Psychosis,symbol, affectivity 1: etiopathogenesis and treatment through analytical psychology

This is the first of two papers concerning our study into an integrated approach to psychotic disorders, conducted at the University of Palermo’s Psychiatry Unit Polyclinic over approximately 15 years. Here we will explore and reflect upon the acute psychotic condition mainly from a theoretical and conceptual perspective, while in the second paper we will explore the clinical perspective. From the point of view of psychopathology, and in the light of C.G. Jung’s conceptualization of analytical psychology, as well as calling on contributions from other authors from the systemic-relational and post-psychoanalytic field, we will clarify the ideas developed over these last few years by our team. From a more speculative perspective we will advance new interpretive hypotheses in an attempt to thoroughly understand the nature of the psychotic condition, both on a psychodynamic relational and a neuroscientific level. The paper describes how we revised our understanding of psychosis from a brain disease to a process aimed at the rearrangement of psychic functioning, as anticipated by John Weir Perry nearly 40 years ago.     

Neuroticism as the intensity,reactivity, and variability in day-to-day affect

Neuroticism has been linked to typical levels of affect, affect reactivity to negative events, and variability in affect over time. However, the intercorrelations among these characteristics make it unclear whether neuroticism reflects unique variance in each of these aspects of emotional life. Data from two daily-diary samples revealed that neuroticism was associated with average levels and variability of positive and negative affect and reactivity of negative affect to stressors, but was only uniquely related to mean levels of positive and negative affect. Findings highlight the substantial overlap in affect indices, suggesting that mean levels of affect, at the very least, are at the core of neuroticism, and reveal the need for further research using more nuanced approaches.     

Inherited and Environmental Moderators of Mother-Child Behavioral Contingency and Contingent Negativity at 27 Months

Previous research has shown that as depressive symptomology increases, mothers tend to show withdrawn or harsh interaction patterns with their children, and the quality of these interaction patterns have subsequently been linked to child behavior problems. However, little research has examined bidirectional influences between mothers and their children, and how these moment-to-moment contingencies differ based on heritable and environmental characteristics. We used data from the Early Growth and Development Study a prospective adoption study to examine how adoptive mothers’ depressive symptoms and children’s heritable tendencies for negative affectivity interact to predict the quality of mother-child interactions at child age 27-months. Results detected two distinct dyadic interaction patterns. The first was a withdrawn interaction style and was observed in children with a high heritable tendency for negative affect. In that style, mother and child interactions were not contingent upon each other, suggesting a lack of joint engagement. The second was a volatile interaction style, observed in children with a low heritable tendency for negative affect. In these cases, mother and child interactions were highly contingent but negative. Our findings demonstrate essential differences in how dyadic interaction patterns vary according to level of depressive symptomology and heritable tendency for negative affect.     

Goal-related unethical behaviors and meaning in life: The moderating role of goal state

The process of goal pursuit provides a unique opportunity to investigate real-life psychological implications of unethical behaviors. In two studies, we had participants recall the frequency of engaging in unethical behaviors during goal pursuit and report current experience of negative affect and meaning in life, during different goal states (i.e., ongoing vs. completed). Both studies revealed that meaning in life was negatively associated with unethical behaviors implemented in the process of pursuing a goal only after but not prior to goal completion. Negative affect, however, was positively associated with unethical behavior frequencies in both goal states. The current research helps integrate studies on personal goals and unethical behaviors, and sheds light on the dynamic consequences of engaging in unethical behaviors.     

Lmx and Job Tension: Linear and Non-Linear Effects and Affectivity

We examined whether linear or non-linear LMX–job tension relationships existed, and if these effects were consistent across levels of negative (NA) and positive (PA) affect. Results indicated that NA and PA moderated the non-linear LMX–job tension relationship. Specifically, the LMX–job tension association was best depicted by an inverted-U form for high NAs. Tension was highest when LMX was moderate and lowest when LMX was either low or high. Tension increased minimally for low NAs across levels of LMX. For high PAs, the relationship was linear and inverse. Conversely, a U-shaped form best represented the LMX–job tension relationship for low PAs. Implications, strengths and limitations, and directions for future research are discussed.     

