
Christian FranceschiniUniversity of Parma | UNIPR · Department of Medicine and Surgery
Christian Franceschini
Professor
About
135
Publications
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Introduction
Associate Professor of Clinical Psychology at the Department of Medicine and Surgery, University of Parma, Italy.
Areas of particular interest and expertise: psychopathology of narcolepsy; sleep and cognition; motor control during sleep; cognitive performance and sleepiness; insomnia and CBT-Insomnia; emotional dysregulation in narcolepsy; disturbances of motor control during sleep (parasomnias, RBD; restless legs etc); stigma in sleep disorders.
Publications
Publications (135)
Introduction
Adolescents’ health and well-being are seriously threatened by suicidal behaviors, which have become a severe social issue worldwide. Suicide is one of the leading causes of mortality for adolescents in low and middle-income countries, with approximately 67,000 teenagers committing suicide yearly. Although an association between sleep...
Suicide represents a significant problem for healthcare professionals such as veterinarians. Previous studies showed that contextual and individual risk factors can contribute to suicidality among veterinarians. In the present study, self-report measures on exposure to animal euthanasia, substance abuse, reflective functioning, and suicidal ideatio...
Background
This study aimed to analyze the moderating role of emotional exhaustion in the relationships between longitudinal associations of depression, anxiety, and stress among healthcare workers assisting end-of-life cancer patients during the COVID-19 pandemic.
Methods
A longitudinal study involving a final sample of 122 healthcare workers (61...
Objective
Research on the psychological impact of the COVID-19 pandemic has pointed out that lockdowns had small effects on the overall mental health, despite considerable heterogeneity among studies is present. Psychological resilience may be responsible for an amount of variance in individual reactions to the pandemic, despite the fact that its l...
Narcolepsy type 1 (NT1) is a chronic neurological disorder characterized by symptoms such as excessive daytime sleepiness, sudden sleep episodes, disrupted nocturnal sleep, cataplexy, sleep paralysis, and hypnagogic hallucinations, which significantly impact the overall well-being and quality of life of individuals. While psychological factors have...
Research shows that insecure attachment styles and failures in mentalizing are associated with increased problematic social media use (PSMU). This study aimed to investigate the mediating role of failures in mentalizing in the relationships between attachment styles and PSMU within a large sample of individuals from the community. The study involve...
Narcolepsy type 1 is a chronic central disorder of hypersomnolence, and it is frequently accompanied by overweight, but the association between narcolepsy type 1 and eating disorders is controversial. Our study aims to compare patients with narcolepsy type 1 and controls on the symptomatology of eating disorders and to evaluate the association betw...
The presence of a child with Autism Spectrum Disorder (ASD) in the family can have a negative impact on parental Quality of Life (QoL), but evidence on how treatments for children with ASD can affect parental QoL is currently limited. In this qualitative study, we develop a semi-structured interview in order to investigate the impact of ASD on the...
The COVID-19 pandemic led to government measures enforcing isolation in order to mitigate the spread of the virus. Consequently, online activities, including gaming, increased during this challenging period. Thus, it was possible that problematic gaming (PG) patterns also increased. In this systematic review and meta-analysis, we estimated the prev...
Background and Objectives
Narcolepsy type 1 (NT1) is still largely underdiagnosed or diagnosed too late in children. Difficulties in obtaining rapid and reliable diagnostic evaluations of the condition in clinical practice partially explain this problem. Predictors of NT1 include cataplexy and sleep-onset REM periods (SOREMPs), documented during no...
Both interpersonal trauma (IPT) and substance use are linked to mental health problems, however their interplay is understudied. This study will investigate the relationship between IPT, substance use and mental health in a large population-based sample.
Participants included 3756 individuals, mainly young university students using a snowball sampl...
Objective: The COVID-19 pandemic has contributed to the occurrence of psychological disturbances, such as depressive and anxiety symptomatology, thereby significantly impacting individuals' lifestyles by disrupting sleep patterns. This study aimed to elucidate the interconnections between emotion regulation, depression, anxiety, and daytime sleepin...
Narcolepsy type 1 (NT1) is a central disorder of hypersomnolence often arising inchildhood and adolescence. NT1 has a significant, but poorly defined, psychologicalimpact. We aimed to investigate the psycho-social functioning of children and ado-lescents with NT1. We performed a cross-sectional, child and parent-reported ques-tionnaire survey in 37...
