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Genetic risk for depressive disorders is poorly understood despite consistent suggestions of a high heritable component. Most genetic studies have focused on risk associated with single variants, a strategy which has so far only yielded small (often non-replicable) risks for depressive disorders. In this paper we argue that more substantial risks are likely to emerge from genetic variants acting in synergy within and across larger neurobiological systems (polygenic risk factors). We show how knowledge of major integrated neurobiological systems provides a robust basis for defining and testing theoretically defensible polygenic risk factors. We do this by describing the architecture of the overall stress response. Maladaptation via impaired stress responsiveness is central to the aetiology of depression and anxiety and provides a framework for a systems biology approach to candidate gene selection. We propose principles for identifying genes and gene networks within the neurosystems involved in the stress response and for defining polygenic risk factors based on the neurobiology of stress-related behaviour. We conclude that knowledge of the neurobiology of the stress response system is likely to play a central role in future efforts to improve genetic prediction of depression and related disorders.

Understanding how health status and physiological factors affect performance is a daunting task. This chapter will discuss physiological, behavioral, and psychological factors that influence or determine the capacity to fight, and will consider metrics that can be used to measure their status. The premise of this discussion is that there is a set of physiological and psychological factors that intimately affect performance and that the relative contribution of these variables is individually unique. These factors can be identified and assessed, and are amenable to modification. A fuller understanding of these variables can lead the effort to maintain and improve performance in the adverse and challenging environments of military operations.

This paper discusses the role played by social determinants of health in the incidence and management of type 2 diabetes mellitus (diabetes) among vulnerable populations. This issue is especially important in light of recent data from Statistics Canada indicating that mortality rates from diabetes have been increasing among Canadians since the mid‐1980s, with increases being especially great among those living in low‐income communities. Diabetes therefore appears – like cardiovascular disease – to be an affliction more common among the poor and excluded. It also appears to be especially likely to afflict poor women. Yet we know little about how these social determinants of health influence diabetes incidence and management. What evidence is available is provided and the case is made that the crisis in diabetes requires new ways of thinking about this disease, its causes, and its management.

In this chapter, we review empirical research evidence on the relationship between stressors and catecholamines (i.e., adrenaline and noradrenaline) and cortisol. With respect to acute stressors, both laboratory and field research have shown that the exposure to stressors leads to an increase in catecholamine and cortisol levels. With respect to more chronic stressors, research evidence is less consistent. Chronic mental workload was found to be related to elevated adrenaline levels. With respect to cortisol responses the interaction between workload and other variables seems to play a role. Empirical studies suggest that chronic stressors affect the responsivity to acute stressors. Research showed that after the exposure to stressors catecholamine and cortisol recovery is delayed.

Throughout human history and around the world, co-sleeping was the context for human evolutionary development. Currently, most of the world’s peoples continue to practice co-sleeping with infants, but there is increasing pressure on families in the West not to co-sleep. Research from anthropology, family studies, medicine, pediatrics, psychology, and public health is reviewed through the lens of a developmental theory to place co-sleeping within a developmental, theoretical context for understanding it. Viewing co-sleeping as a family choice and a normative, human developmental context changes how experts may provide advice and support to families choosing co-sleeping, especially in families making the transition to parenthood. During this transition, many decisions are made by parents “intuitively” (Ball, Hooker, & Kelly, 1999), making understanding the developmental consequences of some of those choices even more important. In Western culture, families are making “intuitive” decisions that research has shown to be beneficial, but families are not receiving complete messages about benefits and risks of co-sleeping. Co-sleeping can be an important choice for families as they make the life-changing transition to parenthood, if individualized messages about safe infant sleep practices (directed toward their individual family circumstances) are shared with them.

It is argued that COVID-19 patients show various neuropsychiatric symptoms, including fatigue, depression and anxiety. On the other hand, epidemiological and experimental evidence indicated that green tea could potentially have antiviral effects and ameliorate psychiatric disorders. However, there is a lack of clinical evidence. The purpose of this study was to investigate whether drinking green tea can clinically improve psychiatric complications of COVID-19 infection.

This study included 40 patients with laboratory confirmed mild-to-moderate COVID-19 disorder in the current randomized open-label controlled trial. Patients were instructed to include three cups/day of green tea (intervention) or black tea (control) to their usual diet for four weeks immediately after diagnosis of the disease. At the study baseline and after the intervention, the enrolled patients’ fatigue, depression and anxiety were assessed by the Chalder Fatigue Scale, Beck Depression Inventory-Fast Screen and State-Trait Anxiety Inventory questionnaires.

A total of 19 COVID-19 cases in the intervention group (mean age = 52 years) and 14 cases (mean age = 50 years) in the control group completed the study. Analysis of covariance adjusted for baseline levels, and confounders revealed that those who consumed three cups/day of green tea compared to the patients who received black tea experienced significantly lower fatigue, depression and state and trait anxiety levels (adjusted means for fatigue = 12.3 vs 16.2 (P = 0.03), depression = 0.53 vs 1.8 (P = 0.01), 37.4 vs 45.5 (P < 0.01) and 37.9 vs 45.2 (P < 0.01)).

The open-label design may bias the evaluation of the self-reported status of fatigue, depression or anxiety as the main outcomes assessed. Moreover, as this study did not include patients with severe COVID-19, this might affect the generalizability of the present results. Thus, the recommendation of daily drinking green tea may be limited to the subjects diagnosed with mild-to-moderate type of infection or those with long-term neuropsychiatric complications owing to COVID-19. Besides, considering the ethical issues, this study could not exclude the drug therapy’s confounding effects; thereby, this point should be considered when interpreting the current results. Besides, it is worth noting that Guilan province in the north of Iran is recognized as a tea (and particularly green tea) producing region; thereby, it is an available and relatively inexpensive product. Considering this issue, the recommendation to consume this medicinal plant in adjunct to the routine treatment approach among patients with mild-to-moderate COVID-19 based on its beneficial effects may be widely accepted.

Green tea consumption could be considered an option to combat COVID-19 associated psychological complications, including fatigue, depression and anxiety among patients suffering from mild-to-moderate type of this viral infection.

To the best of the authors’ knowledge, in this study, for the first time, the effects of green tea compared to black tea on COVID-19 associated fatigue, depression and anxiety status within an open-label controlled trial have been investigated.

Childhood trauma is very likely to produce ill‐health and psychiatric disorder in adulthood. The paper discusses attachment theory and various forms of insecure attachment to the parent/caregiver, particularly disorganised attachment behaviour and the traumatic attachment response. Eliciting the (usually hidden) traumatic attachment in adults can give access to the patient's representational models of their parents, allowing a basis for treatment of disorders. The paper describes and illustrates the use of the TAIT technique for eliciting such models.