Annual Research Review: 'There, the dance is - at the still point of the turning world' - dynamic systems perspectives on coregulation and dysregulation during early development.

During development we transition from coregulation (where regulatory processes are shared between child and caregiver) to self-regulation. Most early coregulatory interactions aim to manage fluctuations in the infant's arousal and alertness; but over time, coregulatory processes become progressively elaborated to encompass other functions such as sociocommunicative development, attention and executive control. The fundamental aim of coregulation is to help maintain an optimal 'critical state' between hypo- and hyperactivity. Here, we present a dynamic framework for understanding child-caregiver coregulatory interactions in the context of psychopathology. Early coregulatory processes involve both passive entrainment, through which a child's state entrains to the caregiver's, and active contingent responsiveness, through which the caregiver changes their behaviour in response to behaviours from the child. Similar principles, of interactive but asymmetric contingency, drive joint attention and the maintenance of epistemic states as well as arousal/alertness, emotion regulation and sociocommunicative development. We describe three ways in which active child-caregiver regulation can develop atypically, in conditions such as Autism, ADHD, anxiety and depression. The most well-known of these is insufficient contingent responsiveness, leading to reduced synchrony, which has been shown across a range of modalities in different disorders, and which is the target of most current interventions. We also present evidence that excessive contingent responsiveness and excessive synchrony can develop in some circumstances. And we show that positive feedback interactions can develop, which are contingent but mutually amplificatory child-caregiver interactions that drive the child further from their critical state. We discuss implications of these findings for future intervention research, and directions for future work.

Adaptation of the Fears of Compassion Scale into Turkish: a reliability and validity study.

BACKGROUND: The concept of fear of compassion draws the interest of researchers in both clinical and scientific fields. The Fears of Compassion Scale (FCS) was developed in order to examine the fear of compassion for others, compassion from others and compassion for one's self. This study aims to adapt the FCS into the Turkish language. The Satisfaction with Life Scale and the Self-Compassion Scale were used to assess the criterion-related validity of the FCS. PARTICIPANTS AND PROCEDURE: In order to determine the construct validity of the scale, validity and reliability studies and factor analysis were carried out on 681 participants (Mage = 32.00, SD = 10.15; 64% female and 36% male). RESULTS: The results of the confirmatory factor analysis yielded the expected 3-factor solution (the fear of compassion for others, the fear of compassion from others and the fear of self-compassion), which consists of 35 items. The internal consistency validity coefficient of the whole scale was .92. Moreover, there were significant negative relationships between the Fears of Compassion Scale, the Satisfaction with Life Scale and Self-Compassion Scale, which are similar to those of the original scale. CONCLUSIONS: These significant findings reveal the Turkish adaptation of the FCS to be a valid and reliable measurement tool.

The effect of problem-solving skills on blood glucose regulation and disease management in children with type 1 diabetes mellitus.

OBJECTIVES: This cross-sectional study examined the relationship between problem-solving skills, glucose regulation, and disease management in children with type 1 diabetes mellitus (T1DM) as well as the role of depression in this association. METHODS: The participants (n=54) were recruited from a diabetes camp. Problem-solving inventory (PSI), Beck depression inventory (BDI), and diabetes self-management profile (DSMP) were administered as tests. Forty-six participants who have been diagnosed with T1DM for at least a year and completed the survey were included in the analyses. Participants were categorized into high and low depression groups based on the median split. Student's t-test was used to detect demographic differences in groups. Linear regression models were used to examine the association between PSI, HbA1c, and DSMP. Regressions for PSI and DSMP were repeated in low and high-depression groups. RESULTS: Of the 46 participants with T1DM, 52 % were female, with a mean age of 13.96 ± 1.94 (range 10-17). Avoidant and monitoring style of problem solving as well as the total score of PSI significantly predicted HbA1c levels. Impulsive and avoidant style of problem solving, problem-solving confidence, and total scores of PSI significantly predicted DSMP (p<0.05). The high depression group had a significantly higher DSMP score than the low depression group (p=0.001), with no difference in HbA1c levels (p=0.968). When the DSMP regressions were repeated, no significant associations were seen in the low depression group. Avoidant style of problem solving, problem-solving confidence, and the total score of PSI significantly predicted DSMP in the high depression group (p<0.005). CONCLUSIONS: Problem solving-skills are essential in children with T1DM for a successful disease management. Depression modulates the association between the problem-solving and self-management profile.

