Psychic retreats or psychic pits?: Unbearable states of mind and technological addiction.
New technologies are highly interactive. They promote imaginative involvement and allow the experience of different self-states, such as those involving withdrawal or “psychic retreat”. According to Steiner, psychic retreats are areas of the mind populated by imagination and ideas which are poorly aligned with reality. Psychic retreats are not necessarily pathological in themselves—for instance, they can be used positively for counteracting anxiety or enhancing creativeness. However, with technological addiction there is a misuse of psychic retreat: here the total absorption with computer applications serves to hide painful or unbearable states of mind, and to protect the patient from overw…
Mafia and psychopathy
Background In popular culture, Mafia members are often portrayed as ruthless, callous and remorseless, but there is no empirical research on their personality traits. Aims The goal of this research was to examine levels of psychopathic traits among Mafia members who have been convicted of a criminal offence. Methods The Psychopathy Checklist-Revised (PCL-R) rated 30 Italian adult male prisoners who had been convicted for Mafia-related crimes (86% resident in one 6-month period) and 39 next adjacent convicted men who were not enrolled in any criminal organisation. Results Mafia members obtained lower PCL-R total scores, interpersonal and affective (PCL-R factor 1) scores and lifestyle scores…
La diagnosi differenziale nella valutazione della psicopatia e del comportamento violento
La psicopatia č un disturbo di personalitŕ definito dalla presenza di tratti e comportamenti che hanno un impatto negativo sugli individui e sulla societŕ, tra cui egocentrismo patologico, fascino superficiale, senso di sé grandioso, bisogno di stimoli, uso patologico di menzogne e manipolazione, mancanza di rimorso e di senso di colpa, insensibilitŕ, mancanza di empatia, impulsivitŕ, irresponsabilitŕ, tendenza alla criminalitŕ. Sebbene il concetto di psicopatia sia da secoli discusso nella letteratura psichiatrica, la mancanza di una specifica categorizzazione nosografica nei manuali diagnostici, nonché l'erronea sovrapposizione con altri disturbi clinici (ad es., il disturbo antisociale d…
Mediating Effects of Global Negative Effect Expectancies on the Association between Problematic Cannabis Use and Social Anxiety
The relationship between social anxiety and cannabis use among adolescents and young adults is a highly debated topic. In this cross-sectional study, we tested whether cannabis use expectancies mediated the association between social anxiety and cannabis use severity in a sample of 343 young adults (74.3% male) who used cannabis. They completed self-report measures for the screening of problematic cannabis use (Cannabis Use Problems Identification Test) and social anxiety symptoms (Social Interaction Anxiety Scale and Social Phobia Scale). A multiple mediation analysis was used to test whether marijuana effect expectancies mediate social anxiety effect on problematic cannabis use. Social an…
Problematic video game use as an emotional coping strategy: Evidence from a sample of MMORPG gamers
Background A positive relationship between problematic gaming and escapism motivation to play video games has been well established, suggesting that problematic gaming may result from attempts to deal with negative emotions. However, to date, no study has examined how emotion dysregulation affects both escapism motives and problematic gaming patterns. Methods Difficulties in emotion regulation, escapism, and problematic involvement with video games were assessed in a sample of 390 World of Warcraft players. A structural equation modeling framework was used to test the hypothesis that escapism mediates the relationship between emotion dysregulation and problematic gaming. Results Statistica…
Electronic surveillance in the couple: The role of self-efficacy and commitment
Abstract Researchers have shown a significant effect of using social networking sites (SNSs) on romantic relationships. Surveillance is one of the motives for social network use. Social networking surveillance is related to controlling a romantic partner's online behaviours. The purpose of the study was to search for antecedents of electronic surveillance (Study 1) and to examine their role in behaviours related to electronic surveillance among romantic couples (Study 2). Following the uses and gratification theory and technology acceptance model of using SNSs, antecedents of electronic surveillance in adult Facebook users were examined. In Study 1, the relationship between electronic surve…
Psychometric properties of the dissociative symptoms scale (DSS) in Italian outpatients and community adults
This study investigated the psychometric properties of the Dissociative Symptoms Scale (DSS) among Italian adults from outpatient and community samples. The DSS is a self-report measure of clinically relevant dissociation in adults. An Italian translation of the DSS was administered with measures of lifetime traumatic experiences, psychoform dissociation, and somatoform dissociation to 175 psychiatric outpatients and 423 individuals from the community. The DSS scores for outpatient and community adults were significantly different and showed good internal reliability, good convergent and construct validity, and a four-factor structure (depersonalization and derealization, gaps in awareness …
Cross-cultural validation of the Compulsive Internet Use Scale in four forms and eight languages
International audience; The 14-item Compulsive Internet Use Scale (CIUS) is one of the most frequently internationally adapted psychometric instruments developed to assess generalized problematic Internet use. Multiple adaptations of this instrument have led to versions in different languages (e.g., Arabic and French), and different numbers of items (e.g., from 5 to 16 items instead of the original 14). However, to date, the CIUS has never been simultaneously compared and validated in several languages and different versions. Consequently, the present study tested the psychometric properties of four CIUS versions (i.e., CIUS-14, CIUS-9, CIUS-7, and CIUS-5) across eight languages (i.e., Germ…
The relationship between alexithymia, shame, trauma, and body image disorders: investigation over a large clinical sample.
