Feeling States Research Articles

Chapter 3 - Alexithymia

Humans are highly adept at differentiating, regulating, and responding to their emotions. At the core of all these functions is emotional awareness: the conscious feeling states that are central to human mental life. Disrupted emotional awareness-a subclinical construct commonly referred to as alexithymia-is present in a range of psychiatric and neurological disorders and can have a deleterious impact on functional outcomes and treatment response. This chapter is a selective review of the current state of the science on alexithymia. We focus on two separate but related issues: (i) the functional deficits associated with alexithymia and what they reveal about the importance of emotional awareness for shaping normative human functioning, and (ii) the neural correlates of alexithymia and what they can inform us about the biological bases of emotional awareness. Lastly, we outline challenges and opportunities for alexithymia research, focusing on measurement issues and the potential utility of formal computational models of emotional awareness for advancing the fields of clinical and affective science.

Affective forecasting: A selective relationship with working memory for emotion.

Affective forecasting (AF), the ability to predict one's future feelings, is important for decision making. We posit that AF entails the ability to maintain and evaluate an emotional feeling state, and thus requires affective working memory (AWM; Mikels & Reuter-Lorenz, 2019). To test this hypothesis, a series of studies investigated whether individual differences in AWM are related to AF ability. In the first study, we document that measures of AWM and AF are positively related, whereas an analogous measure of visual working memory is unrelated to AF in separate groups of participants. Two further within-group studies (1 preregistered) demonstrate that maintenance of affective information predicts AF performance, whereas maintenance of brightness information does not. Further, 2 additional measures of visual working memory (Corsi block-tapping and change detection) did not independently predict AF ability. Taken together the results demonstrate a reliable and selective relationship between AWM and AF, suggesting that AWM is a separable working memory subsystem and an elemental capacity that contributes to the type of higher-order emotional processes involved in AF. (PsycInfo Database Record (c) 2021 APA, all rights reserved).

Countertransference types and their relation to rupture and repair in the alliance

Background Ruptures in the alliance are co-constructed by clients and therapists, reflecting an interaction between their respective personality configurations [Safran, J. D., & Muran, J. C. (2000). Negotiating the therapeutic alliance: A relational treatment guide. Guilford Press]. In order to work effectively with ruptures, therapists should be aware of their own feeling states, acknowledging the subjectivity of their perceptions [Safran, J. D. (2002). Brief relational psychoanalytic treatment. Psychoanalytic Dialogues, 12(2), 171–195. https://doi.org/10.1080/10481881209348661]. Lack of such awareness may be a product of countertransference (CT), which has been shown to be inversely related to outcome. However, when effectively managed, CT contributes to positive outcome [Hayes, J. A., Gelso, C. J., Goldberg, S., & Kivlighan, D. M. (2018). Countertransference management and effective psychotherapy: Meta-analytic findings. Psychotherapy, 55(4), 496–507. https://doi.org/10.1037/pst0000189]. Objectives: The present study examined the associations between types of CT and therapists’ reports of ruptures and resolutions. Method: Data were collected from 27 therapists, who treated 67 clients in yearlong psychodynamic psychotherapy. CT patterns were assessed based on therapists’ Core Conflictual Relationship Themes with their parents, which were repeated in narratives about their clients [Tishby, O., & Wiseman, H. (2014). Types of countertransference dynamics and their impact on the client–therapist relationship. Psychotherapy Research, 24(3), 360–375. https://doi.org/10.1080/10503307.2014.893068]. Results: Negative CT patterns were associated with more ruptures and less resolution. Positive patterns predicted resolution when the therapists repeated positive patterns with parents, but predicted ruptures when they tried to “repair” negative patterns with the parents. These results point to the importance of therapists’ awareness of their CT in order to deal effectively with ruptures and facilitate resolution.

