Psychiatric emergencies are severe behavioral changes secondary to worsening mental illness. Such situations present a risk to the patient and other people, so they need immediate therapeutic intervention. They are associated with feelings of fear, anger, prejudice, and even exclusion. The attitudes of professionals and factors related to the workplace culture in health can help to perpetuate stereotypes and interfere with the quality of care. Stigma has undesirable consequences in patients with mental disorders. Certain measures can reduce stigma and provide a more dignified way for patients to recover from the crisis. This article aims to discuss the causes of stigma, ways of dealing with it, and achievements that have been made in psychiatric emergency care settings.

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Aim: We investigated the DNA methylation profile over LINE-1 in antipsychotic-naive, first-episode psychosis-patients (n = 69) before and after 2 months of risperidone treatment and in healthy controls (n = 62). Materials & methods: Patients were evaluated using standardized scales and classified as responders and nonresponders. DNA from blood was bisulfite converted and LINE-1 fragments were amplified and pyrosequencing was performed. Results: Lower LINE-1 methylation was observed in antipsychotic-naive first-episode psychosis patients than in healthy controls. Lower DNA methylation levels before treatment were associated with poor risperidone responses. A positive correlation was observed between LINE-1 methylation levels and positive symptoms response. Conclusion: Our study brings new insight regarding how epigenomic studies and clinical correlation studies can supplement psychosis treatment.

Aim: Construct stability over time is required for reliable inference, but evidence regarding the longitudinal invariance of negative symptoms is still limited. Thus, we examined the longitudinal invariance of the negative dimension using the positive and negative syndrome scale (PANSS) in an antipsychotic-naïve first-episode schizophrenia sample at baseline and after 10 weeks.Methods: Our study was conducted at a specialized early intervention service. PANSS ratings were analysed for 138 patients, and two different models were specified and tested: a unidimensional and a two-correlated factor solution.Results: The unidimensional model fulfilled criteria for longitudinal invariance, whilst the two-correlated did not. Conclusion:Our study provides support for the PANSS negative unidimensional model use to evaluate negative symptoms' longitudinal change following firstepisode schizophrenia.

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