Annarita Tomassini - Academia.edu (original) (raw)
Papers by Annarita Tomassini
La Clinica terapeutica
The aim of our study is to evaluate, in youth schizophrenic responders outpatients coming to the ... more The aim of our study is to evaluate, in youth schizophrenic responders outpatients coming to the SMILE (Service for Monitoring and for early Intervention Looking at the fight against the onset of mental Even psychological suffering of youths of the Psychiatric Department of the University of L'Aquila), the efficacy and tolerability of a low dose of cabergoline, in the treatment of risperidone-induced symptomatic hyperprolactinemia. Ten schizophrenic young patients (6 male and 4 female; mean age: 23.3 +/- 0.5 years) who were clinical responders to risperidone treatment and showed symptomatic hyperprolactinemia, were treated with low dosage of cabergoline, 0.125 to 0.250 mg/week for 16 weeks. Plasma prolactin level, clinical symptomatology of hyperprolactinemia (UKU) and psychopathology (PANSS) was assessed at baseline and for three times (4, 8 and 16 week) along the follow-up of the study. After cabergoline treatment, the mean decrease in plasma prolactin levels was statistically significant (p < 0.05) for the global sample of youths with schizophrenia. Nine of these patients showed remission of clinical signs of hyperprolactinemia with normalization of prolactin values. No side effect was observed neither patients' psychopathological worsening. Our data confirm previous studies results, suggesting that low-dose cabergoline treatment of risperidone-induced symptomatic hyperprolactinemia may be safe and clinically effective in a relevant number of schizophrenic patients. Our sample didn't show any side-effects associated to cabergoline use, neither any cardiopulmonary complications as recently reported in literature data. These therapeutic strategies seem to be not influencing psychopathological outcome and for such reason could be a good strategy in clinical practice for the treatment of youths with schizophrenia especially when the efficacy of risperidone is so good to not indicate its withdrawal.
Introduction: Thetherapeuticapproachofbipolardis - orders is commonly based on polipharmacotherap... more Introduction: Thetherapeuticapproachofbipolardis - orders is commonly based on polipharmacotherapy. Lithium and atypical antipsychotics (AA) have been usedasstandardtreatmentfortherapyandprevention of paroxysmal episodes but a full coverage of respon - siveness has not been succeded. Quetiapine, known as AA,wasrecentlyapprovedintheUSforuseinbipolar depression,inadditiontoitspreviouslyapprovedindi- cationsofmaniaassociatedwithbipolarIdisorderand schizophrenia. Aim: Toassesstheeffectivenessandsafetyofquetiap - ineasmonotherapyinthetreatmentofmanicormixed episodesinresistantpatientstopreviousmoodstabiliz - ersor/andantipsychoticmedications. Methods: Twenty-two young patients with a DSM IV diagnosisofBipolarIandBipolarIIdisorderincurrent manic or mixed episode were enrolled in the study. Theywereswitchedtoquetiapinealonefrommultidrug scheme not adequately controlling the symptoms. Clinical evaluation was done at baseline, 8 and 32 weeks with the Young Mania Rating Scale (Y-MRS), the Cli...
Objective: Cognitive behavior therapy (CBT) emerges as the best validated therapeutic approach fo... more Objective: Cognitive behavior therapy (CBT) emerges as the best validated therapeutic approach for children and adolescents who experienced trauma-related symptoms, particularly associated with anxiety or mood disorders. The aim of this study was to evaluate the CBT efficacy among young people exposed to L'Aquila earthquake, in 2009.
Rivista di psichiatria
The aim of the study is to assess the correlations between cannabis use and psychopathological fe... more The aim of the study is to assess the correlations between cannabis use and psychopathological features, disorder severity and global functioning in subjects with onset psychosis (schizophrenic and bipolar psychosis) and at risk mental state. Sixty-seven consecutive subjects with diagnosis of bipolar spectrum disorder (N=49), schizophrenic spectrum disorder (N=5) and at risk mental state (N=13) were recruited from the SMILE (Service for Monitoring and early Intervention Looking at the fight against the onset of mental Even psychological youths' suffering). All subjects were assessed with the Self Report Symptom Inventory-90 (SCL-90), the Global Assessment of Functioning scale (GAF) and Clinical Global Impressions-Severity (CGI-S). Moreover, they were assessed for the cannabis use in the last month. The total sample was splitted in two groups: Group 1 of cannabis use subjects (N=30) and Group 2 of no cannabis use subjects (N=37). Group 1 subjects showed significant higher scores ...
