Emotional Suffering Research Articles

Emotional Suffering After the COVID-19 Pandemic: Grieving the Loss of Family Members in Brazil

(1) Background: Brazil has been severely affected by the COVID-19 pandemic, with over 700,000 deaths and, consequently, a drastic increase in the number of bereaved individuals. This study aims to understand the emotional suffering after the COVID-19 pandemic in Brazilian adults whose family members have died due to COVID-19. (2) Methods: A clinical–qualitative, cross-sectional, descriptive–exploratory study with a sample composed of 10 bereaved family members was used. Data collection took place in July 2021 through individual semi-structured interviews conducted via video call. The interviews were fully transcribed and subjected to thematic analysis. The corpus was analyzed based on Parkes’ theory of mourning, in dialog with research conducted in the pandemic context. (3) Results: The results were organized into three categories: Living the anticipation of loss in an unknown world; Living through grief in a changed world; and Glimpsing a new possibility of living. (4) Conclusions: The rupture of the presumed world in times of the pandemic, the impossibility of bidding farewell to deceased loved ones, and low levels of social support hindered the process of mourning during the health crisis.

After Admission: The Emotional Suffering of Students Enrolled Through the Rural Students Quota Plan in China's Elite Universities

ABSTRACTThe Chinese government has implemented a series of special admission policies in recent years to promote higher education equity. One of the key approaches is the ‘Rural Students Quota Plan’, which requires elite universities to enrol a certain number of rural students from disadvantaged social and economic backgrounds each year. This study adopted qualitative methods to explore the experiences of these students, focusing on their emotional journeys after admission to elite universities. In this project, 32 rural students from R University were invited to participate in semi‐structured interviews. After thematic analysis, this paper further focuses on the systematic presentation and in‐depth analysis of ten of these Quota Plan students' university experiences to carefully delve into their emotional journeys while integrating the narratives of other participants as background data into the analysis. Drawing on Bourdieu's conceptual tools, this study highlights how emotional struggles such as the sense of feeling lost and inferior are shaped by external social structures and the elite university field. The study argues that as elite universities strive to enrol more rural students, mechanisms must be put in place to better support rural students in their adaptation and integration throughout the higher education process.

Emotional Suffering of Parents in Judicial Proceedings for Variation of Custody Arrangements

The emotional distress of parents during court proceedings to change custody is crucial in forensic psychology.

Consumer Excuse Mechanisms, Neutralization Techniques in Stolen Goods Markets

ABSTRACT The act of wittingly or suspiciously buying stolen goods is ethically questionable, legally punishable consumer behavior. Hence, purchasing stolen goods can lead to various cognitive and emotional sufferings, such as cognitive dissonance, ethical conflict, and feelings of guilt. In the context of buying stolen goods, consumer dissonance is a very significant predictor of consumer guilt. However, our findings did not confirm an expected positive relationship between ethical conflict and guilt. While buying stolen goods, consumer excuse and neutralization strategies are used to cope with both cognitive and emotional sufferings resulting from wrongdoings. The findings of this study are based on survey research conducted among the consumers of the stolen goods market, locally named Chor Bazaar (Theif Market) in India, focusing on Delhi and Mumbai. The findings confirmed that consumer’s use of excuse and neutralization strategies moderates the relationship between consumer guilt and the purchase of stolen goods. However, there is no direct relationship between neutralization and the purchase of stolen goods.

Emotional and financial costs of online dating scam: A phenomenological narrative of the experiences of victims of Nigerian romance fraudsters

Qualitative research on the experiences of victims of online dating romance scams is limited. Following a phenomenological framework, this study explores victims’ accounts of interactions with offenders from first contact, development of romance, patterns of exploitation, eventual revelation, and financial and emotional costs of dating fraud. Ten participants from six countries who were victims of Nigerian romance fraudsters took part in one-to-one, semi-structured video interviews and an interpretative phenomenological analysis (IPA) was carried out. Four superordinate themes were identified from participants’ experiences: i) online romance, ii) exploitations, iii) revelations, and iv) reactions. These themes highlighted the uniqueness of the experiences of victims of online dating scams and the depth of emotional loss suffered after their victimization. Findings suggested that offenders target middle-aged women with troubled marriages or widows with inherited wealth, engage in lengthy pre-dating friendships with their targets, and deploy different forms of emotional blackmail to exploit their victims. These were found to have severe financial and long-term emotional consequences on victims. Participants reported they sought legal redress as a recovery strategy from their emotional sufferings. These findings have important practical and policy implications if online romance dating scams, and their financial and non-financial consequences are to be addressed.