Objective
Individuals with fibromyalgia report alarming levels of suicidal ideation, and comorbidity with other chronic health conditions such as obesity - a risk factor for suicidal ideation per se- could further complicate the clinical picture. The aim of this study is to determine, in a sample of women with fibromyalgia and comorbid obesity, the...
Summary. Recent research has shown several changes in sleeping patterns and dreaming during the COVID-19 pan-
demic. Research typically focused on dream phenomena changes, such as nightmare frequency and dream recall across
the different waves of the pandemic. The current study aimed to explore the dreamers’ experience of their dreaming
during the...
Accumulating evidence suggests that substance addictive behaviors are associated with traumatic experiences, emotion dysregulation, and psychopathological symptoms. Emotion dysregulation may contribute to initiating and sustaining addictive behaviors, as a way to cope with interpersonal trauma. However, the interplay between interpersonal trauma, e...
Objective
This scoping review aims to provide an accessible summary of available evidence on the efficacy of psychological couple-based interventions among patients with heart disease and their partners focusing on specific aspects and strategies by assessing different emotional and physical cardiac-related outcome measures.
Methods
A literature s...
The Coronavirus 2019 (COVID‐19) pandemic significantly influenced physical and mental health worldwide. The present study aimed to investigate changes in sleep problems across three waves of the COVID‐19 pandemic, and to identify potential predictors of the inter‐individual variability around these changes, with a particular focus on the role of de...
This symposium aims to present the phenomenon of sleep disorders (i.e., sleep deprivation, delayed sleep phase, and insomnia) in adolescence to contextualize these increasingly frequent problems as highlighted by some recent studies. The symposium will then aim to provide some in-depth proposals concerning adolescent sleep problems, focusing in par...
Study objectives:
Pseudocataplexy is a rare functional neurological disorder that mimics cataplexy, pathognomonic for narcolepsy type 1 (NT1). We describe the psychiatric comorbidity and personality traits of patients with pseudocataplexy versus NT1 cases.
Methods:
The case-control observational study enrolled consecutive patients with pseudocat...
Objectives:
A two-arm parallel randomised controlled trial was conducted to evaluate the efficacy of a group acceptance-based treatment (ABT) in improving pain acceptance, pain catastrophising, kinesiophobia, pain intensity and physical functioning compared to treatment as usual in patients with fibromyalgia (FM) and comorbid obesity.
Methods:
F...
Purpose
COVID-19 pandemic waves have strongly influenced individuals’ behaviors and mental health. Here, we analyzed longitudinal data collected in the Spring 2020 and 2021 from a large Italian sample with the aim of assessing changes in dream features between the first and third wave. Specifically, we evaluated the modifications of pandemic dream...
Introduction
The COVID-19 pandemic caused several psychological consequences for the general population. In particular, long-term and persistent psychopathological detriments were observed in those who were infected by acute forms of the virus and need specialistic care in the Intensive Care Unit (ICU). Imagery rehearsal therapy (IRT) has shown pro...
The COVID-19 pandemic posed a significant challenge to the global organization of health systems. The reallocation and concentration of available resources on the management of COVID-19 had a significant impact on all other health conditions due to the suspension or cancellation of screening and routine examinations, the reduction of referrals, and...
Despite the evidence of a relationship between loneliness, problematic social networking sites use (PSNSU), and sleep quality, associations between specific PSNSU symptoms and loneliness in individuals with poor vs. good sleep quality and possible gender differences have yet to be understood. We examined the relationships between loneliness and PSN...
Problematic Social Networking Sites Use (PSNSU) and social anxiety are associated. SNSs users may develop online social anxiety that may become a standalone problem. The present study aims to test the mediating role of emotion dysregulation and motives (coping, conformity, social, and enhancement) between attachment (anxiety and avoidance) and two...
Background and aims: Maladaptive Daydreaming (MD) is a suggested syndrome where individuals become addicted to fantasizing vividly for hours on end at the expense of engaging in real-world relationships and functioning. MD can be seen as a behavioral addiction. However, a paucity of longitudinal research means that there is no empirical evidence co...
