Beyond theoretical courses - A study of Swedish psychiatric residents' collegial learning through conversations in the workplace.

BACKGROUND: Collegial conversations are important for sustainable learning to last beyond a course. Research on collegial conversations and peer learning in the workplace during psychiatric residency courses remains sparse, however. In this study, the aim was to explore residents' opportunities for collegial conversations during and after national courses in psychiatry. METHODS: Residents in psychiatry completed an online survey including questions on opportunities for collegial conversations in their workplaces. Logistic regression was used for multivariate analysis and thematic content analysis was used for the open-ended answers where a theoretical framework of communities of practice was employed for the interpretation of the findings. RESULTS: The survey was completed by 112 residents out of 725 (15,4%). The participants reported few structured forums for collegial discussion. The results of multivariate analysis suggest that more women than men feel it is advantageous to attend courses with others from the same workplace or from the same group of residents, described here as a team. The analysis of qualitative data identified how opportunities for collegial conversations differ across contexts and the type of values that are attached to team participation in residency courses. CONCLUSIONS: This study highlights the importance of collegial conversations as a way to sustain the learning from residency courses into the workplace. By learning about residents' perceptions of collegial conversations during and after courses, teachers and directors may be more able to support residents' lifelong learning and professional development.

Effects of Training in Cognitive Behavioural Therapy and Motivational Interviewing on Mental Health Practitioner Behaviour: A Systematic Review and Meta-Analysis.

Effective training of mental health professionals is crucial for bridging the gap between research and practice when delivering cognitive behavioural therapy (CBT) and motivational interviewing (MI) within community settings. However, previous research has provided inconclusive evidence regarding the impact of training efforts. The current study aimed to systematically search, review and synthesize the literature on CBT and MI training to assess its effect on practitioner behavioural outcomes. Following prospective registration, a literature search was conducted for studies where mental health practitioners were exposed to training in face-to-face CBT or MI, reporting on at least one quantitative practitioner behavioural outcome. A total of 116 studies were eligible for the systematic review, and 20 studies were included in four meta-analyses. The systematic review highlights the need to establish psychometrically valid outcome measures for practitioner behaviour. Results of the meta-analyses suggest that training has a greater effect on practitioner behaviour change compared to receiving no training or reading a treatment manual. Training combined with consultation/supervision was found to be more effective than training alone, and no differences were found between face-to-face and online training. Results should be interpreted with caution due to methodological limitations in the primary studies, large heterogeneity, and small samples in the meta-analyses. Future directions are discussed.

Medical residents' and teachers' perceptions of the digital format of nation-wide didactic courses for psychiatry residents in Sweden: a survey-based observational study.

BACKGROUND: This study aimed to explore residents' and teachers' perceptions of the digital format of Metis (a national education network in Sweden) didactic courses for psychiatry residents in Sweden to guide post-pandemic curriculum development. METHODS: An online attitude survey was developed and sent out to 725 residents in psychiatry and 237 course directors/teachers. Data were examined descriptively and group differences were analysed with independent sample t-tests. RESULTS: The survey was completed by 112 residents and 72 course directors/teachers. Perceptions of digital formats were quite similar between the two groups with some significant differences i.e., residents agreed more strongly than directors/teachers with the statement that Metis courses in digital format were of the same quality (or better) than the classroom-based format. Residents perceived the positive effects of using interactive tools more than directors/teachers. More than 40% of the responders in both groups preferred a return to classroom-based course meetings. Responders in both groups suggested that different forms of digital elements (e.g., video-based and sound-recorded lectures, digital-group discussions, virtual patients) could be incorporated into different phases in the courses. CONCLUSIONS: The study represents the current largest survey among residents in psychiatry and a teaching faculty in Sweden, to understand the impact of digitalization on the quality of residents' education during the pandemic. The results point towards applying a mixed format for training and education going forward, incorporating digital aspects into the national curriculum.

