Darko Marcinko

University Hospital Centre Zagreb | KBCZ · Department of Psychiatry and Psychological Medicine

Alexithymia as the inability to describe one's own feelings, is being increasingly researched. According to contemporary psychodynamic theories, negative emotions cannot be adequately named and externalized, but remain trapped in the body. Recent research shows the connection of alexithymia with numerous somatic diseases. Diabetes mellitus type 2 a...

For the past 60 years, the Pula Mind & Brain congress has been gathering leading experts from several countries. It's usually the last weekend in May when the “brain scientists” come together in one place. Those are neurologists, psychiatrists, neuroscientists, and other interdisciplinary professionals. During few days, we discuss the hot topics in...

Shame is usually conceptualized as a self-debilitating emotion that that encompasses a wide range of negative beliefs about onself. It is also an emotion with often visible physical manifestations, making it particularly disruptive in social circumstances. In recent years shame is described and empirically investigated as a transdiagnostic entity i...

Introduction Feeding plays a very important role in our lives. First of all survival, but in general it has a much wider and important social role. Through feeding, in addition to satisfying life’s needs and basic instincts, we experience a sense of satisfaction through the investment of libido. Anorexia nervosa and obesity as the two extremes of e...

Like the other medical professions, mental health workers need appropriate motivation for effective treatment work. This study aims to determine the motivators and assess working conditions of mental health workers and how they differ from the motivators and working conditions of other health workers on the example of one of the largest hospital in...

Introduction The current study aimed to investigate the rates of anxiety, clinical depression, and suicidality and their changes in health professionals during the COVID-19 outbreak. Materials and methods The data came from the larger COMET-G study. The study sample includes 12,792 health professionals from 40 countries (62.40% women aged 39.76 ±...

Background: Patients with combat-related posttraumatic stress disorder (PTSD) have an increased frequency of suicideideations, but also a higher risk of suicide attempts. Of all the known predisposing risk factors of suicide attempts in this population,personality dimensions are one of the least investigated. The main aim of this study was to exami...

Background: Patients with combat-related posttraumatic stress disorder (PTSD) have an increased frequency of suicide ideations, but also a higher risk of suicide attempts. Of all the known predisposing risk factors of suicide attempts in this population, personality dimensions are one of the least investigated. The main aim of this study was to exa...

Background: Obesity is one of today's most concerning health problems due to increased cardiovascular risk, which is still the leading cause of death. Obstructive sleep apnea syndrome (OSAS) is certainly one of the important risk factors that links obesity and cardiovascular risk. There is a great need to evaluate obstructive sleep apnea (OSA) in...

Background: The eating habits of Generation Z have changed a lot compared to other Generations. It is presumed that influencers significantly influence the choice of diet among Generation Z. This study aimed to investigate Generation Z's opinion about social networks and the influence of communication channels, mostly influencers, on the choice of...

This study focused on the cognitive function of women with type 1 diabetes in pregnancy. We investigated risk factors for a low cognitive score such as age, duration of Diabetes, BMI, subclinical hypothyroidism, cardiovascular autonomic neuropathy, the impact of hypo-/hyperglycemia, and C-peptide preservation. Material and methods. Seventy-eight pr...

Introduction During the COVID-19 pandemic various degrees of lockdown were applied by countries around the world. It is considered that such measures have an adverse effect on mental health but the relationship of measure intensity with the mental health effect has not been thoroughly studied. Here we report data from the larger COMET-G study perta...

Abstract— When it comes to obesity, it is one of today's biggest problems from several perspectives. Obesity increases cardiovascular risk, can cause shortened life expectancy, and many others. The possibilities of treating obesity are growing every day, from pharmacological to surgical, but in the end, the key is to change life habits (lifestyle)...

FTO GENE ASSOCIATION WITH DEPRESSION – DOES FTO GEN AFFECT OBESITY IN PATIENTS WITH DEPRESSION. Depression is a complex psychiatric disorder following many comorbidities such as diabetes, insulin resistance and obesity. Depression during childhood is associated with increased body mass index (BMI), while depression increases the odds of obesity, le...

