1,720,962 research outputs found
Psychodynamically Oriented Psychopharmacotherapy: Towards a Necessary Synthesis
No full textThe discovery of psychoanalysis and of psychotropic medications represent two radical events in understanding and treatment of mental suffering. The growth of both disciplines together with the awareness of the impracticality of curing mental suffering only through pharmacological molecules-the collapse of the "Great Illusion"-and the experience of psychoanalysts using psychotropic medications along with depth psychotherapeutic treatment, have led to integrated therapies which are arguably more effective than either modality alone. The authors review studies on the role of pharmacotherapy with psychoanalysis, and the role of the analyst as the prescriber. The psychotic disorders have specifically been considered from this perspective
Can the ‘mediation’ approach help to understand the role of lack of insight in the relationship between symptoms and functioning in schizophrenia?
No full textIntroductionThe relationship between Lack of insight (LoI) and other symptoms in schizophrenia is complex. LoI could be associated with severity of symptoms at one side and global functioning at the other. For this nature LoI is a candidate ‘mediator’ for the relationship between psychotic symptoms and global functioning.ObjectivesThe aim of this study is to explore the possible role of LoI as a mediator between psychotic symptoms and global functioning in a sample of people with schizophrenia.MethodsSeventy-three patients with a diagnosis of schizophrenia were included. The five-factor model of the PANSS by Wall work was used to assess psychopathology and G12 item as an estimate of LoI. Global assessment of functioning (GAF) was used to measure global disability. Pearson's r correlations and linear regressions for Sobel test for mediation were performed. PANSS factors were modeled as predictors of global functioning and LoI as the mediator.ResultsCorrelations revealed the prerequisite relationships between LoI, positive, negative and disorganized PANSS factors and global functioning. Mediation analyses show that LoI partially mediates the relationship between positive and disorganized factor scores and global functioning. No mediation for negative factor score was observed.ConclusionsLack of insight mediates the relationships between positive and disorganized factors and global functioning. The partial mediation we report suggests that LoI on the one hand is an independent contributor to global function, but further shows an indirect effect of PANSS positive and disorganized factors to GAF total score.Disclosure of interestThe authors have not supplied their declaration of competing interest.</jats:sec
Internet use among Italian students: Usefulness of internet addiction test
No full textIn the last years, scientific interest has grown towards new types of addiction, especially the Internet Addiction (IA). The IA is characterized by the continuous and compulsive use of the internet, causing significant consequences to everyday life. The IA is not included in the latest Diagnostic and Statistical Manual of Mental Disorders (DSM-5). An excessive use of the internet can have major consequences: loss of sleep time, worse working or school outcomes, progressive detachment from real relationships, isolation, loss of interest and irritability. The most widely used instrument to assess IA is the Internet Addiction Test (IAT), introduced by Kimberly Young; however, different factor structures were reported for the instrument. The aim of this study was to analyse the prevalence of IA among 200 Italian university students (F = 100, M = 100; aged 19-40) using the IAT. Our findings indicate that the 9% (18 subjects) has a moderate risk to develop the IA, but no subjects obtained a test score between 80 and 100. The correct use of internet is present in the 23% of the sample (46 subjects), whereas the 68% (136 subjects) spend great amounts of time online. The collected data were analysed using the Italian two-factor structure model, according to Servidio et al. Our results confirm higher levels of problematic internet use in male than in female subjects and among young compared to older people. According to our results, however, the youth age is stronger than male gender in determining the level of problematic internet use. In addition, higher rates of problematic Internet use are present in young girls compared to old girls, while in male subjects the problematic internet use is independent from youth age or adulthood. As far as we are aware no previous studies analysed the relationship between the IAT factors (interpersonal, emotional and obsessive conflict, online time management and compromised personal wellbeing), age and gender
Going Beyond Counting First Authors in Author Co-citation Analysis
Get PDFThe present study examines one of the fundamental aspects of author co-citation analysis (ACA) - the way co-citation
counts are defined. Co-citation counting provides the data on which all subsequent statistical analyses and mappings
