Covid-19 and its potential stressful effect: how a multidimensional assessment can detect risk factors for stress-related disorders

The authors fear that there will be a series of consequences due to the pandemic, beginning with a series of psychopathological disorders found in the population who have had to change their life habits and have long been under the negative influence of anxieties, fears, depression, and other distress symptoms. In this environment, the individual had to process extremely diverse types of messages: • the continuous information on the pandemic causes stress capable of activating the organism from a psycho-physiological point of view; • the impossibility of “acting”, of “not being able to do much”, also in the hospital, where people normally feel safer, promotes a sense of helplessness; • Finally, a further involvement and commitment that risks further frustration with reactions of both physical and psychological fatigue, which is a basis of autonomic overarousal

Depression States, Behavioral, and Cognitive Components in Developmental age: factorial analysis of a short assessment tool

Objective: Detecting clinically significant symptoms of Major Depressive Disorder (MDD) in childhood and adolescence is not easy. For this, the Depression State Scale (DSS) (a 42-items questionnaire that evaluates Depression, Anxiety and problems in Interpersonal relationships) has been developed and it seems to be able to detect clinically significant symptoms of depression. The main purpose of this study is to investigate a possible alternative subscale structure using the statistical process of factor analysis. Materials and methods: The DSS was administered to 601 students: 329 females, average age=13.1, SD = 0.7 and 272 males, average age=12.9, SD = 0.87. Principal component analysis with Varimax rotation was used to investigate the factor structure of the scale. The reliability of the new scales, built based on the results obtained, was then calculated. Analysis of variance was conducted with both new and original scales to assess whether significant gender differences emerged. Results: The factors that emerged reflect the DSM-5 criteria of MDD. The expectation of academic achievement is able to significantly influence anxiety and mood; the components of the depression seem to be closely related to the prevailing cognitive styles. Moreover, school performance and interpersonal relationships seem to influence each other. Finally, the school environment is generally seen as more repressive and strenuous rather than welcoming and stimulating. Conclusion: The DSS is able to detect the main symptoms of MDD and to describe the most affected psychopathological dimension. Finally, it emerged that the student's representation of the school can influence not only psychological well-being but also social functioning

Pain Between Psyche and Soma in Uro-andrology

How to define pain? One of the most accredited definition is certainly "An unpleasant sensory and emotional experience associated with actual or potential tissue damage, or described in terms of such damage" (IASP (International Association for the Study of Pain - 1986) and World Health Organization (WHO) 1. However, what are the essential components of pain experience? Certainly many factors are involved such as, among others: Perceptual ability / suitability / subjective threshold; The "subjective" experience; Multidimensionality; Occasionally or chronicity. All these components have to be taken into consideration in the treatment of these disorders which, very often, require a multidisciplinary approach. From a clinical psychological point of view, much can also be offered at a diagnostic level, from the reception to listening to the patient's suffering, to the evaluation with standardized tests and psychophysiological analysis procedures in order to arrive at an effective personalization of treatment

COVID-19: Psychological and Behavioral Effects and Clinical Implications

Starting from the most recent news on the psychological, social and psychopathological consequences of the COVID-19 pandemic, the author underlines the importance of a primary and secondary multidisciplinary prevention intervention organized on individual realities. These interventions must be aimed at both those who tested positive but asymptomatic or with benign symptoms, serious patients who left the intensive care units and healthcare professionals. The latter in particular have experienced serious risk situations for their own health and have at times already developed burnout syndromes that require current and targeted interventions in order not to precipitate the symptoms in real diseases. Lastly, a level of intervention on the general population can be structured with centers equipped for multidisciplinary and multidimensional diagnoses for mostly secondary prevention

Risk of developing Eating Disorders through the misperception of the body image and the adoption of bad eating habits in a sample of young volleyball athletes

Objective: This preliminary study focused on the description of some dysfunctional perceptions of the body image and eating habits in a sample of young. Materials and methods: The results obtained by 55 amateur and professional volleyball players belonging to volleyball sports clubs located in the province of Reggio Emilia were examined. The age of the sample is in a range between 11 and 34 years. The participants completed the Pisa Survey for Eating Disorders (PSED), a questionnaire aimed at examining eating behavior and the perception of one's body image. The athletes' height and body weight were subsequently detected through direct measurement. Results: The data collected through the self-evaluation questionnaire and the measurements carried out by the study made it possible to analyze the perception of the body image and the eating habits of the volleyball players belonging to the sample and to compare them with the data in the literature. The data, albeit preliminary, allow us to confirm the existence of the discrepancy between the real body image and the desired one, in a group of young athletes, who favors the adoption of non-adaptive coping strategies to control one's own weight and body shapes typical of the vicious circle - strict diet, bingeing episodes, compensatory behaviors - which characterizes eating disorders (ED). Conclusion: It is therefore considered essential that body image assessment is a practice implemented in the assessment routine of these athletes, especially in consideration of the fact that body image disturbance is a very common feature in this category and is one of the main risk factors of EDs

