What do alexithymia items measure? A discriminant content validity study of the Toronto-alexithymia-scale-20.

Background: Questions have been raised about whether items of alexithymia scales assess the construct alexithymia and its key features, and no other related constructs. This study assessed the (discriminant) content validity of the most widely used alexithymia scale, i.e.

Let's talk about pain catastrophizing measures: an item content analysis.

Background: Concerns have been raised about whether self-report measures of pain catastrophizing reflect the construct as defined in the cognitive-behavioral literature. We investigated the content of these self-report measures; that is, whether items assess the construct 'pain catastrophizing' and not other theoretical constructs (i.e.

Prefrontal and temporal cortical thickness in adolescents with traumatic brain injury.

Aim: To investigate the impact of traumatic injury on the developing prefrontal-temporal adolescent cortex, and correlated brain structural measures with neurocognitive functioning.

Method: Nineteen adolescents (12 males, 7 females, age range: 11-17y, mean 15y 8mo, standard deviation 1y 7mo, median 15y 11mo) with traumatic brain injury (TBI) were included. Cortical thickness of frontal and temporal lobes was assessed using magnetic resonance imaging.

The relation between rumination and temporal features of emotion intensity.

Intensity profiles of emotional experience over time have been found to differ primarily in explosiveness (i.e. whether the profile has a steep vs.

Unraveling affective dysregulation in borderline personality disorder: a theoretical model and empirical evidence.

Although emotion dysregulation has consistently been conceptualized as a core problem of borderline personality disorder (BPD), a comprehensive, and empirically and ecologically validated model that captures the exact types of dysregulation remains absent. In the present article, we combine insights from basic affective science and the biosocial theory of BPD to present a theoretical model that captures the most fundamental affective dynamical processes that underlie BPD and stipulates that individuals with BPD are characterized by more negative affective homebases, higher levels of affective variability, and lower levels of attractor strength or return to baseline. Next, we empirically validate this proposal by statistically modeling data from three electronic diary studies on emotional responses to personally relevant stimuli in personally relevant environments that were collected both from patients with BPD (N = 50, 42, and 43) and from healthy subjects (N = 50, 24, and 28).