Salvatore Settineri

• University of Messina

Objective Euthymia is a transdiagnostic construct characterized by the presence of positive mood states, psychological flexibility and resilience. These components contribute to psychological wellbeing and support mental functioning. Exposure to suffering and high levels of stress can lead to the onset of burnout and secondary traumatic stress, but...

Background: Body image and psychosocial functioning represent central challenges during adolescence and early adulthood. Malocclusion, defined as an irregularity in the alignment of the teeth, is known to negatively influence psychological outcomes. The current study aimed to elucidate the role of malocclusion, together with age, gender, and dental...

Background Type 1 Diabetes Mellitus (T1DM) represents a serious chronic condition affecting a wide number of people. Discussion of the physical issues associated with T1DM pervades the literature, however, there is less discussion of the psychological consequences. Psychopathology, alexithymia and uncertainty can be considered as clearly present in...

Background: Is well known that oral health and dental aesthetic have significant effects on the sociality of human beings. The aim of the present study was to assess some aspects of oral health with possible repercussions in adolescent and youth, with particular reference to gender differences. Methods: A total of 190 subjects with female preval...

Background: Defense mechanisms serve as mediators referred to the subjects’ attempt to manage stressors capable of threatening their integrity. Mature defense mechanisms represent the high adaptive group, including suppression, which allows the subject to distance disturbing contents from consciousness. In line with general defensive intents, suppr...

Objective: Work-related stress typically occurs due to particularly challenging dynamics, risks and pressure. Prolonged exposure to stress may cause serious consequences on psychophysical well-being. The current study was conducted to reexamine the clinical instruments useful for evaluating the risk factors and to examine two closely linked dimens...

Problematic Internet Use (PIU) is a dysfunctional behavior associated with prolonged Internet use, which results of negative impact on different aspects of life. Several studies confirmed these negative effects, unlike others that highlighted the benefits of the Internet on psychosocial well-being. The use of standard, valid and reliable tools for...

Background The COVID-19 pandemic has expanded to reach many countries, involving healthcare systems facing high numbers of in-fected patients. The repercussions concern every segment of the population; therefore it is necessary to understand the extent of psychopathological variations. Participants and procedure 355 subjects aged from 18 to 78 yea...

Background: the caregiver's role is fundamental in the context of healthcare and the well-being of caregivers is often undermined by traumatic experiences and suffering. The aim of this study was to evaluate the relationship among the caregiver's resilience, burden, suppressive mechanisms and professional quality of life. Goals and methods: Partici...

Background: The health professionals are involved in the paths of care for patients with different medical conditions. Their life is frequently characterized by psychopathological outcomes so that it is possible to identify consistent burdens. Besides the possibility to develop pathological outcomes, some protective factors such as resilience play...

Background: Problem gambling could progressively grow in a period of isolation due to the COVID-19 pandemic to the possibility of gambling directly from home. Objectives: This pilot study highlights if the problem gambling, during a period of isolation such as that of COVID-19, can be explained by personality or sociodemographic characteristics, th...

Background Gambling has increasingly become a problem in adolescence over the last 20 years. Previous research has failed to identify exactly the level of involvement of adolescents in gambling, yet a relevant presence of addictive behaviors was noticed. Objective This narrative review highlights the implications of adolescent gambling, taking int...

Summary. This research is aimed at highlighting the existing relations among variables related to dreams and personality. The theoretical frame is linked to the analytic psychology by C. G. Jung and in particular to the Psychological Types. In order to study the variables related to dreams, the Mannheim Dream Questionnaire in its Italian Adaptation...

In Romania, as anywhere in the world, postpartum depression is considered to be the most frequent health problem in the postpartum period. Unfortunately, as it will be later explained, in Romania, in the majority of cases, patients, their families and relatives (as well as the medical staff in charge of the patient) treat the postpartum depression...

Our experience with transgender individuals in healthcare is based on a psychological path, where the needs expressed by individuals are considered in the perspective of the life-course. Comprehension and attention on psychological figures are considered as the expression of identity, desires, and life projects. The current evolutions of the phenom...

The seat of our Journal is representative of a legend, the myth of Scylla and Charybdis that as it is known were Sirens. We take this cue to indicate the difficulty of men in oscillating between two tendencies, both fascinating and dangerous. The first reference is to privilege articles widely citable in the statistical sense of trend: the utility...

The study presents an exploratory investigation of the function of the kiss and is aimed at validating a quantitative psychological instrument useful to highlight its ontogenesis. The construction of the questionnaire identified 25 possible items with the aim of analysing the origin of the meaning processes related to kiss, starting from the relati...

