The portuguese version of the eating disorders inventory : evaluation of its psychometric properties

The objective of the present study was to examine the psychometric properties of the Portuguese version of the Eating Disorders Inventory (EDI; Garner et al., 1983). Three groups participated in the current study: 274 female and 67 male non-patients, and 83 females with a diagnosis of eating disorder. Results clearly support the reliability and the factor structure of the EDI in a Portuguese sample. In addition non-patient and eating disordered participants' score significantly differently in all EDI scales, emphasizing the clinical usefulness of the measure.Fundação para a Ciência e a Tecnologia - PRAXIS/PCSH/P/PSI/85/96

Is emotional impulsiveness (Urgency) a core feature of severe personality disorder?

Recent literature has focused on severity of personality disorder (PD) and a trait-based assessment of PDs in preference to assessment by specific sets of diagnostic criteria. Evidence suggests that emotional impulsiveness, also known as Urgency (Whiteside, & Lynam (2001). The five factor model and impulsivity: Using a structural model of personality to understand impulsivity. Personality and Individual Differences (30, 669–689), might contribute to a broad spectrum of PDs and to overall PD severity. In a sample of 100 forensic psychiatric patients, all men with confirmed PD and a history of serious offending, two hypotheses were tested: first that high Urgency scores would be associated with a broad spectrum of PDs, and with PD severity; and second, that in regression analysis Urgency would uniquely predict measures of PD severity. Results confirmed these hypotheses and are consistent with the idea that emotional impulsiveness/Urgency contributes importantly to overall severity of PD, and in so doing may explain, at least in part, the well-documented link between PD and violence

Behavioural addiction and substance addiction should be defined by their similarities not their dissimilarities

Following the recent changes to the diagnostic category for addictive disorders in DSM-5, it is urgent to clarify what constitutes behavioural addiction to have a clear direction for future research and classification. However, in the years following the release of DSM-5, an expanding body of research has increasingly classified engagement in a wide range of common behaviours and leisure activities as possible behavioural addiction. If this expansion does not end, both the relevance and the credibility of the field of addictive disorders might be questioned, which may prompt a dismissive appraisal of the new DSM-5 subcategory for behavioural addiction. We propose an operational definition of behavioural addiction together with a number of exclusion criteria, to avoid pathologizing common behaviours and provide a common ground for further research. The definition and its exclusion criteria are clarified and justified by illustrating how these address a number of theoretical and methodological shortcomings that result from existing conceptualizations. We invite other researchers to extend our definition under an Open Science Foundation framework

Recognition memory and source memory in autism spectrum disorder: A study of the intention superiority and enactments effects

It is well established that neurotypical individuals generally show better memory for actions they have performed than actions they have observed others perform or merely read about, a so-called “enactment effect”. Strikingly, research has also shown that neurotypical individuals demonstrate superior memory for actions they intend to perform in the future (but have not yet performed), an effect commonly known as the “intention superiority effect”. Although the enactment effect has been studied among people with ASD, the current study is the first to investigate the intention superiority effect in this disorder. This is surprising given the potential importance this issue has for general theory development, as well as for clinical practice. As such, this study aimed to assess the intention superiority and enactment effects in twenty-two children with ASD, and 20 IQ/age-matched neurotypical children. The results showed that children with ASD demonstrated not only undiminished enactment effects in recognition and source memory, but also (surprisingly for some theories) typical intention superiority effects. The implications of these results for theory, as well as clinical practice, are discussed

The role of every-day executive function in social impairment and adaptive skills in Autism Spectrum Disorder with intellectual disability

Background: Although executive function (EF) deficits are a recognised component of the cognitive phenotype of Autism Spectrum Disorder (ASD), particularly in children without general intellectual delay, little is known about ecological measures of EF and their outcome correlates among individuals with ASD and co-occurring intellectual disability. This exploratory study examined every-day EF in the classroom among children and adolescents diagnosed with both ASD and intellectual disability (ASD-ID) and their correlations with social impairment anadaptive functioning. Method: Teachers of 40 children and adolescents diagnosed with ASD-ID completed the Behavior Rating Inventory of Executive Function, the Vineland Adaptive Behavior Scales, and the Social Responsiveness Scale. Results: A global executive dysfunction profile was found in ASD-ID, with most prominent deficits occurring in shifting. Results also showed that metacognitive executive processes predicted adaptive communication skills above and beyond IQ and social impairment in ASD-ID. Conclusions: Our findings corroborate a specific metacognitive executive function-adaptive communication association in ASD. EF interventions might be important treatment targets for improving functioning, especially in the communicative domain, in ASD-ID

Psychiatric disorder as clinical presentation of primary Sjögren's syndrome: two case reports

Psychiatric disorders in primary Sjögren's syndrome constitute a possible clinical reality that each practitioner must be able to recognise and treat. In this article, two case reports of mental disorder as clinical presentation of primary Sjögren's syndrome are presented, suggesting that psychiatric manifestations in primary Sjögren's syndrome can occur not only during its longitudinal course, but also at the onset of the autoimmune syndrome. A better adapted prescription of corticosteroids and/or immunosuppressive agents (together with specific psychotropic treatments) can induce rapid relief of mental symptoms

Stigma and Self-Stigma in Addiction

Addictions are commonly accompanied by a sense of shame or self-stigmatization. Self-stigmatization results from public stigmatization in a process leading to the internalization of the social opprobrium attaching to the negative stereotypes associated with addiction. We offer an account of how this process works in terms of a range of looping effects, and this leads to our main claim that for a significant range of cases public stigma figures in the social construction of addiction. This rests on a social constructivist account in which those affected by public stigmatization internalize its norms. Stigma figures as part-constituent of the dynamic process in which addiction is formed. Our thesis is partly theoretical, partly empirical, as we source our claims about the process of internalization from interviews with people in treatment for substance use problems

Prevalence and contributing factors to attention deficit hyperactivity disorder:a study of five- to fifteen-year-old children in Zhabei District, Shanghai

INTRODUCTION: This work aims to understand the features among 5- to 15-year-old children with attention deficit hyperactivity disorder (ADHD) in Zhabei District in Shanghai. METHODS: Children with ADHD were studied using general background questionnaire, ADHD symptom rating questionnaire, and cluster-stratified sampling. A total of 9,900 valid questionnaires were utilized in this study. We conducted diagnostic interviews with suspected ADHD children and their parents using the criteria of the Diagnostic and Statistical Manual of Mental Disorders (4th Edition) for ADHD. RESULTS: The prevalence rate of ADHD among the children was 4.6%, of which 2.4%, 0.4%, and 1.8% had ADHD-I ADHD-HI, and ADHD-C types, respectively. The prevalence rates in boys and girls were 6.6% and 2.7% (ratio, 2.41 : 1), respectively. Significant differences in prevalence rate were found among children with different age groups and ADHD types. Children aged 7-10 years had the highest prevalence rate (6.3%). Externally, residence children had higher prevalence than local residents. Significant differences in prevalence rate were also found among children with parents having different educational and socioeconomic level. DISCUSSION: The prevalence of ADHD-HI was higher than the other two types. The highest prevalence was observed in 7- to 10-year-old children. The influential factors of ADHD prevalence were age, gender, and educational level