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A high prevalence of preoperative psychopathology was reported in 22 candidates who received OHT. Surgical intervention obviously improved the quality of life after cardiac transplantation. If the impact of psychological and/or psychiatric aid remains difficult to appraise, these results emphasize the positive impact of surgery on psychological status and the appropriateness of the psychosomatician's social support intervention on patients facing the transplant process.

Considerable anecdotal evidence points to the usefulness of humor in the therapeutic process, but empirical evidence is still lacking. This study searched for an association between humor and therapy outcomes in a real-life population of 110 adult psychotherapy clients who attended at least 10 therapy sessions. Clients and their therapist evaluated the frequency and intensity of humorous events, as well as therapy effectiveness, therapeutic alliance, perceived hope and pleasure to participate in therapy sessions. We found a strong positive correlation between humor and therapy effectiveness, in both client (r s = .40; p < .0001) and therapist perspectives (r s = .37; p < .0001). The link between humor and effectiveness remained significant in more severe subgroups of clients, even though these clients reported less humor in their therapies. Further research is needed to determine if humor actually enhances therapy outcomes, or if positive outcomes trigger the occurrence of humor.

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The fact that patient-carer needs discordance impacts negatively, and its reduction positively, on 6-month outcome suggests that systematic inventory of patient-carer views on needs is necessary.

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Studies of empathy among medical students reported an alarming significant decline during medical education. Some authors identified the third year of education as the most problematic one: empathy decreased significantly when the curriculum was shifting to patient-care activities. Scientists have tried to address the means and methods for improving empathy skills (e.g., by improving communication abilities), but investigations on this topic are missing. Based on the Damasio's hypothesis and scientific studies, we assume that Focusing (i.e., an embodied practice where one attends to a bodily felt sense and uses it to understand the self and situations) would be significantly and positively linked to empathy.Method: After their clinical internships, we selected third -year medical students (N = 121) and asked them to complete three questionnaires assessing empathy, Focusing, and social desirability.Results: By controlling social desirability, findings confirmed that Focusing (especially the "having access to the felt body" component) was significantly and positively linked with empathy (i.e., Fantasy & Perspective-Taking), and positively predicted Fantasy, Perspective-Taking, and Empathic Concern.Conclusions: These preliminary results suggest that the felt body plays a role in increasing empathy (mainly on cognitive empathy). Few scientific studies have described constructs that significantly promote cognitive empathy and empathic concern (a deeply anchored trait of empathy), which suggests new avenues of investigation.