A psychological intervention based on cognitive-behavioural therapy reduces psychopathological symptoms that indirectly influence the heart rate via cortisol in hypertensive patients: Preliminary results of a pilot study

ObjectiveThis study aimed at assessing the effectiveness of cognitive-behavioural therapy (CBT) integrated with psychoeducation in a group of hypertensive patients with clinically significant psychopathological symptoms.MethodsOne hundred hypertensive patients completed the Symptom Checklist-90-Revised. Of them, 17 scored above the clinical range (cut-off = 0.75) on the Global Severity Index and were included in the study. Psychological distress was assessed again after the intervention (T1) and 6 months after the end of treatment (T2). In addition, the cortisol dosage and the heart rate (HR) measurement were collected at both T0 and T2. Then, mediation analyses were carried out to calculate whether psychopathological distress might predict HR through elevated serum cortisol levels, at both T0 and T2.ResultsThe psychological intervention (CBT integrated with psychoeducation) reduced most of the psychopathological symptoms (anxiety, depression, somatisations, obsessions and compulsions, hostility, interpersonal sensitivity and paranoid ideation) but not cortisol dosage and HR measurement. However, psychological distress indirectly predicted HR via cortisol at T0 but not at T2.ConclusionThese results suggest and encourage the replicability of data in larger sample sizes and the comparison with a control group. Nevertheless, these results highlight a need for a multidimensional assessment of disorders affecting the mental and physical spheres of patients to support their overall well-being

Parkinson's Disease-Mild Cognitive Impairment (PD-MCI): A Useful Summary of Update Knowledge

Mild cognitive impairment (MCI) is a common feature in Parkinson's Disease (PD), even at the time of diagnosis. Some levels of heterogeneity in nature and severity of cognitive impairment and risk of conversion to Parkinson's Disease Dementia (PDD) exist. This brief overview summarized the current understanding of MCI in PD, by considering the following major points: historical development of the clinical entity, evaluation, epidemiology, predictors and outcomes, neuroimaging findings, pathophysiology, treatment, and pharmacological and non-pharmacological intervention. MCI in PD represents a concept in evolution and plays a pivotal role in advancing our understanding of the disease mechanisms, with the ultimate goal of building effective strategies to prevent conversion into PDD. Challenges for future research are also discussed

Oxidative Stress and Cognitive Decline: The Neuroprotective Role of Natural Antioxidants

Free- radicals (Oxygen and Nitrogen species) are formed in mitochondria during the oxidative phosphorylation. Their high reactivity, due to not-engaged electrons, leads to an increase of the oxidative stress. This condition affects above all the brain, that usually needs a large oxygen amount and in which there is the major possibility to accumulate “Reacting Species.” Antioxidant molecules are fundamental in limiting freeradical damage, in particular in the central nervous system: the oxidative stress, in fact, seems to worsen the course of neurodegenerative diseases. The aim of this review is to sum up natural antioxidant molecules with the greatest neuroprotective properties against free radical genesis, understanding their relationship with the Central Nervous System

Effects of Mediterranean diet and weight loss on blood-lipid profile in overweight adults with hypercholesterolemia

Blood cholesterol has been positively associated with increased cardiovascular risk as a modifiable risk factors together with the lifestyle and diet. Furthermore, an improvement of the blood-lipid profile seems to be able to produce a decrease in cardiovascular events. Cholesterol plasma levels are related to the body mass index (BMI) and are affected by diet. The aim of this study was to evaluate the effectiveness of a Mediterranean diet (MD) weight-loss programme to improve blood cholesterol profiles in overweight adults subjected to real-world outpatient diet. Forty-nine hypercholesteraemic, overweight adults of both sexes were subjected to a dietary weight-loss intervention. Patients were prescribed a slightly hypocaloric MD for 16 weeks, followed by an 8-week follow-up period with a normocaloric diet. Data showed significant weight loss and cholesterol blood profile improvement both under the hypocaloric diet and during the follow-up period. In particular, the decrease in both Total and LDL-cholesterol was greater than their critical differences indicating the clinical relevance of blood lipid improvement induced by MD