Depression in people with skin conditions: The effects of disgust and self‐compassion

Objectives Skin conditions can be accompanied by significant levels of depression; there is therefore a need to identify the associated psychological factors to assist with the development of appropriate interventions. This study sought to examine the effects of disgust propensity, disgust sensitivity, self‐focused/ruminative disgust, and self‐compassion on depression in people with skin conditions. Design A cross‐sectional survey with follow‐up survey. Methods Dermatology outpatients (N = 147) completed self‐report measures of disgust traits, self‐compassion, and depression. At three‐month follow‐up, participants (N = 80) completed the depression measure again. Results Multiple regression analyses revealed that disgust propensity, disgust sensitivity, self‐focused/ruminative disgust, and self‐compassion each explained significant amounts of variance in baseline depression. Self‐compassion also explained a significant amount of variance in depression at follow‐up, after accounting for baseline depression. In addition, self‐compassion moderated the effect of disgust propensity on depression at baseline, such that at high levels of self‐compassion, disgust propensity no longer had a positive relationship with depression. Conclusions Disgust traits contribute to depression in people with skin conditions, while being self‐compassionate may be protective against depression. High self‐compassion also buffers the effects of disgust propensity on depression in people with skin conditions. The findings indicate the potential of compassion‐focused interventions for depression in people with skin conditions

You do not have to act to be impulsive: Brain resting-state activity predicts performance and impulsivity on the Balloon Analogue Risk Task

Objective: Impulsivity is a key, trait-like feature of the decision-making process. As personality traits are stable over time, we hypothesized that resting-state (RS) neural activity would predict individual impulsivity. Methods: Thirty-five healthy individuals underwent fMRI scan during RS and subsequently performed the Balloon Analogue Risk Task (BART). In BART, impulsivity was inversely correlated to monetary earnings. A group-level whole-brain regression assessed the relationship between earnings at BART and RS evaluated by the Hurst Exponent, regional homogeneity; low frequency oscillation (LFO), (including the Amplitude of Low Frequency Fluctuations – ALFF– and the fractional Amplitude of Low Frequency Fluctuations –fALFF) and the Default Mode Network (DMN) functional connectivity. Results: ALFF significantly correlates with total earnings in the ventral part of the ACC/MPFC (FWE corrected p < 0.05 (uncorrected p value <0.0005; cluster size: ≥10 voxels), while H significantly correlates with total earnings in the anterior insula and the part opercularis of the inferior frontal gyrus. Conclusions: These results suggest that impulsivity and ability to change strategies according to external cues are trait characteristics shaped in the RS's functional architecture that can be detected also when individuals are not engaged in decision-making tasks

Subjective well-being among psychotherapists during the coronavirus disease pandemic: A cross-cultural survey from 12 European countries

Objective The aim of this study to examine the amount of the total variance of the subjective well-being (SWB) of psychotherapists from 12 European countries explained by between-country vs. between-person differences regarding its cognitive (life satisfaction) and affective components (positive affect [PA] and negative affect [NA]). Second, we explored a link between the SWB and their personal (self-efficacy) and social resources (social support) after controlling for sociodemographics, work characteristics, and COVID-19-related distress. Methods In total, 2915 psychotherapists from 12 countries (Austria, Bulgaria, Cyprus, Finland, Great Britain, Serbia, Spain, Norway, Poland, Romania, Sweden, and Switzerland) participated in this study. The participants completed the Satisfaction with Life Scale (SWLS), the International Positive and Negative Affect Schedule Short Form (I-PANAS-SF), the General Self-Efficacy Scale, and the Multidimensional Scale of Perceived Social Support. Results Cognitive well-being (CWB; satisfaction with life) was a more country-dependent component of SWB than affective well-being (AWB). Consequently, at the individual level, significant correlates were found only for AWB but not for CWB. Higher AWB was linked to being female, older age, higher weekly workload, and lower COVID-19-related distress. Self-efficacy and social support explained AWB only, including their main effects and the moderating effect of self-efficacy. Conclusions The results highlight more individual characteristics of AWB compared to CWB, with a more critical role of low self-efficacy for the link between social support and PA rather than NA. This finding suggests the need for greater self-care among psychotherapists with regard to their AWB and the more complex conditions underlying their CWB