La Clinica terapeutica
Body Dismorphic Disorder interest the 1-2% of the general population. It is characterized by an u... more Body Dismorphic Disorder interest the 1-2% of the general population. It is characterized by an unfavorable prognosis and an elevated comorbidity with others psychiatric disorders. Approximately 6-15% of people with body image disorder refer for aesthetic surgery without any benefit indeed the outcome is, often, to request others surgery procedure. The aim of study has been to investigate the presence of dismorphophobia, others dismorphic disorders and psychiatric symptoms in a sample of patients candidates to aesthetic surgery procedure. It has been recruited 109 patients of mean age 27.21 years, coming to the department of Plastic Surgery of L'Aquila (Italy). To all the patients have been delivered a questionnaire for socio-demographic data and two clinical standardized instruments: Self-report Symptom Inventory-Revised (SCL-90) and the Body Uneasiness Test (BUT). The psychometric and clinical evaluations have been performed by SMILE center (Service for Monitoring and early In...
La Clinica terapeutica
Hyperprolactinemia is a clinical condition characterized by a stable and persistent increase in t... more Hyperprolactinemia is a clinical condition characterized by a stable and persistent increase in the ematic prolactin levels. That condition presents some serious health consequences for the affected subjects determining both sexual and endocrine not sexual dysfunctions. Drugs which act on the dopaminergic system and/or on the dopamine hypophysis receptors, could increase the prolactin levels. Traditional antipsychotics used in the treatment of the schizophrenia, are one of the pharmachological classes more involved in this condition and a wide data from international literature describes its clinical and phisiopathologic characteristics. Generally, the atypical antipsychotic induce a significant lower increase of prolactin levels as regards the traditional ones However, above all in young psychotic patients treated with these new drugs, it has been shown an increase of prolactin levels over the superior limit of the normal range, in 70% of them. One of the reasons which more frequen...
BMC psychiatry, 2006
A number of reports showed en encouraging remediation in some patients' executive deficits th... more A number of reports showed en encouraging remediation in some patients' executive deficits thanks to the use of 'information processing strategies'. Moreover the impact of antipsychotics on cognitive functions of the schizophrenics is an important issue, especially if an integrated psychosocial treatment is needed. The aim of this paper is to evaluate different executive performance and response to verbalization, a strategy of the Wisconsin Card Sorting Test (WCST) remediation, in subjects on classical vs atypical antipsychotic (AP) treatment. Sixty-three schizophrenic subjects undertook the WCST under standard and modified (verbalization) administration. Subjects were stratified by the kind of WCST response (i.e. good, poor and remediable) and AP treatment (i.e. atypical vs. classical). Subjects on atypical APs showed a better performance than those on classical ones. More poor performers who did not remediate were seen in the sample with classical Aps while subjects wh...
Rivista di psichiatria
The term decision making indicates aspects of the executive functions related to the ability to m... more The term decision making indicates aspects of the executive functions related to the ability to modulate the reward and punishment perception, in order to operate advantageous choices. From the clinical point of view it appears a transnosographic trait that may influence the suicide risk and aggressive acts, increase interpersonal difficulties and modulate therapeutic response: an interesting link between clinical symptomatology and functional daily abilities. We conducted a literature review on its neurophysiology and neuropsychology and the implications in different psychiatric disorders such as schizophrenia, bipolar disorder, unipolar depression, suicide, obsessive-compulsive disorder, substances abuse, personality disorders, aggressiveness and pathological gambling.
