Shame facets as predictors of problematic eating behaviors: An ecological momentary assessment study.

It is well-established that negative affect acts as predictor and maintenance factor of problematic eating behaviors. However, the relevance of different facets of negative affect is unclear. While guilt was consistently shown as having a relevant contribution in relation with problematic eating patterns, shame might play a similar role. The current study used an ecological momentary assessment design to assess associations between facets of shame and subsequent disturbed eating behaviors. The study included 57 females with high levels of eating disorders (ED) symptomatology who completed five surveys per day for 14 consecutive days. Participants completed measures of facets of shame (i.e., general shame, body shame, shame around eating), negative affect and problematic eating behaviors (i.e., binge eating, restriction, weighting, body checking, purging, taking laxative/diuretics and excessive exercise). Data were analyzed using multilevel models. In general, between-subjects facets of shame were associated with more disturbed eating behaviors, with shame explaining a significantly and clinically relevant percent of the variance of these problematic eating behaviors. At the within-subject level, facets of shame predicted subsequent binge eating, body checking and excessive exercise. These findings support the role of shame in ED symptomatology and the relevance of directly tackling shame in psychological treatments.

A brief history of Romanian psychology.

The evolution of Romanian psychology followed several stages, similarly to other countries in Eastern Europe, yet with its own particularities. The first psychology institutes were introduced by former students of Wilhelm Wundt, and the field saw a rapid development, with distinguished scholars making relevant scientific contributions. However, after the communist regime was enforced, psychology stagnated somewhat due to ideological, financial, and political reasons, and, in 1977, it was even removed from academia. After 1989, psychology revived in academia and research, and as a profession as well. This article summarizes the evolution of Romanian psychology through these stages, focusing on its postcommunist revival.

Emotion regulation as mediator between childhood adversity and psychopathology: A meta-analysis.

Childhood adversity is a major risk factor for multiple forms of psychopathology, and recent efforts have focused on understanding the underlying psychological mechanisms. One outstanding candidate is emotion regulation, which has been associated with both childhood adversity, and psychopathology. Based on the available evidence, the present meta-analysis set out to investigate the mechanistic involvement of emotion regulation in the relation between childhood adversity and psychopathology. Systematic searches in three databases (PubMed; PsycINFO; Web of Science) identified 215 eligible studies. Using meta-analytic structural equation modeling, we fitted a partial mediation model to the available data across studies, in which childhood adversity was related to psychopathology both directly and through emotion regulation. Multiple emotion regulation dimensions were analyzed, including emotion regulation difficulties and the habitual use of rumination, distraction, reappraisal, and suppression. Measures of psychopathology included a wide range of internalizing and externalizing symptoms in both clinical and non-clinical samples. The results indicated that childhood adversity was positively associated with emotion regulation difficulties, as well as with the habitual use of rumination and suppression. In turn, these measures of emotion regulation were positively associated with psychopathology. Habitual reappraisal use showed negative relations with both childhood adversity and psychopathology. All these emotion regulation measures were supported as mediators in the relation between childhood adversity and psychopathology. In contrast, distraction was not related to childhood adversity or psychopathology, and its mediator role was not supported. These results suggest that altered emotion regulation is a consistent marker of childhood adversity and contributes to risk of psychopathology.

Maladaptive emotion regulation strategies and trait anger as predictors of depression severity.

BACKGROUND: According to empirical evidence, trait anger and emotion regulation strategies are associated with depression severity. The objective of this study was to investigate the impact of trait anger and maladaptive emotion regulation strategies in explaining the variance of depressive symptoms severity. METHODS: Two hundred three participants diagnosed with major depressive disorder completed measures of depression, trait anger, depressive rumination, anger rumination and experiential avoidance. Path analysis using Mplus was employed for data analysis. RESULTS: Trait anger and depressive rumination were significant predictors of the level of depressive symptomatology, while experiential avoidance and anger rumination did not predict the level of depressive symptoms severity. CONCLUSION: Maladaptive emotion regulation strategies and trait anger seem to be associated with the level of depressive symptoms, and, as such, should also be investigated when working with depressive symptomatology.

Shame and eating disorders symptoms: A meta-analysis.

