Social Isolation (SI) is a condition that can lead to complete withdrawal from society, with particular regard to the most fragile subgroups such as juvenile and elderly populations. It often constitutes a core symptom (often prodromal) of severe psychiatric disorders such as the Hikikomori syndrome, social anxiety disorder (SAD), psychosis, depression, post-traumatic stress disorder (PTSD), and obsessive-compulsive disorder (DOC), mood-dysregulation and autism spectrum (ASD) disorders. If not treated SI can degenerate into a complete withdrawal from society. Therefore, early interventions aimed at treating SI could result in a more favourable outcome for young patients. However, due to the social interaction barrier intrinsic to the condition, current treatments alone are problematic and only partially effective in treating SI. SOLITAIRE aims at implementing a multi-component digital psychiatric intervention to remotely help youths suffering from Social Isolation (SI), based on cognitive behavioural therapy (CBT), Cognitive Remediation (CR) and Psychoeducation (PE) for family members.
SOLITAIRE will overcome most barriers and limitations of standard clinical interventions. A pilot RCT will be conducted on adolescents and young adults with SI to test the feasibility and acceptability of SOLITAIRE and evaluate the difference in efficacy between CBT+CR+PE or CBT+PE alone. We hypothesise that young patients randomized to the experimental condition (CBT+CR+PE) will show more durable and generalizable cognitive and behavioural mprovements due to the neuroplasticity processes associated with CR. Biological correlates of SI will also be investigated through mouse models of this condition, to identify underlying molecular mechanisms and possible biomarkers reflecting the evolution of psychiatric symptoms in human patients such as neural inflammation. Lastly, to explore the neurobiological underpinnings of SI and treatment-related biomarkers, patients' plasma samples will be collected before and after the intervention and analysed biochemically.