no summary.
Aim: To create a Polish adaption of the Pregnancy-Related Anxiety Questionnaire - Revised 2 (PRAQ-R2), which is widely used abroad.
Methods: PRAQ-R2 was translated into Polish by independent bilingual speakers. Fortyeight pregnant women completed our survey containing the Polish version of PRAQ-R2, Hospital Anxiety and Depression Scale - Modified (HADS-M), and a short sociodemographic questionnaire. After a week, they were asked to complete the PRAQ-R2 questionnaire again. Parametric statistics were used to assess psychometric properties.
Results: Our study has shown a good test-retest correlation of 0.70. Participants completed the survey twice (in t1 and after one week - in t2). Cronbach's alpha was calculated as 0.847 at t1 and 0.895 at t2. There was a moderate correlation between PRAQ-R2 at both time points and the HADS-M scale and its subscales.
Conclusions: Our Polish adaption of PRAQ-R2 has shown good validity and reliability. It has good internal consistency. Moderate correlation with HADS-M proves that pregnancyrelated anxiety (PrA) is a distinctive disorder from generalized anxiety disorder and depressive disorder. Given the great frequency and the burden of PrA, we believe that PRAQ-R2 should be routinely used among physicians working with pregnant patients.
This paper examines nosological categories relating to borderlines between psychosis and other clinical categories, introduced by Polish psychiatrists in the interwar period. In the United States, the discussion about the borderline between neuroses and psychoses was urged by the 1938 article by psychoanalyst Adolph Stern. In Poland, nosological categories regarding the borderline between neuroses and psychoses were proposed by Adam Wizel, Maurycy Bornsztajn, Jan Nelken, and Władysław Matecki. Wizel coined the term 'underdeveloped schizophrenia', Bornsztajn introduced 'schizothymia reactiva' and 'hypochondriac (somatopsychic) schizophrenia', Nelken described 'mild schizophrenia', first introduced by Moscow psychiatric school of Rosenstein, and Matecki presented the category of neurosis-like (pseudo-neurotic) schizophrenia. Additionally, Julian Dretler, after studying the borderline between schizophrenia and manic-depressive psychosis, coined the term 'mixed psychosis' and expressed conviction that it is an independent nosological entity. Like in the United States, the majority of Polish pioneers of the nosological studies of borderline cases were influenced by psychoanalysis. As a consequence of World War II and the new regime, which forced dialectical materialism and Pavlovism as an official ideology of psychiatry and condemned psychoanalysis, the categories presented in the article became forgotten and have not impacted Polish psychiatric nosology.
Objectives: The aim of the study was to verify the psychometric properties of the Polish adaptation of the Unified Theory of Acceptance and Use of Technology - Therapist version (UTAUT-T) and to verify the UTAUT-T model in a group of Polish psychotherapists.
Methods: A total of 434 people aged 27-66 (M = 40.78; SD = 7.70), including 337 women and 58 men, took part in an online self-report study, which involved completing three questionnaires: UTAUT-T, the short IPIP-BFM-20 Questionnaire for measuring the Big Five, the Technology Readiness Index (TRI 2.0), as well as answers to questions about the use of digital technologies at work. The following analyses were carried out: confirmatory factor analysis (CFA), reliability analysis using Cronbach's alpha, and theoretical validity analysis - an analysis of the correlation between the subscales of the UTAUT-T instrument and questionnaires enabling the measurement of dimensions which had been indicated in previous research results as related to the acceptance of technology.
Results: The conducted analyses showed that the factor structure of the Polish version of UTAUT-T is the same as of the original tool, and the UTAUT-T model was confirmed in the group of Polish psychotherapists. The Cronbach's alpha reliability coefficient for individual subscales ranged from 0.57 to 0.97. The theoretical validity analysis confirmed the expected correlations between most dimensions of technology acceptance and technology readiness. In addition, there were single very weak correlations observed between technology acceptance and personality traits.
Conclusions: The psychometric properties of the Polish version of UTAUT-T show satisfactory values. The scale can be used to conduct further research. The UTAUT-T model can be utilized to predict the actual use of new technologies by Polish psychotherapists.
The aim of this paper is to briefly present the current knowledge on the definition of relational trauma, place in classifications, prevalence, consequences, and applied therapeutic methods. Reports from many countries indicate that in the relationship with adults, usually parents, on whom the child is dependent for many years, various forms of abuse may occur, related not only to violence, but also to emotional, physical, and intellectual neglect. Behind them, the unregistered area of aversive experiences of children who enter adulthood with the experience of relational trauma is hidden. These adverse childhood experiences significantly affect overall functioning in adulthood. For years, researchers of the phenomenon have been paying attention to the existence of a separate diagnosis related to relational trauma. The 11th edition of the International Classification of Diseases (ICD-11) introduces a new diagnosis: complex post-traumatic stress disorder (Complex PTSD, cPTSD). New methods of therapeutic interventions emerge, and the validation of these methods and explanation of the mechanisms of action is research work for the coming years.
