Relationship Between Childhood Trauma and Sleep Disturbances: The Role of Perceived Stress as a Mediator

The main objective of the current study was to analyze the mediating role of perceived stress on the relationship between childhood trauma and sleep disturbances among the adult population. The sample of this cross-sectional study was composed of 987 Portuguese adults with sleep disturbances, who completed a self-administered questionnaire about childhood trauma, sleep disturbances, and perceived stress. The results of analyses found that in the model that included the variables childhood trauma and perceived stress, both variables were predictors of sleep disturbances; however, perceived stress was the strongest predictor. Regarding the model with the subtypes of maltreatment, only Emotional Abuse predicted sleep problems. Results of the Path Analysis model showed that perceived stress partly mediates the effect of childhood trauma on adult sleep disturbances. This study has clinical implications, supporting the importance of taking into account childhood trauma and perceived stress during the assessment and intervention of sleep disturbances.     

Avoidance and activation as keys to depression: adaptation of the Behavioral Activation for Depression Scale in a Spanish sample

In this paper we present the adaptation of the Behavioral Activation for Depression Scale (BADS), developed by Kanter, Mulick, Busch, Berlin, and Martell (2007), in a Spanish sample. The psychometric properties were tested in a sample of 263 participants (124 clinical and 139 non-clinical). The results show that, just as in the original English version, the Spanish BADS is a valid and internally consistent scale. Construct validity was examined by correlation with the BDI-II, AAQ, ATQ, MCQ-30, STAI and EROS. Factor analysis justified the four-dimensions of the original instrument (Activation, Avoidance/Rumination, Work/School Impairment and Social Impairment), although with some differences in the factor loadings of the items. Further considerations about the usefulness of the BADS in the clinical treatment of depressed patients are also suggested.     

From Introjection to Intropression: Evolution of a Theoretical Concept and Its Consequences for Psychoanalytic Technique

Here we try to offer a panoramic view on the evolution of the concept of introjection in Ferenczi's thinking, until its culmination in the last annotation of Notes and Fragments on December 26, 1932. In this final note, Ferenczi invented the neologism intropression in which he tried to articulate the notion of introjections with the devastating effects of violence and parental repression, and a definite way to conceive the analytical practice.     

"Hay que ponerse en los zapatos del joven": adaptive parenting of adolescent children among Mexican-American parents residing in a dangerous neighborhood

We examined parenting of adolescents with Consensual Qualitative Research analyses of five 90-minute focus groups with 45 Mexican immigrant parents residing in a high-crime and low-income neighborhood. Parents identified gangs as their major challenge in parenting. Relatedly, they endorsed control-oriented practices to ensure the safety of their adolescents. In addition, parents used practices that aimed to build strong, trusting relationships with their adolescents. The co-occurrence of parenting strategies that promote strong parent-adolescent bonds along with strict monitoring highlights the need to conceptualize parenting with both controlling as well as supportive dimensions. Moreover, the parents' narratives pertaining to the dangers in their neighborhood suggest that interventions for Latino families should be not only consistent with their cultural heritage, but also grounded in the families' local neighborhood contexts.     

Positive emotional expectations predict volunteer outcomes for new volunteers

Emotional expectations are likely to influence behavioral outcomes, even when entering novel situations. In the present study, it was proposed that positive emotional expectations would influence volunteer outcomes for new volunteers. New and experienced volunteers were recruited for a two-part longitudinal study. Study hypotheses were confirmed. The mere anticipation of positive emotions was able to predict volunteer outcomes for new volunteers. Emotional expectations (i.e., sympathy, satisfaction) were positively associated with intentions to continue volunteering, identification with the volunteer role, and predicted volunteer persistence 6 months later for new volunteers. For experienced volunteers, emotional expectations were only significantly and positively associated with volunteer role identity. Moreover, the intent to persist as a volunteer was found to have a stronger positive association with actual persistence for experienced volunteers than for new volunteers.     

Sprache, Neurowissenschaften und Psychoanalyse

In this article some general thoughts on the application of language in psychoanalysis and psychotherapy will be expressed against the background of the most recent findings in linguistics, neurolinguistics and neuroscience. The conclusion is that consideration of the subsymbolic/symbolic linguistic development of a child and the affective coordination between child and environment is of fundamental importance in the psychotherapeutic relationship.     

Life review therapy using autobiographical retrieval practice for older adults with clinical depression

The aim of this experiment was to examine the efficacy of life review based on autobiographical retrieval practice for treating depression in older adults. Thirty-seven clinically depressed older adults aged 64-83, who were also receiving pharmacological treatment, were randomly assigned to life review therapy or to a placebo condition with supportive therapy. Results indicated decreased depression for both conditions, with no significant differences between the two therapies. There was some indication of greater gain in production of specific memories among those in life review therapy. Patients who produced higher numbers of specific memories decreased their depression scores at a faster rate.     

Learning emergent behaviours for a hierarchical Bayesian framework for active robotic perception

In this research work, we contribute with a behaviour learning process for a hierarchical Bayesian framework for multimodal active perception, devised to be emergent, scalable and adaptive. This framework is composed by models built upon a common spatial configuration for encoding perception and action that is naturally fitting for the integration of readings from multiple sensors, using a Bayesian approach devised in previous work. The proposed learning process is shown to reproduce goal-dependent human-like active perception behaviours by learning model parameters (referred to as "attentional sets") for different free-viewing and active search tasks. Learning was performed by presenting several 3D audiovisual virtual scenarios using a head-mounted display, while logging the spatial distribution of fixations of the subject (in 2D, on left and right images, and in 3D space), data which are consequently used as the training set for the framework. As a consequence, the hierarchical Bayesian framework adequately implements high-level behaviour resulting from low-level interaction of simpler building blocks by using the attentional sets learned for each task, and is able to change these attentional sets "on the fly," allowing the implementation of goal-dependent behaviours (i.e., top-down influences).