Profiles of University Students in Terms of Sexual Dysfunction: The Role of Anxiety, Depression, Eating Attitudes, and Mindfulness.

Objective: Sexual dysfunction (SD) can interfere with sexual desire and satisfaction and is associated with an impairment in one's emotional, mental, physical, and social function. Despite its importance, SD remains understudied in Lebanon, possibly due to its sensitive nature. Therefore, this research aimed to address this gap by examining the relationship between SD and certain psychological and behavioral factors. The objective was to investigate the relationship between SD and eating attitudes, depression, anxiety, and mindfulness among university students in Lebanon using a cluster analysis approach.Methods: This cross-sectional study was carried out between July and September 2021. Using the snowball technique, a sample of 363 Lebanese university students was recruited. SD was measured using the Sexual Dysfunction Questionnaire, with higher scores indicating higher sexual arousal/desire. Eating attitudes, anxiety, depression, and mindfulness were measured using the Eating Attitude Test, Lebanese Anxiety Scale, Patient Health Questionnaire, and Freiburg Mindfulness Inventory, respectively.Results: Participants were divided into 3 clusters: cluster 1 "moderate well being" (n = 109, 30.0%) was characterized by moderate eating attitudes, anxiety, depression, and mindfulness; cluster 2 "positive well-being" (n = 186, 51.2%) was characterized by having the lowest mean eating attitude, anxiety, and depression scores, while having the highest mean mindfulness score; and cluster 3 "negative well-being" (n = 68, 18.7%) was characterized by the highest mean eating attitude, anxiety, and depression scores, while having the lowest mean mindfulness score. Females compared to males (ß = -0.87) and belonging to cluster 2 (ß = -1.32) or cluster 3 (ß = -1.32) were significantly associated with less sexual arousal.Conclusion: The results align with previous findings suggesting that mindfulness has a role in SD. The current study highlights the importance of taking into consideration factors that interplay with SD. Mental health providers should consider integrating aspects of mindfulness into their practice when working with patients with SD. Additionally, addressing the taboo surrounding sexual health will be crucial to destigmatize this topic. The findings emphasize the need for accessible campaigns by sexual health organizations to raise awareness.Prim Care Companion CNS Disord 2024;26(3):23m03682. Author affiliations are listed at the end of this article.

Population under Stress: The Coping Mechanisms of Lebanese Adults in Times of Intermingling Crises and Their Relationship with Stress.

The Lebanese population has faced numerous stressors due to multiple crises in the past four years. This study aims to measure the perceived stress of the Lebanese population, identify the coping mechanisms being used, and determine whether they are associated with their stress levels. A cross-sectional study of 205 individuals randomly selected from Beirut was conducted. Frequency distribution, descriptive analysis, and multivariable cumulative logit models were used to determine the associations between coping mechanisms and perceived stress. Our results indicated that 95.4% of our population had moderate to high perceived stress levels. Problem-focused coping was the most adopted mechanism and was associated with a statistically significant lower stress level, whereas avoidant coping was associated with a statistically significant higher stress level. Our study can pave the way for raising awareness on the importance of managing stress with adaptive coping mechanisms.

The mediating effect of dysmorphic concern in the association between avoidant restrictive food intake disorder and suicidal ideation in adults.

BACKGROUND: Reflecting on the existing literature on suicidal ideation and Avoidant/Restrictive Food Intake Disorder (ARFID), this article investigates the complex relationship between them, hypothesizing about the possibility of dysmorphic concerns, being a mediator linking ARFID to suicidal ideation. METHODS: Using a snowball sampling approach, a survey was created on Google Forms and circulated across messaging applications and social media networks (WhatsApp, Instagram, Messenger). The sample involved 515 participants recruited between February and March 2023. The questionnaire included the following scales: Nine-items Avoidant/Restrictive Food Intake Disorder screen (NIAS), Dysmorphic Concern Questionnaire (DCQ), and Columbia-Suicide Severity Rating Scale (C-SSRS). When filling the questionnaire, respondents were warned that they can experience distress when answering certain questions and received information about mental health services. Five hundred fifteen adults participated in this study, with a mean age of 27.55 ± 10.92 years and 60.1% females. RESULTS: After adjusting over potential confounders (i.e., age, education, marital status, and household crowding index), analyses showed that dysmorphic concerns fully mediated the association between avoidant restrictive eating and suicidal ideation. Higher avoidant restrictive eating was significantly associated with more dysmorphic concerns, and higher dysmorphic concerns were significantly associated with the presence of suicidal ideation. Finally, avoidant restrictive eating was not significantly associated with suicidal ideation. CONCLUSION: This study highlights the potential indirect link between ARFID and suicidal ideation mediated by dysmorphic concerns. While no direct connection was observed between ARFID and suicidal ideation, the presence of dysmorphic concerns appeared to be a crucial factor in amplifying the risk of suicidal ideation in individuals with ARFID. This emphasizes the importance of addressing dysmorphic concerns alongside ARFID treatment to enhance mental health interventions and outcomes.

Child abuse and aggressiveness in individuals diagnosed with schizophrenia in Lebanon.

OBJECTIVES: To identify individual and clinical risk factors of aggressiveness, including exposure to different forms of childhood trauma, in a sample of Lebanese patients with schizophrenia. METHODS: A total of 131 patients diagnosed with schizophrenia participated in this cross-sectional study. RESULTS: Higher physical (Beta = 0.24, p < 0.001) and sexual (Beta = 0.29, p = 0.003) abuse, alcohol drinking (Beta = 1.46, p = 0.008), having a history of head trauma (Beta = 1.10, p = 0.041), and male gender (Beta = -1.59, p = 0.009) were significantly associated with higher mean aggression scores. PRACTICAL IMPLICATIONS: Our investigation of the factors linked to aggressiveness in patients with schizophrenia complement those of earlier findings, showing that the relationship between interacting individual and environmental risk factors and later aggressiveness is quite complex, and needs further longitudinal and prospective studies.