Resumo ObjetivoExaminar a influência do bem-estar espiritual na saúde mental de estudantes universitários. Métodos Estudo transversal com 464 universitários das áreas de medicina e de direito, de Pelotas, RS. A coleta de dados foi realizada em grupos na sala de aula. Os alunos ausentes foram localizados para responderem individualmente; entretanto, 43 não foram encontrados (9,3% de perda). Utilizou-se um questionário auto-aplicável contendo: escala de bem-estar espiritual (SWBS), SRQ-20 (Self-Reporting Questionnaire) e informações sociodemográficas sobre práticas religiosas/espirituais e sobre a ocorrência de eventos de vida produtores de estresse. Para análise estatística, foram utilizados os testes de qui-quadrado e regressão logística. Resultados A maioria dos alunos (80%) afirma possuir uma crença espiritual ou religião. O escore médio de bem-estar espiritual foi de 90,4, sendo de 45,6 e 45,1 para as subescalas existencial e religiosa, respectivamente. A SWBS apresentou associação com a freqüência a serviços religiosos e práticas espirituais, e não demonstrou ser influenciada por variáveis sociodemográficas e culturais. Indivíduos com bem-estar espiritual baixo e moderado apresentaram o dobro de chances de possuir transtornos psiquiátricos menores (TPM) (OR=0,42; IC95% 0,22-0,85). Sujeitos com bem-estar existencial baixo e moderado apresentaram quase cinco vezes mais TPM (OR=0,19; IC95% 0,08-0,45). Conclusões O presente estudo mostrou que o bem-estar espiritual atua como fator protetor para transtornos psiquiátricos menores, sendo a sub-escala de bem-estar existencial a maior responsável pelos resultados obtidos. Abstract ObjectiveTo assess the influence of spiritual well-being in mental health of college students. Methods It was interviewed 464 medical and law students of Pelotas, Brazil. Data collection was carried out in groups in the school classroom, 43 absent students were not

ObjectiveTo assess the prevalence of postpartum depression and associated factors. MethodsThe study was carried out in Pelotas, a city in the Southern region of Brazil, between October and November 2000. Mothers (n=410) were interviewed in the hospital using two questionnaires on obstetric and psychosocial data. Later, these mothers were visited at home, within 30 to 45 days after delivery. Occurrence of postpartum depressive symptoms was assessed by the Hamilton Scale for Depression. Chisquare test was used for comparison between proportions and non conditional logistic regression was utilized in the multivariate analysis. Data analysis was conducted hierarchically: economic variables in the first level, sociodemographic in the second level, the obstetrics variables in the third level and, in the fourth level, the psychosocial variables. ResultsThe prevalence of postpartum depression observed in this sample was 19.1%. Family income (OR=5.24; CI 95%: 2.00-13.69), preference as to the child's gender (boys: OR=3.49; CI 95%: 1.76-6.93) and thinking about interrupting the pregnancy (OR=2.52; CI 95%: 1.33-4.76), were variables associated with postpartum depression. ConclusionsThese results indicate that low economic status of the puerperal woman and nonacceptance of pregnancy are key elements in the development of postpartum depression.

The capacity to attribute beliefs to others in order to understand action is one of the mainstays of human cognition. Yet it is debatable whether children attribute beliefs in the same way to all agents. In this paper, we present the results of a false-belief task concerning humans and God run with a sample of Maya children aged 4-7, and place them in the context of several psychological theories of cognitive development. Children were found to attribute beliefs in different ways to humans and God. The evidence also speaks to the debate concerning the universality and uniformity of the development of folk-psychological reasoning.

INTRODUÇÃO: Religiosidade/espiritualidade e saúde mental parecem positivamente associadas. O estudo examina associações entre bem-estar espiritual e distúrbios psiquiátricos menores em estudantes de Psicologia. MÉTODOS: Uma escala de bem-estar espiritual, o Self-Reporting Questionnaire (SRQ-20) e informações sociodemográficas foram utilizadas na totalidade (n = 351) dos alunos de Psicologia da Universidade Católica de Pelotas (RS), no ano de 2002. Foram comparados os escores atuais com os dos alunos de Direito e Medicina da mesma universidade em 2001 (n = 464). RESULTADOS: 84,6% dos alunos de Psicologia apresentaram espiritualidade negativa, comparados a 68,8% dos acadêmicos de Medicina e 68,5% de Direito (p DISCUSSÃO: Os achados coincidem com a experiência internacional. É preocupante que estudantes de Psicologia se mostrem mais distantes de questões espirituais/religiosas, levando em conta a associação espiritualidade/saúde-enfermidade. CONCLUSÃO: A religiosidade/espiritualidade se mostrou como fator inversamente associado a transtornos psiquiátricos menores em estudantes de Psicologia.

No abstract

Mothers of children with asthma have a higher prevalence of depression than mothers of children without asthma. The severity but not duration of childhood asthma is associated with maternal depression.

The processes of identification between adolescent cocaine addicts and their parents were studied in 402 subjects, in total 134 familial triads (father-mother-son), subdivided into two groups of 67 triads, one of these groups having as the child an adolescent of masculine sex dependent on cocaine and the other, equal in number, being a control group, duly matched for age and socio-economic status. The instrument employed was the Rorschach test (1922), limited to the application of the Lerner Defense Scale (LDS; Lerner & Lerner, 1980). The findings in the affected triads showed up as consistent statistically for the presence of intense processes of pathological identification, especially between father and son, a sign of the importance of the presence of disturbances of paternal function in the development of this addiction. The utilisation of very regressive defence mechanisms, above all of projective identification, was the predominant mode of procedure in triads with a dependent child. In comparisons between the fathers the odds ratio (OR) for projective identification was 8.66 to 1, which points to the association between cocaine addiction and the primitive mental functioning of the fathers. With empirical methodology these findings serve to corroborate the psychoanalytical conclusions based on studies of single case studies, testifying that the dysfunctions of identificatory phenomena in familial functioning are predominant in the mental organisation of cocaine addicts.

Family-related factors play a crucial role in the onset, development, and maintenance of drug misuse and addiction. To investigate the hypothesis that families with a cocaine addicted son display more dysfunction than control families, we applied the Personal Authority in the Family System and the Self-Report Measure of Family Functioning to 67 case triads (child-father-mother) in which the son was an inpatient with a primary diagnosis of cocaine abuse or dependence and to 67 matched control triads from the community (Pelotas, Brazil) in 2000. Case children, mothers, and fathers were significantly more likely to present nuclear family triangulation than their matched control subjects. In addition, case triads had a significantly greater chance of perceiving family functioning as enmeshment. These results suggest both structural and functional differences in these families. We argue for the need of interventions in the family as a whole and for further research in this area.