Emilio Franzoni,1 Stefano Gualandi,1 Vincenzo Caretti,2 Adriano Schimmenti,3 Elena Di Pietro,1 Gaetano Pellegrini,1 Giuseppe Craparo,3 Arianna Franchi,1 Alberto Verrotti,4 Alessandro Pellicciari11Child Neuropsychiatry Unit, University of Bologna, Italy; 2Department of Psychology, University of Palermo, Italy; 3Faculty of Human and Social Sciences, Kore University of Enna, Enna, Italy; 4Department of Pediatrics, University of Chieti, ItalyBackground: The connections between eating disorders (EDs) and alexithymia have not been fully clarified. This study aims to define alexithymia's connections with shame, trauma, dissociation, and body image disorders.Methods: We administered the Dis…
Childhood Maltreatment, Educational Attainment, and IQ: Findings From a Multicentric Case-control Study of First-episode Psychosis (EU-GEI).
[Background and hypothesis] Evidence suggests that childhood maltreatment (ie, childhood abuse and childhood neglect) affects educational attainment and cognition. However, the association between childhood maltreatment and Intelligence Quotient (IQ) seems stronger among controls compared to people with psychosis. We hypothesised that: the association between childhood maltreatment and poor cognition would be stronger among community controls than among people with first-episode of psychosis (FEP); compared to abuse, neglect would show stronger associations with educational attainment and cognition; the association between childhood maltreatment and IQ would be partially accounted for by ot…
Traumatic experiences in childhood and psychopathy: a study on a sample of violent offenders from Italy
Background: The link between early traumatic experiences of abuse/neglect and criminal behaviour has been widely demonstrated. Less is known, however, about the relationship between these experiences and the development of psychopathic personality. Objective: This study investigated childhood relational trauma in a group of violent offenders from Italy. We hypothesised a higher level of early relational trauma associated with higher scores on psychopathy. Method: Twenty-two offenders convicted for violent crimes aged 22-60 (M=38, SD=11) participated in this study. Participants were selected by the Italian justice system for an experimental research programme aiming at the evaluation of psyc…
Childhood adversity and psychosis: a systematic review of bio-psycho-social mediators and moderators.
AbstractThe association between childhood adversity (CA) and psychosis has been extensively investigated in recent years. An increasing body of research has also focused on the mediating or moderating role of biological and psychological mechanisms, as well as other risk factors that might account for the link between CA and psychosis. We conducted a systematic search of the PsychINFO, Embase, Ovid, and Web of Science databases for original articles investigating the role of genetic vulnerabilities, environmental factors, psychological and psychopathological mechanisms in the association between CA and psychosis up to August 2019. We included studies with individuals at different stages of …
The relationship between self-Image and social anxiety in adolescence
Background Self-image is the subjective perception about one's own self, body, mental functioning, social attitudes, and adjustment in different aspects of life. Research has linked negative self-image with a number of problem behaviors and psychiatric symptoms in adolescence; however, studies of the relationship between self-image and anxiety disorders are still scarce. Method This study involved a community sample of 1305 high-school students (51.4% female) who ranged in age from 14 to 19 years old. They completed self-report measures of self-image and social anxiety disorder (SAD). Results A quarter of the students reported high levels of social anxiety. Statistical analyses showed signi…
Reliability and validity of the Toronto Structured Interview for Alexithymia in a mixed clinical and nonclinical sample from Italy
The reliability and validity of the Toronto Structured Interview for Alexithymia (TSIA) have been demonstrated in previous studies with English-speaking community and psychiatric samples and a German-speaking psychiatric sample. The aim of this study was to evaluate the psychometric properties of the TSIA in a mixed clinical and nonclinical sample from Italy. The original English version of the TSIA was translated into Italian and administered, along with the 20-item Toronto Alexithymia Scale (TAS-20), to 80 healthy subjects, 69 medical outpatients, and 62 psychiatric outpatients. Eighty-one videotaped interviews were used for assessing the interrater reliability. Confirmatory factor analys…
Validité, Fiabilité et proprieties psychometriques de la version italienne de l’interview CECA (Childhood Experiences of Care and Abuse Interview)
