Dynamics of COVID-19’s psychological impact in the Czech Republic: Situation during spring 2020

The study presents the results of a screening focused on the psychological impact associated with the outbreak and further development of the COVID-19 pandemic in the Czech population during March-May 2020. The aim of the study was to investigate temporal dynamics of psychological impact covering the first wave of the epidemic, i.e., first phases of the epidemic growth, culmination, decrease, and slow return to a normal lifestyle. The sample of 2716 respondents aged between 18 and 89 years participated in an online survey from March 18th to May 25th, 2020; part of them (typically seniors and others, who had not access to the internet) were assisted in entering the data by trained interviewers. The survey comprised questionnaires capturing emotional states, psychological disturbance, anxiety, and depression. The changes in the scores by pandemic phase (time frame) were studied for the whole sample and for gender and age groups. The results show that the threat of COVID-19 caused a significant increase in negative emotional experience and in the symptoms of psychological disturbance, anxiety, and depression in the Czech population in a time of infection culmination, even when the spread of the pandemic was well controlled, and then a gradual decline over time. The data indicated that the pandemic situation had a more pronounced impact on women and younger adults. The study also showed that in situations of pandemic stress associated with isolation, when isolated people are interviewed about their mental state, their reports on negative experiencing might be significantly reduced compared to direct anonymous self-reports data entry.

Separate Roles for State and Trait Anxiety in the Formation of SHU Syndrome: Testing a Moderated Mediation Hypothesis

It has been proposed that state anxiety, aroused when an inmate is initially placed in restrictive housing, interacts with the sequestering Special Housing Unit (SHU) environment to overtax the individual's already limited coping resources, and promotes later emotional problems and psychological deterioration. This study tested a SHU syndrome hypothesis with a moderated mediation path analysis of 69 male inmates. Results revealed that group status (general population vs. restrictive housing) interacted with state anxiety to increase trait anxiety and ineffective coping, which then gave rise to higher staff ratings of psychological disturbance in inmates with no prior history of mental illness.

Impact of MDCAT scores on pessimism, loneliness, and depressive symptoms: Moderating role of coping strategies

This study was designed to evaluate the impact of MDCAT scores on pessimism, loneliness, and depressive symptoms. Furthermore, to check the moderating effect of coping strategies. Purposive sample technique was used to get the relevant sample. MDCAT failures (N = 149) from different educational organization of Bahawalpur (Pakistan) were included in the research as sample. Demographic form, Siddiqui Shah Depression Scale, UCLA Loneliness Scale, Life Orientation Test and Coping Styles Scale were administered to assess the impact of MDCAT scores on pessimism, depressive and loneliness symptoms among MDCAT failures and to assess the moderating role of coping strategies. For statistical analysis PLS and SPSS software were used. PLS algorithm, PLS bootstrapping, PLS moderation analysis and independent sample t-test were used to get the results. Results reveal that there is a significant impact of MDCAT scores on pessimism, depressive and loneliness symptoms. Also, there is significant positive relationship among pessimism, depressive and loneliness symptoms. Problem focused coping significantly moderate the relationship between MDCAT scores and depressive symptoms. Furthermore, problem focused coping has significant negative relationship with pessimism, depressive and loneliness symptoms. Moreover, emotion focused coping has significant positive relationship with depressive symptoms. Female were found having more emotion focused coping. The findings of the study have practical implications in providing insight relevant for development of psychological disturbance in MDCAT failures.

Psychology of Hair Loss Patients and Importance of Counseling

Androgenetic alopecia (AGA) is highly prevalent in society, affecting both men and women. More than the sociological meaning of hair loss, it has become a very important part of self-identity or “body image.” A psychological concept of body image refers to one's thoughts, feelings, perceptions, and behavioral changes related to one's physical looks. In spite of alopecia's common occurrence, it often leads to psychological disturbance and distress. Hair thinning and perceived hair loss also has a very important negative impact on the psyche of the individual. The common emotional aspects associated are self-consciousness, embarrassment, frustration, and jealousy. Knowledge of these effects among the clinicians managing hair loss patients is beneficial. The clinician must make an active effort to identify the borderline group of patients with body dysmorphic syndrome so as to manage them with psychotherapeutic medication for their hair loss prior to hair transplantation. This article aims to provide important information and an understanding of how the psychology gets affected due to hair loss, particularly AGA and its management to the practicing hair transplant surgeons.

