Feelings Of Emptiness Research Articles

Investigating the Transdiagnostic Value of Subjective Emptiness

It is common for people with mental health problems to report feelings of emptiness. However, the association of subjective emptiness with specific disorders and its unique role within dimensional taxonomies of personality pathology is not well understood. The present study assesses the transdiagnostic value of subjective emptiness using a recently developed self-report measure in a mixed sample of 157 participants. The authors investigated the associations of emptiness with clinically relevant variables, including borderline personality disorder symptoms, depression, anxiety, suicidal ideation, and suicide attempts. Subjective emptiness showed strong positive relationships with all criteria. Regression models controlling for impairments of personality functioning, maladaptive personality traits, and current symptom distress supported the incremental validity of emptiness for specific disorder constructs and suicidality. These findings indicate that emptiness represents a facet of psychopathology that can be particularly useful for the classification of mental disorders, and in particular internalizing disorders involving self-dysfunction and detachment.

Understanding chronic feelings of emptiness in borderline personality disorder: a qualitative study

BackgroundChronic feelings of emptiness are significant in the lives of people with Borderline Personality Disorder (BPD). Feelings of emptiness have been linked to impulsivity, self-harm, suicidal behaviour and impaired psychosocial function. This study aimed to understand the experience of chronic emptiness, the cognitions, emotions and behaviours linked to emptiness, and clarify the differences between chronic emptiness and hopelessness, loneliness and depression.MethodsThis study interviewed people (n = 15) with BPD and used a template analysis qualitative approach to understand their experiences of chronic feelings of emptiness.ResultsChronic feelings of emptiness were experienced as a feeling of disconnection from both self and others, and a sense of numbness and nothingness which was frequent and reduced functional capacity. Feelings of purposelessness and unfulfillment were closely associated with emptiness, and most participants experienced emptiness as distressing. Responses to feelings of emptiness varied, with participants largely engaging in either impulsive strategies to tolerate feelings of emptiness or distracting by using adaptive behaviours. Most participants distinguished chronic feelings of emptiness from loneliness, hopelessness, dissociation, and depression.ConclusionsFeelings of chronic emptiness are an important and challenging symptom of BPD which require clinical intervention. Strengthening identity, sense of purpose and vocational and relationship functioning may reduce the intensity of emptiness.

Associations between borderline personality disorder features and the risk of first onset major depressive disorder: Findings from a 2-year longitudinal study in a sample of first-year university students in China

Background: The objective of this study was to estimate the associations between specific BPD features on the risk of first onset MDD over 2 years and to investigate the roles of sex, baseline depression and anxiety in the associations. Methods: A longitudinal study of Chinese first-year university students aged between 15 and 24 years and who did not have a lifetime MDD (n = 7,627). Random effect logistic regression modeling was used to estimate the associations between specific BPD features, the number of BPD features, and the risk of MDD. Results: The feeling of emptiness (OR = 2.14, 95% CI: 1.57, 2.92), paranoid/ dissociation (OR = 2.01, 95% CI: 1.43, 2.82), affective instability (OR = 1.71, 95% CI: 1.22, 2.39) conferred significant risk of MDD. Baseline depression and anxiety interacted with unstable relationship, identity disturbance and paranoid/disassociation in relation to the risk of MDD. A higher number of BPD features is associated with an increased risk of MDD. Limitations: Data collection relied on self-report. Thus, recall and reporting biases are possible. Due to the pandemic public health restrictions, we had to change the method of data collection at second annual assessment, which resulted in a lower response rate (66.5%). Conclusions: Mental health professionals should pay attention to the presence of BPD features in youth and young adults, as they are at high risk of developing a MDD in a short time period, and the risk increases with the number of BDP features.