Background: The COVID-19 epidemic and earthquakes in Croatia during 2020 suddenly disrupted everyday life and caused psychological disturbances in population. The purpose of the present study was to assess the prevalence of anxiety symptoms and the level of treatment adherence in glaucoma patients during the pandemic. The paper also aimed to evalu...

We attempted throughout the NO-system to achieve the particular counteraction of the ketamine-induced resembling "negative-like" schizophrenia symptoms in rats using pentadecapeptide BPC 157, and NO-agents, NG-nitro-L-arginine methylester (L-NAME), and/or L-arginine, triple application. This might be the find out the NO-system organized therapy (i....

Love is a delicate experience that delves into the foundations of the psyche, and many sources of the emotional experience of love remain unconscious. The nature of love is twofold and contradictory, regressive and progressive, constructive and destructive, connecting and separating, directed toward the object and the self. The ability to idealize...

Introduction: There are few published empirical data on the effects of COVID‐19 on mental health, and until now, there is no large international study. Material and Methods: During the COVID-19 pandemic, an online questionnaire gathered data from 55,589 participants from 40 countries (64.85% females aged 35.80 ±13.61; 34.05% males aged 34.90±13.29...

Previous research has demonstrated relations between lower level of personality organization (PO) and multiple indices of mental health disturbances. The goal of this research was to examine whether experience of shame would mediate the relationship between PO and depressive symptoms in a sample of 321 Croatian psychiatric outpatients (64% female;...

Due to endothelial impairment, high-dose lithium may produce an occlusive-like syndrome, comparable to permanent occlusion of major vessel-induced syndromes in rats; intracranial, portal, and caval hypertension, and aortal hypotension; multi-organ dysfunction syndrome; brain, heart, lung, liver, kidney, and gastrointestinal lesions; arterial and ve...

Background: In addition to its neuroprotective effect, Brain-derived neurotrophic factor (BDNF) also plays a role in glucose and lipid metabolism. This study aims: a) to find changes in the BDNF concentration during pregnancy in type 1 diabetes. b) to prove the effect of DHA and EPA supplementation on changes in BDNF concentrations c) to investiga...

Purpose of review: The aim of this study was to review the recent literature on contemporary psychological perspectives of personality disorders, including novel psychotherapeutic interventions aimed at these vulnerable individuals. Recent findings: Among the various psychological theories and models of personality disorders, still the most popu...

Optimal psychic response during the COVID-19 pandemic is the result of many different factors. One of the main factors is the psychodynamic understanding of essential emotions such as shame. Despite the immense effort by health workers to address stress- and trauma-related disorders in the course of the COVID-19 pandemic, a large proportion of the...

Introduction Obesity is one of the leading problems of today’s society. According to WHO, 650 million people worldwide are obese, which is 13% of total population (in Croatia 21.5%). There are various psychodynamic theories that interpret the psychological aspects of obesity. Objectives The aim of this paper is to present psychodynamic and contemp...

Background: Pathological narcissism has previously been investigated with regard to negative parenting and interpersonal forgiveness, but inconsistent findings have been obtained in relation to its two phenotypic forms - grandiosity and vulnerability. Moreover, the role of negative parenting in the lack of forgiveness within narcissistic pathology...

Narcissism is a growing issue in modern society. Society values external, objective successfulness, overindulgence in hedonism, and superficiality more than inner emotional life. Individuals in modern society are faced with an inner emptiness, resulting in narcissistic, grandiose fantasies sometimes being the last defensive mechanism against that p...

The Republic of Croatia holds the Presidency of the Council of the European Union from 1st January 2020 to 30rd June 2020. During its presidency, Croatia set its health priorities, in accordance with the health policies advocated by the EU. (Taking forward the Strategic Agenda - 18-month Program of the Council (January 1st 2019 - June 30th 2020 Ava...