Consciousness is most frequently defined as a subjective experience of mental processes. The phenomenon of consciousness has always been a subject of great interest in various fields of science, including psychiatry, and the most prominent scientists have engaged in research on it. The studies performed in recent years have brought about novel data on the evolutionary and neurobiological attributes of this phenomenon. In the first part of the article, the evolutionary concepts of consciousness are presented, going back to the beginnings of life on our planet. They are proposed by such illustrious scientists as Joseph LeDoux, Daniel Dennett, António Damásio, and Arthur Reber. Each of them presents the issue of consciousness in the context of evolution slightly differently. However, there are many similarities concerning the development of the nervous system and mental life. The second part discusses the novel research on the cognitive and neurobiological components of consciousness. Among many researchers of this issue, we chose the achievements of two British authors such as Chris Frith and Anil Seth. The neuroanatomical and perceptive aspects of both the level and context of consciousness are provided. Besides presenting the contemporary evolutionary and neurobiological concepts of consciousness, the article aims to bring closer the profiles of the prominent researchers of neuroscience mentioned here. This term can be translated into Polish as "neuronauka", although our country's most frequently used name is "neurobiologia."
Smoking and nicotine dependence are still one of the main reasons for a number of serious and life-shortening somatic diseases. At the same time, they are more prevalent in mentally ill individuals than in the general population. This work, which constitutes the first part of recommendations of the Polish Psychiatric Association, presents the scale of the phenomenon in the general population and among people with psychiatric disorders, diagnostic criteria of nicotine dependence and nicotine withdrawal. It discusses the impact of smoking and exposure to cigarette smoke on the development and course of psychiatric disorders as well as on the treatment of psychiatric disorders, including interactions between nicotine and psychotropic medications. Many psychiatric patients can reduce smoking or achieve complete abstinence if they are offered adequate motivation and therapeutic support. Contrary to popular belief, smoking cessation and nicotine dependence treatment do not negatively affect the symptoms of psychiatric disorders; patients' mental conditions can improve following smoking cessation therapy. The best results in terms of maintaining abstinence are achieved with a treatment approach that combines pharmacotherapy with psychotherapeutic intervention integrated into routine psychiatric care.
In the Polish legal system, each medical procedure requires patient's consent. Exemptions from the obligation to obtain such a consent are limited by the legislator to exceptional situations, i.e., when the delay caused by the procedure for obtaining consent would pose a threat to patient's life, serious injury, or serious health impairment. Undergoing addiction treatment is also voluntary. Exceptions to this principle are stipulated by a legal act. People who abuse alcohol and therefore break down family life, demoralize minors, avoid the obligation to meet the needs of their families, or systematically disturb peace or public order, may be obliged to undergo addiction treatment in an inpatient or outpatient treatment centre on condition that they are addicted to alcohol. A patient who fails to report to the medical entity designated by the court to execute the decision on the obligation to undertake addiction treatment may be brought to this entity by the police. In the context of the obligation to obtain a consent for treatment by a person against whom a court decision containing an obligation in this respect has been issued, there are discrepancies in the application of law provisions. In some medical entities, this results in the forced continuation of addiction treatment by a given patient in hospital, as discharge from the hospital depends on a court order issued in this regard, not on the consent of the patient himself/herself. In other medical entities, patients are not admitted for treatment due to the lack of such a consent, despite the court's obligation in this respect. The article confirms that a specific practice of applying the law, which downgrades the role of the patient's consent in the therapeutic process, has negative consequences for the effectiveness of the therapy.
The development of treatment methods for nicotine dependence has progressed slowly because people with psychiatric disorders are usually excluded from participating in clinical trials. There are several therapeutic options to support smoking cessation, including psychological and pharmacological interventions, which should be offered to smokers with mental disorders. The first step in helping tobacco smokers and nicotine-dependent individuals is the assessment of smoking intensity and confirmation of nicotine dependence. Currently, we have several methods of treating nicotine dependence - starting from education and psychotherapy, through pharmacotherapy and replacement therapy, and ending up with obtaining gradual progress with the application of harm reduction. Pharmacological treatment options include nicotine replacement therapy, varenicline or bupropion. The effectiveness of such interventions can be improved by providing anti-smoking therapy under psychiatric treatment and promoting harm reduction as an acceptable initial therapeutic goal. The harm reduction strategy is an approach that should be taken into account individually, particularly in the case of individuals unable to stop smoking, patients with limited insight into their illness, patients experiencing an exacerbation of their illness and persistently uncooperative patients. In this paper, recommendations of the Polish Psychiatric Association on the diagnostics and different treatment methods for nicotine dependence in patients with psychiatric disorders are presented.
Objectives: Evidence suggests that decreased dopamine secretion in mesocorticolimbic pathways could predispose to increased susceptibility to substance addiction. It has been proposed to define such a phenomenon as the reward deficit syndrome (RDS). Dopaminergic projections of the reward system receive glutaminergic projections from cortex. Research indicates that a reduction in the stimulating glutamatergic transmission on the dopaminergic system could represent an alternative phenotype of RDS. Potential source of this type of abnormality is glutamate reuptake which depends on excitatory amino acid transport proteins (EAAT) function. The most important of them is EAAT2, polymorphisms of which have been linked to several mental disorders.
Methods: We analyzed the genetic and psychometric data of 125 young adults (n = 125) for the effect of the rs4354668 polymorphism of the SLC1A2 gene for EAAT2 on the risky or harmful drug use (RHDU). After exploratory analysis we used logistic regression models to assess the probability of RHDU in individual groups.
Results: In the final model T/T variant of rs4354668 was significantly associated with a lower probability of RHDU occurrence compared to G/G variant (OR: 0.021; 95% CI: 0.001 - 0.275; p = 0.009). Other significant predictors of RHDU were smoking status and risky or harmful drinking of alcohol.
Conclusions: The results obtained may indicate a possible relationship of the risk of harmful drug use with variants of the rs4354668 polymorphism of the SLC1A2 gene for EAAT2. Subjects with the T/T variant of this polymorphism appear to be less at risk of developing drug use disorders.