Dominance-submissiveness cues modulate pain threshold for mechanical pressure.

Acute pain sensation is an inherently negative but adaptive experience; however, research on pain sensitivity shows that simple contextual cues can effectively attenuate the pain. In this study, we sought to investigate how dominance cues, manipulated as vertical spatial (i.e.

Spirituality, Personality, and Emotional Distress During COVID-19 Pandemic in Croatia.

This study examined the association between spiritual quality of life (QoL), spiritual coping, emotional distress, and personality during the COVID-19 pandemic lockdown in a convenience sample of Croatian adults (n = 2,860, 80.6% women). Participants completed an online questionnaire that collected information on sociodemographic characteristics, distress (the Depression, Anxiety, and Stress Scale 21), spiritual coping and spiritual QoL (the WHO Quality of Life-Spirituality, Religiousness, and Personal Beliefs), and personality (the International Personality Item Pool).

Predictors of emotional distress during the COVID-19 pandemic; a Croatian study.

The study aimed to assess relations between coronavirus-related psychological distress and its potentially predictive factors. An online sample of 2860 Croatian adults filled in questionnaires on socio-demographic characteristics, distress (the Depression, Anxiety and Stress Scale 21), coping (the Brief COPE), personality (the International Personality Item Pool), and social support (the Duke-UNC Functional Social Support Questionnaire) during the COVID-19 lockdown and after the capital was hit by an earthquake. Results indicated that 15.

Temperament and character in homicidal patients with schizophrenia.

Understanding the etiology of violence in patients with schizophrenia is an issue of great clinical and public importance. Although personality traits are an important aspect in determining complex behaviors of schizophrenia patients, there is a lack of research on the relationship between personality traits and violence, especially homicidal behavior, in this population. We aimed to compare temperament and character dimensions between homicidal and other mostly violent forensic patients with schizophrenia, and to determine which temperament and character dimensions are associated with homicidal behavior in these patients.

Effect of expectation on pain assessment of lower- and higher-intensity stimuli.

Background And Aims: Pain modulation via expectation is a well-documented phenomenon. So far it has been shown that expectations about effectiveness of a certain treatment enhance the effectiveness of different analgesics and of drug-free pain treatments. Also, studies demonstrate that people assess same-intensity stimuli differently, depending on the experimentally induced expectations regarding the characteristics of the stimuli.

Effects of Psychological Distance and Need for Cognitive Closure on Impression Formation.

Based on theoretical and empirical similarities between Construal level theory of psychological distance and the Need for cognitive closure (NFC) theory, it could be hypothesized that psychological distance and NFC represent constructs that overlap to some degree. Since both theories describe judgmental behavior in terms of schematic processing, we hypothesized that primacy effect, a schema-driven phenomenon, is strengthened under the heightened NFC and psychological distance. We tested this hypothesis in an impression formation experiment while manipulating psychological distance and measuring NFC.

Multimodal analysis of startle type responses.

Background And Objective: This article presents a multimodal analysis of startle type responses using a variety of physiological, facial, and speech features. These multimodal components of the startle type response reflect complex brain-body reactions to a sudden and intense stimulus. Additionally, the proposed multimodal evaluation of reflexive and emotional reactions associated with the startle eliciting stimuli and underlying neural networks and pathways could be applied in diagnostics of different psychiatric and neurological diseases.

Opinions of forensic schizophrenia patients on the use of restraints: controversial legislative issues.

The use of restraints is a controversial issue even though legal regulations may seem straightforward. Our aims were to evaluate the forensic patients' opinions on certain aspects of restraining and to compare these opinions with the current legal norms. Inpatients with schizophrenia or schizoaffective disorder at the Department of Forensic Psychiatry in Popovača, Croatia, were asked the following questions about the use of mechanical restraints: (a) Should the patients' family be informed about the use of restraints? (b) Should the physician ask the patient whether to inform the family about the use of restraints? (c) Can the use of restraints be a kind of punishment for intentionally aggressive behavior toward people in their environment? and (d) Should restraints be used if the patient requests to be restrained? The patients were assessed according to the Temperament and character inventory and Positive and Negative Symptom Scale.

Offender patients' opinions on placement in a forensic hospital.

Background: People who become patients in secure hospitals may not understand their situation and have different opinions about the nature of institutionalisation from each other and from staff and the authorities. More knowledge of patient perspectives could improve treatment outcomes.

Aims: Our aim was to evaluate patients' beliefs about whether placement in an institution should be mainly punitive, therapeutic or a mixture of both and whether offence type should have any influence on the nature of the institutionalisation.

Temperament, character, and quality of life in patients with schizophrenia and their first-degree relatives.

The aim of this study was to investigate the associations between the temperament, character dimensions, and quality of life (QOL) of patients with schizophrenia; their first-degree, nonaffected relatives; and healthy control subjects. One hundred twenty patients, the same number of first-degree relatives, and the same number of control subjects were assessed using the Temperament and Character Inventory and the Quality of Life Enjoyment and Satisfaction Questionnaire. Patients were also assessed using the Positive and Negative Syndrome Scale.

Relations of internalized stigma with temperament and character in patients with schizophrenia.

Objective: The aim of the study was to assess the associations between self-stigma and temperament and character dimensions.

Methods: One hundred twenty outpatients with diagnosis of schizophrenia, established with Mini International Neuropsychiatric Interview were consecutively included in the study. Self-stigma was assessed with Internalized Stigma of Mental Illness (ISMI), personality dimensions with Temperament and Character Inventory, and psychopathology with Positive and Negative Symptom Scale.

Novelty seeking and medication adherence in patients with schizophrenia.

The study explored the association between temperament and character and medication adherence in 76 patients with schizophrenia. Patients were assessed with the Temperament and Character Inventory, the Beck Depression Inventory, and the Positive and Negative Syndrome Scale. First-degree relatives were used as informants on adherence.

Religiosity and quality of life in breast cancer patients.

Our aim was to assess relations between the quality of life and religiosity in breast cancer patients. The participants were 115 consecutively admitted female in-patients with breast cancer in the radiotherapy unit in the course of six months. The measures used were Santa Clara Strength of Religious Faith Questionnaire (SCSORF), World Health Organisation Well-Being Index Five (WHO-WBI 5) and International Breast Cancer Study Group Quality of Life (IBCSG-QL) Questionnaire.

Sex differences in general knowledge domains.

The aim of this study was to investigate some cognitive differences in highly comparable (according to age, education and motivation) samples of female and male university graduates in Croatia. Female (N=280; age X = 26.59; SD = 2.

Perception of stigmatization in forensic patients with schizophrenia.

Background: The literature about perceived stigmatization of forensic patients with schizophrenia is sparse.

Aims: To examine relations between the perceived stigmatization of forensic patients with schizophrenia and the intensity of the symptoms, age, regular home visiting, kind of offence, perceived family support and duration of hospitalization.

Method: Sixty-two male forensic patients with schizophrenia were included.