The poor health and psychological well-being of people in the former socialist states of Centeral-Eastern Europe are of serious concern and may be related to low perceived control. We compared depressive symptoms, life satisfaction, and self-rated health in 3,571 male and female university students from 5 Western European countries and 4,793 students from 5 Central-Eastern European countries. Depression scores (short Beck Depression Inventory; Beck & Beck, 1972) were higher in Central-Eastern than Western European samples. The prevalence of low life satisfaction was also greater in Central-Eastern Europeans, but ratings of self-rated health did not differ. Ratings of perceived control were diminished, but sense of mastery and internal health locus of control were higher in Central-Eastern Europe. Depression and low life satisfaction were associated with low perceived control and mastery and with strong beliefs in the influence of chance over health. However, taking these factors into account did not explain the East-West difference in depressive symptoms and low life satisfaction.

Objectives The study aimed to investigate the psychosocial predictors of bruxism. The association of various psychosocial factors such as alexithymia, emotional processing, state and trait anxiety, and stress with awake bruxism was analysed. Methods The study involved 52 volunteers diagnosed with awake bruxism. The toolkit that was used included the Toronto Alexithymia Scale (TAS-20), the Emotional Processing Scale (EPS), the Cohen Perceived Stress Scale (PSS-10), and the State- and Trait-Anxiety Inventory (STAI), with independent individual psychological diagnoses being made for every patient. The results were statistically analysed using IBM SPSS Statistics 24. Results The obtained data clearly show that psychological traits—both permanent dispositions (e.g., state anxiety and alexithymia) and temporary states (e.g., trait anxiety, emotional processing deficits, and psychological stress)—are significant determinants of awake bruxism. The percentage of explained variance indicates the presence of other factors as well. Conclusions Psychosocial factors such as state anxiety and trait anxiety, alexithymia, and perceived stress are as important as somatic causes in the occurrence and maintenance of awake bruxism. The profile of the obtained data suggests the possibility of preventing or minimizing the symptoms of awake bruxism through properly constructed psychoprophylactic interactions.

Aim. Rheumatoid arthritis is one of the most severe chronic diseases. In many cases it leads to disability and results in a decreased quality of life and increased levels of anxiety and depression. The problem that needs to be addressed is the following: which mental processes lead to increased levels of depression in patients with rheumatoid arthritis? Methods. 210 patients with rheumatoid arthritis hospitalized in rheumatology wards took part in the research. They filled in illness perception questionnaires (IPQ-R) and questionnaires for testing strategies of handling stress (Mini-COPE) and the level of depression (CES-D). Results. The observed correlation coefficients indicate that several elements of the perception of one's disease moderately contribute to a high level of depression. Moreover, frequent use of dysfunctional coping strategies contributed to high levels of depression. Dysfunctional coping was moderately linked to depression. Conclusion. The conducted analyses confirmed the links between the beliefs about the disease and levels of depression and showed that the use of dysfunctional coping strategies mediates the relationship between the following elements of the representation of the disease: illness coherence, emotional representation, psychological attribution, risk factors, and the level of depression.