Self-Directedness Predicts Quality of Life in Individuals with Psychotic Experiences: A 1-Year Follow-Up Study.

There is a high prevalence of psychotic-like experiences in nonclinical patient cohorts from Brazil. This study aimed to test whether personality dimensions, as well as schizotypy, are important predictors of quality of life (QoL) in individuals with psychotic experiences (PE). METHOD: 115 participants were recruited from Spiritist Centers in Brazil. At the 1-year follow up, 90 participants (78%) were reassessed. Instruments were the SCID-I (Structured Clinical Interview for DSM-IV), TCI-R 140 (Revised Temperament and Character Inventory), OLIFE-R (Oxford-Liverpool Inventory of Feelings and Experiences), and WHOQOL-BREF (World Health Organization QoL Instrument). RESULTS: Mean age (±SD) was 36.8 (±12.5) years; 70% were female. Participants reported 74.4% of PE at time 1 and 72.3% at time 2. At time 1, temperament and character explained 47% of the psychological QoL variance; self-directedness was the strongest predictor of higher QoL, while harm avoidance and introverted anhedonia predicted worse QoL. At the 1-year follow-up, self-directedness remained the most important predictor of psychological QoL. CONCLUSION: Individuals reporting PE can show psychological QoL when they are high on self-directedness. Those with high levels of introverted anhedonia and cognitive disorganization can have a lower QoL and may be at risk for mental health problems.

Saúde e Doença nas Experiências Religiosas/Espirituais: Integrando Modelos de Wilber e Cloninger / Health and Illness in Religious/Spiritual experiences: integrating Wilber's and Cloninger's Models / Salud y Enfermedad en Experiencias Religiosas/Espirituales: integración de los modelos de Wilber y Cloninger

O estudo científico das experiências religiosas/espirituais tem sido negligenciado ao longo da história da Psicologia, ocasionando uma indiferenciação destas e dos sintomas psicóticos de conteúdo religioso/espiritual. O objetivo deste artigo foi analisar e comparar duas teorias: a Psicologia Integral, de Wilber, e o Modelo Psicobiológico de Cloninger, a fim de desenvolver critérios para diferenciar saúde e doença mental em experiências religiosas/espirituais. O conceito wilberiano de "Falácia Pré-Trans" aparece enquanto chave de leitura para a diferenciação entre experiência religiosas/espirituais e transtornos mentais, aproximando-se da concepção de maturidade de caráter observada nos conceitos de autodirecionamento e de autotranscendência de Cloninger.(AU)

The scientific study of religious/spiritual experiences has been neglected throughout the history of psychology causing a lack of differentiation between them and psychotic symptoms. The objective of this study was to analyze and compare two theories: Integral Psychology, by Wilber, and the Psychobiological Model, by Cloninger, in order to distinguish health and mental illness in religious/spiritual experiences. The Wilberian concept of "Pre-Trans Fallacy" is a reading key to differ religious/spiritual experiences from mental disorders. It is similar to the conception of Maturity of Character observed in Cloninger's concepts of Self-directedness and Self-transcendence.(AU)

El estudio científico de las experiencias religiosas/espirituales ha sido descuidado a lo largo de la historia de la Psicología causando una indiferencia de éstas y de los síntomas psicóticos de contenido religioso/espiritual. El objetivo de este artículo fue analizar y comparar dos teorías: la Psicología Integral, de Wilber, y el Modelo Psicobiológico de Cloninger, con el fin de desarrollar criterios para diferenciar salud y enfermedad mental en experiencias religiosas/espirituales. El concepto Wilberiano de "Falacia Pre-Trans" aparece como clave de lectura para la diferenciación entre la experiencia religiosa/espiritual y los trastornos mentales, acercándose a la concepción de madurez de carácter observada en los conceptos de Autodirección y Autotrascendencia de Cloninger.(AU)

Expanding and Adapting the Protean Career Management Scale for University Students (PCMS-U).