International audience; In questo articolo sono presentate le procedure di validazione e le caratteristiche psicometriche della versione italiana dell’intervista Childhood Experience of Care and Abuse (CECA; Bifulco et al. 1994). La CECA è un’intervista retrospettiva semistrutturata, somministrabile a partire dai 16 anni di età, che misura le esperienze vissute nell’infanzia e nell’adolescenza. La CECA risulta particolarmente nota nella letteratura internazionale, dove è considerata il criterio gold standard per la rilevazione delle esperienze di cura e di abuso vissute in età infantile e adolescenziale: essa viene comunemente utilizzata nella pratica psicologica e psichiatrica, oltre che n…
Cannabis Use and Social Anxiety in Adolescence: The Role of Facilitation Expectancies
Cannabis use is frequently related to social anxiety in young adulthood, but the nature of this relationship is unclear. Moreover, much research has been conducted on the role of cannabis effects expectancies and their relationship to social anxiety among young adults, but less is known about adolescence. The study examined the relationship between social anxiety, cannabis use patterns, and cannabis effects expectancies among a nonclinical sample of 1,305 adolescents (51% female). Non-users reported higher social anxiety scores than non-problematic and risky users. Compared to users, non-users had more negative expectancies. Risky and problematic users showed higher social and sexual facili…
Measurement Invariance of the Short Version of the Problematic Mobile Phone Use Questionnaire (PMPUQ-SV) across Eight Languages
The prevalence of mobile phone use across the world has increased greatly over the past two decades. Problematic Mobile Phone Use (PMPU) has been studied in relation to public health and comprises various behaviours, including dangerous, prohibited, and dependent use. These types of problematic mobile phone behaviours are typically assessed with the short version of the Problematic Mobile Phone Use Questionnaire (PMPUQ–SV). However, to date, no study has ever examined the degree to which the PMPU scale assesses the same construct across different languages. The aims of the present study were to (i) determine an optimal factor structure for the PMPUQ–SV among university populations using eig…
FIRST EPISODE PSYCHOSIS IN PALERMO ITALY: PRELIMINARY DATA
Expert appraisal of criteria for assessing gaming disorder: An international Delphi study
Background and aims Following the recognition of ‘internet gaming disorder’ (IGD) as a condition requiring further study by the DSM‐5, ‘gaming disorder’ (GD) was officially included as a diagnostic entity by the World Health Organization (WHO) in the eleventh revision of the International Classification of Diseases (ICD‐11). However, the proposed diagnostic criteria for gaming disorder remain the subject of debate, and there has been no systematic attempt to integrate the views of different groups of experts. To achieve a more systematic agreement on this new disorder, this study employed the Delphi expert consensus method to obtain expert agreement on the diagnostic validity, clinical util…
Reliability, Validity, and Factor Structure of the Maladaptive Daydreaming Scale (MDS–16) in an Italian Sample
Maladaptive daydreaming (MD) is an extensive fantasy activity that replaces human interaction and interferes with work and interpersonal functioning. In this study, we investigated the nomological network of the MD construct and examined the psychometric properties of the Maladaptive Daydreaming Scale (MDS-16) in an Italian sample. The MDS-16 is a self-report measure composed of 16 items designed to assess MD. Participants in this study were 468 individuals (333 volunteers, 56.8% female; 135 self-diagnosed maladaptive daydreamers, 78.5% female) between 18 and 56 years of age. MDS-16 scores showed good internal reliability. An exploratory factor analysis suggested a 2-factor solution (interf…
A compensatory model to understand dysfunctional personality traits in problematic gaming: The role of vulnerable narcissism
Abstract According to a “compensatory perspective”, this study aimed to examine the role of narcissism (both vulnerable and grandiose) in the relationship between emotion dysregulation, escapism motivation to play, and problematic gaming. In a sample of 405 World of Warcraft players, we tested a multiple mediation model in which the relationship between vulnerable/grandiose narcissism and problematic gaming was mediated by emotion dysregulation and escapism. Results showed that the model for vulnerable (but not grandiose) narcissism fitted the data very well. This study adds novel insight to our understanding of the mechanisms that support problematic gaming, suggesting that the emotion dys…
“Diagnostic inflation” will not resolve taxonomical problems in the study of addictive online behaviours. •
AbstractThis article suggests that the type of Internet-enabled device should not be prioritised when conceptualizing diagnostic categories of addictive online behaviours. The diagnostic distinction between “predominantly mobile” and “predominantly non-mobile” forms of Internet use disorders (IUD) is not empirically based, may not be clinically useful and may lead to “diagnostic inflation.” Problems with the concepts of smartphone use disorder and IUD on which the proposed distinction is largely based call for their re-examination. Future proposals for the taxonomy of addictive behaviours may not need to be based on online/offline and mobile/non-mobile dichotomies.