Brain Electrical Activity Mapping (Beam) on Trait Anxiety among Malaysian Chinese Children

Woefully, the twenty-first century is described as an era of anxiety (Malcolm, 2015; Karas, 2013). In fact, the increasing prevalence rate of anxiety disorder has afflicted children at alarming rates nowadays. However, early onset of childhood anxiety is still underestimated. Consistent and intense feeling of fear had affected them in various aspects like emotions, behaviours and cognitive functions throughout their developmental stage (Bittner et al., 2007; Pine, Cohen, Gurley, Brook, & Ma, 1998; Woodward & Fergusson, 2001). Without proper early intervention, children are at risk for anxiety disorders with more severe anxiety symptoms when they are growing up. In order to get rid of the elevating of prevalence rate for anxiety, understanding the etiology of the onset of anxiety should be given more concern. In fact, this Biopsychosocial model views anxiety disorders as the products of biological aspects (gene and brain mechanism), psychological aspect (beliefs, behavior, coping skills) and social aspect (environmental factor). Among these three aspects, biological attributed vulnerabilities formed the first anxious personality in children since birth and reduced their resilience towards psychological and social stressors later on in their life (Averill, 2015). For instance, trait anxiety, the prolong state of anxious feeling is much more impactful for children compared to state anxiety as this inborn anxious personality shaped the first default biological vulnerability to fear. Hight trait anxiety level be adopted by the individual and form anxious personality in children since birth (Miu et al., 2009; Miclea, Albu & Ciuca, 2009). Keywords: Brain Electrical Activity Mapping (BEAM); Children; Chinese; Malaysia; Trait anxiety; Quantitative Electroencephalogram (qEEG)

Is War Good for The United States: A Comparative Look at The U.S. and Ancient Rome Between Times of War and Conflict and the Economic Implications on Economic Well Being and Employment During Times of Peace Versus Conflict

“War is an ugly thing, but not the ugliest of things: the decayed and degraded state of moral and patriotic feeling which thinks that nothing is worth a war, is much worse. This research analyzes existing data to review the impact on unemployment in the U.S. following each conflict and war it has been involved in. There is a comparison drawn to the Roman Economy and its dependence on war to and the economy of the U.S. and the causes of its ability to have economic success and the impact on unemployment of U.S. workers as a result.

Object-Oriented Diaspora Sensibilities, Disidentification, and Ghostly Performance

Object-Oriented Diaspora Sensibilities, Disidentification, and Ghostly Performance

The experiences of cancer patients within the material hospital environment: Three ways that materiality is affective

Improving the patient experience is widely recognised as an important goal in the delivery of high-quality healthcare. This study contributes to this goal with a particular focus on the role of the material hospital environment for patients being treated for cancer. Extending the burgeoning literature utilising materialist theoretical approaches in social science and medicine, we report on qualitative data with 18 participants who had received cancer treatment from one UK hospital. Our analysis offers a typology of ways in which the material hospital environment is affective: through patients' direct intra-actions with nonhuman materiality; through providing shared spaces within which human-human assemblages are actualised; and through being the material component of the practices of treatment. Within each process in this typology, the analysis highlights how the affective feeling states which play a critical role in patient wellbeing are in many ways contingent, fluid and context-sensitive. Amidst ambitions to improve the patient experience, these findings underline the significance of materialities of care and offer a broad explanatory typology with analytic and practical potential for healthcare staff, patient groups, architects and designers.

Effects and interaction of different interior material treatment and personal preference on psychological and physiological responses in living environment

Japanese cedar (Cryptomeria japonica) wood is widely used as a traditional construction material in Japan. The relationship between an individual’s perceived comfort level and a preference for Japanese cedar wood interiors is of interest. We compared volunteers’ physiological responses and subjective evaluations of wooden dwelling spaces with different wood materials: planed Japanese cedar lumber, or printed grain resin sheet overlay boards. Eighty-three subjects were asked to stay in each room for 30 min. We evaluated salivary stress markers, blood pressure, the profile of mood states-brief form (POMS), and a questionnaire that used the semantic differential method to evaluate the subjects’ feeling state for both rooms. The concentrations of the volatile organic compounds in both rooms were also quantified after the experiment. The results demonstrated that the subjects’ evaluation of each room was highly dependent on their preference; each room was evaluated more positively by subjects who preferred it. Although the subjects’ feelings were also influenced by their preference, the room with Japanese cedar did not elicit negative feelings, even from the subjects who disliked it. The subjects’ physiological responses were totally independent of their preferences. Their blood pressure decreased in the Japanese cedar room, and their salivary alpha-amylase activity was repressed in both rooms. These results indicated that the subjective evaluations were influenced in part by the subjects’ preferences, while their physiological responses were not affected. Regardless of which room the subjects preferred, the Japanese cedar room reduced the subjects’ blood pressure compared to the room with artificial materials.