Due to the unpredictability of the COVID‐19 pandemic situation, individuals felt uncertain and insecure. As a consequence, conspiracy theories flourished and quickly spread. In the current study, we examine the relationship between general and COVID‐19‐related conspiracy theories, cognitive reflection, psychopathological symptoms, and defense style...
Study objectives:
This study aimed to explore resilience and its possible association with sociodemographic and clinical features in patients with narcolepsy type 1 (NT1).
Methods:
Cross-sectional study involving patients with NT1 and age/sex-matched controls (comparison group). Sociodemographic and clinical data were collected through semi-stru...
Background and aims
Patients with obsessive-compulsive (OC) disorder are impaired in disengaging attention from negative valence stimuli and show an attentional bias toward the right space. This pattern in OC disorder is similar to the impaired disengagement of attention from stimuli in the ipsilesional space as a consequence of a right-hemispheric...
Narcolepsy type 1 is a central disorder of hypersomnolence characterized by excessive daytime sleepiness, rapid eye movement sleep-related manifestations, and cataplexy. In the current literature there is general agreement regarding neural correlates of Narcolepsy type 1 that appear to be related to anatomical and functional abnormalities in the hy...
Over time, a complex crossroad between disordered eating behaviors (DEB) and borderline personality features (BPF) and their association with childhood emotional and physical maltreatment have been established. The present study aimed at evaluating the direct and indirect effect of physical and emotional abuse and neglect on DEB via BPF in a non-cl...
Objective
To investigate adolescents’ and parents’ preferences concerning information on narcolepsy.
Methods
During a one-year cross-sectional study, adolescents (12–20 years old) with narcolepsy and parents attending the Narcolepsy Center of Bologna (Italy) were invited to fill in a questionnaire including 28 pieces of information regarding narco...
Background:
Narcolepsy type 1 (NT1) is a rare neurological sleep disorder caused by the loss of neurons that produce hypocretin-a peptide that plays a crucial role in addictive behaviors. We aimed to compare, for the first time, levels of problematic online gaming, problematic social media use, and compulsive Internet use between NT1 patients and...
Evidence on the relation between binge-watching and sleep quality is still scarce and inconsistent and none has taken into account both the healthy and pathological dimensions of the phenomenon. This study aimed at filling this gap by investigating both aspects in healthy participants with high and low sleep quality. Further, we aimed at identifyin...
The relationship between traumatic life events and increased suicide risk has been well reported in literature. However, the complex nature of suicidality phenomena still hinders our ability to comprehend the mediation mechanism underlying this association. In this study, we examined the mediating role of adult attachment and reflective functioning...
Sleep plays an important role for physical, mental, and emotional health, however its underlying affective processes are still not well understood. Poor sleep quality and insufficient sleep have negative effects on psychological well-being and are linked to affective disorders, such as anxiety and depression, as well as a reduced ability to effecti...
Problematic Social Networking Sites Use (PSNSU) and online social anxiety are emerging phenomena whose risk factors are still poorly known. The present study aimed to examine the relationship between attachment anxiety, attachment avoidance, PSNSU and online social anxiety, and the mediating role of emotion dys- regulation and four motives to use S...
Maladaptive daydreaming (MD) is a new proposed mental disorder in which an excessive absorption in vivid, narrative fantasies generates impairments in various life domains. This study aimed to examine the role of traumatic life experiences and immature, neurotic, and mature defense styles in MD. Three hundred and fifty-six Italian adults, ranging i...
Background/objective
The aim of the current cross-sectional study is to assess the relations between emotion dysregulation, psychological distress, emotional eating, and BMI in a sample of Italian young adults (20-35).
Methods
A total sample of 600 participants frm the general population, were asked to fill in demographical and physical data, the D...
Research highlighted that Problematic Social Networking Sites Use (PSNSU) and vulnerable narcissism are associated. However, the mechanisms underlying this relationship are still unclear. The present study aimed to test the mediating role of motives for social networking sites (SNSs) use between vulnerable narcissism and five symptoms of PSNSU (i.e...
The study aimed at exploring gender and additional sociodemographic differences in psychological resilience, as well as the association between resilience and psychological distress in older adults, during the first lockdown in Italy, due to the COVID-19 pandemic. Participants attended an online survey during the first lockdown in May 2020. Psychol...
