Background: Network analysis (NA) is an analytical tool that allows one to explore the map of connections and eventual dynamic influences among symptoms and other elements of mental disorders. In ...recent years, the use of NA in psychopathology has rapidly grown, which calls for a systematic and critical analysis of its clinical utility. Methods: Following PRISMA guidelines, a systematic review of published empirical studies applying NA in psychopathology, between 2010 and 2017, was conducted. We included the literature published in PubMed and PsycINFO using as keywords any combination of “network analysis” with the terms “anxiety,” “affective disorders,” “depression,” “schizophrenia,” “psychosis,” “personality disorders,” “substance abuse” and “psychopathology.” Results: The review showed that NA has been applied in a plethora of mental disorders in adults (i.e., 13 studies on anxiety disorders; 19 on mood disorders; 7 on psychosis; 1 on substance abuse; 1 on borderline personality disorder; 18 on the association of symptoms between disorders), and 6 on childhood and adolescence. Conclusions: A critical examination of the results of each study suggests that NA helps to identify, in an innovative way, important aspects of psychopathology like the centrality of the symptoms in a given disorder as well as the mutual dynamics among symptoms. Yet, despite these promising results, the clinical utility of NA is still uncertain as there are important limitations on the analytic procedures (e.g., reliability of indices), the type of data included (e.g., typically restricted to secondary analysis of already published data), and ultimately, the psychometric and clinical validity of the results.
Emotional faces are commonly used as stimuli in a wide number of research fields. The present study provides values of 198 pictures from one of the amplest available face databases, the Karolinska ...Directed Emotional Faces (KDEF). We used a new validation strategy that consisted of presenting pairs of faces which included an emotional face (i.e., angry, happy, sad) and its corresponding neutral face from the same model. This design allowed participants to keep a comparison face (i.e., neutral) as a constant anchor point to evaluate parameters on each emotional expression presented. Raters were asked to judge both the prototypicality of the emotional expressions (i.e., the degree to which they represent their corresponding emotional prototypes) as well as their emotional intensity. We finally discuss the potential advantages of this anchor-point method as a system to elicit judgments on facial emotional expressions.
This study assessed the influence of different physical and psychological illnesses on life satisfaction in individuals. A nationally representative sample (N = 2,966) of non-institutionalized ...Spanish adults between the ages of 18 and 65 years completed a self-report measure on treated physical and psychological problems as well as a measure of overall life satisfaction. The results showed that although physical and psychological problems both had an impact on life satisfaction, greater effect sizes were generally found for psychological rather than for physical illness. Regression analysis, which controlled for the effects of comorbidity and sociodemographic variables (e.g. age, gender, marital status, employment status, and education level), revealed a significant impact on life satisfaction in cancer and migraine (in the domain of physical problems), and in depression, lack of concentration, insomnia, and stress/anxiety (in the domain of psychological problems). Further multivariate analyses were conducted to estimate decreases in the Satisfaction With Life Scale for each of the conditions assessed. A lack of significant interactions revealed that the effect of comorbid physical and/or psychological problems could be additive. The present results show that people who are afflicted with psychological problems exhibit a marked decrease in life satisfaction. As a whole, this negative impact is significantly greater than the decrease associated with physical problems.
Emotion regulation (ER) is a central target in the study of psychological and neurobiological processes of emotions for numerous psychological disorders. Ecological momentary assessments, overcoming ...retrospective self-reports, allow a better understanding of the relation between the use of ER strategies and daily life affective experiences. A systematic review and meta-analyses of studies testing these relations through experience sampling methods (ESM) and daily diaries were conducted. ESM studies showed significant large effect sizes in contemporaneous relations between negative affect (NA) and rumination, suppression, and worry, and in both contemporaneous and prospective relations between positive affect (PA) and reappraisal; medium effect sizes in prospective relations between NA and rumination, and PA and distraction; and a small effect size in the prospective relation between NA and suppression. Daily diary studies showed significant large effect sizes in contemporaneous relations between NA and rumination and suppression, and in both contemporaneous and prospective relations between PA and reappraisal; medium effect sizes in contemporaneous relations between PA and acceptance, and problem-solving; and a small effect size in the prospective relation between NA and reappraisal. These findings shed light on the temporal relations between the use of ER strategies and affective experiences and highlight conceptual and methodological limitations in the field.
•A meta-analysis of daily life emotion regulation strategies and affect was conducted.•37 experience sampling methods (ESM) and 39 daily diary studies were included.•Reappraisal, acceptance, problem-solving were related to ongoing positive affect.•Reappraisal and distraction were prospectively related to next-time positive affect.•Rumination and suppression were related to ongoing and next-time negative affect.
Objective
This study examines whether a 4‐day dot‐probe attentional training to orient attention toward positive words could lead participants with dysphoria to change selective attention to ...emotional faces. It was also explored whether this positive attentional bias training could lead to a decrease in depressive symptoms.
Methods
Participants were randomly assigned to Positive Training Group (PTG) and No Training Group (NTG). PTG was composed of 16 subjects, whereas NTG was composed of 15 subjects. All participants were women with a mean age of 22.87 (SD = 3.21).
