Biography:

Maria F. Guzzo has completed her Masters degree in Psychiatry from McGill University and is now pursuing her doctoral studies at the same institution, specializing in adolescent mental health. Maria is president of a youth mental health family foundation and sits on several mental-health related boards in her community. She has been actively involved in her community as a well-renowned philanthropist who’s mission is to promote mental health, more specifically with the adolescent population in school-based settings.

Abstract:

Talking about a negative or traumatic experience can be helpful, however, expressing emotions can be challenging for adolescents. Finding the right approach for adolescents to express themselves is crucial to maintaining and promoting positive mental health. Some researchers claim expressive writing has positive mental health impacts on adolescents while others argue the contrary. Furthermore, even among advocates, there is little agreement about how or why expressive writing might produce positive mental health outcomes. Due to the paucity of research on the underlying psychological and cognitive mechanisms of expressive writing in the adolescent population, more studies are needed. For this research, analysis of journals written by adolescents during a structured expressive writing intervention was chosen as a qualitative method to reveal the underlying mechanisms of expressive writing. Data was generated through a randomized collection of student journals until saturation was met. A total of eight journals were thus kept for analysis. Data analysis combined both inductive thematic coding and conceptual deductive coding that reflected the psychological theories proposed in the literature to explain the potential mechanisms. The analysis suggests that 3 of the 5 theories proposed in the literature were found in the student journals. Furthermore, two additional theories chosen by the author but not proposed in the literature were also reflected in the journals. More structured writing interventions should be considered to facilitate the underlying mechanisms of expressive writing. More research is needed, such as using qualitative interviews to further understand the experience of expressive writing from the perspective of the adolescents themselves.

Biography:

Yousif Ali Yaseen is currently working as Assistant Professor in Psychiatry at University of Duhok in Iraq. He was the Member of the scientific committee of the Mental Health Act of Kurdistan in the year 2010. He is the member of the founding body of the Kurdistan Psychiatric Association.

Abstract:

Aim: This study aimed at assessing the prevalence and risk factors of somatoform disorders (SD) and their types among patients attending a major psychiatric clinic in Duhok Governorate, Iraq. Our secondary aim was to assess the common presenting symptoms of conversion disorders (CD).

Materials & Methods: 637 subjects were randomly selected from the outpatient psychiatric clinic at the Azadi Teaching Hospital in Duhok City, Iraq. SCID-I/P Version 2.0 was applied to diagnose patients with SDs.

Results: In our sample the prevalence of SD was 24%. CD comprised the vast majority of SD of 75.8%, followed by somatization disorders at 7.8% and undifferentiated SD at 5.2%. SD was most common (60.1%) in adolescents and young adults (ages 15-25 y.o.); (p<0.05), and female gender comprised most of the SD in our sample (75.8%; p<0.001). Although, more than two-third of the cases were from lower educational levels (illiterate and primary educational level) (67.3%), more than fifty percent were married (52.3%), the majority were housewives (39.2%) and more than half of the cases were from urban areas (52.3%), but no significant association was found between SD and educational level, marital status, occupation and residence (p-values were 0.218, 0.659, 0.072 and 0.090 respectively). Regarding the symptomatic presentation of CD, the vast majority of the cases presented with seizure which comprised (81%), followed by motor symptoms which comprised (17.2%), and sensory symptoms which constituted (1.7%) only.

Conclusion: SD was highly prevalent among patients attending a major outpatient psychiatric clinic in Duhok province, Iraq, and CD was the most common presenting form of SD. Younger age and female gender comprised the majority of cases. Interestingly, the most common presenting symptom of CD in our sample was pseudo-seizures.

Biography:

Malladi Srinivasa Sastry has completed his Graduation at Andhra Medical College in India. He later worked as a Consultant Psychiatrist in UK before moving to Singapore where, he is a Senior Consultant Psychiatrist at the Institute of Mental Health. He actively teaches in medical schools in Singapore and has lectured in several public forums, conducted workshops in conferences and gave oral presentations.

Abstract:

To enhance the standing of psychiatry as a medical discipline that applies principles of evidence based practice mental health professionals would need to review what we best represent and how we are viewed by medical fraternity at large and the general public. Psychiatry has its inherent challenges to be described homogenously by various practitioners and critics alike. The medical model demands anatomic or physiological basis for the disorders to be identified with specific set of symptoms or to be detected by tests which show results specific to the disorder. There are often challenges in treatment and response to treatment due to medicalization of certain apparent social problems which are likely to be misdiagnosed such as adjustment disorder. In this presentation we shall look at enhacing the reliability of diagnoses and treatment keeping in view the limitations that are inherent to the field of psychiatry. Another dimension of conceptual overlap which is often not discussed is the spiritual domain besides biological, psychological and social. The implications cannot be underestimated as a significant population across the world may be at risk of not getting the right kind of support if the clinician is not trained in this area. We shall look at why it is important to include spiritual understanding in mainstream psychiatry and how it can be incorporated within assessment and management.

