Intergenerational transmission of attachment. Family interactive dynamics and psychopathology: what kind of relationship in adolescence?

Introduction: this work is an example of empirical research. The aim was to look to the possible transgenerational influence between parents and adolescents attachment bond to their respective parents, infant armonic and/or disarmonic development and functional or dysfunctional family interactions. Methodology: 40 families with adolescents aged from 12 to 18 years (μ = 14.575, σ = 1.716) coming for a psychodiagnostic evaluation were tested with Lausanne Trilogue Play, Parental Bonding Instrument, Child Behaviour Checklist and Youth Self Report. Hypothesis: a) is there an association between the adolescent’s perceived attachment relationship with his parents and his psychopathological symptoms? In this case a non parametric test for k independent groups was performed. b) is there an association between parents-adolescent interactive dynamics and the parents’ perceived attachment relationship with their parents (adolescent’s grand-parents). In this case correlations and non-parametric test for k independent groups were performed. Results: a) we found significant statistical differences (p < .05) between adolescent psychopathology and the quality of perceived relationship with both the mother and the father. b) we found positive correlations between quality of relationship between the mother and her father (adolescent grandfather) and the scores of some LTP scales concerning normative function; moreover we found negative correlations between the father and his mother (adolescent’s grandmother) and the scores of some LTP scales concerning affective function. Conclusion: these results underline a significant association between the internal working model of the mother and her ways to interact and manage the relation with her adolescent son; this is a clinical evidence too. Another relevant result is the association between adolescent’s psychopathology and his internal working model. Clinical applications regarding these findings should be taken in account when psychotherapeutically working with adolescents and their families

Emotional Difficulties in Adolescence: Psychopathology and Family Interactions.

Introduction. Several studies on developmental age have investigated aspects relating to emotional competence, and alexithymia in particular, showing that it is associated with behavioral problems in childhood and adolescence. Some such research has focused on the relationship between emotional difficulties and family interactions assuming a link between the quality of family relationships and a child\u2019s emotional competence. Subjects and Methods. The aims of the present study were: 1) to compare a group of psychiatric adolescents with a group of \u201chealthy\u201d adolescents in terms of any alexithymia and its relationship with the former\u2019s psychopathological issues; 2) to clarify the relationship, if any, between psychopathology, alexithymia and family interaction patterns in our sample of psychiatric adolescents. The experimental group consisted of 41 psychiatric adolescents and the control group of 41 students matched for gender and age. The Toronto Alexithymia Scale (TAS-20) was used to identify any alexithymic traits, the Youth Self Report (YSR) 11-18 and the CBCL to detect any psycho-behavioral problems, and the Lausanne Trilogue Play (LTP) to analyze family interactions. Results. There was a higher prevalence of alexithymia among the adolescents with mental health problems than in the control group, and a correlation between their scores for internalizing problems and alexithymia. In the experimental group, adolescents with internalizing problems, somatic complaints and attention difficulties belonged to families revealing high levels of parental conflict. As for alexithymia, adolescents\u2019 difficulty identifying emotions correlated significantly with the same trait in their mothers. This feature also seemed to be associated with better family interactions. Conclusion. Our study confirms the importance of family relationships in the development of emotional skills, and highlights how deficiencies in the development of emotional competence are strongly associated with psychopathologies in adolescence. In the light of these findings, it is advisable in clinical practice to provide psychotherapeutic interventions for teens and their parents

Adolescents with Mental Disorders: The Efficacy of a Multiprofessional Approach

In the book "Mental Illnesses - Evaluation, Treatments and Implications" attention is focused on background factors underlying mental illness. It is crucial that mental illness be evaluated thoroughly if we want to understand its nature, predict its long-term outcome, and treat it with specific rather than generic treatment, such as pharmacotherapy for instance. Additionally, community-wide and cognitive-behavioral approaches need to be combined to decrease the severity of symptoms of mental illness. Unfortunately, those who should profit the most by combination of treatments, often times refuse treatment or show poor adherence to treatment maintenance. Most importantly, what are the implications of the above for the mental health community? Mental illness cannot be treated with one single form of treatment. Combined individual, community, and socially-oriented treatments, including recent distance-writing technologies will hopefully allow a more integrated approach to decrease mental illness world-wide

Polymorphisms of the SCN1A gene in children and adolescents with primary headache and idiopathic or cryptogenic epilepsy: is there a linkage?