Measures of emotion regulation: Convergence and psychometric properties of the difficulties in emotion regulation scale and emotion regulation questionnaire.

OBJECTIVE: Investigating unique and shared aspects of measures of emotion regulation (ER) advances our understanding of ER as a multidimensional construct. This study aimed to investigate psychometric properties of three ER-measures: Difficulties in Emotion Regulation Scale (DERS-36), the abbreviated version DERS-16, and Emotion Regulation Questionnaire (ERQ). METHODS: In a community sample (N = 843; 56% females) we investigated their internal consistency, factor structure, convergence, and association with symptoms of depression, anxiety, stress and substance abuse. RESULTS: The proposed factor structures of the DERS-16 and the ERQ demonstrated an adequate fit. There were moderate correlations between the two DERS versions (36 and 16) and ERQ subscales Reappraisal and Suppression. Total scores of DERS-36 and DERS-16 demonstrated preferential associations with depression and anxiety. Corresponding associations between ERQ subscales and psychiatric symptoms were weak. CONCLUSION: The results indicate that DERS-16 could be useful as an alternative, easily administered measure of ER difficulties.

Interpersonal trauma and its relation to childhood psychopathic traits: what does ADHD and ODD add to the equation?

BACKGROUND: Childhood trauma has demonstrated associations with callous-unemotional traits (e.g., reflecting lack of remorse and guilt, unconcern about own performance). Less is known about associations between trauma and multiple domains of child psychopathic traits. There has also been limited focus on the role of co-occurring disorders to psychopathy traits among children, namely, attention-deficit hyperactivity disorder (ADHD) and oppositional defiant disorder (ODD) and how they interact with childhood trauma. METHODS: We examined to what degree childhood interpersonal trauma can predict parent-rated psychopathic traits in a large population based Swedish twin sample (N = 5057), using a stringent definition of interpersonal trauma occurring before age 10. Two hundred and fifty-one participants met the interpersonal trauma criteria for analysis. The study explored the additional impact of traits of attention-deficit hyperactivity disorder (ADHD) and oppositional defiant disorder (ODD). RESULTS: Linear regressions demonstrated statistically significant but clinically negligible effects of interpersonal trauma on total and subscale scores of parent-rated psychopathic traits. When exploring interaction effects of ADHD and ODD into the model, the effect increased. There were interaction effects between ODD and trauma in relation to psychopathic traits, suggesting a moderating role of ODD. Having been exposed to trauma before age 10 was significantly associated with higher parent rated psychopathy traits as measured by The Child Problematic Traits Inventory-Short Version (CPTI-SV), however the explained variance was small (0.3-0.9%). CONCLUSIONS: The results challenge the notion of association between interpersonal trauma and youth psychopathic traits. They also highlight the need to gain an improved understanding of overlap between psychopathic traits, ADHD and ODD for clinical screening purposes and the underlying developmental mechanisms.

MyCompass in a Swedish context - lessons learned from the transfer of a self-guided intervention targeting mental health problems.

BACKGROUND: Depression and anxiety is a major public health problem, in Sweden and internationally. Internet-based interventions are increasingly acknowledged as promising approaches for individuals with varying degrees of mental health problems. We present findings from the implementation of myCompass, a fully automated self-guided intervention of Australian origin, in a Swedish context. METHODS: We (i) share our experience of the E-health study platform (i.e., regarding security aspects, functionality) to which the myCompass intervention was linked, and (ii) report findings from the empirical evaluation of myCompass (i.e., prerequisites, execution, study outcomes), in a community sample of individuals (N = 837) reporting mild-to-moderate levels of depression, anxiety and stress. Outcomes were calculated with repeated measures ANOVA and linear mixed models. RESULTS: The E-health study platform proved to be an efficient tool enabling randomization, informed consent and evaluation to be administered in a fully automated manner. The study rendered substantial interest initially with 1207 individuals enrolling, however it failed to maintain engagement of those enrolled with only few participants logging in more than once or twice following registration. A smaller subgroup of "active users" (n = 35) had a markedly higher activity in the program, however their treatment results were not significantly better than those of the control group. CONCLUSION: Based on the large number of dropouts and also modest use of the intervention overall, only tentative speculations can be made regarding its effectiveness in a Swedish context. The number of individuals remaining active in the intervention is much more limited that the number of individuals initially signing up. Moreover, the transportation of interventions across countries and cultures may need more careful consideration, and pilot-trials before attempting large-scale trials are recommended. TRIAL REGISTRATION: MyCompass was retrospectively registered at ClinicalTrials.gov . NCT03659630 September 3rd 2018, and was given the protocol ID 2015/1268-31/2 + 2016/88.