Understanding the typical presentation of emptiness: a study of lived-experience

Background Persistent feelings of emptiness, while poorly understood, characterise a range of mental health difficulties. Aims To investigate the meaning of emptiness from the perspective of those with lived experience. Method 240 participants detailed their experiences of emptiness in a survey. Inductive thematic analysis was performed to produce a detailed description of emptiness and a definition of its typical manifestation. In a follow up survey, 178 individuals with lived experience of emptiness rated the accuracy of this definition. Results Nine components of emptiness were identified. These were used to produce a definition of the typical manifestation of emptiness, which highlighted a sense of going through life mechanically, purposelessly and numbly, with a psychological and bodily felt inner void, together with a sense of disconnectedness from others, and of not contributing to an unchanged but distant and remote world. Participants in the second survey judged this definition as highly accurate. Conclusions First person accounts of emptiness point to an integrated experience concerning the relationship between the self, others, and the external world more generally. Therefore, emptiness can be conceptualised as an existential feeling; a background orientation structuring the way in which the self relates to the interpersonal and impersonal world.

Association of Borderline Personality Disorder Criteria With Suicide Attempts Among US Adults

Rates of suicide are increasing. Although borderline personality disorder (BPD) and other psychiatric disorders are associated with suicide, there is a dearth of epidemiological research on associations between BPD and suicide attempts (SAs). Delineating the SA risk associated with BPD and its specific criteria in a nationally representative sample of individuals could inform recognition and intervention efforts for SAs. To examine the association of a BPD diagnosis and specific BPD criteria with SAs in US adults. This cross-sectional study analyzed data from the National Epidemiological Survey on Alcohol and Related Conditions-III (NESARC-III), a psychiatric epidemiological survey of noninstitutionalized US adults aged 18 or older conducted from April 2012 to June 2013. Eligible adults were randomly selected from households within census-defined counties or groups of counties. Data were analyzed from December 2020 to January 2021. Prevalence of Diagnostic and Statistical Manual of Mental Disorders (Fifth Edition) psychiatric and personality disorders, BPD and its specific criteria, SAs, and adverse childhood experiences (ACEs), as assessed by structured diagnostic or clinical interviews; prevalence is expressed as weighted means. Multivariable-adjusted logistic regression was used to compare the risk of lifetime and past-year SAs by BPD diagnosis and by each specific BPD criterion. Analyses were adjusted for demographic and clinical factors, including psychiatric comorbidity, age at BPD onset, and ACEs. Of 36 309 respondents, 20 442 (56.3%) were women and 52.9% were non-Hispanic White; the mean (SD) age was 45.6 (17.5) years. The prevalence (SE) of lifetime and past-year SAs among participants with a lifetime diagnosis of BPD based on original NESARC-III diagnostic codes was 22.7% (0.8%) (adjusted odds ratio [AOR], 8.40; 95% CI, 7.53-9.37) and 2.1% (0.2%) (AOR, 11.77; 95% CI, 7.86-17.62), respectively. With use of diagnostic codes requiring 5 BPD criteria to meet social-occupational dysfunction, prevalence (SE) of lifetime and past-year SAs was 30.4% (1.1%) (AOR, 9.15; 95% CI, 7.99-10.47) and 3.2% (0.4%) (AOR, 11.42; 95% CI, 7.71-16.91), respectively. After excluding the BPD criterion of self-injurious behavior (to eliminate criterion overlap), the prevalence (SE) of lifetime and past-year SAs was 28.1% (1.1%) (AOR, 7.61; 95% CI, 6.67-8.69) and 3.0% (0.4%) (AOR, 9.83; 95% CI, 6.63-14.55), respectively. In analyses adjusting for sociodemographic variables, psychiatric disorders, age at BPD onset, and ACEs, BPD diagnosis and specific BPD criteria of self-injurious behaviors and chronic feelings of emptiness were significantly associated with increased odds of lifetime SAs (BPD diagnosis: AOR, 2.10; 95% CI, 1.79-2.45; self-injurious behaviors: AOR, 24.28; 95 CI, 16.83-32.03; feelings of emptiness: AOR, 1.58; 95% CI, 1.16-2.14) and past-year SAs (BPD diagnosis: AOR, 11.42; 95% CI, 7.71-16.91; self-injurious behaviors: AOR, 19.32; 95% CI, 5.22-71.58; feelings of emptiness: AOR, 1.99; 95% CI, 1.08-3.66). In analysis with BPD criteria simultaneously entered (excluding self-injurious behavior), chronic feelings of emptiness were significantly associated with increased odds of lifetime SAs (AOR, 1.66; 95% CI, 1.23-2.24) and past-year SAs (AOR, 2.45; 95% CI, 1.18-5.08). In a national sample of adults, after adjusting for demographic and clinical variables, a BPD diagnosis and the specific BPD criteria of self-injurious behaviors and chronic emptiness were significantly associated with increased SA risk. Although BPD is a complex heterogeneous diagnosis, the results of this study suggest that the criteria of self-injurious behaviors and chronic feelings of emptiness should be routinely considered in suicide risk assessment.

