder (BDD) (i) is the only 24-hour staffed inpatient facility for OCD in the UK and treats patients with profound, treatment-refractory OCD. There is evidence of efficacy of aripiprazole in augmenting SRI sin severe OCD (ii).

To compare the efficacy of aripiprazole versus other antipsychotics as SRI augmentation.

One hundred and nine patients admitted to the unit between March 2006 and September 2011 and discharged on an antipsychotic and an SRI were included. The Yale-Brown obsessive compulsive scale (YBOCS) was administered at admission and at discharge. Data were analysed using SPSS version 23 using analysis of variance (ANOVA). Two groups were compared: those receiving SRI + aripiprazole versus those receiving SRI + another antipsychotic.

sixty-two patients received SRI with aripiprazole and 47 SRIs with another antipsychotic. Overall, patients showed improvement, with an average YBOCS reduction of 11.7 (33% reduction). Patients taking aripiprazole improved by an average of 13 (36% reduction, P < 0.05).

Patients of the national unit with severe, treatment refractory OCD treated with aripiprazole augmentation showed a greater improvement than those on other antipsychotics. Further research into aripiprazole in OCD is warranted.

The authors have not supplied their declaration of competing interest.

The authors have not supplied their declaration of competing interest.

A substantial number of patients suffering from obsessive compulsive disorder (OCD) report a subjective distressing experience prior to the repetitive behavior, known as sensory phenomena(SP).

Need to systematically evaluate SP and the clinical correlates in OCD.

Assess prevalence of SP and clinical correlates in OCD.

Subjects (n = 71) fulfilling the criteria for DSM IV-TR OCD were recruited consecutively from a specialty OCD clinic in Southern India and were assessed using the Yale brown obsessive and compulsive scale (YBOCS), dimensional Yale-Brown obsessive compulsive scale (D-YBOCS) and the University of São Paulo Sensory Phenomena Scale (USP-SPS).

The prevalence of the SP was found to be 50.7%. Prevalence of SP is significantly greater in the patients with early age of onset (P = 0.47). In subtypes of SP, Tactile was 12.7%, “just right” for look was 26.8%, “just right” for sound was 9.9%, “just right” for feeling was 16.9%, feeling of incompleteness leading to repetitive behavior was 22.5%, “energy release” sensation leading to repetitive behavior was 4.2% and “urge only” leading to repetitive behavior was 11.3%. SP was found to have significant correlation with symmetry/ordering/arranging/counting dimension (P = 0.003). Significant positive correlation existed between SP severity and the severity of the compulsions (P = 0.02).

Considering its high prevalence in OCD, it might be useful to incorporate SP assessment during the routine clinical assessment of OCD. It might warrant a place in the phenomenological and nosological description of OCD. Additionally, the neurobiological correlates of SP need to be explored.

The authors have not supplied their declaration of competing interest.

In carefully selected treatment-refractory patients with obsessive compulsive disorder (OCD), deep brain stimulation (DBS) or anterior capsulotomy (AC) might be considered as a possible treatment. However, the direct intervention in the brain can raise questions about autonomy. Do patients still feel like they are in control of their actions when their behavior is changed by a surgical intervention?

To examine in both AC and DBS patients whether these intervention influenced perception of autonomy. We aimed to discover any differences in these perceptions when comparing AC and DBS patients.

We conducted semi-structured interviews with AC and DBS patients. Interviews were recorded digitally and transcribed verbatim. We analyzed interviews in an iterative process based on grounded theory principles.

We interviewed 10 DBS patients and 6 AC patients. Sense of agency (the awareness that one is the author of his/her own actions) did not seem to be diminished by AC or DBS. However, especially DBS patients are aware of their dependency on a device for their well-being. Another important theme is authenticity (in how far patients perceive their actions and thoughts as matching their self-concept). Feelings of authenticity can be disturbed especially in cases of induced hypomania (for DBS) or apathy (for AC). OCD itself also has an impact on autonomy as patients describe a lack of freedom due to their disorder.