Aim: To establish a comprehensive early intervention service for young people with mental sufferi... more Aim: To establish a comprehensive early intervention service for young people with mental suffering in L'Aquila, Italy, and to evaluate its effectiveness in delivering user friendly integrated interventions. Methods: The Service for Monitoring and early Intervention against psy- choLogical and mEntal suffering in young people (SMILE) began opera- tion in November 2005 under the aus- pices of the Department of
Neuropsychiatric Disease and Treatment, 2008
The diagnostic specifi city of poor premorbid intelligence is controversial. We explored premorbi... more The diagnostic specifi city of poor premorbid intelligence is controversial. We explored premorbid intelligence level in psychiatric patients with personality disorders, depressive disorders, bipolar disorders and schizophrenic disorders. 273 consecutively admitted patients and 81 controls were included in the study and tested with the 'Test di Intelligenza Breve', an Italian adaptation of the National Adult Reading Test. Signifi cant differences between the clinical samples and the control subjects were found but not among the 4 clinical groups. The observation of premorbid IQ defi cits in subjects with diagnoses other than schizophrenia suggests a common vulnerability diathesis, which is most likely to have a neurodevelopmental basis.
L'Encéphale, 2007
The poor premorbid IQ has been considered as a predisposing factor for the development of schizop... more The poor premorbid IQ has been considered as a predisposing factor for the development of schizophrenia and other psychoses as well as predictive of poor long-term outcome. We hypothesise that premorbid IQ could influence symptom expression during an index episode (i.e. a short-term outcome). We studied 48 patients with schizophrenic disorder and 56 with bipolar disorder during an 'index episode' using the test di intelligenza breve (TIB) for the premorbid IQ evaluation, and the positive and negative syndrome scale (PANSS). Using the premorbid IQ as a criterion variable (i.e. low versus high IQ groups) the one-way ANOVA analysis showed that low IQ schizophrenic patients had more PANSS positive symptoms and "thought disturbances" than both high and low IQ bipolars. The low IQ schizophrenic patients showed more cognitive symptoms than bipolar patients with high IQ. Furthermore, no PANSS differences were seen between high IQ schizophrenics and low IQ bipolars. In the total and bipolar groups the correlation coefficients between TIB scores and PANSS scales reached statistical significance for the cognitive cluster only. No correlations were seen in the schizophrenic group. This categorisation (i.e. low versus high IQ) adds clinically relevant knowledge to patients who, in spite of having similar symptom profile (i.e. high IQ schizophrenic patients and low IQ bipolar patients), fall into different diagnostic categories.
Journal of Psychiatric and Mental Health Nursing, 2014
• This study was the first attempt to evaluate burnout occurrence in mental health therapists wor... more • This study was the first attempt to evaluate burnout occurrence in mental health therapists working in a highly exposed setting, characterized by prolonged exposure to an autism-related work frame and a post-earthquake aftermath.
International Journal of Psychiatry in Clinical Practice, 2009
Objective. Temperament conventionally refers to stable behavioural and emotional reactions that a... more Objective. Temperament conventionally refers to stable behavioural and emotional reactions that appear early in life and are influenced in part by genetic constitution. Few studies compared temperamental traits in anxiety and mood disorders even though some authors suggested a clinical and neurobiological continuum between them. The aim of the study was to compare temperamental traits and psychopathological dimensions in subjects with DSM-IV diagnoses of mood and anxiety disorders. Methods. A total of 101 clinically stabilized consecutive outpatients (45 subjects with anxiety disorders and 56 with mood disorders diagnoses) were evaluated. The brief version of Temperament Evaluation of Memphis, Pisa, Paris and San Diego (briefTEMPS-M) and Symptom Checklist-90 (SCL-90) were used to assess temperamental traits and psychopathological dimensions, respectively. Results. No significant differences between anxiety disorders and mood disorders subjects for TEMPS-M or SCL-90 mean scores were observed. Different TEMPS-M scores differentially affect residual clinical symptoms. Conclusions. Our data represent an indirect indicator of possible common diathesis between the two different disorders. The temperament "paradigm" could explain part of the residual symptomatology. The evaluation of affective temperaments seems to add considerable clinical information to psychopathological and diagnostic descriptions.