Psychometric Properties of the Millon Clinical Multiaxial Inventory–III in an Arabic Clinical Sample Compared With American, Italian, and Dutch Cultures

Millon Clinical Multiaxial Inventory MCMI–III is a multidimensional measure of psychopathology with excellent construct validity, test-retest reliability as well as internal consistency. Factor analysis of the MCMI-III has produced mixed results, extracting parsimonious three-factor solutions, or replicating the original four-factor solution in psychiatric samples from Western countries. However, little work has been done on the psychometric properties of the MCMI–III, using non-Western psychiatric samples. Outpatients (N = 212) completed the MCMI–III during a semi-structured interview. Eight exploratory factor analysis (EFA) methods were used to explore the underlying structure of MCMI–III. Skewness, kurtosis, and descriptive statistics confirmed that scales of MCMI–III were normally distributed. High-internal consistency was found. The eight EFA methods applied to the 24 clinical scales identified a consensual three-factor solution: factor I (internalizing psychopathology; 18 scales), factor II (externalizing psychopathology; 4 scales) and factor III (psychological disturbance; 2 scales), accounting for a total of 72% of the common variance. Regarding the cross-cultural equivalence of the MCMI–III structure, Tucker's congruence coefficient (Φ) was used and confirmed that internalizing (F1) and externalizing psychopathology (F2) factors obtained in this study are similar to high vs. low psychopathology and emotional constraint factors provided by American study of Haddy et al. (2005) (Φ was 0.86 and 0.97). These two factors are also similar to the general adjustment and antisocial acting out factors provided by the American study of Craig and Bivens (1998) (Φ was 0.82 and 0.96). The first two factors in this study also reflect high similarity with the factor solutions obtained with the Italian and Dutch versions of MCMI-III (Rossi et al., 2007; Pignolo et al., 2017). Despite using a psychiatric sample from a non-Western culture, the two factors identified for this MCMI–III Arabic version were similar to those reported on studies with MCMI–III, using primarily Western samples (Craig and Bivens, 1998; Rossi et al., 2007).

Irrational Beliefs, Dietary Habits and 10-Year Incidence of Type 2 Diabetes; the ATTICA Epidemiological Study (2002-2012)

OBJECTIVE: The aim of this study was to evaluate the dietary habits and irrational beliefs of apparently healthy individuals in relation to their 10-year diabetes incidence. METHODS: The ATTICA study (2002-2012) is a prospective populationbased cohort study, in which 853 participants (453 men (aged 45 ± 13 years) and 400 women (aged 44 ± 18 years)) without a history of cardiovascular disease (CVD) underwent psychological evaluations. Among other things, participants completed the Irrational Beliefs Inventory (IBI, range 0-88), a brief, self-reported measure consistent with the Ellis model of psychological disturbance. Demographic characteristics, detailed medical history, and dietary and other lifestyle habits were evaluated as well. Diagnosis of diabetes at follow-up examination was based on the criteria of the American Diabetes Association. RESULTS: Mean IBI score was 53 ± 10 in men and 51± 11 in women (p = 0.68). IBI was positively associated with the 10-year type 2 diabetes incidence (hazard ratio: 1.14; 95% CI: 1.04-1.25) in both men and women, and even more distinctly associated with participants with the following characteristics: lower education status, married, overweight, smokers, anxiety and depressive symptomatology, and unhealthy dietary habits. Especially, participants with increased irrational beliefs and low adherence to the Mediterranean diet were 37% more likely to develop type 2 diabetes than those with the reverse status (hazard ratio: 3.70; 95% CI: 2.32-5.88). CONCLUSIONS: These data support the need for lifestyle changes towards healthier nutrition which can be achieved by educating people so that they are equipped to recognize false and unhelpful thoughts and thus to prevent negative psychological and clinical outcomes such as mental health disorders and type 2 diabetes.