The effects of the covid 19 pandemic on the elderly with depression

IntroductionDepression, as a psychiatric entity, has a number of emotional components. These are mainly known among patients over the age of 65: sadness, physical and mental exhaustion, irritability, feeling of emptiness and loneliness.ObjectivesThe main objective of this study is to detect if the effects of the Covid 19 pandemic over 65 years of age such as fear, excessive anxiety, lack of motivation, uncertainty and environmental changes, isolation (resulting in sleep disorders, appetite and attention) caused the exacerbation of depression.MethodsThis study included a total number of 126 patients, each over 65, hospitalized at the Psychiatric Hospital “Elisabeta Doamna” in Galati in the context of the COVID-19 pandemic. They were diagnosed with depression, according to ICD-10 and the Hamilton scale.ResultsAll data obtained were centralized and used to detect whether, in Galați, the lockdown impacted the number of admissions of people over 65, diagnosed with depression, with an average age of 68,62. There is an increased incidence of female patients (75%), thus reporting an odds ratio of 3:1. The incidence of cases reported during the months of presentation is as follows: January (24%), February (28.8%), March (14.4%), April (3.2%), May (5.6%), June (23.2%).ConclusionsEnvironmental factors, unique in this situation, isolation, social distancing and changes in the daily routine, each associated with this global epidemiological crisis determinated a decrease of the number of depressive elderly admissions between March 15th and May 15th.

Immigrant Children's Adaptation

إذا تعود شخص ما على مكان ولد وترعرع فيه وتكيّف مع الاشخاص والبيئة من حوله وأصبح جزء لا يتجزأ منه، فان الامر يكون عسيرا لو انه اضطر الى مغادرة المكان وترك هؤلاء الناس وراءه. ان للهجرة، سواء كانت طوعية او اجبارية، تأثيرات سلبية قد يحتاج المهاجر الى سنين طويلة حتى ينسى اثارها وربما لن ينساها طوال حياته وبخاصة إذا كانت اضطرارية وسوف يحتاج الى من يمد له يد العون لينتشله من احساسه بالفراغ وعدم الاهمية والعزلة.
 ان جزء من طبيعة البشر العيش في مجتمعات اجتماعية ومتواصلة وليس العيش في معزل وكأبة. ان الاطفال المهاجرين هم أكثر الاشخاص تاثرا بمثل هذه الانتقالات ويرى الكاتب خوان فيليب هيريرا ان من واجب المجتمع الجديد الذي ينتقل اليه المهاجرون ان يتقبلهم ويساعدهم، لا ان يضع امامهم القوانين القاسية والمعرقلات الاخرى فهم محملين بالهموم اصلا وليسوا بحاجة الى المزيد من المتاعب وقلة الراحة. انه يرى ان الاهتمام بهؤلاء الاطفال واجب انساني حتى يستطيعوا التكيف بيئيا واجتماعيا ونفسيا مع مجتمعاتهم الجديدة.
 في مسرحية (الصبي المقلوب) يشعر خوانيتو، الطفل المهاجر، بالضياع في الأيام الأولى من وجوده في المدرسة الجديدة وأن كل شيء مقلوب بالنسبة له عندما انتقلت عائلته من المكسيك إلى سان فرانسيسكو. يروي المسرحي هيريرا، وهو مهاجر مكسيكي، للناس عن المواقف التي يعانيها خوانيتو ويدعوهم إلى مساعدته على إعادة الأمور الى نصابها الصحيح مرة أخرى.

