Bipolar disorder is one of the top 10 medical causes of disability according to the WHO and despite this, its diagnosis can be delayed up to 10 years after the appearance of the first symptoms of the disease. A major reason for the difficult diagnosis is the challenge of differentiating bipolar disorder type II from unipolar depression and borderline personality disorder, especially in those patients with no clear history of hypomania.

To present a case report of a bipolar disorder undiagnosed for years to remark the importance of recognizing premorbid symptoms of the disease in order to implement an early intervention that potentially improves the prognosis of patients.

We compiled the patient’s complete medical history and we carried out a non-systematic review of literature containing the key-words “bipolar disorder type II” and “diagnosis”.

We present the case of a 48-year-old woman going through a depressive episode, multiple suicide attempts and more than 10 admissions in the Acute Inpatient Psychiatric Unit. For 3 years, the evolution was torpid with a significant multidomain cognitive impairment in a previously functional patient. Different antidepressant treatments were tested, however they were not tolerated due to adverse effects such as anxiety, insomnia and nervousness. After considering multiple differential diagnoses, bipolar disorder type II was finally diagnosed. A hypomanic episode that took place after 3 sessions of electroconvulsive therapy during an admission for depression, allowed to guide the diagnosis and after the introduction of Lithium and Quetiapine as treatment, the patient experienced a complete remission of the symptoms.

1. 1. It is important to consider the differential diagnosis of bipolar disorder type II due to its impact on the patient´s life.

2. 2. An early diagnosis improves the course and prognosis of the disease.

3. 3. Patients resistant or intolerant to antidepressant treatment could have undiagnosed bipolar disorder.

None Declared

We present the case of a 43 year-old woman that, following the sudden death of his brother in 2015, begins with symptoms of anxiety, irritability and emotional instability, with a tendency to social isolation. Thereafter, she starts the development of persecutory delusions focused on the work and family environment that evolve into inappropriate behaviors to the point of abandoning her professional life.

(1) We will carry out a complete review about persecutory delusions and its relationship with affective disorders, based on the severity of our patient’s case.

(2) We will study the different lines of treatment in delusional disorder (DD) and its course and prognosis in relation to the intervention performed.

A review of the patient’s history will be conducted, taking into account her biography, clinical evolution and response to the treatments received.

Likewise, a bibliographic review of the available scientific literature in relation to DD treatment strategies will be carried out.

(1) DD is more common in middle-aged women. People who tend to be socially isolated are more likely to develop DD.

(2) Acute onset, in young women with identifiable precipitating factors, suggests a better prognosis.

(3) In the long term, 50% of patients recover and a further 20% experience some improvement.

(4) The combination of antipsychotic medications and psychological therapies such as cognitive behavioral therapy (CBT) is fundamental in the management of DD patients.

The prognosis for patients with DD varies depending on various factors, including the type and severity of the delusional ideas, and their own life circumstances. It is often possible to eliminate the behavioral alterations derived from the DD, allowing the patient to function normally. However, delusions often persist and become encapsulated.

None Declared

International Classification of Diseases 11th Revision (ICD-11) has inserted complex post-traumatic stress disorder (cPTSD) as a clinically distinct disorder, different from PTSD. The diagnosis of cPTSD has the same requirements for the one of PTSD, in addition to disturbances of self-organization (DSO – e.g., disturbances in relationships, affect dysregulation, and negative self-concept).

This study aimed to explore suicidality in PTSD and cPTSD. We examined also the association between clinical dimensions of hopelessness (feelings, loss of motivation, future expectations) and other symptomatologic variables.

