Cannabis use has been reported to cause a myriad of acute adverse reactions, including those linked to anxiety disorders, such as panic attacks and derealization. Notably, in the emergency department, anxiety makes up a significant proportion of the complaints related to cannabinoid consumption. Several reports show these symptoms can persist after the cessation of cannabis consumption. Consequently, some questions have arisen regarding the role of cannabinoids as precipitators for anxiety disorders in vulnerable individuals. Alternatively, it has been hypothesized that patients with anxiety disorders are more prone to using cannabis.

We aim to understand whether there is an established relationship between anxiety disorders and cannabis use. Moreover, we intend to identify what are the factors which make an individual more likely to experience anxiety following cannabis consumption.

A search was conducted in the PubMed database using the MeSH terms “cannabis”, “panic disorder”, “anxiety”, “panic” and “generalized anxiety disorder”. Articles published in the last ten years were considered. Publications were selected after careful reading of their abstract. A non-systematic review of the selected articles was performed.

Eight articles were included in this review. While a majority of these publications did not find a significant association between cannabis use and anxiety disorders, a small subset of analyzed articles found that cannabis use may increase anxiety severity in general, devoid of specific diagnostic association. Individuals who presented to the emergency department with anxiety complaints after cannabis use were likely to be young and to have ingested edible cannabis. History of psychiatric disease, especially substance use disorder, was common in this population.

Most available data suggest cannabis use is not clearly linked to anxiety disorders. However, information around this topic is scarce and heterogenous. Further research is needed focusing on the natural evolution of acute anxiety after cannabis use. Factors such as young age, presence of psychiatric comorbidities and consumption of edible cannabis appear to contribute to a significantly increased risk of experiencing acute anxiety after cannabis use.

None Declared

Immersive technologies have the potential to control cognitive and behavioural symptoms in people with dementia. A safe environment can be designed through a specific interactive scenario, according to the preferences and experiences of each user.

Mapping neuro-emotional responses during the interactive scenario therapy experience in a case study, with dementia, using electroencephalography (EEG).

A participant, 78 years old and diagnosed with moderate to severe Alzheimer's disease (female; Mini Mental State Examination score of 17 points; frontal assessment battery score of 8 points), underwent EEG analysis (EMOTIV EPOC X) using a protocol with interactive scenarios tailored to the participant's needs and preferences, the scenarios were designed from reminiscence strategies. The protocol included a stimulus that alternated between motor and cognitive activities (3 minutes), and breath-centered relaxation (1 minute). The scenarios used in this study were: setting up a living room; composing a cake recipe; shopping in the market to make a cake; looking for objects in the park; organizing a birthday party. These variables are provided, on a scale of 0 to 100, after processing by the algorithms of the EmotivPRO v3.0 software.

The values found in the EEG analysis will be described without stimulus and with stimulus respectively. Thus, engagement (68.57 to 71.86); arousal (57.86 to 49.86), focus (61.57 to 57.00), interest (54.86 to 49.57), relaxation (33.86 to 30.86), and stress (53.71 to 43.00). The EEG data showed an increase in engagement when the patient was stimulated (68.57 to 71.86). Relaxation also increased (30.86 to 33.86) when the stimulus was removed. The stress level, as analysed by the EEG, was also higher in the period without stimulus and reduced in the period with the stimulus (53.71 to 43).

During a stimulus period in interactive therapy, there was an increase in engagement, which was related to an increasing focus during the stimulus. Lower values were observed compared to the period without stimulus, indicating a period of recovery after a period of concentration/arousal. Therefore, therapy with an interactive and familiar scenario, using a circuit of stimulus-breathing exercises, promotes a positive and adequate neuro-emotional response in a person with dementia.

Conceptualising Schneider’s first-rank symptoms (FRS) as a diagnostic test whose performance can be measured in terms of sensitivity and specificity involves some issues that require reflection. The first formal proposal was contained in a 1939 monograph Schneider wrote, but little is known of their prehistory. In recent years there has been renewed interest in their clinical value.

This work aims to review the the diagnostic the evolution and diagnostic accuracy of FRS.