Defining conceptual boundaries of moral injury and post-traumatic stress disorder in military population: A systematic review

Moral injury (MI) is one of the main emotional distress in military personnel. Findings suggest that in wartime there are an endless number of potentially morally injurious events, which determine maladaptive cognitions, moral emotions of guilt and shame, and inefficient behaviour. Notwithstanding the strong association between MI and post-traumatic stress disorder (PTSD) recognized in the number of studies, there is still a gap of accurate data aligned with identifying the differences between MI and PTSD in terms of treatment and healing. This study aims to establish conceptual boundaries of moral injury, post-traumatic stress disorder and systematically review the empirical literature on them in military personnel. Specifically, we explored and summarized co-occurrence of MI and PTSD in military personnel and evaluated the association between MI and PTSD, as well with other emotional distress. The results indicate that the key aspects of comparison of MI and PTSD include definition and symptomology, measurement, neural underpinning, and treatment. Considering the consequences of poor social well-being, emotional sufferings and inefficient behavioral patterns, treatments focusing on MI separately from PTSD-focused models are much needed. Acknowledgements This study is a part of the Moral Injury and Healing of Combatants: Neuropsychological Correlates and Psychological Interventions project funded by the Ministry of Education and Science of Ukraine (2022-2023). Disclosure statement No potential conflict of interest was reported by the authors.

Emotional Suffering of Surrogating Mother: An analysis through the Malayalam Film “Dasharatham”

Surrogacy, as we know it today, has only been around for the last 30 years. At the same time Dasharatham is a 1989 Malayalam Indian dramatic film written by A. K. Lohithadas and directed by Sibi Malayil. Its a movie born before the time. Anni is the central character who is the surrogate mother. We analysis emotional suffering of a mother based on the movie “Dasharatham” . The analysis is based on the study conducted by Tehran, Tashi, Mehran, Eskandari, & Tehrani on two main themes and four sub themes: acquired experiences in pregnancy (feelings toward pregnancy, relationship with family, relatives and commissioning couple) and consequences of surrogacy (complications of pregnancy, religious and financial problems of surrogacy).Adiitionally a theme “ Emotional attachment of mother towards baby” is also included. Key words: Sarrogation, mother, emotions, biological father

Психологические аспекты восприятия негативных новостей в сети Интернет

News is an integral part of the life of a modern human. Viewing news sources and social media became the leading way people spend their free time in many countries. Some researchers state that audiences deliberately choose to read negative news. The information influence is psychological in nature. The development of digital technologies creates both opportunities and threats. The purpose of the study is to determine the structural components of the perception of negative news on the Internet and record their psychological content. The authors used a qualitative research method. Using a semi-structured interview, a maximally variable sample of respondents was surveyed. To process the interview data, thematic analysis was used. The study involved 13 people aged 20–45 years. This age category most actively consumes news content from the Internet. Data validity was achieved by meeting the criteria of structural justifiability, consistency of interpretive procedures, and referent adequacy. The study identified a multi-level model consisting of cognitive, emotional and psychophysiological aspects of the perception of negative news. The following negative impact of negative news on the mental sphere of life was established: intense negative emotional sufferings, depressed mood, disturbance of sleep, asthenia. When experiencing long-term negative emotional and psychophysiological symptoms, the respondents use the strategy of avoiding and rejecting negative news.

