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Emergency room have particularly stressful work situations. Emergency room personnel cope with stressors on a daily basis. These stressors can be risks factor for burn out and for reduced quality of life and work motivation. Emergency room staff of one of ASP 3 CT urban hospital in Acireale, Italy participated to stress management program by autogenic training twice a month for 16 weeks. This program were prepared based on existing research and studies, and were conducted by clinical psychologists. We found that the mean value in pre-test is significantly different from mean value in post-test for: Perceived Stress Scale PPS (t=7.72 with 27 df and P<0.001); Euro Quality for life (t=-14,13 with 27 df and P<0.001); Work motivation assessed by Visual Analogue scale VAS (t=-4.52 with 27 df and P<0.001). In the Maslach Burnout Inventory, the mean value is significantly different for emotional exhaustion sub-scale (t=5.64 with 27 with 27 df and P<0.001) and for depersonalization subscale (t=6.67 with 27 df and P<0.001). No significant difference was observed for the personal accomplishment sub-scale. This research suggests that psychological interventions with emergency room staff are effective. Our study showed effectiveness of an auto-genic and stress management training in improvement of quality of life, work motivation, burn-out and stress perceptions for emergency department team.

The burden of mental illness is profound and growing. Each year, almost one in three adults in the non-institutionalized community has a diagnosable mental or addictive disorder, and this figure climbs to approximately 40% among emergency departments patients. We described the principal cardiovascular acute disease and their emotional and behavioral consequences where psychological intervention could improve the care pathway and clinical outcome. Peer-reviewed articles from Medline, Psycinfo, Web of Science, Scopus, and Cochrane library, about psychological and psychopathological sequelae in cardiovascular acute disease were searched. The psychological and psychopathological sequelae associated to stroke include emotional and behavioral changes and cognitive impairment. Fear, symptoms of depression, anxiety or specific post-traumatic symptoms like intrusions, hyper-arousal and/or cognitive avoidance are common in people suffering of cardiovascular acute disease treated at emergency departments. In emergency departments, health personnel must recognize psychological and psychopatho-logical sequelae in cardiovascular acute disease in order to develop effective interventions for these patients. Identify factors that are associated with both psychological distress and physical distress and promote interventions aimed at reducing psychological distress and improving psychological health empowerment is an important element to consider in order to offer the best care to vulnerable population as that suffering of cardiovascular acute disease.

Cognitive dysfunctions are a common clinical feature of schizophrenia and represent important indicators of outcome among patients who are affected. Therefore, a randomized, controlled, monocentric, single-blind trial was carried out to compare two different rehabilitation strategies adopted for the restoration and recovery of cognitive functioning of residential patients with schizophrenia. A sample of 110 residential patients were selected and, during the experimental period, a group of 55 patients was treated with sets of domain-specific exercises (SRT+CRT), whereas an equal control group was treated with sets of non-domain-specific exercises (SRT+PBO) belonging to the Cogpack® software. The effects on the scores (between T0 and T1) of the variables treatment and time and of the interaction time X treatment were analyzed: for the total BACS, the main effect of the between-factors variable treatment is statistically significant (F=201.562 P=0.000), as well as the effect of the within-factors variable “time” (F=496.68 P=0.000).The interaction of these two factors is also statistically significant (F=299.594 P=0.000). The addition of cognitive remediation therapy (CRT) to a standard treatment of metacognitive training (MCT) resulted in a significant improvement in global neurocognitive functioning and has reported positive effects with regard to the strengthening of verbal and working memory, selective and sustained attention at T1. A relevant result is the statistically significance of “time X treatment” for all the tests administered: we can assume that the domain-specific cognitive training amplifies the effects of SRT, as the primary and secondary goals of the present study were achieved.

This study aims to investigate the effects of combining 12-week group psychotherapy with yoga exercises on stress perception and quality of life in mental health professionals.

This study was a parallel-arm randomized controlled trial, in which the participants was unaware of which group was the experimental one. Participants involved in our research were assigned to two groups of separate treatment that followed for three months group psychotherapy combined with yoga program for stress management or usual stress coping strategies.

The findings did not reveal a significant difference in stress perception assessed in the two groups either before or after intervention but reveal a significant difference in the quality of life in the two groups before and after the psycho behavioral interventions.

The findings did not reveal a significant difference in stress perception assessed in the two groups either before or after intervention but reveal a significant difference in the quality of life in the two groups before and after the psycho behavioral interventions.

Schizophrenia is a serious psychiatric disorder characterized by positive symptoms, negative symptoms and neurocognitive deficits. The aim of this study was to estimate relationships between wellness, yoga and quality of life in patients affected by schizophrenia spectrum disorders. Participants were 30 patients with a diagnosis of schizophrenia in care at the Rehabilitative Psychiatry and Research Villa Chiara Clinic in Mascalucia (Catania, Italy), after that randomly assigned to two groups. The first group followed the experimental treatment with sets of yoga exercises conducted by a yoga trainer and a psychiatrist or a clinical psychologist expert in yoga, while a second control group was treated with usual care. The results revealed a significant difference, before and after treatment, between the experimental group and the control group in quality of life.

The purpose of this study is to provide a bibliometric analysis of global research publications on virtual and augmented reality (VR/AR) technologies in the understanding, diagnosis and treatment of mental disorders.

The SciVerse Scopus database was used to retrieve relevant documents using a validated search strategy for the study period from 1980 to 2021.

In total, 1,233 research articles were found. Research in this field has experienced steep growth since 2017; was disseminated by journals in the fields of clinical psychology, neuroscience, psychiatry and computer sciences; was mainly carried out by scholars in high-income countries with advanced digital technology; has a relatively high number of authors per article but with a relatively poor cross-country research collaboration; was led by researchers and institutions mainly from the USA, Spain and Italy; and has received the highest number of citations for articles on anxiety and phobias.

Bibliometric methodology is a useful tool for identifying evolution growth patterns and research hot topics in the use of emerging technologies in clinical practice. Research on implementing AR/VR technologies in medicine will be enhanced by strengthening international research collaboration. More research attention should be paid to new emerging technologies in the mental health field.

The use of VR/AR technologies became popular as an alternative to or adjunct to traditional therapy in mental health practice. The rapid increase in research publications in recent years suggested that AR and VR technologies were both acceptable and simple to use. A wide range of mental health disorders could be managed by AR/VR technologies. Training medical and nursing students on various new technologies is important to cope with the digital revolution.

Based on the volume and growth patterns of research publications, there is a promising future for the use of VR/AR technologies in the field of mental health. Teaching and training health-care professionals on the proper use of VR/AR are needed to support their potential future use.