European Psychiatry, 2009
European Neuropsychopharmacology, 2009
Early Intervention in Psychiatry, 2007
To establish a comprehensive early intervention service for young people with mental suffering in... more To establish a comprehensive early intervention service for young people with mental suffering in L'Aquila, Italy, and to evaluate its effectiveness in delivering user friendly integrated interventions.
Current Psychiatry Reviews, 2013
Though the basic pathophysiology of psychosis is largely unknown, there is reliable evidence that... more Though the basic pathophysiology of psychosis is largely unknown, there is reliable evidence that genes contribute to its aetiology. Epidemiologic studies suggested that chronic use of cannabis is a risk factor for the development of psychosis. Recent researches have focused on the identification of genetic variants that moderate the effect of cannabis on psychosis occurrence.
Clinical Practice & Epidemiology in Mental Health, 2013
Objective: Cognitive behavior therapy (CBT) emerges as the best validated therapeutic approach fo... more Objective: Cognitive behavior therapy (CBT) emerges as the best validated therapeutic approach for children and adolescents who experienced trauma-related symptoms, particularly associated with anxiety or mood disorders. The aim of this study was to evaluate the CBT efficacy among young people exposed to L'Aquila earthquake, in 2009.
unicri.it
L'impulsività è una componente della personalità che caratterizza l'iniziativa all'... more L'impulsività è una componente della personalità che caratterizza l'iniziativa all'azione (1,2) definita dal Manuale Diagnostico e Statistico dei Disturbi Mentali 4a edizione, DSM-IV (3), quale 'incapacità nel resistere ad un impulso, spinta o tentazione a compiere un atto
The American Journal on Addictions, 2012
Twenty-four control subjects were recruited and assessed with IGT only. The clinical and control ... more Twenty-four control subjects were recruited and assessed with IGT only. The clinical and control samples were significantly different in their IGT performance, the former sample making disadvantageous choices leading to lower scores. Significant negative correlations between IGT total score and BIS Non-Planning Impulsivity and a trend toward significance with TCI Novelty Seeking dimension were reported. Our data confirm the results of other studies suggesting DM impairment related to impulsive dimension as an important feature in subjects with alcohol dependence: the finding suggests a role of DM impairment in increasing proneness to a chronic relapsing course
La Clinica terapeutica
The aim of our study is to evaluate, in youth schizophrenic responders outpatients coming to the ... more The aim of our study is to evaluate, in youth schizophrenic responders outpatients coming to the SMILE (Service for Monitoring and for early Intervention Looking at the fight against the onset of mental Even psychological suffering of youths of the Psychiatric Department of the University of L'Aquila), the efficacy and tolerability of a low dose of cabergoline, in the treatment of risperidone-induced symptomatic hyperprolactinemia. Ten schizophrenic young patients (6 male and 4 female; mean age: 23.3 +/- 0.5 years) who were clinical responders to risperidone treatment and showed symptomatic hyperprolactinemia, were treated with low dosage of cabergoline, 0.125 to 0.250 mg/week for 16 weeks. Plasma prolactin level, clinical symptomatology of hyperprolactinemia (UKU) and psychopathology (PANSS) was assessed at baseline and for three times (4, 8 and 16 week) along the follow-up of the study. After cabergoline treatment, the mean decrease in plasma prolactin levels was statistically significant (p < 0.05) for the global sample of youths with schizophrenia. Nine of these patients showed remission of clinical signs of hyperprolactinemia with normalization of prolactin values. No side effect was observed neither patients' psychopathological worsening. Our data confirm previous studies results, suggesting that low-dose cabergoline treatment of risperidone-induced symptomatic hyperprolactinemia may be safe and clinically effective in a relevant number of schizophrenic patients. Our sample didn't show any side-effects associated to cabergoline use, neither any cardiopulmonary complications as recently reported in literature data. These therapeutic strategies seem to be not influencing psychopathological outcome and for such reason could be a good strategy in clinical practice for the treatment of youths with schizophrenia especially when the efficacy of risperidone is so good to not indicate its withdrawal.
