Contributo della Flessibilità Psicologica al Controllo ed all'Espressione della Rabbia

Le difficoltà nella regolazione della rabbia possono condurre a problematiche interpersonali e di adattamento sociale, possono essere un importante fattore di rischio per la salute e possono predisporre allo sviluppo di psicopatologia. In accordo con il modello ACT (Acceptance and Commitment Therapy), un approccio appartenente alla terza generazione cognitivo-comportamentale, alla base delle difficoltà di regolazione della rabbia si trova l’assenza di flessibilità psicologica (definita dagli autori come la capacità di restare consapevolmente in contatto con il momento presente, pienamente e senza inutili difese, per come si è e non per quello che si dice di essere, e conservare o modificare un comportamento in funzione dei valori scelti). Secondo l’approccio ACT sei processi distinti favoriscono la flessibilità: accettazione, defusione, contatto con il momento presente, sé come contesto, chiarezza nei propri valori ed impegno nell’azione. Gli studi condotti finora indicano che minori livelli di flessibilità correlano con maggiori difficoltà nella gestione della rabbia, e che l’aumento della flessibilità psicologica tramite interventi ACT migliora la gestione della rabbia. Tuttavia, la letteratura in materia è molto scarsa e nessun studio ha indagato finora il contributo dei singoli processi di flessibilità per spiegare la variabilità nella espressione e controllo della rabbia. Il primo obiettivo di questo studio è testare l’associazione, consistentemente riscontrata nei pochi studi disponibili, tra l’inflessibilità psicologica ed una maggiore espressione della rabbia. Il secondo obiettivo è esplorare il contributo dei singoli processi di flessibilità psicologica nei confronti di diversi aspetti della gestione dell’ira. Allo studio hanno partecipato 391 soggetti (il 64.4% di femmine) di età compresa tra i 18 ed i 31 anni (M = 21.99, DS = 2.13) reclutati tra la popolazione universitaria della provincia di Pisa e Firenze. Tramite una batteria di questionari self-report è stata misurata la flessibilità psicologica e cinque dei processi che la favoriscono. Sono state misurate anche quattro componenti dell’esperienza di rabbia: controllo interno, controllo esterno, espressione interna ed espressione esterna. Per indagare il primo obiettivo, il campione è stato suddiviso in due gruppi sulla base dei punteggi alti o bassi nella misura di flessibilità psicologica. I gruppi sono quindi stati confrontati nelle diverse misure di rabbia tramite test t di Student per campioni indipendenti. Per il secondo obiettivo sono state eseguite Analisi di Regressione Gerarchica Multipla. I risultati mostrano che l’impegno nell’azione ha un ruolo preminente nei confronti delle abilità di controllo interno ed esterno della collera, che defusione, accettazione e contatto con i propri valori sono importanti nel limitare l’espressione di rabbia all’interno, e che buone capacità di accettazione sono associate a minore espressione di rabbia all’esterno. Nell’insieme, tali risultati sono concordi con la letteratura nell’affermare che la carenza di flessibilità psicologica ha un ruolo nella gestione disadattiva dell’emozione della rabbia, e identificano alcuni processi come più incisivi degli altri nella determinazione di tali outcome

The contribution of Valued Living and Committed Action to explain Couple Satisfaction in Emerging Adults

Introduction: Psychological Flexibility (PF) has been defined as the ability to contact the present moment more fully as a conscious human being, and to persist or change behavior in the service of chosen life values. A large body of research has consistently showed that PF is associated with improved physical, social and emotional functioning. PF is suggested to comprise several processes including mindfulness, values, and committed action. In recent years there has been growing interest in the PF model to explain couple satisfaction. In this context, research to date has predominantly focussed on mindfulness, with findings consistently linking mindfulness to higher relationship satisfaction. By contrast, the contribution of other PF processes to relationship outcomes has been largely neglected. This study explored the contribution of valued living and committed action to explain couple satisfaction in a sample of emerging adults. Methods: Participants were 229 young adults between 18 and 31 years old (M = 22.26, DS = 2.97) involved in a dating relationship of at least three weeks duration. Subjects completed self-report measures of mindfulness (the Kentucky Inventory of Mindfulness Skills that assesses four mindfulness facets: “Observing”, “Describing”, “Acceptance” and “Acting with Awareness”), valued living (Valued Living Questionnaire), committed action (Committed Action Questionnaire) and couple satisfaction (Romantic Relationship Quality Scale). Results: Higher scores in the “Observing” and the “Acting with Awareness” facets of mindfulness were associated with higher relationship satisfaction. As expected, both valued living and committed action did positively correlate with relationship satisfaction. The results from Hierarchical Regression Analyses showed that valued living and committed action added a significant increment of explained variance to predict couple satisfaction, above and beyond background characteristics and measures of mindfulness. Discussion: Findings from this study support the incremental validity of an engaged response style, as conceptualized in the PF model, to explain couple satisfaction independently of mindfulness skills. These results suggest that when young adults are in contact with their chosen values through valued actions in everyday life they may experience a deeper sense of connection and intimacy with their partners and higher couple satisfaction. Conclusions: The engaged response style seems to play a unique role in the relationship satisfaction beyond similar and related theoretical processes such as mindfulness

