This investigation reviews the effectiveness of anti-stigma interventions employed at educational institutes; to improve knowledge, attitude and beliefs regarding mental health disorders among students. Preferred Reporting Items for Systematic Reviews and Meta-Analysis (PRISMA) checklist guidelines were followed and protocol was registered in PROSPERO (CRD42018114535). Forty four randomized controlled trials were considered eligible after screening of 104 full-text articles against inclusion and exclusion criteria.Several interventions have been employed to tackle stigma toward psychiatric illnesses, including education through lectures and case scenarios, contact-based interventions, and role-plays as strategies to address stigma towards mental illnesses. A high proportion of trials noted that there was a significant improvement for stigma (19/25, 76%), attitude (8/11, 72%), helping-seeking (8/11, 72%), knowledge of mental health including recognition of depression (11/14, 78%), and social distance (4/7, 57%). These interventions also helped in reducing both public and self-stigma. Majority of the studies showed that the anti-stigma interventions were successful in improving mental health literacy, attitude and beliefs towards mental health illnesses.

Objective: The study was designed to look at the prevalence of psychiatric co-morbidity in individuals with substance dependence presenting at a tertiary care hospital in Pakistan. It also highlighted patterns of different drug use and contributing factors.

Objective: The objective of this study is to assess the socio-demographic characteristics and measure adaptive functioning of children with Intellectual Disability (ID) in Pakistan. Background: The study was conducted from January 2011 till December 2013 in the Outpatient Clinic of Psychiatry and Behavioral Sciences District Headquarter (D.H.Q.) Hospital affiliated with Punjab Medical College in Faisalabad, Pakistan. Subject and Methods: 170 children with (ID) were included in this cross-sectional study. Demographic information from the participants was recorded and the Portage Guide to Early Education (PGEE) was administered. The results were obtained by using SPSS-17. Results: One hundred and seventy children with ID participated in the study. About Sixty-two percent of participants were male (105) between 1-10 years of age. Most parents had consanguineous marriages, 106 (62.4%). Ninety-six mothers reported prenatal stress and injury while 66 mothers reported post-natal infections in their children. Physical disability was present in 98 (57%) at time of birth. Among physical co-morbidity, epilepsy and movement disorder were reported most frequently. Eighty-one percent of children showed behavioral issues and communication disorders. In the assessment of adaptive functioning of children with ID, their developmental ages in areas of cognition was 1 year of age and language development was around 2 years of age while motor skills, socialization and self-help development was around 4 years of age. Conclusion: Deficits in adaptive functioning are highest in children with cognitive and language delays. There was a high association between these deficits and children who were the product of consanguineous marriages, and children with pre-and postnatal complications. There was also an association with psychiatric co morbidity. Early individualized educational programs are recommended to enhance the functioning and help with the continued development of these children. Keywords:Adaptive Functioning; Intellectual Disability; Socio-Demographic

Pharmacogenomics (PGx) uses the variation in a patient’s genetic profile to assist with medication choice, with the goal of shortening the trial-and-error process of prescribing in psychiatry. Over the past few decades, PGx technology has evolved greatly to identify various genetic polymorphisms in drug-metabolizing enzymes; however, clinical use and relevance of PGx in child and adolescent psychiatry (CAAP) remain limited. This narrative review explores the historical evolution of PGx, compares key technological advancements, and evaluates their clinical relevance to CAAP. We address current barriers to PGx implementation, including developmental differences in pharmacokinetics between adults and children, the lack of robust evidence of clinical efficacy in youth populations, and inconsistent guidelines causing clinician confusion. We also highlight the need for clinical decision support (CDS) tools and broader practical and ethical considerations before widespread uptake of PGx would be feasible.