Introduction: Thetherapeuticapproachofbipolardis - orders is commonly based on polipharmacotherap... more Introduction: Thetherapeuticapproachofbipolardis - orders is commonly based on polipharmacotherapy. Lithium and atypical antipsychotics (AA) have been usedasstandardtreatmentfortherapyandprevention of paroxysmal episodes but a full coverage of respon - siveness has not been succeded. Quetiapine, known as AA,wasrecentlyapprovedintheUSforuseinbipolar depression,inadditiontoitspreviouslyapprovedindi- cationsofmaniaassociatedwithbipolarIdisorderand schizophrenia. Aim: Toassesstheeffectivenessandsafetyofquetiap - ineasmonotherapyinthetreatmentofmanicormixed episodesinresistantpatientstopreviousmoodstabiliz - ersor/andantipsychoticmedications. Methods: Twenty-two young patients with a DSM IV diagnosisofBipolarIandBipolarIIdisorderincurrent manic or mixed episode were enrolled in the study. Theywereswitchedtoquetiapinealonefrommultidrug scheme not adequately controlling the symptoms. Clinical evaluation was done at baseline, 8 and 32 weeks with the Young Mania Rating Scale (Y-MRS), the Cli...
Objective: Cognitive behavior therapy (CBT) emerges as the best validated therapeutic approach fo... more Objective: Cognitive behavior therapy (CBT) emerges as the best validated therapeutic approach for children and adolescents who experienced trauma-related symptoms, particularly associated with anxiety or mood disorders. The aim of this study was to evaluate the CBT efficacy among young people exposed to L'Aquila earthquake, in 2009.
Rivista di psichiatria
The aim of the study is to assess the correlations between cannabis use and psychopathological fe... more The aim of the study is to assess the correlations between cannabis use and psychopathological features, disorder severity and global functioning in subjects with onset psychosis (schizophrenic and bipolar psychosis) and at risk mental state. Sixty-seven consecutive subjects with diagnosis of bipolar spectrum disorder (N=49), schizophrenic spectrum disorder (N=5) and at risk mental state (N=13) were recruited from the SMILE (Service for Monitoring and early Intervention Looking at the fight against the onset of mental Even psychological youths' suffering). All subjects were assessed with the Self Report Symptom Inventory-90 (SCL-90), the Global Assessment of Functioning scale (GAF) and Clinical Global Impressions-Severity (CGI-S). Moreover, they were assessed for the cannabis use in the last month. The total sample was splitted in two groups: Group 1 of cannabis use subjects (N=30) and Group 2 of no cannabis use subjects (N=37). Group 1 subjects showed significant higher scores ...
La Clinica terapeutica
Body Dismorphic Disorder interest the 1-2% of the general population. It is characterized by an u... more Body Dismorphic Disorder interest the 1-2% of the general population. It is characterized by an unfavorable prognosis and an elevated comorbidity with others psychiatric disorders. Approximately 6-15% of people with body image disorder refer for aesthetic surgery without any benefit indeed the outcome is, often, to request others surgery procedure. The aim of study has been to investigate the presence of dismorphophobia, others dismorphic disorders and psychiatric symptoms in a sample of patients candidates to aesthetic surgery procedure. It has been recruited 109 patients of mean age 27.21 years, coming to the department of Plastic Surgery of L'Aquila (Italy). To all the patients have been delivered a questionnaire for socio-demographic data and two clinical standardized instruments: Self-report Symptom Inventory-Revised (SCL-90) and the Body Uneasiness Test (BUT). The psychometric and clinical evaluations have been performed by SMILE center (Service for Monitoring and early In...
La Clinica terapeutica
Hyperprolactinemia is a clinical condition characterized by a stable and persistent increase in t... more Hyperprolactinemia is a clinical condition characterized by a stable and persistent increase in the ematic prolactin levels. That condition presents some serious health consequences for the affected subjects determining both sexual and endocrine not sexual dysfunctions. Drugs which act on the dopaminergic system and/or on the dopamine hypophysis receptors, could increase the prolactin levels. Traditional antipsychotics used in the treatment of the schizophrenia, are one of the pharmachological classes more involved in this condition and a wide data from international literature describes its clinical and phisiopathologic characteristics. Generally, the atypical antipsychotic induce a significant lower increase of prolactin levels as regards the traditional ones However, above all in young psychotic patients treated with these new drugs, it has been shown an increase of prolactin levels over the superior limit of the normal range, in 70% of them. One of the reasons which more frequen...