Process of Psychological Flexibility and Anger

Introduction: Psychological flexibility (PF) has emerged as an important process in understanding adaptive functioning and adjustment. PF refers to the ability to persist or change behavior in the service of long-term life values. Previous research has consistently related PF to diminished psychological distress and enhanced psychological well-being and life satisfaction. Recent research indicates that PF is also associated with lower anger dysregulation and aggressive behavior. PF is composed of six core processes: acceptance, cognitive defusion, flexible present-focused attention, self-as-context, values-based action, and committed action. This study focusses on how PF affects anger by investigating the contribution of some of these specific PF processes to dysfunctional anger. Methods: Participants were 391 undergraduate students (64.4% females; mean age = 21.99; SD = 2.13) recruited at the University of Pisa (Italy). They completed measures of valued living (Valued Living Questionnaire), committed action (Committed Action Questionnaire), cognitive defusion (Cognitive Fusion Questionnaire), acceptance and contact with the present moment (Kentucky Inventory of Mindfulness Skills). The STAXI-II was used to assess four different dimensions of anger: a) aggressive behaviour directed toward other persons or objects (Anger Expression-Out, AE-O); b) inward expression of anger (Anger Expression-In; AE-I); c) attempts to prevent the expression of anger (Anger Control-Out, AC-O); and, d) controlling angry feelings by calming down or cooling off (Anger Control-In, AC-I). Four Hierarchical Regression Analyses were conducted to explore the contribution of the PI processes to each anger dimension. Results: All PF processes were significantly associated with lower anger expression and higher control of anger, with the exception of valued living that did not significantly correlate with two anger domains (i.e., AC-O and AE-O). After controlling for background variables, PF processes explained a statistically significant portion of variance in each dimension of anger (from 5% for AC-O to 27% for AE-I). Four out of five PF processes proved to significantly predict anger dimensions. Acceptance was a significant predictor of lower anger expression, while committed action was a significant predictor of higher anger control. Lower valued living and higher cognitive fusion scores did significantly predict higher AE-I. Discussion: Acceptance seems to play a central role in determining lower levels of anger expression. This finding is in line with hypotheses from the PF model suggesting that aggressive behaviour may function as a way to avoid contact with inner unpleasant experiences. Committed action proved to be important for the control dimensions of anger, suggesting that when people act in accordance with their values they are more inclined to inhibit their aggressive behaviour and angry thoughts, perhaps because value-based actions are in contrast with aggressive behaviour. These results also support hypotheses from the PF model suggesting that rigid cognitive fusion with angry thoughts leads to enhanced feelings of anger. Conclusion: PF processes seem to contribute in different ways to anger expression and control

Aspetti critici della disforia di genere come categoria diagnostica

This paper provides a general critical overview of “gender dysphoria” as a DSM-5 diagnostic category. Gender dysphoria refers to persistent psychological distress associated with the incongruence between the assigned gender at birth and gender identity in transgender people. Previous research suggests that people with gender dysphoria have a higher risk of psychiatric comorbidity than general population samples. There is evidence that stressful events related to discrimination, stigma and social exclusion against transgender people contribute to explain, at least in part, gender dysphoria and comorbidity in this population. Furthermore, pathologizing gender dysphoria, thorough the disease connotations of this diagnostic label, may increase stigma and discrimination towards transgender people

Tumminaro, G., Pasciuto, A., Compare, L. & Berrocal Montiel, C. (2021). "Aspetti critici della disforia di genere come categoria diagnostica". Open Journal of Humanities, 7: 177-209