The coronavirus (COVID-19) outbreak was labeled a global pandemic by the WHO in March of 2020. Understanding how crisis influence an individual's reactions to stressful events (and vice versa) is important in order to create meaningful and effective interventions. Our literature search have revealed lack of the papers related to psychodynamic appro...

Cancer diagnosed in the working-age population is increasing. Improvements in screening, early diagnosis and advances in treatment have resulted in the improved prognosis of breast cancer. An increasing number of working-age woman with breast cancer is facing many difficulties during the return to work (RTW) process and have reduced workability com...

People with major depressive disorder (MDD) have an increased burden of chronic physical illnesses (CPI).However, information about the effect of CPIs on recurrent MDD treatment outcome is limited. The objective of this study was to explore whether the number of CPIs in patients with recurrent MDD was associated with higher rate of psychiatric admi...

Optimal psychopharmacotherapy is based upon the results of many different factors. One of the main factors is therapeutic alliance. The role of psychodynamic is very important in the context of good therapeutic alliance. Lack of mentalizing capacity implies disturbed view of psychopharmacotherapy. Therapeutic relationship and optimal alliance offer...

Background: Patients with schizophrenia have the highest known rates of cigarette smoking, but less is known about their smoking behavior and the differences across geographical regions, including Croatia. The aim of this study was to compare patterns of nicotinedependence between patients with schizophrenia and healthy individuals, and to determin...

Nonsuicidal self-injury (NSSI) is a significant mental health problem among adolescents. Problems in identity formation have been hypothesised to play an important role in the emergence of self-harming behaviours among adolescents. The aims of the study were to examine clinical characteristics of hospitalized adolescents with NSSI and differences i...

Background: Breast carcinoma is the most common malignant disease in women in the majority of developed countries. The development of depression as well as the quality of life (QoL) in these patients depends not only on the result of oncologic treatment, but on the cosmetic outcome as well. The primary aim of this prospective study was to investig...

Background: The rehabilitation of patients with cleft deformities is very complex and unique, and managed by a team of professionals. Quality of life depends on the health, and represents an instrument that examines the disease impact and treatment modalities on the health, integrating an objective assessment of the health status and its subjectiv...

This study aimed to examine the predictive utility of body shame on eating behaviors in adolescents, while controlling for age, sex and body mass index (BMI). Participants were 400 Croatian adolescent girls and boys who completed self-report questionnaires assessing body shame and eating behaviors. Results showed that the mean eating behaviors scor...

Objective: Pathological narcissism, described by two dysfunctional phenotypic forms - grandiosity and vulnerability - has often been connected to suicidal tendencies in theoretical and clinical literatures. Furthermore, shame-proneness has been implicated as a key mechanism that links these two constructs. However, empirical evidence for the presum...

Background: War veterans with PTSD have a high chance of developing major depressive disorder (MDD) at some point, while they can also exhibit increased suicidal tendencies. The primary goal of this research was to investigate whether personality dimensions, including temperament, character, and trait impulsivity, were associated with comorbid MDD,...

The article discusses the impact of contemporary culture on the individual's personality. We used the "psychocultural" approach whose key feature is the amalgamation of theories and methods belonging to psychodynamic and psychosocial studies, as well as those used in the field of media and cultural studies. The idea of a potentially therapeutic eff...

Background: The aim of this study was to define the level of patient exposure to stress in the previous 5 years before acute myocardial infarction (AMI), personality type A assessment, ways of coping with stressful situations, health locus of control and the grade of anxiety (as state and personality trait). Subjects and methods: 118 patients wh...

The purpose of this paper is to present studies about violence from different perspectives with regard to psychodynamic, biological and social causes of violence in our society. In addition, this review article provides an overview of different definitions of violence as well as the relationship between violence and shame, psychodynamics of group v...

Background: To investigate the possibility if alexithymia could be used as a predictor of attempted suicide among patients suffering from post-traumatic stress disorder. Subjects and methods: The study was based on 127 veterans from the 1991-1995 war in Croatia. All the patients involved in this study were previously diagnosed with PTSD. The que...