are based, and we compare ACA results based on two different types of co-citation counting - the traditional type that
only counts the first one among a cited work's authors on the one hand and a non-traditional type that takes into
account the first 5 authors of a cited work on the other hand. Results indicate that the picture produced through this non-traditional author co-citation counting contains more coherent author groups and is therefore considerably clearer. However, this picture represents fewer specialties in the research field being studied than that produced through the traditional first-author co-citation counting when the same number of top-ranked authors is selected and analyzed. Reasons for these effects are discussed
Variations on the Author
Get PDF“Variations on the Author” discusses two of Eduardo Coutinho’s recent films (Um Dia na Vida, from 2010, and Últimas Conversas, posthumously released in 2015) and their contribution to the general question of documentary authorship. The director’s filmography is characterized by a consistent yet self-effacing form of authorial self-inscription: Coutinho often features as an interviewer that rather than express opinions propels discourses; an interviewer that is good at listening. This mode of self-inscription characterizes him as an author who is not expressive but who is nonetheless markedly present on the screen. In Um Dia na Vida, however, Coutinho is completely absent form the image, while Últimas Conversas, on the contrary, includes a confessional prologue that moves the director from the margins to the center of his films. This article examines the ways in which these works stand out in the filmography of a director who offers new insights into the notion of cinematic authorship
Appropriate Similarity Measures for Author Cocitation Analysis
Get PDFWe provide a number of new insights into the methodological discussion about author cocitation analysis. We first argue that the use of the Pearson correlation for measuring the similarity between authors’ cocitation profiles is not very satisfactory. We then discuss what kind of similarity measures may be used as an alternative to the Pearson correlation. We consider three similarity measures in particular. One is the well-known cosine. The other two similarity measures have not been used before in the bibliometric literature. Finally, we show by means of an example that our findings have a high practical relevance.information science;Pearson correlation;cosine;similarity measure;author cocitation analysis
Dispelling the Myths Behind First-author Citation Counts
Get PDFWe conducted a full-scale evaluative citation analysis study of scholars in the XML research field to explore just how different from each other author rankings resulting from different citation counting methods actually are, and to demonstrate the capability of emerging data and tools on the Web in supporting more realistic citation counting methods. Our results contest some common arguments for the continued
use of first-author citation counts in the evaluation of scholars, such as high correlations between author rankings by first-author citation counts and other citation
counting methods, and high costs of using more realistic citation counting methods that are not well-supported by the ISI databases. It is argued that increasingly available digital full text research papers make it possible for citation analysis studies to go beyond what the ISI databases have directly supported and to employ more
sophisticated methods
An instrument for the evaluation of muscle dysmorphia: The Italian validation of the adonis complex questionnaire
Get PDFBackground and aims: Muscle dysmorphia (MDM), or bigorexia, is a subcategory of body dysmorphic disorder (BDD), also known as “Adonis Complex” in nonscientific contexts. One of the most used tools to investigate MDM is the Adonis Complex Questionnaire (ACQ). The ACQ is a 13-item US questionnaire, designed for male subjects only, related to the dissatisfaction and concerns about physical appearance. The aim of the current study was to evaluate the validity of the Italian version of the ACQ. Methods: The instrument was administered to a sample of 322 male adults, recruited from the general population. We used the maximum-likelihood confirmatory factorial analysis (CFA), analyzing the covariance matrices with AMOS 24.0, to evaluate the different factorial models proposed in the literature. Results: The evaluation of the factorial structure of the Italian version of the ACQ demonstrates the greater stability and internal consistency of the two-factor model, compared to the original three-factor model. The factors have no correlation with the demographic characteristics of the sample. Conclusions: The present study confirms the validity and the reliability of the Italian two-factor version of the ACQ and highlights the general tendency, among Italian males, to have concerns about their own physical appearance with recurring thoughts and eating behaviors finalized to improve it. Our study represents an advance in the use of adequate and reliable instruments to assess concerns about physical appearance in the Italian male population
- …
