IntroductionAggression and violence are common phenomena, potentially experienced by everyone.ObjectivesTo demonstrate that coping patterns to face aggression and violence may exhibit differential group features.AimsTo find differences in coping styles during moments of high aggression in psychiatric patients compared to non-affected controls.MethodsWe evaluated 34 outpatients from the section of psychiatry of university Federico II of Naples by two psychometric scales: AQ to evaluate aggression levels and Brief-COPE for coping patterns. Outcomes were compared with that of 34 non-affected controls, recruited from the university student population. Pearson's correlation was used to find relationships between aggression levels and coping skills in these two groups.ResultsWe found significant differences between groups in multiple scale items and in the correlation measures, e.g. the use of expression was completely reversed in this two samples according to aggression levels.ConclusionsThese results show that aggression is experienced differentially and with different coping styles by psychiatric patients compared to non-affected controls.Disclosure of interestThe authors have not supplied their declaration of competing interest.

Obesity has been associated with cognitive impairment. However, it is not clear whether cognitive impairment may depend on concomitant psychopathology, since several psychiatric conditions, e.g. schizophrenia, include cognitive deficits among their manifestations. To assess cognitive performances and psychopathology in obese patients, and to compare cognitive alterations in obese patients with those in schizophrenics and controls. To compare cognitive performances in obese patients to normal percentiles. To provide an analysis of correlation with specific psychopathological domains. To evaluate whether cognitive performances in very obese patients were different from those in schizophrenia patients and non-affected controls. 88 obese patients were included. Exclusion criteria were: axis I and II diagnosis; severe medical, neurological, or endocrinology conditions. Patients underwent an extensive battery of cognitive tests and completed the Toronto Alexithymia Scale (TAS-20), the Barratt Impulsiveness Scale (BIS-11), the Beck Depression Inventory (BDI), the State-Trait Anxiety Inventory (STAI). In the second part of the study, very obese patients (BMI>40; n=16) were compared for cognitive performances to schizophrenia patients (n=16) and non-affected controls (n=17). Obese patients performed at low percentiles (<15) on the Problem Solving and the Social Cognition tasks. Mean scores on psychopathology rating scales did not reach abnormal values. No correlation was found with psychopathology. When compared to schizophrenics, no significant differences were found in performances on spatial working memory. Obese patients show cognitive alterations even in the absence of abnormal psychopathology. Very obese patients share cognitive alterations with schizophrenia patients, which may imply common neurobiological basis.

Empathy is the human ability to understand and share other people's feelings through knowledge, observation and memory. Lower levels of empathy lead to poor social functioning, like in Major Depressive Disorder (MDD), Schizophrenia and Autism. Until today, very few studies have focused on empathic deficits in depressed patients. Our aim was to evaluate whether MDD causes variations in empathy levels. We wanted to assess cognitive and affective components of Empathy in a sample of women with MDD, and relate them to clinical issues. We compared these results to a control sample. Our sample included 20 female patients with MDD and a control group, homogeneous for age and gender. We used the Hamilton scale for depression (HAM- D) to evaluate depression severity, the Interpersonal Reactivity Index (IRI) to evaluate cognitive and affective empathy, the Faux pas test to assess cognitive empathy; Pearson and Mann tests for statistic analysis. In general, patients showed mild depression levels (HAM- D: 14, 41± 6, 07). Severity of symptoms and empathy levels were inversely related with Faux Pas and IRI results (R: −0, 5805; R: −0, 5145), with patients being worse than the control group. Patients showed deficits in personal distress and perspective taking IRI subscales. Our study shows that in depressed patients both components of Empathy are modified; in particular, personal distress increases, while perspective taking decreases. Additional studies and higher numbers of patients will be necessary to further investigate whether empathic deficits are trait- or state-depending MDD characteristics.

The internalized stigma of mental illness leads to negative outcomes (low self-esteem, demoralization, lower compliance to the treatment, unemployment). Previous studies have shown that the prevalence in psychotic patients is about 64%; furthermore, patients with non-psychotic disorders exhibit high prevalence, as well. Our aim is to study internalized stigma, insight and social functioning in psychotic patients. Through the investigation of low insight patients, we sought to verify the insight paradox theory and the impact stigma has on social functioning. We also investigated ISMI subscales (alienation, discrimination, stigma resistance, stereotype endorsement, social withdrawal) and the correlation between those elements. Our sample included 19 psychotic patients: 11 with bipolar disorder; 3 with schizoaffective disorder; 5 with NOS psychosis. Patients were assessed with the following tests: SAI to evaluate insight; PANSS for clinical and psychopathological evaluation; GAF for social functioning; ISMI for the assessment of internalized stigma. 13 patients with mild or complete lack of insight reported low stigma, confirming the Insight Paradox theory. There is a positive correlation, measured with the Pearson correlation analysis, between insight and social functioning (R=0,752*) and between stigma and insight (R=0,024) while stigma and social functioning correlate negatively (R= -0,491*). Results showed that lower levels of insight are related to higher stigma resistance and higher stigma leads to poorer functioning in social contexts. Higher sample numbers are necessary for further investigations on the subject.