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This study aimed to investigate the immediate and short-term impact of the pandemic on the psychological well-being of Italian children and adolescents with psychiatric disorders and their families. Overall, 56 patients aged 6–18 (M = 13.4 years, SD = 2.77) and their parents were evaluated during the COVID-19 lockdown (T0) and after 4 months (T1). An ad hoc data sheet, Youth Self-Report 11–18 (YSR), Child Behavior Checklist 6–18 (CBCL), and Depression Anxiety Stress Scale-21 (DASS-21) were administered. Patients, mainly suffering from internalizing disorders, overall demonstrated a good adaptation to the pandemic context. Moreover, patients with behavioral disorders showed a greater psychological discomfort at both T0 and T1 compared to patients with internalizing disorders. Over time, patients presented an improvement on the emotional side, as proven by a significant decrease in internalizing and post-traumatic stress problems. Finally, no significant differences were found in the emotional-behavioral profile of patients according to the means of conducting neuropsychiatric interventions during the lockdown (i.e., in person/remotely/interrupted), thus allowing us to exclude important negative effects caused by the transition to remote therapy. Concerning parents, an inverse relationship emerged between the DASS-21 scores and the level of resilience, which therefore represents a protective factor against psychological maladjustment. Over time, an improvement in the psychological well-being of parents was observed, as shown by a significant decrease in mothers’ anxiety and fathers’ stress.

Neuroleptic malignant syndrome (NMS) is a rare, life-threatening, idiosyncratic adverse reaction to antipsychotic drugs. Despite the increasing rates in the prescription of antipsychotics in pediatric patients with autism spectrum disorder (ASD), little is known about the occurrence and hallmarks of NMS in this specific population. NMS appears to be part of the larger catatonia domain, based on the frequent relationship between ASD and catatonia, on the shared, when not overlapping, clinical features with malignant catatonia, and on the effectiveness of catatonia treatments on the NMS/MC symptoms. The intrinsic difficulties of exploring NMS in ASD in controlled studies accounts for the subsequent lack of available information. Based on recent reports and on our case report, clinical features of NMS in the pediatric ASD population appear to be the same as the non-ASD population. Further studies are needed to confirm these results.

Background Since2020 Italy and the world have been facing the health emergency related to the COVID-19 pandemic. Increasing evidence supports the association between the COVID-19 pandemic and the worsening mental health conditions of children and adolescents, with increased accesses in Emergency Departments and hospitalizations for psychiatric problems. This paper aimed to (a) study the population of patients admitted to a Neuropsychiatric Hospital Unit of North Italy during the pandemic two-year period, throughout a comparison with the population of patients hospitalized in the previous two years, according to socio-demographic and clinical variables (b) analyse the hospital readmission phenomenon, which has apparently increased its frequency during the first pandemic year according to recent studies. Methods This is an observational retrospective cohort study about 375 hospitalised patients from February 2018 to March 2022 due to neuropsychiatric problems. Data wereanalysed through mean, standard deviation, percentages, t-tests, chi-squared test, Fischer’sand non-parametric Mann-Whitney U-test. The level of statistical significance was set at p ≤ 0.05. Results Risk factors for mental health disorders were similar between the two groups, except for the significantly increased use of electronic devices in the COVID-19 one. Patients suffering from eating disorders tripled over time. Hospital readmissions almost doubled between the pre-COVID-19 two-year period and the COVID-19 period: 75% of patients hospitalized three or more times in the last two years and 85.7% of the so called “revolving door “patients (with relapse within three months after discharge) both belonged to the COVID-19group. The comparison between the two groups of patients readmitted before and during the COVID-19 pandemic didn’t show any differences in terms of socio-demographic and clinical characteristics. Conclusions These results suggest the inadequacy of local neuropsychiatric services in managing the complexity of clinical situations and the necessity to implement prevention strategies and services.