Hope,Social Support,and Postpartum Depression: Disentangling the Mediating Effects of Negative Affectivity

We examined the potentially mediating effects of negative affectivity (NA) on the hope–depression relationship among a sample of postpartum women. We also assessed the social support reported by these women and examined the possible mediating effects of NA on the social support–postpartum depression relationship. Correlational analyses of data obtained from women (N = 98) who had given birth in the previous 6 months revealed that NA did not mediate either hope or social support in the prediction of postpartum depression. Hope accounted for a significant degree of variance in postpartum depression. These data suggest that hope has palliative effects among women following childbirth and these effects are not nullified or explained by emotional predispositions.     

The interaction between schizotypy and latent inhibition: modulation by experimental parameters

Two recent experiments (Della Casa et al., in press) yielded the typical reduced latent inhibition (LI) in high vs low schizotypy subjects after a slow, irregularly presented masking task (Stroop task), and reduced LI in low vs high schizotypy subjects after a fast, regularly presented masking task. The present experiment was aimed at testing whether speed or regularity was responsible for the different results. The present slow, regular experiment replicated the results of the former slow, irregular experiment, i.e. reduced LI in high schizotypals and significant LI in low schizotypals, indicating that speed and not regularity is the critical experimental variable. The modulation of the schizotypy—latent inhibition relationship can be attributed to differences in attentional resources or the time available to process the to-be-target stimuli during preexposure, in accordance with the hypothesis of Lubow and Gewirtz, 1995 that automatic processing of these stimuli is critical for the development of latent inhibition in adult humans. In addition, results on Stroop and negative priming effects are presented.     

Facilitating and inhibiting effects of priming and selection criteria in a sequence of dichotic listening trials

Competing models of attention make different predictions of how priming from recent stimulus processing could interact with intended selection. The present experiment examined the interaction between exogenous attention and endogenous priming across trial sequences. A sound cue directed attention to left, right or both sides before a dichotic syllable pair was presented. Participants were asked to report one syllable from each trial. Results showed that responses were slower on trials where one of the presented syllables had also been presented on the previous trial. Within these trials, the repeated syllable was selected less frequently, and the responses doing so were slower. Examined according to response choice on the preceding trial, syllables that had been ignored on the preceding trial tended to be ignored on the current trial (negative priming), while syllables that had been selected on the preceding trial tended to be selected on the current trial (positive priming). Responses that followed these selection biases were faster than responses that did not. Response selection was also influenced by the attention direction cue for the current trial, but not by the cue presented on the preceding trial. The results support an attentional model where traces from the preceding processing are retained, and current selection is biased to minimize cognitive conflict between recent and current processing. Negative priming appears to be due to after-effects of preceding processing, independently of the intentions behind that processing. The study accounts for positive and negative priming of dichotic listening sequences within an established, computationally viable biased competition framework.     

Physical health, positive and negative affect, and personality: A longitudinal analysis

This study used structural equation modeling to examine longitudinal relations among physical health, personality and mood in a sample of 360 college students. Research focused on the longitudinal associations among physical health and mood and their systematic relations with the Big Five personality dimensions of Extraversion and Neuroticism. Longitudinal analyses over successive 1-month intervals revealed lagged reciprocal effects between physical health and negative affect. After controlling for the effect of negative affect, physical health influenced subsequent positive affect, but positive affect did not influence subsequent physical health. Implications of these findings for subsequent research on health, personality, and emotions are discussed.     

Neural activation underlying cognitive control in the context of neutral and affectively charged pictures in children

The neural correlates of cognitive control for typically developing 9-year-old children were examined using dense-array ERPs and estimates of cortical activation (LORETA) during a go/no-go task with two conditions: a neutral picture condition and an affectively charged picture condition. Activation was estimated for the entire cortex after which data were exported for four regions of interests (ROIs): ventrolateral prefrontal cortex (VLPFC), dorsal anterior cingulate cortex (dACC), dorsolateral prefrontal cortex (DLPFC), and orbitofrontal/ventromedial prefrontal cortex (OFC/VMPFC). Results revealed faster reaction times, greater N2 activation, and greater prefrontal activation for the affectively charged picture condition than the neutral picture condition. The findings are discussed in reference to the impact of affective stimuli on recruitment of specific brain regions involved in cognitive control.