The relationship between mental health literacy and professional psychological help-seeking behavior among Chinese college students: mediating roles of perceived social support and psychological help-seeking stigma.

Introduction: Mental health literacy is viewed as a significant factor that may facilitate an individual's pursuit of professional psychological assistance. However, it is important to explore further influencing factors that might underlie this association. This study, employing the framework of the Theory of Planned Behavior (TPB), aims to examine the relationship between mental health literacy and the behavior of seeking professional psychological help, with a focus on the potential mediating roles of perceived stigma and social support in this context. Methods: We surveyed 911 college students in seven regions of China (406 males and 505 females, aged between 19 and 25 years old; M age = 19.65, SD = 1.41) utilizing self-report measures, including the Mental Health Literacy Questionnaire, Professional Psychological Help-Seeking Behavior Scale, Professional Psychological Help-Seeking Stigma Scale, and Perceived Social Support Scale. A chain mediation model was developed to analyze the interconnections between mental health literacy, stigma related to seeking psychological help, perceived social support, and professional psychological help-seeking behaviors. Results: The mediation effect analysis indicates that: (1) mental health literacy significantly positively correlates with professional psychological help-seeking behaviors; (2) both perceived social support and professional psychological help-seeking stigma significantly mediate the relationship between mental health literacy and professional psychological help-seeking behavior; (3) perceived social support and the stigma associated with seeking professional psychological help play a chained mediating effect between mental health literacy and the behavior of seeking professional psychological help. Discussion: This study found that mental health literacy indirectly facilitates professional psychological help-seeking behaviors by enhancing the perception of social support and reducing the stigma associated with seeking such help. These findings help in understanding how improving mental health literacy and perceived social support while reducing stigma can increase the likelihood of individuals seeking professional psychological assistance. The results are significant for enhancing the utilization of mental health services and implementing mental health education programs in universities.

Hypnotizability and Disordered Personality Styles in Cluster A Personality Disorders.

AIM: Interpersonal sensitivity and mistrust are the main characteristics of cluster A personality disorders (CAPD) which might be due to the high accessibility to negative suggestions from environments. Yet the exact associations between hypnotic suggestibility and their personality disorder functioning styles remain unclear. METHODS: We invited 36 patients with CAPD and 115 healthy volunteers to undergo the Stanford Hypnotic Susceptibility Scale: Form C (SHSS:C) and Parker Personality Measure (PERM). RESULTS: Compared to controls; patients scored higher on PERM paranoid; schizoid; schizotypal; borderline; avoidant; and dependent styles; on the SHSS:C total and "challenge suggestions", and the passing rates of "hand lowering", "arm rigidity", "dream", and "arm immobilization". In patients, "dream" negatively predicted the schizoid; "hallucinated voice" negatively the schizotypal; "mosquito hallucination" positively the histrionic and dependent; and "arm immobilization" negatively the avoidant style. CONCLUSIONS: Our results suggested that the insusceptibility to perceptual suggestions from others and the high control over body contribute to the paranoid attitude and interpersonal avoidance in CAPD. These findings help to understand the cause of interpersonal problems in these patients and suggest the trial of hypnotherapy for them.

Depression and Anxiety Mediate the Association between Sleep Quality and Self-Rated Health in Healthcare Students.

