The development of psychotic symptoms is traditionally linked to the increase of the functional activity of endogenous dopaminergic system. Antipsychotic effect of existing medications is associated with direct blockade of postsynaptic dopamine receptors. However, direct antagonistic activity is «alien» to physiological mechanisms of neurotransmission modulation, and presynaptic autoreceptor blockade mау produce a reverse (agonistic) effect, enhancing neurotransmitter release. On the other hand, anti-dopamine effect can be achieved by indirect antagonistic activity—by presynaptic dopamine depletion, which is consistent with the natural, physiological mechanisms of reducing neurotransmission. It can be assumed that modulation of presynaptic regulation is one of the promising directions for the development of antipsychotic drugs of future generations.

The article is devoted to the problem of dualism of medicine as a whole and psychiatry, in particular, given that the psychiatry is a science, which includes both biological and humanitarian components. The issue of the contradictions between the concept of «evidence-based medicine» and the principles, on which humanitarian methods of treatment for mentally ill patients are based, is considered. It is concluded that developing a full-fledged theory of the biopsychosocial approach to the diagnosis and therapy of people with mental disorders is necessary.

The paper presents an overview of foreign research findings concerning parents with learning disabilities and their children. The extent of such parents in general population and among families, involved into court samples and child protection services, is presented. A review shows that parental competence is not directly related to IQ, but is mediated by additional risk factors, such as social isolation, parental stress, poverty, low socioeconomic status, poor health, poor parental childhood experience of abuse and neglect, that may be compensated by special social support. The problems of discrimination of parents with learning difficulties and necessity of their social support are discussed.

The article presents current data about mentality adaptive-compensatory mechanisms of schizophrenic patients in the context of behavioral self-regulation. Futhermore, such psychological characteristics as the level of internality and life orientation are observed. The study involved 30 patients with paranoid schizophrenia and comparison group of healthy subjects (N=30). The violations and specific features of mentality adaptive-compensatory mechanisms which clarifies disturbance of their adaptation in schizophrenic patients were distinguished.

The aim of the work was to study the clinical and psychosocial characteristics of patients with paranoid schizophrenia who are under the supervision of a psycho-neurological dispensary, and to determine the predictors of the prediction rate of hospitalizations. The study examined the socio-demographic, psychosocial and clinical indicators included in a specially developed formalized map. After the correlation analysis performed using the logistic regression method, the parameters, the values of which make it possible to predict the hospitalization rate, were determined. It has been established that it is possible to assume frequent hospitalizations in patients with a severe mental state, determined by the general clinical impression scale, a history of more than 20 previous hospitalizations, the absence of a specific place of residence, the lack of communication with other people, the absence of a family, more than 4-5 appointments made to a hospital in 5 years, and the absence of a job in the last 10 years.

The article is devoted to the problem of search of biomarkers of suicidal behavior and includes literature review, as well as the results of own research of features of suicidal behavior of young age patients with depression (18—27 years) depending on the concentration of calcidiol.

On a sample of 262 patients with mental illnesses based on restructured clinical scales of MMPI-2 six latent personality profiles were identified. A “suppressive” profile is characterized by a tendency toward self-presentation, suppression, and is more common with adaptation disorder and schizophrenia. The “normative” profile can be combined with aggressiveness, difficulties of behavior control and is typical for every second patient with addictions. The “psychopathized” profile is haracterized by a nonspecific increase in psychopathological complaints and is common in depressions. The “neurotic” profile is typical for patients with affective and schizotypal disorders. The “schizoid” profile is associated with signs of bizarre mantations, psychotic symptoms and fears, while the profile of decompensation reflects a general acute condition or responses invalidity.

The dynamics of clinical and psychological indicators in patients with primary diagnosed oncological diseases, which was carried out a program of medical and psychological rehabilitation, including a short course of group and individual cognitive psychotherapy, at the stage of basic treatment after surgery. The result was significant compared to the control group changes: reduction of indicators of situational anxiety and depression, improvement of somatic well-being and quality of life (emotional and social functioning), reduction of fatigue, pain and improved appetite. Patients who underwent a program of psychotherapy, subjectively noted better tolerability of physical discomfort associated with the ongoing chemotherapy and radiation therapy.

Psychodiagnostic measuring instruments created within the framework of the classical theory of tests are distinguished by the instability of all psychometric parameters. Therefore, there arose the need to use modern scientifically grounded approaches for designing techniques that lack these shortcomings. The purpose of the study: to carry out an analysis of the psychometric properties of the scale of social anxiety of the questionnaire of neurotic disorders. A total of 296 people were tested. The main statistical method of work is the metric Rush system. Results: the approval of the scale of social anxiety possess an adequate constructual validity, measures of difficulty points are in the range from -2 to +2 logits, the scale is one-dimensional, has a relatively balanced metric structure, the reliability index is 0.83, the scale is able to differentiate the three levels of expression of the construct.

The work annotates the goals and objectives of the planned joint Russian-Israeli research project aimed at a comprehensive assessment of the data obtained during the examination of patients with mild cognitive decline and autism spectrum disorders. The process of their analysis will be based on complex methods, the effective use of which requires readily available means of operating with clinical and biological data, which, in turn, can be implemented through modern cloud and high-performance computing technologies. It is planned to use the new approach associated with the use of newSQL database as an API, and then use the distributed computing tools for working with heterogeneous data, which will lead to features in the analysis of correlations in multidimensional data arrays. For this purpose it is planned to use the methods of multidimensional statistical analysis and modern methods of machine learning.

The issues of neurorehabilitation of stroke patients are considered. The importance of the phenomenon of neuroplasticity, which underlies the regenerative processes after brain damage is emphasized. The principles of rehabilitation therapy in stroke patients are considered. Particular attention is paid to the issue of pharmacotherapy through neurotransmitters focused on increasing neuroplasticity and neurogenesis.

The authors discuss the issue of objective assessment of complexity in forensic psychiatric evaluation. The complexity of expert assessment is determined by a combination of factors hampering clinical diagnosis and making it difficult to assess the legal significance of a mental disorder. There have been four groups of complexity of examinations in civil cases and three groups of complexity of expertise in criminal cases singled out.

The article deals with the main changes in alcohol consumption by rural teenagers-schoolchildren in Russia 2016-2017 compared 2001-2002 according to all-Russia monitoring of psychoactive substances consumption among 15-17-year-old teenagers.

L.N. Tolstoy’s views of understanding of essence of a matter of life and death, because of the religious and philosophical discrepancies concerning suicide discussed in the Russian society of the middle of the 19th century are covered in article. The atmosphere and a political situation in the country promoted formation of a «positive» image of the suicide and promotion of act of terrorism as kinds of a suicide. Tragic events in parental family of the writer were an incitement to reflections about life values which have formed the basis of the novel «Anna Karenina».

The work is devoted to the history of the establishment of the Department of Psychiatry of the Dagestan Medical Institute. In the article, based on the first time archival materials introduced into the scientific circulation from the funds of the Central State Archive of the Republic of Dagestan and the archive of the Dagestan State Medical University, the organization of the psychiatric department and the clinic is highlighted. The contribution of the first employees was noted, the difficulties encountered in the first years of the department’s existence were highlighted. Also reviewed is the scientific work of the Department of Psychiatry of the Dagestan Medical University in the late 1930s.