Emotional activation in video conferences equals that in in person meetings.

Objective: The purpose of this study was to increase our understanding of VCPs' impact on the therapeutic factor emotion processing by investigating possible differences in emotional activation during autobiographical recall in VCPs and in person. Methods: We recruited 30 adult participants aged 21-53 (M = 26.50, SD = 6.68) with no current psychiatric diagnoses to join a controlled experiment. All participants completed two relaxation sessions and two autobiographical recall sessions. Each type of session was delivered once over a VCP and once in person. Emotional activation was measured by heart rate, skin conductance and self-assessment of affects during each session. Results: No significant differences in activation during autobiographical recall between VCP and in person. Conclusions: This result may indicate the viability of VCPs for work with emotion processing. We discuss the results in light of clients' and therapists' concerns about using VCPs in emotional work, with the caution that further practical implications should be considered.

Eye Contact in Video Communication: Experiences of Co-creating Relationships.

As a result of the COVID-19 pandemic, increased number of persons have been forced to limit their interactions with friends and families to contact via video, which excludes eye-contact. The aim of this study was to examine individuals' experiences of the difference between forced skewed visuality and the ability for eye-contact in conversations. Two custom-made units allowed 15 participants interacting in dyads to alternate between being able to make eye contact and having that ability removed through skewed visuality. Participants reported their experiences in semi-structured interviews. Data analyzed with qualitative content analysis resulted in three themes: Shared eye contact allows us to create our relationship together; With eye contact, we adjust to each other to feel more connected and less intimidated; and We get more self-conscious when the visuality is skewed or shifting. The results imply that skewed visuality as forced lack of eye-contact in video conversations effects embodied non-verbal processes related to sense of connectedness and participatory sensemaking, creating a sense of both emotional and physical distance, as well as heightening self-awareness about the need of actively regulating the other. We argue that this is one of the ways to understand the impact of moving interactions to online communication.

Introducing Social Breathing: A Model of Engaging in Relational Systems.

We address what it means to "engage in a relationship" and suggest Social Breathing as a model of immersing ourselves in the metaphorical social air around us, which is necessary for shared intention and joint action. We emphasize how emergent properties of social systems arise, such as the shared culture of groups, which cannot be reduced to the individuals involved. We argue that the processes involved in Social Breathing are: (1) automatic, (2) implicit, (3) temporal, (4) in the form of mutual bi-directional interwoven exchanges between social partners and (5) embodied in the coordination of the brains and behaviors of social partners. We summarize cross-disciplinary evidence suggesting that these processes involve a multi-person whole-brain-body network which is critical for the development of both we-ness and relational skills. We propose that Social Breathing depends on each individual's ability to sustain multimodal interwovenness, thus providing a theoretical link between social neuroscience and relational/multi-person psychology. We discuss how the model could guide research on autism, relationships, and psychotherapy.

Psychiatrists' experiences of suicide assessment.

BACKGROUND: Clinical guidelines for suicide prevention often stress the identification of risk and protective factors as well as the evaluation of suicidal intent. However, we know very little about what psychiatrists actually do when they make these assessments. The aim was to investigate psychiatrists' own accounts of suicide assessment consultations, with a focus on their behaviors, attitudes and emotions. METHOD: Semi-structured in depth interviews were carried out with a purposive selection of 15 psychiatrists. RESULTS: Thematic analysis revealed three main themes: understanding the patient in a precarious situation, understanding one's own reactions, and understanding how the doctor-patient relationship impacted on risk assessment and management decisions. Emotional contact and credibility issues were common subthemes that arose when the respondents talked about trying to understand the patient. The psychiatrists stressed the semi-intuitive nature of their assessments. Problems related to the use of risk factor assessments and rating scales were apparent. Assessment consultations could evoke physical and emotional symptoms of anxiety, and concerns about responsibility could lead to repressive management decisions. In situations of mutual trust, however, the assessment consultation could kick-start a therapeutic process. CONCLUSION: This study highlights psychiatrists' experiences in clinical suicide assessment situations. Findings have implications for professional development as well as for service delivery.

"We are like lemmings": making sense of the cultural meaning(s) of suicide among the indigenous Sami in Sweden.

