Seeds that bloom on stony ground - Concept paper of the future perspectives of the unexploited capacities of positive clinical psychology in Hungary.

Positive psychology has fully examined the flourishing among healthy people but neglected to understand how "optimal human functioning" can apply to the life experiences of a vulnerable person. Considering methodological issues, this article gives a brief overview on how the conceptualization of mental health and mental disorders affects the consideration of strengths along with the presence of dysfunction with the emergence of positive psychology. First, we summarize the shortcomings of the applicability of clinical positive psychology, focusing especially on Hungarian clinical practice. Second, we discuss the problems with the conceptualization of mental health in positive psychological framework. Third, we propose a model, the Maintainable Positive Mental Health Theory based on capacities and competences. Finally, we conclude with methodological questions and present a research protocol. The key finding of our review is that the opportunity exists for psychiatrists and psychologists to embrace disability as part of human experiences and to show how people with vulnerabilities can be supported to recover. (Neuropsychopharmacol Hung 2022; 24(3): 113-119).

Mental Health Profiles in Clinical and Non-clinical Samples in Light of the Maintainable Positive Mental Health Theory: Protocol Paper.

Clinical psychology has invested a lot of energy in the thorough examination of the characteristics of mental disorders, but less in the implication of the accessible mental health capacities in the recovery phase. Our aim in the present study is to verify the two-continuum mental health model in clinical and non-clinical samples in the light of the Maintainable Positive Mental Health Theory. A further aim is to investigate the interrelationship between positive mental health and mental disorder by examining various groups of mental disorders with different levels of severity. We also examine the prevalence of the diagnostic categories of the Complete Mental Health Model. Furthermore, we aim to identify mental health profiles and their correlates. In the present paper, we introduce the protocol for the ongoing research. A cross-sectional, case-control design is employed to investigate the two-continuum model of mental health. The clinical sample (n = 400) is recruited from four Hungarian hospitals. The non-clinical sample (n = 400) is collected using an online self-report survey-based research design. The two-continuum model of mental health will be tested using exploratory factor analysis and confirmatory factor analysis, with the symptoms of mental disorders and mental health as outcome variables. We will then separate groups of mental disorders according to the leading symptoms. Analysis of variance will be used to examine mental health as the dependent variable at a certain severity level in different mental disorder groups. Analysis of covariance will be used to identify the effect of different sociodemographic indicators.The prevalence of the diagnostic categories of the Complete Mental Health Model will be calculated and compared using chi-square tests. Finally, mental health profiles will be identified using latent profile analysis. Our study draws attention to the fact that "optimal human functioning" can be understood in ways that includes, and not excludes, people living with mental disorder.

Mental health competencies are stronger determinants of well-being than mental disorder symptoms in both psychiatric and non-clinical samples.

The present study aimed to investigate whether the strength of mental health competencies and the severity of mental disorder symptoms, and their interaction, differ in the strength of their associations with several dimensions of well-being in Hungarian adult psychiatric and non-clinical samples. All respondent in the psychiatric sample (129 patients (44 male, 85 female)) and in the non-clinical community sample (253 adults (43 male, 210 female)) completed the Mental Health Test, six measures of well-being and mental health, and the Symptom Checklist-90-Revised. Including both mental health competencies and mental disorder symptoms in a regression model in both samples can predict patients' well-being even more accurately. Mental health competencies were positively related; mental disorder symptoms were negatively related to subjective well-being. In all models and in both samples, mental health competencies were found to be stronger determinants of well-being than mental disorder symptoms. The interaction of mental health competencies and mental disorder symptoms is no more predictive of well-being in either psychiatric or non-clinical samples than when the effects of each are considered separately. The assessment of mental health competencies has an important predictive value for well-being in the presence of psychopathological symptoms and/or mental disorders.

Sex Differences in Exercise-Training-Related Functional and Morphological Adaptation of Rat Gracilis Muscle Arterioles.

BACKGROUND: The cardiovascular effects of training have been widely investigated; however, few studies have addressed sex differences in arteriolar adaptation. In the current study, we examined the adaptation of the gracilis arterioles of male and female rats in response to intensive training. METHODS: Wistar rats were divided into four groups: male exercise (ME) and female exercise (FE) animals that underwent a 12-week intensive swim-training program (5 days/week, 200 min/day); and male control (MC) and female control (FC) animals that were placed in water for 5 min daily. Exercise-induced cardiac hypertrophy was confirmed by echocardiography. Following the training, the gracilis muscle arterioles were prepared, and their biomechanical properties and functional reactivity were tested, using pressure arteriography. Collagen and smooth muscle remodeling were observed in the histological sections. RESULTS: Left ventricular mass was elevated in both sexes in response to chronic training. In the gracilis arterioles, the inner radius and wall tension increased in female animals, and the wall thickness and elastic modulus were reduced in males. Myogenic tone was reduced in the ME group, whereas norepinephrine-induced vasoconstriction was elevated in the FE group. More pronounced collagen staining was observed in the ME group than in the MC group. Relative hypertrophy and tangential stress of the gracilis arterioles were higher in females than in males. The direct vasoconstriction induced by testosterone was lower in females and was reduced as an effect of exercise in males. CONCLUSION: The gracilis muscle arteriole was remodeled as a result of swim training, and this adaptation was sex dependent.