The relationship between self-determination and burnout: Mental health outcomes in medical residents.

Background: Burnout is a pervasively increasing threat to personal and professional wellbeing and performance. It is yet understudied in relation to basic psychological needs (BPN), especially in at-risk population such as medical residents. This study intends to explore the differential relationship between various aspects of burnout including depersonalization (DP), emotional exhaustion (EE) and lack of personal achievement (PA) and subsets of BPN satisfaction or frustration namely autonomy, relatedness, and competence, with the framework of the Self-Determination Theory (SDT) in healthcare.

Medical students attitudes towards patients with disability: a scale validation study.

Background: Disparities in health outcomes among persons with disabilities (PWD) are influenced by preventable factors including negative attitudes and discriminatory practices of healthcare professionals and the limited training of medical students in working with PWD.

Objective: The purpose of this study was to validate the "Medical Students' Attitudes Towards Patients with Disabilities" (MSA-PWD) scale among Lebanese medical students and identify associated factors.

Method: A scale validation study was conducted as part of the standard internal evaluation process at the medical school, using a cross-sectional design based on a qualitative content validity process, involving students from years 1 to 4.

Time perspective and attachment predict perceived stress in Lebanese undergraduates: The mediating role of trait emotional intelligence.

Background: Lebanese university students experience high levels of stress, which are linked to poor academic and health outcomes. Therefore, understanding the psychological predictors of this stress is crucial. The present study examines the roles of emotional, cognitive, and interpersonal factors in predicting perceived stress, namely trait emotional intelligence (trait EI), time perspective, and attachment.

Can the Phoenix still rise? Traumatic effect of Beirut port explosion on Lebanese people's experiences.

Objective: Mental distress and decreased functionality are highly prevalent after collective traumas. Survivors' ability to function is worsened by untreated distress and unmet needs related to job security and a sense of belonging. We aim to identify groups of people using a latent class analysis based on multiple dimensions of subjective experiences after a massive urban violent event.

Coping during socio-political uncertainty.

Introduction: Well-being of young adults is known to be compromised in times of significant changes, such as economic and political turmoil. This study focuses on university students in Lebanon during one of the most prominent social unrests of its modern history to determine potential understudied protective factors that would predict the youth capacity to strive.

Methods: A sample of 489 university students were asked to fill an online survey including standardized questionnaires of wellbeing (WEMWBS), depression (PHQ-9), anxiety (HAM-A), intolerance of uncertainty (IUS-12), coping (Brief COPE) in addition to demographics and questions about their attitudes and future perspectives.

Exposure to Instagram junk food content negatively impacts mood and cravings in young adults: A randomized controlled trial.

Exposure to different types of images on social media is known to affect physical and mental wellbeing including changes in perception of body image (BI) and dietary behavior. The present study aimed to assess the effects of junk food-related Instagram content exposure on body image, overall mood, and cravings in young adults. A randomized crossover experimental design was used.

Factors associated with posttraumatic growth: gratitude, PTSD and distress; one year into the COVID-19 pandemic in Lebanon.

Almost one year since the COVID-19 was declared a global pandemic, mental distress remains elevated with high prevalence of post-traumatic stress disorder (PTSD). Yet studies suggest these challenging circumstances might be conducive of post-traumatic growth (PTG). This study aims to investigate the factors associated with growth after the original trauma.

The psychological impact of COVID-19 in a socio-politically unstable environment: protective effects of sleep and gratitude in Lebanese adults.

Background: The COVID-19 global pandemic initiated an unprecedented medico-psychological turmoil. Our study investigates the psychological impact of the viral spread and austere lockdown, and focuses mostly on potential protective factors in a politically and economically unstable society.

Methods: A cross-sectional design was used to evaluate rates of mental distress in a sample of 348 Lebanese adults.

Association between desire thinking and problematic social media use among a sample of Lebanese adults: The indirect effect of suppression and impulsivity.