Investigating the Transdiagnostic Value of Subjective Emptiness.

It is common for people with mental health problems to report feelings of emptiness. However, the association of subjective emptiness with specific disorders and its unique role within dimensional taxonomies of personality pathology is not well understood. The present study assesses the transdiagnostic value of subjective emptiness using a recently developed self-report measure in a mixed sample of 157 participants. The authors investigated the associations of emptiness with clinically relevant variables, including borderline personality disorder symptoms, depression, anxiety, suicidal ideation, and suicide attempts. Subjective emptiness showed strong positive relationships with all criteria. Regression models controlling for impairments of personality functioning, maladaptive personality traits, and current symptom distress supported the incremental validity of emptiness for specific disorder constructs and suicidality. These findings indicate that emptiness represents a facet of psychopathology that can be particularly useful for the classification of mental disorders, and in particular internalizing disorders involving self-dysfunction and detachment.

The Relationship between Religiosity and Empty Nest Syndrome in the Elderly

Empty nest syndrome is a description of feelings of emptiness or emptiness that can be indicated by empty feelings such as loss, sadness, depression that elderly people feel when their children leave the house where they grew up. The factor that is thought to contribute to the height or the size of the empty nest syndrome is religiosity. Religiosity is a state within the individual where the situation can influence the daily actions and behavior of Muslims to conform to Islamic teachings and practices. The purpose of this study was to determine the relationship between religiosity and empty nest syndrome in the elderly in Larangan Village, Sidoarjo. The subjects in this study amounted to 157 people with Non-Probability sampling technique with quota sampling method. Subject criteria are elderly who are over 60 years old, are in the prohibition market area, Sidoarjo, and have empty nest symptoms such as loneliness, emptiness in married life. Methods of data collection using the scale of religiosity and empty nest syndrome scale. Data analysis used product moment correlation data analysis with the results obtained (r = -0.631; = 0.000). This shows that there is a negative relationship between religiosity and empty nest syndrome, which means that the higher the religiosity, the lower the empty nest syndrome, and the lower the religiosity, the higher the empty nest syndrome.

Measuring Possessions as Extensions of Self and Links to Significant Others in Hoarding: the Possessions as Others and Self Inventory

This paper presents the development and validation of the Possessions as Others and Self Inventory (POSI). The POSI is a 23-item self-report measure that assesses the extent to which possessions are perceived to be extensions of self and significant others in hoarding disorder. In Study 1 (N = 246 community participants, M age = 33.70), exploratory factor analysis suggested the retention of a six-factor solution consistent with the notion that links between possessions, self, and others have numerous dimensions. Confirmatory factor analysis in Study 2 (N = 307 community participants, M age = 35.13) supported the consistency of the six-factor structure. Convergent validity was buttressed by strong correlations between POSI subscales and hoarding symptomology and beliefs. Following disposal of possessions, a perceived feeling of emptiness within the self appears to be particularly pertinent to hoarding behavior.

Social isolation and loneliness in old age: Exploring their role in mental and physical health.

