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Il trauma interpersonale e la violenza: correlati psicopatologici e sociali
Full text linkThe word “trauma” derives from the Greek τραῦμα (-ατος) and literally means “wound”, “damage”, “injury” or “breakage”. In the 19th century, first Charcot and then Janet and Freud, defined trauma in a psychological sense. Relational trauma leads to severe outcomes than natural disasters because it has a greater “destructive” effect on trust and attachment, and is typically experienced as intentional. Interpersonal violence, which stands for acts of violence inflicted by an individual or a small group of individuals to another, is an example of psychological trauma. The World Health Organization in 1996 defined violence as a global public health problem. It is now considered as a predictable and preventable risk factor for lifelong mental health and social problems. A severe psychiatric pathology itself it is not enough to determine violent behaviours: family and social factors are involved, as personal features like affective states, emotion regulation, and values. In 2020 the COVID-19 pandemic broke out having a huge impact on psychological wellbeing as a traumatic event.
The main aim of this study is to identify the biopsychosocial correlates of interpersonal trauma, in the context of both victimization and perpetration of violence. We hypothesized to identify individual and family factors correlated with higher levels of interpersonal violence. In the frame of the COVID-19 pandemic, we aimed to identify mental health outcomes in the general population due to the traumatic effects of the lockdown and the pandemic itself.
Outcomes of interest of this research are mental health conseguences, as well as psychosocial functioning
The Karolinska Interpersonal Violence Scale, Italian version
Full text linkThe Karolinska Interpersonal Violence Scale (KIVS) is a semi-structured interview constructed to measure both the experiences of violence perpetration and victimization in childhood and adulthood. The original version was developed in Sweden in a study involving suicide attempters and healthy volunteers. We developed the Italian version of this innovative scale and administered it to one clinical and to one general sample
An Italian validation of the Psychological Maltreatment Review (PMR)
No full textPURPOSE: The aim of the current study was to evaluate the construct validity and the internal consistence of the Italian version of the Psychological Maltreatment Review (PMR), and to assess the concurrent validity to provide adequate and reliable instruments to measure retrospectively child psychological maltreatment in the Italian population. METHODS: The participants to our study were 209 patients and 217 nonclinical subjects. The first group consisted in 209 adult patients, 106 males and 103 females (mean age of 41.43 years; SD=12.34) consecutively admitted at the psychiatric unit of the L'Aquila San Salvatore Hospital. The second group consisted in 217 non-clinical subjects, 96 males and 121 females (mean age of 36.38; SD=10.38) that completed an online survey, including the self-report version of the PMR and the Risky Families Questionnaire (RFQ). All subjects were invited to answer to Sociodemographic Information Form and to take a self-report battery composed by two instruments: the Psychological Maltreatment Review (PMR) and the RFQ. RESULTS: Internal consistency reliability analyses were performed separately for the two samples, all the scales had very good internal consistency in both samples, with Cronbach's alpha coefficients equal or greater than .88. An EFA was performed, using exploratory principal axis factoring, on the data of individuals from the non-clinical sample, separately for paternal and maternal scales, followed by varimax rotation and scree testing. The CFA was performed on the data of the patients' sample, separately for paternal and maternal scales, supported a three factor model yielding the best fit indexes, both for paternal scales, χ 2 =725, p<.001; df=402, CFI=0.92; TLI=0.91, SRMR=0.053, RMSEA=0.063, 90% CI [0.056, 0.07]; and maternal scales, χ 2 =758, p<.001; df=374, CFI=0.89; TLI=0.88, SRMR=0.064, RMSEA=0.07, 90% CI [0.06, 0.07]. The CFA performed on the patient' sample supported a three factor model yielding the best fit indexes. The convergence of the EFA and the CFA in different samples supported the structural validity of the PMR and replicated its factorial structure, for both maternal and paternal ratings. CONCLUSIONS: This study provides evidence on the appropriateness of the Italian version of the PMR to retrospectively measure childhood psychological maltreatment. The three PMR scales (psychological abuse, psychological neglect and psychological support) demonstrated good internal consistency with average alpha coefficients, equal or greater than .88. The findings provide evidence of the construct validity, according to the literature, suggesting that psychological abuse, psychological neglect and parental support are dimensionally separated constructs, as defined in the literature
Childhood family stress and adult resilience in a sample of depressed patients
No full textBackground
The aim of this study is to explore the effect of childhood family stress on depression, personal, and social resilience in depressed patients.
Methods
We assessed childhood family stress (RFQ), depression (BSI, depression subscale), and resilience (RSA) in 152 depressed patients, 70 males, and 82 females. We calculated the 33rd and 66th percentiles of RFQ scores to divide the sample among Low, Medium, and High RFQ subgroups. A one-way ANOVA has been carried out to explore the differences between the variables in the subgroups. Finally, two regression analyses with depression, as the dependent variable, and resilience, divided for stress-sensitive and no stress-sensitive factors as independent variables, have been implemented.