Комедия Михаила Зощенко «Преступление и наказание» на советском экране: вымысел и реальность

The paper analyses the topical content of M.M. Zoshchenko’s one act play Crime and Punishment (1933), as well as the historical reality which is implied by the explicitly “Dostoevsky’s” title of the play. The appeal to this problem and the novelty of the author’s concept are due to, among other things, the lack of research on the declared topic. The author refers to the archival documents and legal acts that explain the real reasons for the emotional sufferings of the central character of the play, who in the slang of the time was called “nesoon” (“the one who carries away”), that is a “plunderer of people’s property”. He was afraid to be condemned to capital punishment and confiscation of his property. The notions of “crime” and “punishment” in Zoshchenko’s play acquire new and, indeed, topical meanings, so that the title of the play ceases to be just an allusion to Dostoevsky. Two screen versions of the play under the same title present different interpretations of the literary original. Having performed a consistent analysis of the films, including the correlation of the social context and the artistic text, the author comes to the following conclusions about their comedic leitmotivs. The short screen version produced in 1940 by the film director Pavel Kolomoytsev, was obviously associated with the political reality of the time: in 1932, the Central Committee of the Communist Party had issued a Decree concerning the protection of state enterprise property, the crimes of its plunderers and the ensuing punishments. The specific comical effect of this screen version may be defined as laughter through (in spite of) fear. It is clear why the film was banned by the censorship and was not shown for half a century: “the thief is depicted as the one who suffers”. The screen version by Leonid Gaidai produced in 1975 (as part of the film in three stories by Zoshchenko, under the title Ne Mozhet Byt! (It Can’t Be!)) had nothing to do with the above mentioned Decree (which had been annulled by that time). The events in this version are placed in the year 1927, before the Decree, so the plunderers did not need to be afraid of capital punishment. The characters in this screen version of the comedy just feign fear of punishment, just make a pretence of suffering. The comic effect of Gaidai’s version may be defined as laughter through (in spite of) roaring.

Role of COVID-19 pandemic in the academic life and well-being of private sector university students: an exploratory qualitative study

ObjectiveThe advent of the COVID-19 pandemic has caused a drastic impact on students’ life, causing physical and emotional sufferings. Considering the relevance of unprecedented conditions, we explored perceptions and attitudes...

Diagnostics of chronic exercise-induced urticaria in a child (a case report)

This article shows a case report of exercise-induced urticaria diagnosis in an 8-year-old boy. The aim of this work is to show diagnostic peculiarities of chronic urticaria with known trigger. The necessity of diagnostic algorithm fully implementation is emphasized, even in presence of a clear correlation with trigger factor (in this case – physical exertion). The described case is interesting because previously healthy child without anamnesis of allergic and another chronic disease developed urticaria and symptoms of angioedema without visible cause. Objective examination did not reveal any clinically significant abnormalities except moderate nasal congestion, which was neglected by both the patient and his parents. His was without a past medical history of fever. The child underwent laboratory and instrumental examinations: clinical blood, urine and biochemical tests, immunological tests (cell-mediated and humoral immunity, phagocytosis). Acute phase response was within normal ranges. Total IgE was increased to 100.5 IU/ml, increased levels of specific IgE to cat allergen (41.13 кU/l), serum ß-lactoglobulin of cow’s milk (2.95 кU/l) and lamb meat (0.41 кU/l) were detected. Autoserum test was positive (histamine – papula of 5 mm, hyperemia of 15 mm, negative control – 0, patient’s serum – papula of 16.5 mm, hyperemia of 24 mm); thyroid autoantibodies and thyroid hormone levels were within normal ranges. Tests for physical urticarial were performed: aquagenic, cold, heat, vibratory were negative, dermographic urticaria was positive, test with physical exercise (treadmill) was positive (small-sized wheals and lower eyelid angioedema developed on the 14th minute of sweating). Detailing of anamnestic data revealed an appearance of small wheals after emotional sufferings, and a single episode of difficulty breathing with urticaria and angioedema symptoms while playing football). Conclusions. Thus, extended detailed diagnostics of this clinical case has revealed the combined influence of several factors (dermographic, physical exertion, sensitization to some allergens, autoimmune variant of urticaria/angioedema) clarifying that symptoms could be mediated by both IgE- and non-IgE-dependent mechanism in the same patient. Primary diagnosis of “chronic exercise-induced urticaria” has been changed to “anaphylaxis” requiring another approach to treatment and follow-up.