The current review has the ultimate scope to accurately define social isolation and loneliness while highlighting the serious repercussions on health and behavior. Daily hundreds of people across the globe report suffering from social isolation and loneliness; an over whelming feeling of emptiness, unworthiness and personal failure. Human beings are social species that have the need to nurture reliable and secure social settings to survive. Simultaneously, trustworthy social relationships are critical for mental and physical wellbeing whereas impaired social interactions can lead to social isolation and loneliness. In an attempt to tease out and elucidate salient problems and issues, we seek to critically compose studies, views and issues from a variety of perspectives by providing opposing standpoints and conversational voices instead of intensifying traditional narratives and dominant discourses. Few aspects of social isolation and loneliness are untouched by scientific attention. The role of these concepts in old age is no exception and arguably has a tremendous impact in multiple aspects of life. Social isolation and loneliness are two distinctive concepts that have been identified as risk factors for wellbeing, health and everyday functioning in profound ways. Therefore, we aimed to examine the associations with various psychiatric disorders for instance anxiety, depression, psychotic disorder and Alzheimer's disease as well as with a variety of physical disorders such as cardiovascular diseases, cholesterol and autoimmune diseases. Given the alarming records from healthcare which depict an almost two-fold rise in healthcare attendance, we attempt to assemble the proposed interventions through an in-depth review of the current literature available and provide the incentive for constructive and collective thought. To our theoretical understanding, in order to better comprehend these psychosocial concepts and deliver timely and more effective personalized interventions to those in need, it is of paramount importance to thoroughly examine the identified causal links. However, further research is required for the reduction or the deletion of the undesired effects.

The unbearable dispersal of being: Narrativity and personal identity in borderline personality disorder

Borderline personality disorder (BPD) is characterized by severe disturbances in a subject’s sense of identity. Persons with BPD suffer from recurrent feelings of emptiness, a lack of self-feeling, and painful incoherence, especially regarding their own desires, how they see and feel about others, their life goals, or the roles to which they commit themselves. Over the past decade or so, clinical psychologists, psychotherapists, and psychiatrists have turned to philosophical conceptions of selfhood to better understand the borderline-specific ruptures in the sense of identity, which are frequently associated with severe affective instability and turbulence in interpersonal relationships. Fuchs (2007) has suggested that these disturbances in self-experience can best be described and explained by using notions—widely discussed in philosophy and psychology—of narrativity and narrative identity. On such a narrative view, key features of BPD present significant modifications of proto-narrative structures and inhibit the development of a narrative identity, resulting in a disturbed sense of identity. Although the role of narrativity in BPD has been acknowledged by many researchers, some have voiced dissatisfaction with what they take to be limitations of a narrativistic understanding of the disorders of identity characterizing BPD, and have proposed alternative, allegedly non-narrativistic, accounts. In this paper, we critically examine an example of the latter, viz. Gold and Kyratsous’ (2017) account of the person as an intrapersonal team reasoner. We defend a narrativistic understanding of BPD identity disorder against their objections. To this end, we propose a broader, and more finely-differentiated, concept of narrativity. On this account, four aspects of narrativity are distinguished, the disordering of which can affect those with BPD. As it turns out, our account implies that even Gold and Kyratsous—in order to ground their approach—must either make use of these aspects or propose an as-yet unarticulated alternative. This casts doubt upon whether their approach is non-narrativistic after all.

Gaming and Grieving: Digital Games as Means of Confronting and Coping with Death

Abstract This paper explores structural similarities between playing a digital game and experiencing grief. The digital game Mandagon evokes a sense of loss through its game environment of grey mountainous landscapes, broken wooden scaffolds, and Tibetan temples and prayer flags in states of disrepair. It elicits feelings of disorientation and dependency as players repeatedly fall from scaffolds but ascend by using lifts or finding air bubble streams underwater. It encompasses terrestrial, corporeal, and cosmic crossings as players move through air, land, and water, as they neither inhabit nor encounter a human body, and they cross various cosmic thresholds through the course of the game. For players struggling with grief, it validates and normalizes feelings of emptiness, loneliness, and vulnerability in the wake of death and loss.