OBJECTIVE: Numerous empirical studies and theoretical models posit that shame is a common experience among individuals across the eating disorder spectrum. In this study we aim to investigate the association between shame and eating disorders symptoms using a meta-analytical approach. METHOD: In this meta-analysis, we synthesized findings from 195 studies to examine the proposed association between shame and eating disorders symptoms. We looked at the associations with both general eating disorders symptoms and with specific eating disorders symptoms (i.e., anorexic, bulimic, and binge-eating symptoms). Moderation analyses testing for the effect of type of shame, type of eating symptoms, clinical status, quality of the study, age, and gender were conducted. RESULTS: Shame was significantly associated with a medium to large effect size with all types of eating disorders symptoms (rs between .40 and .52). Body shame (r = .55) and shame around eating (r = .59) were more strongly related with eating disorders pathology. Type of eating disorders symptoms did not moderate the relationship between shame and disturbed eating. DISCUSSION: Overall, the magnitude of the effect size of the association between shame and eating disorders symptoms is a medium to large one. Body shame and shame around eating seem to be the types of shame most closely tied with eating disorders symptoms, suggesting that directly targeting them in interventions might be highly beneficial. Findings highlight current gaps in the literature (e.g., mostly correlational studies, low quality studies) with implications for future research.

OBJETIVO: Numerosos estudios empíricos y modelos teóricos postulan que la vergüenza es una experiencia común entre las personas en todo el espectro de trastornos de la conducta alimentaria. En este estudio pretendemos investigar la asociación entre la vergüenza y los síntomas de los trastornos alimentarios utilizando un enfoque meta-analítico. MÉTODO: En este metanálisis, se sintetizaron los hallazgos de 195 estudios para examinar la asociación propuesta entre los síntomas de la vergüenza y los trastornos de la conducta alimentaria. Revisamos las asociaciones tanto con síntomas generales de los trastornos de la conducta alimentaria y con los síntomas específicos de los trastornos alimentarios (por ejemplo, síntomas de anorexia, bulimia y de atracón). Se realizaron análisis de moderación que analizaron el efecto del tipo de vergüenza, el tipo de síntomas alimentarios, el estado clínico, la calidad del estudio, la edad y el sexo. RESULTADOS: La vergüenza se asoció significativamente con un tamaño de efecto mediano a grande con todos los tipos de síntomas de trastornos de la conducta alimentaria (rs entre .40 y .52). La vergüenza corporal (r= .55) y la vergüenza alrededor de la alimentación (r= .59) se relacionaron más fuertemente con la patología de los trastornos alimentarios. El tipo de síntomas de los trastornos de la conducta alimentaria no moderó la relación entre la vergüenza y la alimentación disfuncional. DISCUSIÓN: En general, la magnitud del tamaño del efecto de la asociación entre los síntomas de la vergüenza y los trastornos alimentarios es de tamaño mediano a grande. La vergüenza corporal y la vergüenza en torno a la alimentación parecen ser los tipos de vergüenza más estrechamente relacionados con los síntomas de los trastornos de la conducta alimentaria, lo que sugiere que trabajarlos directamente en las intervenciones podría ser altamente beneficioso. Los hallazgos resaltan las brechas actuales en la literatura (por ejemplo, en su mayoría estudios correlacionales, estudios de baja calidad) con implicaciones para futuras investigaciones. PALABRAS CLAVE: Niños, trastornos de la conducta alimentaria y de la alimentación, alimentación disfuncional, prevención, imagen corporal, revisión sistemática, metanálisis.

The effects of self-compassion components on shame-proneness in individuals with depression: An exploratory study.

To date, there is no evidence regarding how self-compassion's components, self-kindness, common humanity and mindfulness could work as distinct interventions. Thus, the main objective of the present study was exploring the effects that the three separate components of self-compassion would have on shame-proneness levels in individuals with clinical depression. All the participants (n = 122) with a diagnostic of Major Depressive Disorder were randomized in four experimental groups: the self-kindness exercises group, the mindfulness exercises group, the common humanity one and the control group. Results indicated that levels of depression and shame-proneness, as measured by BDI-II, TOSCA-3 and ESS decreased from baseline to post-intervention, but no significant differences were observed between groups. Therefore, we cannot conclude that one self-compassion component is more efficient than the others, but the present study does offer, though, a strong starting point for more complex, future studies.

Shame in Anxiety and Obsessive-Compulsive Disorders.

PURPOSE OF REVIEW: Studies on the relations between shame and anxiety and obsessive-compulsive and related disorders (OCRDs) are reviewed, with a focus on recent work. RECENT FINDINGS: Medium-sized positive correlations have been consistently found across anxiety disorders and OCRDs, suggesting that this relation is transdiagnostic. Most studies focused on shame-proneness and found similar relations across multiple types (e.g. internal, external) and domains (e.g. bodily, characterological, behavioural) of shame, with little variation between clinical and non-clinical populations and different age categories. However, most studies are cross-sectional and correlational and by separately studying clinical and non-clinical populations, they do not give a unitary dimensional view of the relation between shame and symptoms. Emerging findings suggest that shame may be a marker of the response to treatment in these disorders, and its relation with symptoms may be bidirectional. The consistent but medium-sized associations between shame and symptoms of anxiety and OCRDs warrant the future search for mediators and moderators.