Many changes in the socioeconomic scenario led to the emergence of different models of career guidance, among which the protean career stands out. This model works with the prospect of a career that is self-directed and aligned with personal values, with important propositions for both professionals and students entering the work market. In the Brazilian scenario, however, there is a lack of appropriate measures to evaluate protean aspects among college students without work experience. Thus, the present study aimed at adapting and validating the attitudes towards the Protean Career Scale to this population. The sample consisted of 902 students aging from 18 to 30 years old (M = 22.52; SD = 6.53) attending 34 different undergraduate courses. Exploratory and confirmatory analysis attested the two-dimensional nature of the scale structure. The reliability indexes were satisfactory: over .65. The correlation between the protean models and factors such as personality, values, and locus of control provided adequate evidence of the measure's predictive validity (p < .05).

Personality among sexually compulsive men who practice intentional unsafe sex in São Paulo, Brazil.

INTRODUCTION: There is evidence of an association between the practice of intentional unsafe sex among men who have sex with men (MSM) and sensation seeking and impulsivity. However, other aspects of personality have been less frequently investigated. AIMS: This study aims to investigate the association between the practice of intentional unsafe sex and personality traits in individuals who sought treatment and met the criteria for compulsive sexual behavior in São Paulo, Brazil. METHODS: The sample consisted of 69 sexually compulsive MSM. The participants underwent psychiatric evaluation and an interview to define intentional condomless sex and completed self-report instruments. MAIN OUTCOME MEASURES: The participants completed the following measures: the Temperament and Character Inventory and the Sexual Compulsivity Scale. RESULTS: Twenty-five participants (36%) reported intentional unsafe sex with casual partners, of whom 84% were gay and 16% bisexual (P<0.05). Fifteen (22%) individuals reported being HIV positive, and 11 (73%) of them practiced intentional unprotected anal intercourse (P<0.05). The mean of sexual compulsivity was associated with men who engaged in intentional unsafe sex (P=0.01). Men who reported intentional unsafe sex scored significantly higher on the novelty seeking temperament dimension (P<0.05) and scored significantly lower on the self-directedness character dimension (P<0.001). However, self-directedness predicted intentional unsafe sex in the multiple logistic regression (P=0.001). CONCLUSIONS: Sexually compulsive individuals who practiced intentional unsafe sex presented lower self-directedness than the group who did not engage in intentional unsafe sex, which suggests less autonomy regarding life itself. To the best of our knowledge, this is the first study to consider intentional unsafe sex in sexually compulsive men.

A importância da consciência ternária para superar as inadequações da psiquiatria contemporânea / The importance of ternary awareness for overcoming the inadequacies of contemporary psychiatry

Os seres humanos evoluíram em etapas, de modo que nossa consciência desenvolveu três componentes centrais - aprendizagem processual de hábitos e habilidades, aprendizagem semântica de fatos e proposições e autoconsciência de uma identidade que se desenvolve ao longo do tempo e do espaço. Consequentemente, a consciência humana implica o crescimento de nossa subjetividade, integrando esses três aspectos da aprendizagem e da memória. A psiquiatria contemporânea é substancialmente comprometida por um viés antiespiritual que está implícito nas abordagens operacionais de diagnóstico, pesquisa e tratamento. A subjetividade humana não pode ser devidamente desconstruída em uma coleção de objetos independentes entre si, livres de qualquer contexto psicossocial, tal como a que é habitualmente assumida em uma abordagem do tipo "menu chinês" utilizada para o diagnóstico e entrevistas estruturadas. Perspectivas materialistas predispõem os indivíduos a assumirem uma visão de separação que compromete o bem-estar tanto dos profissionais de saúde mental quanto de seus pacientes. O progresso no diagnóstico psiquiátrico, bem como nas formas de tratamento, requer abordagem centrada na pessoa, capaz de respeitar e valorizar a subjetividade humana e promover o cultivo de virtudes tais como esperança, amor e coragem, bem como o uso criterioso de outros métodos psicobiológicos de tratamento. O funcionamento saudável requer o desenvolvimento da autotranscendência, além do autodirecionamento e da cooperatividade. Sem a autotranscendência as pessoas estão consumindo mais recursos do que a terra pode repor. A busca do bem-estar individual, na ausência do bem-estar coletivo, é uma ilusão autodestrutiva. Consequentemente, a psiquiatria contemporânea precisa centrar sua atenção na compreensão da consciência humana por meio de uma via ternária equilibrada, em vez de tentar reduzir as pessoas a objetos materiais separados.

