Psychiatry-Interpersonal and Biological Processes最新文献

Objective: Childhood maltreatment is a well-established risk factor for the development of mental disorders. Interpretation bias has been proposed as a potential mechanism mediating the relationship between childhood maltreatment and subsequent psychopathology. This study investigated differences in interpretation bias and psychopathology symptoms based on experiences of childhood abuse and neglect. It also examined whether interpretation bias mediates the relationship between childhood maltreatment and symptoms of psychopathology using network analysis.

Methods: A cross-sectional sample of 123 university students aged 19 to 25 participated. Childhood maltreatment was assessed using the Childhood Maltreatment Experiences Scale, and psychopathological symptoms were measured with the Symptom Checklist-90-Revised. Interpretation bias was assessed using a facial emotion judgment task involving morphed anger-happiness and anger-sadness expressions presented at varying intensity levels.

Results: Participants with a history of abuse were more likely to interpret ambiguous anger-happiness expressions as anger, especially at the most ambiguous levels, and reported higher symptoms across all domains of psychopathology compared to those without maltreatment experiences. Participants with a history of neglect showed elevated depression and paranoid ideation but did not show significant interpretation bias. Network analysis revealed that abuse was directly connected to interpretation bias, somatization, and phobic anxiety. Interpretation bias and somatization served as bridge nodes, with anxiety emerging as the most central symptom.

Conclusions: Interpretation bias may serve as a transdiagnostic factor linking childhood abuse to various forms of psychopathology, highlighting its importance for early identification and intervention in individuals with childhood abuse histories.

Objective: Identification-the experience of perceiving oneself as like another-is a central process in human relatedness, empathy, and emotion regulation. Although well-established in psychoanalytic and developmental theory, its function under stress and trauma has received limited systematic attention. This paper integrates interpersonal, cognitive, and neurobiological perspectives to conceptualize identification as a core mental operation and to propose thinking by similarity as its underlying cognitive process.

Method: Through focused conceptual synthesis, the manuscript draws on psychoanalytic, developmental, social-cognitive, and neurobiological research to examine the origins, mechanisms, and manifestations of identification across the life span and following high-stress and traumatic events.

Results: Identification emerges early in development through attachment and imitation, shaping empathy and social understanding. Neurobiological evidence, including mirror neurons and limbic system activation, demonstrates shared brain activations that ground identification biologically. Under threat or trauma, cognition may shift to thinking by similarity, facilitating appraisal of safety and danger but also increasing vulnerability to distress and cognitive rigidity. Following traumatic events, this process may yield adaptive empathy and solidarity or maladaptive over-identification with victims and aggressors and posttraumatic stress disorder.

Conclusions: Identification is a fundamental psychological and neurobiological process. The concept of identification as thinking by similarity offers a unifying linking of psychodynamic, developmental, and neurobiological models. This framework advances understanding of empathy, resilience, and vulnerability under stress, with implications for trauma-informed clinical practice and research.

Objective: We assessed the impact of the COVID-19 pandemic on the implementation of a peer-integrated enhancement of integrated clinical care intervention to address the mental health needs of 450 patients undergoing treatment for a physical injury.

Methods: Qualitative data were collected by 7 clinician investigators of a randomized controlled trial acting as participant observers in a trauma care setting of a major U.S. metropolitan hospital and analyzed in collaboration with an external mixed methods specialist.

Results: The pandemic created or exacerbated several implementation barriers, including increased risk of infection, homelessness, hospitalizations and comorbid conditions such as fentanyl overdoses that increased demand on emergency department and Trauma Center services, imposition of safety measures to reduce risk of infection in clinical settings, transition from face-to-face to virtual interactions with study patients, shortages of specialty mental health providers, suspension of recruitment of patients into the study, scheduling calls with patients, and an increased workload for the study clinical interventionists. Peer specialists perceived the transition to virtual interactions with patients reduced their effectiveness; however, this was not reflected in assessments of patient satisfaction with services received and may have inadvertently increased adoption by Trauma Center staff. Reduction in reach of the intervention to target population was temporary.

Conclusions: The COVID-19 pandemic exacerbated existing barriers and created new barriers to successfully implementing evidence-based practices in trauma care settings, resulting in an attenuation of their effectiveness. However, the shift from face-to-face to virtual services delivery may have actually led to improved implementation outcomes.

Trial registration: ClinicalTrials.gov identifier: NCT03569878. Registered June 15, 2018.