Доверительные отношения между пациентом и врачом как залог успешного лечения осложнений дентальной имплантации

INTRODUCTION: One of the topical problems of modern medicine is absence of the patients trust in the doctor, which affects the success of treatment of complications of dental implantation. The effectiveness of the practical activities of the doctor depends on how professionally he constructs the interaction with patients, their relatives and legal representatives, and, certainly, with colleagues. Surgical manipulations are often associated with negative emotions, distress, which can affect the result of a surgical intervention. The ability of the doctor to convince the patient, to form effective interaction and to set the patient up for successful recovery, using various psychological techniques, plays an important role in establishment of an emotional balance in all stages of treatment and after it. This is especially important on a visit to a dentist, since surgical interventions in the oral cavity are accompanied by pronounced reactions of an organism, such as swelling, hyperemia, hematomas, as well as functional disorders. Here, the fundamental point will be the patients trust in the doctor, who, in turn, must explain all the necessity and correctness of this treatment. Good medical care is inconceivable without the psychological support of patients preparing for or undergoing surgery. Partial and complete tooth loss due to various causes is one of the most common diseases of the oral cavity in the population. The most popular way to solve this problem is rehabilitation of patients with dental implantation. Like all surgical procedures, these manipulations are accompanied by strong emotional sufferings, anxiety, stress of the patient and not a simple postoperative period. CONCLUSION: That is why further search and development of new stress suppressing drugs and methods is an urgent problem and a promising trend in the rehabilitation of patients of a dental surgeon.

Mental Health and Mental Health Work Force in India: An Overview

The advances in physiological research and other health sciences bring new development that enhances the concept of health and illness into a more extensive understanding. The new idea of health views the human ill experience as combination of the biological, psychological, social, and spiritual factors that need the biopsychosocial-spiritual assessment alongside treating the physical pain symptoms. According to the World Health Organization (WHO), health is not merely the absence of disease symptoms alone. It is the whole person's wellbeing regarding the individual physical, psycho-emotional, mental, and socio-spiritual wellbeing. The psychological understanding of illness and symptoms surpassed the biomedicine knowledge in delivering the whole person treatment that produces the quality of life. The modern holistic concept makes the role of psychologists in health sciences a growing concern that draws special attention as health expand from its bio-medicinal realm to the psychosocial-spiritual wellbeing. Unfortunately, the role of psychologists in health science remains unclear in many clinical practices in the country. None is more effective than assessing the patient's emotional sufferings and mental disharmony for the whole's quality of life and wellbeing. The psychological approach to health care is also an essential effective treatment plan and policy in clinical practices.

