Background Long stay in forensic psychiatric hospitals is common in patients who are defined as “not criminally responsible on account of mental disorder”. However, little is known about how these patients experience and perceive the long stay within these settings. The aim of this study is to explore the perception and needs of long-stay patients in forensic psychiatric hospitals in China. Methods In-depth semi-structured interviews were conducted with 21 participants who had lived in the forensic psychiatry hospital for more than 8 years. We used thematic analysis strategies to analyse the qualitative data. Results Participants’ perceptions clustered seven themes: hopelessness, loneliness, worthlessness, low mood, sleep disturbances, lack of freedom, and lack of mental health intervention. Conclusions The views and opinions expressed by long-stay patients showed that psychological distress is prevailing in forensic psychiatric hospitals. Adequate and effective care and mental health interventions are recommended to be tailored for their special needs. Electronic supplementary material The online version of this article (10.1186/s12913-019-4458-6) contains supplementary material, which is available to authorized users.

The outbreak of Coronavirus disease 2019 (COVID-19), has led to the quarantine of many residents in their homes worldwide. Some of these people might develop mental health problems, and many solutions have been put in place to address the mental health issues of patients and health professionals affected by the disease. However, not much attention has been given to international students studying in China. The present study aims to conduct an online survey to investigate the mental health status of international students from Changsha city, China.Materials and Methods: A WeChat-based survey program comprised of questions on demographic information gender, grade year, duration and status of quarantine, duration of sleep, worries about graduation, being able to go to school and presence or absence of a sense of security; as well as questions from the Patient Health Questionnaire-9 (PHQ-9), Generalized Anxiety Disorder-7 (GAD-7) scale and State-Trait Anxiety Inventory(STAI).Results: The prevalence of depression was 59.4% and the prevalence of anxiety was 37.8%. The STAI-Y1 STATE scores had a mean value (mean) of 41.42, standard deviation (S.D) of 10.89 and STAI-Y2 TRAIT scores had a mean value (mean) of 41.85, standard deviation (S.D) of 11.13. The risk factors of anxiety or depression were Sleep duration, worrying about graduation in varying degrees, School time, and feeling secure in varying degrees. Higher the Patient Health Questionnaire-9 score and higher Generalized Anxiety Disorder-7 score and higher STAI-Y1 STATE scores were associated with higher STAI-Y2 TRAIT scores.Conclusion: The present study implies that the university needs to consider planning for acute and long-term psychological help services for international students.

Schizophrenia (SCH) and bipolar disorder (BD) are characterized by many types of symptoms, damaged cognitive function, and abnormal brain connections. The microstates are considered to be the cornerstones of the mental states shown in EEG data. In our study, we investigated the use of microstates as biomarkers to distinguish patients with bipolar disorder from those with schizophrenia by analyzing EEG data measured in an eyes-closed resting state. The purpose of this article is to provide an electron directional physiological explanation for the observed brain dysfunction of schizophrenia and bipolar disorder patients.Methods: We used microstate resting EEG data to explore group differences in the duration, coverage, occurrence, and transition probability of 4 microstate maps among 20 SCH patients, 26 BD patients, and 35 healthy controls (HCs).Results: Microstate analysis revealed 4 microstates (A–D) in global clustering across SCH patients, BD patients, and HCs. The samples were chosen to be matched. We found the greater presence of microstate B in BD patients, and the less presence of microstate class A and B, the greater presence of microstate class C, and less presence of D in SCH patients. Besides, a greater frequent switching between microstates A and B and between microstates B and A in BD patients than in SCH patients and HCs and less frequent switching between microstates C and D and between microstates D and C in BD patients compared with SCH patients.Conclusion: We found abnormal features of microstate A, B in BD patients and abnormal features of microstate A, B, C, and D in SCH patients. These features may indicate the potential abnormalities of SCH patients and BD patients in distributing neural resources and influencing opportune transitions between different states of activity.