Background and Aims:Electroconvulsive therapy (ECT) is a safe and effective treatment for severe and persistent depression, bipolar disorder and schizophrenia. The authors pretend to describe their experience and evaluate the efficacy of the technique on clinical practice.Methods:We present our experience of ECT use at a University Hospital in Lisbon, Portugal, over the course of 5 years, thought a naturalistic review.Results:During the study period, 81 patients received ECT. ECT was conducted under the supervision of consultant psychiatrist and anaesthetist with continuous monitoring during and after the procedure. Bitemporal electrode placement was used twice or thrice weekly. Most commonly used sleep induction agents were thiopental and propofol. The average number of ECTs administered per patient was 8. Patients who received ECT were diagnosed unipolar major depression (49.4%), bipolar disorder (29.6%), schizophrenia (19.8%) and schizoaffective disorder (1.2%). Mean age of patients who received ECT were 44 years, in a great range between 16 and 81 years-old. The majority was female (65.4%). Almost all patients showed improvement in their clinical condition (90%). The most frequent complication was bradycardia followed by hypertension. No major complication was observed in any of the patients. Thirty-three percent of patients repeat the ECT along those 5 years. When support ECT started to be realized, recurrence decreased.Conclusions:Our study demonstrates the effectiveness of ECT. We strongly recommend following guidelines to ensure patient safety and minimizing side effects. This will ensure better patient acceptability and compliance.

IntroductionFirst-Episode Psychosis (FEP) is a variable condition, characterized by the emergence of new psychotic features for a period of at least 1 week. The majority of existing studies about FEP only address schizophrenia spectrum psychosis (SSP), which may limit the capacity to fully characterize this entity.Objectives/AimsReport the clinical and socio-demographic characteristics of patients with FEP in real-world setting, and compare the differences among SSP and affective FEP.MethodsRetrospective analysis of clinical files of patients admitted to our hospital unit with FEP diagnosis from January/2012 to April/2015. Clinician-rated dimensions of psychosis symptom severity scales (DSM-5) were applied.ResultsAnnual incidence of FEP was 11,3/100,000. From a total of 755 patients, 57 (7,5%) corresponded to FEP; 38 (66,7%) were diagnosed with SSP, 11 (19,3%) affective psychosis, 3 (5,2%) toxic psychosis and 5 (8,8%) organic psychosis. Most were female (61,4%), with a mean age of 49 years. The majority were unemployed (66,7%), lived with family (57,9%), and presented with moderate-severe delusions (80,1%), but without hallucinations (57,8%), disorganized speech (59,6%) or negative symptoms (85,9%). Affective FEP patients were older (61 vs 45 years), presented with less severe psychotic symptoms (7,2 vs 8,3 points), but with higher hospital admission (26,1 vs 21,1 days).ConclusionsRegardless the growing interest concerning FEP, its conceptualization and characterization remains controversial. Our results differ from pre-existing literature data, especially concerning gender and age. By including all the possible etiologies of FEP, we aimed to obtain a more realistic characterization of this entity in a real-world setting.Disclosure of interestThe authors have not supplied their declaration of competing interest.

Aims:Early intervention in psychosis constitutes an important opportunity to change the classic limited outcome associated with the patients who suffer of psychotic disease.Methods:Based on literature review the authors analyse the evidence for early intervention in first psychotic episode.Results:The evidence for the effectiveness of interventions in early psychosis can be considered in two stages:1.first stage before the onset of full symptoms of psychosis, in people with high risk of developing psychosis or in the prodrome phase of the illness;2.second stage includes the therapeutic focus on the period after the first psychotic episode, reducing the duration of untreated psychosis (DUP) and ameliorate the recovery.Preventing psychosis by intervene in the prodrome or in people with high risk of developing psychosis remains ethically contentious because of the non-specificity of the symptoms. by the contrary there is evidence that early and specialised intervention in first psychotic episode improves outcome. Besides the controversy of the relation between long DUP and poor outcome, there is agreement that clinicians should identify and treat psychosis early with a great impact in patients and their family's life. Effective care during first psychotic episode includes proactive engagement and initiation of low doses of antipsychotics and psychosocial treatments, aiming for maximal symptomatic and functional recovery and the prevention of relapse.Conclusion:There is evidence that early intervention in first psychotic episode improve clinical effectiveness over standard care. Further studies are important to make evidence more robust.

Aims:Low bone mineral density (BMD) is a major public health issue leading to fractures, pain and disability. The association between psychosis and low bone density has been suggested in the last years.Method:The authors review the literature in Medline database using the words ‘bone mineral density’, ‘psychosis’, ‘antipsychotic’, ‘schizophrenia’, ‘bipolar disorder’ and ‘psychiatry disorders’.Results:Some studies show elevated prevalence of changes in BMD in patients with psychiatry disorders, namely psychosis. These changes are multifactorial, due to therapeutic factors and/or to the disorder per se. The low BMD induced by some antipsychotic drugs has been attributed mostly to hyperprolactinaemia and its consequences. Lithium, carbamazepine, sodium valproate and the use of thyroid-stimulating hormone-suppressive doses of L-thyroxin used in bipolar disorder also have a negative impact on bone health. Patients with psychosis could be vulnerable to bone abnormalities even without treatment, environmental factors like smoking, sedentary lifestyle, decreased exposure to sunlight, alcoholism, dietary deficiencies and polydipsia are partially responsible for that. Also genetic factors (vitamin D receptor gene, estrogen receptor gene etc.) and biological factors (gender, decreased of peak bone mass, abnormalities in immune-inflammatory mechanisms, hypercortisolemia stress-induced etc.) contribute to the abnormalities in bone dynamics in psychosis.Conclusion:The association between low BMD and psychosis has been demonstrated in literature, understanding all the factors involved in this process will help the development of preventive and treatment strategies. A large study including first psychotic episode patients could be useful to distinguish between disorder and drug induced factors of low BMD in psychosis.