A non-systematic review was performed, searching Pubmed/MEDLINE for articles using the keywords “schizophrenia” and “first rank symptoms”.

From the beginning of Western descriptive psychopathology in the early 19th century, symptoms have been observed later described as first-rank by Schneider. When FRS are conceived as simple clinical indicators at a low level of inference, the results of the meta-analytic estimate of their diagnostic accuracy can be considered as a valid appraisal of their performance and usefulness. However, when FRS are conceptualised from a psychopathological perspective as strange and incomprehensible experiences that cannot be reduced merely to their propositional content and require substantial expertise and skill to be properly evaluated, the meta-analytic estimates can hardly be seen as a valid evaluation of their diagnostic significance, considering that some FRS are extremely difficult to assess properly.

The descriptions of these symptoms present substantial temporal and geographical continuity, over two centuries and in many countries. There is contradictory information concerning the validity of FRS as a clinical indicator. Phenomenologically informed studies are needed to address this research gap.

The practice of assisted dying is increasingly being discussed in a growing number of countries and is progressively regarded as a last-resort option for those suffering from severe and irreversible diseases. Recently, euthanasia in patients with psychiatric disorders and dementia has taken a prominent place in the public debate, since little is known about the prevalence and practice of euthanasia in these particular cases. Remaining a controversial subject, this study aims to describe the evolution and characteristics in reported euthanasia cases, focusing in dementia patients and the perspective from different countries regarding the nature of suffering, the voluntariness of the request and the role of the physician in the process.

A non-systematic review was performed, searching Pubmed/MEDLINE and Google Scholar for articles using the keywords dementia, euthanasia and assisted dying. Resultant articles were cross-referenced for other relevant articles not identified in the initial search.

Physicians consider less likely to perform euthanasia in patients with dementia, compared to patients with a severe and life-limiting somatic illness such as cancer. Both physicians and members of the general public acknowledge difficulties in the assessment of the voluntariness of the request and the extent of suffering of patients with advanced dementia, considering that communication is compromised. While euthanasia on the grounds of unbearable suffering caused by dementia remains a comparatively limited practice, its prevalence has risen and is related to loss of dignity or the knowledge that the lasting memory of their loved ones will be of the decomposed version of oneself.

It is likely that the number of euthanasia requests from patients suffering from dementia and/or accumulation of health problems related to old age will continue to grow. The question of how policy makers and care providers should respond to these requests is, therefore, highly relevant, as welll as the development of practice guidelines, if medical staff is to respond adequately to these delicate requests.

OCD could be a very disabling condition, implying severe impairment of social and occupational functioning and decreased quality of life. OCD is treated with a combination of psychopharmacological treatments and cognitive-behavioural therapy. Clomipramine was the first anti-obsessive drug, and was followed by selective serotonin re-uptake inhibitors (SSRIs), both modulating serotoninergic transmission. Low dose atypical anti-psychotic are sometimes used to potentiate serotoninergic agents. Growing evidence based on animal models and on neuroimaging shows that glutamatergic transmission could play an important role in the aetiology of OCD. Therefore, glutamate modulators such as N-methyl-D-aspartate (NMDA) receptor antagonists became the focus of the search of novel treatments for OCD. One of this drugs, memantine, already approved for Alzheimer disease treatment, was used off-label the first time ten years ago in resistant case of OCD with positive results. Besides some further successful case reports, there are a single-blind case control study and a couple of randomized, double-blind, placebo-controlled trials showing improvement of OCD symptoms with memantine adjuvant pharmacotherapy.

To describe a case report of off-label treatment of a severe resistant case of OCD with memantine, after 15 weeks of treatment.

Literature review and case description. Before beginning treatment with memantine, the patient made a psychological assessement (baseline) with a battery of tests (MINI Plus, Y-BOCS, QPP-15, WDQ, ECPAD, OP2, OAS2, MPS-H&F, MPS-F, HEXACO-PI-R, MOCI, BDI-II). This battery will be repeated after 15 weeks of treatment, to evaluate symptom improvement.

To be announced after 15 weeks of treatment course.

The authors have not supplied their declaration of competing interest.