Linguistic markers of processing the first months of the pandemic COVID-19: a psycholinguistic analysis of Italian university students' diaries.

A longitudinal psycholinguistic study was conducted with 107 students from different Italian universities that produced daily photo-diary entries for two weeks, one at the beginning and the other at the end of the first Italian lockdown period, imposed in view of the rapid dissemination of COVID -19. The task was to take a daily photo accompanied by a short description (text). The texts accompanying the photos were analysed using Linguistic Inquiry and Word Count (LIWC) software to analyze linguistic markers representing psychological processes related to the experience of the pandemic and the lockdown, identifying potential changes in psycholinguistic variables useful for understanding the psychological impact of such harsh and extended restricted living conditions on Italian students. LIWC categories related to negation, anger, cognitive mechanisms, tentative discourse, past, and future increased statistically significantly between the two time points, while word count, prepositions, communication, leisure, and home decreased statistically significantly. While male participants used more articles at both time points, females used more words related to anxiety, social processes, past, and present at T1 and more related to insight at T2. Participants who lived with their partner showed higher scores on negative emotions, affect, positive feelings, anger, optimism, and certainty. Participants from southern Italy tended to describe their experiences from a collective and social perspective rather than an individual perspective. By identifying, discussing, and comparing these phenomena with the broader literature, a spotlight is shed for the first time on the psycholinguistic analysis of students at the national level who faced the first COVID -19 lockdown in Italy.

The role of dieting, psychopathological characteristics and maladaptive personality traits in Orthorexia Nervosa.

BACKGROUND: Pursuing a healthy diet is not a dysfunctional behavior, but dieting could be an important etiological factor for Orthorexia Nervosa (ON). The aim of this study was to investigate the role of diet in groups with high/low orthorexic tendencies. Moreover, some psychopathological characteristics associated with ON and maladaptive personality traits were investigated. METHODS: The sample consisted of three groups: two were on a diet and had high (HIGH-D; n = 52) or low (LOW-D; n = 41) orthorexic tendencies. The other was composed of people with high orthorexic tendencies not on a diet (HIGH; n = 40). Participants filled out self-report questionnaires to investigate orthorexic tendencies, eating disorders features, obsessive-compulsive symptoms, perfectionism, depressive/anxious symptomatology, and maladaptive personality traits. RESULTS: The HIGH-D group showed more orthorexic tendencies than the HIGH group. More maladaptive personality traits and anxiety symptoms have been highlighted in HIGH and HIGH-D groups. The HIGH group had more eating disorder characteristics than other groups. Only the HIGH-D group showed more depressive symptoms than the LOW-D group. CONCLUSIONS: The features of HIGH and LOW-D groups suggest that diet alone could not explain ON, even if it could be a possible factor related to ON. Therefore, people with high orthorexic tendencies, psychopathological features, and maladaptive personality traits could be in a prodromic condition for disordered eating habits and deserve clinical attention.

Orthorexia Nervosa: differences between clinical and non-clinical samples.

BACKGROUND: Orthorexia Nervosa (ON) is a construct characterized by behaviors, emotions, and beliefs on eating healthy food and excessive attention to diet; moreover, dieting has been considered a risk factor in ON symptoms development. The principal aim of this study was to investigate the differences in clinical and non-clinical groups most at risk of ON. Aspects that could be associated with ON (Eating Disorders [EDs], obsessive-compulsive symptomatology, perfectionistic traits, anxiety, depression, Body Mass Index [BMI]) were investigated in all groups. METHODS: The sample consisted of 329 adults belonging to four different groups. Three were on a diet: Anorexia/Bulimia Nervosa group (N = 90), Obesity/Binge Eating Disorder group (N = 54), Diet group (N = 91). The Control group consisted of people who were not following a diet (N = 94). Participants completed several self-administered questionnaires (EHQ-21, EDI-3, OCI-R, MPS, BAI, BDI-II) to assess ON-related features in different groups. RESULTS: Analyses highlighted higher orthorexic tendencies in Anorexia/Bulimia Nervosa, Obesity/BED, and Diet groups than in the Control group. Moreover, results have shown that in the AN/BN group, eating disorders symptomatology and a lower BMI were related to ON and that in Obesity/Binge Eating Disorder and Diet groups, perfectionism traits are associated with ON. CONCLUSION: Individuals who pursue a diet share some similarities with those who have an eating disorder regarding emotions, behaviors, and problems associated with orthorexic tendencies. Moreover, perfectionistic traits seem to predispose to higher ON tendencies. In general, these results confirm the ON as an aspect of the main eating disorders category.