The complex inter-relationship between external and internal reality, a source of interest and controversy in psychiatry, has come to the foreground more prominently in the context of more integrative understanding of psychopharmacotherapy. This paper discusses the meaning and clinical applications of the psychodynamic related to psychopharmacother...

Background: The occurrence of suicidal thoughts and behaviors is rather frequent among war veterans, particularly those suffering from posttraumatic stress disorder (PTSD). Understanding factors present within these individuals that increase suicide risk may inform prevention efforts. The present study aimed to determine whether the dimensions of t...

Introduction: Pathological narcissism, described by two dysfunctional phenotypic forms - grandiosity and vulnerability - has often been connected to suicidal tendencies in theoretical and clinical literatures. Furthermore, shame-proneness has been implicated as a key mechanism that links these two constructs. However, empirical evidence for the pre...

Introduction: The occurrence of both civilian- and war-related post-traumatic stress disorder (PTSD) is related to greater frequency of suicidal thoughts and behaviors. Understanding factors present within individuals with PTSD that increase suicide risk may inform prevention efforts. Objectives: The present study aimed to determine whether the di...

Numerous studies are conducted to investigate factors influencing eating and weight-related problems, given the alarming prevalence of such behaviours among adolescents. The relationship between shame, especially body shame, and eating disorders has received increased attention in recent years. The current study contributes to this field by explori...

The aim of the current study was to explore body satisfaction, peer pressure and body shame as predictors of drive for muscularity among adolescent males. A total of 213 adolescent males completed the questionnaires assessing body satisfaction, peer pressure, body shame and drive for muscularity. The results indicated that drive for muscularity was...

Fonagy i suradnici od 1989. godine razvijaju koncept mentalizacije, s ciljem razumijevanja brojnih mentalnih poremećaja (osobito „borderline“ razine psihopatologije ličnosti). Mentalizaciju, ili mentaliziranje, definirali su kao proces kojim, implicitno ili eksplicitno, pridajemo značenje subjektivnim mentalnim stanjima i procesima drugih, kao i sv...

Epidemiološka istraživanja pokazuju da od anoreksije nervoze (AN) obolijeva jedan muškarac na deset do dvadeset žena oboljelih od istog poremećaja. Ovakva rodna distribucija „jedna je od najekstremnijih u psihijatriji i medicini“. S obzirom na složenost poremećaja AN mnogi istraživači vjeruju da se etiologija temelji na interakcijama između predisp...

Background: Previous research has documented multiple chains of risk in the development of PTSD among war veterans. However, existing studies were mostly carried out in the West, while they also did not analyze specific symptom clusters of PTSD. The aim of this study was to examine the role of socio-demographic characteristics, war experiences and...

The aim of this study was to examine the relationships between pathological narcissism (narcissistic grandiosity and narcissistic vulnerability), dysfunctional attitudes (perfectionism and dependency on other people), and depressive symptoms in psychiatric outpatients. A sample of 234 adult psychiatric outpatients (57.3% male; mean age 44.39 years)...

Depression has been associated with various cardiovascular risk factors such as hypertension, obesity, atherogenic dyslipidemia and hyperglycemia. In depressive disorder, hyperactivity of the hypothalamic-pituitary-adrenal (HPA) axis and changes in the immune system have been observed. On the other hand, somatic diseases such as obesity, hyperlipid...

Aim To investigate the association between depression, metabolic syndrome (MBS), somatic, particularly cardiovascular comorbidity, and low-grade chronic inflammation assessed using C-reactive protein (CRP). Methods This cross-sectional study included 76 patients with recurrent depressive disorder (RDD) and 72 non-depressed medical staff controls f...

This article aims at testing of psychometric characteristics of the Beck Depression Inventory (BDI) and the Defense Style Questionnaire - 40 (DSQ-40) in a sample of Croatian professional fire-fighters, so as to justify their use in Occupational Health. A pioneer effort to interrelate mental states and psychological job demands, ranked using the WAI...

