Self-Other Positioning in Obesity: A Pilot Study Using Repertory Grid Technique

Self-other positioning was investigated in a group of obese youths in order to empirically test the clinical hy-pothesis – based on the constructionist theory of Family Semantic Polarities – that obese people are affected by a negative self-perception and low self-esteem. Repertory grid technique was used with 30 participants (15 obese-overweight and 15 control) to elicit and compare their personal constructs and assess, via ad hoc measurement indices, the positions they as- signed to the self and significant others in relation to these constructs. The results confirmed the research hypotheses, with obese subjects displaying a tendency to pos ition both self and others at the negative pole of bipolar constructs and reporting greater self-ideal discrepancy. These findings and their limitations are discussed in relation to their clinical applications and in light of the methodologi cal issues arising from the study

Narcissism and systemic approach. A systematic review

Psychopathology is a field not much explored by the systemic-relational theory and, in particular, scientific works on Personality Disorders are lacking. The aim of this work is to understand whether and how many scientific works have treated the narcissistic personality through the theoretical premises of systemic-relational approach. We carried out a systematic review of the scientific literature to identify and discuss existing studies, with the intent to define a starting point for the analysis of the system that onsets and maintains the narcissistic personality. Few articles were selected. Despite they describe differently the narcissistic personality and the system within which the symptomatology develops, there are some similarities. They concern the diffusion of family boundaries and the rejection of individual characteristics within the system, the childhood parentification and the need to maintain the external appearance

The photo diaries method to catch the daily experience of Italian university students during COVID-19 lockdown

The aim of this research was to explore Italian students’ lockdown experience during the COVID-19 pandemic to understand their emotions and the coping strategies they played out during their daily lives at home through photo diaries. The research was carried out in six Italian universities involving 109 participants. The task required each student to take one photo per day for one week in T1 and one in T2, representing their mood during their daily life at home and to give it a title and a brief description. Overall, 1,526 photographs with texts were collected. The main subjects of the photographs were objects, the most frequent coping strategy was self-distraction, and most participants expressed emotions of joy and anticipation but also sadness and fear. Then, the associations between the characteristics of their photos and the emotions and coping strategies from their diary entries were analyzed. For example, emotional support and joy were positively associated with family, pets, and food, while fear and sadness were represented with objects. Implications of the results are discussed, including considerations about using photo diaries during collective disasters