NSSI (Nonsuicidal Self-Injury) pada Dewasa Muda di Jakarta: Studi fenomenologi interpretatif

Studi di Indonesia tentang perilaku menyakiti diri sendiri dengan motif tidak bunuh diri (non-suicidal self-injury; NSSI) berdasarkan penghayatan pelaku belum banyak dilakukan. Padahal hal ini penting untuk memperkaya pemahaman akan kemunculan NSSI serta strategi penanganan klinisnya. Penelitian ini bertujuan untuk memahami pengalaman dan pemaknaan individu yang melakukan NSSI. Dengan menggunakan pendekatan fenomenologis, wawancara dilakukan pada empat perempuan dewasa muda (usia 21–22 tahun) di Jakarta yang melakukan NSSI yang dimulai pada usia yang berbeda-beda. Analisis fenomenologis interpretatif mengidentifikasi adanya lima tema dalam pengalaman mereka: perasaan lega, sembunyi–sembunyi, tanpa kesadaran penuh, berulang, dan kecenderungan bunuh diri. Semakin lama individu melakukan NSSI, maka semakin besar kemungkinannya untuk melakukan bunuh diri. Keempat partisipan memaknai pengalaman NSSI-nya sebagai cara untuk mengatasi perasaan hampa dan emosi-emosi negatif. Penelitian ini memberi informasi yang diharapkan bermanfaat bagi upaya pencegahan dan penanganan kasus NSSI.

Association of Borderline Personality Disorder Criteria With Suicide Attempts

Borderline personality disorder (BPD) has been identified as a strong risk factor for suicidal behavior, including suicide attempts. Delineating specific features that increase risk could inform interventions. To examine factors associated with prospectively observed suicide attempts among participants in the Collaborative Longitudinal Study of Personality Disorders (CLPS), over 10 years of follow-up, with a focus on BPD and BPD criteria. The CLPS is a multisite, naturalistic, prospective study of adult participants with 4 personality disorders (PDs) and a comparison group of adults with major depressive disorder and minimal PD features. Participants were all treatment-seeking and recruited from inpatient, partial, and outpatient treatment settings across New York, New York, Boston, Massachusetts, New Haven, Connecticut, and Providence, Rhode Island. A total of 733 participants were recruited at baseline, with 701 completing at least 1 follow-up assessment. The cohorts were recruited from September 1996 through April 1998 and September 2001 through August 2002. Data for this study using this follow-up sample (N = 701) were analyzed between March 2019 and August 2020. Participants were assessed annually using semistructured diagnostic interviews and a variety of self-report measures for up to 10 years. Multiple logistic regression analyses were used to examine baseline demographic and clinical risk factors, including BPD and individual BPD criteria, of suicide attempt assessed over 10 years of prospective follow-up. Of the 701 participants, 447 (64%) identified as female, 488 (70%) as White, 527 (75%) as single, 433 (62%) were unemployed, and 512 (73%) reported at least some college education. Of all disorders, BPD emerged as the most robust factor associated with prospectively observed suicide attempt(s) (odds ratio [OR], 4.18; 95% CI, 2.68-6.52), even after controlling for significant demographic (sex, employment, and education) and clinical (childhood sexual abuse, alcohol use disorder, substance use disorder, and posttraumatic stress disorder) factors. Among BPD criteria, identity disturbance (OR, 2.21; 95% CI, 1.37-3.56), chronic feelings of emptiness (OR, 1.63; 95% CI, 1.03-2.57), and frantic efforts to avoid abandonment (OR, 1.93; 95% CI, 1.17-3.16) emerged as significant independent factors associated with suicide attempt(s) over follow-up, when covarying for other significant factors and BPD criteria. In the multisite, longitudinal study of adults with personality disorders, identity disturbance, chronic feelings of emptiness, and frantic efforts to avoid abandonment were significantly associated with suicide attempts. Identity disturbance, chronic feelings of emptiness, and frantic efforts to avoid abandonment may be clinically overlooked features of BPD in context of suicide risk assessment. In light of the high rates of BPD diagnostic remission, our findings suggest that these criteria should be independently assessed and targeted for further study as suicide risk factors.