Contemporary psychiatry pays more and more attention to the patient's capacity regarding acceptance of psychiatric drugs. Understanding the basis of our treatment's effectiveness becomes more challenging. To understand psychiatric treatment psychiatrists must pay full attention to mentalizing and the conditions under which this basic human capacity...

Nedavne konceptualizacije i empirijske studije provedene na studentskim uzorcima opisale su patološki narcizam kroz dva fenotipska oblika disfunkcija, narcističnu grandioznost i narcističnu vulnerabilnost. U sklopu ove studije pretpostavljeno je da će narcistična vulnerabilnost biti snažnije povezana s depresivnim simptomima, te da će disfunkcional...

Lipids are essential components of the membranes of neurons and astrocytes and play an important role in the development and regulation of synaptic function and plasticity. Lipids regulate physical and electrical properties of neuronal cell membranes, including expression and function of membrane-associated proteins (transporters, receptors), which...

Aims: Suicidal ideation and sleep-related problems are associated with many common psychopathological entities in early adolescence. This study examined possible association between suicidal ideation and sleep-related problems. Methods: A cross-sectional study was performed in classroom settings at 840 early adolescents 11-13 years of age. Of th...

Creativity is a divine madness, a gift from the gods (Plato)…No great genius was without a mixture of insanity (Aristotle/Seneca)…The only difference between me and a madman is that I am not mad (Slvador Dali)…Imagination is more important than knowledge (Albert Einstein)…Creativity is a complex multidimensional concept still no defined and no clea...

Differentiation of the psychiatric diagnosis in the clinical praxis sometimes could be difficult; particulary in cases of kindred/similar diagnoses like schizophrenia, schizoaffective disorder or personality disorder cluster A (or cluster I) - paranoid, schizoid and schizotipal. Relationship between schizophrenia and personality disorder cluster I...

To investigate the association between parental war involvement and different indicators of psychosocial distress in a community sample of early adolescents ten years after the war in Croatia 1991-1995. A total of 695 adolescents were screened with a self-report questionnaire assessing parental war involvement, sociodemographic characteristics, and...

This paper provides a critical overview of the literature on the relationship between psychological/psychopathological factors and metabolic control in children and adolescents with insulin dependent diabetes mellitus (IDDM). We discuss studies on individual and family psychopathological factors, as well as reports on the effects of psychoeducation...

Suicide is a major public health problem and the leading cause of premature death in patients with schizophrenia. Information about the patient's personality is helpful for assessing the risk of suicide attempts and suicidal ideation. The sample consisted of 120 outpatients with a diagnosis of schizophrenia, 29 of whom had previously attempted suic...

Rationale Although antipsychotic drugs are prescribed for the treatment of schizophrenia and psychotic disorders, some of these drugs are also reported to possess antidepressant properties. Therefore, they are more frequently used either as a monotherapy or as an addition to antidepressant medication treatment in depression. Objectives The data on...

The aim of the present study was to explore possible differences between serum C-reactive protein (CRP), interleukin-6 (IL-6), tumor necrosis factor alpha (TNF-α), and cortisol concentration in patients with major depressive disorder (MDD) with melancholic features, and MDD with atypical features. As secondary aim, we investigated possible associat...

The primary aim of this study was to assess the testosterone levels of soldiers with posttraumatic stress disorder (PTSD), without considering their comorbid conditions, compared with the ones in the control group with combat experience. The secondary aim was to determine whether there was a difference in testosterone levels when the same group of...

Rationale Atypical antipsychotics are frequently prescribed for psychotic and mood disorders in youth, and for symptoms of depression, aggression, irritability and suicidal tendencies, which are associated with subsequent development of borderline personality disorders (BPD). ----- Objectives This study evaluated the effects of 24-weeks of add-on t...

Suicidal ideations (SI) indicate and predict psychological distress. We examined the prevalence of SI among early adolescents and its association with parental war participation, personal, behavioral, and sociodemographic characteristics. We performed a cross-sectional questionnaire study on 803 12-year-old adolescents. Data were collected using a...