BMC psychiatry, 2006
A number of reports showed en encouraging remediation in some patients' executive deficits th... more A number of reports showed en encouraging remediation in some patients' executive deficits thanks to the use of 'information processing strategies'. Moreover the impact of antipsychotics on cognitive functions of the schizophrenics is an important issue, especially if an integrated psychosocial treatment is needed. The aim of this paper is to evaluate different executive performance and response to verbalization, a strategy of the Wisconsin Card Sorting Test (WCST) remediation, in subjects on classical vs atypical antipsychotic (AP) treatment. Sixty-three schizophrenic subjects undertook the WCST under standard and modified (verbalization) administration. Subjects were stratified by the kind of WCST response (i.e. good, poor and remediable) and AP treatment (i.e. atypical vs. classical). Subjects on atypical APs showed a better performance than those on classical ones. More poor performers who did not remediate were seen in the sample with classical Aps while subjects wh...
Rivista di psichiatria
The term decision making indicates aspects of the executive functions related to the ability to m... more The term decision making indicates aspects of the executive functions related to the ability to modulate the reward and punishment perception, in order to operate advantageous choices. From the clinical point of view it appears a transnosographic trait that may influence the suicide risk and aggressive acts, increase interpersonal difficulties and modulate therapeutic response: an interesting link between clinical symptomatology and functional daily abilities. We conducted a literature review on its neurophysiology and neuropsychology and the implications in different psychiatric disorders such as schizophrenia, bipolar disorder, unipolar depression, suicide, obsessive-compulsive disorder, substances abuse, personality disorders, aggressiveness and pathological gambling.
Aim: To establish a comprehensive early intervention service for young people with mental sufferi... more Aim: To establish a comprehensive early intervention service for young people with mental suffering in L'Aquila, Italy, and to evaluate its effectiveness in delivering user friendly integrated interventions. Methods: The Service for Monitoring and early Intervention against psy- choLogical and mEntal suffering in young people (SMILE) began opera- tion in November 2005 under the aus- pices of the Department of
Neuropsychiatric Disease and Treatment, 2008
The diagnostic specifi city of poor premorbid intelligence is controversial. We explored premorbi... more The diagnostic specifi city of poor premorbid intelligence is controversial. We explored premorbid intelligence level in psychiatric patients with personality disorders, depressive disorders, bipolar disorders and schizophrenic disorders. 273 consecutively admitted patients and 81 controls were included in the study and tested with the 'Test di Intelligenza Breve', an Italian adaptation of the National Adult Reading Test. Signifi cant differences between the clinical samples and the control subjects were found but not among the 4 clinical groups. The observation of premorbid IQ defi cits in subjects with diagnoses other than schizophrenia suggests a common vulnerability diathesis, which is most likely to have a neurodevelopmental basis.
L'Encéphale, 2007
The poor premorbid IQ has been considered as a predisposing factor for the development of schizop... more The poor premorbid IQ has been considered as a predisposing factor for the development of schizophrenia and other psychoses as well as predictive of poor long-term outcome. We hypothesise that premorbid IQ could influence symptom expression during an index episode (i.e. a short-term outcome). We studied 48 patients with schizophrenic disorder and 56 with bipolar disorder during an 'index episode' using the test di intelligenza breve (TIB) for the premorbid IQ evaluation, and the positive and negative syndrome scale (PANSS). Using the premorbid IQ as a criterion variable (i.e. low versus high IQ groups) the one-way ANOVA analysis showed that low IQ schizophrenic patients had more PANSS positive symptoms and "thought disturbances" than both high and low IQ bipolars. The low IQ schizophrenic patients showed more cognitive symptoms than bipolar patients with high IQ. Furthermore, no PANSS differences were seen between high IQ schizophrenics and low IQ bipolars. In the total and bipolar groups the correlation coefficients between TIB scores and PANSS scales reached statistical significance for the cognitive cluster only. No correlations were seen in the schizophrenic group. This categorisation (i.e. low versus high IQ) adds clinically relevant knowledge to patients who, in spite of having similar symptom profile (i.e. high IQ schizophrenic patients and low IQ bipolar patients), fall into different diagnostic categories.