Biography:

Wassil Nowicky — Dipl. Ing., Dr. techn., DDDr. h. c., Director of “Nowicky Pharma” and President of the Ukrainian Anti-Cancer Institute (Vienna, Austria). Inventor of the anti-cancer preparation on the basis of celandine alkaloids “NSC-631570”. He is an author of over 300 scientific articles dedicated to cancer research. Dr. Wassil Nowicky is a real member of the New York Academy of Sciences, member of the European Union for applied immunology and of the American Association for scientific progress, honorary doctor of the Janka Kupala University in Hrodno, doctor “honoris causa” of the Open international university on complex medicine in Colombo, honorary member of the Austrian Society of a name of Albert Schweizer. He has received the award for merits of National guild of pharmacists of America. the award of Austrian Society of sanitary, hygiene and public health services and others.

Abstract:

Xeroderma pigmentosum (XP) is a genetic disorder of DNA repair in which the ability to repair damage caused by ultraviolet (UV) light is deficient. Multiple basal cell carcinomas (basaliomas) and other skin malignancies frequently occur at a young age in those with XP. In fact, metastatic malignant melanoma and squamous cell carcinoma are the two most common causes of death in XP victims. This is a very rare disease. The incidence differs regionally and is between 1:40000 (Japan) and 1:250000 (USA). About 250 XP patients live in the USA, about 50 in Germany, mostly children. The life expectance is low; usually they die in the first decade. If left unchecked, damage caused by UV light can cause mutations in individual cells DNA. XP patients are at a high risk (more than 2000 times over the general population) for developing skin cancers, such as basal cell carcinoma, for this reason. A report on the successful using NSC‐631570 in a XP patient suggests this drug can be very useful also in this hereditary disease. NSC‐631570 bei Xeroderma pigmentosum: Patient S.S., an eight year old boy, was presented with an ulcering lesion of the nose. As he was 10 month old, xeroderma pigmentosum was diagnosed. Until the age of three years the number of skin lesions increased considerably. In May 2002 skin cancer (squamous cell carcinoma) at the nose was diagnosed, T4NXM0, histologically verified. From May till June 2002 three cycles of chemotherapy were administered (cyclophosphamide, vincristine, and vinblastine). The therapy failed and the tumors grew up. Clinical investigation in April 2004 revealed deforming malignant melanoma of the nose with invasion into the cartilage of nasal septum, measuring 3x3 cm. On 20 May 2004 the therapy with Ukrain was started, 5 mg intravenously twice a week, up to a total dose of 85 mg. One month after the last administration of Ukrain a complete regression of the tumor was revealed. The skin defect was partially replaced with connective tissue. Xeroderma skin lesions improved throughout the body.

Biography:

Sam Vaknin is the author of "Malignant Self-love: Narcissism Revisited" and other books about personality disorders. His work is cited in hundreds of books and dozens of academic papers. He is Visiting Professor of Psychology, Southern Federal University, Rostov-on-Don, Russia and Professor of Finance and Psychology in CIAPS (Centre for International Advanced and Professional Studies). He spent the past 6 years developing a treatment modality for Narcissistic Personality Disorder (NPD). Over the years, with volunteers, it was found to be effective with clients suffering from a major depressive episode as well.

Abstract:

Like dependents (people with dependent personality disorder), co-dependents depend on other people for their emotional gratification and the performance of both inconsequential and crucial daily and psychological (ego) functions. They seek to fuse or merge with their significant others. By becoming one with their intimate partners, codependents are able to actually love themselves by loving others. Co-dependents are needy, demanding, and submissive. They suffer from abandonment anxiety and to avoid being overwhelmed by it they cling to others and act immaturely. These behaviours are intended to elicit protective responses and to safeguard the relationship with their companion or mate upon whom they depend. Co-dependents appear to be impervious to abuse. No matter how badly mistreated, they remain committed. In extreme co-dependence, this fusion and merger with the significant other lead to in-house stalking as the co-dependent strives to preserve the integrity and cohesion of her personality and the representations of her loved ones within it. This is where the “co” in co-dependence comes into play. By accepting the role of victims, codependents seek to control their abusers and manipulate them. It is a Danse Macabre in which both members of the dyad collaborate. The co-dependent sometimes claims to pity her abuser and cast herself in the grandiose roles of his saviour and redeemer. Her overwhelming empathy imprisons the codependent in these dysfunctional relationships and she feels guilt either because she believes that she had driven the abuser to maltreat her or because she contemplates abandoning him.

