[Bipolar disorders and multiple etiologies : a link with attachment disorders ?].

Bipolar disorders (BD) bring together different forms of mood disorders, characterized by the occurrence of depressive, manic, hypomanic and/or mixed episodes. They are recognized as the seventh cause of disability per year of life among 15 to 44 year old people by the World Health Organization (WHO). It is therefore a frequently encountered pathology.

[Hypochondriasis : the morbid fear of diseases…].

Hypochondriasis is characterized by the fear or belief of suffering from a serious illness, based on the subject's misinterpretation of physical symptoms or manifestations of bodily functions. This concept has always been a topic of debate and controversy regarding its definition, nature and nosography, which is still ongoing today. Its complex management, including psychotherapeutic and pharmacological interventions, challenges the therapeutic relationship.

The role of empathy in trolley problems and variants: A systematic review and meta-analysis.

The role of empathy in morality is a subject of ongoing scientific debate due to the lack of systematic reviews and meta-analyses on this topic. To address this gap, we conducted a PRISMA-based systematic quantitative review to investigate the role of empathy in moral judgements, decision-making, and inclinations using trolley problems and variants, which are popular types of moral dilemmas that explore utilitarianism and deontology. We searched for articles in four databases (PsycINFO, Pubmed, WorldWideScience, and Scopus) and performed citation searches.

Moral Decision-Making in Trolley Problems and Variants: How Do Participants' Perspectives, Borderline Personality Traits, and Empathy Predict Choices?

The aim of the present study was to demonstrate and extend the causal effect of participants' perspectives on moral decision-making using trolley problems and variants. Additionally, we investigated whether empathy and borderline (BDL) personality traits predicted participants' choices in these scenarios. We used both a classical trolley problem (a causing harm scenario) and an everyday trolley-like problem (a causing inconvenience scenario).

Individual differences and personality traits across situations.

Background: According to the Big Five theory, personality can be classified into five traits (i.e., extraversion, neuroticism, conscientiousness, agreeableness, and openness), and past research showed that situations impact personality.

A stenography of empathy: Toward a consensual model of the empathic process.

Empathy has gained popularity in the general population and the scientific world during the past decade. Recently, several researchers found a significant decrease in empathy scores of healthcare students (notably medical students) and recommend promoting empathy skills in several fields of education. The current paper presents a new model of the empathic process: a stenography of empathy compelling scientific data and contemporary conceptions.

[When bariatric surgery "bypasses" controlled alcohol consumption].

Obesity is a complex disease with significant morbidity and mortality. Its management is a major health issue. Obesity surgery is currently the most effective treatment for this condition.

[Tear your eyes out ! A case of bilateral auto-enucleation].

Bilateral autoenucleation is an extremely rare form of ocular self-mutilation. This gesture usually occurs in psychotic patients. In a moment of madness, a 28-year-old man brutally tore out both of his eyes.

Academic burnout among medical students: respective importance of risk and protective factors.

Objectives: Prior research has found a high prevalence of academic burnout among medical students (33-55%), and medical education institutions have begun to address the issue. In this research, we hypothesized an increase in academic burnout during medical education, as supported by previous findings. The second purpose was to identify the significant predictors (among perceived stress, empathy, and perceived social support) of academic burnout and determine their respective importance.

Focusing: A new challenger for improving the empathy skills of medical students.

Objectives: Studies of empathy among medical students reported an alarming significant decline during medical education. Some authors identified the third year of education as the most problematic one: empathy decreased significantly when the curriculum was shifting to patient-care activities. Scientists have tried to address the means and methods for improving empathy skills (e.

[«I am not pregnant !» About denial of pregnancy…].

The term «denial of pregnancy», although used in current medical practice since 1970, does not yet have a universal definition. The literature allows to define it as «the non-recognition of a pregnancy beyond the first trimester, which can last until delivery and cover it». The changes related to pregnancy are biologically reduced or incorrectly perceived or even ignored.

Relative stability of alexithymia and openness to emotions in one psychiatric day hospital setting.

Alexithymia (literally, difficulty finding words for emotions) and openness to emotions (OE: referring to the cognitive representation, communication, regulation, perception of internal and external bodily sensations, and social restriction of emotions) are strongly linked to psychopathology. The absolute and relative stability hypotheses were tested in order to determine whether significant changes occurred on these constructs after therapy, a condition where changes were expected for both constructs. Negative attitudes toward treatment (NTI) and perceived social support (PSS) were expected to significantly predict alexithymia and OE.