ИЗОЛЯЦИЯ КАК ЛИТЕРАТУРНЫЙ И ЖИЗНЕННЫЙ ОПЫТ ЧИТАТЕЛЯ: МЕТОДИЧЕСКИЙ АСПЕКТ

Introduction. The paper focuses on the pressing issues of today – the methodological insight into the experience of going through the situation of isolation in its various forms in the literature. The study addresses the concept of “isolation” in an interdisciplinary context: philosophical, social, psychological, cultural, and literary. The methodological aspect is fundamental: tools for the analysis and interpretation of literary texts related to the phenomenon of isolation are developed. The paper aims to identify relevant methodological approaches to the analysis and interpretation of works of the 20th-21st centuries touching upon the isolation issues. Materials and methods. The scientific prerequisite for writing this paper was the International Leiderman Readings in Yekaterinburg, the theme of which was “Isolation as a literary situation”. The methodological precondition and method of diagnosing the perception of the topic were a philosophical essay written by philology students of the South Ural Humanities Pedagogical University and Pedagogical Institute of Irkutsk State University during the period of self-isolation in 2020 and 2022. The multi-vector nature of the concept and the issue of isolation, as well as a variety of semantic facets of the isolation experience in students’ essays dictate a certain choice of literary texts for analysis and interpretation in literature lessons: forced isolation of a person as a form of experiment on him; forced social isolation caused by war; isolation of people due to the epidemic; and finally, psychological isolation of a modern teenager, generated by digital environment. The relevant issues are resolved through the teacher’s use of dialogue-based, reflexive technologies. Results. The study analyzes the cultural and sociological sources of the problem of isolation and indicates its types. The response of modern youth (future teachers of literature) to this problem is revealed and relevant aspects of its interpretation by readers are identified. The selection of texts and methodological technologies for working with the isolation problems in extracurricular reading lessons is carried out. Conclusion: The conclusion is made that it is necessary to familiarize young readers with the phenomenon of isolation in artistic, life, and social aspects. Immersion of the reading student in the literary experience of going through the isolation by heroes of books with reflexive and hermeneutic techniques and techniques of analysis and interpretation of texts actualizes their personal experience and emotional sufferings, thereby expanding their value world and experience of socialization.

Collaborative Legacy Building to Alleviate Emotional Pain and Suffering in Pediatric Cancer Patients: A Case Review.

Childhood cancer patients experience emotional hardship associated with their life-threatening diagnoses. Interdisciplinary team members working in pediatric cancer care can help alleviate physical pain and psychological suffering of children by facilitating collaborative legacy-building activities with patients and families. The contents of this article aim to support legacy building as a medium for emotional healing prior to the end of life. The authors use a case review to contextualize legacy-building projects and provide a comprehensive overview of methods and considerations for these initiatives.

Assessment and coping strategies for stress and depression among the terminally ill patients: Focus on cancer

The concept of psychological depressive symptoms affecting the terminally ill patient still stood as an unsolved mystery in many clinical practices. The psychological traumatic and depressive stressors are the factors responsible for destroying the quality of life and affected the terminally ill individual in the most degrading ways. Alongside the physical pain symptoms, the terminal ill experience is always accompanied by several unwanted mental disharmonies and emotional sufferings like toxins, mood disorder, trauma, and low self-esteem. The higher level of stress and depression determines the growth of tumors and cancer metastasis rate in any terminal diagnosis. This makes the assessment of the psychological non-pain symptoms essential alongside the physical pain symptoms. Failing to acknowledge the patient's traumatic experience and depressive stressors will make the treatment unproductive and increase suicidal activities.

Life Events and Adaptive Coping Approaches to Self-Management From the Perspectives of Hospitalized Cardiovascular Patients: A Qualitative Study.

Objectives: This study aimed to explore the association between hospitalized cardiovascular patients' life events and adaptive coping approaches to self-management.Methods: The study was a qualitative study that was conducted in a cardiology department of one affiliated university hospital in Hangzhou, China. Twenty-eight participants with cardiovascular diseases were recruited through a purposive sampling procedure. Semi-structured interviews were used to gain insights into adaptive coping approaches to self-management when living with different life events. Interviews were audio-recorded and transcribed, and the data were analyzed by thematic analysis.Results: Life events reported by hospitalized cardiovascular participants could be summarized in four categories: daily routines, life changes, life-threatening experiences, and emotional sufferings. The adaptive coping approaches were also summarized in four themes: decision-making, avoidance, consistent responses, and episodic responses.Conclusion: This study described essential insights into the mutual influences between various life events and adaptive coping approaches to self-management by a group of hospitalized cardiovascular patients. Participants coped with their problems flexibly by processing comprehensive information from various and unpredictable life events regarding the situations and contexts. While inequity was cumulated, psychological resilience was a vital mediator between stressful events and their responses. The study illuminated the importance of understanding context, situations, and experiences on how cardiovascular patients adapted to their self-management regimens.

