The perception of pain, discriminative touch and affective touch in patients suffering from Borderline Personality Disorder.

Borderline Personality Disorder (BPD) is often characterized by self-injurious behaviors, with one-half to two-third of these patients reporting hypalgesic or analgesic phenomena during self-harming. Research on pain perception in BPD suggested abnormal processing of nociception either within the sensory-discriminative and/or motivational-affective systems of pain. Nevertheless, it is still unclear whether pain insensitivity could be generalized to other somatosensory submodalities.

An Exploratory Study on Resting-State Functional Connectivity in Individuals with Disorganized Attachment: Evidence for Key Regions in Amygdala and Hippocampus.

Studies comparing organized (O) and unresolved/disorganized (UD) attachment have consistently shown structural and functional brain abnormalities, although whether and how attachment patterns may affect resting state functional connectivity (RSFC) is still little characterized. Here, we investigated RSFC of temporal and limbic regions of interest for UD attachment. Participants' attachment was classified via the Adult Attachment Interview, and all participants underwent clinical assessment.

Patients' crying experiences in psychotherapy and relationship with working alliance, therapeutic change and attachment styles.

Crying may be a beneficial experience and reflect a patients' involvement in the therapeutic work, as well as a potential indicator of the healing process. This study explored the relationships between patients' crying experience in therapy, their perception of working alliance and therapeutic change, as well as considering the role of attachment styles. One hundred six patients completed a survey about crying in psychotherapy and self-report measures for assessing working alliance, therapeutic change, and attachment styles.

Heart rate variability in response to the recall of attachment memories.

Internal Working Models of the attachment system modulate emotional responses and the Disorganized attachment pattern is characterized by the breakdown of such regulation. Vagally-mediated heart rate variability (vmHRV) is an index of flexible emotional responding. This study investigated vmHRV in non-clinical adults with an Organized or Disorganized attachment pattern before, during, and after the recall of attachment memories via the Adult Attachment Interview (AAI).

Tactile sensitivity, tactile acuity, and affective touch: from childhood to early adolescence.

The development of somatosensation and affective touch acquires a central role throughout our lives, for several reasons. In adults, these functions are driven by different, neuroanatomically and functionally segregated fibres. To date, very little is known about the basic features of these fibres in childhood and this lack of knowledge is mirrored in the affective touch domain, where there are no studies on the main physiological features of the tactile processes linked to the stimulation of the hairy skin, namely the preferential site of affective touch.

Patients' crying experiences in psychotherapy: Relationship with the patient level of personality organization, clinician approach, and therapeutic alliance.

The present study sought to further understand patients' crying experiences in psychotherapy. We asked 64 clinicians to randomly request one patient in their practice to complete a survey concerning crying in psychotherapy as well as a measure of therapeutic alliance. All clinicians provided information regarding their practice and patient diagnostic information.

Obesity is associated with lack of inhibitory control and impaired heart rate variability reactivity and recovery in response to food stimuli.

Recent theories compare obesity with addiction in terms of lack of inhibitory control in both clinical populations. The present study hypothesized impaired inhibition in obese patients reflected both in executive functions and reduced vagal tone (indexed by a decrease in heart rate variability; HRV) in response to food stimuli. Twenty-four inpatients with obesity (19 women) and 37 controls (24 women) underwent ECG monitoring during baseline, food stimuli viewing, and a recovery phase.

Does the efficacy of asenapine in bipolar disorder increase in the presence of comorbidity with a substance use disorder? A naturalistic study.

Background: Asenapine is a second-generation antipsychotic approved in Europe for treating moderate-to-severe manic episodes in adults affected by type I bipolar disorder (BD-I). We aimed to compare its efficacy in psychiatric inpatients with BD-I, with or without substance use disorder (SUD).

Methods: We administered flexible asenapine doses ranging from 5-20 mg/day to 119 voluntarily hospitalized patients with Diagnostic and Statistical Manual of Mental Disorders, 4th Edition, Text Revision (DSM-IV-TR) BD-I diagnosis, with or without SUD.