Effects of Anger Rumination on Different Scenarios of Anger: An Experimental Investigation.

Anger rumination has been defined as a repetitive thinking style focused on causes and consequences of anger. Different studies have shown the role of anger rumination as a maintaining factor for emotional arousal and stress that can lead to behavioral dysregulation. The present study aims at investigating whether the role of anger rumination in increasing anger is different with respect to different anger scenarios. Moreover, effects of anger rumination on anger will be compared with the effects of 2 different thinking styles (cognitive reappraisal and distraction). Participants were asked to complete a batch of questionnaires assessing trait and state anger and anger rumination; after that, they were asked to identify themselves in different scenarios aimed at eliciting anger for different reasons. Finally, a specific thinking style was induced by reading some suggestions to each participant. Levels of anger were recorded before and after each induction. The type of scenario did not show any influence on levels of anger. All the thinking styles reduced levels of anger, and anger rumination had the smallest impact on anger measurements with respect to reappraisal and distraction. Scenarios did not show any meditational effect on the predicting power of the thinking styles on levels of arousal. Among induced thinking styles, anger rumination led to higher levels of anger, whereas cognitive reappraisal and distraction led to a greater reduction in levels of anger.

Parental overprotection and metacognitions as predictors of worry and anxiety.

BACKGROUND: Parental overprotection may have a direct effect on worry through hindering children's exploration experiences and preventing the learning of action-oriented coping strategies (Cheron, Ehrenreich and Pincus, 2009; Nolen-Hoeksema, Wolfson, Mumme and Guskin, 1995) and an indirect effect through fostering the development of maladaptive metacognitions that are associated with the activation of worry and the escalation of anxiety (Wells, 2000). AIM: The aim was to investigate the relative contribution of recalled parental overprotection in childhood and metacognitions in predicting current levels of worry. METHOD: A community sample (n = 301) was administered four self-report instruments to assess parental overprotection, metacognitions, anxiety and worry. RESULTS: Metacognitions were found to predict levels of worry independently of gender, anxiety and parental overprotection. They were also found to predict anxiety independently of gender, worry and parental overprotection. CONCLUSIONS: The combination of a family environment perceived to be characterized by overprotection and high levels of maladaptive metacognitions are a risk factor for the development of worry.

Desire thinking across the continuum of drinking behaviour.

OBJECTIVE: Desire thinking is a voluntary cognitive process involving verbal and imaginary elaboration of a desired target. Recent research has highlighted the role of desire thinking in predicting addictive behaviours independent of other psychological constructs including negative affect and craving. The goal of this research project was to explore the role of desire thinking across the continuum of drinking behaviour. METHODS: A sample of alcohol-dependent drinkers (n = 43), problem drinkers (n = 59), and social drinkers (n = 68) completed self-report instruments of desire thinking, negative affect, craving and drinking behaviour. RESULTS: Analyses revealed that alcohol-dependent drinkers and problem drinkers scored higher than social drinkers on imaginal prefiguration, and that alcohol-dependent drinkers scored higher than problem drinkers who in turn scored higher than social drinkers on verbal perseveration. A multi-group discriminant analysis showed that craving, imaginal prefiguration and verbal perseveration loaded on a first function whilst age loaded on a second function. The variables correctly classified 75.9% of cases. CONCLUSIONS: The findings suggest that desire thinking may be a risk factor across the continuum of drinking behaviour and that treatment may benefit from specifically targeting this cognitive process.

Rumination as a predictor of drinking behaviour in alcohol abusers: a prospective study.

AIMS: To investigate the role of depression and rumination in predicting drinking status (absence or presence of alcohol use) and level of alcohol use at 3, 6 and 12 months following a brief course of cognitive-behavioural therapy for alcohol abuse. METHODS: A total of 80 out-patients with a diagnosis of alcohol abuse completed measures of depression (Beck Depression Inventory), rumination (Ruminative Responses Scale) and alcohol use (Quantity-Frequency Scale). RESULTS: These indicated that rumination predicted drinking status and level of alcohol use at 3-, 6- and 12-month follow-up. The contribution of rumination was independent of depression and initial level of alcohol use. CONCLUSIONS: The results confirm that rumination is an important prospective predictor of drinking status and level of alcohol use in alcohol abusers and highlight the potential relevance of targeting rumination in the treatment of alcohol abuse.

Drugs on the web; the Psychonaut 2002 EU project.

PURPOSE: Only a few formal assessments of websites with drug-related contents have been carried out. We aimed here at fostering collection and analysis of data from web pages related to information on consumption, manufacture and sales of psychoactive substances. GENERAL METHODS: An 8-language, two-engine, assessment of the information available in a purposeful sample of 1633 unique websites was carried out. FINDINGS: A pro-drug and a harm reduction approach were evident, respectively, in 18% and 10% of websites accessed. About 1 in 10 websites offered either psychoactive compounds for sale or detailed data on drugs' synthesis/extraction procedures. Information on a number of psychoactive substances and on unusual drugs' combinations not found in the Medline was elicited. CONCLUSIONS: This represents the first review which is both comprehensive and multilingual of the online available information on psychoactive compounds. Health professionals may need to be aware of the web being a new drug resource for information and possibly purchase.

Importance of cyberspace for the assessment of the drug abuse market: preliminary results from the Psychonaut 2002 project.

What do therapy and cybertherapy need to take into account to be effective for the treatment of drug-related disorders? The Psychonaut 2002 project is aimed to create a new and updated Web-based tool, which will be based on evolving drug scenarios, in order to provide professionals from the drug addiction field with easily accessible and reliable information. The drug abuse settings available on the Web will be described and the methodology will be discussed. Preliminary results of a search on MDMA and MDMA-like substances confirm that it is possible both to identify emerging trends and to provide information for prevention and appropriate intervention.