Using Life Trajectories Analysis to Characterize Suicide Attempts in Prison.

Background: Suicide in prison is a major problem and several risk factors have been identified in the literature (e.g., period of incarceration, depressive disorders). Aims: The study examined the impact of several risk factors for suicide attempts before and during incarceration using life trajectory analysis of inmates by interviews with informants. Method: The lifetime of inmates with a history of suicide attempts (ISA; n = 20) or without (IWSA; n = 29) was recounted on a life chart according to four main domains (health, life events, relationships, and judiciary domain) organized in two different periods (predetention and current detention). Life charts were compared between the two groups and a predictive model of suicide risk was constructed using logistic regression and receiving operating characteristic curve analysis. Results: Before detention, more depressive experiences were observed in ISA than in IWSA, and ISA reported more behavioral disorders than IWSA during current detention. Moreover, the total burden for ISA was greater than that for IWSA. The predictive model identified three dimensions for differentiating ISA from IWSA: mood disorders before detention, behavioral disorders, and the quality of relationships with nuclear family during detention. Limitations: Interviews with inmates would have been informative. Conclusion: The accumulation of life events and behavioral manifestations should be incorporated in the developmental trajectory as a therapeutic model regarding suicide in prison.

Determining Sexual Offender Profiles From Life Trajectories.

To study qualitatively the development of a heteroaggressive behavior, we applied retrospective analytical method based on categorization of life events. The aim of this study was to establish the life trajectories of sexual offenders through interviews with second sources: the inmate's relatives and psychologists. The life trajectories of incarcerated sexual offenders were retraced to build individual life charts. These life charts grouped individual life events into four main domains: health, life events, the relational sphere, and the judicial and prison sphere. In a sample of 40 inmate participants, four different profiles of sex offenders and therefore life trajectories were identified according to the abovementioned domains: (a) "Early life events and behavior disorders" (n = 14), (b) "Abandonment issues" (n = 4), (c) "Behavior and socioaffective disorders" (n = 9), and (d) "Behavioral hyperadaptation and coldness" (n = 13). Expert judges classified the life trajectories with satisfactory interjudge agreement (k = 0.70). This research has clinical implications for integrating different life events into developmental trajectories and focusing psychological support for the individual.

Positive facial expressions during retrieval of self-defining memories.

In this study, we investigated, for the first time, facial expressions during the retrieval of Self-defining memories (i.e., those vivid and emotionally intense memories of enduring concerns or unresolved conflicts). Participants self-rated the emotional valence of their Self-defining memories and autobiographical retrieval was analyzed with a facial analysis software. This software (Facereader) synthesizes the facial expression information (i.e., cheek, lips, muscles, eyebrow muscles) to describe and categorize facial expressions (i.e., neutral, happy, sad, surprised, angry, scared, and disgusted facial expressions). We found that participants showed more emotional than neutral facial expressions during the retrieval of Self-defining memories. We also found that participants showed more positive than negative facial expressions during the retrieval of Self-defining memories. Interestingly, participants attributed positive valence to the retrieved memories. These findings are the first to demonstrate the consistency between facial expressions and the emotional subjective experience of Self-defining memories. These findings provide valuable physiological information about the emotional experience of the past.

Perception of Peripersonal and Interpersonal Space in Patients with Restrictive-type Anorexia.

This study examines whether the perception of peripersonal action-space and interpersonal social-space is modified in patients with restrictive-type anorexia in two experimental conditions using videos. First, participants stopped the video of an approaching stimulus when they felt the distance to be comfortable for interacting with it (first-person perspective). Second, participants stopped the video when an observed individual approaching a stimulus, or being approached by it, was at a comfortable distance (third-person perspective). In the first-person perspective, the results showed an estimation of peripersonal space that did not differ from controls when an object was approaching and an increase in interpersonal space compared with controls when a male or female individual was approaching. In the third-person perspective, both individual-object and individual-individual distances were larger in anorexic patients. These results indicate a specific deficit in adjusting interpersonal distances in both the first-person and third-person perspectives. Copyright © 2017 John Wiley & Sons, Ltd and Eating Disorders Association.

Impact of emotional awareness and parental bonding on emotional eating in obese women.

This study aimed to: (1) determine whether obese women have deficits in emotional awareness and more frequently use emotional eating to regulate their emotions, (2) assess the impact of emotional awareness on the use of emotional eating, and (3) explore the impact of parental bonding on patient level of emotional awareness. A sample of 94 obese women was compared with 56 control participants. All participants answered questionnaires concerning their eating habits (Dutch Emotional Behavior Questionnaire), emotional awareness (Level of Emotional Awareness Scale) and parental bonding (Parental Bonding Inventory). Obese women exhibited deficits in emotional awareness and used emotional eating as an emotion regulation strategy more often than controls. Regression analyses showed that paternal and maternal overprotection negatively influenced obese patients' levels of emotional awareness and that emotional awareness positively influenced their emotional eating.