Eating disorders and disordered eating symptoms in individuals at clinical high risk for psychosis: a systematic review and meta-analysis.

Background: Eating disorders (EDs) are among the least studied mental disorders in individuals at clinical high risk for psychosis (CHR-P). The primary aim (a) of this systematic review and meta-analysis was to identify factors predicting ED diagnoses in CHR-P individuals. The secondary aim (b) was providing a comprehensive clinical description of individuals with both CHR-P and EDs/ED-related symptoms.

Defense mechanisms in individuals with depressive and anxiety symptoms: a network analysis.

Background: Defense mechanisms play a crucial role in depression and anxiety. The current study aimed at estimating the network structure of defense mechanisms in individuals with symptoms of depression and anxiety to understand the most central defenses and relevant connections. Moreover, we aimed at examining the associations between defense mechanisms and symptoms.

Service users perspectives on psychosis-risk terminology: An Italian study on labeling terms preferences and stigma.

Aims: The current range of labeling terms-at-risk mental state (ARMS), ultra-high risk for psychosis (UHR), and attenuated psychotic syndrome (APS)-used to refer to the psychosis-risk concept is varied, and their acceptability and potential stigma are not well understood. By involving Italian youth with lived experience of mental ill-health, we aimed to generate new labeling terms for psychosis-risk, and to evaluate literacy, attitudes, and preferences regarding these and the existing terms. Additionally, we investigated opinions of disclosure of the at-risk concept in clinical practice.

Exploring the outcomes of psychotherapy sessions: how do therapists' responsiveness and emotional responses to patients with personality disorders affect the depth of elaboration?

Background: The impact of depth of elaboration in individual psychotherapy sessions on overall treatment effectiveness was found in the empirical literature. In the best sessions, relevant content is processed with greater depth; in contrast, in the shallower sessions, the emerging content is more superficial. Evidence suggests that achieving a high level of depth is closely related to specific therapist characteristics and relational dimensions (including clinicians' emotional responses to patients).

Motivations to become psychotherapists: beyond the concept of the .

Motivations to become psychotherapists have long been associated with the concept of the wounded healer, which posits that practitioners entering the field of mental health often do so as a result of their own personal struggles and challenges. Early difficulties and wounds are seen as a source of healers' capacity to comprehend and promote the processes of recovery, fostering a deeper connection between the healer and the person seeking support. Nevertheless, other factors not directly linked with early adversities have been posited to have an influence on the development of motivations towards pursuing a career in the psychological field.

Trust under development: The Italian validation of the Epistemic Trust, Mistrust, and Credulity Questionnaire (ETMCQ) for adolescents.

Introduction: In recent years, the concept of epistemic trust has emerged as a critical factor in understanding psychopathology, particularly within the context of personality disorders. A self-report instrument, the Epistemic Trust, Mistrust, and Credulity Questionnaire (ETMCQ), has demonstrated its validity among English and Italian adult populations. However, extending its applicability to adolescents is essential for comprehending the role of epistemic trust in the development of mental disorders.

Adverse childhood experiences and psychological maladjustment in adolescence: The protective role of epistemic trust, mentalized affectivity, and reflective functioning.

Introduction: Adverse childhood experiences (ACEs) are psychosocial factors acknowledged as significant contributors to health consequences later in adolescence, including psychological maladjustment. The research suggests that, at a transdiagnostic and transtheoretical level, working on restoring epistemic trust (ET), mentalized affectivity (MA), and reflective functioning (RF) in adolescents with ACEs assumes a central role in the therapeutic process. However, there are still few studies that attempted to investigate the specific role of these sociocognitive factors in the detrimental positive association between levels of experienced ACEs during childhood and psychological maladjustment in nonclinical adolescents.

Initial validation of the Turkish version of the defense mechanisms rating scales-self-report-30.

The Defense Mechanisms Rating Scales-Self Report-30 (DMRS-SR-30) was recently developed to add a self-report alternative to the assessment of defenses, reflecting their generally accepted hierarchical organization. In this study, we aimed to examine psychometric properties and factor structure of the Turkish language version of the DMRS-SR-30. The sample consisted of 1.