Psychometric Properties of the Swedish Version of the Brief Repetitive Thinking Questionnaire (RTQ-10): An Internet-Based Study on Degrees of Affective Symptoms and Levels of Distress.

INTRODUCTION: Repetitive negative thinking (RNT) is reported in a wide variety of emotional disorders, although it is most often associated with either depression or anxiety disorders, assessed as symptoms of rumination and worry. Early detection of indicators for RNT across disorders is needed. To this end we explored the psychometric properties of a transdiagnostic measure, i.e., the Swedish version of the brief Repetitive Thinking Questionnaire (RTQ-10), in adults (n = 674, age: 18 years or older). METHODS: Participants completed an online battery of questionnaires measuring RNT, anxiety, depression and levels of positive and negative affect, satisfaction with life, metacognitive beliefs, and sick leave. Reliability and validity were evaluated with Cronbach's α, item and scale correlations, factor analysis (including multigroup analysis), and multiple linear regression analysis. Principal component analysis and exploratory factor analysis were first carried out to identify the number of latent factors. Confirmatory factor analysis was then used to assess the model fit of a single latent factor. RESULTS: Analyses supported a single-factor solution. Results showed that the reliability was excellent. The single-factor model was robust, except across levels of distress that did not support scalar invariance. Negative metacognitive beliefs, negative affect, and anxiety were strong covariates demonstrating convergent validity. Negative and weaker correlations with life satisfaction, positive affect, and physical symptoms contributed to the discriminant validity. CONCLUSION: This study showed that the instrument is robust in a population with various degrees of affective symptoms and distress. These results provide additional psychometric support for the RTQ-10 as a transdiagnostic measure. It can be administered online to assess RNT as a risk factor for emotional disorders.

Self- and informant perceptions of psychopathic traits in relation to the triarchic model.

OBJECTIVE: The validity of self-report psychopathy measures may be undermined by characteristics thought to be defining features of the construct, including poor self-awareness, pathological lying, and impression management. The current study examined agreement between self- and informant perceptions of psychopathic traits captured by the triarchic model (Patrick, Fowler, & Krueger, 2009) and the extent to which psychopathic traits are associated with socially desirable responding. METHOD: Participants were undergraduate roommate dyads (N = 174; Mage = 18.9 years; 64.4% female; 59.8% Caucasian) who completed self- and informant reports of boldness, meanness, and disinhibition. RESULTS: Self-reports of psychopathic traits reasonably aligned with the perceptions of informants (rs = .36-.60), and both predicted various types of antisocial behaviors, although some associations were only significant for monomethod correlations. Participants viewed by informants as more globally psychopathic did not engage in greater positive impression management. However, this response style significantly correlated with self- and informant-reported boldness, suppressing associations with antisocial behavior. CONCLUSIONS: These findings suggest that participants are willing and able to disclose psychopathic personality traits in research settings under conditions of confidentiality. Nonetheless, accounting for response style is potentially useful when using self-report measures to examine the nature and correlates of psychopathic traits.

Effects of Mental Health and Neuroscience Evidence on Juror Perceptions of a Criminal Defendant: the Moderating Role of Political Orientation.

