Self-Rated Mentalizing Mediates the Relationship Between Stress and Coping in a Non-Clinical Sample.

BACKGROUND: The clinical concept of mentalizing has recently been extended into non-clinical contexts. In particular, the protective function of robust mentalizing as a processing capacity of interpersonal and intrapsychic events has become a focus of consideration. Theoretical approaches hypothesize that mentalizing may allow for an adequate self-awareness in the face of aversive experiences such as stress, leading to a reappraisal of these experiences and therefore enables the use of adaptive coping behaviors. OBJECTIVE: The study aimed to investigate the association between coping behavior, mentalizing and experiences of stress. METHOD: 534 healthy adults completed the German-language Stress Processing Questionnaire (SVF), the Mentalization Questionnaire (MZQ), and a short scale of the Trierer Inventory of Chronic Stress (TICS) in a cross-sectional research design. RESULTS: Correlational analyses suggested associations between coping and mentalizing. Furthermore, MZQ scores predicted both positive and negative coping behavior. The relationship between stress and both negative and positive coping was mediated by mentalizing capacity. CONCLUSION: Findings confirm the hypothesis that mentalizing may represent a coping resource within a resilience framework. An implementation of the concept in preventive mental health interventions is discussed.

Supporting Health-Care Workers and Patients in Quarantine Wards: Evidence From a Survey of Frontline Health-Care Workers and Inpatients With COVID-19 in Wuhan, China.

Objective: Frontline health-care workers and patients with COVID-19 have been identified as high-risk groups for psychological problems. Experience of working or staying in quarantine wards generated psychological stressors for health-care workers and patients with COVID-19. The present study aimed to investigate the psychological symptoms of hospitalized patients with COVID-19 and the health-care workers treating them during the outbreak period, examine the effects of psychological stressors on mental health in both populations and perceived coping resources for both sides. Methods: Three hundred and eleven health-care workers working in a COVID-19 designated hospital in Wuhan, China, and 148 hospitalized patients with COVID-19 in the same hospital participated in this cross-sectional survey conducted in February 2020. Psychological symptoms, psychological stressors, and perceived coping resources were reported by both groups. Results: Thirty-three percent of health-care workers and 35.2% of patients with COVID-19 had significant psychological symptoms that were indicative of a high risk for psychological disorders. Pandemic-related psychological stressors contributed to psychological symptoms for both populations. Concern about patients was one aspect of psychological stressors of frontline health-care workers and both groups perceived support from the opposite side as an important external coping resource. Conclusion: The results shed light on the need to provide psychological support to both frontline health-care workers and patients with COVID-19 and suggest enhancing the treatment alliance might be effective to improve mental health for both populations during the crisis.

Relationship between occupational stress and quality of life among medical staffs in Shenzhen City / 中国职业医学

OBJECTIVE: To investigate the current status of occupational stress and quality of life( QOL) in medical staffs of Shenzhen City. METHODS: A total of 992 medical stuffs from 4 hospitals of Shenzhen City were selected as study subjects by using the stratified random sampling method. The Occupational Stress Inventory Revised Edition and SF-36 Questionnaire were used to investigate the occupational stress and QOL. RESULTS: The rate of high occupational strain in medical staffs of Shenzhen is 48. 8%. According to the results of multivariate stepwise regression analysis,the influencing factors for physical component summary of QOL were profession,education,occupational strain,personal coping resource,length of service and work hours( P < 0. 05). The influencing factors of mental component summary of QOL were age,occupational strain,personal coping resource,length of service,work hours and gender( P < 0. 05). CONCLUSION: Occupational stress is a factor influencing the physical and mental health of medical staffs in Shenzhen City. High occupational stress and lack of coping resources can reduce the QOL.