OBJECTIVES: This study aimed to investigate factors associated with sleep quality in healthcare students and to determine whether depressive and anxiety symptoms may explain some of the associations between sleep quality and self-rated health. STUDY DESIGN: This is a cross-sectional study at wave one. METHODS: A total of 637 healthcare students were recruited via a stratified random sampling method in Hangzhou, China. The Sleep Quality Questionnaire (SQQ) and the four-item Patient Health Questionnaire (PHQ-4) were used to assess sleep quality and depressive and anxiety symptoms, respectively. Self-rated health was assessed via a self-developed questionnaire of both physical and psychological health. Structural equation modeling was used to examine the direct and indirect effects of sleep quality on self-rated health through depressive and anxiety symptoms. RESULTS: Students engaged in part-time employment (p = 0.022), with poor perceived employment prospects (p = 0.009), and who did not participate in recreational sports (p = 0.008) had worse sleep quality. Structural equation modeling revealed a significant total effect of sleep quality on self-rated health (b = 0.592, p < 0.001), a significant direct effect of both sleep quality and depressive and anxiety symptoms on self-rated health (b = 0.277, 95% CI: 0.032-0.522), and a significant indirect effect of sleep quality on self-rated health through depressive and anxiety symptoms (b = 0.315, 95% CI: 0.174-0.457). CONCLUSIONS: Depressive and anxiety symptoms partially explain the association between sleep quality and self-rated health. Intervening upon sleep quality, depressive, and anxiety symptoms may bolster the self-rated health of healthcare students.

Cerebral processing of emotions in phantom eye pain patients: An event related potential study.

Purpose: Phantom eye pain (PEP) is a major clinical problem after eye removal with no standard treatment protocol to date. As pain is a multidimensional experience associated with emotional and cognitive components, this study aimed to explore the possible neuropsychological mechanisms of PEP in a perspective of emotional cognition, in order to provide a basis for clinical treatment. Methods: Visual oddball event-related potentials (ERPs) under different external emotional stimuli (Disgust, Fear, Sadness, Happiness, Erotica and Neutral) were tested in 12 patients and 12 healthy volunteers. Participants' affective states were measured with the Mood Disorder Questionnaire (MDQ), the Hypomania Checklist-32 (HCL-32), and the Plutchik-van Praag Depression Inventory (PVP). The amplitudes and latencies of N1, P2, N2 and P3 components were analyzed by three-way ANOVA, i.e., group (2) â€‹× â€‹emotion (6) â€‹× â€‹electrode (3). Multiple comparisons were performed using Bonferroni's test. Results: Longer N1 latencies, increased N1 amplitudes; shorter P2 latencies under Disgust and Happiness, decreased P2 amplitudes; shorter N2 latencies under Erotica, increased N2 amplitudes were found in patients compared with controls. There was no main effect of group or interaction effect on P3 latencies and P3 amplitudes. The MDQ and HCL-32 scores were lower, and the N1 latencies under Sadness were negatively correlated with PVP scores in patients. Conclusions: PEP patients showed reversed patterns in exogenous attention allocation and enhanced involuntary attention to emotional stimuli compared with controls. This study demonstrated cortical processing of emotions in PEP patients and could provide a basis for developing emotional intervention therapy.

Visual event-related potentials in external emotional conditions in bipolar disorders I and II.

OBJECTIVES: Mutual influences of cognitive and emotional functions occur in bipolar disorder, but specific alterations in relation to external emotional stimuli in bipolar I (BD I) and II (BD II) subtypes remain unknown. This study aimed to explore the effects of external emotional stimuli on cerebral attentional function in BD I and BD II. METHODS: We tested visual oddball event-related potentials (ERPs) during various external emotional stimuli (Disgust, Fear, Erotica, Happiness, Neutral and Sadness) in 31 patients with BD I, 19 BD II and 47 healthy volunteers. Participants' concurrent affective states were also evaluated. RESULTS: The ERP N2 latencies during Fear and Happiness were prolonged, P3 amplitudes during Disgust and Erotica were decreased in BD I; P3 amplitudes during Disgust, Erotica, Happiness and Neutral conditions were decreased in BD II. Increased frontal and parietal and decreased temporal and occipital activations were found in BD I, while increased occipital and parietal and decreased frontal and limbic activations in BD II in relation to different external emotions. ERP components were not correlated with concurrent affective states in patients. CONCLUSIONS: Automatic attention during Happiness and Fear, and voluntary attention during Disgust and Erotica conditions were impaired in BD I; and voluntary attention during Disgust, Happiness, Erotica and Neutral conditions was impaired in BD II. Our study illustrates different patterns of visual attentional deficits associated with different external emotional stimuli in BD I and BD II.