Several recent studies have examined the effects of mental health and neuroscientific evidence on attitudes toward criminal defendants, suggesting that these factors may influence juror decision-making in meaningful ways. Few studies to date have manipulated both of these variables while also considering theoretically important individual difference variables (e.g., political orientation). Using a criminal case simulation, this study manipulated the presence of evidence concerning mental disorders (psychopathy and schizophrenia) and increasing levels of neuroscientific detail regarding a defendant's brain injury, and examined verdicts and sentencing recommendations in over 400 persons attending jury duty. Main effects were detected for mental health testimony and political orientation, although interactions were noted as well. More negative reactions to defendants labeled as psychopaths were relatively consistent, whereas participants who identified as liberal generally were less punitive towards a defendant identified as schizophrenic than were more conservative jurors. Consistent with other recent research, juror perceptions of the defendant's level of psychopathic traits (independent of the effects of the experimental manipulations) predicted guilty verdicts and longer sentencing recommendations. Copyright © 2016 John Wiley & Sons, Ltd.

Boldness and its relation to psychopathic personality: Prototypicality analyses among forensic mental health, criminal justice, and layperson raters.

Research on psychopathic personality has been dominated by a focus on criminality and social deviance, but some theoretical models argue that certain putatively adaptive features are important components of this construct. In 3 samples (forensic mental health practitioners, probation officers and a layperson community sample), we investigated adaptive traits as conceptualized in the Triarchic model of psychopathy (Patrick et al., 2009), specifically the relevance of boldness to construals of psychopathic personality. Participants completed prototypicality ratings of psychopathic traits, including 3 items created to tap components of boldness (Socially bold, Adventurous, Emotionally stable), and they also rated a series of attitudinal statements (e.g., perceived correlates of being psychopathic, moral judgments about psychopaths). The composite Boldness scale was rated as moderately to highly prototypical among forensic mental health practitioners and probation officers and positively associated with other theoretically relevant domains of psychopathy. Across samples, higher composite Boldness ratings predicted greater endorsement of adaptive traits (e.g., social skills) as characteristic of psychopathy. For the individual items, Socially bold was rated as highly prototypical and was associated with theoretically relevant correlates. Adventurous also was seen as prototypical, though to a lesser degree. Only forensic mental health practitioners endorsed Emotionally stable as characteristic of psychopathy. Our results provide partial support for the contention that the boldness concept is viewed as an important component of psychopathy, particularly among professionals who work directly with offender populations. (PsycINFO Database Record

Urban air pollution, poverty, violence and health--Neurological and immunological aspects as mediating factors.

Rapid rural-urban migration has created overcrowded areas characterized by concentrated poverty and increases in indoor and outdoor air pollutants. These "hotspots" constitute an increased risk of violence and disease outbreaks. We hypothesize that the effects of poverty and associated air pollution-related stress on impaired cognitive skills are mediated by inflammatory cytokines. A research framework is proposed, encompassing (i) an epidemiological investigation of associations between poverty, high concentrations of air pollutants, violence and health, (ii) a longitudinal follow-up of working memory capacities and inflammatory markers, and (iii) intervention programs aiming to strengthen employability and decreased exposures to toxic air pollutants.

Field reliability of the Psychopathy Checklist-Revised among life sentenced prisoners in Sweden.