Biography:

Itzia Perez Morales obtained her Bachelor’s Degree in Clinical Psychology with distinction in 2016 from the Universidad de las Américas in Mexico City. Since then, she has worked as a Clinician in psychiatric hospitals, youth addiction rehabilitation units, paediatric hospitals and IAPT services, along with research work in Experimental Biology, Child Psychotherapy, Pharmacogenetics and Perinatal Psychiatry. Currently, she is a Recent Graduate at the Psychiatric Research MSc program at King’s College London with the dissertation title, “The relationship between perinatal mental health problems and infant stress: the first year of life”.

Abstract:

Objective: Investigate cortisol reactivity in infants born to: 1) mothers at high-risk of developing puerperal psychosis (PP), and mothers with no such risk, and 2) mothers at high-risk of developing PP that remained well and mothers at high-risk that became unwell.

Methods: Saliva cortisol from 71 infants (42 cases and 29 controls) born to mothers at high and low risk of developing PP was collected immediately before and 20 minutes after routine immunizations at 8-weeks and 12-months. The case group was further subdivided according to maternal mental health status, infants born to mothers that presented clinically significant symptoms between birth and 4-weeks postpartum were allocated into the unwell group, while infants born to mothers that remained well were allocated into the well group. Infant cortisol reactivity was measured as the difference between cortisol levels before and after routine immunizations, and differences between groups were analyzed using the Mann-Whitney tests and confounders were controlled for in linear regression models.

Results: Differences in cortisol reactivity were compared between groups, finding no significant at 8-weeks, and significant differences were found in the 12-month, although these were non-significant after controlling for possible confounders.

Conclusions: Infant cortisol reactivity may not be affected by maternal risk of developing PP or maternal health status in the first year of life. However, these results could change in a bigger sample at 12-months, as sample size could not account for all potential confounders.

Biography:

Gregory J Knowles is a 4^th year medical student studying at the University of Birmingham, UK. Considering a career in psychiatry, he has completed an intercalated BMedSci in Psychological Medicine. Inspired by the work of renowned developmental neuroscientists (Casey et al., 2008; Steinberg, 2008), he orientated his year towards the analysis of research into adolescent social neuroscience. He aimed to investigate the neural components underlying well-recognised risky tendencies during this period. Previous study in this area focused predominantly on the utilisation of functional magnetic resonance imaging. Employing a different approach, he applied voxel-based morphometric analysis to evaluate the association between risk-propensity and grey and white matter volumes (and hence, maturity). Furthermore, since most risks are taken in the presence of peers, he also investigated the association between peer influence susceptibility and brain structure. His research provides some preliminary findings to build upon in the future.

Abstract:

Statement of the Problem: Adolescence is characterised by an increased propensity to engage in risky behaviour, in part the result of a heightened susceptibility to peer influence. We aimed to investigate whether adolescent risk-taking and peer influence susceptibility (PIS) had any relation to brain structure.

Methodology: A sample of 27 healthy adolescents (15 males, 12 females; age 17-23 years) participated in this study. We adapted the Balloon Analogue Risk Task so that participants completed it twice alone and twice after exposure to peer encouragement. The alone condition objectively measured baseline risk-propensity. Taking the percentage difference between conditions formed an empirical index of PIS. Using voxel-based morphometry, we compared baseline risk-propensity and PIS scores to grey and white matter volumes in whole-brain multiple regression analyses.

Findings: We identified a statistically significant positive correlation between baseline risk-propensity and white matter volume of the right posterior cerebellar lobule VII (p<0.01, FWE-corrected). Secondly, PIS scores were associated with volumetric variations in the right precuneus, right ventrolateral prefrontal cortex (VLPFC) and left dorsolateral prefrontal cortex (DLPFC) (p<0.001, uncorrected).

