Associazione tra stato attuale della mente, regolazione affettiva e attaccamento romantico: uno studio neurobiologico

Secondo la teoria dell’attaccamento l’interiorizzazione dei diversi aspetti dell’esperienza relazionale precoce influenzerebbero il comportamento e la regolazione delle emozioni anche in età adulta, nella relazione con il partner. All'interno di un legame di attaccamento sicuro, in cui è possibile un'integrazione d’informazioni affettive e cognitive, si svilupperebbero competenze emotive ottimali. Studi comportamentali hanno dimostrato che l’attaccamento sicuro risulta essere negativamente correlato con l’alessitimia, un deficit della regolazione affettiva. In età adulta, l'alessitimia è associata ad alti livelli di ansia ed evitamento nelle relazioni di coppia e con un minore adattamento, soddisfazione e qualità della relazione con il partner. Diversi studi hanno, inoltre, sottolineato come la regolazione delle emozioni presenti delle differenze legate al genere. Nello specifico, è stato notato che le donne evitanti presentano un atteggiamento più ruminativo, mentre gli uomini tenderebbero a sopprimere le emozioni. L'ipotesi è che lo stato della mente adulta relativo all’attaccamento infantile è associato ai livelli di alessitimia e a quelli di ansia ed evitamento nella relazione con il partner. Inoltre, si ipotizza che tali associazioni sono modulate dalla relazione esperita con il genitore del sesso opposto. Negli ultimi anni, è stato indagato come l'attaccamento e l'alessitimia modulano l'attivazione cerebrale in risposta a stimoli emotivi. Ad oggi, questa associazione ancora non è chiara. Considerate le differenze di genere nella regolazione emotiva dimostrate da diversi studi, si ipotizza che i livelli di alessitimia e di evitamento sono associati con l’attivazione cerebrale negativamente negli uomini e positivamente nelle donne. Per la valutazione delle variabili psicologiche sono stati somministrati: Adult Attachment Interview (AAI), Experience in Close Relationship- Revised (ECR-R) e Toronto Alexithymia Scale -20 items (TAS-20). L’attività elettroencefalografica di 43 partecipanti (20 uomini e 23 donne, età M= 24.2 ± 2.2) è stata registrata in risposta a stimoli di interazioni di coppia di diversa valenza emotiva (positiva, negativa, ambigua) e a stimoli neutri. Le analisi statistiche sono state condotte su Event-related Potentials (ERPs) e sull’attivazione delle aree di Brodmann (BA) estratte tramite sLORETA (Standardized low-resolution electromagnetic tomography). I risultati principali mostrano che la rappresentazione della relazione che l’individuo ha con il genitore del sesso opposto è associata all’alessitimia e all’ansia e all’evitamento nella relazione con il partner e che l’idealizzazione dei genitori, in particolare quella del padre, sembra associata ad una maggiore sicurezza nella relazione di coppia. Inoltre, nelle donne l’evitamento e la difficoltà a identificare le emozioni risultano positivamente associati con l'attivazione della giunzione amigdala-ippocampo (Ahj) destra e il cingolato posteriore (PCC) sinistro in risposta agli stimoli emotivi, negli uomini questa associazione risulta negativa. Questo risultato suggerisce come l’alessitimia e l’evitamento possano essere strategie di regolazione espresse in modo differente negli uomini e nelle donne

Role of state and trait attachment dimensions on involvement in a close relationship

The aim of the study was to investigate the association between trait and state attachment features and involvement in a couple-relationship. Eighty-four participants of different nationalities completed Childhood Trauma Questionnaire (CTQ), Toronto Alexithymia Scale (TAS-20), Attachment Style Questionnaire (ASQ), Experiences in Close Relationships-Revised (ECR-R), State Adult Attachment Measure (SAAM) and a personal questionnaire focused on involvement and amount of time spent in a couple-relationship. Results of the study showed that trait attachment features predicted involvement in a close relationship and the presence of a couple relationship predicted attachment state dimensions. Correlation analyses showed that the involvement in couple relationship was associated to CTQ Physical Neglect and SAAM Anxiety while participants without a partner had higher scores on CTQ Emotional Abuse, ECR- R Avoidance and SAAM Avoidance. Regression analyses showed that trait attachment features predicted time spent in a close relationship, while time spent in relationship predicted state attachment dimensions. Moreover, regression analysis showed that SAAM Security was predicted by ECR-R scales only in the sample of participants involved in a couple relationship