Body image concerns in bipolar I and II disorders: their relationships with personality styles and affective states.

BACKGROUND: Body image concerns are associated with the poor prognosis of bipolar disorder, but it is unknown whether bipolar I (BD I) and II (BD II) types differ in these concerns and their associations with personality styles or affective states. SUBJECTS AND METHODS: We therefore invited 89 BD I, 91 BD II patients, and 159 healthy volunteers to undergo the tests of the Body Image Concern Scale (BICS), the Mood Disorder Questionnaire, the Hypomania Checklist - 32, the Plutchik - van Praag Depression Inventory, and the Parker Personality Measure. RESULTS: Both BD I and BD II displayed higher scores of ongoing affective states and of personality disorder functioning styles than healthy controls did. BD II scored higher on all six BICS scales than controls did, and higher on five than BD I did. The depressive measure predicted four, and Dependent style predicted three BICS scales in BD I; and the depressive measure predicted all six BICS scales, hypomanic measure predicted one, and Avoidant style predicted one in BD II. CONCLUSIONS: Body image concerns and their associations with the affective states and personality styles were different in BD I and BD II, suggesting different pathological mechanisms, clinical symptom severities and managements for the two types of bipolar disorder.

Pharmacokinetics and liver uptake of three Schisandra lignans in rats after oral administration of liposome encapsulating ß-cyclodextrin inclusion compound of Schisandra extract.

Schisandra chinensis fructus (SCF) is widely used traditional Chinese medicine, which possesses hepato-protective potential. Schisandrin (SD), schisantherin (ST), and γ-schizandrin (SZ) are the major bioactive lignans. The main problem associated with the major bioactive lignans oral administration is low oral bioavailability due to the lignans' poor aqueous solubility and taste. The aim of the present research work was to develop liposome (SCL) encapsulated ß-cyclodextrin (ß-CD) inclusion complex loaded with SCF extract (SCF-E). The SD, ST, and SZ were selected as effective candidates to perform comparisons of liver targeting among the solution (SES), ß-cyclodextrin inclusion compound (SCF-E-ß-CD), liposome (SEL), and SCL of SCF-E to characterize the pharmacokinetic behaviors and liver targeting in rats. The ß-CD inclusion complex (SCF-E-ß-CD) was used to improve the solubility. The concentrations were determined using high-performance liquid chromatography (HPLC) and analyzed by DAS3.0. The pharmacokinetic results indicate that the plasma concentration-time courses were fitted well to the one-compartment model with the first weighing factor. The half-life period (t1/2) and area under the concentration-time curve (AUC) of the three components in SCL were the largest. The SCL exhibit a relatively high liver targeting effect. The results would be helpful for guiding the clinical application of this herbal medicine.

Hypochondriac concerns and correlates of personality styles and affective states in bipolar I and II disorders.

BACKGROUND: Hypochondriac concerns are associated with the treatment-difficulty of bipolar disorder, which might be due to the personality styles and affective states. METHODS: We invited outpatients with bipolar I disorder (BD I, n = 87), bipolar II disorder (BD II, n = 92) and healthy volunteers (n = 129) to undergo the Illness Attitude Scales and Parker Personality Measure tests, and measurements of concurrent affective states. RESULTS: Compared to healthy volunteers, BD I and BD II patients scored significantly higher on mania, hypomania and depression. BD I and BD II patients also scored significantly higher on Symptom Effect and Treatment Seeking, and BD II patients scored higher on Patho-thanatophobia and Hypochondriacal Belief. BD II in addition scored higher on Patho-thanatophobia than BD I did. In controls, the Dependent style predicted Patho-thanatophobia and Symptom Effect, Schizoid with Hypochondriacal Belief; in BD I, Narcissistic (-) with Hypochondriacal Belief, Histrionic with Patho-thanatophobia and Hypochondriacal Belief, depression with Hypochondriacal Belief, and hypomania with Symptom Effect and Hypochondriacal Belief; in BD II, depression with Symptom Effect and Hypochondriacal Belief, mania with Symptom Effect. CONCLUSIONS: Bipolar disorder, especially BD II, is associated with greater hypochondriac concerns, which relates to personality disorder functioning styles and concurrent affective states.