Background: Although the understanding of adolescent phobias is important, this phenomenon has thus far not been adequately researched. This report, based on clinical experience, highlights prevalent phobic phenomena linked to personality characteristics. Methods: A sample of 241 adolescents from High School and the University of Messina, Italy was...

Background The function of emotions, beginning from the proto-emotions, is the adaptation to the environment. This is based on the Homeorhesis, the equilibrium due to the adaptive operation of excitement and the dissipation of emotions. The object relations of the participants foresee the practice of defense mechanisms in a continuum that goes from...

Objectives: Analyse the practice of art therapy in adolescence, with particular reference to traumatic and difficulties in affective regulation. Methods: Application of the photo novel as an expressive and therapeutic technique, finalized to the achievement of Self-awareness and integrated identity. Results: Art therapy is a practice that allows...

The idea of bringing together contributions from different disciplines stems from the fact that many of the failures of psychotherapy arise from the lack of comprehension about unknown points of view, from inhomogeneous readings, from unavailability to change methods. In other words, approaches that are not sufficiently oriented to get out of an ul...

Objective: Several studies addressed the psychological and physical consequences of caregiving. Literature suggests that the majority of caregivers would benefit from a psychological support. Despite this evidence, lots of caregivers are reluctant in seeking psychological help. The aim of the present study is to identify the sociodemographic chara...

Summary. This research is aimed at extending the study of a relevant experience such as dreaming, through an Italian version of the Madre questionnaire. An observation group of 623 subjects with female prevalence (F = 57%, M = 43%) between the ages of 12 and 87 years old (average of 38.26 years; SD 14.71) was involved; the evaluation was carried ou...

Background: The pathological reality of diabetes and the incidents in following the prescribed therapies have been considered and are still a serious and relevant problem in the health sector. Objective: This review aims at highlighting the importance of clinical psychological phenomena that underlie the notion of therapies. Methods: The review was...

Liver cirrhosis is a disease with an increasing incidence. Surgical procedures in patients with cirrhosis are also increasing, due to a longer life expectancy in these patients and also to the improvement of therapeutic and diagnostic resources. Digestive hemorrhage in the cirrhotic patient requires emergency medical intervention (intensive therapy...

The Suppression Mental Questionnaire System (mobile App, Web-Services, Cloud...) acts as a bridge among dynamic psychology, the cognitive studies, and modern information and telecommunication technologies (ICT). The adoption of digital tools speeds clinical investigations on defense mechanisms and makes clinical trials easier by reducing needed eff...

Objectives. To assess relationships among burden, compassion, and well-being and health among an active group of caregivers. Methods. 301 caregivers with female prevalence (F = 61.1%, M = 38.9%) and ages between 18 and 84 years old (average = 38.72; SD 13.36) participated. Evaluation was carried using standardized instruments to assess: Burdens (CB...

The aim of the research is to measure the relations and the directions of two modalities to study the approach to objects and learning. An observation group of 213 subjects, 93 males (43,7%) and 120 females (56,3%), (average of 24,73 years old; SD 2,28) all students from the V year Medicine and Surgery from the University of Messina, were involved....

Abstract Background: The study proposes a psychodynamic analysis of the traumatic role of mental images, that can be expressed by many conditions; in phenomenology, the psychic relationship is meant as the relationship between subject and object. The analysis is aimed at understanding how representations are relevant. Objective: Representations ar...

Results: half of the participants in the study work during the night shift (50.6%), another percentage suffer from medical pathologies (41.6%) and follow drug therapies regularly (33.8%); significant positive correlations emerged among some MAWS scales (autonomous motivation, ego ideal - item 7,8, motivation for medical work - item 3,4) and psychol...

Objective: the study identifies the presence of the signs of depression, teasing and self-esteem in obese female adolescents compared to a control group. Methods: the studied group consisted of female subjects (N= 106 obese adolescents and 106 control group) aged from 12 to 18. In the study, the subjects were administered measures of body image, Mo...

O tema da fraternidade acaba sendo um fato fundador da relacionalidade humana, na medida em que coincide com a completa maturidade psíquica. Na articulação das figuras afetivas de referência e na sua sucessão integrativa, de fato, se explica a admissão do Outro na passagem da primidade à secundidade e, então, à terceidade e, portanto, na superação...

Résumé Objectif Cet article tente d’apporter une clarification du rapport entre la pathologie des organes et les images des organes connexes. Dans ce type de construction c’est comme si l’esprit se retrouvait en face d’une paréidolie à genèse interne. Comme l’inadaptation, les paréidolies subissent des transformations quand l’organe est endommagé...

