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The coronavirus pandemic has led to people getting involved in harmful behaviors. In our observational study, we assessed 241 patients with suicidal thoughts or behaviors in the emergency room before, during, and after the lockdown, from January to July 2020. After the lockdown, retired patients made higher-lethality attempts, and consultations related to suicide were less frequent, but active suicidal behaviors were more frequent. Men tended to use more lethal methods, and women made more suicidal gestures and had more suicide-related consultations. We observed an increase in the lethality of the attempts after the declaration of the state of alarm.

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The COVID-19 pandemic reached world-wide causing a great impact on healthcare services. The aim of this work is to describe the response of the Mental Health Network of the Salamanca´ Area (Spain) to this crisis and the reorganization of its resources within the first 8 weeks after the state of alarm was declared. The Psychiatry Service applied a contingency plan which included the reorganization of the human resources, the closure of some of the units and the implementation of telemedicine programs along with two specific programs, namely a mental health assistance program in the context of the infection by coronavirus, and another program for homeless people. 9.038 phone interviews were carried out in the outpatients and community mental health programs. The activity in subacute and acute wards, as well as that of the day hospital programs was decreased to 50%. Based on that this real-world response provided we concluded that the usage of telemedicine is promising in patients with any kind of disorder. Its implementation in daily practice will be considered in the future. Research must continue on COVID-19's impact on patients with mental disorders and Psychiatry's necessary adaptations and new approaches to them.

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Patients diagnosed with schizophrenia are at least three times more likely to develop a substance use disorder than controls. These patients are frequently prescribed benzodiacepines as a coadjuvant drug, which have a high potential for addiction. We performed a literature review aiming to gather evidence on various topics concerning the use of benzodiacepines in schizophrenia, with a focus on possible abuse: 1) Prevalence of prescripted and non-prescripted benzodiacepine use among patients, 2) Prevalence of abusers, 3) Effects of long-term benzodiacepine abuse in schizophrenia prognosis, 4) Possible management strategies for benzodiacepine abuse in this population. Our search revealed there is a high variability (up to 20%) in benzodiacepine abuse among patients, with cannabis and stimulants being more frequent, and no clear demographic traits have been identified among these patients. Patients with affective symptoms are more likely to abuse benzodiazepines. Its long-term effects on prognosis have been debated, with some papers hinting at a higher mortality rate. Tapering benzodiacepines has been associated with an improvement in some cognitive functions. Management strategies for potential abuse do not differ greatly for this population, and no specific pharmacological aid can be indicated, but an integral approach is proposed.

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In recent decades, hormonal contraceptives (HC) has made a difference in the control of female fertility, taking an unequivocal role in improving contraceptive efficacy. Some side effects of hormonal treatments have been carefully studied. However, the influence of these drugs on female sexual functioning is not so clear, although variations in the plasma levels of sexual hormones could be associated with sexual dysfunction. Permanent hormonal modifications, during menopause or caused by some endocrine pathologies, could be directly related to sexual dysfunction in some cases but not in all of them. HC use seems to be responsible for a decrease of circulating androgen, estradiol, and progesterone levels, as well as for the inhibition of oxytocin functioning. Hormonal contraceptive use could alter women's pair-bonding behavior, reduce neural response to the expectation of erotic stimuli, and increase sexual jealousy. There are contradictory results from different studies regarding the association between sexual dysfunction and hormonal contraceptives, so it could be firmly said that additional research is needed. When contraceptive-related female sexual dysfunction is suspected, the recommended therapy is the discontinuation of contraceptives with consideration of an alternative method, such as levonorgestrel-releasing intrauterine systems, copper intrauterine contraceptives, etonogestrel implants, the permanent sterilization of either partner (when future fertility is not desired), or a contraceptive ring.