[Burnout syndrome among health workers caring for AIDS patients: predictive variables]. / La sindrome del burnout in operatori sanitari a contatto con malati di AIDS: variabili predittive.

UNLABELLED: Psychological stress and coping strategies in staff working with AIDS patients were assessed using self report methods. MEASURES: Maslach Burnout Inventory (MBI), Coping Orientations to Problems Experiences (COPE), State-Trait Anxiety Inventory (STAI) and Depression Questionnaire (DQ) were completed by staff from 20 hospitals of North-Center Italy, including 329 doctors and nurses working with people with AIDS. The results suggested important correlations among burnout, coping style, depression and anxiety. Inadequate strategies used as Focusing on and Venting of emotion, Behavioral Disengagement and depression predicted high level of Emotional Exhaustion and Depersonalization, while Personal Accomplishment were predicted by more adequate strategies (Planning, Restrain coping and Seeking social support) and low level of anxiety.

Compulsive checking and selective processing of threatening information.

Threatening stimuli are processed differently from neutral ones by anxious and obsessive-compulsive subjects. In the present research, processing of threatening words was compared with that of neutral words for two groups of Italian students, one with high mean and one with low mean score on Checking, a subscale of the Padua Inventory. Two tests were given, a computerized version of the emotional Stroop task and a later recognition test under incidental learning conditions. The expected interference effect on the Stroop task for those scoring high on Checking was confirmed. These results suggest an association between compulsive checking and bias in the first automatic stages of processing of threatening stimuli.

Coping and cognitive processing style in HIV-positive subjects.

BACKGROUND: People's reactions to traumatic events are mediated by their subjective style of coping. This is of particular importance for HIV+ patients, mainly in the first phases of the disease. This work aimed at examining whether an 'acceptance' style of coping, as opposed to a 'mental disengagement' style, selectively influences the first stages of the processing of neutral, emotional and HIV-related information. METHOD: Two groups of 11 HIV+ asymptomatic subjects were chosen according to their coping strategies, acceptance or mental disengagement, as measured by Coping Orientations to the Problems Experienced (COPE). Twenty-two patients completed the Emotional Stroop Task and an incidental memory recognition task containing neutral, emotional and HIV-related stimuli. RESULTS: Analysis of reaction times (RTs) on the Emotional Stroop Task showed that HIV+ subjects have longer RTs for emotional and HIV-related than for neutral words. Instead, no effect was found as regards interaction with style of coping. CONCLUSION: Results confirmed a processing bias of emotional information, whereas Acceptance and Mental disengagement strategies, as measured by the COPE scales, did not appear to influence information processing.

Internal structure and validity of the multidimensional pain inventory, Italian language version.

OBJECTIVE: The aim of the study is an investigation of the psychometric characteristics of the Italian translation of the Multidimensional Pain Inventory and a comparison with the American, German, Swedish and Dutch versions of the MPI. METHOD: The Italian translation of the MPI was administered together with Melzack McGill Pain Inventory, Beck Depression Inventory, Spielberger State-Trait Anxiety Inventory, and Visual Analog Scales. Confirmatory factor analyses were accomplished on the MPI scores. Furthermore, reliability, intercorrelations, and convergent validity of MPI were evaluated. PATIENTS: Participants were 220 patients suffering from a variety of chronic pain syndromes (cephalalgia 45.8%; low-back pain 30.5%). RESULTS: Confirmatory factor analyses suggest changes to all 3 sections of the MPI-IV. Factor structure, after having excluded several items sorted according to the 3 sections of the questionnaire, is basically the same as in other versions of the MPI. Internal consistency analyses yielded acceptable reliability (Cronbach alpha coefficients) for 11 out of 13 scales. CONCLUSIONS: After making appropriate changes in all 3 sections of the inventory, the MPI is substantially suitable for use in cross-cultural and international research.