Electrocardiographic and Electrooculographic Responses to External Emotions and Their Transitions in Bipolar I and II Disorders.

Bipolar disorder has two main types, bipolar I (BD I) and II (BD II), which present different affective states and personality characteristics, they might present different modes of emotional regulation. We hypothesized that the electrocardiogram and electrooculogram to external emotions are different in BD I and BD II. We asked 69 BD I and 54 BD II patients, and 139 healthy volunteers to undergo these tests in response to disgust, erotica, fear, happiness, neutral, and sadness, and their transitions. Their affective states were also measured. The heart rate in BD I was significantly higher under background fear after target neutral. The eyeball movement was quicker in BD I under target happiness after background disgust; in BD I under target sadness after background disgust; and in BD I under background disgust after target neutral. Some electrocardiographic and electrooculographic changes were correlated with affective states in patients. BD I and BD II had different physiological responses to external emotions and their transitions, indicating different pathophysiologies and suggesting different emotional-therapies for BD I and BD II.

Cerebral processing of facial emotions in bipolar I and II disorders: An event-related potential study.

BACKGROUND: Behavioral results have shown that bipolar disorder patients have impaired recognition of facial emotions, but the detailed information processing of facial emotions in patients with bipolar I (BD I) and II (BD II) disorders remain unknown. METHODS: We tested the cerebral event-related potentials to the static facial expressions of Neutral, Happiness, Anger and Sadness in 39 adult patients with BD I, 22 BD II, and 54 healthy volunteers. Participants' affective states were measured with the Mood Disorder Questionnaire, the Hypomania Checklist-32, and the Plutchik-van Praag Depression Inventory. RESULTS: Over-processed right occipitotemporal cortex during N1 time window to Neutral and Happiness, and during P3b window to Sadness were found in BD I; prolonged N1 latencies to Neutral and Happiness, declined P3b amplitude to Sadness, negative correlation between P3b latency to Sadness and depression, and attenuated superior frontal activity during P3b window to Sadness were found in BD II; and the right-side dominance during facial emotion processing were found in both BD I and BD II. LIMITATIONS: We didn't record the personality traits or medication used in patients, nor included other facial emotions such as fear and disgust. CONCLUSIONS: When responding to facial emotions, both BD I and BD II showed a right-side processing dominance; BD I displayed enhanced processing in the right occipitotemporal cortex during structural encoding and categorical processing of facial emotions; while BD II displayed generalized impairments, less involvement of superior frontal cortex to negative emotions, and reduced ability to process negative emotions which was associated with depression.

Color preferences in participants with high or low hypnotic susceptibility.

PURPOSE: Color preferences vary among normal individuals and psychiatric patients, and this might be related to their different levels of hypnotic susceptibility. We hypothesized that individuals with higher hypnotic susceptibility prefer more arousing colors such as red. PATIENTS AND METHODS: Out of 440 participants, we selected 70 with higher (HIGH) and 66 with lower (LOW) hypnotic susceptibilities, and asked them to undergo the Stanford Hypnotic Susceptibility Scale: Form C (SHSSC) test, then to order their preferences of 11 colors. RESULTS: The HIGH group preferred red more and scored higher on the total SHSSC. The preference order of black was negatively predicted by the SHSSC Taste hallucination but positively by Arm rigidity, and the preference of yellow was positively predicted by Posthypnotic amnesia and Taste hallucination in the HIGH group. CONCLUSION: The red preference and the SHSSC associations with black and yellow preferences in participants with high hypnotic susceptibility help to clarify the individual difference of color preference and provide research hints for behavioral studies in normal individuals and psychiatric patients.

Blink reflex under external emotional-stimuli in bipolar I and II disorders.

