This study investigated whether an Expressive Writing intervention decreased depression and posttraumatic stress symptoms after childbirth. 113 women (M age = 31.26 yr., SD = 4.42) were assessed at Time 1 for depression (Beck Depression Inventory) and PTS (Perinatal PTSD Questionnaire) in the first days after childbirth, then randomized to either expressive writing or neutral writing conditions and reassessed at Time 2, 3 months later. The results (ANCOVAs, regression models) show that at 3 mo. depressive and posttraumatic symptoms were lower in women who performed the expressive writing task than in the neutral writing group. Moreover, the intervention condition was associated significantly with decreased depression at the high and at the mean levels of baseline depression at Time 1. Regarding PTSD, the results showed that the intervention condition was linked significantly to reductions of the symptoms at all levels of baseline PTSD. Mainly, these outcomes suggest that Expressive Writing can be a helpful early and low-cost universal intervention to prevent postpartum distress for women.
The phrase "children left behind" refers to minors who are left in their home country while one or both of their parents emigrate for work for at least six months. From a quantitative point of view, children left behind in countries with strong migratory pressure are many. Separation of families in migration is tied to implications about well-being of the people involved-mainly the children-and of the communities to which they belong. The emotional neglect felt by these children is associated with lack of affection and physical intimacy. Through a review of the literature, the purpose of this paper was to show that distress in this pattern of deprivation is manifested by the children in several ways and in different contexts: low school performance, drop-out from school, conflicts with teachers and peers, anxiety low self-esteem, tendency to feel depressed, apathy, suicidal behaviour, and substance abuse.
The present aim was to explore the body-image perception of a group of 60 hospitalized obese subjects, aged between 25 and 50 years, undergoing a weight loss treatment and 60 normal-weight persons. The 1978 modified version of the Askevold perception test by Allamani, Marasco, Michele, and Morandi was given. This nonverbal test is aimed at evaluating subjects' perception of the dimensions of different parts of the body by exploiting their projection into space. Each body area (head, the thoracic area, the abdominal area, and the pelvic area) perceived by a subject was calculated using a specifically designed software program (AREA.BASIC2); the same program was used to calculate actual body area. After obtaining the percentage deviation index for each individual [(perceived area/real area) x 100], mean values were analyzed. Obese subjects significantly underestimated the four body areas, unlike the normal weight subject who largely overestimated the abdominal and pelvic areas.
The researchers of this study have two aims. The first aim is to verify whether posttraumatic stress (PTS) symptoms, evaluated at 87 hours and at 3 months postpartum, are associated with maternal mind-mindedness (MM) and parenting stress, measured at 17 months postpartum. The second aim is to investigate, at 17 months, the predictive effects of PTS symptoms on the dimensions of parenting stress and to explore whether MM mediates these associations. Forty-one mother-infant dyads participated in the study. The results show that at 17 months, hyper-arousal symptoms predicted both MM and parenting stress. MM was a linking mechanism between maternal PTS symptoms and parenting stress.
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