Monica Bosi

• Medicine and Surgery degree Psychiatry
• Specialistic Outpatient Clinic Head at Azienda Ospedaliera Universitaria Luigi Sacco

Objective Psychiatric disorders burden the peripartum period, often requiring psychopharmacological treatment, including antidepressants. Efficacy and tolerability of antidepressants are influenced by the physiological changes of the peripartum and individual metabolic profiles, which in turn can be modified by pregnancy. The objective of this stud...

Introduction Repetitive transcranial magnetic stimulation (rTMS) is an evidence-based treatment and rTMS protocols have been included in international guidelines for patients with treatment-resistant depression (TRD). The daily administration of standard rTMS protocols, typically over several weeks, could be a limiting factor (e.g., time off from w...

Introduction Poor adherence to treatment is currently stated to be one of the causes of depression relapse and recurrence. Objectives Aim of the present study was to assess potential differences in terms of clinical and socio-demographic characteristics specifically related to adherence to treatment features, medical comorbidities, and substance a...

Objective: health care workers (HCWs) represent a vulnerable group in the COVID-19 pandemic, given the exposure to greater risk and higher levels of work-related stress. Neurofeedback (NF) has shown to be effective in the treatment of stress-related symptoms. We aimed to assess the effectiveness of an alpha-increase NF protocol for the treatment o...

Poor adherence to treatment is currently stated to be one of the causes of depression relapse and recurrence. The aim of the present study is to assess potential differences in terms of clinical and lifestyle features related to adherence to treatment in a sample of patients with unipolar and bipolar depression. Methods: One hundred and eight patie...

Background Bipolar Disorder (BD) is a life-long illness with compelling evidence of progression. Although different staging models have been proposed to evaluate its course, clinical data remain limited. The aim of the present study was to retrospectively assess applicability of available staging approaches and their pattern of progression in a sam...

Introduction The mental health of subjects with chronic medical illnesses, such as Inflammatory Bowel Disease (IBD- Crohn’s Disease and Ulcerative Colitis), is typically compromised and the current COVID-19 pandemic might have additionally increased this burden. Objectives The aim of the present study was to investigate, during the COVID-19 pandem...

Introduction Bipolar Disorder (BD) is a life-course illness with evidence of a progressive nature. Although different staging models have been proposed from a theoretical perspective,longitudinal studies are scarce. Objectives The aim of the present study was to apply four staging models in a sample of BD patients and to observe their progression...

Objectives. This cross-sectional study aimed to investigate the frequency and presentation of cyberchondria (CYB) in patients with obsessive–compulsive disorder (OCD), anxiety disorders (ADs), and major depression disorder (MDD). Methods. Seventy-seven patients (OCD:25, ADs:26, MDD:26) referred to a tertiary psychiatry outpatient clinic and 27 heal...

Introduction During the COVID-19 pandemic, health workers represented a group particularly vulnerable to work-related stress, but prevention and management of psychiatric symptoms are still under evaluation. Neurofeedback is a safe and non-invasive neuromodulation technique with the target of training participants in the self-regulation of neural s...

Act Nerv Super Rediviva 2020; 62(3-4): 95-105 ANSR62320A02 Abstract OBJECTIVES: Assessing the effect of antidepressant therapy (AD) on the abdominal symp-tomatology in Inflammatory Bowel Disease (IBD) patients with mood or anxiety disorders. METHODS: 58 IBD patients in clinical remission and without known psychiatric disorder but with positive scor...

Objective Some studies have linked the use of selective serotonin reuptake inhibitors and selective serotonin and noradrenaline reuptake inhibitors (SSRIs/SNRIs) to the risk of perinatal complications. This study explored the relationship between pharmacokinetics and pharmacogenetics, SSRIs/SNRIs tolerability and effectiveness and maternal and newb...

Objective Vortioxetine is a novel antidepressant whose safety, tolerability, and therapeutic action have been supported by several studies. The present naturalistic study aimed to characterize its effectiveness, tolerability, and dropout rate in the real world. Methods Total sample consisted of 66 outpatients with major depressive episode, treated...

Background Obsessive-compulsive disorder (OCD) and tic disorder (TD) represent highly disabling, chronic and often comorbid psychiatric conditions. While recent studies showed a high risk of suicide for patients with OCD, little is known about those patients with comorbid TD (OCTD). Aim of this study was to characterize suicidal behaviors among pat...

Introduction: In this study we estimated the rate and the trajectory of cognitive impairment in a naturalistic sample of outpatients with major depressive disorder (MDD) and bipolar disorder (BD) and its correlation with different variables. Materials and methods: An overall sample of 109 outpatients with MDD or BD was assessed for multiple clinica...

Aim: Up to just over half of bipolar disorder (BD) patients report at least one-lifetime anxiety disorder (AD). In some, anxiety represents the earliest psychiatric manifestation, prior to any mood episode. We sought to investigate prevalence of AD subtypes as first psychiatric manifestations and AD's relations with duration of untreated illness (...