Bipolar disorder types I (BD I) and II (BD II) might present different cortico-brainstem circuit dysfunctions under external emotions, which might be reflected by the blink reflex. We therefore invited 32 BD I and 23 BD II patients, and 46 healthy volunteers to answer the Mood Disorder Questionnaire, the Hypomania Checklist-32, and the Plutchik - van Praag Depression inventory, and to undergo the blink reflex test under external emotions (emotional pictures plus sounds) of Disgust, Erotica, Fear, Happiness, and Sadness. Compared to healthy controls, BD I showed prolonged R2/R2' latencies under most emotions, and their PVP scores were negatively correlated with the areas under curve (AUCs) of R2 and R2' under Erotica; and BD II showed reduced R2/R2' AUCs under all emotions. Moreover, R2' AUCs under Disgust, Fear, and Happiness were significantly reduced in BD II than those in BD I. Our results have shown that, irrespective of patients' on-going affective states, the R2/R2' components were delayed in BD I but suppressed in BD II under most external emotions. Our study provides some hints to distinguish the two types of bipolar disorder, referring to the cortico-brainstem circuit dysfunctions under external emotions.

Hypnotic susceptibility and affective states in bipolar I and II disorders.

BACKGROUND: Highly hypnotizable individuals have impaired executive function, elevated motor impulsivity and increased emotional sensitivity, which are sometimes found in bipolar disorder patients. It is then reasonable to assume that certain aspects of hypnotic susceptibility differ with the types of bipolar disorder. METHODS: The Stanford Hypnotic Susceptibility Scale: Form C (SHSS:C) test, the Mood Disorder Questionnaire (MDQ), the Hypomanic Checklist-32 (HCL-32) and the Plutchick-van Praag Depression Inventory (PVP) were applied to 62 patients with bipolar I disorder, 33 bipolar II disorder, and 120 healthy volunteers. RESULTS: The passing rate of the SHSS:C 'Moving hands apart' item was higher in bipolar I patients than in controls, whereas for 'Mosquito hallucination' the rate was lower. Bipolar I and II patients scored significantly higher on MDQ, HCL-32 and PVP scales than controls. The passing rates of 'Mosquito hallucination' in controls, 'Arm rigidity' in bipolar I, and 'Age regression' in bipolar II predicted the respective MDQ scores. CONCLUSION: In contrast to cognitive suggestions, bipolar I patients followed motor suggestions more often under hypnosis. Furthermore, both bipolar disorder patients and healthy volunteers demonstrated associations between mania levels and certain hypnotic susceptibility features. Our study aids in better understanding the altered conscious states in bipolar disorders, and encourages the use of related psychotherapy for these patients.

Headache symptoms from migraine patients with and without aura through structure-validated self-reports.

BACKGROUND: Headache symptoms self-reported by migraine patients are largely congruent with the clinician-used diagnostic criteria, but not always so. Patients' self-reports of headache symptoms might offer additional clues to characterize migraine with (MA) and without (MO) aura more precisely. METHODS: Firstly, we invited 324 participants with a life-long headache attack to answer an item-matrix measuring symptoms of primary headaches, then we performed both exploratory and confirmatory factor analyses to their answers and refined a headache symptom questionnaire. Secondly, we applied this questionnaire to 28 MA and 52 MO patients. RESULTS: In participants with a life-long headache, we refined a 27-item, structure-validated headache symptom questionnaire, with four factors (scales) namely the Somatic /Aura Symptoms, Gastrointestinal and Autonomic Symptoms, Tightness and Location Features, and Prodromal/Aggravating Symptoms. Further, we found that MA patients reported higher than did MO patients on the Somatic/Aura Symptoms and Tightness and Location Features scales. CONCLUSIONS: Compared to MO, MA was conferred with more prominent tightness and location features besides its higher somatic or aura symptoms. Patients' self-reports of headache symptoms might offer more clues to distinguish two types of migraine besides their clinician-defined criteria.

Selecting pure-emotion materials from the International Affective Picture System (IAPS) by Chinese university students: A study based on intensity-ratings only.