Nursel Duruel'in "Nereye" Adlı Öyküsünde Göç, Kentleşme ve Bireyin Yalnızlığı

1980 kuşağı öykücülerinden Nursel Duruel, öykülerinde genellikle insanların kayıpları, yalnızlığı ve çocukluk hatıralarının saflığı üzerinde durur. Siyasî rejimlerin ve yaşam standartlarının değişmesi ile kırsal kesimlerde iş imkânlarının azalması ve neticesinde köyden kente ve ülke dışına doğru yoğun bir göç hareketinin başlaması Nursel Duruel’in öykülerinde bolca yer verdiği temalardan biridir. Göçmen sorunlarını, bireyin kıyı köşede kalmışlığını, kendine bir mesken edinememesini, yalnızlığını ve özlemlerini duru bir dil ile hikâyelerine konu edinen Duruel, sosyolojik gerçekliklerden de uzak durmaz. Modernleşme adı altında kentleşmenin yol açtığı dört duvar arasına hapsolma hâlini karakterleri üzerinden verir; ideolojik bir amaç gütmeden düşüncelerini yansıtır. Öykü kahramanlarının hayat şartları nedeni ile gerçekleştirdikleri göçler şehirlerin nüfusunu artırırken buna paralel olarak bireyin yalnızlığını da çoğaltır. Bu çalışmada Nursel Duruel’in “Nereye” adlı öyküsündeki kahramanlar üzerinden ataerkil yaşamın hüküm sürdüğü bir ailede babanın ölümü ile bireylerin dağılması ve göç olgusu ele alınmaya çalışılacaktır. Göçler sebebi ile kentleşmenin artması, buna ek olarak şehirlerin kalabalıklaşması ve bireyin doğal yaşamdan uzaklaştıkça içine düştüğü bunalımlar üzerinde durulacaktır. Aileyi bir arada tutan, varlığı ile güven veren babanın yokluğunun yarattığı boşluk duygusu kahramanlar üzerinden irdelenmeye çalışılacaktır. Yalın ve etkili bir dil ile öykü evrenini oluşturan Duruel’in bireyi merkeze alarak kurduğu dünyada, modern yaşam içerisinde kaybolan insanların yaşamlarını anlamlandırma gayretleri de bu çalışmanın kapmasına girmektedir.

Spiritual Poverty in Islam (1): Its Harms from the Perspective of the Holy Qur’an and Hadiths

The current era, despite the many advances in communication, technology, scientific and economic development that has taken place in it, not only has not brought security and mental and spiritual peace for human beings; rather, it has added to the mental pressures, worries, anxieties, and inseparable material and worldly attachments. Some people in this period have neglected their origin and have become confused. If a person neglects the spiritual dimension of his existence and forgets the truth of his existence and his originality, he will suffer from spiritual poverty. Spiritual poverty with its harmful damages has many adverse effects on the spiritual life of man and causes anxiety, worry and stress for him and endangers his mental and psychological security. According to the teachings of religion and Islam, the source of all these psychological anomalies and disturbed memories is cutting off from God Almighty and unbelief. Some people spend all their purpose and motivation on physical affairs and they are unaware of their spiritual knowledge and spiritual dimension. This means that if a person does not communicate with his Creator, he will experience turmoil in his life, inner worries and mental illnesses. The present article, using a descriptive-analytical method and relying on Qur’anic and narrative documents, while explaining the concept of spiritual poverty, has analyzed its most important harms. The research findings indicate that the most important harms of spiritual poverty include: feelings of emptiness and depression, aimlessness and meaninglessness, anxiety, despair and hopelessness and torment in the hereafter.

