Decisional and emotional forgiveness scales: Psychometric validity and correlates with personality and vengeance.

Forgiveness is an internal process to overcome negative aspects (e.g., anger, bitterness, resentment) towards an offender, being associated to a range of variables (e.g., well-being, quality of loving relationships, resilience). Forgiveness can happen through two different types: (1) decisional, which is a behavioural modification to reduce direct hostility; and (2) emotional, which is a transformation of negative emotions into positive. The current research aimed to gather psychometric evidences for the Decisional Forgiveness Scale (DFS) and the Emotional Forgiveness Scale (EFS), using a Brazilian sample. Two studies were conducted. In Study 1 (n = 181), the bifactorial structures were replicated, also providing satisfactory reliability levels. Through Item Response Theory, results indicated good discrimination, difficulty levels, and considerable information to all the items from both measures. In Study 2 (n = 220), confirmatory factor analyses confirmed their structure, presenting good model fit. The measures were also invariant regarding participants’ gender. Finally, the measures presented significant results when correlated to personality and vengeance. In sum, the instruments demonstrated satisfactory psychometric properties, evidencing the possibility of their use in the respective context.The authors acknowledge financial support from the CAPES Foundation (Brazil, http://www.capes.gov.br/) for the Ph.D. scholarship to the second author. The funders had no role in study design, data collection and analysis, decision to publish, or preparation of the manuscript

Actigraphic registration of motor activity reveals a more structured behavioural pattern in schizophrenia than in major depression

<p>Abstract</p> <p>Background</p> <p>Disturbances in motor activity pattern are seen in both schizophrenia and depression. However, this activity has rarely been studied objectively. The purpose of the present study has been to study the complexity of motor activity patterns in these patients by using actigraphy.</p> <p>Findings</p> <p>Motor activity was recorded using wrist-worn actigraphs for periods of 2 weeks in patients with schizophrenia and major depression and compare them to healthy controls. Average motor activity was recorded and three non-parametric variables, interdaily stability (IS), intradaily variability (IV), and relative amplitude (RA) were calculated on the basis of these data. The motor activity was significantly lower both in patients with schizophrenia (153 ± 61, mean ± SD, p < 0.001) and depression (187 ± 84, p < 0.001), compared to controls (286 ± 80). The schizophrenic patients had higher IS and lower IV than the controls reflecting a more structured behavioural pattern. This pattern was particularly obvious in schizophrenic patients treated with clozapine and was not found in depressed patients.</p> <p>Conclusions</p> <p>Motor activity was significantly reduced in both schizophrenic and depressed patients. However, schizophrenic patients differed from both depressed patients and controls, demonstrating motor activity patterns marked by less complexity and more structured behaviour. These findings may indicate that disturbances in motor activity reflect different pathophysiological mechanisms in schizophrenia compared to major depression.</p

Common and distinct patterns of grey-matter volume alteration in major depression and bipolar disorder: evidence from voxel-based meta-analysis.

Finding robust brain substrates of mood disorders is an important target for research. The degree to which major depression (MDD) and bipolar disorder (BD) are associated with common and/or distinct patterns of volumetric changes is nevertheless unclear. Furthermore, the extant literature is heterogeneous with respect to the nature of these changes. We report a meta-analysis of voxel-based morphometry (VBM) studies in MDD and BD. We identified studies published up to January 2015 that compared grey matter in MDD (50 data sets including 4101 individuals) and BD (36 data sets including 2407 individuals) using whole-brain VBM. We used statistical maps from the studies included where available and reported peak coordinates otherwise. Group comparisons and conjunction analyses identified regions in which the disorders showed common and distinct patterns of volumetric alteration. Both disorders were associated with lower grey-matter volume relative to healthy individuals in a number of areas. Conjunction analysis showed smaller volumes in both disorders in clusters in the dorsomedial and ventromedial prefrontal cortex, including the anterior cingulate cortex and bilateral insula. Group comparisons indicated that findings of smaller grey-matter volumes relative to controls in the right dorsolateral prefrontal cortex and left hippocampus, along with cerebellar, temporal and parietal regions were more substantial in major depression. These results suggest that MDD and BD are characterised by both common and distinct patterns of grey-matter volume changes. This combination of differences and similarities has the potential to inform the development of diagnostic biomarkers for these conditions

Empathy Regulation in Crisis Scenario

Empathic communication represents the first step of the “END” Communication procedure, which is followed by normalization and de-escalation communication. In this chapter, our view of empathy is conceived not only as an ability of inferring and representing the other one’s mental state but also all the interpersonal procedures and expressions given in a reciprocal and mutual communication. First, we focus on the theoretical aspects of empathic communication and even on practical aspects of this skill; that is not innate but can be learned. Then we present the neural basis of empathy, which are important for having a “neural guide” to address our communication procedures. In this chapter, we provide a number of case vignettes to better explain the difference between a “good/bad” communication and empathic communication and the different results in terms of compliance, therapeutic alliance and outcomes in crisis scenario. Furthermore, the chapter provides practical examples of “empathic” phrases that can be used by clinicians in emergency situations with psychiatric patients but even in other medical settings: the common fields of application of empathic communication basically involve all those contexts in which a healthcare professional-patient relationship is involved. Empathic communication has a cost for the clinician because if in several cases it is easy to represent the mental state of the other and tune in to it, in some cases it can be very difficult and constitute a considerable effort: that’s why we recommend a training and a careful supervision for clinicians and healthcare professionals