BACKGROUND: Suicide is a widespread problem among indigenous people residing in the circumpolar Arctic. Though the situation among the indigenous Sami in northern Scandinavia is better than among some other indigenous people, suicide is still regarded as a major public health issue. To adapt prevention strategies that are culturally attuned one must understand how suicide is understood within context. That is, the cultural meaning(s) of suicide. OBJECTIVE: To explore and make sense of the cultural meaning(s) of suicide among Sami in Sweden. DESIGN: Open-ended focus group discussions (FGDs) on the topic "suicide among Sami" were carried out in 5 Sami communities in Sweden, with in total 22 strategically selected Sami participants. FGDs were recorded, transcribed verbatim and analyzed through employing content analysis. RESULTS: From the FGDs 4 themes emerged including "The Sami are fighting for their culture and the herders are in the middle of the fight," "Suicide as a consequence of Sami losing (or having lost) their identity," "A wildfire in the Sami world" and "Difficult to get help as a Sami." CONCLUSIONS: Findings indicate that Sami in Sweden make sense of suicide in relation to power and identity within a threatened Sami cultural context. Suicide is then understood as an act that takes place and makes sense to others when a Sami no longer has the power to maintain a Sami identity, resulting in being disconnected from the Sami world and placed in an existential void where suicide is a solution. The findings are useful in development of culturally attuned suicide prevention among Sami in Sweden.

Learning psychology as a challenging process towards development as well as "studies as usual": a thematic analysis of medical students' reflective writing.

Reflective writing in medical training has been shown to be most effective when combined with some form of personal meeting or dialog. During a course in medical psychology for medical students, reflective texts were followed up by an individual personal talk with a teacher from the course. Thematic analysis of the texts revealed four separate sub-themes: 1) the course has enabled me and the class to develop, which is good albeit arduous; 2) understanding myself is a resource in understanding people as well as knowing psychology; 3) the course provided me with new, purely intellectual skills as well as eye-openers; and 4) the receiving teacher is an integral part of my reflective writing. The main theme, capturing the students' writing process, concluded that students perceive the course as "Learning psychology as a challenging process towards development" as well as "studies as usual". Ethical, psychological, and pedagogical aspects are discussed in the paper.

Experiences of being a young male Sami reindeer herder: a qualitative study in perspective of mental health.

OBJECTIVES: To explore experiences of what it is to be a young male Sami reindeer herder in Sweden, a group with previously known stigma and specific health issues, and to understand experiences in perspective of mental health. METHODS: A qualitative content analysis was employed. Data were collected by in-depth interviews with 15 strategically selected reindeer herders aged 18-35 years old. RESULTS: The analysis resulted in 5 sub-themes: (a) being "inside" or "outside" is a question of identity; (b) a paradox between being free/bound; (c) an experience of various threats and a feeling of powerlessness; (d) specific norms for how a "real" reindeer herder should be; and (e) the different impacts and meanings of relations. The overarching theme is summarized thus: being a young reindeer herder means so many (impossible) dreams and conditions. Overall, the experience of the informants was that being a reindeer herder is a privileged position that also implies many impossibilities and unjust adversities they have no control over, and that there is nothing they can do but "bite the bullet or be a failure." CONCLUSIONS: Knowledge about this group's experiences can be used to understand difficulties faced by young reindeer herders and its consequences regarding mental health problems. This also implies a need for a broader perspective when discussing future interventions aimed at preventing mental health problems in this group.

Hazardous drinking and drinking patterns among the reindeer-herding Sami population in Sweden.

The objective of this study was to investigate hazardous drinking among reindeer-herding Sami in Sweden. A cross-sectional questionnaire study was conducted in 2007, which included the Alcohol Use Disorder Identification Test. A total of 319 reindeer-herding Sami were compared with urban and rural reference populations of 1,393 persons. Data were analyzed with regard to population, gender, age group, education, anxiety, depression, and work-related stress. The Sami population did not report a higher prevalence of hazardous drinking compared with the reference groups; however, subgroups of Sami men with symptoms of depression were revealed as at risk, in contrast to Sami women who were not found to be at risk at all. Limitations of the study are discussed.

Depression and anxiety in the reindeer-herding Sami population of Sweden.

OBJECTIVES: The objective of this study was to investigate symptoms and predicting factors of depression and anxiety among reindeer-herding Sami in Sweden. STUDY DESIGN: A total of 319 reindeer-herding Sami (168 men, 151 women) were compared with urban and rural reference populations comprising 1,393 persons (662 men, 731 women). METHODS: A cross-sectional questionnaire study on mental health, which included the Hospital Anxiety and Depression Scale (HADS). Data were analysed with regard to population, gender, age group, education and work-related stress. RESULTS: The Sami population disclosed higher mean values for both depression and anxiety than the reference groups, with Sami men reporting the highest rates. Work-related stress was associated with anxiety and depression in the Sami group. CONCLUSIONS: By comparing Sami men and women with reference groups of men and women living in urban and rural areas in northern Sweden, this study identified that reindeer-herding Sami men require special attention with regard to mental health problems.