The purpose of this study was to evaluate the distribution of the polymorphisms of the SCN1A gene in a series of children and adolescents with primary headache and idiopathic or cryptogenic epilepsy compared to controls. Five non-synonymous exonic polymorphisms (1748A > T, 2656T > C, 3199A > G, 5771G > A, 5864T > C) of the SCN1A gene were selected and their genotyping was performed, by high resolution melting (HRM), in 49 cases and 100 controls. We found that among the five polymorphisms, only 3199A > G was a true polymorphism. We did not find a statistically significant difference between distribution of 3199A > G genotypes between cases and controls. We excluded the role of the SCN1A gene in the pathogenesis of comorbidity between headache (especially migraine) and epilepsy. The SCN1A gene is a major gene in different epilepsies and epilepsy syndromes; the HRM could be the new methodology, more rapid and efficacious, for molecular analysis of the SCN1A gene

Psychological and behavioral disease during developmental age: the importance of the alliance with parents

The aim of the study is to analyze the clinician’s alliance with parents during the diagnostic process in relation to therapeutic compliance and clinical evolution of individuals aged 0–11 years. The sample was formed by 84 individuals aged 0 to 11 years (18 < 6 years, 66 aged 6 to 11 years; 62 males and 22 females) who came to the Neuropsychiatric Unit for Children and Adolescents for a consultation regarding psychorelational and behavioral problems. Neuropsychiatric consultation took place in five diagnostic interviews with child and parents, separately. The last session was devoted to communication of psychiatric diagnosis (according to ICD 10) and therapeutic suggestions, if any. The clinician’s relationship with parents and patients’ participation were evaluated in terms of collaboration and quality of interaction, on the basis of pre-established criteria. Data about patients’ therapeutic compliance and clinical outcome were collected during a follow-up visit eight months after the last session. Results suggest that the better the alliance between parents and clinician, the higher the therapeutic compliance and the likelihood of a positive outcome for patients. Our data suggest that good communication with parents benefits child patients, both in terms of response to the parents’ need to report their children’s worrying behavior and as a response to the discomfort expressed by children when they come in for consultation

An integrated approach to child psychotherapy with co-parental support: a longitudinal outcome study

Studies about the effectiveness of psychodynamic psychotherapy interventions with children and adolescents suggest potential adverse effects of this treatment when not supported by a parallel work with parents: it seems that it could damage family functioning and affect family balances. This research aims to assess psychopathological outcomes after two years of psychodynamic psychotherapy by comparing two groups (G) of children and adolescents, related to a Childhood Adolescence Family Service: G1 – individual therapy for child/adolescent only; G2 - therapy for child/adolescent and a separate session of co-parenting support. 21 families with children aged between 6 and 17 years completed the entire treatment. The research protocol involves: Lausanne Trilogue Play, Children Behavior Check List and Family Empowerment Scale. Results show a positive effect of the treatment on the child/adolescent psychopathological profile with a significant improvement concerning the reduction of both internalizing and externalizing problems. Results show the effectiveness of the integrated intervention in the improvement of parents’ abilities to validate the children emotional state. Our results suggesting that parenting support increase parental sensitivity, helping the parents to become more able to recognize the children’s emotional state and to validate it

Alexithymia in juvenile primary headache sufferers: a pilot study

Starting in the 1990s, there has been accumulating evidence of alexithymic characteristics in adult patients with primary headache. Little research has been conducted, however, on the relationship between alexithymia and primary headache in developmental age. In their research on alexithymia in the formative years, the authors identified one of the most promising prospects for research, as discussed here. The aim of this study was to verify whether there is: (a) a link between tension-type headache and alexithymia in childhood and early adolescence; and (b) a correlation between alexithymia in children/preadolescents and their mothers. This study was based on an experimental group of 32 patients (26 females and 6 males, aged from 8 to 15 years, mean 11.2 ± 2.0) suffering from tension-type headache and 32 control subjects (26 females and 6 males, aged from 8 to 15 years, mean 11.8 ± 1.6). Tension-type headache was diagnosed by applying the International Headache Classification (ICHD-II, 2004). The alexithymic construct was measured using an Italian version of the Alexithymia Questionnaire for Children in the case of the juvenile patients and the Toronto Alexithymia Scale (TAS-20) for their mothers. Higher rates of alexithymia were observed in the children/preadolescents in the experimental group (EG) than in the control group; in the EG there was no significant correlation between the alexithymia rates in the children/preadolescents and in their mothers