Despite extensive changes in emotions, behavior and even personal identity after DBS or AC surgery, perceived autonomy was not greatly altered in these OCD patients.

Medtronic provided grants for research, education, and traveling to B. Nuttin and L. Gabriëls, who hold the Medtronic Chair for Stereotactic Neurosurgery in Psychiatric Disorders at KU Leuven. S. Raymaekers is supported by this Chair. B. Nuttin co-owns a patent on DBS in OCD.

A considerable proportion of patients with morbid obesity require treatment with antidepressants.

The aim of this study is to determine the incidence of patients who are in antidepressant treatment and identify risk factors for the need of this treatment in patients with morbid obesity.

Retrospective cohort study of 292 patients with morbid obesity who underwent bariatric surgery at Hospital del Mar from January 2010 to November 2015. The incidence of antidepressant treatment was analyzed, and also its possible relationship with the following variables: age, sex, BMI, tobacco smoking, alcohol consumption and age of onset of obesity. Chi2 test for categorical variables and Student t-test for quantitative variables were applied. Afterwards, a multivariate analysis was performed using logistic regression.

The mean age is 43.1 years. Most of the patients (76.4%) are women. Seventy-seven patients (26.4%) are receiving treatment with antidepressants. There is a statistically significant relationship between age and the need of treatment with antidepressants (P < 0.001). This relationship is still present when the variables are analyzed using logistic regression (P < 0.005, OR 1.049). We have not found any significant relationship with the rest of the variables.

Despite the large number of patients in the study, there are limitations, such as being a retrospective study and not being adjusted for confounding factors. From all the variables that have been analyzed we have found that as the age of the patients increase, there is a higher number of patients that receive treatment with antidepressants.

The authors have not supplied their declaration of competing interest.

“Theory of mind” represents the cognitive ability to attribute mental states as belonging to others and it's essential in any social interaction.

Our objective was to evaluate the capacity of emotion recognition in patients with recurrent depressive disorder.

This study aimed to determine if theory of mind is influenced by psychotic features and the type of emotions distinguished.

We analyzed a sample of 45 patients with a diagnosis of recurrent depressive disorder (WHO ICD10) that was divided to include 23 patients with at least one episode with psychotic symptoms, while the rest had no history of psychotic symptoms. The “Reading the mind in the eyes” test was applied in an outpatient setting, in remission. The data has been processed in SPSS.

The study found that 72.72% of patients without psychotic symptoms have a low capacity of emotion attribution, while 27.72% demonstrated a normal capacity (P = 0.00252). The majority with a history of psychotic depression (82.60%) showed a low capacity of emotion recognition, while 17.39% had normal abilities (P = 0). None of the patients showed a high capacity of emotion recognition. There was a significant difference in the frequency of negative emotions recognition by all patients (77.77%), while only a few managed to detect positive emotions (22.22%), regardless of psychotic symptom history.

In itself, a history of recurrent depressive disorder is directly related to a reduced ability to correctly attribute emotions. Moreover, these patients are more likely to detect negative emotions rather than positive ones.

The authors have not supplied their declaration of competing interest.

Although depression is one of the most prevalent disorders around the world we know only little about the effect of factors like gender-related norms or personality-related aspects in the expression of depressive symptoms. Current findings of studies are heterogeneous and lead to the conclusion that depression is more prevalent in women as well as that they have a higher risk for depression. Women express more typical depressive symptoms while men offer more atypical symptoms like aggressiveness, irritability, alcohol misuse which is constituted as male depression (MD).

Male and female patients with a diagnosis of depressive episode or recurrent depressive disorder (ICD-10) who are treated in in-patient or day clinic setting of two psychiatric institutions in Lower Saxony and one psychiatric university hospital in Austria. Study period: November 2016 to November 2017. No limitations to further diagnosis, age or other factors.

To analyze the expression of (a) typical depressive symptoms as well as causes of and factors of influence in diverse types of depression different questionnaires and quantitative methods will be used.

