Objective: Extensive research has implicated identification with characters in mass media in the emergence of disordered eating behavior in adolescents. We explored the possible influence of the models offered by television (TV) on adolescents' body image, body uneasiness, eating-disordered behavior, depression, and anxiety. Methods: Three hundred and one adolescents (aged 14-19) from southern Italy participated. They completed a questionnaire on media exposure and body dissatisfaction, the Eating Disorder Inventory-2, the Body Uneasiness Test, the Beck Depression Inventory, and the State-Trait Anxiety InventoryForm Y. Results: The main factors contributing to females' eating-disordered behaviors were their own desires to be similar to TV characters, the amount of reality and entertainment TV they watched, and the discrepancy between their perceptions of their bodies and those of TV characters. Friends' desire to be similar to TV characters contributed most to depression, anxiety, body uneasiness, and eating disorders for both males and females. Conclusion: Our data confirm that extensive watching of reality and entertainment TV correlates with eating-disordered behavior among females. Moreover, the well-known negative effects of the media on adolescents' eating-disordered behaviors may also be indirectly transmitted by friends who share identification with TV characters.

Background and objectives: Criticism is thought to play an important role in obsessivecompulsive disorder (OCD), and obsessive behaviors have been considered as childhood strategies to avoid criticism. Often, patients with OCD report memories characterized by guilt-inducing reproaches. Starting from these assumptions, the aim of this study is to test whether intervening in memories of guilt-inducing reproaches can reduce current OCD symptoms. The emotional valence of painful memories may be modified through imagery rescripting (ImRs), an experiential technique that has shown promising results. Methods: After monitoring a baseline of symptoms, 18 OCD patients underwent three sessions of ImRs, followed by monitoring for up to 3 months. Indexes of OCD, depression, anxiety, disgust, and fear of guilt were collected. Results: Patients reported a significant decrease in OCD symptoms. The mean value on the Yale−Brown Obsessive Compulsive Scale (Y-BOCS) changed from 25.94 to 14.11. At the 3-month follow-up, 14 of the 18 participants (77.7%) achieved an improvement of ≥35% on the Y-BOCS. Thirteen patients reported a reliable improvement, with ten reporting a clinically significant change (reliable change index = 9.94). Four reached the asymptomatic criterion. Clinically significant changes were not detected for depression and anxiety. Conclusions: Our findings suggest that after ImRs intervention focusing on patients' early experiences of guilt-inducing reproaches there were clinically significant changes in OCD symptomatology. The data support the role of ImRs in reducing OCD symptoms and the previous cognitive models of OCD, highlighting the role of guilt-related early life experiences in vulnerability to OCD.

In the last decade, Pathological Affective Dependence (PAD)—as a risk factor for Intimate Partner Violence (IPV)—has undergone considerable attention among clinical and social psychologists. However, the psychological nature of PAD has been described in discordant terms throughout the literature. We try to give a clear definition of the construct (1), theorize a first cognitive model of PAD (2), and describe the prototypical characteristics of a pathological affective dependent (in terms of goals, anti-goals, and dysfunctional self-other beliefs) based on goal-oriented theories (3). We finally present (4) the resulting specific TADs (typical affective dependent) profiles (Saver, Unworthy, Traumatic, and Mixed). We believe that our manuscript on the PAD makes a significant contribution to achieve the fifth UN Sustainable Development Goal aimed at eliminating “all forms of violence against all women”: in fact, understanding the psychological risk factors of IPV as PAD is an essential protective factor for designing effective prevention social strategies against IPV. Moreover, this work contributes to achieving one of the “outcome targets” of the sixteenth UN Sustainable Development Goal. It is dedicated to the promotion of “peaceful and inclusive societies”, through the reduction of all forms of violence and the protection of children from abuse. Indeed, IPV strongly affects (physical and mental) health and social sustainability of well-being. However, empirical studies on this topic are limited and there is a lack of a theoretical model of PAD. This work represents a theoretical starting point for a broader project aimed at building a cognitive-behavioral protocol and social interventions for the reduction of negative consequences on IPV victims.

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The present paper has the aim of presenting a preliminary measure of the construct of Pathological Affective Dependence (PAD). The scale has been built on the basis of a cognitive model of PAD and characteristics of a typical affective dependent person (Saver, Unworthy, Traumatic, and Mixed). These profiles have been tracked, using a framework of anti-goals, self/other beliefs, and intrapsychic conflicts (absent, alternate, or akrasic conflict) as obstacles to a healthy and safe separation. PAD scale (PADS) was tested on a clinical sample of 25 people (F = 21, 84%; M = 4.16%; age ranged between 29 and 61 years) recruited in an online anti-violence mutual-support group called Millemé (http://www.milleme.it/) and a psychotherapeutic center (https://www.spc.it/). We selected only patients in maladaptive relationships according to the specific characteristics of PAD, whose cognitive model will be explained in this paper. Other scales were administered to test convergent and discriminant validity through Pearson's r correlations. The preliminary results support both research objectives and the PADS appears to have good validity. Furthermore, these preliminary results showed that PAD is both a stable trait and a latent psychological condition triggered by the abusive partner