A Descriptive Diagnosis or a Causal Explanation? Accuracy of Depictions of Depression on Authoritative Health Organization Websites.

Introduction: Psychiatric diagnoses are descriptive in nature, but the lay public commonly misconceives them as causal explanations. It is not known whether this logical error, a form of circular reasoning, can sometimes be mistakenly reinforced by health authorities themselves. In this study, we investigated the prevalence of misleading causal descriptions of depression in the information provided by authoritative mental health organizations on widely accessed internet sites.

Longitudinal patterns of alcohol use and psychological symptoms during COVID-19 pandemic and role of alexithymia: A latent transition analysis in the FinnBrain Birth Cohort Study.

Background: The COVID-19 pandemic has been posing widespread influence on mental well-being. However, research on the dynamic relations between alcohol use and psychological symptoms in the context of the pandemic and the role of alexithymic traits in predicting the development of mental health problems longitudinally remains scarce.

Methods: Latent profile and transition analyses were conducted to model the longitudinal patterns of transitions in the profiles of alcohol use and psychological symptoms across 10 months during the pandemic (from May 2020 to March 2021) and to investigate the role of alexithymia and its dimensions Difficulty Identifying and Describing Feelings (DIF and DDF), and Externally Oriented Thinking (EOT) in 720 parents from the FinnBrain Birth Cohort Study.

Relationships between alexithymia and food addiction: The Finnish version of Yale Food Addiction Scale and preliminary test of its psychometric properties.

Background: It has long been suggested that addictive behaviors are associated with alexithymia, a personality trait characterized by difficulties in emotional awareness and expression. However, little is known about the role of alexithymia in food addiction.

Objectives: The aim of this study was to investigate the relationship between alexithymia and food addiction.

Sex-specific role of alexithymia in associations between parental bonding and mental health: A moderated mediation model.

Objective: This study aimed to explore the role of alexithymia and potential sex differences in the associations between perceived parental bonding and mental health.

Methods: The sample consists of 2421 parents from the FinnBrain Birth Cohort Study who completed the parental bonding instrument, the Toronto alexithymia scale, the Edinburgh postnatal depression scale, and the anxiety subscale of the symptom checklist-90. Moderated mediation analyses were conducted to examine the possible mediating role of alexithymia and moderating role of sex in the associations between parental bonding and depressive/anxiety symptoms.

The role of alexithymia and perceived stress in mental health responses to COVID-19: A conditional process model.

Background: Little is known about the psychological mechanisms underlying the mental health problems related to the COVID-19 pandemic. Hypothetically, perceived stress and alexithymia may be factors involved in the mental distress response to the pandemic; however, this remains largely unstudied. This study aims to explore the moderating role of alexithymia and the moderated mediation effects of perceived stress on the mental health change due to the pandemic.

Alexithymic traits and parental postpartum bonding: Findings from the FinnBrain Birth Cohort Study.

In the postpartum period, some parents experience problems in bonding with the infant, which can lead to difficulties in adjusting to the parental caregiving role. Alexithymia, through deficits in emotional processing, could potentially be associated with problems in parental postpartum bonding. In the current study, this association has been explored in a large population-based sample of mothers and fathers, and to our knowledge, this is the first study to investigate this association.

Oxytocin receptor genotype moderates the association between maternal prenatal stress and infant early self-regulation.

Introduction: Maternal prenatal stress may have long-term adverse consequences for child development. Accumulating evidence shows that the oxytocin-receptor genotype may play a role in differential susceptibility to early-life adversity, but no studies have examined whether this moderation extends to the prenatal stress exposures.

Methods: In the FinnBrain Birth Cohort Study, a sample of 1173 mother-child dyads were examined.

Maternal Alexithymic Traits Are Related to Lower Maternal Sensitivity and Higher Hostility in Maternal Caregiving Behavior-The FinnBrain Birth Cohort Study.

The quality of parental caregiving behavior with their child plays a key role in optimal mother-infant interaction and in supporting child adaptive development. Sensitive caregiving behavior, in turn, requires the ability to identify and understand emotions. Maternal alexithymia, with difficulties in identifying and describing feelings or emotions, as well as a concrete way of thinking, could potentially complicate the quality of caregiving.

Early-life adversities and adult attachment in depression and alexithymia.

Alexithymia is a personality construct characterized by difficulties in identifying and verbalizing feelings, a restricted imagination, and an externally oriented thinking style. As alexithymia shows marked overlap with depression, its independent nature as a personality construct is still being debated. The etiology of alexithymia is unknown, although childhood emotional neglect and attachment formation are thought to play important roles.

Alexithymic Traits and Hair Cortisol Concentrations in Pregnant Women.

Introduction: Alexithymia, a personality construct characterized by difficulties in identifying and expressing emotions, and an externally oriented thinking style, has been associated with a number of stress-related disorders, and physiological markers of stress. We examined the relationships of alexithymia and hair cortisol concentrations (HCC), a measure of long-term cortisol levels, in pregnant women.

Methods: Participants were 130 women from the FinnBrain Birth Cohort study.

Investigating the effects of perinatal status and gender on adults' responses to infant and adult facial emotion.

The perception of emotion in infant faces is a key parental skill, thought to be impacted by caregiving experience. It is widely assumed that women, and in particular mothers in the postnatal period, are more attuned to infant facial expressions than men. However, empirical evidence for this is lacking, and it is not yet clear whether potential differences in emotion processing between adults during pregnancy and postnatally are specific to infant expressions or extend to faces of all ages.

Alexithymia, body mass index and gestational diabetes in pregnant women - FinnBrain birth cohort study.

Objective: Overweight, obesity, and associated problems in metabolic health are an increasing public health concern. Personality traits and emotional processing styles may play a role in the regulation of food intake and reward. Alexithymia is a personality construct involving difficulties in identifying and expressing emotions and has been previously associated with eating disorders and metabolic problems.

Alcohol and tobacco use in men: the role of alexithymia and externally oriented thinking style.

Background: A high prevalence of alexithymia has been consistently reported in alcohol- and drug-dependent populations. However, less is known about the role of alexithymia, and its individual dimensions on substance use in healthier populations.

Objectives: To examine how different alexithymia dimensions associate with substance use, while controlling for confounding factors.

Is antidepressant use associated with difficulty identifying feelings? A brief report.

Studies on the subjective effects of antidepressants suggest that they may not only improve depressed mood, but as an adverse effect also cause "emotional blunting." This phenomenon is poorly understood and little studied. The aim of this study was to examine the association of serotonergic antidepressant use and subjective emotional awareness.