The sample, recruited at the Fondazione Policlinico Tor Vergata, Rome, Italy, consisted of 189 subjects, 132 diagnosed with PTSD, and 57 with cPTSD, according to the ICD-11 criteria. Participants underwent the following clinical assessments: Clinician-Administered PTSD Scale (CAPS), Impact of Event Scale-Revised (IES), Beck Depression Inventory (BDI), Symptom Checklist-90-Revised (SCL-90), Dissociative Experience Scale (DES), Beck Hopelessness Scale (BHS).

cPTSD showed significantly higher BHS-total (p = 0.01) and BHS-loss of motivation subscale (p <0.001) scores than PTSD. Besides, cPTSD showed significantly higher scores in all clinical variables except for the IES-intrusive subscale. By controlling for the confounding factor “depression”, suicidality in cPTSD (and in particular the BHS-total) appears to be correlated with IES-total score (p = 0.042) and with DES-Absorption (p = 0.02). Differently, no such correlations are found in PTSD.

Our study shows significant symptomatologic differences between PTSD and cPTSD, including suicidality. Indeed, suicidality in cPTSD appears to be correlated with the “loss of motivation” dimension, which fits well within the ICD-11 criteria of DSO.

No significant relationships.

Amongst different subtypes of Conversion Disorder (CD), DSM-V lists the Psychogenic Non-epileptic seizures (PNES). PNES are defined as episodes that visually resemble epileptic seizures but, etiologically, they are not due to electrical discharges in the brain.

Our study aims to explore the differences between PNES and other CDs. In particular, we studied the suicidality and its correlations with dissociation and alexithymia.

Patients, recruited from the Psychiatry and Clinical Psychology Unit of the Fondazione Policlinico Tor Vergata, Rome, Italy, were diagnosed with PNES (n=22) and CD (n=16) using the DSM-5 criteria. Patients underwent the following clinical assessments: HAM-D, BDI, DES, BHS, TAS, CTQ.

PNES showed significantly higher scores than CD in all assessments, except for BDI-somatic (p=0.39), BHS-feeling (p=0.86), and the presence of childhood trauma. PNES also showed significantly higher suicidality (p = 0.003). By controlling for the confounding factor “depression”, in PNES suicidality (and in particular the BHS-loss of motivation) appears to be correlated with DES-total score (p = 0.008), DES-amnesia (p = 0.002) and DES -derealization-depersonalization (p = 0.003). On the other hand, in CDs, the BHS-total score shows a correlation with the TAS-total score (p = 0.03) and BHS-Feelings with TAS-Externally-Oriented Thinking (p = 0.035), while only the BHS-Loss of motivation appears correlated with DES-Absorption (p = 0.011).

Our study shows significant differences between PNES and CD, in several symptomatologic dimensions, including suicidality. Indeed, in PNES suicidality appears to be related to dissociation, while in CDs it appears mainly to be correlated with alexithymia.

Distorted images of the observable self are considered crucial in the development and maintenance of social anxiety. We generated an experimental situation in which participants viewed themselves from an observer's perspective when exposed to scrutiny and evaluation by others.

Twenty patients with social anxiety disorder (SAD) and 20 control subjects were assessed using functional magnetic resonance imaging (fMRI) during the public exposure of pre-recorded videos in which they were each shown performing a verbal task. The examiners acted as the audience in the experiment and rated performance. Whole-brain functional maps were computed using Statistical Parametric Mapping.

Robust activation was observed in regions related to self-face recognition, emotional response and general arousal in both study groups. Patients showed significantly greater activation only in the primary visual cortex. By contrast, they showed significant deactivation or smaller activation in dorsal frontoparietal and anterior cingulate cortices relevant to the cognitive control of negative emotion. Task-related anxiety ratings revealed a pattern of negative correlation with activation in this frontoparietal/cingulate network. Importantly, the relationship between social anxiety scores and neural response showed an inverted-U function with positive correlations in the lower score range and negative correlations in the higher range.

Our findings suggest that exposure to scrutiny and evaluation in SAD may be associated with changes in cortical systems mediating the cognitive components of anxiety. Disorder severity seems to be relevant in shaping the neural response pattern, which is distinctively characterized by a reduced cortical response in the most severe cases.