Background: Studies indicate bipolar disorder (BD) syndromal symptoms are commonly preceded by sub-syndromal BD symptoms, dysregulated sleep, irritability, and anxiety. We aimed to evaluate prevalence and clinical correlates of anxiety disorders (ADs) at BD onset in outpatients with versus without at least one AD at BD onset. Methods: 246 bipola...

Objective Despite growing evidence in the field of cognitive function in mood disorders, the neurocognitive profiles of patients with unipolar and bipolar depression still need further characterization. In this study, we applied network analysis, hypothesizing this approach could highlight differences between major depressive disorder (MDD) and bip...

Comorbidity with anxiety or depression is common in patients with Inflammatory Bowel Disease (IBD) as Crohn Disease (CD) and Ulcerative Colitis (UC). Data suggest that the cognitive construct of alexithymia has high prevalence in people suffering from anxiety and mood disorders and even in people with IBD. Most studies have investigated mainly anxi...

OBJECTIVE: This study aimed to assess the prevalence of depressive and anxious comorbidity in Crohn's disease (CD) patients in clinical remission; secondary aim is to define coping strategies in those with clinical symptoms; and to define predictive risk factors for developing symptomatology. DESIGN: 123 outpatients were screened with Hospital Anxi...

Chronic depression is associated with impaired functioning. The National Epidemiologic Survey of Alcoholism and Related Conditions (NESARC) is a representative sample (N=43,093) of the United States non-institutionalized population aged 18years and older. We hypothesized that individuals with chronic low-grade depression, dysthymic disorder, would...

Patients with panic disorder (PD) might be sensitive to the stimulating effects of selective serotonin reuptake inhibitors (SSRI), thus requiring low dosages at treatment initiation. The aim of the present study was to assess eventual differences in terms of effectiveness and tolerability between a slow up-titration with paroxetine and a standard o...

Recurrent panic attacks, anticipatory anxiety and phobic avoidance characterise panic disorder. The influence of genetic factors on liability to the disease has been the object of several linkage and association studies and appears to relate to an oligo-or polygenic rather than a monogenic mode of inheritance. Recently, an excess of high activity m...

Aim of the study: The aim of the present study was to evaluate the efficacy of augmentative low-frequency repetitive Transcranial Magnetic Stimulation (rTMS) of the right Dorso-Lateral Pre-Frontal Cortex (DLPFC) in a sample of bipolar depressives. Materials and methods: 11 subjects with bipolar I or bipolar II disorder and major depressive episode...

Approximately 30-45% of patients with major depressive episode (MDE) do not fully respond to standard recommended treatments and further strategies of intervention, including pharmacological augmentation, have been proposed for these patients. This study was aimed to evaluate the efficacy of short-term, low-dose (10 mg/day) intravenous (i.v.) cital...

Objective: The aim of this study was to evaluate the efficacy of low dose intravenous (i.v.) clomipramine augmentation in Major Depressive Episode patients with partial or no response to selective serotonin reuptake inhibitors (SSRIs). Methods: 44 patients with DSM-IV TR Major Depressive Episodes and partial (Hamilton Depression Rating Scale-HAM-D...

Depression is the most common of all the major mental illnesses with one year prevalence in European countries of around 5%, and with a range from 3.1% to 10.1%. Depressive Episodes are associated with disability and frequently have a long duration: in one third of patients the episode will last for more than 2 years, the criteria for chronic depre...

Candidate genes for association studies in panic disorder are often selected on the basis of molecular mechanisms of drugs utilized in challenge tests such as m-chlorophenylpiperazine (mCPP), a non-selective 5-HT2C receptor agonist. Two novel, adjacent polymorphisms [(GT)12-18 and (CT)4-5] in the 5'-regulatory region of the X-chromosomal 5-HT2C rec...

An excess of higher active, long MAO-A promoter alleles was described in women with panic disorder (Deckert et al., Human Molecular Genetics 8:621-624, 1999). For the less-active, short allele of a 5-HT-transporter promoter polymorphism an association with anxiety-related personality traits has been reported (Lesch et al., Science 274:1527-1531, 19...

The 5HT2C receptor gene has been implicated in the pathogenesis of panic disorder because the nonselective 5HT2C receptor agonist m-chlorophenylpiperazine (mCPP) causes panic attacks in challenge tests. Two novel polymorphisms have recently been described in the 5′-region of the 5HT2C receptor gene, a (GTU2-18 and a (CT)4-5 polymorphism separated b...

Recurrent panic attacks, anticipatory anxiety and phobic avoidance characterise panic disorder. The influence of genetic factors on liability to the disease has been the object of several linkage and association studies and appears to relate to an oligo- or polygenic rather than a monogenic mode of inheritance. Recently, an excess of high activity...

A genetic contribution to the pathogenesis of panic disorder has been demonstrated by clinical genetic studies. Molecular genetic studies have focused on candidate genes suggested by the molecular mechanisms implied in the action of drugs utilized for therapy or in challenge tests. One class of drugs effective in the treatment of panic disorder is...