Although typically described as reliable and valid, the Psychopathy Checklist-Revised (PCL-R) has come under some criticism by researchers in the last half-decade due to evidence of poor interrater reliability and adversarial allegiance being reported in applied settings in North America. This study examines the field reliability of the PCL-R using a naturalistic test-retest design among a sample of Swedish life sentenced prisoners (N = 27) who had repeatedly been assessed as part of their application to receive a reduced prison term. The prisoners, who were assessed by a team of forensic evaluators retained by an independent government authority, had spent on average 14 years in prison with a mean time from Assessment 1 to Assessment 2 of 2.33 years. The overall reliability of the PCL-R (ICC(A1)) was .70 for the total score and .62 and .76 for Factor 1 and 2 scores, respectively. Facet 1-3 scores ranged from .54 to .60, whereas Facet 4 was much higher (.90). Reliability of individual items was quite variable, ranging from .23 to .80. In terms of potential causes of unreliability, both high and low PCL-R scores at the initial assessment tended to regress toward the mean at the time of the second evaluation. Our results are in line with previous research demonstrating concerns regarding the reliability of the PCL-R within judicial settings, even among independent evaluation teams not retained by a particular side in a case. Collectively, these findings question whether the interpersonal (Facet 1) and affective (Facet 2) features tapped by the PCL-R are reliable enough to justify their use in legal proceedings.

Forensic mental health professionals' perceptions of psychopathy: a prototypicality analysis of the Comprehensive Assessment of Psychopathic Personality in Sweden.

Assessments of psychopathic traits are used on a routine basis in forensic evaluations across Westernized countries. Despite this, consensus has not yet emerged concerning what exactly are the "core" features of this construct. Moreover, relatively little is known about how practitioners in the field construe this disorder. This study explored perceptions and attitudes regarding psychopathy among individuals working in the forensic mental health system (N = 90) in Sweden. Participants provided prototype ratings of what they considered to be core psychopathy features based on the Comprehensive Assessment of Psychopathic Personality (CAPP), a model that increasingly is the focus of research in North America and Europe. The study protocol also included questions regarding (a) global perceptions and attitudes about a number of aspects of the psychopathy construct (e.g., personal experience, perceived prevalence), and (b) attitudinal scales that assessed perceived correlates of psychopathic traits across a variety of domains (e.g., violence proneness, treatment amenability) and moral judgments and attitudes concerning how psychopathic offenders should be treated within the legal system. The majority of the 33 individual CAPP items and the six CAPP scales were rated as at least moderately prototypical of psychopathy, with Dominance, Self, and Attachment domains obtaining the highest mean ratings. Participants viewed psychopaths as more likely to commit crimes than the average criminal, without being blatantly "evil" people. We believe our results help to advance our understanding of the psychopathy construct by exploring forensic professionals' perceptions of this disorder in general and in relation to the CAPP model specifically.

Psychopathic Traits in a Swedish Court-Ordered Forensic Sample: Preferential Associations of Boldness, Meanness, and Disinhibition.

The construct validity of the triarchic psychopathy model has yet to be evaluated in the Swedish forensic psychiatric context. We examined associations between the three phenotypic constructs of the triarchic model of psychopathy (i.e., boldness, meanness, disinhibition), self-assessed empathy and anxiety, and clinical variables in 91 individuals undergoing pretrial forensic psychiatric evaluation in Sweden. Participants completed the Triarchic Psychopathy Measure (TriPM) and self-report measures of empathy and anxiety. Clinical variables, including psychiatric diagnoses and criminal behavior, were collected from the forensic psychiatric evaluations (FPE). All three subscales of the TriPM displayed significant and predominantly anticipated correlations with empathy and trait anxiety measures. TriPM Disinhibition was the only subscale with significant associations with the clinical variables collected from the FPEs. The results provide evidence for the reliability and construct validity of the Swedish translation of the TriPM in a pretrial forensic setting.

Trait boldness and emotion regulation: An event-related potential investigation.