Neural correlates of outcome of the psychotherapy compared to antidepressant therapy in anxiety and depression disorders: a meta-analysis

The most prevalent mental disorders, anxiety and depression, are commonly associated with structural and functional changes in the fronto-limbic brain areas. The clinical trials investigating patients with affective disorders showed different outcome to different treatments such as psychotherapy or pharmacotherapy. It is, however, still unexplored how these interventions approach affect the functional brain. This meta-analysis aims to compare the effects of psychotherapy compared to antidepressant therapy on functional brain activity in anxiety and depression disorders. Twenty-one samples with psychotherapy and seventeen samples with antidepressant therapy were included. The main finding showed an inverse effect of the two treatments on the right paracingulate activity. The patients undergoing psychotherapy showed an increase in the right paracingulate activity while pharmacological treatment led to a decrease of activation of this area. This finding seems to support the recent studies that hypothesize how psychotherapy, through the self-knowledge and the meaning processing, involves a top-down emotional regulation

Comprehending stories in pantomime. A pilot study with typically developing children and its implications for the narrative origin of language

This paper presents a pilot study aimed at investigating the comprehension of pantomimic stories and its possible cognitive underpinnings in typically developing children. A group of twenty-two Italian-speaking children aged between 8.02 and 10.11 years were included in the study. Participants watched short videos in which professional actors performed pantomime narratives; then answered a comprehension question and retold the stories. Analyses revealed positive correlations between the comprehension of pantomimes and age, theory of mind, and working memory. The implications of these results for a narrative model of language origin are discussed against the background of an eco-evo-devo perspective

Melanocortins and the cholinergic anti-inflammatory pathway.

Experimental evidence indicates that small concentrations of inflammatory molecules produced by damaged tissues activate afferent signals through ascending vagus nerve fibers, that act as the sensory arm of an "inflammatory reflex". The subsequent activation of vagal efferent fibers, which represent the motor arm of the inflammatory reflex, rapidly leads to acetylcholine release in organs of the reticuloendothelial system. Acetylcholine interacts with α7 subunit-containing nicotinic receptors in tissue macrophages and other immune cells and rapidly inhibits the synthesis/release of tumor necrosis factor-α and other inflammatory cytokines. This neural anti-inflammatory response called "cholinergic anti-inflammatory pathway" is fast and integrated through the central nervous system. Preclinical studies are in progress, with the aim to develop therapeutic agents able to activate the cholinergic anti-inflammatory pathway. Melanocortin peptides bearing the adrenocorticotropin/α-melanocyte-stimulating hormone sequences exert a protective and life-saving effect in animals and humans in conditions of circulatory shock. These neuropeptides are likewise protective in other severe hypoxic conditions, such as prolonged respiratory arrest, myocardial ischemia, renal ischemia and ischemic stroke, as well as in experimental heart transplantation. Moreover, experimental evidence indicates that melanocortins reverse circulatory shock, prevent myocardial ischemia/reperfusion damage and exert neuroprotection against ischemic stroke through activation of the cholinergic anti-inflammatory pathway. This action occurs via stimulation of brain melanocortin MC3/MC4 receptors. Investigations that determine the molecular mechanisms of the cholinergic anti-inflammatory pathway activation could help design of superselective activators of this pathway

Defining the Characteristics of Story Production of Autistic Children: A Multilevel Analysis

