An intervention protocol proposal to modify the body image disturbance using Virtual Reality

A negative experience with one's own body has been theorized as a common antecedent of eating disorders (EDs). In fact, body image disturbance (BID) is considered a key factor in the development, maintenance and relapse of Anorexia Nervosa (AN). As yet, the mechanisms underlying this disturbance in body representation remain unclear. In this paper we present the study protocol of this novel Virtual Reality (VR) multisensorial paradigm to assess and treat BID. Participants will be asked to perform a real and virtual body size estimation task. Then, they will be assigned to one condition (experimental vs, control), and they will have to perform a task from 1st or 3rd point-ofview, in a counte…

The need for a behavioural science focus in research on mental health and mental disorders

Psychology as a science offers an enormous diversity of theories, principles, and methodological approaches to understand mental health, abnormal functions and behaviours and mental disorders. A selected overview of the scope, current topics as well as strength and gaps in Psychological Science may help to depict the advances needed to inform future research agendas specifically on mental health and mental disorders. From an integrative psychological perspective, most maladaptive health behaviours and mental disorders can be conceptualized as the result of developmental dysfunctions of psychological functions and processes as well as neurobiological and genetic processes that interact with …

Resilience as predictor de calidad de vida en participantes s borderline personalidad disorder before and after treatment

Studies have suggested that psychotherapy improves the Quality of Life (QoL) of participants with Borderline Personality Disorder (BPD). However, there are no studies on the differential efficacy of treatments on the QoL of participants with BPD. Moreover, the relationship between QoL and resilience has rarely been studied in participants with BPD. Objectives: a) to examine whether people with BPD have worse QoL than the non-clinical population; b) to examine whether there are statistically significant differences between Dialectical Behavioural Therapy (DBT), Systems Training for Emotional Predictability and Problem Solving (STEPPS), or Cognitive Behavioural Therapy-Treatment at Usual (CBT…

Alternative options for prescribing physical activity among obese children and adolescents: brisk walking supported by an exergaming platform

[EN] Background: Physical inactivity has been identified as an important public health concern for children. An increasing sedentary way of life is directly related to obesity; hence, prevention and management of childhood obesity are commonly based on lifestyle interventions wherein increasing physical activity is one of the main targets. The use of exergames can be useful in promoting physical activity, but it is necessary more research. This study analyzes the effects of an exergaming platform that involves brisk walking, on perceived exertion, self-efficacy, positive expectations and satisfaction in a sample of clinically obese children, as compared with normal weight children. Physiolo…

Psicothema

Resumen tomado de la publicación Explorando la evaluación de los Trastornos Adaptativos: diferencias entre una muestra general y clínica. Antecedentes: los Trastornos Adaptativos (TA) son uno de los problemas psicológicos más prevalentes en atención primaria y hospitalaria. Necesitamos disponer de instrumentos basados en la evidencia que ayuden a los profesionales a diagnosticar y a atender mejor este problema tan poco estudiado. Este estudio presenta la adaptación del Inventario de Duelo Complicado para la evaluación de los síntomas del TA, denominado Inventario de Estrés y Pérdida (IEP), y explora las diferencias en la respuesta a situaciones estresantes entre la población general y clíni…

Psicothema

Resumen tomado de la publicación Predicción psicométrica de la reincidencia penitenciaria. Antecedentes: los intentos para predecir la reincidencia penitenciaria basándose en la personalidad no han tenido mucho éxito. Este trabajo tiene como objetivo ofrecer datos sobre la predicción de la reincidencia a partir de las puntuaciones en un cuestionario de personalidad. Método: se aplicó el Cuestionario de Personalidad Situacional (CPS; Fernández, Seisdedos y Mielgo, 1998) a 978 reclusos varones clasificados como reincidentes o no reincidentes y se elaboró un modelo predictivo combinando el procedimiento actuarial con el concepto de probabilidad a posteriori, consistente en realizar cálculo pro…

Attentional Biases and Vulnerability to Depression

This study was designed to examine selective processing of emotional information in depression. It focuses on possible attentional biases in depression, and whether such biases constitute a cognitive vulnerability factor to suffer from the disorder or, on the contrary, they reflect a feature associated exclusively with the clinical level of depression. 81 participants were included in the study: 15 with a diagnosis of Major Depression; 17 were diagnosed as Dysthymia; 11 participants scored over 18 in the Beck Depression Inventory (Beck, Rush, Shaw, & Emery, 1979); 15 participants, in whom a sad mood state was induced by an experimental mood induction (Velten technique + music, or biographic…

Selective processing of food— and body—related information and autonomie arousal in patients with eating disorders

Both attentional bias (using the modified Stroop Task) and autonomic reactivity (skin conductance level) to food- and body-related information were assessed in 25 patients with eating disorders (15 patients with anorexia, 10 patients with bulimia) amI 18 women controls. Patients with anorexia showed the greatest inrerference in color-naming foodrelated words. However, on this occasion there were no difierences in body condition, probably because of heterogeneity of clinical samples and because the control group were staff members, so the target information was very familiar to them. The groups differed in their autonomic reactivity while performing Ihe Stroop. Ihe patients with anorexia res…