Depressive disorder in academic and family structure in Vietnamese adolescents

The symptoms of depression are related to low academic achievement, suicidal ideation and cause emotional sufferings, fundamental impairments which can influence students' abilities to perform essential activities of daily living. This study conducted to examine the relationships between depression and not only academic performance but also family structure. This study used the Beck Depression Inventory-II to survey 1336 students from secondary and high schools in Hue province, Vietnam. The findings of our study showed that there were associations between levels of depression and academic performance. Students with good or excellent academic performance were more likely to increase depression than others. Besides, students who had divorced or separated parents were more likely to increase depression gradually than the others. Context: The symptoms of depression are related to low academic achievement, suicidal ideation and cause emotional sufferings, fundamental impairments which can influence students' abilities to perform essential activities of daily living. Aims: This study conducted to examine the relationships between depression and not only academic performance but also family structure. Methods and Material: This study used the Beck Depression Inventory-II to survey 1336 students from secondary and high schools in Hue province, Vietnam. Results: The findings of our study showed that there were associations between levels of depression and academic performance. Conclusions: Students with good or excellent academic performance were more likely to increase depression than others. Besides, students who had divorced or separated parents were more likely to increase depression gradually than the others.

Exploring the Impact of Father’s Demise among Female Adolescents

The present study is intended to explore the impact brought about by parental demise among female adolescents. Moreover, examining the societal role, particularly the part played by the family system, after the death of a father and its effect on an adolescent’s life perception. Data was collected through in-depth interviews from 4 adolescents aged between 17-19 years, accumulated by a purposive sampling method and analyzed through interpretative phenomenological analysis. Findings demonstrated that adolescents who encountered the loss of their fathers face numerous problems impacting their emotional, cognitive, and behavioural well-being. The absence of parents brings a drastic change in an entire life affecting their mental health leading to low self-esteem, depression, anxiety as well as emotional sufferings. The major issues highlighted during the study were life disruption, financial crisis, lack of support in terms of both financial and emotional aspects from extended family. Moreover, the family system played a detrimental role in the adversities encountered. Furthermore, participants stressed that children having both parents attained support, attention, emotional bonding, and encountered fewer social, psychological, and emotional issues. They constantly grieved the parental loss and faced a lack of care, that significantly affected their well-being. These findings help in understanding the problems associated with lack of parental bonding in connection with father’s loss, whereas its long-lasting impact spread throughout one's life.

Dopaminergic Regulation of Reward System Connectivity Underpins Pain and Emotional Suffering in Migraine.

PurposeIt has been suggested that reward system dysfunction may account for emotion and pain suffering in migraine. However, there is a lack of evidence whether the altered reward system connectivity is directly associated with clinical manifestations, including negative affect and ictal pain severity and, at the molecular level, the dopamine (DA) D2/D3 receptors (D2/3Rs) signaling implicated in encoding motivational and emotional cues.Patients and MethodsWe acquired resting-state functional MRI from interictal episodic migraine (EM) patients and age-matched healthy controls, as well as positron emission tomography (PET) with [11C]raclopride, a selective radiotracer for DA D2/3Rs, from a subset of these participants. The nucleus accumbens (NAc) was seeded to measure functional connectivity (FC) and DA D2/3Rs availability based on its essential involvement in pain-related aversive/reward functions. Associations of the brain measures with positive/negative affect and ictal pain severity were also assessed.ResultsCompared with controls, the EM group showed weaker right NAc connectivity with areas implicated in pain and emotional regulation, such as the amygdala, rostral anterior cingulate cortex, hippocampus, and thalamus; but showed stronger left NAc connectivity with the dorsolateral prefrontal cortex and lingual gyrus. Moreover, among the altered NAc connectivities, only right NAc-amygdala connectivity was inversely correlated with DA D2/3Rs availability in migraine patients (diagnostic group-by-D2/3Rs interaction p < 0.007). At a clinical level, such weaker NAc-amygdala connectivity was associated with lower interictal positive affect and greater ictal pain severity over the head and facial extension area (pain area and intensity number summation, PAINS).ConclusionTogether, our findings suggest that altered reward system connectivity, specifically between the NAc and amygdala, might be affected by endogenous DA D2/3Rs signaling, and such process might be a neural mechanism that underlies emotional and pain suffering in episodic migraineurs.