The relationship between dietary elimination and maternal psychopathology in breastfeeding mothers of infants with food allergy.

BACKGROUND: There has been no study evaluating the psychopathology in breastfeeding mothers of infants with food allergy (FA). OBJECTIVE: The aim of the study was to investigate the relationship between dietary elimination and maternal psychopathology, specifically anxiety, depression, and mother-to-infant bonding, in breastfeeding mothers of infants with food allergy. METHODS: Breastfeeding mothers following an elimination diet due to FA in their children aged 1-to-12 months were compared with the healthy controls. The physician-diagnosed FA group was divided into IgE-, non-IgE-mediated, and infants with some minor symptoms which were not enough to make the diagnosis of FA were classified as Indecisive symptoms for FA group. Mothers completed standardized questionnaires including Symptom Checklist 90R, Beck Depression/Anxiety Inventories (BDI/BAI), Postpartum Bonding Questionnaire (Bonding). RESULTS: Of 179 mother and infants, 64 were healthy, 89 were FA, 16 were indecisive symptoms for FA. The mean age of the mothers and infants were 31.1 ± 4.7 years and 6.3 ± 3.6 months, respectively. The physician-diagnosed FA groups had higher scores for anxiety (p = .008), anger (p = .042), depression (p < .001), obsession (p = .002), phobia (p = .008), somatization (p = .002), general symptom index (GSI) (p = .001), BDI (p < .001), BAI (p = .008), and Bonding (attachment [p = .001], anger [p = .019], and total [p = .036]) than the healthy ones. The indecisive symptoms for FA group had a similar score pattern to physician-diagnosed FA, except interpersonal sensitivity, BDI, and attachment. CONCLUSION: Breastfeeding mothers of infants with FA were more anxious, with higher depression scores than controls, and had many psychopathologies which affected bonding. Interventions targeting negativity in caregivers' social relationships are urgently needed.

How do Physicians Manage Functional Neurological Symptom Disorder and Somatic Symptom Disorder in the Emergency Department? A Vignette Study.

INTRODUCTION: We aimed to explore how physicians from different specialties approach the management of functional neurological symptom (conversion) and somatic symptom disorders in the emergency department compared with pulmonary embolism and how physicians' professional and personal characteristics influence their diagnostic preferences. METHODS: Using a vignette methodology, and cross-sectional design, three emergency department case vignettes of possible functional neurological symptom, somatic symptom disorder, and pulmonary embolism were presented to physicians from internal medicine, emergency medicine, and psychiatry. A structured survey including questions on diagnosis and management of these cases, and physicians' professional and personal characteristics (childhood trauma, attachment style) was conducted. RESULTS: Physicians from internal medicine and emergency medicine tended to consider functional neurological symptom disorder as 'malingering' while psychiatrists tended to diagnose the pulmonary embolism case as a psychiatric condition. Emergency medicine physicians preferred to manage functional neurological symptom disorder themselves, while other doctors endorsed recommending a psychiatric consultation. In the univariable model, being a physician from psychiatry, emergency medicine, or internal medicine; being a specialist, history of childhood sexual abuse, dismissive, and fearful attachment styles of doctors were significant predictors of diagnosing functional neurological symptom disorder as malingering. Being a psychiatrist stayed as the only significant predictor in the multivariable model. CONCLUSION: Objectively-aberrant functional neurological symptoms and subjective somatic symptoms may be creating different reactions in physicians. In the emergency department, physicians' diagnostic and treatment preferences of conversion disorder may be influenced by lack of training in conversion disorder, rather than their personal characteristics.

Psychopathology and Dissociation among Boarding School Students in Eastern Turkey.

A subset of boarding schools for adolescents was established in 1993 in the rural sections of Eastern Turkey to provide equity in terms of availability of education. Even though these schools were beneficial in many respects, implementation of this institutional model gave rise to many challenges such as weaker relationships with parents and defiance of authority figures. Failure to develop a mature response to these challenges could lead to the development of psychopathologies such as depression, psychosis, and dissociation. The main objective of this study is to assess the incidence of psychopathology and dissociative experiences of the residential female students in the regional boarding schools compared to a control group. 187 female participants, 128 attending boarding school, and 59 attending day school, as the control group, were included in the study. Brief Symptom Inventory (BSI) and Adolescent Dissociative Experiences Scale (ADES) were used as measurement scales. T-test, Mann Whitney-U, Spearman correlation chi-square tests were used to evaluate the association between the variables. There was a significant difference in Interpersonal sensitivity and Psychoticism subscales of BSI. ADES score was found to be significantly higher in the Boarding school group. Boarding school students are at a higher risk of developing psychopathology as a common trauma on a group of people can result in shared dissociation, a collective defense mechanism to cope with the injury, which resembles shared delusional disorder within DSM-V (The Diagnostic and Statistical Manual of Mental Disorders). Screening measures should be implemented in boarding schools to evaluate adolescents for psychopathology and preventive measures should be taken to intervene in the early stages.

