An examination of the mediating role of maladaptive emotion regulation strategies in the complex relationship between interpersonal needs and suicidal behavior.

Background: Studies have shown that psychological factors, notably interpersonal needs and emotion regulation, play a significant role in suicidal behavior. Interpersonal needs are significant contextual components that affect emotion regulation and contribute to a wide range of dysfunctional behaviors, such as suicidal behavior. It has been postulated that emotion regulation mediates the associations between proximal and distal risk factors of suicidal behavior. Method: The sample consisted of 340 community-dwelling individuals (62.5% women; SD = 0.48) with an age range of 18 through 55 (M = 30.23; SD = 8.54) who completed the interpersonal needs questionnaire, the suicide behaviors questionnaire-revised, and the cognitive emotion regulation questionnaire. The Structural Equation Modeling (SEM) approach was utilized to evaluate a mediation model. Results: The findings indicate that interpersonal needs (i.e., perceived burdensomeness r = .55, p <.01 and thwarted belongingness r = .25, p <.01) and putatively maladaptive cognitive emotion regulation strategies (i.e., self-blame; r = .38, p <.01, catastrophizing; r = .55, p <.01, rumination; r = .40, p <.01, and other blame; r = .44, p <.01) have strong associations with suicidal behavior, and these strategies have a mediating effect on the association between interpersonal needs and suicidal behavior. Conclusions: Our findings show that contextual-interpersonal needs, which underpin suicidal behavior, are significantly influenced by maladaptive emotional processes. Thus, therapeutic outcomes might be enhanced by focusing on the content of the associated cognitions and trying to reduce maladaptive regulatory processes like rumination and catastrophization.

Exploring Deviation from Time Perspective in Patients with Major Depressive Disorder, Obsessive Compulsive Disorder, and Generalized Anxiety Disorder: A Comparative Analysis in the Clinical Context.

Objective: A growing body of research stresses the effect of time perspective (TP) on the genesis and maintenance of psychological disorders. However, the variations in the TP configuration of individuals with different disorders have not yet been completely investigated. We aimed to compare the differences in TP among patients with three common psychiatric disorders. Method : We recruited 30 patients with major depressive disorder (MDD), 30 with generalized anxiety disorder (GAD), and 30 with obsessive-compulsive disorder (OCD). Participants completed Zimbardo's Time Perspective Inventory, Beck Depression Inventory, Generalized Anxiety Disorder Scale, Maudsley Obsessive Compulsive Inventory, and Structured Clinical Interview for DSM-5 (SCID-5). The one-way MANOVA was utilized for the comparison of TP dimensions among the three disordered groups. Results: The results showed that TP was significantly affected in all three clinical groups. The effect of the disorder on time perspective was significant for Past Negative (PN) (F (2, 84) = 11.86, P < 0.01), Past Positive (PP) (F (2, 84) = 6.66, P < 0.01), Present Fatalistic (PF) (F (2, 84) = 7.08, P < 0.01) and Future (F) (F (2, 84) = 26.40, P < 0.01), but not for Present Hedonistic (PH). The findings revealed that the MDD group scored the highest on PN, with the GAD group scoring higher than the OCD group. The GAD and OCD groups reported higher PP than the MDD group. In addition, the MDD group scored higher than both the GAD and OCD groups on PF. Finally, the GAD patients reported higher scores than both the MDD and OCD patients on the F dimension, while the OCD patients scored higher than the MDD patients. Conclusion: Individuals with MDD tend to obtain higher scores in PN and PF time perspective, whereas those with GAD and OCD showed higher PP and F scores. These findings demonstrate the significance of examining TP in clinical patients and prompt further research into the association between TP and the disorders being studied. Perspectives on therapy are also explored.

Escitalopram and progressive muscle relaxation training are both effective for the treatment of hot flashes in patients with breast cancer: a randomized controlled trial.

INTRODUCTION: Available treatments for hot flashes in patients with breast cancer are not always tolerable or effective for all patients. METHODS: Patients diagnosed to have primary breast cancer were randomly allocated to receive 10 mg of escitalopram, placebo, or progressive muscle relaxation therapy. Patients were asked to report the frequency and duration of hot flashes during day and night, at baseline and after ten weeks of treatment, and completed the menopause rating scale. RESULTS: Eighty-two patients were randomly assigned to receive escitalopram (n = 26), PMRT (n = 28), and placebo (n = 28). PMRT and escitalopram could effectively decrease number and duration of diurnal and nocturnal HFs in patients with breast cancer, with a better effect observed from escitalopram. They could both decrease the total score of MRS. CONCLUSION: Both escitalopram ad PMRT can reveal nocturnal and diurnal HFs in terms of frequency and duration in patients with breast cancer.

A comparative study on diadochokinetic skill of dyslexic, stuttering, and normal children.

Objective. Previous studies have shown some motor deficits among stuttering and dyslexic children. While motor deficits in speech articulation of the stuttering children are among the controversial topics, no study on motor deficits of dyslexic children has been documented to date. Methods. 120 children (40 stuttering, 40 dyslexia, and 40 normal) 6-11 years old were matched and compared in terms of diadochokinetic skill. Dyslexia symptoms checklist, reading test, and diadochokinetic task were used as measurement instruments. Results. The data analysis showed that there are significant differences (P < 0.001) in reaction time and the number of syllables in accomplishing diadochokinetic tasks among stuttering children, dyslexics, and the control group. This indicates that stuttering children and dyslexics have poor performance in reaction time and in the number of monosyllable articulation and long syllable articulation. Furthermore, there are significant differences (P < 0.001) in these indices between stuttering children and dyslexics, so that the latter group have better performance than the former one. Conclusion. The findings indicate that stuttering children and dyslexics have deficits in diadochokinetic skill which suggests their low performance in the motor control of speech production and articulation. Such deficits might be due to the role of the tongue in the development of stuttering and dyslexia.

The standardization of Victoria Stroop Color-Word Test among Iranian bilingual adolescents.

BACKGROUND: The Stroop Color-Word Test is a classic instrument for the assessment of selective attention and inhibition control and is a highly utilized instrument in research aspects of executive functions of the brain. The purpose of the present study was a preliminary standardization of Stroop test among Iranian bilingual adolescents. METHODS: In this study, 150 subjects, including three groups of adolescents (12 - 13, 14 - 15, and 16 - 17-year-olds) were randomly selected. Also, 30 subjects with attention-deficit hyperactivity disorder (ADHD) were selected for the study of differential validity. The instruments of this study were Victoria Stroop Color- Word Test and Strengths and Difficulties Questionnaire (SDQ). RESULTS: Correlation coeffecients by test-retest in Stroop test for reaction times of three cards and reaction time interference were 0.86, 0.86, 0.93, and 0.64; and for errors of three cards and error interference were 0.67, 0.37, 0.81, and 0.75 respectively. All of the corellations were significant. Differential validity by comparing ADHD and control group showed that there were significant differences among groups. The results of age effect in Stroop variables showed that there were significant differences between age groups in reaction time of all cards and error of the first and third cards; but sex did not show any significant effect on Stroop variables. CONCLUSION: The findings suggest that reaction time and error of almost all cards of Stroop test are reliable and also have a good differential validity to discriminate ADHD from healthy controls in Iranian bilingual adolescents. Based on our findings, age but not sex is influential on performance of Stroop test.