Flourishing or Languishing? Predictors of Positive Mental Health in Medical Students during the COVID-19 Pandemic.

During the COVID-19 pandemic, medical students were burdened with high levels of stress, anxiety, and depression. The objective of the present study was to investigate predictors of positive mental health among medical students during the COVID-19 pandemic. We conducted an online survey from September 2021 to March 2022. We applied the snowball recruitment technique involving medical students from the University of Catania, Italy. We administered, anonymously, a questionnaire about demographic characteristics, the Depression Anxiety Stress Scale (DASS-21), the Temperament Evaluation of Memphis, Pisa, Paris and San Diego Autoquestionnaire (TEMPS-A), and the short form of the Mental Health Continuum (MHC-SF). Participants showed moderate anxiety, depression, and stress levels, and more than half had positive mental health status overall. This finding was inversely related to age, depression severity, cyclothymic, and depressive temperaments. Our results showed that medical students with depressive and cyclothymic temperaments were more at risk of worsening mental health status during the pandemic. Our findings may allow for further developments about the impact of personological characteristics on students' mental health to enable more efficient support for the most vulnerable.

A Systematic Review on the Effect of Nutraceuticals on Antidepressant-Induced Sexual Dysfunctions: From Basic Principles to Clinical Applications.

Sexual dysfunctions are common side effects reported by patients during antidepressant treatment. When they occur, patients often discontinue psychopharmacological therapy, with a negative impact on the underlying psychiatric disease. Recently, great attention has been paid to the use of nutraceuticals in the management of psychiatric disorders, although a systematic review on their effects as a treatment option for antidepressant-induced sexual dysfunctions (AISD) is lacking. Here, we conducted a systematic search in the following databases: MEDLINE (through PubMed), EMBASE, PsycINFO, Cochrane Central Register of Controlled Trials, and Web of Science. We searched eligible studies among parallel or crossover randomized controlled trials (RCTs) in adult populations. After this process, a total of 10 articles that evaluated the effect of six different nutraceuticals versus placebo were included: Maca Root, S-adenosyl-L-methionine (SAMe), Rosa Damascena, Ginkgo Biloba, Saffron, and Yohimbine. Overall, a high dose of Maca Root and the use of SAMe or Saffron may improve AISD. Additionally, the administration of Rosa Damascena seemed to be more effective in men than in women, whereas no evidence of effects emerged for Gingko Biloba and Yohimbine. Given the mixed results still available, future RCTs should consider larger samples and confounding factors, such as depressive status and individual vulnerability.