Lithium is considered the gold standard mood stabiliser for bipolar disorder, yet its use during pregnancy remains controversial, demanding careful consideration of potential risks and benefits. Classically, it has been associated with an increased risk in congenital heart defects, however, recent studies point towards a much lower absolute risk than was previously believed. Furthermore, discontinuation of lithium before or during pregnancy poses a high risk of destabilisation and lithium has been shown to reduce the risk of relapse both in pregnancy and in the postpartum period. Hence, treatment planning is of the upmost importance in this patient group and individual risk stratification should be undertaken for patients to make informed decisions about their treatment.

To describe the case of a patient with bipolar disorder who discontinued lithium treatment while attempting to conceive and subsequently presented with a manic episode and to expand the scientific knowledge on this topic.

Case report and brief literature review.

A 41-year-old patient with a diagnosis of bipolar disorder, previously on lithium 900mg/day, was admitted to the emergency department with symptoms suggestive of a manic episode. One month prior, the patient had discontinued treatment with lithium due to her desire to pursue pregnancy and interrupt treatment while trying to conceive. The patient had a history of postpartum psychosis followed by various depressive and manic episodes with psychotic symptoms, leading to a bipolar disorder diagnosis and commencing treatment with lithium. Her consultant psychiatrist had informed her of the individualised risks of interrupting treatment with lithium and had advised to continue treatment alongside frequent follow-up due to the high-risk of relapse. Despite her consultant’s recommendation, she decided to interrupt treatment and hence a personalised lithium tapering regime and advice to continue treatment with quetiapine 200mg/day was given.

During the ED stay, treatment with olanzapine was introduced which helped to stabilise her symptoms. Lithium levels were subtherapeutic (lithium serum level 0.11 mmol/L). Inpatient psychiatric admission was avoided due to rapid symptom improvement, strong social support in the community and her preference for ambulatory care. Lithium was gradually reintroduced and antipsychotic treatment was adjusted at follow up appointments, which ultimately led to the resolution of symptoms and stabilisation.

This case highlights the significance of considering continuing lithium treatment in bipolar disorder during pregnancy planning. Decisions about medication in pregnancy are multifaceted, making appropriate risk stratification imperative in order to inform individualised care plans to minimise the risk of relapse in these patients.

None Declared

Psychotic disorders carry several economical, psychological and social consequences, both at individual and community levels. Early intervention programs after first-episode psychosis which combine pharmacological and psychosocial strategies are aimed at reducing symptoms, lowering costs in the use of health and non-health care resources and improving overall functioning. AGES-Mind study is based on manualized psychotherapeutic interventions for people with first-psychosis episodes.

The aim of the study was to evaluate the effect of a group psychotherapeutic intervention on the clinical status and use of clinical resources in a sample of patients with first-episode psychosis at 12 and 24 months after the beginning of the intervention. This cohort will be compared to patients with first-psychosis episodes without group psychotherapeutic intervention.

Longitudinal, observational, retrospective study on a cohort of N=46 patients with first-episode psychosis within the last 5 years. Two groups of 23 patients each were formed. The participants of one of those groups received group psychotherapy in the context of the AGES-Mind study and the other group received treatment as usual without group intervention. Non-exposed patients were matched by age, gender and time elapsed since first-episode psychosis with those exposed to the intervention. Sociodemographic data, clinical status and use of clinical resources outcome variables were assessed.

No significant differences were found in clinical status and use of resources between participants and non-participants in the psychotherapeutic group intervention after 12 and 24 months.

After controlling for potentially confounding variables as sociodemographic, age and time since first-episode, participating in a group psychotherapeutic program does not seem to improve clinical variables or use of resources. Further studies with larger samples would be necessary to explore other variables, such as symptoms, satisfaction with the intervention or social functioning.

None Declared

Different studies indicate high prevalence’s of suicidal behaviour, anxiety, depression, insomnia, and PTSD associated with the COVID-19 pandemic. There is currently not enough scientific evidence available to analyze the impact that the COVID-19 pandemic has had on the rate of suicide attempts and their characteristics.

To analyze and compare the characteristics of suicidal behavior (in terms of method, severity, medical damage produced and need for hospitalization) of patients attended during the COVID-19 pandemic compared to previous years.

A retrospective study was performed based on a standardized data collection of patients attending the University Hospital La Paz between April 2018 and November 2021. 581 patients who attempted suicide at least once were included in this study. We compared the severity using the Beck Suicide Intent Scale. Chi-square ant Student’s t were used to compare clinical characteristics such as medical damage, method of suicide attempt and indication for admission after the attempt, between suicide attempts during the COVID-19 pandemic and previous years.

Our results suggest that during the COVID-19 pandemic suicide attempts caused more medical damage (p<0.001), had higher severity (p<0.000), and required more admission in Intensive Care Units, General Internal Medicine and Psychiatry compared with pre-Covid years (p<0.000).

This is the first study in Spain analysing the changes in characteristics of suicide attempts during the COVID-19 pandemic. This has important implications for reducing suicide rates, preventing future attempts, and enabling us to design specific treatments of Suicidal Behaviour.

None Declared

Long-term COVID-19 effects has been recently described as persistent and prolonged symptoms after an acute and severe SARS-COV-2 (1). An important concern is that the sequelae of severe COVID-19 may suppose a substantial outpatient 's burden for the specialized services in reopening pandemic phase (2).

To describe the frequency of mental health service use in COVID-19 hospitalized patients after discharge and to estimate the costs associated to the post- discharge consultations.

We used a 1-year follow-up cohort of 1455 COVID-19 inpatients hospitalized in La Paz University Hospital of Madrid, Spain between March 16th and April 15th, 2020. Data were retrieved from Psychiatry Service (PS) electronic health records and we described the frequency of mental health reason for consultation. We used information published by the Madrid health Office to estimate the cost of initial and following appointments.

Our sample consisted of 1,455 patients admitted with a COVID-19 diagnosis between March 16th and April 15th, 2020, and then discharged. Roughly half of them were men (776, 53%), 238 (16%) had a prior history of mental health problems, and 44 (3%) died. 193 participants (13%) visited the mental health department after being discharged. The total cost was estimated in 103,581 USD, of which two-thirds corresponded to patients with prior history of mental health problems.

Our results indicate that the mental health burden of severe COVID-19 inpatient s after discharge was substantial during the first year of follow-up. This generate important economic impact to mental health providers and society at large.

No significant relationships.