A Revised And Expanded Version Of The Turkish Childhood Trauma Questionnaire (CTQ-33): Overprotection-Overcontrol As Additional Factor.

This study was concerned with a culture-sensitive revision of the Turkish version of the Childhood Trauma Questionnaire (CTQ-28) and expansion of the instrument through integration of a dimension assessing overprotection - overcontrol (OP-OC). Participants (n = 783) were 37 dissociative and 78 non-dissociative and non-psychotic psychiatric outpatients, and 668 non-clinical people. They completed the revised and expanded version of the CTQ, Dissociative Experiences Scale, Beck Depression Scale, and Relationship Scales Questionnaire. A test-retest assessment was conducted on 25 non-clinical individuals. Among twenty-one alternative and the twenty-five original statements, the items of subsections were selected by correlations between item and item deleted total scores for each subset of original and alternative statements. The 33-item final version (CTQ-33) included five statements for each subsection including OP-OC and three denial items. The principal component analysis on items of the CTQ-33 with a varimax rotation yielded six factors including OP-OC. The inner consistency and the test-retest reliability were good. OP-OC correlated particularly with emotional abuse and neglect, and other types of trauma. There were significant correlations between CTQ-33 and depression, dissociation, and fearful attachment scores. The CTQ-33 differentiated psychiatric from non-clinical groups. The Turkish CTQ-33 is a reliable and valid instrument. OP-OC by caregivers may be as traumatic as other types of childhood adversities. Cross-cultural research would illuminate the significance of OP-OC beyond Turkish culture. The possibility of intergenerational transmission of trauma through OP-OC by fearful parents in and after times of cultural upheaval and political oppression should be considered for future research.

Is there a unique symptom in lower urinary tract dysfunction in children?

OBJECTIVES: Lower urinary tract symptoms (LUTS), particularly urgency, incontinence and intermittency are common in children and it is suggested that the specific symptoms may be used for definite diagnosis for LUT dysfunction (LUTD). This study was performed to investigate the relationship between each LUTD and its associated symptoms, using uroflowmetry/electromyography (UF/EMG) as a diagnostic tool. METHODS: Each patient was categorized into one of four LUT conditions which were overactive bladder (OAB), dysfunctional voiding (DV), underactive bladder and primary bladder neck dysfunction (PBND), according to UF/EMG results. Patients' complaints and findings were documented by using voiding dysfunction symptom score, bladder diary, urine analysis and ultrasonography. In addition, a detailed history of bowel habits (including use of Rome III criteria) was obtained. RESULTS: There were 189 children of which 106 were female. The OAB was the largest group including 91 patients, followed by the DV group which had 61 patients. The symptoms specific to any LUTD group were constipation and hesitancy (P < .05). Hesitancy was present in 89.4% with PBND and constipation was present in 78.6% of patients with DV. None of other symptoms were able to differentiate any LUTD group from the other. CONCLUSIONS: While certain symptoms are often presumed by clinicians to imply specific diagnoses, the main outcome of this study is that there is a generally weak correlation between the specificity of symptoms and LUTD. Symptoms-based approach may lead to misdiagnosis in LUTD. Thus, it may be essential to focus on the underlying pathologies and UF/EMG test may help this.

Socio-legal consequences of Tourette Syndrome and its comorbidities: A case study and review of the literature.

Tourette Syndrome is a neurodevelopmental disorder that is associated with the presence of multiple motor and one or more verbal tics. In this case report, we present a 16 years old Tourette syndrome patient who was diagnosed with comorbid Attention Deficit Hyperactivity Disorder. The patient was evaluated for legal responsibility after she made untrue allegations saying that a bus driver had sexually harassed her. We summarize the case and review the current literature to assess the socio-legal aspects of Tourette syndrome.