The present study sought to extend knowledge of the role of boldness, a transdiagnostic bipolar trait dimension involving low sensitivity to threat, in emotional reactivity and regulation using physiological and report-based measures. One prior study found that boldness was associated with reduced late positive potential (LPP) while passively viewing aversive images, but not during emotion regulation; a disconnect between LPP and self-reported reactivity was also observed. Here, participants (N = 63) completed an emotion regulation task in which they either passively viewed or effortfully up- or downregulated their emotional reactivity to pleasant, unpleasant, and neutral pictures while EEG activity was recorded; they later retrospectively rated the success of their regulation efforts. ANOVAs examining the interactive effects of regulation instruction and boldness on LPP amplitude revealed that lower boldness (higher trait fearfulness) was associated with paradoxical increases in LPP to threat photos during instructed downregulation, relative to passive viewing, along with lower reported regulation success on these trials. Unexpectedly, similar LPP effects were observed for affective images overall, and especially nurturance photos. Although subject to certain limitations, these results suggest that individual differences in boldness play a role not only in general reactivity to aversive stimuli, as evidenced by prior work, but in the ability to effortfully downregulate emotional response.

Mental health in individuals with self-reported psychiatric symptoms during the COVID-19 pandemic: Baseline data from a swedish longitudinal cohort study.

Objective: Individuals with psychiatric disorders may be both vulnerable and sensitive to rapid societal changes that have occurred during the COVID-19 pandemic. To fully understand these impacts, repeated measurements of these individuals are warranted. The current longitudinal study set out to perform monthly assessment of individuals with common psychiatric disorders using established questionnaires with a possibility for them to self- rate their symptoms, over time. Methods: Recruitment of individuals who identified themselves as struggling with mental health problems, living in Sweden between July 2020 and June 2021 using an online survey. The individuals answered questions on demographics, psychiatric history, current psychiatric symptoms (e.g., Patient Health Questionnaire, PHQ-9; General Anxiety Disorder, GAD-7), somatic health, health-care contacts and any changes therein during the pandemic. Monthly, longitudinal assessments are still ongoing (consenting participants provide data for 1 year), and here we present descriptive statistics from the baseline measurement. All measurements from baseline (>400 items), and follow-ups are presented in detail. Results: A total of 6.095 participants (average age 35 years) submitted complete baseline data. Marital status (43% single) and number of years of education (48% highest degree being high school) were evenly distributed in this population. The most common lifetime psychiatric disorder in the sample was depressive disorder (80.5%) and generalized anxiety disorder (45.9%), with a substantial proportion having severe symptoms of depression. (30.5%) and anxiety (37.1%). Lifetime suicidal ideation (75.0%) and non-suicidal self-harm (57.7%) were prevalent in the group and 14.5% reported drug use during the pandemic. Allergies (36.8%) were the most common somatic condition, followed by irritable bowel syndrome (18.7%). For those having experienced a traumatic event, 39% showed symptoms during the pandemic indicating PTSD. Regarding contact with mental health services during the pandemic, 22% had established a new contact, and 20% reported to have increased their psychiatric medication compared to before the pandemic. Conclusion: Baseline data collected during the pandemic from individuals in Sweden with pre-existing psychiatric disorders demonstrate that this sample represents a population suitable for an investigation on the long-term impact of the pandemic, as intended by the longitudinal investigation that is ongoing. Follow-up questionnaires over a 12-month period are being collected and will indicate how the health and well-being of this population was impacted during the changes and uncertainties that have been characteristic of the past 2 years.

Isolation and worry in relation to gambling and onset of gambling among psychiatry patients during the COVID-19 pandemic: A mediation study.

When the COVID-19 pandemic started spreading globally, there was a fear that addictive behaviors would increase due to changes in everyday life caused by restrictions due to COVID-19. Studies were carried out to explore if this was true for gambling, typically revealing no overall increase in gambling behavior, although individuals who had previous experience with gambling problems were more likely to increase gambling during the pandemic. However, these studies only included individuals with previous gambling problems. It remains unknown whether other vulnerable groups, such as individuals with common mental disorders increased their gambling. This study aimed to explore the level of gambling problems among individuals with a history of mental disorders, namely, (i) pre-pandemic gamblers and (ii) pandemic-onset gamblers. Furthermore, we explored if worry and isolation mediate gambling and problem gambling. The data were analyzed using descriptive statistics and a structural equation model to investigate mediation. The results showed a high prevalence of at-risk and problem gambling in both groups. The pre-pandemic gamblers had a high level of at-risk and problem gambling. Furthermore, the individuals that started to gamble during the pandemic had an even higher degree of at-risk and problem gambling. The mediation showed that the onset of gambling was linked with the worry of COVID-infection and that worry predicted the level of gambling problems. This study highlights that vulnerability factors, isolation, and worry can be triggers for individuals with common mental disorders to engage in gambling as well as the importance of screening this population for gambling problems.

