Psychological distress, social support and social support seeking: A prospective study among primary mental health care patients

This study addresses the time ordering of both quantitative and qualitative social support variables, social support seeking and psychological distress. Number of contacts, perceived understanding, satisfaction, severity of network conflicts, social support seeking and symptomatology were assessed at two points in time: at the start of a short term behavioural therapy (T1) and six months later (T2). Severity of symptomatology at T2 was best predicted by the severity of symptomatology at referral and by the change in interpersonal problems. Social support-seeking was at both measurements unrelated to symptomatology. The number of contacts, satisfaction, understanding and social support seeking demonstrated high temporal stability, in contrast to symptomatology and interpersonal problems. A more fine-grained analysis demonstrated that of all social support variables, interpersonal conflicts were most strongly related to symptomatology, especially to interpersonal sensitivity and depression. It is concluded that interventions aimed in particular at relieving interpersonal sensitivity and interpersonal stress and at fostering interpersonal effectiveness may prove to be critical in breaking vicious circles.social support primary mental health care

Types of God Representations and Mental Health: A Person-Oriented Approach

As God representations are multi-facetted psychological processes regarding the personal meaning of God/the divine to the individual, this study examines how multiple aspects of God representations are configured within individuals belonging to a sample of psychiatric patients or a non-patient sample, and how these configurations are associated with mental health. By means of cluster analyses, three types of God representations were found: a Positive-Authoritative one, a Passive-Unemotional one, and, only among psychiatric patients, a Negative-Authoritarian one. Types of God representations were significantly related to affective state, as well as religious saliency and religious background. Patients with the negative type of God representation were more distressed and depressed, and Orthodox-Reformed patients reported significantly more negative types of God representations. This study demonstrates the value of a person-oriented approach, by showing that scale scores became especially meaningful in the context of the types, which enables more nuanced distinctions regarding subgroups.FSW - Self-regulation models for health behavior and psychopathology - ou