Background. Adverse childhood experiences have been described as one of the major environmental risk factors for depressive disorder. Similarly, the deleterious impact of early traumatic experiences on depression seems to be moderated by individual genetic variability. Serotonin transporter (5-HTT) and brain-derived neurotrophic factor (BDNF) modulate the effect of childhood adversity on adult depression, although inconsistencies across studies have been found. Moreover, the generenvironment (GrE) interaction concerning the different types of childhood adversity remains poorly understood. The aim of this study was to analyse the putative interaction between the 5-HTT gene (5-HTTLPR polymorphism), the BDNF gene (Val66Met polymorphism) and childhood adversity in accounting for adult depressive symptoms. Results. Total childhood adversity ( b=0.27, p<0.001), childhood sexual abuse (CSA ; b=0.17, p<0.001), childhood emotional abuse ( b=0.27, p<0.001) and childhood emotional neglect ( b=0.22, p<0.001) had an impact on adult depressive symptoms. CSA had a greater impact on depressive symptoms in Met allele carriers of the BDNF gene than in the Val/Val group (F=5.87, p<0.0001), and in S carriers of the 5-HTTLPR polymorphism (5-HTT gene) (F=5.80, p<0.0001).Conclusions. Childhood adversity per se predicted higher levels of adult depressive symptoms. In addition, BDNF Val66Met and 5-HTTLPR polymorphisms seemed to moderate the effect of CSA on adult depressive symptoms.

The main goal of this study was to offer data about the efficacy of virtual reality exposure (VRE) in the treatment of panic disorder with or without agoraphobia (PDA). The study was a between-subject design with three experimental conditions (VRE group, in vivo exposure [IVE] group and waiting-list [WL] group) and repeated measures (pre-treatment, post treatment and 12 month follow-up). The treatment programmes lasted 9 weekly sessions. Thirty-seven patients meeting DSM-IV criteria for PDA participated in this study. The improvement achieved using virtual exposure was superior to a WL condition and similar to that achieved using IVE. Our results support the efficacy of VRE in the treatment of PDA at short and long term. The advantages of VRE for the treatment of PDA regarding costbenefit issues are described.

Individuals exposed to childhood abuse are more likely to report positive psychotic-like experiences. Met carriers reported more positive psychotic-like experiences when exposed to childhood abuse than did individuals carrying the Val/Val genotype. Therefore, the observed gene-environment interaction effect may be partially responsible for individual variation in response to childhood abuse.

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Presence and reality judgment are two important variables to take into account in the virtual reality field. So far, scientific literature has paid (and pays) attention to the construct of presence, trying to offer assessment measures that could seize such an elusive concept. However, the concept of reality judgment has received less attention, and, frequently, it has been subsumed into the concept of presence. Not much effort has been dedicated to test whether or not both constructs refer to the same domain. Most likely there are relationships between both variables, but it is also possible that they have differentiated domains. The aim of the present work is to design a self-report measure that assesses both constructs, and to carry out the validation process with Spanish and North American samples. 327