The association of resilience-related factors with frailty is a recent research topic. Dispositional optimism and context sensitivity are two psychological factors that differently contribute to individual resilience. This study aimed at investigating whether dispositional optimism and context sensitivity might contribute to a multifactorial model of frailty, together with established relevant factors such as cognitive and physical factors. This cross-sectional study involved 141 elderly outpatients aged ≥65 years, who were referred to the Geriatrics and Multidimensional Evaluation Clinic of the University Hospital (...) of Messina. We used the following measures: the Mini-Mental State Examination to screen for global cognitive functioning; 4-m gait speed and handgrip strength to measure physical performance; a 35-item Frailty Index to evaluate patients’ frailty status; the revised Life Orientation Test to gauge dispositional optimism; and the Context Sensitivity Index to measure context sensitivity. We found that LOT-R, CSI, and MMSE were all significantly associated with FI. Gait speed was only marginally associated with FI. The present study showed a novel association of dispositional optimism and context sensitivity with frailty among elderly outpatients. These preliminary findings support a multidimensional approach to frailty in which even peculiar psychological features might provide a significant contribution. (shrink)

Background: Defense mechanisms serve as mediators referred to the subjects’ attempt to manage stressors capable of threatening their integrity. Mature defense mechanisms represent the high adaptive group, including suppression, which allows the subject to distance disturbing contents from consciousness. In line with general defensive intents, suppression would preserve stable mood states, as in the case of euthymia. Clinical issues usually disturb homeorhesis, so that the study of subjects’ suppressive tendencies would suggest possible existing relations among defense mechanisms, mood states, and (...) clinical issues. The study highlighted the significant existing relations among factors such as suppression, euthymia, mood states, and clinical psychological phenomena.Methods: The observation group was composed of 150 participants, 51 males and 99 females, aged from 25 to 30 years old, with a mean age of 26.63 years old. The study was conducted through the use of measures related to subjects’ characteristics, euthymia, psychological flexibility and psychological well-being, suppression, well-being, and compassion.Results: The performed analyses consisted of descriptive statistics, correlations, differences, and regressions among the considered variables. Starting from the first hypothesis, SMQ factors appeared to be significantly and positively correlated with Euthymia factors, rather than Regression in the Ego service. In line with the previous result, significant and positive correlations emerged among SMQ and Well-being variables, maintaining an inverse relation with Regression in the Ego service. Significant differences emerged between male and female groups concerning SMQ total score and rationalization, with higher male group scores. Finally, significant dependencies emerged among the selected predictors and Compassion satisfaction.Conclusion: The emerged results highlighted significant relations among the considered variables so that it was possible to highlight the common directions assumed by suppression variables, well-being, and euthymia. Moreover, suppression appeared as a significant predictor with a causal role in clinical satisfaction. The results that have emerged allow us to consider defenses through an empirical perspective, useful to suggest an extension to other groups, phenomena, and conditions. (shrink)

Emotion-processing impairment represents a risk factor for the development of somatic illness, affecting negatively both health-related quality of life and disease management in several chronic diseases. The present pilot study aims at investigating the associations between alexithymia and depression, anxiety, and HRQoL in patients with Hashimoto’s thyroiditis ; examining the association between these three psychological conditions together with HRQoL, and thyroid autoantibodies status as well as thyroid echotexture in patients with HT; and comparing the intensity of all these clinical psychological (...) features in patients with HT versus controls. Twenty-one patients with serologically or ultrasonographically verified HT and 16 controls with non-toxic goiter or postsurgical hypothyroidism were recruited for this study. Serum thyrotropin and free thyroxine, as well as thyroid autoantibodies, were assayed. Alexithymia, depression, anxiety, and HRQoL were assessed with Toronto Alexithymia Scale; Beck Depression Inventory, second edition; Hamilton Anxiety Rating Scale; and Health Survey Short-Form 36, respectively. A negative relationship between the difficulty to describe feelings and the cognitive component of depression was found. Besides, patients with seronegative HT had lower somatic anxiety than patients with HT who tested positive. Besides, no statistically significant difference was found between patients with HT and controls with regard to somatic anxiety. The present study suggests the relevance of alexithymia in patients suffering from HT, which may be intertwined with a possible state of underreported depression that is mainly expressed through physical complaints. Promoting the capability to describe and communicate feelings could contribute to psychological elaboration and coping with the disease and, consequently, to the improvement of self-management and perceived HRQoL. (shrink)

The impact of stress and other psychological variables on Inflammatory Bowel Disease prognosis, treatment response, and functional level is well-established; however, typical IBD treatment focuses on the physiological pathology of the disease and neglects complementary stress-reducing interventions. Recent pilot studies report the benefits of mindfulness-based interventions in people living with IBD, but are limited by small sample sizes. Recruitment challenges to in-person studies may be in part due to the difficulty IBD patients often have adhering to fixed schedules and travel (...) as a result of IBD symptoms such as pain, fatigue, and incontinence. The current study aimed to address this barrier by offering participants access to online mindfulness training, allowing individuals to engage with intervention materials to fit their own schedule. Online mindfulness programs have gained popularity in recent years, as they increase access and flexibility and decrease cost to the user; however, the dropout rate tends to be high. The current study compared the rate of adherence and efficacy of mindfulness training as a function of level of support: self-guided versus supported. Analysis revealed no significant difference in the benefits received between participants in the two groups; however, a significant difference group was found in terms of rate of completion, with 44.1% of the supportive group completing the protocol compared to 11.7% of the self-guided. Common challenges to meditation were measured, but did not significantly predict adherence to the intervention, and experience of these challenges did not significantly change over the duration of the study. Implications of the current research, future directions for the use of MBI for IBD patients, and a discussion of methodological considerations are provided. (shrink)