Metatherapeutic processing supports the emergence of flourishing in psychotherapy.

Psychotherapy has primarily focused on ameliorating symptoms and psychopathology. This is in contrast to positive psychology, which has focused on bringing about what Keyes (2002) has called "flourishing." Accelerated experiential dynamic psychotherapy (AEDP) seeks to bridge the two traditions by both relieving suffering through processing painful negative emotions to completion and then going on to foster flourishing, in session and beyond, through a technique called metatherapeutic processing. After a brief summary of the AEDP approach, the aim of this article is to elaborate specifically on metatherapeutic processing, where a focus on savoring and exploring the positive affects that accompany the change process itself can set into motion an upward spiral of positive affect that broadens and builds the treatment's effectiveness. We provide a how-to primer on metatherapeutic processing as well as annotated transcript material from three cases to illustrate the application of the technique. We describe how metatherapeutic processing can organically foster, from the bottom-up, positive feeling states labeled transformational affects, such as gratitude, love, hope, curiosity, and zest, freeing up these vital energies that were latent within the client. We go on to propose that although metatherapeutic processing was conceived of within the framework of AEDP, it is a technique that can be integrated into a wide variety of psychotherapies, to activate flourishing in session and beyond. (PsycInfo Database Record (c) 2020 APA, all rights reserved).

ACUTE EFFECTS OF EXERGAMING ON URBAN MIDDLE SCHOOL CHILDREN'S AFFECTION BETWEEN SMALL-GROUP AND WHOLE-CLASS SETTINGS

PURPOSE: With the goal of developing effective exergaming programs at school sites, the present study investigated the differences in urban middle school children’s situational feeling states between small-group and whole-class settings. METHODS: Forty-seven participants (25 females; MBMI = 24.3 kg/m2, SD = 3.1) completed two separate 15-minute exergaming sessions on the same day: (1) Xbox One Kinect Just Dance in a small-group (n = 3-4) setting; and (2) Xbox One Kinect Just Dance in a whole-class (n = 23-24) setting. Participants’ affection and emotional states were measured by the established Exercise-Induced Feeling Inventory (EFI) and Subjective Exercise Experience Scale (SEES). The 15-item EPI (5-point Likert scale ranged 0-4) included four constructs: positive affect, negative affect, fatigue, and tranquility, and the 12-item SEES (7-point Likert scale ranged 1-7) with included three constructs: positive well-being, psychological distress, and fatigue. Dependent t-tests were used to detect mean differences for all outcomes between the two exergaming sessions, with the significance level being set at p < 0.05. RESULTS: Dependent t-test indicated significant differences on children’s negative affect between two sessions (t = -1.77, p < 0.05, Cohen’s d = 0.32). The lower mean score referred to less feeling of negative affect. Participants in small-group exergaming session (M = 0.20, SD = 0.44) experienced less negative affect in comparison to the whole-class session (M = 0.43, SD = 0.95). However, there was no significant difference in other feeling outcomes between two sessions. CONCLUSIONS: Findings indicated urban middle school children playing exergaming in small-group setting may experience fewer negative feelings such as crummy, discouraged, and miserable compared to the whole-class setting. Notably, there was no significant differences for other outcomes between two sessions. Future longitudinal studies are needed to examine long-term affection and emotional effects of exergaming across various settings.

Психология на усмивката в естетичната стоматология

The perfect aesthetic appearance of the mouth is expressed first and foremost with the help of a beautiful, pearly smile, which in its essence is synonymous with beauty as a universal image and which requires balanced proportions, while at the same time constantly awakening a state of pleasant feelings. The aesthetic components of a smile imply an insight into the essence of harmony and beauty of the face in order to highlight the geometric shape of the face as well as the various ethnic variations. Aesthetic dentistry is based on psychological knowledge as it is defined as a set of procedures for creating harmony between the facial features of the face and the mouth.

