*2.1. Participants*

Twenty-two study participants were recruited from three residential accredited psychiatric facilities in Rome and Capena (Italy). These facilities are psychiatric communities that provide healthcare assistance through qualified personnel 24 h per day. Various professional figures work closely with psychiatric patients within the communities: psychologists, psychiatrists, educators, nurses, and social assistants. The therapeutic model of these communities evolved from the work of Wilfred Bion and John Rickman [16], and more generally from the first British therapeutic communities [17,18]. All patients carry out individual and group activities involving pharmacological, psychotherapeutic, rehabilitation, and socialization interventions. During the lockdown, all the professionals continued to work in the communities, guaranteeing the psychiatric patients' continuity of care and treatment. Positive reinforcement techniques were used to encourage participation in therapy groups to prepare the patients to face social isolation and emotional flattening.

All participants voluntarily responded to the anonymous survey and provided their informed consent. The sample included 12 males (54.5%) and 10 females aged between 19 and 45 years, with a mean age of 31.82 (SD = 6.69). The descriptive statistics and participant diagnoses are reported in Table 1. The exclusion criteria were (a) an inability to provide informed consent (i.e., Mini Mental State Examination < 8) and (b) a disease affecting the central nervous system (CNS). The study was approved by the Institutional Board of the Department of Human Neuroscience, Faculty of Medicine and Dentistry, "Sapienza" University of Rome (IRB-2020-6), in conformity with the principles of the Declaration of Helsinki. The descriptive statistics of the sample (Table 1) are reported.


**Table 1.** Descriptive statistics of the study sample.