Internet gaming disorder or internet addiction? A plea for conceptual clarity
Research Directions in the Study of Gaming-Related Escapism: a Commentary to Melodia, Canale, and Griffiths (2020)
AbstractEscapism motivations and related processes (e.g., avoidance, dissociation, relaxation, and emotion dysregulation) have been identified as risk factors for problematic gaming. However, the escapism construct has often been poorly conceptualized and operationalized in assessment instruments. In their systematic review, Melodia et al. (2020) proposed that conceptualizing escapism as an avoidant coping strategy could provide a sound basis for further study of problematic gaming. In this commentary, we critically examine some terminological and conceptual issues in relation to escapism to guide future research.
Towards a cross-cultural assessment of binge-watching : Psychometric evaluation of the “watching TV series motives” and “binge-watching engagement and symptoms” questionnaires across nine languages
International audience; In view of the growing interest regarding binge-watching (i.e., watching multiple episodes of television (TV) series in a single sitting) research, two measures were developed and validated to assess binge-watching involvement (``Binge-Watching Engagement and Symptoms Questionnaire'', BWESQ) and related motivations (``Watching TV Series Motives Questionnaire'', WTSMQ). To promote international and cross-cultural binge-watching research, the present article reports on the validation of these questionnaires in nine languages (English, French, Spanish, Italian, German, Hungarian, Persian, Arabic, Chinese). Both questionnaires were disseminated, together with additional …
Self-reported dependence on mobile phones in young adults: A European cross-cultural empirical survey
Background and aims: Despite many positive benefits, mobile phone use can be associated with harmful and detrimental behaviors. The aim of this study was twofold: to examine (a) cross-cultural patterns of perceived dependence on mobile phones in ten European countries, first, grouped in four different regions (North: Finland and UK; South: Spain and Italy; East: Hungary and Poland; West: France, Belgium, Germany, and Switzerland), and second by country, and (b) how socio-demographics, geographic differences, mobile phone usage patterns, and associated activities predicted this perceived dependence.\ud \ud Methods: A sample of 2,775 young adults (aged 18–29 years) were recruited in different…
Associations between depression and specific childhood experiences of abuse and neglect: a meta-analysis
Background\ud Research documents a strong relationship between childhood maltreatment and depression. However, only few studies have examined the specific effects of various types of childhood abuse/neglect on depression. This meta-analysis estimated the associations between depression and different types of childhood maltreatment (antipathy, neglect, physical abuse, sexual abuse, and psychological abuse) assessed with the same measure, the Childhood Experience of Care and Abuse (CECA) interview.\ud \ud Method\ud A systematic search in scientific databases included use of CECA interview and strict clinical assessment for major depression as criteria. Our meta-analysis utilized Cohen's d and…
Mafia Women: A Study on Language and Mental Representations of Women Engaged with Mafia Members
For a long time, women in the Mafia were considered victims who were unaware of the activities of the men in their families. However, it has recently been demonstrated that these women may play an important role in the organisation, particularly in the transmission of Mafia values. In this study, we explored the representations of self, relationships, and the Mafia world in women engaged with Mafia members. This was done by means of in-depth interviews and computer-assisted text analysis. A cluster analysis was applied to words used by the women in the interviews. Three clusters emerged that accounted for 85% of the principal contents of the interviews. These were interpreted as “represen…
The Relationship Between Attachment and Psychopathy: A Study with a Sample of Violent Offenders
This study used a mixed quantitative-qualitative methodology to investigate the relationship between attachment and psychopathy. The Psychopathy Checklist- Revised (PCL-R; Hare 2003) was administered to 139 Italian offenders who were convicted of violent crimes (murder, rape, child sexual abuse, armed robbery, assault causing bodily harm). First, we explored whether the two PCL-R items theoretically denoting devaluation of attachment bonds (promiscuous sexual behavior and many marital relationships) were able to predict PCL-R total, factor and facet scores. Subse- quently, we analyzed the transcripts of the 10 participants who obtained the highest PCL-R scores in the sample, assessing their…