Burnout syndrome among psychiatrists in Egyptian mental health hospital

BackgroundBurnout is a special type of work-related stress—a state of physical or emotional exhaustion that also involves a sense of reduced accomplishment and loss of personal identity (Lancet 388:2272-2281, 2016).Burnout is a syndrome of state of emotional exhaustion, depersonalization, and feelings of low personal accomplishment (Maslach C and Jackson S, Maslach burnout inventory manual, 1986).Burnout syndrome leads to severe problems. It may cause psychosomatic problems, family and marital conflicts, and substance misuse and also may result in complications such as late coming and early leaving of employees, quitting, having frequent medical reports, and the lack of productive and constructive ideas and criticism in the occupational settings (Sayil et al, Kriz Dergisi, Cilt 5, Say 1:2 ss.71-77, 1997).So, we aimed to estimate the rate of occurrence of burnout among a sample of psychiatrists in one of the governmental psychiatric hospitals in Egypt.ResultsResult shows that 56.2% of study sample were males and 43.8% were females. Their mean age was 32 ± 6, and 57.5% were married and 42.5% were single. Mean score of emotional exhaustion was 28.25 ± 10.45 (high). Mean score of depersonalization was 8.5 ± 6.1 (moderate). Mean score of personal accomplishment was 31.78 ± 8.5 (low)ConclusionBurnout rate among psychiatrists of Al-Abbassia Hospital is higher than in western countries. Marriage and sleeping in home have protective effects. There is a significant association between high number of working hours per week and quality of the relationship with seniors and burnout.

What Is the Impact of Engaging With Natural Environments Delivered Via Virtual Reality on the Psycho-emotional Health of People With Spinal Cord Injury Receiving Rehabilitation in Hospital? Findings From a Pilot Randomized Controlled Trial

ObjectivesThis study investigated (1) the effect of engaging with 20-minute simulated natural environments delivered via virtual reality (VR) on current mood state and (2) the effect of engaging with multiple VR sessions over a period of a week on the depressive symptoms of people with a spinal cord injury (SCI). DesignRandomized controlled trial design. SettingSpinal Cord Injury Rehabilitation Unit in Australia. ParticipantsParticipants (N=24) were assigned to a group engaging in VR sessions during week 1 (group 1, n=10) or week 2 (group 2, n=14). InterventionsThe intervention week involved participation in up to three 20-minute VR sessions over 3 consecutive days. The control condition involved regular rehabilitation practice over a week. Main Outcome MeasuresThe Patient Health Questionnaire-8 (PHQ-8) was completed prior to the first week (T1), after the first week and prior to the second week (T2), and after the second week (T3). Current feeling states, including depressed/happy, anxious/relaxed, and not feeling good/feeling good, were rated immediately prior and after each VR session. ResultsLevels of happiness, relaxation, and feeling good were significantly higher subsequent to engaging with each VR session. Between-group differences in PHQ-8 scores were significantly greater for participants who experienced the intervention during the first week compared to participants within the control group: intervention participants had significant improvements in psycho-emotional health. Within-group PHQ-8 scores were reduced for each group subsequent to experiencing the intervention; however, differences were not significant. ConclusionsEngaging with simulated natural environments delivered via VR can favorably affect the psycho-emotional health of people with SCI receiving rehabilitation in hospital. Future research including larger samples and investigating the effect over a longer time period is required to confirm the findings presented.

Acute Bidirectional Relations Between Affect, Physical Feeling States, and Activity-Related Behaviors Among Older Adults: An Ecological Momentary Assessment Study.

