Objectives: Sociocultural factors in the aftermath of any pandemic can play a role in increasing suicidal behavior like suicidal ideation, suicidal attempts, or suicide. The authors discuss the risk and predisposing factors for suicidal ideation among mental health patients in four developing countries (Bangladesh, Colombia, India and Pakistan), this aims to grasp the heterogeneity of these motivators and to elaborate specific interventions regarding suicide in the COVID-19 pandemic. Methods: We searched PubMed, Medline, and Google Scholar through March, 2021 for articles using a combination of the keywords and generic terms for suicide, suicide ideation, COVID-19, developing countries, low- middle-income countries, Sociocultural factors, Suicidal behavior, predisposing factors and predictive factors, for articles in English language only, and without publication time restriction. Results: This narrative review summarizes the sociocultural risk and predisposing factors for suicidal behavior in developing countries during the COVID-19 pandemic. The findings reveal those factors such as fear of being infected, growing economic pressure, lack of resources due to lockdown are mostly responsible in the four countries for the current increase in suicides. There are a few cultural differences that are specified in the narrative. Conclusion: The COVID-19 pandemic is a public health challenge, in which prevention and intervention of suicidal behavior have been suboptimal, especially in low- middle-income countries. Based on literature results, we provide practical suggestions (e.g., reducing infodemic, specialized helplines, improving mental health services availability) in order to tackle main challenges of suicide prevention, such as lack of adequate manpower, fragile health system and poverty.

El consentimiento informado más que un documento es un proceso dinámico de vital importancia en la construcción y fortalecimiento de la relación médico paciente, hecho que es aún más importante en el área de la psiquiatría, donde los elementos de juicio y razonamiento de cada paciente particular pueden variar de manera significativa, y en muchos casos se requiere el apoyo de la red social y familiar del mismo para consentir los distintos tratamientos a saber. El objetivo de este artículo es hacer una revisión de los fundamentos operativos básicos en la obtención de consentimiento informado, y posterior a esto una revisión del marco jurídico que regula esta práctica en la República de Colombia. El autor relaciona los conceptos en la revisión de dos jurisprudencias de responsabilidad médica donde el consentimiento informado juega un papel crucial en el veredicto, y se revisan los eventos relatados a la luz de los conceptos fundamentales que sustentan la práctica.

This chapter covers the pandemic’s effect on mental healthcare in three Latin American countries: Colombia, Argentina and Perú. The author details the preventive lockdown of a specialized psychiatric hospital in Colombia, and also describes the experiences of both psychiatrists and general practitioners in the transition from an open psychiatric ward to a strictly quarantined service, meant for the containment of a possible COVID-19 outbreak in a service with had no specialized experience dealing with epidemics or infectious outbreaks. Also describes the emotional response from the frontline clinicians versus the changes defined by the administrative team, and the challenges that sudden, unplanned global events have on local psychiatric services.

IntroductionThe present is the future of the past, and the past of the future. This journal as well as this paper endeavour to document the lives and practices of psychiatrists and other mental health care professionals for the future mental health community and to help the clinicians of the future to understand the history and practice of psychiatry and mental health care in 2019/20. We, therefore, report the current days in the lives of psychiatrists and other mental health care professionals.Material and MethodsTo obtain reports of days in the lives of psychiatrists and other mental health professionals, we published the request on eight occasions from May 2019 to May 2020. We invited the prospective respondents/participants to send a relevant report of their psychiatric practice in a day with a maximum word count of 750 words.ResultsWe received 20 reports of variable lengths from 10 countries from six continents, including from psychiatrists, psychiatrists in training, clinical psychologists and from medical students about their psychiatric training. The reports revealed a wide and highly variable range of psychiatric and mental health practices, experiences and expectations. Last but not least, the reports we received were informative and provided much information to reflect on.ConclusionsThere is a common strong commitment to support patients with mental health problems, but the ways this is achieved are so diverse that generalisations about a typical common practice seem impossible. Future studies should focus more systematically on the procedures and practices applied in helping patients with mental health problems in different countries and communities. This knowledge might eventually help identify the procedures and services that are most efficient and helpful in various clinical contexts.

Introduction:The present is the future of the past, and the past of the future. This journal as well as this paper endeavour to document the lives and practices of psychiatrists and other mental health care professionals for the future mental health community and to help the clinicians of the future to understand the history and practice of psychiatry and mental health care in 2019/20. We, therefore, report the current days in the lives of psychiatrists and other mental health care professionals. Material and Methods:To obtain reports of days in the lives of psychiatrists and other mental health professionals, we published the request on eight occasions from May 2019 to May 2020. We invited the prospective respondents/participants to send a relevant report of their psychiatric practice in a day with a maximum word count of 750 words. Results:We received 20 reports of variable lengths from 10 countries from six continents, including from psychiatrists, psychiatrists in training, clinical psychologists and from medical students about their psychiatric training. The reports revealed a wide and highly variable range of psychiatric and mental health practices, experiences and expectations. Last but not least, the reports we received were informative and provided much information to reflect on.