At the Junction of Clinical and Developmental Science: Associations of Borderline Identity Disturbance Symptoms With Identity Formation Processes in Adolescence

Developmental scientists describe the role confusion that can occur for adolescents as they are forming a personal identity. Clinical psychologists describe low self-worth, lack of self-clarity, feelings of emptiness, and dissociation as the key elements of identity disturbance, and they link these to borderline personality disorder. In this study, the authors aimed to work at the juncture of these approaches by considering interrelations between four elements of identity disturbance, typical identity formation processes reflective of identity commitment and confusion, and borderline features. Australian youth (N = 505, 63% female and aged 12-20 years) recruited from clinical and community settings reported on identity commitment, exploration and reconsideration, four elements of identity disturbance, and borderline features. Identity confusion (especially reconsideration) and disturbance were associated with elevated borderline symptoms. Emptiness stood out as the strongest correlate of borderline symptoms. Youth reporting greater emptiness were nearly twice as likely to report a high borderline symptom profile.

Living with pathological narcissism: a qualitative study

BackgroundResearch into the personality trait of narcissism have advanced further understanding of the pathological concomitants of grandiosity, vulnerability and interpersonal antagonism. Recent research has established some of the interpersonal impacts on others from being in a close relationship with someone having such traits of pathological narcissism, but no qualitative studies exist. Individuals with pathological narcissism express many of their difficulties of identity and emotion regulation within the context of significant interpersonal relationships thus studying these impacts on others is warranted.MethodWe asked the relatives of people high in narcissistic traits (indexed by scoring above a cut-off on a narcissism screening measure) to describe their relationships (N = 436; current romantic partners [56.2%]; former romantic partners [19.7%]; family members [21.3%]). Participants were asked to describe their relative and their interactions with them. Verbatim responses were thematically analysed.ResultsParticipants described ‘grandiosity’ in their relative: requiring admiration, showing arrogance, entitlement, envy, exploitativeness, grandiose fantasy, lack empathy, self-importance and interpersonal charm. Participants also described ‘vulnerability’ of the relative: contingent self-esteem, hypersensitivity and insecurity, affective instability, emptiness, rage, devaluation, hiding the self and victimhood. These grandiose and vulnerable characteristics were commonly reported together (69% of respondents). Participants also described perfectionistic (anankastic), vengeful (antisocial) and suspicious (paranoid) features. Instances of relatives childhood trauma, excessive religiosity and substance abuse were also described.ConclusionsThese findings lend support to the importance of assessing the whole dimension of the narcissistic personality, as well as associated personality patterns. On the findings reported here, the vulnerable aspect of pathological narcissism impacts others in an insidious way given the core deficits of feelings of emptiness and affective instability. These findings have clinical implications for diagnosis and treatment in that the initial spectrum of complaints may be misdiagnosed unless the complete picture is understood. Living with a person with pathological narcissism can be marked by experiencing a person who shows large fluctuations in affect, oscillating attitudes and contradictory needs.

The Feeling of Emptiness: A Review of a Complex Subjective Experience.

A feeling of emptiness is commonly encountered in clinical practice, but it is poorly understood, with incongruent approaches to its definition and possible role in various disorders. This review examines the conceptualization of the feeling of emptiness and its place in psychopathology. We found an imbalance between theoretical approaches to this phenomenon and empirical research, and argue that more studies using adequate assessment tools are needed. Based on our literature review, we propose that a feeling of emptiness is a complex, negative emotional state that is experienced in different ways by different individuals. This feeling includes a physical or bodily component, a component of aloneness or social disconnectedness, and a component of a deep sense of personal unfulfillment or lack of purpose. The feeling of emptiness is related to other emotional states (dysphoria, boredom, loneliness, and numbness) and overlaps to some extent with them. Although the feeling of emptiness is most often considered in the context of borderline personality disorder, it is also encountered in depression, narcissistic personality disorder, and schizophrenia spectrum disorders, with its features potentially varying between different conditions. The feeling of emptiness may lead to nonsuicidal self-injury and may also have an important relationship with suicidality. We conclude by offering suggestions for further research, emphasizing a need to refine the multidimensional conceptualization of the feeling of emptiness and to better understand its manifestations and relationships with other emotions within various forms of psychopathology.