The study of desire at Rorschach implicate the phenomenological study of images conveyed by responses, at least those in which a clear portrait can be considered as forms of consciousness and of Ego manifestation. The optic to involve the portraits of desire with the Rorschach practice proposes that the meeting point is the affectivity related to d...

Objectives Gender identity disorder is defined as a strong and persistent cross-gender identification that is associated with a remarkable uneasiness of living in an incongruent gender (gender dysphoria). We performed a retrospective study on the hormonal and metabolic effects of cross-sex hormone therapy (CSHT) in a small cohort of transgender pat...

The effects of oral health conditions on physical and psychosocial dimensions have been a matter of interest for several authors over the last decades. Nevertheless, literature lacks studies that address the relationship between the oral health–related quality of life (OHRQoL) and emotions. The present study aimed to investigate the psychological i...

The work is aimed at studying three points of view, whose convergences and conflicts deepen the theme of the symbol, where the same faces to the psychic life full of meaning. The process of signification of objects in fact, provides an opportunity for knowledge of the psychic life of the subjects. As the product of mind, therefore, the attention fa...

http://journal.frontiersin.org/article/10.3389/fendo.2017.00091/full

The ability to understand Learning Styles, provided by Kolb’s studies, suggests that the instrument can be used on the Italian population in a translated and adapted form. In this study, correlational and factorial re-analysis, in line with the psychometric evidence in the literature, shows how the four scales, Abstract Conceptualization (AC), Conc...

The present study was aimed to verify if body weight could influence self-perception, in terms of body image, mood states, dissatisfaction with physical appearance and risk of eating disorders. In particular, we evaluated the differences between women of normal weight vs. overweight and obese during the delicate phase of puerperium to verify if the...

This paper highlights the clinical signs of suicidal risk behaviour assessing a Rorschach protocol. A 21-year-old female with a diagnosis of borderline personality disorder (BPD) and a history of suicide attempt, is assessed upon an accurate clinical and personality evaluation with the Rorschach projective method. Authors discuss by a clinical and...

Authors postulate that the difference between suppression and repression, highlighted in particular by the Societè Psychanalitique de Paris, enables the development of a quantitative instrument, since suppression is a defense accessible to consciousness and therefore quantifiable like scales and questionnaires. The idea of constructing a questionna...

Objective: The assessment of empathy among different health professions has been focused almost exclusively on the cognitive and affective aspects or on specific professions, such as doctors. The Empathy Scale for Health Professions (ESHP) is a 12 item instrument developed by Mento and Settineri, including the expressive component of empathy. Metho...

This text deals with the issue and the image of Medusa as a polyvalent symbol. Its power has been analyzed from different sides, such as myth, symbol of dreams, attractive image and cultural ritual, symbol of possession of a complex for the psyche in the cleft between the head and the body. The relevant aspects of this reflection find their foundat...

Background: Recent literature highlights how some psychological factors could play a key role in the development and course of gynaecological illnesses by influencing health-related outcomes. Nevertheless, little is known about the influence of the temperament and character traits and depressive symptoms in women’s health. Objective: The aim of th...

The majority of existing research regarding cochlear-implanted patients focuses on acoustic perception and language skills in children and adolescents, or on the postoperative quality of life in adults. We hypothesized that a patient's psychological reaction to a cochlear implant (CI) may be influenced by the temperament of the implanted subject. T...

Objective: The aim of this study is to examine the association between psychiatric disease, climatic and seasonal factors in patients recorded to the Emergency Unit, in Messina Hospital (Italy). Method: A total of 6565 psychiatric patients were recorded to the Emergency Unit in Messina from January 2005 and December 2010. Each psychiatric visit in...

The assessment of empathy among different health professions has been focused almost exclusively on the cognitive and affective aspects or on specific professions, such as doctors. The Empathy Scale for Health Professions (ESHP) is a 12 item instrument developed by Mento and Settineri, including the expressive component of empathy. In the study th...

Background: Recent literature highlights how some psychological factors could play a key role in the development and course of gynaecological illnesses by influencing health-related outcomes. Nevertheless, little is known about the influence of the temperament and character traits and depressive symptoms in women’s health. Objective: The aim of th...

Gender Dysphoria is a condition of great distress and mental suffering associated with a strong identification with the opposite sex than biological birth. The literature shows that there is a historical account of the evolution of the disorder and that the different approaches to clinical reality, generate considerations that also depend on the us...

