1,721,156 research outputs found

    Perinatal Assessment of Paternal Affectivity (PAPA). First validation in Italian samples.

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    Perinatal Assessment of Paternal Affectivity (PAPA). First validation in Italian samples. Baldoni F.1, Matthey S.2, Agostini F.1, Schimmenti A.3, Caretti V.4 1Department of Psychology, University of Bologna, Italy 2University of Sydney, Australia 3 Kore University of Enna, Italy 4 LUMSA University, Rome, Italy Background: The assessment of affective disorders in fathers during the perinatal period represents a difficult challenge for clinicians. The Perinatal Assessment of Paternal Affectivity (PAPA) (Baldoni et al., 2016) is a new self-report questionnaire for the screening of affective symptoms in fathers during the perinatal period. It has been developed in recent research on perinatal affective disorders and assesses different dimensions of paternal affective problems: anxiety, depression, hostility, relational and couple difficulties, somatic complaints, dangerous behaviors and addictions (smoke, alcohol, drugs, gambling, internet, physical or sexual compulsive and at risk behavior). The PAPA has a simple structure and is very fast and simple to complete. It also considers some ethnic and socio-cultural influences. Aim: This study presents the incoming preliminary data of a multicentric validation study of the PAPA that involved many Italian public services (AUSL Romagna, Cagliari, 15 Alta Padovana, Torino, Foggia, Roma1). Methods: Different samples of fathers and mothers (500 couples, 1000 parents) were involved in the study. All participants, at the VII-VIII months prenatal and at 3 months postnatal, completed the following questionnaires: PAPA (prenatal and postnatal versions), CES-D, SCL-90-R, Analogical Symptom Assessment (ASA), Perceived Stress Scale (PSS), Dyadic Adjustment Scale (DAS), EPDS. Statistical analyses were performed using IBM SPSS Statistics (Version 23). Results: Preliminary findings concerning the prenatal period showed significant association between PAPA total scores (P = .05) and single scale scores with many scores on CES-D, SCL-90-R, ASA, PSS and DAS. Discussion: Preliminary data of this Italian validation study confirm the PAPA as a useful tool for the screening of paternal affective disorders in the perinatal period. However, the PAPA doesn’t permit an accurate diagnosis but provides a simple and practical guide for detecting fathers at high-risk of perinatal affective alteration. In these cases, a more in-depth diagnostic assessment and a possible treatment are required. Reference: Baldoni, F., Matthey, S, Agostini, F., Schimmenti, A., & Caretti, V. (2016). Perinatal Assessment of Paternal Affectivity (PAPA): preliminary report on a new screening tool, Infant Mental Health Journal, 37 (Suppl. 1), 132-133

    Psychic Retreats or Psychic Pits? Unbearable States of Mind and Technological Addiction

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    New technologies are highly interactive. They promote imaginative involvement and allow the experience of different self-states, such as those involving withdrawal or “psychic retreat”. According to Steiner, psychic retreats are areas of the mind populated by imagination and ideas which are poorly aligned with reality. Psychic retreats are not necessarily pathological in themselves—for instance, they can be used positively for counteracting anxiety or enhancing creativeness. However, with technological addiction there is a misuse of psychic retreat: here the total absorption with computer applications serves to hide painful or unbearable states of mind, and to protect the patient from overwhelming feelings through segregating self-states with a disconnection in their representations. Therefore, in clinical work with individuals suffering from technological addiction exploring the use of psychic retreats can serve as an aid to both diagnosis and treatment. Where the dysfunctional use of new technologies constitutes a temporary withdrawal from a specific painful event, this can have the function of protecting the individual from inner conflict; in the most serious cases however, technological addiction is grounded in more chronic and pathological dissociative mechanisms, and serves to prevent the mind from reactivating traumatic states connected to childhood experience of emotional neglect or abuse. While it is likely that the first condition can be positively handled with appropriate identification and treatment, the latter is much more difficult to deal with, particularly where the addictive behavior hides the weakness of the self, and psychic retreats are pervasively used to protect the patient from mental breakdown. (PsycINFO Database Record (c) 2012 APA, all rights reserved

    INTERPERSONAL GUILT AND PROBLEMATIC ONLINE BEHAVIORS: THE MEDIATING ROLE OF EMOTION DYSREGULATION

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    Objective: The positive association between problematic Internet use (PIU) and emotion dysregulation (ED) is well documented. Research has also found that inter-personal guilt is positively associated with ED. Nevertheless, the influence of interper-sonal guilt on PIU has been scarcely examined. In the current study, we investigated the relationships among the three constructs, and tested if emotion dysregulation me-diates the association between interpersonal guilt and different types of PIU, namely problematic online gaming, problematic social media use, and problematic online pornography use.Method: A sample of 434 adult participants (210 males, 48.4%) aged between 18 and 69 years old completed self-reported measures on interpersonal guilt, ED, and PIU. A structural equation modeling (SEM) framework was used to test the mediation models.Results: SEM analyses showed that ED mediates the relationship between inter-personal guilt as antecedent, and problematic online gaming, problematic social media use, and problematic online pornography use as outcomes.Conclusions: Our findings suggest that emotion dysregulation deriving from expe-riences of interpersonal guilt can amplify the risk of using gaming, social media, and online pornography in a problematic way. Implications for prevention and treatment of PIU are discussed

    Playing with identities: The representation of dissociative identity disorder in the videogame "Who am I?"

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    Who am I: The Tale of Dorothy (WAI) is the first videogame ever that addresses the treatment of an individual suffering from dissociative identity disorder (DID). WAI describes the life and internal experience of a 14-year-old girl named Dorothy who suffers from DID. The goal of this videogame is to integrate all Dorothy's dissociated identities. Notably, several symptoms of DID are correctly portrayed in the game, such as identity confusion, identity alteration, amnesia, and psychotic-like experiences. Furthermore, WAI identifies the developmental origins of DID in the individual's exposure to severe traumatic experiences in the attachment relationships during childhood, which is consistent with current empirical evidence on the developmental precursors of the disorder. Therefore, WAI may represent an innovative possibility for illustrating the main features of DID to gamers, students, and lay people. Accordingly, playing WAI can have important educational implications, as it might serve to reduce mental stigma toward people suffering from DID

    Self-medication, traumatic reenactments, and dissociation: a psychoanalytic perspective on the relationship between childhood trauma and substance abuse

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    This article explores the relationship between developmental trauma, dissociation, and substance abuse within the framework of the self-medication hypothesis. By means of presenting a clinical vignette, the article illustrates how substance abuse can serve as a maladaptive coping strategy for managing overwhelming emotions that stem from traumatic experiences in attachment relationships during childhood. Individuals who have undergone developmental trauma may dissociate negative attachment memories and their related emotions, which consequently leads to compartmentalization of their internal states and hinders their self-regulation abilities. In such scenario, substances can act as external regulators of distressing emotions, distancing these individuals from their traumatic memories and facilitating the adoption of an omnipotent and self-reliant attitude. Hence, it is of utmost importance for clinicians to accurately identify and address the self-medication needs of these individuals. This is fundamental in facilitating these clients’ capacity to acknowledge, explore, and integrate their distressing memories as intrinsic elements of their identity, thereby fostering the development of a unified and cohesive self-concept
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