Family Connections: The Impact of an Education Program for Carers of Individuals With Borderline Personality Disorder in Italian Mental Health Services.

Borderline personality disorder (BPD) has a strong impact not only on patients' lives but also on their families. The presence of an invalidating environment is one of the key factors in the etiology of BPD. This study evaluated the impact of the Family connections (FC) program on burden, grief, and other clinical variables in 202 caregivers and identified the profiles of participants who improved/deteriorated their levels of burden and grief.

Mental health professionals' attitudes towards mental illness: professional and cultural factors in the INTER NOS study.

Background: Research shows that personnel working in mental health facilities may share some of the societal prejudices towards mental illness. This might result in stigmatizing behaviours towards people suffering from mental disorders, undermining the quality of their care.

Aims: To describe and compare attitudes towards mental illness across a sample of professionals working in a wide range of mental health facilities in Spain, Portugal and Italy.

Childhood trauma, temperament, and character in subjects with major depressive disorder and bipolar disorder.

In nonclinical samples, childhood trauma (CT) has been found to negatively affect temperament/character traits. In major depressive disorder (MDD) and bipolar disorder (BD), abnormal personality traits have been found to impair clinical course/treatment outcome. Although a link between CT and MDD/BD is firmly established, no previous studies explored the relationship between CT and temperament/character in these populations.

Baseline respiratory parameters in panic disorder: a meta-analysis.

Background: The presence of abnormalities in baseline respiratory function of subjects with panic disorder (PD) is expected according to PD respiratory theories. We aimed to meta-analyze results from studies comparing baseline respiratory and hematic parameters related to respiration between subjects with PD and controls.

Methods: A literature research in bibliographic databases was performed.

Temperament, character and anxiety sensitivity in panic disorder: a high-risk study.

Background: Adult patients with panic disorder (PD) show high levels of harm avoidance and anxiety sensitivity. Peculiar temperament profiles and high anxiety sensitivity have been proposed as developmental risk factors for PD in adult age. Since familial-genetic influences play a role both in PD and in anxiety sensitivity and temperament profiles, this study aims to investigate the possible association between family history of PD and peculiar temperament-character profiles or high anxiety sensitivity in offspring of patients with PD.

Acoustic startle response in panic disorder.

The amygdala and the limbic system are important in inducing a fear reaction; if this "fear network" is involved in panic disorder, panic patients might be more sensitive to fear stimuli than healthy subjects. We compared the startle response with an aversive stimulus in a sample of 29 patients with panic disorder and a sample of 29 healthy controls. The intensity of the startle response, induced by a series of aversive loud (100 dB) sounds, was measured by skin conductance recording in each subject.

Language of dyspnea in panic disorder.

Dyspnea is a key symptom in panic attacks. This study investigated different types of dyspnea induced by the 35% CO2 challenge test given to patients with panic disorder (PD). The types of dyspnea provide room for possible conjectures on neurophysiological pathways involved in the experience of breathing discomfort in PD and in the panic-respiration connection.