This article aims to underline the organic way of working of an eclectic scientist and politician by the name of Gaetano Martino and his studies on nutrition, experimental reflex epilepsy and conditioned reflexes. The studies on conditioned reflexes were analyzing by Martino because he did not fully agree with Pavlov’s ideas regarding the modificat...

The aim of this study is to investigate the variables shown to be linked to serious suicide attempts. Cases requiring emergency admission to intensive care were collected from medical records of the University Hospital in Messina (Italy) for the years 2006-2010. 107 cases of serious attempted suicide were examined, 39 of which ended in the death of...

Abstract Background. The literature shows that women with gynecological problems have psychosomatic alteration in the body image perception and sexual distress. To our knowledge, these issues have so far been analyzed separately and rarely through a projective methods. Aim. The aim of this study is to analyze the role of body image and its relative...

Background. The literature shows that women with gynecological problems have psychosomatic alteration in the body image perception and sexual distress. To our knowledge, these issues have so far been analyzed separately and rarely through a projective methods. Aim. The aim of this study is to analyze the role of body image and its relative weaknes...

Abstract Objective: The tree is the archetypal symbol of the identification in the growing life. The objective of this study is to evaluate the representation of the self in schizophrenic patients through the tree drawing. Methods: Were identified 36 patients, 22 women and 14 (M-age=53), suffering from schizophrenic disorder. Through the Scale f...

Background: This correlational study explored the psychosocial aspects related to eating behavior in different age samples of adolescents in treatment from 0 to 60 months at the Clinic of Orthodontics and Dentistry of Messina, Messina, Italy. The aim of the study was to investigate the relationship between psychosocial impact, levels of self-esteem...

The concepts of seriousness and lethality of suicide attempts are essential to the assessment of suicide risk and, therefore, to prevent suicidal behavior. A review of the literature was conducted in order to identify the most important factors that increase the seriousness and potential lethality of attempted suicide. The factors identified were i...

Background. Thalassemia is a chronic disease that can lead to an impact on psychological functioning and social behavior of patients. However, still little is known about the specific psychological aspects of the disease, such as the degree of tension, life satisfaction and affective control, especially in adult patients. Aim. The purpose of this s...

The field of siblings relationship, initially considered in psychoanalysis mostly in its interaction with the oedipal dynamics, knows today important developments so that the "fraternal complex" has achieved its own independence. The paper aims to investigate the “fraternal complex” both in psychoanalytic area , from the Freudian perspective to con...

Abstract: From the psychological point of view hearing is an essential sensory modality for the human species, because it contributes to the formation of the first relational connections and emotions. It is important to make a diagnosis early to intervene and limit negative effects. Deafness is a particular phenomenon (onset, types), in this paper...

Dental anxiety is defined as the response to a stressful stimulus that is specific to a dental context. The dental treatment itself may provoke excitation and aggressive response relating to multiple sources of motivation that have been examined by the literature. The hypothesis to test in the present paper is to what extent dental anxiety can be e...

Several studies have been focused on the quality of life of caregivers caring for patients with exclusively physical or mental diseases, but little is known about the differences related to the burden experienced. This study had as its subject the burden of caregivers and their quality of life involved in helping patients with diseases (1) physical...

The Psychosocial Impact of Dental Aesthetics Questionnaire (PIDAQ) is a scale which measures aspects of the oral health-related quality of life. However, no Italian version of PIDAQ has been developed. The aim of this study was to translate the original English version of PIDAQ into Italian and to assess the validity and reliability of the Italian...

The field of siblings relationship, initially considered in psychoanalysis mostly in its interaction with the oedipal dynamics, knows today important developments so that the "fraternal complex" has achieved its own independence. The paper aims to investigate the “fraternal complex” both in psychoanalytic area, from the Freudian perspective to cont...

The relationship between global self-esteem and dental self-confidence suggests the need to draw attention to psychological aspects involved in the treatment in order to promote not only the dental health, but also the psychological well-being.

Introduzione: Questo lavoro si propone di studiare le rappresentazioni relative all’immagine corporea e l’identificazione sessuale in soggetti con diagnosi di Disturbo dell’identità di genere (DIG). Metodo: Sono stati utilizzati il Reattivo di Rorschach e il Disegno della Figura Umana in un campione di 12 soggetti (7 M>F; 5 F>M) con diagnosi di DIG...

The lack of correlation between available knowledge and the current approach to Somatoform Disorders is highlighted. Methods: the study, via the analysis of an unusual clinical case of an anomalous sensation of cold, examines various hypotheses on the physiopathology of somatization. Conclusions: a conceptualization would focus attention on the lev...