El Servicio de Asistencia Psicológica de la Universitat Jaume I [Psychological services at the Universitat Jaume I]

Resumen En el trabajo se analizan sucintamente las razones que hicieron surgir el Servicio de Asistencia Psicologica de la Universidad de Valencia primero y mas tarde de la Universitat Jaume I de Castellon. Dichos servicios se crearon con un objetivo doble, por una parte, servir de puente entre la sociedad y la universidad, y, por otra, facilitar el logro de las funciones generales que pretende la universidad, esto es, tareas de investigacion y formacion tanto de los estudiantes como de los profesionales. Ademas, se describe la historia del servicio, asi como las lineas de trabajo fundamentales que se siguen, su estructura y su funcionamiento. Despues de anos de andadura, es posible afirmar…

Programa de telepsicología para el tratamiento de la fobia a hablar en público en población mexicana

La fobia social es un problema de salud mental a escala mundial que no es diagnosticada y atendida en forma adecuada. Debido a que México presenta una alta prevalencia del trastorno, se puso a prueba un programa de telepsicología para miedo a hablar en público, que anteriormente probó su eficacia en población española. La muestra se conformó por 43 participantes: 26 mujeres y 17 hombres, entre 19 y 60 años de edad (M = 32.51). Todos los participantes cumplían los criterios del dsm-iv para fobia social: miedo a hablar en público. Se empleó un ensayo clínico “aleatorizado” con tres condiciones de tratamiento: asistido por terapeuta (n = 16), auto aplicado (n = 14) y lista de espera (n = 13), …

Online interventions to prevent mental health problems implemented in school settings: the perspectives from key stakeholders in Austria and Spain

Abstract Background Schools are key settings for delivering mental illness prevention in adolescents. Data on stakeholders’ attitudes and factors relevant for the implementation of Internet-based prevention programmes are scarce. Methods Stakeholders in the school setting from Austria and Spain were consulted. Potential facilitators (e.g. teachers and school psychologists) completed an online questionnaire (N=50), policy makers (e.g. representatives of the ministry of education and health professional associations) participated in semi-structured interviews (N=9) and pupils (N=29, 14–19 years) participated in focus groups. Thematic analysis was used to identify experiences with, attitudes a…

Advancing psychotherapy and evidence-based psychological interventions

Psychological models of mental disorders guide research into psychological and environmental factors that elicit and maintain mental disorders as well as interventions to reduce them. This paper addresses four areas. (1) Psychological models of mental disorders have become increasingly transdiagnostic, focusing on core cognitive endophenotypes of psychopathology from an integrative cognitive psychology perspective rather than offering explanations for unitary mental disorders. It is argued that psychological interventions for mental disorders will increasingly target specific cognitive dysfunctions rather than symptom-based mental disorders as a result. (2) Psychotherapy research still lack…

Spanish Adaptation of Meaning-Centered Psychotherapy for Participants With Cancer: Study Protocol of a Randomized Control Trial.

BackgroundMeaning-Centered Psychotherapy (MCP) is effective in improving meaning in life, hope, optimism, self-efficacy, well-being, and quality of life, and in reducing stress in people with cancer. However, all the studies on the application of MCP in cancer patients have been carried out in Anglo-Saxon samples. Therefore, it is necessary to adapt and verify the efficacy of MCP in populations that speak languages other than English, such as Spanish. Moreover, to expand the data supporting the efficacy of MCP for cancer patients, it would be necessary to compare MCP to other active therapies such as Cognitive Behavioral Therapy (CBT).MethodsThe aims of the proposed study are: the first obj…

The meaning making model of eating disorders (MESTA): A preliminary analysis of the model][El modelo de elaboración del sentido en personas con trastornos alimentarios (Mesta): un análisis preliminar del modelo

Studies of people with eating disorders (ED) have indicated that meaning in life is negatively associated with psychopathology, suicide risk, and emotional instability in people with ED. The aim of this study was to analyze the mediating role of meaning in life and its dimensions in the relationship between body dissatisfaction and the symptoms of ED, and to provide evidence that supports the meaning making model of eating disorders (MESTA, in Spanish). 292 Participants diagnosed with ED completed the Purpose in Life Test (PIL), the Eating Attitudes Test (EAT), and the Multidimensional Body-Self Relations Questionnaire (MBSRQ-AS). Multiple mediation analyses were performed. Meaning in life …

Telepsychology: public speaking fear treatment on the internet

El objetivo es presentar un sistema de telepsicología para el tratamiento del miedo a hablar en público. El sistema utiliza procedimientos de auto-ayuda y está compuesto por: a) Un protocolo de evaluación que rastrea información clínicamente relevante; b) Un protocolo de tratamiento basado en procedimientos cognitivo-comportamentales que cuenta con una serie de vídeos de audiencias reales que permiten a la persona afrontar las situaciones temidas. Está organizado en bloques separados a los que se accede a medida que se supera cada fase previa. c) Un protocolo de control que rastrea el progreso durante todo el proceso y controla que la persona no se salta partes del tratamiento (algo común e…

Treating Emotional Problems with Virtual and Augmented Reality