Investigate gender-specific differences in the expression of symptoms in male and female patients with a depressive disorder. Focus: whether symptoms of MD are more prevalent for depressive men than women. Furthermore, causes and factors of (a)typical depressive symptoms should be analyzed.

First results will be presented.

The results of the study should lead to the conclusion whether there exist any gender-specific differences in the expression of depressive symptoms and what they might be caused by.

The authors have not supplied their declaration of competing interest.

Burn out mainly occurs among healthcare employees. This professional category is exposed to a large load of emotional disturbance.

The aim of this work was to study the levels of burnout syndrome in caregivers who were victims to occupational accident.

This cross-sectional study was conducted during 2014-2015 in the occupational medicine department. The target population consisted of the healthcare employees who reported their exposure to occupational accident. A semi-structured self-reported questionnaire including the Maslach questionnaire was used to collect information. Data were analyzed using SPSS-20.

One hundred and sixty health professionals returned the questionnaire (58% women, mean age 31.9 years old). Occupational accidents occurred mostly in the morning (62.5%). Among the healthcare providers, 112 health professionals (70%) had had sharp injuries. Burn out was found among 23.1% of the studied population. It was defined by its three domains: a high emotional exhaustion (46.9%), high depersonalization with low personal accomplishment (36.3%) and high depersonalization without low personal accomplishment (34.4%). Professionals with less years in the function (P = 0.031) and technicians (P = 0.028) were more affected by Burnout. A significant relationship was found between traumatic accidents (P = 0.012), needle stick injuries (P = 0.009) and burnout.

The prevalence of burnout is high among health professionals which can increase the risk of occupational accidents and its subsequent risks. It seems that holding workshops and increasing healthcare givers’ awareness and skills to face these risks can be effective in mitigating them.

The authors have not supplied their declaration of competing interest.

Major depression cognitive impairments lasts in remission periods, have an impact on treatment outcome and hamper psychosocial functioning. Thus, its accurate detection and specific treatment has become a crucial step.

In order to assess objective cognitive functioning (OCF), a neuropsychological battery was administered. For subjective cognitive functioning (SCF), cognitive perception was evaluated by clinicians and patients.

To determine the concordance between OCF and SCF.

One hundred and two patients were grouped according to Hamilton Depressive Rating Scale (HDRS−17): 18 remitters (RE < 7), 40 partly remitters (PR, 7–18) and 44 acutely depressed (AD > 18). OCF was computed combining T-scores of digit symbol substitution test (WAIS-IV) with two RAVLT subtests (learning and memory). SCF was assessed with a CGI adaptation for cognitive disturbances severity.

The OFC was 41.21(8.49) for all patients and 45.54(6.8), 41.93(6.8) and 38.7 (9.7) for RE, PR, and AD, respectively. Psychiatrist and patients’ SCF had a poor agreement (α=0.518), with Cronbach's alpha for RE, PR and AD of −0.607, 0.518 and 0.404. Concordance between OCF and SCF was calculated for all patients (psychiatrist, r = −0.317, P = 0.002; patient, r = −0.310, P = 0.002), for RE (r = −0.535, P = 0.022; r = 0.395, P = 0.105) for PR (r = −0.013, P = 0.94; r = −0.328, P = 0.045) and for AD (r = −0.252, P = 0.122; r = −0.333, P = 0.033). Patients rated their SFC as more impaired than did clinicians.

Concordance between clinicians and patients regarding SCF is very poor, worsening in AD group and being null in remission. This study also points out that CF is best detected by patients in acute episodes and by psychiatrists when patients are in clinical remission.

The authors have not supplied their declaration of competing interest.

Life functioning difficulties are a relevant but undervalued consequence of major depression. Mood symptoms and cognitive deficits have a significant, and somehow independent, impact on them. Therefore, cognitive difficulties should be considered a potential target to improve patients’ functioning.

To examine the degree in which objective and subjective cognition explain functional outcome.

To assess objective cognitive function (CF) with a neuropsychological battery and to measure subjective CF using measures of cognitive perception.