Harmonizing early intervention strategies: scoping review of clinical high risk for psychosis and borderline personality disorder.

Aims: To map studies assessing both clinical high risk for psychosis (CHR-P) and borderline personality disorder (BPD) in clinical samples, focusing on clinical/research/preventive paradigms and proposing informed research recommendations.

Methods: We conducted a PRISMA-ScR/JBI-compliant scoping review (protocol: https://osf.io/8mz7a) of primary research studies (cross-sectional/longitudinal designs) using valid measures/criteria to assess CHR-P and BPD (threshold/subthreshold) in clinical samples, reporting on CHR-P/psychotic symptoms and personality disorder(s) in the title/abstract/keywords, identified in Web of Science/PubMed/(EBSCO)PsycINFO until 23/08/2023.

Clinical utility of the at-risk for psychosis state beyond transition: A multidimensional network analysis.

To be relevant to healthcare systems, the clinical high risk for psychosis (CHR-P) concept should denote a specific (i.e., unique) clinical population and provide useful information to guide the choice of intervention.

Direct and indirect effects of psychological well-being and therapeutic alliance on therapy outcome in eating disorders.

Introduction: Outcome research in eating disorders (EDs) is commonly focused on psychopathological dysfunction. However, Ryff's model of psychological well-being (PWB) has shown promising-yet preliminary-results with ED patients. Additionally, despite substantial evidence highlighting the association between the therapeutic alliance and treatment outcome, findings in ED samples remain unclear.

Transference interpretation and psychotherapy outcome: a systematic review of a no-consensus relationship.

Despite its well-established importance in psychoanalytic theory, there is a scarcity of empirical evidence on the relationship between a therapist's transference interpretation (TI) and therapeutic outcome. The current scientific literature shows no consensus on the existence and nature of such an association. Therefore, the present study aimed to systematically review the literature on the link between TI and outcomes in psychodynamic psychotherapies.

Defensive functioning in individuals with depressive disorders: A systematic review and meta-analysis.

Background: This systematic review and meta-analysis aimed to address the limited generalizability of studies on defense mechanisms in depression by comparing depressive individuals with non-clinical controls (aim a) and examining changes throughout psychological interventions (aim b) (PROSPERO CRD42023442620).

Methods: We followed PRISMA 2020 guidelines, searching PubMed/Web of Science/(EBSCO)PsycINFO until 13/04/2023 for studies evaluating defense mechanisms with measures based on the hierarchical model in depressive patients versus non-clinical controls or throughout psychological intervention. We conducted random-effect meta-analyses for mature defenses/non-mature (neurotic/immature) defenses/overall defensive functioning (ODF), with standardized mean difference (SMD) as outcome measure metric.

Patient personality and therapist responses in the psychotherapy of adolescents with depressive disorders: toward the - third edition.

Depressive disorders in adolescence pose unique challenges for assessment and treatment, particularly due to their high comorbidity with various personality disorders. Moreover, young depressed patients may elicit very intense and difficult-to-manage emotional responses in therapists (in this context, countertransference). This study aimed at empirically identifying specific personality disorders (or subtypes) among adolescents with depressive pathology and exploring distinct countertransference patterns emerging in their psychotherapy: 100 adolescents (58 with depressive disorders; 42 with other clinical conditions) were assessed by their respective clinicians (n=100) using the psychodiagnostic chart-adolescent of the Psychodynamic Diagnostic Manual (PDM) - second edition, and the therapist response questionnaire for adolescents.

Using social media for male sexual health: what do we miss? A perspective article on good practices and missing evidence.

Social media are popular and play a key role in influencing, informing, and stimulating users in their everyday lives. People (especially adolescents and young adults) increasingly use social media to get and share sexual health-related information. Studies have shown encouraging results on using social media for sexual health communication improving attitudes and behaviors, although the current quality of studies makes them little reliable.

