The relationship between personality, defense styles, internet addiction disorder, and psychopathology in college students.

The purpose of this study is to assess any underlying links between personality, defense styles, Internet addiction disorder (IAD), and psychopathology in a college student sample. This is a cross-sectional study of fourth-year Greek Medical students who responded in a comprehensive test battery, which included validated questionnaires on IAD, personality traits, patterns of psychological defense styles, and psychopathology symptoms. A path model that was tested using Partial Least Squares (PLS) methodology showed that the defense styles employed by the students and certain personality traits (Impulsivity, Sensation Seeking, Neuroticism/Anxiety, and Aggression-Hostility) contributed to the prediction of variability in IAD, with IAD in turn predicting variability in overt psychopathology.

Comparison of alternate personality models in psychopathology assessment.

This study assessed the results from the parallel application of two alternate personality models, the Zuckerman-Kuhlman trait model and Bond's Defense Styles, in a sample of 268 Greek medical students (172 women, M age = 22.0 yr., SD = 1.1; 95 men, M age = 22.3 yr., SD = 1.2) in relation to psychopathological symptoms, so as to clarify whether this practice yielded accurate results while avoiding shared variance. Data from both models are cross-checked with canonical correlation analysis to validate whether there was significant conceptual overlap between them that would mean that their parallel use is an ineffective research practice. Following this analysis, factors from both models are utilized to predict variance in sample psychopathology, so as to compare their relative usefulness. Results indicated that the two models did not share a significant amount of variance, while a combination of personality aspects from both models, including Impulsive Sensation-Seeking, Neuroticism-Anxiety, Aggression-Hostility, and Sociability traits and Maladaptive Action, Image Distorting, and Adaptive Action defense styles, predicted high variance in psychopathology symptoms.

Comorbidity of psychiatric disorders with Internet addiction in a clinical sample: the effect of personality, defense style and psychopathology.

This study aims to contribute to the understanding of underlying causes for the development of Internet Addiction Disorder (IAD) and assess comorbidity with other mental disorders through the analysis of data from a clinical sample of college students who presented for treatment of IAD. The clinical sample of our study has demonstrated a high percentage of comorbidity with Axis I and II disorders, while the temporal precedence of the establishment of those disorders cannot lead to specific conclusions. Half of the sample (25/50) presented with comorbidity of another Axis I disorder and 38% (19/50) with a concurrent Axis II personality disorder. The majority of Axis I disorders (51.85%) were reported before the onset of IAD, 33.3% after the onset while it was unclear in 14.81% of cases. The examination of a path model demonstrated that important contributions to the understanding of this disorder can be made through concepts from the neurobiological, trait personality paradigm, as well as from the psychodynamic defense style paradigm. Comorbid psychopathology can further exacerbate the presentation of IAD through a direct link, regardless of the underlying personality structure. The clinician treating IAD patients should complete a clinical evaluation for comorbid Axis I and II diagnoses since their presence may signify a more serious presentation.

Koro-like symptoms in two Greek men.

Koro syndrome is a psychiatric disorder characterised, in its typical form, by acute and intense anxiety, with complaints in men of a shrinking penis or fear of its retraction into the abdomen and resultant death. Initially, this syndrome was described as a culture specific disorder. Sporadic cases referred to as the koro-like syndrome have been observed in western countries recently. They are more likely to appear in the context of a psychiatric or neurological disorder. The clinical course of culture bound koro syndrome is usually self limited, but in some cases it can be transient or take on a chronic or recurrent form, lasting from days to weeks, months or even years. We present two cases, one of a middle aged man whose koro-like symptoms have persisted for over 18 years in a relapse mode that is rarely observed, and one of a young schizophrenic, who also exhibits koro-like symptoms.

Neuroendocrine stimulatory tests of hypothalamus-pituitary-adrenal axis in psoriasis and correlative implications with psychopathological and immune parameters.

Psoriasis constitutes one of the most representative examples of psychosomatic disorders. The published work investigating the psychological parameters and the way they interact during the course of the disease is extensive, whereas only a few studies have focused on the neuroendocrine framework of psoriasis. In the present study, the objective was to investigate the neuroendocrine parameters of psoriasis and the way they interact with psychopathological and immune variables. Patients with psoriasis (n=24) and the same number of matched healthy controls underwent psychiatric evaluation with interviews and psychometric questionnaires. Both of the groups underwent the corticotropin-releasing hormone (CRH) test and the dexamethasone suppression test (DST) to investigate functional parameters of the hypothalamus-pituitary-adrenal (HPA) axis. The evaluation of immune variables included the estimation of the distribution of T-cell and natural killer lymphocytes. Levels of depressive and anxiety features were increased within subjects with psoriasis and they were significantly correlated with stressful life events and the extent of the disease. The adrenocorticotrophic hormone and cortisol levels increased after CRH infusion without significant differences between the two groups and the psoriatic subjects' cortisol suppression after DST was within normal range, though relatively blunted. No significant correlations were identified among neuroendocrine, psychopathological and immune parameters. No particular neuroendocrine profile has been identified among psoriatic patients and the hypothesized interaction with psychopathological and immune parameters was not replicated. Nevertheless, it is still premature to exclude the possibility that a subtle latent alteration of the HPA axis function might exist, in psoriasis, either stemming from the psychopathology or from the disease per se.

Stimulation of the hypothalamic-pituitary-adrenal axis with corticotropin releasing hormone in patients with psoriasis.

OBJECTIVE: Psychocutaneous diseases constitute a large proportion of psychosomatic disorders, with psoriasis being one of the most typical cases. Though alteration of Hypothalamic-Pituitary-Adrenal (HPA) axis function has been suggested as underlying several psychiatric disorders and psychosomatic diseases, there is little evidence of reduced response of the HPA axis in psoriasis after psychosocially induced laboratory stress. The aim of the study was to investigate any alteration of the neuroendocrine profile of psoriatic patients. DESIGN: The psoriatic patients (n=24) and the same number of matched controls underwent a CRH test which consisted of 100 microg h-CRH IV infusion and drawing of blood samples at 0 min and at 15, 30 and 60 min post h-CRH for measurement of plasma ACTH and cortisol concentration. RESULTS: Mean plasma ACTH and cortisol levels in both groups increased during the 60-min CRH test without significant difference. The total secretion of plasma ACTH and serum cortisol estimated as Area Under the Curve did not show significant difference between the groups either. CONCLUSIONS: Contrary to previous studies no particular neuroendocrine profile of HPA axis responsiveness was identified in psoriatic patients.