Results
Results showed that dysphoric participants in the PTG did not show changes in attentional patterns to emotional faces. Furthermore, depressive symptoms did not significantly change after the 4‐session training.
Conclusions
These results suggest that cognitive training procedures based on dot‐probe paradigms are probably not adequate to modify attentional patterns in individuals with depressive symptoms. The theoretical and practical implications are discussed.
Terrorist attacks have been related to the onset of several mental disorders. These events may also trigger positive psychological consequences in some individuals. In this research, we collected ...data several weeks after the 11 March 2004 Madrid terrorist attacks. We evaluated perceived benefits as well as a broad range of positive and negative emotions. All positive emotion factors (Strength, Excitement, Pride, and Joy) were positively associated with perceived benefits. Of negative emotion factors (Distress, Hate, and Shame), only Hate was related, negatively, to perceived benefits. These results highlight the important role of positive emotions in the research of perceived benefits as well as the wide array of positive and negative emotions that can be elicited after a terrorist attack.
Objectives
To efficiently handle the continuous flow of information to which the attentional system is exposed, humans are equipped with filters like the attentional blink (i.e., a failure to detect ...a second target when it is presented between 200 and 500 ms after the first one). The aim of this study was to examine whether the practice of two standardized meditation programs (i.e., mindfulness and compassion) could modify the allocation of attentional resources towards emotional information.
Methods
A sample of 90 participants (43 in the mindfulness group and 47 in the compassion group) performed a variant of the emotional attentional blink task using negative, positive, and neutral faces, before and after the 8-week meditation programs.
Results
Both programs significantly decreased the standard AB effect (
F
(1.65, 145.58)
= 39.79,
p
< .001,
η
2
partial
= .31) with only minor differences between them. Furthermore, the AB reduction after the programs varied according to the different emotional faces used (
F
(3.10, 272.83)
= 4.44,
p
< .05,
η
2
partial
= .05).
Conclusions
Results suggest that standardized 8-week meditation programs may significantly change early stages of emotional stimuli processing while promoting a more balanced distribution of attentional resources towards emotional information.
Cognitive models of paranoia posit the existence of specific information-processing biases, such as attentional biases, that are related to persecutory beliefs. The nature of these biases remains ...unclear. Some models propose depression to be at the core of paranoid ideation, while other models propose anxiety. In this study we tested whether attentional biases towards angry or neutral faces were facilitated by 300-ms presentation of an emotional prime word (positive, depressive, paranoid, neutral) in normal participants high in paranoid beliefs (HPB, N = 52) or low in paranoid beliefs (LPB, N = 43). Analyses of first fixation patterns in visual scanpaths revealed that paranoid words made all participants avoid angry faces, though this tendency reached significance only in the LPB group. In contrast, depressive words triggered significant avoidance of angry faces in the HPB group. These findings suggest that activation of depressive cognitive schemas facilitates attentional biases specifically in participants with subclinical paranoia, which would favor the depression-based model of paranoia. We discuss the importance of priming methodologies and visual scan measures for revealing specific cognitive processes in psychopathology and testing competing etiological models of paranoia.
This study aims to study the effect of mindfulness-based program on the psychological, biomechanical and inflammatory domains of patients with chronic low back pain. A multicentre randomized and ...controlled clinical trial of parallel groups in patients with chronic low back pain between March 2019 to March 2020. Participants with no experience in mindfulness based intervention, were randomized to receive (36 patients) or not (34 patients) mindfulness-based stress reduction program for chronic back pain (MBSR-CBP). The program was performed in 9 sessions. Patients with chronic low back pain due to symptomatic discopathy (degenerative disc disease or herniated disc) were included. The principal outcome was changes in the blood level of cortisol and cytokines (tumor necrosis factor- alpha (TNF- alpha), interleukin-1beta (IL-1beta), interleukin-6 (IL-6) and interleukin-17 (IL-17)). Secondary outcomes (psychological factors, pain, and quality of life) were measured by validated questionnaires. Of the 96 randomized patients, 70 who completed the study were included in the analysis (mean range age: 53 33-73 years; 66% females). MBSR-CBP stopped the increase in cortisol, and reduced pro-inflammatory cytokine IL-1beta (p = 0.05). It reduced depression (p = 0.046) and stress (p = 0.0438), perceived pain (p < 0.0001), and limitations related to health (p < 0.0001). It also increased the physical function (p = 0.002) and sleep quality (p = 0.05). Furthermore, it significantly increased life satisfaction (0.006), well-being (p = 0.001) and vitality (p < 0.0001). It also increased self-compassion (p < 0.0001) and significantly reduced the overidentification (p<0.0001) and catastrophization (p = 0.002). MBSR-CBP could be part of a multidisciplinary approach in the management of patients suffering from chronic low back pain.
Celotno besedilo
Dostopno za:
DOBA, IZUM, KILJ, NUK, PILJ, PNG, SAZU, SIK, UILJ, UKNU, UL, UM, UPUK
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