Ninety-nine patients with depression were assessed by age, sex and level of schooling. Depressive symptoms severity was measured by Hamilton Depression Rating Scale (HDRS-17). Objective CF consisted in the following cognitive domains: memory, attention, executive functioning and processing speed. Subjective CF was assessed with Perceived Deficit Questionnaire-Depression (PDQ-D). Functioning Assessment Short Test (FAST) was used to evaluate life functioning, excluding the cognitive domain. All the listed measures were included in a multiple regression analysis with FAST scores as dependent variable.

The regression model was significant (F1,98 = 67.484, P < 0.001) with an R of 0.825. The variables showing statistical power included (from higher to lower β-coefficient) HDRS-17 (β = 0.545, t = 8.453, P < 0.001), PDQ-D (β = 0.383, t = 6.047, P < 0.001) and DSST (β = −0.123, t = −1.998, P = 0.049).

The severity of depressive symptoms is the variable that best explains life functioning. Surprisingly, the second factor hindering it is the patients’ perception of their cognition. Current findings highlight the importance of correcting cognitive bias in order to improve functionality. However, results have to be taken cautiously as mood symptoms could partly explain the bias.

The authors have not supplied their declaration of competing interest.

The occurrence of religious symptoms in obsessive compulsive disorder OCD patients ranges from 0% up to 93%. Although, frequent and influential nature of these symptoms, the explanations of its complexity and phenomenology are deficient in the literature.

Determine the most frequent OC religious symptoms among OCD patients. Assess relation between the frequent symptoms of religious OCD and depression.

Cross-sectional study was conducted among 115 consented patients diagnosed as OCD according to DSM-IV. Patients were recruited in one year from Psychiatric clinics, Zagazig University, Egypt. Psychiatric interview and psychometric assessment using Beck Depression Inventory (BDI) and OC religious symptom scale [1] were done.

The majority of patients (57.4%) had various religious OC symptoms. About 44% had doubts in religion in general (e.g. existence of God) and 11.3% had Blasphemous ideas. More than one third reported doubts about performing prayers and ablution perfectly; 34.8% repeatedly claimed they forgot to declare intention to pray, 36.5% had doubts about violating their ablution and 29.6% were skeptical about doing all ablution duties. Moreover, 23.5% reported slow or repeated readings in prayers, 25.2% had suspicions of breaking their fasting. A strong correlation between religious OC symptoms and total score of OC symptoms scale was confirmed. Most of our patients showed positive correlation between degree of depression and total score OC symptoms scale.

Muslim patient present with specific phenomenology of religious OC symptoms. These symptoms are very frequent and negatively influencing their mood.

The authors have not supplied their declaration of competing interest.

Neuropsin (NP, kallikrein 8, KLK8)–a kallikrein gene-related (KLK) endoprotease–plays a key role in neuroplasticity processes. Neuropsin expression takes places both extracellularly and inside neurons within the area of the hippocampus. Various forms of electrophysiological stimulation (kindling, LTP, stress) increase neuropsin expression within the hippocampus and in many other regions of the brain (e.g. neocortex, amygdala). Neuropsin is mainly engaged in the early stage of LTP and in the process of synaptogenesis. Social cognition deficits (difficulties with identification, naming and analysing experienced emotional states) in the group of people suffering from depression have been described in scientific papers published in recent years. They are considered the core features of major depressive disorders.

The aim of this study is to link the human neuropsin gene (hNP) expression with the ability of the examined subjects to use nonverbal communication in social interactions.

120 individuals meeting the diagnostic criteria for a recurrent depressive disorders (rDE) were qualified to participate in the study. The Emotional Intelligence Scale–Faces task and two subtests from The Right Hemisphere Language Battery (RHLB) were used in the study.

Significant interrelations between expression on the mRNA level for the hNP gene and the variables used to assess social competences were confirmed. Results of the statistical analysis make it possible to confirm an inversely proportional correlation between the analysed variables.

Increased hNP expression is associated with a reduction of interpersonal abilities in the people affected by depression.

The authors have not supplied their declaration of competing interest.