Objective: Digital social technologies, such as social media and online multiplayer video games (MVGs), have ushered in an era of peer relationships that evolve online, in addition to in person. This report reviews existing research about the dual role of social media and MVGs in shaping youth social connectedness, recognizing both their potential benefits and their associated risks on youth mental health. By providing evidence-based insights, it aims to inform strategies that optimize these technologies' advantages while safeguarding youth mental health and well-being.

Method: This report reviews peer-reviewed literature, clinical recommendations, reports, and surveys that assess youth usage of social media and MVGs and their associated psychological and physical health outcomes.

Results: Social media provides many opportunities for peer connection, including self-expression and social support, fostering positive social development and well-being. MVGs combine entertainment with collaboration, further strengthening social bonds. However, the use of these technologies has also been linked to negative outcomes, including social isolation, depression, anxiety, and sleep disorders. Publically-available, evidence-based resources can provide caregivers and professionals with guidance and clinical recommendations regarding youth social media and MVG use.

Conclusions: Digital social technologies have become increasingly user-specific and immersive as the internet evolves and social media algorithms become more powerful. Additional research is required to understand how current youth usage of these technologies impacts physical and psychological outcomes. Future research should also investigate the differences in usage, outcomes, and the efficacy of treatments across youth sex and age.

Objective Resistance to unwanted sexual advances decreases likelihood of completed sexual victimization (SV), with psychological barriers to resistance (PBRs; i.e. fear of injury, concern for preserving the relationship, and self-consciousness) reducing likelihood of resisting. Prior SV is associated with distress, which could increase revictimization risk.Method: A cross-sectional survey was utilized to examine associations among history of SV, psychological distress (defined as symptoms of depression, anxiety, symptoms of post-traumatic stress disorder [PTSD], and alcohol use problems), and PBRs in a sample of college women (N = 374). It was hypothesized: 1) severity of SV would be associated with PBRs, 2) psychological distress would be associated with severity of SV, 3) psychological distress would be associated with each type of PBR, and 4) psychological distress would mediate associations between severity of SV and PBRs. Results: Severity of SV was associated with fear of injury exacerbation and concerns for relationship preservation as well as higher levels of psychological distress. Concerns for relationship preservation and self-consciousness were associated with more alcohol problems. Depression mediated severity of SV and PBR due to concern for relationship preservation.Conclusion: Risk reduction programs should address how the intersection of psychological distress and PBR influences resistance behavior, especially among women with a history of SV.

Objective: The proliferation of access to generative AI tools has the potential to radically alter the process of writing manuscripts. This report evaluates NotebookLM as a tool for conducting a literature review in an ethical and responsible manner.

Method: We uploaded 22 relevant papers from the Army Study to Assess Risk and Resilience in Servicemembers (Army STARRS) to NotebookLM and asked questions pertaining to a hypothetical research paper. We investigated the capabilities, limitations, ethical considerations, and privacy implications of using NotebookLM and engaged in a dialogue with the tool through a series of user-written prompts and AI responses.

Results: We found that the variability and utility of responsesweres determined in large part by the ability to write meaningful prompts and the extent to which new prompts provided additional information. Investigating how NotebookLM identified key findings enhanced our prompt generation and subsequently the iterative refinement of output to produce information relevant to our mock literature review.

Conclusions: The utility of NotebookLM will likely vary by the quality of source material uploaded into the program and the researcher's familiarity with prompt generation. There are a number of benefits and drawbacks to using this tool as a search engine or conversation partner. Ethical considerations and privacy implications of using NotebookLM are discussed.

Background: Military personnel and active combatants are known to be at risk for perpetrating or witnessing acts that violate their moral code. These events, termed potentially morally injurious events (PMIEs), were found to be associated in cross-sectional studies with an increased risk of mental and behavioral health problems, such as depression and anxiety symptoms. However, the longitudinal contribution of deployment-related PMIEs and moral injury (MI) outcomes to depression and anxiety symptoms among veterans remain unclear, particularly during their initial years following discharge.

Method: Participants were 169 Israeli combat veterans who participated in a six-year longitudinal study with four measurement points (T1: 12 months before enlistment, T2: Six months following enlistment - pre-deployment, T3: 18 months following enlistment - post-deployment, and T4: 28 months following discharge). Participants' characteristics were assessed between 2019-2024 via semi-structured interviews (T1) and validated self-report measures (T2-T4).

Results: Exposure to PMIE-Self (i.e. self-perpetrated potentially morally injurious events) at T3 predicted severity of depressive symptoms (T4), and MI-outcomes of shame and trust-violation (T4) predicted both severity of depressive and anxiety symptoms (T4), above and beyond the pre-enlistment personal characteristics (T1), depressive and anxiety symptoms (T2 and T3), personality risk factors (T2) and combat exposure (T3).