Background: Desire thinking, impulsivity and suppression are psychological variables that are intricately related to behavioral addictions. Bearing in mind the scarcity of data on desire thinking, impulsivity, thought suppression and pathological social media use in developing countries such as Lebanon, with the existing literature suggesting a heightened mental health burden associated with this problematic social media use, it becomes all the more important to elucidate their relationship. Our study aims at investigating the association between desire thinking and problematic social media use specifically, and to further test the effect of impulsivity and thought suppression in mediating the relation between the two distinct facets of desire thinking and problematic social media use.

Assessment of the World Food Programme summer camps in Lebanon: a model of effective interventions for vulnerable adolescents.

The World Food Programme (WFP) offers yearly health and nutrition summer camps hosting vulnerable Syrian and Lebanese children and aiming at improving physical, mental and social well-being while contributing to better social cohesion. The present study aimed to assess the 2019 WFP summer camps' effectiveness in reaching the intended outcomes and to provide recommendations for improvement. A multi-method approach using (1) quantitative student pre-/post-surveys (n 443), (2) focus group discussions and (3) key informant interviews and surveys (n 42) was adopted.

Fear extinction learning improvement in PTSD after EMDR therapy: an fMRI study.

: Neurobiological models of Posttraumatic Stress Disorder (PTSD) implicate fear processing impairments in the maintenance of the disorder. Eye Movement Desensitization and Reprocessing (EMDR) is one of the most efficient psychotherapies to treat PTSD. We aimed at exploring the brain mechanisms of the fear circuitry involved in PTSD patients' symptom remission after EMDR therapy.

Grey matter density changes of structures involved in Posttraumatic Stress Disorder (PTSD) after recovery following Eye Movement Desensitization and Reprocessing (EMDR) therapy.

Recovery of stress-induced structural alterations in Posttraumatic Stress Disorder (PTSD) remains largely unexplored. This study aimed to determine whether symptoms improvement is associated with grey matter (GM) density changes of brain structures involved in PTSD. Two groups of PTSD patients were involved in this study.

Acute stress disorder modifies cerebral activity of amygdala and prefrontal cortex.

The diagnosis constraint of acute stress disorder (ASD), consisting of testing individuals in the month following trauma exposure, limits research on the very early and initial stage of the disease. In this regard, this work aims to explore the cerebral mechanism of ASD in a population of fire-fighters before and after trauma exposure. Thirty-six healthy non-traumatized male fire-fighters were explored by an fMRI emotional face-matching task to evaluate the cerebral substrate of emotional recognition.

Relationship between emotional experience and resilience: an fMRI study in fire-fighters.

Resilience refers to the capacity to cope effectively in stressful situations or adversity. It may involve the ability to experience emotions matching the demands of environmental circumstances. The brain mechanisms underlying resilience remain unclear.

Neuroticism modifies psychophysiological responses to fearful films.

Background: Neuroticism is a personality component frequently found in anxious and depressive psychiatric disorders. The influence of neuroticism on negative emotions could be due to its action on stimuli related to fear and sadness, but this remains debated. Our goal was thus to better understand the impact of neuroticism through verbal and physiological assessment in response to stimuli inducing fear and sadness as compared to another negative emotion (disgust).

Attentional bias in post-traumatic stress disorder diminishes after symptom amelioration.

Background: Avoidance and hypervigilance to reminders of a traumatic event are among the main characteristics of post-traumatic stress disorder (PTSD). Attentional bias toward aversive cues in PTSD has been hypothesized as being part of the dysfunction causing etiology and maintenance of PTSD. The aim of the present study was to investigate the cognitive strategy underlying attentional bias in PTSD and whether normal cognitive processing is restored after a treatment suppressing core PTSD symptoms.

Amygdala activity correlates with attentional bias in PTSD.

Post-traumatic stress disorder (PTSD) is an anxiety disorder arising in the aftermath of a traumatic event. The most prevalent hypothesis is that of an increased amygdala activity to threat cues. The amygdala has also shown an implication in orienting attention toward threat.