Conclusion: Across late adolescence, cerebellar volumes decline through mechanisms like synaptic pruning. Considering this, our research suggests a link between reduced lobule VII structural maturity and increased risk-propensity. We remain in the early stages of learning about the cognitive cerebellum. However, functional topographical studies demonstrate the recruitment of lobule VII specifically during cognitively-demanding, rather than movement-orientated, tasks. Perhaps lobule VII immaturity hinders the engagement of cognitive resources in decision-making, causing less risk-averse behaviour. With regards to PIS analyses, our study is the first to empirically investigate its structural correlates. Existent fMRI research implicates the DLPFC, VLPFC and precuneus in social cognition. While we provide preliminary evidence for a specific association between these regions and PIS, larger studies are needed to elucidate their exact contribution to task performance.

Biography:

Anna Burkiewicz has completed her PhD at the age of 31 years from Medical University of GdaÅ„sk.  She is the director of Department of Clinical Psychology at Medical University of GdaÅ„sk. She works as a psychotherapist and clinical psychologist at Adult Psychiatry Clinic at the University Clinical Center. Anna Burkiewicz has her expertise in evaluation and passion in improving the mental health and wellbeing. She has published more than 15 papers in reputed journals in the field of clinical psychology and mental health.

Abstract:

The aim of this study was to asses temperament and character trials in group of patients diagnosed with depression. To evaluate temperament trials the Temperament and Character Inventory created by Cloninger was used. The inventory based on Cloninger's psychobiological model that identifies four dimensions of temperament (Novelty seeking NS, Harm Avoidance HA, Reward Dependence RD and Persistence) and three dimensions of character (Self-Directedness SD, Cooperativeness C and Self Transcendence ST). The study included 30 patients diagnosed with depression and 30 indywiduals from control group.Results: Patient diagnosed with depression obtained higher scores in HA dimension and lower scores in scales NS and SD.

Biography:

Mahtab Askari has done M.A, from Shahid Beheshti University, Iran. She has her expertise in family therapy and child psychology. Her experiences are in object relation theory on infants and children, she works with infants and mothers separately. Working with mothers is about their maternal representations and their feelings about their childhood and with infants, it’s a play therapy.

Abstract:

Statement of the Problem: Statistical learning is a learning style which mainly causes an individual to unconsciously extract probabilities in the environment, generalize them, and turn them into a subjective rule in order to finally interact with the environment based on them. This learning style emerges in the early hours of birth, and infants use it to make inferences about the frequencies of the environment. Accordingly, they can interact with the environment, parents and other important individuals. The purpose of this study is to investigate this type of learning which has a great impact on the estimation and learning of the environment as well as the mother-infant relationship using the precise eye tracker technology. The amount of visit time per seconds and the fixation time were assessed and the results confirmed the existence of this unconscious learning mechanism among infants.

Finding: The findings of ANOVA with repeated measures indicated that there was a significant difference between the total visit duration and total fixation duration in shapes with different frequencies (p&lt;0.05). Conclusion: According to the research findings, it can be concluded that the statistical learning mechanism is active in infants. Moreover, it becomes more complicated with age, and infants make cognitive interactions with the environment based on this mechanism.

Biography:

Abstract:

Introduction: Time, space, math and numerosity are ubiquitous dimensions of human lives. An influential theory suggested that all these magnitudes may be encoded by a common neural mechanism, mainly located in the parietal cortex. Another function processed in the parietal cortex is attention. In fact, as reported by Atkinson, dorsal stream is also important for attention. Additional evidences can be found in studies of atypical populations; however, we have not firm conclusion. In this line, the aim of this study is to test the association of parietal functions in children and adolescents with ADHD.

Patients & Methods: Twenty two ADHD and 22 typical children and adolescents, matched for age (8-14 years old) participated in this study. Inclusion criteria were a diagnosis of ADHD according to DSM–V criteria (America Psychiatric Association, 2003), an IQ more than 70, no neurological or sensory impairment and no pharmacological treatment. We used a psychophysical battery of tests to assess numerosity, time discrimination thresholds and visuospatial sustained attention (MOT). Time was measured in the auditory domain and for both sub (T 500 ms) and supra (T 1500 ms) second duration intervals. We also measured symbolic math.

Results: ADHD subjects performed worse than controls both in time and number discrimination and symbolic math, but the difference was statistical significant only for T 500 ms (t=2.949, p=0.005, Cohen’s d=0.889). T 500 ms deficit does not depend on IQ and index of elaboration velocity. Instead we found no difference in MOT performance. Interestingly, numerosity and time performance were positively correlated.

Conclusions: Our results generally confirm ATOM theory but also show that selective impairments are possible. ADHD subjects seem to show a dorsal vulnerability. Moreover given that time perception deficits do not depend on attention, our results suggest that ADHD may be characterized by a specific time encoding deficit, together with impaired attention skills.