Several studies suggest that a valuable tool to examine linguistic skills in communication disorders is offered by procedures of narrative discourse assessment. Following this line of research, we present an exploratory study aimed to investigate storytelling abilities of autistic children to better define the characteristics of their story production. Participants included 41 autistic children and 41 children with typical development aged between 7.02 and 11.03 years matched on age, gender, level of formal education, intelligence quotient, working memory, attention skills, theory of mind, and phonological short-term memory. Narrative production was assessed by analysing the language samples obtained through the “Nest Story” description task. A multilevel analysis including micro- and macro-linguistic variables was adopted for narrative assessment. Group differences emerged on both micro- and macro-linguistic dimensions: autistic children produced narratives with more phonological errors and semantic paraphasias (microlinguistic variables) as well as more errors of global coherence and a fewer number of visible events and inferred events (macrolinguistic variables) than the control group.This study shows that even autistic children with adequate cognitive skills display several limitations in their narrative competence and that such weaknesses affect both micro- and macrolinguistic aspects of story production

Neural correlates of outcome of cognitive therapy compared to psychodynamic therapy in affective disorders. a meta-analysis

Anxiety and depression disorders are commonly associated with structural and functional changes in the fronto-limbic brain areas. However, it is still unexplored how different psychotherapeutic approaches affect the functional brain. The present meta-analysis aims to compare the neurobiological outcome of the cognitive therapies compared to the psychodynamic therapies in anxiety and depression disorders

The First Physical Movements of Life: Fetal Movements, the Mother's Psychological States and Wellbeing of Future Child

The movement of the fetus inside the womb has been recognized as a foremost indicator of fetal wellbeing. Fetal movements have a wide range of expression and the decrement of this movement is associated with numerous pathologies and poor pregnancy outcomes. An account of the fetal activity based on the mother’s perception of the movements that begins between the third and fourth month of gestation, along with the technological assessment, can provide crucial information about the developing fetus. More studies report the association between maternal anxiety and depression during pregnancy and the perception of the fetal motor activity. Women who consider their lives as more stressful and report more stress about pregnancy, also report more fetal activity across gestation. Coherently, fetuses of women who perceived their pregnancy to be more pleasant and have a more positive emotional attitude toward pregnancy are less active. Moreover, mother-fetus attachment and maternal emotional regulation skills have a positive association with health practices in pregnancy and some studies reported an association between low level of prenatal attachment and high level of alexithymia. People with high alexithymia show high levels of sympathetic activity and a dissociation between subjective and physiological stress responses. In 2013, a pilot study was carried out whose aim was to investigate the relationship between mothers’ emotional regulation ability, prenatal attachment and fetal movements in the first three months of pregnancy. The results of this study showed that that the time elapsed in extensor movements by fetuses at three months of gestation was negatively associated with the emotional regulation ability of the mothers in pregnancy. The human motor activity thus has a primary relevance since the first months of life suggesting the bidirectional relationship between psychological and physical dimensions. Studying fetal body movements and their association with the maternal features could, therefore, provide a key to facilitate early intervention and optimal treatment before, during pregnancy and after birth

Narrative Identity in Addictive Disorders: A Conceptual Review

Narrative identity allows individuals to integrate their personal experiences into a coherent and meaningful life story. Addictive disorders appear to be associated with a disturbed sense of self, reflected in problematic and disorganized self-narratives. In recent literature, a growing body of research has highlighted how narrative approaches can make a dual contribution to the understanding of addiction: on the one hand, by revealing crucial aspects of self structure, and, on the other, by supporting the idea that addiction is a disorder related to unintegrated self-states in which dissociative phenomena and the resulting sense of ‘loss of self’ are maladaptive strategies for coping with distress. This conceptual review identified the main measures of narrative identity, i.e., narrative coherence and complexity, agency, and emotions, and critically examines 9 quantitative and qualitative studies (out of 18 identified in literature), that have investigated the narrative dimension in people with an addictive disorder in order to provide a synthesis of the relationship between self, narrative and addiction. These studies revealed a difficulty in the organization of narrative identity of people with an addictive disorder, which is reflected in less coherent and less complex autobiographical narratives, in a prevalence of passivity and negative emotions, and in a widespread presence of themes related to a lack of self-efficacy. This review points out important conceptual, methodological and clinical implications encouraging further investigation of narrative dimension in addiction