A Single Case Multimethod Assessment to Detect Significant Changes in the Psychoanalytic Treatment of Psychosomatic Disorders.

Mental disorders with body-centered symptoms, such as somatic, eating, and body dysmorphic disorders, present difficulties in psychotherapy because psychological suffering is manifested in the body rather than expressed verbally. The present study illustrates a single case multi-method investigation sensitive to detecting characteristic change manifestations in the treatment of these disorders. We investigated a treatment of a patient with body dysmorphic disorder.

Prosocial and externalizing behaviors in children raised by different-and same-gender parent families: new directions in parenting research.

Introduction: Limited research focused on the association between parenting practices and children's prosocial and externalizing behaviors comparing same- and different-gender parent families. The present study considered 76 Italian families (73% same-gender and 27% different-gender parent families) with 8-year-old (SD = 2.17; 49% assigned female at birth) children born through assisted reproductive techniques, to explore parenting practices and children's prosocial and externalizing behaviors.

Deepening Sexual Desire and Erotic Fantasies Research in the ACE Spectrum: Comparing the Experiences of Asexual, Demisexual, Gray-Asexual, and Questioning People.

Over the past 30 years, an increasing number of people have identified within the asexual (ACE) spectrum recognizing an absence/low/situational sexual attraction to individuals of any gender. The current study aims to deepen the knowledge of sexual desire, erotic fantasies, and related emotions within the ACE spectrum. A total of 1072 Italian volunteers were recruited to take part to the present study via social media.

The catcher in the mind: validation of the brief-mentalized affectivity scale for adolescents in the Italian population.

The concept of mentalized affectivity (MA) encompasses the dimensions of identifying, processing, and expressing emotions and describes the process of making sense of and reevaluating one's affects in light of autobiographical memory. This construct was developed within the theoretical framework of mentalization and, due to its interpersonal nature, added further complexity to the emotion regulation construct. This research aimed to examine the factor structure and psychometric properties of the Brief-Mentalized Affectivity Scale for adolescents (B-MAS-A) on an Italian sample of young people (aged 13-19 years).

The intergenerational transmission of attachment during middle childhood in lesbian, gay, and heterosexual parent families through assisted reproduction: The mediating role of reflective functioning.

The present study examined the attachment patterns distribution of 60 lesbian mothers, 50 gay fathers, and 42 heterosexual parents through assisted reproduction and their 76 children, using the Adult Attachment Interview (AAI) and the Friends and Family Interview (FFI), respectively. The study also explored the intergenerational transmission of attachment through reflective functioning (AAI-RF). All families lived in Italy and children were aged 6-12 years ( = 8.

Parental burnout, coparenting, and internalized sexual stigma during COVID-19 in parents with minoritized sexual identities.

The COVID-19 pandemic acted as a model of stressful situations for parents insofar as it led to unprecedented difficulties in childcare and caregiving, resulting in increased levels of parental burnout, worldwide. To date, research on parental burnout has mainly involved heterosexual parents. However, parents with minoritized sexual identities face partially different stressors, including internalized sexual stigma, and they also have partially different resources, including a more egalitarian division of childcare labor.

Parenting, dyadic coping, and child emotion regulation in lesbian, gay, and heterosexual parent families through assisted reproduction.

Aims: The present study examined the associations between family structure, parenting, and dyadic coping and children's emotion regulation in lesbian, gay, and heterosexual parent families through assisted reproduction. It also explored differences in parenting dimensions and dyadic coping, based on parents' sexual orientation.

Methods: Participants were 60 lesbian mothers through donor insemination, 50 gay fathers through surrogacy, and 42 heterosexual parents through gamete donation, all with a child aged 6-12 years ( = 8.

Heart rate variability alterations in takotsubo syndrome and related association with psychological factors: a systematic review and meta-analysis.

Psychological factors may have a precipitant role in takotsubo syndrome (TS). Aberrant Heart Rate Variability (HRV) has been reported in TS, suggesting inflexibility of the autonomous nervous system. Nevertheless, results on HRV alterations and their link with psychological factors in TS are conflicting.