Human beings have evolved in steps so that our consciousness has three major components - procedural learning of habits and skills, semantic learning of facts and propositions, and self-awareness of an identity that develops over time and place. Consequently, human consciousness involves growth in our subjective awareness integrating these three aspects of learning and memory. Contemporary psychiatry is substantially impaired by an anti-spiritual bias that is implicit in operational approaches to diagnosis, research, and treatment. Human subjectivity cannot be adequately deconstructed into a collection of mutually independent objects that are free of any psychosocial context, as is usually assumed in a "Chinese-menu" approach to diagnosis and structured interviewing. Materialistic perspectives predispose people to have an outlook of separateness that impairs the well-being of both mental health professionals and their patients. Progress in psychiatric diagnosis and treatment requires a person-centered approach that respects and appreciates human subjectivity and promotes the cultivation of human virtues like hope, love, and courage, along with judicious use of other psychobiological methods of treatment. Healthy functioning requires the development of self-transcendence in addition to self-directedness and cooperativeness. Without self-transcendence, people are consuming more resources than the earth can replenish. The pursuit of individual well-being in the absence of collective well-being is a self-destructive illusion. Consequently contemporary psychiatry needs to focus its attention on understanding human consciousness in a balanced ternary way rather than trying to reduce people to separate material objects.

Avaliação do autogerenciamento e do direcionamento de carreira: estrutura fatorial da escala de atitudes de carreira proteana / Self-directedness and values orientation in careers: factorial structure of the protean career attitudes scale

O conceito Carreira Proteana descreve um estilo de carreira em que o sucesso, subjetivamente avaliado, é alcançado através do comportamento vocacional autogerenciado e dirigido para valores individuais. A Protean Career Attitudes Scale (PCAS) avalia estas dimensões. O estudo explorou a estrutura fatorial de uma versão brasileira da PCAS. Participaram 446 profissionais de 15 estados brasileiros. A estrutura fatorial da versão final da PCAS com 11 itens confirmou as dimensões originais. Os índices de confiabilidade da escala geral e das subescalas de autogerenciamento de carreira e direcionamento para valores foram bons ou aceitáveis, com alfas respectivamente de 0,83, 0,85 e 0,73. Comparações entre grupos indicaram que homens tiveram médias maiores do que mulheres em autogerenciamento de carreira. Profissionais de empresas privadas tiveram médias mais altas tanto para autogerenciamento de carreira quanto para direcionamento para valores, comparados a servidores públicos. Sugerese a realização de novos estudos correlacionais e comparativos com a PCAS.

The concept of protean career describes a career style in which success is subjectively pondered, and can be achieved through a self-managed and values-oriented vocational behavior. The Protean Career Attitudes Scale (PCAS) aims to assess the self-management and the values orientation dimensions. The present study explored the factorial structure of a Brazilian version of PCAS. Participants were 446 professionals from 15 Brazilian states. The final version of PCAS was composed of 11 items, their factor structure confirming the hypothesized dimensions. Reliability indexes were good or acceptable for the general scale (.83), and for the career self-management (.85) and values orientation subscales (.73). Comparison between groups showed men with significantly higher selfmanagement than women. Moreover, private sector professionals had significantly higher levels of both selfmanagement and values orientation than government workers. Further comparative and correlational studies with contemporary career attitudes are encouraged.