Background. The increasing incidence of stroke among young individuals challenges its traditional understanding as of an age-associated disease. The general lack of familiarity with this issue among not only neurologists but also other specialists underscores its importance and indicates that it is understudied. In 15–40% of cases, the cause of stroke in young people remains undetermined. Special scientific interest is directed towards various (including long-term) consequences of cerebrovascular accidents in the young, primarily affecting the cognitive and emotional-personal realms. These consequences are crucial in the context of the patients' working and reproductive age, impacting their quality of life.

Objectives. To review domestic and foreign publications on the problem of stroke at a young age, analyze the available clinical and psychological data and identify promising areas of neuropsychological research on the problem.

Methods. Comparative method, a combination of methods for text analysis, analysis of clinical psychological data.

Results. A review of articles indicates that the first neuropsychological studies of young patients with strokes date back to the 1970s and 1980s. According to scientific publications, younger stroke patients have a better prognosis for physical and cognitive rehabilitation compared to older age groups. Yet, the specifics of cognitive impairments are often noted but not analyzed in depth. However, many studies focus on the issues related to professional and social adaptation of these patients.

Conclusions. Stroke in young individuals features distinct neuropsychological impairments compared to those in older and elderly age groups. These neuropsychological consequences require further research and may relate to the cognitive sphere of individuals. There is a need to standardize methodological approaches in stroke research among young people to improve data comparability and develop more effective diagnostic and treatment methods. Additionally, there is a demand for developing and adapting diagnostic tools that can detect subtle symptoms of cognitive impairments in young patients. This, in turn, will allow for linking specific cognitive deficits to difficulties in professional and social adaptation.

Background. Currently, there is a growing number of diagnosed mental disorders worldwide. The specialist conducting the diagnosis works under time constraints as determined by regulations per patient. Given the variability of symptoms presented in various mental disorders, as well as their potential comorbidity, establishing a diagnosis on the ground of patient-reported complaints is problematic.

Objective. To analyze the challenges of differential diagnosis of mental disorders (on examples of affective disorders, eating disorders, and schizophrenia) based on the primarily available affective symptoms.

Methods. Searching for publications in databases (PubMed, eLIBRARY, Google Scholar) was conducted using the keywords "differential diagnosis", "comorbidity", "affective symptoms", and "symptom specificity". A theoretical review and analysis of the literature on the role and significance of affective symptoms in the differential diagnosis of mental disorders, their prevalence in the population, and the approaches and diagnostic tools used.

Results. The analysis of sources allowed to summarize data on the diagnosis of various mental disorders based on patient complaints and affective symptoms. Existing studies show that a significant part of complaints and affective symptoms are not specific to a particular mental disorder and cannot be classified without additional diagnostic information. The analysis highlights the value of differential diagnostics and the limitations associated with its use. Promising approaches to the diagnosis of mental disorders are discussed.

Conclusions. The complex nature of the diagnostic process requires reliance on both anamnestic data and the analysis of psychometric indicators as well as the causal relationships between them. The use of network analysis of the relationships between symptoms may have the potential to improve current diagnostic models and categories. Transdiagnostic factors associated with the manifestation of mental disorder symptoms require further research. The potential for integrating transdiagnostic approaches into modern diagnostic models appears promising; however, finding common ground between them requires further effort from the professional community.