Nothing about us without us! How users configure clinical treatment in Italian residential communities: ethnography of therapeutic engagement.

The effectiveness of the interventions in the Therapeutic communities (TC) depends not only on the quality of the specialized knowledge and methodologies adopted, but also on the meanings consumers give to them. Building the therapeutic alliance is a key element in reducing high drop-out rates and predicting more favorable outcomes. This research investigated the discourses practiced by 45 people with substance use disorders who had been accessing a therapeutic community for less than 15 days, with the aim of delving into the meanings given to treatment and pathway goals in the service, to analyze what theories are used to explain consumption and therapeutic change.

The Discursive Configuration of the Therapeutic Community for Substance Users: Positioning and Ethnopsychological Processes Concerning Entry.

Therapeutic communities face high drop-out rates and general distrust of their effectiveness among substance users. Actively involving users early in treatment promotes greater compliance with the treatment and is predictive of better outcomes. However, users often occupy a passive and subordinate role, exacerbated by the lack of research that explores their perspectives, beliefs, and experiences.

Early Support for People Who Hear Voices: Exploratory Research on Family Medicine Physicians' Clinical Practice and Beliefs.

Nowadays the phenomenon of hearing voices represents a very fertile and discussed field of research. In psychological and psychiatric fields, the phenomenon has been described as a normal phenomenon, but also as a prodromal stage and as a symptom of psychosis. Through a qualitative research methodology, the aim was to explore how family medicine physicians configure the phenomenon and its clinical and interactive implications.

The Invisible Discrimination: Biases in the Clinical Approach Regarding Migrants: A Study to Help Ethnopsychology Services and Clinicians.

The complexity of migration flows across the world has led to a redefinition of psychological and social services users. The access of migrants from different cultural backgrounds to clinical services or social health services has diversified the demand for concomitant help. Biases and misinterpretations have been created by unaccustomed professionals in this field, which could lead to serious consequences and invalidate diagnostic and treatment procedures.

Real-time fMRI neurofeedback compared to cognitive behavioral therapy in a pilot study for the treatment of mild and moderate depression.

Real-time functional magnetic resonance imaging (rt-fMRI) neurofeedback was found to reduce depressive symptoms. However, no direct comparison of drug-free patients with an active psychotherapy control group is available. The present study compared rt-fMRI neurofeedback with cognitive behavioral therapy, as the standard treatment in patients declining anti-depressants.

Facial Expression Time Processing in Typical Development and in Patients with Congenital Facial Palsy.

Temporal dynamics of behavior, particularly facial expressions, are fundamental for communication between individuals from very early in development. Facial expression processing has been widely demonstrated to involve embodied simulative processes mediated by the motor system. Such processes may be impaired in patients with congenital facial palsy, including those affected by Moebius syndrome (MBS).

Brain Networks Connectivity in Mild to Moderate Depression: Resting State fMRI Study with Implications to Nonpharmacological Treatment.

Network mechanisms of depression development and especially of improvement from nonpharmacological treatment remain understudied. The current study is aimed at examining brain networks functional connectivity in depressed patients and its dynamics in nonpharmacological treatment. Resting state fMRI data of 21 healthy adults and 51 patients with mild or moderate depression were analyzed with spatial independent component analysis; then, correlations between time series of the components were calculated and compared between-group (study 1).

Community perspective: How volunteers, professionals, families and the general population construct disability: Social, clinical and health implications.

Background: This research deals with the way people create discourses around disability, which shape the community's concept of disability.

Objective: The purpose of this article is to find out how the community configures "disability", in particular by understanding the ideas, needs and strategies that the community uses towards people with disabilities. Specifically, different roles have been involved, such as professionals, volunteers, family members and citizens.

fMRI Response of Parietal Brain Areas to Sad Facial Stimuli in Mild Depression.

fMRI markers of mild depression were revealed using standard emotional test. Patients with mild depression and healthy volunteers were asked to determine gender of subjects in photographs with different emotional expressions (neutral, surprise, disgust, confusion, anger, sadness, fear, and joy). The pattern of response to different emotions was universal in both groups and included the largest clusters in the occipital region, as well as a certain volume in the parietal lobes and posterior lateral frontal cortex.

Functional Connectivity of Brain Regions According to Resting State fMRI: Differences between Healthy and Depressed Subjects and Variability of the Results.

In depressed patients, changes in spontaneous brain activity, in particular, the strength of functional connectivity between different regions are observed. The data on changes in the synchrony of different regions of interest in the brain can serve as markers of depressive symptoms and as the targets for the corresponding therapy. The study involved 21 patients with mild depression and 21 healthy volunteers; by the time of second fMRI scanning, 15 and 19 subjects, respectively).

Estimation of the Composition of the Resting State fMRI Networks in Subjects with Mild Depression and Healthy Volunteers.

Depressive disorders can be associated with changes in not only interaction between neural networks, but also in their composition. Resting state fMRI scanning was performed for 4 min twice for each subject and the results of patients with mild depression (N=15) and healthy subjects (N=19) were analyzed. The fMRI signal was reduced into the independent components and the contrasts between the groups and between the first and second records were constructed for each component.

Spontaneous Changes in Functional Connectivity of Independent Components of fMRI Signal in Healthy Volunteers at Rest and in Subjects with Mild Depression.

Depression is associated with changes in the pattern of interaction of cerebral networks, which can reflect both existing symptoms and compensatory processes. The study is based on analysis of resting state fMRI data from 15 patients with mild depression and 19 conventionally healthy individuals. From fMRI signal recorded at rest for 4 min, the independent components were reconstructed.

fMRI Responses in Healthy Individuals and in Patients with Mild Depression to Presentation of Pleasant and Unpleasant Images.

Patients with mild depression and apparently healthy individuals were presented images and asked to sort them into "pleasant" and "unpleasant" subsets. In both groups, the main differences between brain activation patterns during presentation of pleasant and unpleasant images were localized in the motor regions (precentral and postcentral gyrus) and in the cerebellum (p<0.05 with FWE correction).

Peculiarities in Interaction of Independent Components of Resting-State fMRI Signal in Patients with Mild Depressions.

Some aspects of resting-state fMRI signal can be the key markers of depression. fMRI was recoded over 4 min in evidently healthy persons (N=21) and in patients with mild depression (N=21). The data were separated into the independent spatial components, and the strength of their association with established brain networks was analyzed.