This paper provides a general critical overview of “gender dysphoria” as a DSM-5 diagnostic category. Gender dysphoria refers to persistent psychological distress associated with the incongruence between the assigned gender at birth and gender identity in transgender people. Previous research suggests that people with gender dysphoria have a higher risk of psychiatric comorbidity than general population samples. There is evidence that stressful events related to discrimination, stigma and social exclusion against transgender people contribute to explain, at least in part, gender dysphoria and comorbidity in this population. Furthermore, pathologizing gender dysphoria, through the disease connotations of this diagnostic label, may increase stigma and discrimination towards transgender people

The mediating role of empathy in the relationship between mindfulness and couple satisfaction

Previous studies showed that trait mindfulness is positively associated with couple satisfaction. However, little is known about the mechanisms through which mindfulness abilities might promote relationship satisfaction. This study explored whether empathy mediates the effect of mindfulness on couple satisfaction in emerging adults. Participants were 218 young adults (71% females; mean age = 22.2 yr, SD = 2.9) involved in a dating relationship. Subjects completed self-report measures of mindfulness (Observing, Describing, Acceptance and Acting with Awareness), cognitive and affective empathy, and couple satisfaction. The possible role of empathy as mediator of mindfulness effect on couple satisfaction was investigated by mediation analysis. All statistical tests were two-sided at a significance level of 0.05. Couple satisfaction was positively correlated with Observing and Acting with Awareness and with both components of empathy. Observing was positively correlated with cognitive and affective empathy, while Acting with Awareness was negatively associated with the affective component. Cognitive empathy mediated the effect of Observing on couple satisfaction. Acting with Awareness indirectly decreased couple satisfaction by decreasing affective empathy, but also had an outweighing positive direct effect on couple satisfaction. Findings indicate that couple satisfaction is associated with specific facets of mindfulness in young adults. Furthermore, the ability to notice internal and external events may promote higher couple satisfaction by fostering the ability to understand how the partner feels. Acting with Awareness seems to have a double-edge effect on couple satisfaction in young adults: a positive direct effect outbalances a negative indirect effect mediated by a decrease in affective empathy

Anger expression and control in emerging adults: the relationship with psychological inflexibility

Psychological Inflexibility (PI) refers to the rigid dominance of internal reactions (e.g., thoughts, feelings, memories) over personal values and contingencies in guiding action. Previous research suggests that PI impacts negatively on emotion regulation. This study examined the effect of PI and gender on anger and aggressive behaviour in emerging adulthood, a developmental phase characterized by increased emotionality. Participants were 382 emerging adults (64.4% females; mean age: 22, SD = 2.9) recruited at the University of Pisa, Italy. Males and females were divided into two groups - high and low-PI - based on the Acceptance and Action Questionnaire-II scores. The STAXI-II was used to assess anger dimensions: expressing anger outwardly (AE-O), inward expression of anger (AE-I), attempts to control the expression of anger (AC-O), and inward control of anger (AC-I). ANCOVA analyses were conducted to explore the effects of PI and gender on anger. The interaction effect (gender x PI) was not statistically significant. Females showed lower AC-O and AE-I than males, and this effect was statistically significant. Participants with high PI showed higher scores on the expression dimensions and lower scores on the control facets than participants with low PI. Inflexible individuals are less capable of controlling anger and more prone to express it both internally and externally. Findings support the relevance of addressing PI in emerging adulthood to better understand and prevent anger dysregulation and violence

The Italian version of the Interpersonal Sensitivity Measure (I-IPSM): psychometric properties in non-clinical young adults

The Interpersonal Sensitivity Measure (IPSM) is a self-report questionnaire developed to assess five dimensions of interpersonal sensitivity. Previous research suggests that the factorial structure of the IPSM is not clear enough. Moreover, the factor structure of the Italian version of the questionnaire (I-IPSM) has not yet been studied. This study explored the factorial structure, internal consistency and construct validity of the I-IPSM in a non-clinical sample of young adults. Participants were 374 adults (64,4% females) aged between 18 and 31 years (M = 21.96; DS = 2.91). They completed the I-IPSM and self-report measures of depression, anxiety, anger, and life satisfaction. The results from Exploratory Factor Analyses (EFA) did not support the original five-factor solution for the I-IPSM items. The EFA yielded three interpretable factors (Interpersonal Worry and Dependency, Low Self-Esteem, and Unassertive Interpersonal Behavior), and a total of 27 items were retained. Internal consistency was good. I-IPSM-27 scores positively correlated with depression, anxiety and externalized anger, and negatively with life satisfaction. The I-IPSM-27 seems a reliable and valid tool for studying interpersonal sensitivity in Italian young adults