Objective
We conducted a systematic review and meta-analysis to provide an update on sleep quality in different world areas and better characterize subjective sleep alterations during the COVID-19 pandemic. Considering gender distribution and specific pandemic-related parameters, we also intend to identify significant predictors of sleep problems....
Pain severity, depression, and sleep disturbances are key targets for FM rehabilitation. Recent evidence suggests that whole-body cryostimulation (WBC) might be an effective add-on treatment in the management of FM. The purpose of this study was to evaluate the effects of an add-on WBC intervention to a multidisciplinary rehabilitation program on p...
Starting from the idea that dreaming could be considered an index of the psychological health of individuals regarding the COVID-19 outbreak, a major risk of psychological maladjustment has been registered for maladaptive daydreamers (MDers; i.e., people with a compulsive fantasy activity associated with distress and psychological impairment). Neve...
Objective:
This study aimed to examine the profiles of reaction to the COVID-19 pandemic based on the combination of fear and future orientation, as well as their sociodemographic, situational, and relational predictors. We also compared posttraumatic growth between the profiles.
Method:
A sample of 640 Italian participants completed the Multidi...
This study aimed to investigate the association between history of
traumatic experiences, compulsive Internet use and reflective functioning in an Italian sample. The relationship between history of traumatic experiences and excessive Internet use was fully mediated by uncertain reflective functioning. Contrary to literature, no gender influence w...
Background and aims
Problematic Social Networking Sites Use (PSNSU) has been indicated as potentially detrimental for users’ mental and sleep health. The present study tested whether PSNSU is directly associated with poor sleep quality and indirectly via psychological distress (stress, anxiety, depression) in a healthy adult sample of Social Networ...
Background
Adolescence and emerging adulthood are critical periods for young people with autism spectrum disorder (ASD). However, there is a lack of appropriate and affordable services available.
Aims
The Il Tortellante® is an Italian project aimed at promoting adaptive behavior and social skills, and at reducing the severity of symptomatology thr...
Study objectives:
The media are the primary source of information about health for the public. The media portrayal of narcolepsy might contribute to the stigmatization of people affected by this condition. This study aimed to describe how narcolepsy is portrayed in newspapers.
Methods:
We collected 257 newspaper articles from the digital archive...
This systematic review and meta-analysis aimed at evaluating the role of sleep disturbances and sleep disorders in influencing presence and intensity of chronic postsurgical pain (CPSP). We included cohort studies which enrolled adults, assessed sleep disturbances or disorders before surgery, measured pain intensity, presence of pain, or opioid use...
The psychological consequences of COVID‐19 pandemic may include the activation of stress systems, that involve the hypothalamic‐pituitary‐adrenal axis which influences many physiological functions, including sleep. Despite epidemiological studies evidenced greater prevalence of stress symptoms and sleep disturbances during COVID‐19, longitudinal ev...
Purpose
The present study aimed to explore the mediating role of emotion dysregulation and problematic Internet use in the relationship between negative affect and excessive daytime sleepiness.
Methods
This cross-sectional study included 664 Italian adults aged between 18 and 70 years (M = 32.13; SD = 11.71). Participants were asked to complete th...
Purpose
Although a link between problematic online pornographic use (POPU) and insomnia symptoms has been established, psychological and psychopathological mechanisms underlying this relationship are still not clear. Psychological stress and emotion dysregulation have been pointed out as relevant in the development and maintenance of insomnia. This...
Purpose
Previous studies showed poor sleep quality during the first Italian lockdown consequent to the quick spread of the virus. Poor sleep quality remained stable during the so-called “second wave”, which started in Autumn 2020. This study aimed to compare sleep quality between the two waves of contagions and to examine the effect of resilience,...
Purpose
Individuals with fibromyalgia and obesity experience significant impairment in physical functioning. Pain catastrophizing, kinesiophobia, and pain acceptance have all been identified as important factors associated with the level of disability. The objective of this study was to evaluate the role of pain catastrophizing, kinesiophobia, and...
1) Background: Maladaptive daydreaming (MD) is a concept that describes a significant imaginary activity that replaces human engagement and/or interferes with academic, interpersonal, or vocational functioning. We explored the interaction between attachment style, reflective functioning (RF), and the narrative dimension of MD. (2) Methods: 414 adul...