[Virtual reality exposure therapy for post-traumatic stress disorders, obsessive-compulsive disorders and anxiety disorders: Indications, added value and limitations].

The exposure in cognitive behavioral therapy (CBT) is a well-known intervention, widely investigated in scientific research. Several studies have shown the benefits of this intervention in the treatment of anxiety disorders, obsessive-compulsive disorders (OCD) and post-traumatic stress disorders (PTSD). The different exposure techniques are mainly based on the emotional processing of fear theory and use an emotional stimulation of fear, following by its habituation.

The intergroup empathy bias among incoming medical students.

Background: Previous studies revealed a significant empathy decline over time among medical students. Scientific literature also supports the influence of group belonging on the empathy expression.

Objective: Through this study, we aimed to demonstrate whether group belonging (peers or patients) significantly influences empathy levels before students undertake their education in medicine.

Humor Associated With Positive Outcomes in Individual Psychotherapy.

Considerable anecdotal evidence points to the usefulness of humor in the therapeutic process, but empirical evidence is lacking. The purpose of this study, conducted in Belgium, was to search for an association between humor and therapy outcomes in a population of 110 adult psychotherapy clients who attended at least 10 therapy sessions. Clients and their therapist evaluated the frequency and intensity of humorous events, as well as therapy effectiveness, therapeutic alliance, perceived hope, and pleasure in participating in therapy sessions.

Decline of empathy among medical students: Dehumanization or useful coping process?

Objectives: Empathy is central in patient-physician interactions and understanding its development is decisive for education. However, scientific literatures report a striking decline of empathy among medical students during their study course. Firstly, we aimed to replicate this result on a Belgian population.

[Starving to death : the paradox of anorexia nervosa].

Anorexia nervosa is a complex pathology that regularly leads clinicians to a therapeutic impasse. The origin of this disorder is multifactorial. It occurs most often in adolescence and affects mainly women.

[Clinical study of the month: depressive pseudo-dementia].

We report the case of a man aged 62 suffering from a known type I bipolar disorder and referred by his attending psychiatrist because of a state of spatiotemporal disorientation, confusion and prostration evoking significant neurologic impairment. The interest of this case report is in the use of the 18-FDG PET-Scanner, which is increasingly widespread in clinical psychiatry, to support the differential diagnosis between a psycho-organic pathology like dementia or a functional psychiatric pathology like depressive pseudo-dementia (also named melancholic dementia), in which some patterns of dysfunction can now be identified by functional imaging.

[Internet addiction? A new form of behavioral dependence?].

The speed of development of new technologies of information and communication (I.C.T.

[Can we treat sexual addiction ?].

Sexual addiction or sexual dependence is characterized by hypersexuality, impaired regulation of sexual desire and sexual compulsivity, including having sex with uncontrolled excessive frequency (5 to 15 sexual acts per day for more than 6 months, from 15 years old). Between 3% and 6% of the adult population (> or =18 years) would have the characteristics of sexual addiction, disorder prevalent in the male population. The addictive processes affect three behavioral domains : motivation-reward, affect regulation and behavioral inhibition.

Evidence that the Two-Way Communication Checklist identifies patient-doctor needs discordance resulting in better 6-month outcome.

Objective: To assess an intervention aimed at reducing patient-professional carer needs discordance.

Method: In a group of 460 patients with schizophrenia, the Two-Way Communication Checklist (2-COM), an instrument to rate needs, was completed at baseline, 2 months and 6 months by both the patient and the professional carer, allowing for the quantification of patient-carer needs discordance.

Results: Reduction in patient-reported 2-COM needs in the group with low baseline needs discordance was much greater at 2 and 6 months (2 months: beta = -0.

[Borderline personality disorder: clinic approach of a psychopathology "without limits"].

The borderline personality disorder is a common psychiatric entity, which is characterized by a varied symptomatology and a significant comorbidity. It seems that its etiologic is heterogeneous, comprising psychosocial factors as much as biological and genetic. So the best approach of the borderline personality disorder would be a multidisciplinary bio-psycho-social one.

[When depression does not end. Resistant depression: recent clinical and therapeutic aspects].

All over the world, depression represents a major public health issue. According to WHO, it is the fifth disease in the world (in years of illness), the second for people aged 15 to 44 and by 2020, it could become the second in the whole world population after cardiovascular diseases. Although increasingly safer and more efficient antidepressants are available, physicians are frequently confronted with the problem of resistant depression.