The majority of older adults are physically inactive; therefore, strategies are needed to effectively promote sustained engagement in physical activity. This study was designed to investigate acute bidirectional relationships between affective and physical feeling states and activity-related behaviors among older adults in the context of everyday life using Ecological Momentary Assessment (EMA). Older adults (n = 103, Mage = 72, Range: 60-98) participated in a 10-day study where they completed up to 6 smartphone-based EMA prompts/day. At each EMA prompt, participants reported their current positive and negative affect and physical feeling states. Participants wore an activPAL accelerometer to measure time spent standing and time spent stepping before and after the prompt. Separate multilevel random coefficient linear and logistic regression models examined these bidirectional relationships. On occasions when older adults engaged in more standing and more stepping than was typical for them in the 15 and 30 min prior to the EMA prompt, they tended to report greater feelings of energy at the prompt. On occasions when older adults reported greater feelings of energy than was typical for them, they engaged in more standing and more stepping in the 15 and 30 min following the EMA prompt. Positive and negative affect was unrelated to activity-related behaviors. Feelings of energy appear to be strongly linked to activity-related behaviors in older adults; however, this was not the case for positive or negative affect. These findings may have implications for optimal delivery of just-in-time intervention context based on affective states or current behaviors.

Interstitial glucose and subsequent affective and physical feeling states: A pilot study combining continuous glucose monitoring and ecological momentary assessment in adolescents

ObjectiveCirculating glucose may relate to affective and physical feeling states reflective of emotional disorder symptoms. No prior studies have investigated within-day associations between glucose and subsequent affective and physical feeling states (positive affect, negative affect, and fatigue) as they occur naturally among healthy adolescents; this pilot study assessed these associations by combining data collected from ecological momentary assessment (EMA) and continuous glucose monitors (CGM). MethodsParticipants (N = 15, mean age = 13.1[±1.0] years, 66.7% female, 40.0% Hispanic, 66.7% healthy weight) wore a CGM for 7–14 days. Simultaneously, participants reported on their current positive affect, negative affect, and fatigue randomly during specified windows up to 7 times daily via EMA. CGM-measured mean interstitial glucose was calculated during the time windows (mean minutes = 122.5[±47.3]) leading up to each EMA prompt. Multilevel models assessed within-subject (WS) associations between mean interstitial glucose since the previous EMA prompt and EMA-reported affective and physical feeling states at the current prompt. ResultsParticipants provided 532 interstitial glucose-matched EMA reports of affective and physical feeling states. During intervals when interstitial glucose was higher than one's usual, higher positive affect (WS β = 0.01, p < .0001, f2 = 0.02) and lower fatigue (WS β = −0.01, p < .0001, f2 = 0.09) were subsequently reported. Interstitial glucose was unrelated to negative affect (WS β = −0.002, p = .10, f2 = 0.01). Associations were weakened, but remained significant following further adjustment for time of day. ConclusionsThough effect sizes were small, within-person variations in interstitial glucose may relate to subsequent affective and physical feeling states among healthy youth. Investigations using similar methodologies in larger, more diverse samples are warranted.

Sociable behavior is related to later fatigue: moment-to-moment patterns of behavior and tiredness

The popular idea that extraverted behavior is mentally depleting has received support in one previous study. The present research attempted to replicate this finding and rule out some alternative explanations. An experience-sampling study was conducted to this end (N = 74, observations = 1046). The results showed that extraverted behavior was indeed related to feeling tired 2–3 h later. The results provide empirical evidence of an everyday life pattern between behavior and feelings states.

Mood Profiling in Singapore: Cross-Cultural Validation and Potential Applications of Mood Profile Clusters.

Mood profiling is a popular method of quantifying and classifying feeling states. Previous research has identified several novel mood profiles in predominantly Western English-speaking populations (Parsons-Smith et al., 2017), and replicated the findings in the domain of sport and exercise (Quartiroli et al., 2018; Terry and Parsons-Smith, 2019). The aim of the current study was to investigate if six hypothesized clusters of mood responses were evident in a population of English-speaking sport and non-sport participants in Singapore. A seeded k-means cluster analysis was applied to the mood responses of 1,444 participants (991 male, 440 female, 13 unspecified; aged 18–65 years) who completed the Brunel Mood Scale (BRUMS; Terry et al., 1999, 2003a). The six hypothesized mood profiles (i.e., iceberg, inverse Everest, inverse iceberg, shark fin, submerged, and surface profiles) were identified clearly. Chi-squared analyses showed unequal distribution of the profiles by gender, age group, ethnicity, education level, and sport participation. Findings support the cross-cultural generalizability of the six mood profiles in English-speaking sport and non-sport samples in Singapore and contribute to investigation into the antecedents, correlates, and consequences of each mood profile.