Conclusions: Deployment-related PMIE experiences, especially PMIE-Self experiences, and MI outcomes, were found to be valid predictors of higher severity of depression and anxiety symptoms following discharge. Routine screening and targeted interventions should be available to combatants upon their discharge from the military, a transition identified as vulnerable to the consequences of moral injury.

Objective: Posttraumatic stress disorder (PTSD) has four symptom clusters: intrusion, avoidance, negative cognitions/mood, and hyperarousal. Little is known about the extent to which the intensity of the symptom clusters vary from moment-to-moment. Using an ecological momentary assessment methodology, this study examined within day variation in the four PTSD symptom clusters.

Methods: Participants with PTSD (N = 78) completed self-report assessments of 18 posttraumatic stress symptoms (PTSS) four times daily for 15 days. Linear mixed models and linear spline models examined how PTSS and each of the four PTSD symptom clusters varied across six daily time-blocks (0700, 1000, 1300, 1600, 1900, 2200).

Results: PTSS and each symptom cluster differed across the six time-blocks: PTSS, F(5, 345) = 10.06, p < .001; intrusion: 3.02, p < .05; avoidance: 11.31, p < .001; negative cognitions/mood: 7.42, p < .001; and hyperarousal: 9.34, p < .001. All symptom clusters were lowest at the first time-block with an overall increasing pattern across the six time-blocks. Knot analyses indicated maximum symptoms of intrusion at 1000, while maximum symptoms of avoidance, negative cognitions/mood, and hyperarousal occurred at 1300.

Conclusions: All four PTSD symptom clusters vary within a day, are lowest in the morning and peak at different times. Further study of the causes of this within day variation, including the neurobiological, psychological, behavioral, and lifestyle factors is important for understanding the mechanisms of and interventions for PTSD.

Aim: This study examines anxiety as a mediator between early warm and secure memories and healthy eating among college students, and the moderating role of physical activity in the early warm and secure memories-anxiety relationship.

Methods: In December, 2024, 2,984 Chinese undergraduates (42% male, 58% female; mean age 19.03)completed surveys assessing early warm and secure memories, anxiety, healthy eating, and physical activity. SPSS 29.0 analyzed correlations, PROCESS Macro testedthe mediation model, and moderated mediation model.

Results: Early warm and secure memories negatively correlated with anxiety (r = ‒0.359)and positively with physical activity (r = 0.098) and healthy eating (r = 0.245). Anxiety negatively correlated with physical activity (r = ‒0.089)and healthy eating (r = ‒0.209). Mediation analysis showed early warm and secure memories directly predicted healthy eating (β = 0.243, p < .001),with anxiety partially mediating this link (indirect effect β = ‒0.144, p < .001). Physical activity moderated the early warm and secure memories-anxiety pathway (interaction β = ‒0.044, p < .05), buffering anxiety's impact.

Conclusion: Early warm and secure memories promote healthy eating both directly and indirectly by reducing anxiety, with physical activity weakening the early warm and secure memories-anxiety association. Findings highlight the importance of fostering secure childhood memories for mental health and healthy eating. Interventions should leverage early warm and secure memories as a psychological resource and incorporate physical activity to enhance student well-being.

Objective:Chronic pain can result in psychological distress. In addition, sleep disturbance is associated with both chronic pain and psychological distress. However, no study has comprehensively investigated the roles of sleep disturbance in the associations between pain and psychological distress in the general population. Our study aims to explore the mediating as well as the moderating effects of sleep disturbance between chronic pain and psychological distress in a national Canadian sample. Methods: Data were analyzed from the Canadian Community Health Survey-Mental Health (CCHS-MH), a national cross-sectional study comprised of adult respondents who provided information on chronic pain, sleep and psychological distress (N = 25,113). The 10-item Kessler Psychological Distress Scale (K-10) was used to assess psychological distress. Structural equation modeling (SEM) was used to measure the mediating and moderating effects of sleep disturbance on the relationships between chronic pain and psychological distress. Results: Our findings indicated that sleep disturbance had both direct and indirect effects on psychological distress. Sleep disturbance partially mediated the relationships between chronic pain and psychological distress (β = 0.10, p < .05). The model accounts for 30.3% of the variance in psychological distress. Sleep disturbance also played a moderating role in the relationships between chronic pain and psychological distress. The pronounced moderation effect was found in the "no sleep disturbance group" (β = 0.20, p < .05). Conclusions: These results revealed that addressing sleep problems should be one of the targets of intervention and prevention for psychological distress among those individuals suffering from chronic pain.