Research in the field of emotions has highlighted that men and women differ as regards the perception and reaction to disgust. The aim of our study was to analyse, by means of a questionnaire on disgust, any gender differences regarding this feeling in its various dimensions, viewed both individually and globally. For this purpose a synthetic indic...

In the interpretation of the Rorschach test, the features of the table IV inkblot evoke a dimension of authority, morals and related emotions. Interestingly, the father figure is related to ego development and also guides towards maturity via more evolved emotions such as feelings of shame and guilt. In some cases these feelings are found to be lac...

Research in the field of emotions has highlighted that men and women differ as regards the perception and reaction to disgust. The aim of our study was to analyse, by means of a questionnaire on disgust, any gender differences regarding this feeling in its various dimensions, viewed both individually and globally. For this purpose a synthetic indic...

Psychological variables could be related to disorders of vision with particular interest of depressive feautures, but with little attention to dimensions such as stress and anxiety. Psychological stress associated with hyperactivation of the sympathetic autonomic nervous system, is considered the most important risk factor of a rare disorder of vis...

Background: The autonomy of dental anxiety may be compared with other psychopathologies, however, it is classified as indicative of a specific phobia. It is interesting to know how dental anxiety operates within a wider context. Material and Method: The group was made by 514 subjects, recruited from several dental surgeries. The entire process, con...

Introduction: Dermatological problems often present mood disorders, depression, anxiety disorders and psychological conditions relevant to psychosomatic conditions. Seborrheic dermatitis and psoriasis, both characterized by chronic inflammation of skin, have been linked to emotional states. The aim of our study was to compare the two emotional prof...

The aim of this study was to verify the relationship between the dysmorphic level and the psychosocial impact of dental aesthetics among adolescents undergoing orthodontic treatment. 61 subjects, between 12 and 22 years, completed the Psychosocial Impact of Dental Aesthetics (PIDAQ), the Rosenberg’s Self esteem Scale and were interviewed with the B...

Introduction: Ego strength represents an im- portant variable that could be predictable about health and compliance in chronic diseases. In this study we propose a new questionnaire, E.F.E. “Ego Functioning Experience”, able to reveal the psychological functioning profile in Hemodialysis patients. The aim of this work, is to underline the existing...

Sleep related problems affect approximately 25-40% of children and adolescents. The acquisition of sleep patterns characterised by later bedtimes, insomnia and excessive daytime sleepiness is related to poorer school performance, daytime drowsiness, physical tiredness and a higher rate of psychiatric illnesses. Many studies have investigated the co...

Most psychometric evaluations in the postpartum (PP) target depression (PPD) and show an association with thyroid autoantibodies (TAb), not with thyroid function. Three studies evaluated PP alexithymia, but none its relationship with thyroid indices. We tested 74 women aged 31.8±4.64 years, on day 3 PP, by the Edinburgh Postnatal Depression Scale (...

The persistence of psychotic, affective, cognitive, and psychosocial symptoms despite medications is commonly observed in schizophrenic patients. The present study was a 24-week double-blind, randomized, placebo-controlled trial aimed to explore the efficacy of topiramate add-on pharmacotherapy on clinical symptomatology and cognitive functioning i...

Based on the evidence that aripiprazole added to serotonin reuptake inhibitors (SRIs) or clomipramine in treatment-resistant obsessive-compulsive disorder (OCD) has reported promising results, the present 16-week, double-blind, randomized, placebo-controlled trial had the aim to explore the efficacy of aripiprazole add-on pharmacotherapy on clinica...

The antipsychotic treatment of schizophrenia is still marked by poor compliance, and drug discontinuation; the development of more effective and safer drugs still remains a challenge. Sertindole is a second-generation antipsychotic with high affinity for dopamine D(2), serotonin 5-HT(2A), 5-HT(2C), and α(1)-adrenergic receptors, and low affinity fo...

Telephone interviews have been used extensively as a tool to explore and assess sleep disorders and psychopathological conditions. The aim of this study was to set up and validate a telephone interview aimed at assessing the correlation between mood and sleep variables in adolescents. The study included 16-18 years subjects. A total of approximatel...

Ethical Committee of Messina Prot. N° E392/06 ethical notification.

Self-report Questionnaire to detect self-reported halitosis and other variables possibly linked to it.

Halitosis represents a common dental condition, although sufferers are often not conscious of it. The aim of this study was to examine behavior in a sample of Italian subjects with reference to self-reported halitosis and emotional state, and specifically the presence of dental anxiety. The study was performed on Italian subjects (N = 1052; range 1...