There is a need to use selected pictures with pure emotion as stimulation or treatment media for basic and clinical research. Pictures from the widely-used International Affective Picture System (IAPS) contain rich emotions, but no study has clearly stated that an emotion is exclusively expressed in its putative IAPS picture to date. We hypothesize that the IAPS images contain at least pure vectors of disgust, erotism (or erotica), fear, happiness, sadness and neutral emotions. Accordingly, we have selected 108 IAPS images, each with a specific emotion, and invited 219 male and 274 female university students to rate only the intensity of the emotion conveyed in each picture. Their answers were analyzed using exploratory and confirmatory factor analysis. Four first-order factors manifested as disgust-fear, happiness-sadness, erotism, and neutral. Later, ten second-order sub-factors manifested as mutilation-disgust, vomit-disgust, food-disgust, violence-fear, happiness, sadness, couple- erotism, female-erotism, male- erotism, and neutral. Fifty-nine pictures for the ten sub-factors, which had established good model-fit indices, satisfactory sub-factor internal reliabilities, and prominent gender-differences in the picture intensity ratings were ultimately retained. We thus have selected a series of pure-emotion IAPS pictures, which together displayed both satisfactorily convergent and discriminant structure-validities. We did not intend to evaluate all IAPS items, but instead selected some pictures conveying pure emotions, which might help both basic and clinical researches in the future.

Intensity Dependence of Auditory Evoked Potentials in Primary Dysmenorrhea.

Some studies suggest that women with primary dysmenorrhea have distinct emotional or personality features. For example, they might exaggerate their responses to external stimuli, such as to intensity-increasing auditory stimuli. Fifteen women with primary dysmenorrhea and 15 healthy women were invited to undergo tests of the intensity dependence of auditory evoked potentials (IDAEP), the Functional and Emotional Measure of Dysmenorrhea, and the Plutchik-van Praag Depression Inventory. Study participants with dysmenorrhea showed higher Functional and Emotional scale scores and stronger IDAEP. Regarding the IDAEP generation, the source inversion of N1 and P2 disclosed the activated bilateral superior temporal gyri, medial and superior prefrontal gyri in all participants, and additionally, the middle frontal gyri in dysmenorrhea patients. We report a pronounced IDAEP in primary dysmenorrhea, which indicates the decreased cerebral serotonergic innervations and points to increased activations in the prefrontal and frontal areas in the disorder. PERSPECTIVE: Using an IDAEP technique, the authors found decreased serotonergic innervation and altered cerebral activation in women with primary dysmenorrhea, which might offer some pharmacotherapeutic clues for the disorder.

Personality Traits and Perception of Müller-Lyer Illusion in Male Chinese Military Soldiers and University Students.

BACKGROUND: In military men, performance such as gun-shooting precision relies on factors such as the ability to resist visual illusion, and this misperception of visual stimulus might be linked with sensation seeking related personality. METHODS: We have invited 103 male military men and 104 age-matched university male students to undergo the experiment of the Brentano version of the Müller-Lyer illusion and the Zuckerman-Kuhlman Personality Questionnaire (ZKPQ) tests. RESULTS: The military men scored significantly lower than students did on the ZKPQ Impulsive Sensation Seeking test but higher on Aggression-Hostility and Sociality test, and displayed less misperception magnitude to the illusion. The Impulsive Sensation Seeking, Neuroticism-Anxiety and Aggression-Hostility traits in military men, and the Activity in students were respectively correlated with the misperception magnitudes of the illusion in different manners. CONCLUSION: Limited results in our study have indicated that the military men had pronounced personality traits which were correlated with the misperception magnitude of the Müller-Lyer illusion.

Inhibitory brainstem reflexes under external emotional-stimuli in bipolar I and II disorders.