Childhood loneliness as a specific risk factor for adult psychiatric disorders

Background Loneliness is a major risk factor for both psychological disturbance and poor health outcomes in adults. This study aimed to assess whether childhood loneliness is associated with a long-term disruption in mental health that extends into adulthood. Methods This study is based on the longitudinal, community-representative Great Smoky Mountains Study of 1420 participants. Participants were assessed with the structured Child and Adolescent Psychiatric Assessment interview up to eight times in childhood (ages 9–16; 6674 observations; 1993–2000) for childhood loneliness, associated psychiatric comorbidities and childhood adversities. Participants were followed up four times in adulthood (ages 19, 21, 25, and 30; 4556 observations of 1334 participants; 1999–2015) with the structured Young Adult Psychiatric Assessment Interview for psychiatric anxiety, depression, and substance use outcomes. Results Both self and parent-reported childhood loneliness were associated with adult self-reported anxiety and depressive outcomes. The associations remained significant when childhood adversities and psychiatric comorbidities were accounted for. There was no evidence for an association of childhood loneliness with adult substance use disorders. More associations were found between childhood loneliness and adult psychiatric symptoms than with adult diagnostic status. Conclusion Childhood loneliness is associated with anxiety and depressive disorders in young adults, suggesting that loneliness – even in childhood – might have long-term costs in terms of mental health. This study underscores the importance of intervening early to prevent loneliness and its sequelae over time.

PSYCHOLOGICAL AND SOCIAL BURDEN OF CUTANEOUS LEISHMANIASIS AMONG THE RESIDENTS OF QUETTA CITY, PAKISTAN

Leishmaniasis is a parasitic disease transmitted by sand-flies and is considered one of the most neglected diseases in the world. It mostly affects the poorest of the poor. People living in poor situations are more susceptible. Leishmaniasis includes several variants. Cutaneous leishmaniasis (CL) presents as a localized lesion at the site of the sand-fly bite after a period of several days to months. The nodule then increases in size and progressively ulcerates. In immunocompetent persons, CL lesions are slowly self-healing but often form scar tissue. The disfiguring scars can lead to substantial psychological disturbance, social suffering, and economic losses. Community awareness on the spread and control of disease, reducing social stigma, vector control, public-private partnership, and substantial surveillance indicators to measure the exact burden of the disease is needed.

Autozygosity mapping in consanguineous Pakistani families identifies nine non-overlapping novel linkage intervals for autosomal recessive non-syndromic mental retardation (AR-NSMR); shows genetic heterogeneity for AR-NSMR

Psychological disturbance (PD) or cerebral dysfunction (CD) occupying several clinical areas having defining features of mental retardation. Currently we have designed to investigate heritable heterogeneity in Pakistani consanguineous couples with recessive autosomal intellectual abnormilaties. Department of Biotechnology UST-Bannu and WJC Panum institute University of Copenhagen Denmark from January 2017 to March 2019. Cohort of Three consanguineous families with multiple birth defects was selected from different regions of Pakistan for molecular analysis analysis. All affected individuals in the cohort showed mental disturbances. Deoxyribonucleic acid (DNA) was extracted and subjected to STS (Single tagged sequence) marker analyses to all known non syndromic autosomal recessive mental retardation (NS-ARMR) genes while autozygosity mapping was performed by advanced SNP techniques. STS (Single tagged sequence) marker analyses showed exclusion to all known non syndromic autosomal recessive mental retardation (NS-ARMR) genes. Autozygosity mapping have shown novel nine linkage intervals. Continuous...