Update on Urticaria and Angioedema.

Urticaria and angioedema are caused by immunoglobulin E- and non-immunoglobulin E-mediated release of histamine and other inflammatory mediators from mast cells and basophils. Diagnosis is made clinically, and anaphylaxis must be ruled out if urticaria or angioedema is present. A limited nonspecific laboratory workup should be considered unless elements of the history or physical examination suggest specific underlying conditions. The mainstay of treatment is avoidance of triggers when and if triggers are identified. The first-line pharmacotherapy is second-generation H1 antihistamines, which can be titrated to greater than standard doses.

Intergenerational Trauma, Dependency, and Detachment.

ABSTRACT: The literature on intergenerational transmission of trauma is predominantly focused on the mental health functioning of children and grandchildren of trauma survivors. Research shows that having a traumatized parent is related to increased psychopathology and dysfunctional attachment patterns in the next generation, but little is known about the effects of parental trauma on other aspects of interpersonal relating. The current study addresses this gap. Participants were young adult students from an urban college; individual and parental trauma histories, and indices of unhealthy dependency, dysfunctional detachment, and healthy dependency, were obtained. Results indicated that a wide range of parental traumas were positively correlated with dysfunctional detachment, but not related to destructive overdependence or healthy dependency. These results suggest that a wide range of parental traumas have a negative impact on the next generation's interpersonal dependency by fostering a tendency to distance themselves from close relationships.

Suicidality and Implicit Dependency in Child and Adolescent Inpatients With Histories of Trauma: Moderating Effect of Gender.

ABSTRACT: There is lack of empirical findings on a direct link between suicidality and dependency in youth. This is particularly relevant for children and adolescents with a trauma history, since traumatization is a well-established risk factor for suicidality in this population. Research on dependency predominantly uses self-report assessments, which may be susceptible to biases. In this study, performance-based interpersonal dependency scores in inpatient children and adolescents with trauma history were compared with patients' suicidal behavior (suicidal ideation and suicidal attempts) as derived from chart records. The results showed a gender effect. High dependency scores were associated with higher suicidal ideation for girls and with lower suicidal attempts for boys. These findings demonstrate that a relationship between dependency and suicidality for hospitalized traumatized youth is impacted by gender.

Urticaria and Angioedema.

Urticaria and angioedema are caused by immunoglobulin E- and non-immunoglobulin E-mediated release of histamine and other inflammatory mediators from mast cells and basophils. Diagnosis is made clinically, and anaphylaxis must be ruled out if urticaria or angioedema is present. A limited nonspecific laboratory workup should be considered unless elements of the history or physical examination suggest specific underlying conditions. The mainstay of treatment is avoidance of triggers when and if triggers are identified. The first-line pharmacotherapy is second-generation H1 antihistamines, which can be titrated to greater than standard doses.

Love in the Time of COVID-19: Experiences of a Psychology Trainee.

As the novel coronavirus (COVID-19) swept across the country, graduate students faced challenges they could have never anticipated. The future of coursework, research, graduation, and practica was unclear; for some, the circumstances were more dire as university closures resulted in a lack of housing, food, and internet access. While there is extant research of clinical trainee experience, significantly less has been written on their experiences of major events, let alone how it impacts our clinical work or theory-making. Perhaps even more to our detriment, literature has continued to shy away from the most basic component of clinical work: love. What follows is my account of analytic love, loss, and healing during a turbulent time in my clinical training at a large metropolitan hospital. The goal of this article is not extravagant. By sharing these experiences, I hope to record these events, name my experience, and remind the analytic community of the power of love, and the necessity of discussing love, particularly its salience during times of immense distress.

The family roles of siblings of people diagnosed with a mental disorder: heroes and lost children.

In order to cope with the diagnosis of mental illness in a family member, siblings may be forced to adjust their roles in the family. Taking into account the crucial role that some siblings play in caregiving for the mentally ill especially when the parents are no longer available, it is imperative to develop awareness of their unique needs and address them. Thirty-three adult siblings of people diagnosed with a mental disorder completed the Role Behaviour Inventory (RBI) and a general questionnaire including open-ended questions regarding the roles they played in their families of origin. Findings from the inventory and general questionnaire suggest that the well siblings score higher on two roles, the Hero and Lost Child, and lower on the Mascot and Scapegoat roles relative to a comparison group (N = 33). Being a sibling caregiver emerged as a risk factor to assume certain dysfunctional roles in the family. Implications for future research and therapy are discussed.

Siblings of people diagnosed with a mental disorder and posttraumatic growth.

This study examines the potential for posttraumatic growth (PTG) for siblings of persons diagnosed with a mental disorder. Using the posttraumatic growth Inventory we compared siblings (N = 33) with a comparison group of participants who did not experience trauma (N = 30). Our group of participants who had a sibling diagnosed with a mental disorder by a mental health professional (N = 33) reported higher PTG scores with mostly large effect sizes on most of the inventory subscales. Participants who took an active role in care giving experienced less PTG than participants who did not. Having a sibling diagnosed with a mental disorder presents an opportunity to experience PTG. Implications for the therapeutic milieus are discussed.

Evaluation and Performance: A Two-Edged Knife.

Social loafing research has shown that participants working together put out less effort than participants working individually (Latane, Williams, & Harkins, 1979), apparently a result of the fact that evaluation is not possible when outputs are pooled (Harkins & Jackson, 1985). On the other hand, research on creativity (e.g., Amabile, 1979), suggests that minimizing the expectation of evaluation facilitates performance. In the present study, treatment conditions typically used in social loafing and creativity research were incorporated in a single design. Participants were asked either to generate as many uses as possible for a common object or to generate uses that were as creative as possible. Participants were also led to believe either that their outputs could be evaluated or that their outputs would be pooled with those of others. The performance of participants given number instructions was facilitated by the prospect of evaluation. However, when asked to be creative, participants whose outputs were pooled performed better than participants whose outputs could be evaluated. These data suggest that on tasks that require creativity, conditions that are thought to lead to "loafing" can have the opposite effect.