BACKGROUND: Bipolar disorder types I (BD I) and II (BD II) might present different dysfunctions of the cortex and brainstem, as reflected by the second exteroceptive suppression period of temporalis muscle activity (ES2) under different stimuli of external emotions. METHODS: This study included 30 BD I and 20 BD II patients, and 40 healthy volunteers. All participants were invited to answer the Mood Disorder Questionnaire, the Hypomania Checklist-32, and the Plutchik-van Praag Depression inventory, as well as to undergo the ES2 test under external emotional-stimuli (emotional pictures plus sounds) of Disgust, Erotica, Fear, Happiness, and Sadness. RESULTS: The scale scores were elevated in both patient groups, but were not correlated with ES2 parameters. Compared to healthy controls, BD I showed prolonged ES2 latency under Erotica, and their perceived happiness and sadness intensities were negatively correlated with the respective ES2 durations, while BD II showed prolonged ES2 latencies under Disgust and Happiness, and shortened ES2 durations under Disgust, Happiness and Sadness. Moreover, ES2 duration under Sadness was significantly shorter in BD II than that in BD I. CONCLUSIONS: The cortico-brainstem inhibitory dysfunctions in BD I and BD II was different, and this difference was independent of the patient's ongoing emotions. Our study thus provides some hints to distinguish the two types of bipolar disorders.

Relationship between hypnosis and personality trait in participants with high or low hypnotic susceptibility.

BACKGROUND: The relationship between normal personality and hypnotic susceptibility is important for understanding mental processing and mental disorders, but it is less consistent in normal people or in patients with a psychiatric disorder. We have hypothesized that the correlation exists but varies in individuals with different levels of hypnotizability. PARTICIPANTS AND METHODS: We invited 72 individuals with high (HIGH group) and 47 individuals with low (LOW group) hypnotic susceptibilities to undertake tests of NEO-PI-R and the Stanford Hypnotic Susceptibility Scale, Form C (SHSSC). RESULTS: The HIGH group scored significantly higher than the LOW group did on openness to experience and its facet openness to feelings. In the LOW group, SHSSC total was positively predicted by openness to ideas; age regression was positively predicted by openness to experience and negatively predicted by extraversion; anosmia to ammonia was negatively predicted by agreeableness; and negative visual hallucination was positively predicted by openness to experience. In the HIGH group, hallucinated voice was positively predicted by openness to experience and negatively predicted by agreeableness, and posthypnotic amnesia was positively predicted by extraversion and negatively predicted by openness to experience. CONCLUSION: The associations between normal personality traits and hypnotic susceptibility items were weak and different in the two groups, which imply that managing mental or somatoform disorders might be through adjusting hypnotizability and mobilizing personality functions.

Predicting personality disorder functioning styles by the Chinese Adjective Descriptors of Personality: a preliminary trial in healthy people and personality disorder patients.

BACKGROUND: Cultural and personality factors might contribute to the clinical differences of psychiatric patients all over the world including China. One cultural oriented Chinese Adjective Descriptors of Personality (CADP) designed to measure normal personality traits, might be specifically associated with different personality disorder functioning styles. METHODS: We therefore have invited 201 healthy volunteers and 67 personality disorder patients to undergo CADP, the Parker Personality Measure (PERM), and the Plutchik-van Praag Depression Inventory (PVP) tests. RESULTS: Patients scored significantly higher on PVP scale and all 11 PERM personality disorder functioning styles, as well as CADP Emotional and Unsocial traits. The PVP was significantly correlated with some CADP traits and PERM styles in both groups. In healthy volunteers, only one CADP trait, Unsocial, prominently predicted 11 PERM styles. By contrast in patients, CADP Intelligent predicted the PERM Narcissistic and Passive-Aggressive styles; CADP Emotional the PERM Paranoid, Borderline, and Histrionic styles; CADP Conscientious the PERM Obsessive-Compulsive style; CADP Unsocial the PERM Schizotypal, Antisocial, Narcissistic, Avoidant, Dependent, and Passive-Aggressive styles; CADP Agreeable the PERM Antisocial style. CONCLUSION: As a preliminary study, our results demonstrated that, in personality disorder patients, all five CADP traits were specifically associated with almost all 11 personality disorder functioning styles, indicating that CADP might be used as an aid to diagnose personality disorders in China.