Interoceptive awareness and self-regulation contribute to psychosomatic competence as measured by a new inventory.

BACKGROUND: The interrelation of interoception, cognitive appraisal of bodily signals and conscious self-regulatory behavior is insufficiently understood although it may be relevant for health and disease. Therefore, it was intended to develop a novel self-report measure targeting this link. METHODS: Item development was theoretically based on the multidimensional conceptual framework of the psychosomatic intelligence hypothesis and included an iterative process of refinement of items. In a preliminary test a principal components analysis (PROMAX rotation) and item analysis were calculated for item reduction. In the field test an item response theory approach was used for development of final scales and items. For validation purposes, associations with established measures of related constructs were analyzed. RESULTS: The final 44-item questionnaire consisted of 6 interrelated scales: (1) interoceptive awareness, (2) mentalization, (3) body-related cognitive congruence, (4) body-related health literacy, (5) general self-regulation, and (6) stress experience and stress regulation. Psychometric properties of this instrument demonstrated good model fit, internal consistency and construct validity. According to the validation, the final instrument measures a form of competence rather than intelligence and was termed the psychosomatic competence inventory. CONCLUSION: Interoceptive awareness and conscious body-related self-regulation seem to jointly contribute to a basic competence which may serve homeostatic/allostatic control; however, further research is needed to confirm the reported preliminary findings in a large-scale test.

'An Apple a Day'?: Psychiatrists, Psychologists and Psychotherapists Report Poor Literacy for Nutritional Medicine: International Survey Spanning 52 Countries.

Nutritional interventions have beneficial effects on certain psychiatric disorder symptomatology and common physical health comorbidities. However, studies evaluating nutritional literacy in mental health professionals (MHP) are scarce. This study aimed to assess the across 52 countries. Surveys were distributed via colleagues and professional societies. Data were collected regarding self-reported general nutrition knowledge, nutrition education, learning opportunities, and the tendency to recommend food supplements or prescribe specific diets in clinical practice. In total, 1056 subjects participated in the study: 354 psychiatrists, 511 psychologists, 44 psychotherapists, and 147 MHPs in-training. All participants believed the diet quality of individuals with mental disorders was poorer compared to the general population (p < 0.001). The majority of the psychiatrists (74.2%) and psychologists (66.3%) reported having no training in nutrition. Nevertheless, many of them used nutrition approaches, with 58.6% recommending supplements and 43.8% recommending specific diet strategies to their patients. Only 0.8% of participants rated their education regarding nutrition as 'very good.' Almost all (92.9%) stated they would like to expand their knowledge regarding 'Nutritional Psychiatry.' There is an urgent need to integrate nutrition education into MHP training, ideally in collaboration with nutrition experts to achieve best practice care.

Combining walking and relaxation for stress reduction-A randomized cross-over trial in healthy adults.

Both physical activity and relaxation have stress-relieving potential. This study investigates their combined impact on the relaxation response while considering participants' initial stress level. In a randomized cross-over trial, 81 healthy adults completed 4 types of short-term interventions for stress reduction, each lasting for 1 hr: (1) physical activity (walking) combined with resting, (2) walking combined with balneotherapy, (3) combined resting and balneotherapy, and (4) resting only. Saliva cortisol, blood pressure, state of mood, and relaxation were measured preintervention and postintervention. Stress levels were determined by validated questionnaires. All interventions were associated with relaxation responses in the variables saliva cortisol, blood pressure, state of mood, and subjective relaxation. No significant differences were found regarding the reduction of salivary cortisol (F = 1.30; p = .281). The systolic blood pressure was reduced best when walking was combined with balneotherapy or resting (F = 7.34; p < .001). Participants with high stress levels (n = 25) felt more alert after interventions including balneotherapy, whereas they reported an increase of tiredness when walking was combined with resting (F = 3.20; p = .044). Results suggest that combining physical activity and relaxation (resting or balneotherapy) is an advantageous short-term strategy for stress reduction as systolic blood pressure is reduced best while similar levels of relaxation can be obtained.