Journal of Psychiatric and Mental Health Nursing, 2014
• This study was the first attempt to evaluate burnout occurrence in mental health therapists wor... more • This study was the first attempt to evaluate burnout occurrence in mental health therapists working in a highly exposed setting, characterized by prolonged exposure to an autism-related work frame and a post-earthquake aftermath.
International Journal of Psychiatry in Clinical Practice, 2009
Objective. Temperament conventionally refers to stable behavioural and emotional reactions that a... more Objective. Temperament conventionally refers to stable behavioural and emotional reactions that appear early in life and are influenced in part by genetic constitution. Few studies compared temperamental traits in anxiety and mood disorders even though some authors suggested a clinical and neurobiological continuum between them. The aim of the study was to compare temperamental traits and psychopathological dimensions in subjects with DSM-IV diagnoses of mood and anxiety disorders. Methods. A total of 101 clinically stabilized consecutive outpatients (45 subjects with anxiety disorders and 56 with mood disorders diagnoses) were evaluated. The brief version of Temperament Evaluation of Memphis, Pisa, Paris and San Diego (briefTEMPS-M) and Symptom Checklist-90 (SCL-90) were used to assess temperamental traits and psychopathological dimensions, respectively. Results. No significant differences between anxiety disorders and mood disorders subjects for TEMPS-M or SCL-90 mean scores were observed. Different TEMPS-M scores differentially affect residual clinical symptoms. Conclusions. Our data represent an indirect indicator of possible common diathesis between the two different disorders. The temperament "paradigm" could explain part of the residual symptomatology. The evaluation of affective temperaments seems to add considerable clinical information to psychopathological and diagnostic descriptions.
European Psychiatry, 2009
European Neuropsychopharmacology, 2009
Early Intervention in Psychiatry, 2007
To establish a comprehensive early intervention service for young people with mental suffering in... more To establish a comprehensive early intervention service for young people with mental suffering in L'Aquila, Italy, and to evaluate its effectiveness in delivering user friendly integrated interventions.
Current Psychiatry Reviews, 2013
Though the basic pathophysiology of psychosis is largely unknown, there is reliable evidence that... more Though the basic pathophysiology of psychosis is largely unknown, there is reliable evidence that genes contribute to its aetiology. Epidemiologic studies suggested that chronic use of cannabis is a risk factor for the development of psychosis. Recent researches have focused on the identification of genetic variants that moderate the effect of cannabis on psychosis occurrence.
Clinical Practice & Epidemiology in Mental Health, 2013
Objective: Cognitive behavior therapy (CBT) emerges as the best validated therapeutic approach fo... more Objective: Cognitive behavior therapy (CBT) emerges as the best validated therapeutic approach for children and adolescents who experienced trauma-related symptoms, particularly associated with anxiety or mood disorders. The aim of this study was to evaluate the CBT efficacy among young people exposed to L'Aquila earthquake, in 2009.
unicri.it
L'impulsività è una componente della personalità che caratterizza l'iniziativa all'... more L'impulsività è una componente della personalità che caratterizza l'iniziativa all'azione (1,2) definita dal Manuale Diagnostico e Statistico dei Disturbi Mentali 4a edizione, DSM-IV (3), quale 'incapacità nel resistere ad un impulso, spinta o tentazione a compiere un atto
The American Journal on Addictions, 2012
Twenty-four control subjects were recruited and assessed with IGT only. The clinical and control ... more Twenty-four control subjects were recruited and assessed with IGT only. The clinical and control samples were significantly different in their IGT performance, the former sample making disadvantageous choices leading to lower scores. Significant negative correlations between IGT total score and BIS Non-Planning Impulsivity and a trend toward significance with TCI Novelty Seeking dimension were reported. Our data confirm the results of other studies suggesting DM impairment related to impulsive dimension as an important feature in subjects with alcohol dependence: the finding suggests a role of DM impairment in increasing proneness to a chronic relapsing course