Violent victimization of psychiatric patients: a Swedish case-control study.

OBJECTIVES: To report the rate of violent victimization of psychiatric patients 1 year before interview and to examine the relative rate in comparison to the general population. METHOD: Cases were recruited from two public psychiatric hospitals in Stockholm County (n = 390). The controls comprised gender- and age-matched people interviewed in an annual national survey of living conditions (n = 1,170). RESULTS: Twenty percent of the patients had been victimized during the preceding year. The relative rate was six times higher than that of the controls. Women appeared to be most vulnerable with a tenfold risk increase. CONCLUSIONS: The findings stress that psychiatric patients are vulnerable to other people's violent behaviour.

Oxazepam and cognitive reappraisal: A randomised experiment.

BACKGROUND: Cognitive reappraisal is a strategy for emotional regulation, important in the context of anxiety disorders. It is not known whether anxiolytic effects of benzodiazepines affect cognitive reappraisal. AIMS: We aimed to investigate the effect of 25 mg oxazepam on cognitive reappraisal. METHODS: In a preliminary investigation, 33 healthy male volunteers were randomised to oxazepam or placebo, and then underwent an experiment where they were asked to use cognitive reappraisal to upregulate or downregulate their emotional response to images with negative or neutral emotional valence. We recorded unpleasantness ratings, skin conductance, superciliary corrugator muscle activity, and heart rate. Participants completed rating scales measuring empathy (Interpersonal Reactivity Index, IRI), anxiety (State-Trait Anxiety Inventory, STAI), alexithymia (Toronto Alexithymia Scale-20, TAS-20), and psychopathy (Psychopathy Personality Inventory-Revised, PPI-R). RESULTS: Upregulation to negative-valence images in the cognitive reappraisal task caused increased unpleasantness ratings, corrugator activity, and heart rate compared to downregulation. Upregulation to both negative- and neutral-valence images caused increased skin conductance responses. Oxazepam caused lower unpleasantness ratings to negative-valence stimuli, but did not interact with reappraisal instruction on any outcome. Self-rated trait empathy was associated with stronger responses to negative-valence stimuli, whereas self-rated psychopathic traits were associated with weaker responses to negative-valence stimuli. CONCLUSIONS: While 25 mg oxazepam caused lower unpleasantness ratings in response to negative-valence images, we did not observe an effect of 25 mg oxazepam on cognitive reappraisal.

Can the Comprehensive Assessment of Psychopathic Personality Be Used to Measure the Triarchic Model Constructs of Boldness, Meanness, and Disinhibition? A Scale Derivation Study.

Can the components of the triarchic model of psychopathy (i.e., boldness, meanness, disinhibition) be operationalized using the item pool comprising the Comprehensive Assessment of Psychopathic Personality (CAPP) model? To address this question, the authors first derived CAPP-based triarchic scales using standard item-selection procedures and then examined the external correlates of these provisional scales in three archival data sets: (a) U.S. jail inmates administered the institutional rating scale version of the CAPP and (b and c) prototypicality ratings of the CAPP traits provided by Swedish forensic mental health professionals and U.S. probation officers. Although most research on triarchic constructs has relied exclusively on self-report inventories, the results suggest that the CAPP model can be reorganized to reflect boldness, meanness, and disinhibition and that its institutional rating scale items can effectively quantify these constructs using interview and file review data. Implications for future research on the measurement and assessment of psychopathic traits are discussed.