The Subjective Experience of Patients Diagnosed with Hereditary Hemorrhagic Telangiectasia: a Qualitative Study.

The aim of the present study was to understand the context and psychological impact for patients diagnosed with hereditary hemorrhagic telangiectasia (HHT). Semi-structured interviews were conducted with 9 patients affected by HHT, and the transcripts were analyzed using interpretative phenomenological analysis. The results of this study allowed us to propose a new hypothesis to explain the delay in diagnosis: the trivialization of symptoms associated with HHT. Moreover, the results showed that a genetic diagnosis of HHT results in emotional shock, uncertainty about the future, and worry about one's children in parents who are confronted with the dilemma of facing the reality of the diagnosis or delaying dealing with the diagnosis until disease onset. Family and personal perceptions of the disease influenced not only the delay in diagnosis but also the emotional and behavioral reactions of patients following a genetic diagnosis.

Training emotion regulation processes in alcohol-abstinent individuals: A pilot study.

The study aimed to assess whether abstinent individuals with alcohol use disorders (AUD) would benefit from enhanced emotional regulation (ER) strategies using the affect regulation training (ART) program based on weekly sessions comprising psycho-education, muscle and respiratory relaxation, awareness, acceptance and tolerance, compassionate personal support, emotion analysis and modification. Seventy-two participants with AUD benefited from ART and were compared on their ER ability, mindfulness, and their experience of abstinence to 40 participants not receiving the program, before it, at the end, and 6 months after. Improvements in ER were observed, particularly in positive centration, action centration or self-blame and in mindfulness abilities after the program and six months later. In addition, by comparing participants who received the program with a short (<18 months) or long (>18 months) abstinence duration, the results showed a greater decrease in the use of non-adaptive strategies, a greater increase in adaptive strategies and mindfulness abilities in short-term abstinent individuals. These results demonstrate improvement in ER skills after training in people who were abstinent from alcohol. ART is effective for consolidating abstinence and should be used especially at the beginning of withdrawal to promote the rapid implementation of new ER strategies.