Results
The one-way ANOVA showed that the Low subgroup had a positive profile, the Medium had an intermediate profile, while the High had a negative one for depression, personal (structured style and social competence), and interpersonal (social resources) resilience. The other factors (perception of self, planned future, and family cohesion) did not show differences in the subgroups, suggesting they are no stress sensitive. Regression analysis showed that no stress-sensitive factors have a constant and significant predictive value for depression in all subgroups; while, stress-sensitive ones showed a growing predictive value for depression from Low to Medium, but not in High, suggesting a ceiling effect.
Limitations
The use of self-report measures, the cross-sectional nature of the study, and the lack of a non-clinical and/or outpatient samples.
Conclusions
This study provides a contribution to the understanding of the effect of childhood family stress on adult resilience and depression
The COVID-19 outbreak: impact on mental health and intervention strategies
Full text linkAlthough the psychological and psychiatric implications seem to be a central core of health problems during an emergency, they tend to be underestimated and neglected, generating gaps in intervention strategies and increasing the burden of associated diseases. Moreover, pharmacological treatment concerns arise for psychiatrists and the other specialists who deal with psychiatric patients affected by an infectious disease or with patients with an infectious disease that may develop a number of psychiatric symptoms. The mental health consequences of a pandemic may be related to the sequelae of the disease itself or to the preventive measures aimed at containing the spread of infections. In addition, fear of death, drastic changes in family organization and work routines, closings of schools, companies and public places can play a role. Furthermore, stress derived from working activity or economic losses should not be underestimated. In the context of the current COVID-19 pandemic, first studies have shown the presence of stress, anxiety, depression and insomnia in the general population, health-care workers, and people affected by COVID-19. It appears likely that there will be substantial increases in a broad range of other mental disorders, suicide, behavioral disorders, loneliness, domestic violence and child abuse. From these considerations, the evaluation and monitoring of psychological/psychiatric conditions of involved populations, and the provision of focused aid must be part of the care intervention during the initial stage of a pandemic and beyond. The aim of this review is to summarize the current evidence on how mental health outcomes of COVID-19 outbreak have been measured and managed
ResilienCity: Resilience and Psychotic-Like Experiences 10 Years After L’Aquila Earthquake
Full text linkAn earthquake hit the city of L’Aquila in central Italy in 2009, leaving the city completely destroyed and 309 casualties. Unexpectedly, lower rates of psychotic experiences in persons affected by the earthquake compared to non-affected persons were found 10 months after the earthquake. The very long-term impact of a natural disaster on the prevalence of psychotic experiences deserves more in-depth detailing. The Authors examined resilience and psychotic experiences in a university student sample of 494. No effect of direct exposure to the earthquake (odds ratio = 0.64, 95%CI [0.37, 1.11]), material damages (odds ratio = 0.86, 95%CI [0.60, 1.23]), psychological suffering (odds ratio = 1.06, 95% CI [0.83, 1.36]), or global impact severity (odds ratio = 0.92, 95%CI [0.76, 1.12]) on psychotic experiences was detected. Resilience levels did not differ between affected and non-affected persons. Resilience showed a strong protective effect on psychotic experiences (odds ratio=0.38, 95% CI [0.28, 0.51]. The protective effect of the RSA factor “Perception of Self” was significantly stronger in individuals affected by the earthquake compared to non-affected subjects. Being affected by an earthquake is not a risk factor for psychotic experiences in a university student sample, as no direct effect of the earthquake was detected after 10 years after the event. Resilience is confirmed as a strong protective factor for psychotic experiences irrespectively of large collective traumatic events. Extension of these results to a general population sample could provide interesting insights into recovery from natural disasters
Mental health outcomes of the CoViD-19 pandemic
No full textThe coronavirus disease 2019 (CoViD-19) caused by the novel Coronavirus strain SARS-CoV-2 is currently a pandemic. On January 30, 2020, the World Health Organization declared that the CoViD-19 outbreak is a public health emergency of international concern. The virus has already had a direct impact on the physical health of million people, and besides, it is supposed to pose a mental health threat of great magnitude globally. This review aims at synthesizing mounting evidence concerning the immediate psychological responses during the initial stage of the CoViD-19 pandemic among the general population, the health-care workers, and clinical populations. Experts point out the need to pay specific attention to other groups at risk of further distress that may need tailored interventions. Providing psychological first aid is an essential care component for populations that have been victims of emergencies and disasters, before, during and after the event. With the aim of dealing better with the urgent psychological problems of people involved in the CoViD-19 pandemic, a new psychological crisis intervention model is needed. Given the recommendation to minimize face-to-face interaction, online mental health services have been widely adopted in China and are urged in other countries
Going Beyond Counting First Authors in Author Co-citation Analysis
Full text linkThe 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
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