Facebook and Twitter have change interpersonal relationships. Adolescents are the sector of the population who use most these networks. They use them in an emotional way, to express their emotions and to comment on those of others. Empathy, narcissism, and self-esteem may play an important role in the use of these networks. Using a sample of 503 Spanish adolescents (272 males, 231 females), this work studies the relationship between the Basic Empathy Scale, the Narcissistic Personality Inventory, the Rosenberg Self-Esteem Scale, and emotional and empathic use of Facebook and Twitter. The results showed that those who use Facebook and Twitter have higher scores in empathy. It has been observed that certain ways of using these two social networks are associated with narcissism. Greater use of Facebook and Twitter is associated with lower self-esteem.

This study examines the secondary effects of hypocaloric diets. The results show that the positive short-term effects with regards health are not maintained in the long term, as most people eventually return to their original weight. A description is given of how psychological reasons are more important than biological mechanisms when explaining this failure and stress is put on how carrying out successive hypocaloric diets can result in a subgroup of people becoming overweight or obese. Furthermore, an analysis is made of the relationship between diets, eating disorders and the "yo-yo effect", which is in turn associated with a rise in morbimortality due to a wide range of causes. As an alternative to the indiscriminate use of hypocaloric diets, a strategy based on the modification of lifestyle is suggested in order to control weight and improve health.

Ninety patients with irritable bowel syndrome (IBS) who did not respond to medical treatment were randomly assigned to four treatment conditions—two experimental groups: stress management and contingency management; and two control groups: medical treatment and placebo. The subjects underwent 12 individual sessions which were specific for each condition. All the subjects completed symptom‐monitoring diaries. Thirty‐three dropped out during the assessment or treatment. The subjects who received training in contingency management experienced significant reductions in all the characteristic digestive symptoms: abdominal pain (p<0.001), diarrhoea (p<0.05), constipation (p<0.05) and dyspepsia (p<0.001). At the end of the treatment, 50 per cent of the patients remained asymptomatic and 37.5 per cent reduced their symptoms by at least 50 per cent. Among the patients assigned to the condition stress management, 33 per cent got rid of their symptomatology and the subjects showed significant reductions in the following digestive symptoms: abdominal pain (p<0.05), diarrhoea (p<0.05) and dyspepsia (p<0.05). The changes in the placebo group are not representative. The subjects assigned to this condition showed a high dropout rate. Significant changes were not observed in symptomatology in the medical treatment group. The results are maintained after a year of follow‐up. Possible predictive parameters of the progress of the patients are explored. © 1998 John Wiley & Sons, Ltd.

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