Psychotic-like experiences (PLEs) are subclinical forms of psychosis commonly experienced in the general population. The nature of PLEs has yet to be clearly defined, yet mood and sleep disturbances may be two predictors. Sleep disturbance increases paranoia and hallucinations in experimental studies, and insomnia is considered a longitudinal precu...
Aim
The study aimed to investigate resilience and its association with early exposure to stressful events on the clinical manifestations of bipolar disorders (BDs), such as severity of mood symptoms, suicidal ideation and behaviors focusing on the possible role of insomnia symptoms.
Method
A sample of 188 adult participants with BD of type I or II...
The COVID-19 pandemic and the restrictive measures taken against the spread of the contagion can be considered as traumatic events having a major impact on mental health. Dreams after undergoing traumatic experiences could “replay” traumatic scenes or have a para-therapeutic role that facilitates connections between a traumatic event and associated...
Recent literature shows that the Coronovirus-19 (COVID-19) pandemic has provoked significant changes in dreaming. The current study intends to provide an update about dream variable changes during the second wave of COVID-19. A total of 611 participants completed a web survey from December 2020 to January 2021. Statistical comparisons showed that s...
The purpose of this Individually Randomized Group Treatment Trial was to compare an Acceptance and Commitment Therapy-based (ACT) group intervention and a Cognitive Behavioral Therapy-based (CBT) group intervention for weight loss maintenance in a sample of adult patients with obesity seeking treatment for weight loss. One hundred and fifty-five ad...
Previous research has examined several parental, child-related and contextual factors associated with parental quality of life (QoL) among parents with a child or an adolescent with autism spectrum disorders (ASD); however, no systematic review has examined the relationship between parental QoL and parental involvement in intervention. To fill this...
This study aims to explore the emotional experiences related to the lockdown during the first pandemic wave, analysing the dreams of the Italian population. Through an online survey spread throughout the country, participants completed the Depression Anxiety Stress Scale-21 (DASS-21), the Resilience Scale (RS) and were asked to narrate a dream they...
The purpose of this Individually Randomized Group Treatment Trial was to compare an Acceptance and Commitment Therapy-based (ACT) group intervention and a Cog-nitive Behavioral Therapy-based (CBT) group intervention for weight loss maintenance in a sample of adult patients with obesity seeking treatment for weight loss. 155 over-weight adults (BMI:...
Narcolepsy type 1 results from probable autoimmune disruption of hypothalamic hypocretinergic neurons. Secondary narcolepsy can occur as a result of other conditions affecting the central nervous system, including limbic paraneoplastic encephalitis. We report the case of a 19-year-old patient presenting with acute-onset diurnal hypersomnolence, hyp...
This cross-sectional study aims to investigate the impact of psychological distress experienced during the second wave of the COVID-19 pandemic on emotional eating and to assess the mediating role of emotional dysregulation in a sample of Italian young adults (20–35). A total of 437 participants provided demographical data and were assessed using t...
Central disorders of hypersomnolence (CDH) are characterized by excessive daytime sleepiness not related to comorbid sleep or medical disturbances. We systematically examined scientific literature on cognitive functions in patients suffering from CDH. Forty-eight studies proved eligible and were analyzed separately for Narcolepsy Type 1 (NT1), Narc...
Objective/background
Poor sleep hygiene is considered an exacerbating and perpetuating factor of sleep disturbances and is also associated with poor mental health. The Sleep Hygiene Index (SHI) is a self-report measure assessing adherence to sleep hygiene practices. The aim of this study was to estimate the psychometric properties of the SHI in an...
Some studies highlighted that patients with narcolepsy type-1 (NT1) experience high lucid dream frequency, and this phenomenon has been associated with a creative personality. Starting from the well-known “pandemic effect” on sleep and dreaming, we presented a picture of dream activity in pharmacologically treated NT1 patients during the Italian lo...
The primary aim is to describe the changes in the knowledge of mental health conditions, the attitudes toward the Mentally Ill and the intended behaviour towards people with mental illness among the entire student population of the third year of a Degree Course in Psychology. 570 students attended a seminar on stigma towards mental illness and were...