The Relation Between the Paraphilias and Anxiety in Men: A Case-Control Study.

Despite a multitude of theoretical views, it is still unclear how individuals develop and sustain paraphilic interests (e.g., sexual attraction to children, interest in non-consensual violence). It is also not clear from these views why many paraphilic interests, and especially many paraphilias and paraphilic disorders, are much more common in men than in women. One possible factor affecting male's higher rate of paraphilias is anxiety, because anxiety can potentiate sexual arousal in men. We speculated that paraphilic interests could develop when feelings of anxiety are recurrently generated by atypical sexual stimuli, and when that anxiety repeatedly potentiates sexual arousal, reinforcing sexual response to atypical stimuli. It follows that men with paraphilic interests are susceptible to anxiety disorders, because an anxiety disorder would facilitate the hypothesized developmental process. We conducted a retrospective file review of 1048 consecutive patients (944 male patients retained for analysis) referred to an outpatient sexual behavior clinic at a psychiatric hospital to investigate the link between paraphilias and anxiety. Male patients with a paraphilia had 1.64 greater odds than male patients without a paraphilia of having been diagnosed with an anxiety disorder, but they also had elevated rates of many other types of disorders. Therefore, there does not seem to be a specific link between paraphilias and anxiety in this sample. The discovery of a general link between the paraphilias and psychological disorders in men opens new avenues for studying the developmental origins and consequences of male paraphilic interests.

Dispositional Mindfulness and Self-Compassion Buffer the Effects of COVID-19 Stress on Depression and Anxiety Symptoms.

Objectives: The COVID-19 pandemic has been associated with a dramatic rise in symptoms of depression and anxiety. Dispositional mindfulness (DM) and self-compassion (SC) have consistently been associated with psychological disorder symptoms and appear to buffer the effects of stress on depression and anxiety. Methods: Across two studies (n = 888), we examined direct and indirect (moderation) relationships of DM, SC, COVID-19-related stress, and symptoms of depression and anxiety. We also examined the differential effects of several DM measures (FFMQ-15; FFMQ-39; MAAS) in the relationships of COVID-19 stress and psychological disorder symptoms. We recruited participants (Study 1 n = 350; 42.2% cis women; Study 2 n = 538; 44.3% cis women) online (MTurk) and examined associations of DM, SC, and COVID-19 stress, and emotional impact, and the moderating effect of DM and SC in the relationships of COVID-19-related fears, stress, emotional impacts, and psychological disorder symptoms. Results: DM and SC were moderately and negatively correlated with COVID-19 fears and stress (correlations ranging r = - .14 to r = - .42) across studies. Study 1 moderation analyses demonstrated SC, but not DM (FFMQ-15), significantly moderated relationships of COVID-19 fears and emotional impacts with symptoms. Study 2 analyses demonstrated the FFMQ-39, but not the MAAS, significantly moderated relationships of COVID-19 stress and psychological disorder symptoms. Conclusions: These results support the potential protective roles of DM and SC in disrupting pathological trajectories related to naturally elevated pandemic stress. Results also demonstrate the differential associations of several DM measures with COVID-19 stress. Future research should replicate such findings with more diverse samples and using various measures of self-compassion and risk metrics. Supplementary Information: The online version contains supplementary material available at 10.1007/s12671-022-02008-0.

Is Psychopathy a Mental Disorder or an Adaptation? Evidence From a Meta-Analysis of the Association Between Psychopathy and Handedness.

Psychopathy has historically been conceptualized as a mental disorder, but there is growing evidence that it may instead be an alternative, adaptive life history strategy designed by natural selection. Although the etiology of mental disorders is not fully understood, one likely contributor is perturbations affecting neurodevelopment. Nonright-handedness is a sign of such perturbations, and therefore can be used to test these competing models. If psychopathy is a mental disorder, psychopaths should show elevated rates of nonright-handedness. However, an adaptive strategy perspective expects psychopaths to be neurologically healthy and therefore predicts typical rates of nonright-handedness. We meta-analyzed 16 studies that investigated the association between psychopathy and handedness in various populations. There was no difference in the rates of nonright-handedness between community participants high and low in psychopathy. Furthermore, there was no difference between psychopathic and nonpsychopathic offenders in rates of nonright-handedness, though there was a tendency for offenders scoring higher on the Interpersonal/Affective dimension of psychopathy to have lower rates of nonright-handedness, and for offenders scoring higher on the Behavioral dimension of psychopathy to have higher rates of nonright-handedness. Lastly, there was no difference in rates of nonright-handedness between psychopathic and nonpsychopathic mental health patients. Thus, our results fail to support the mental disorder model and partly support the adaptive strategy model. We discuss limitations of the meta-analysis and implications for theories of the origins of psychopathy.