Semantic and affective representations of valence: Prediction of autonomic and facial responses from feelings-focused and knowledge-focused self-reports.

The term valence can refer to either the affective response (e.g., "I feel bad") or the semantic knowledge about a stimulus (e.g., "car accidents are bad"). Accordingly, the content of self-reports can be more "experience-near" and proxy to the mental state of affective feelings, or, alternatively, involve nonexperiential semantic knowledge. In this work we compared three experimental protocol instructions: feelings-focused self-reports that encourage participants to report their feelings (but not knowledge); knowledge-focused self-reports that encourage participants to report about semantic knowledge (and not feelings); and "feelings-naïve", in which participants were asked to report their feelings but are not explicitly presented with the distinction between feelings and knowledge. We compared the ability of the three types of self-report data to predict facial electromyography, heart rate, and electrodermal changes in response to affective stimuli. The relationship between self-reports and both physiological signal intensity and signal discriminability were examined. The results showed a consistent advantage for feelings-focused over knowledge-focused instructions in prediction of physiological response with feelings-naïve instructions falling in between. The results support the theoretical distinction between affective and semantic representations of valence and the validity of feelings-focused and knowledge-focused self-report instructions. (PsycInfo Database Record (c) 2020 APA, all rights reserved).

The affective interval: An investigation of the peaks and valleys during high- and moderate-intensity interval exercise in regular exercisers

Evidence supports the notion that people generally feel worse during high(er) intensity exercise but experience an affective rebound immediately following cessation that often exceeds pre-exercise feeling states. Considering rest/recovery is an integral part of interval exercise, it is of interest to determine the degree of affective reactivity and recovery that may occur during interval exercise of different intensities. The purpose of the present study was to examine affective reactivity to and recovery from an acute bout of moderate-intensity (MIIE) and high-intensity interval exercise (HIIE). Participants (N = 25, 13 females, 23.3 ± 4.0 yrs, BMI = 25.7 ± 4.1 kg m−2) completed 4 sessions at the same time of day with at least 24-h between each session: a baseline session to record resting affect, a graded exercise test on a stationary bike (cycle ramp protocol 25 W·min-1) to volitional exhaustion, and then completed a high- (HIIE) and moderate-intensity interval exercise (MIIE) session where affect was recorded prior to, during, and up to 30-min post exercise. Participants reported more negative feeling states during the HIIE session compared to the MIIE session, but these states recovered similarly as early as 5-min post-exercise. In addition, while affective change (reactivity and rebounds) were relatively equal during the MIIE, declines in affect during the HIIE outweighed the affective rebounds associated with rest, resulting in a large decline in affective state from pre-exercise.

Feeling at Home in the Wilderness: Environmental Conditions, Well-Being and Aesthetic Experience.

Environmental conditions affect one’s aesthetic experience in natural environments. Understanding that effect requires accounting for the conditions affecting one’s attention and experience. Rather than attempt to reduce and control environmental factors, we compare two similar groups during naturally occurring, intense and overwhelming conditions and examine the relationship between common characteristics as well as environment and group differences. Participants undertook a 5-day, winter, wilderness adventure training course designed to challenge their considerable wilderness and leadership skills under two different extreme weather conditions but within the same wilderness area (n = 47 full participation). In addition to pre- and post-adventure questionnaires, participants responded daily during the wilderness experience to briefly describe a self-selected, strong experience of nature; characterize its associated feeling states; and answer questions probing eight aesthetic aspects of the experience. Participant strong experience of nature related to hedonic and eudaimonic feelings in different ways depending upon environmental conditions. In particular, strong correlations occurred between agreement ratings with “I felt at home in nature” daily experience reports and satisfaction with life and personal growth trait measures, but primarily during sunny and cold conditions on a high plateau (PG: Pearson r = 0.51; SWL: r = 0.70) and not significantly in stormy and wet weather in a mountain forest. In addition, experience narratives that correspond to strongest agreement to feeling at home in nature were examined for shared themes and synthesized into six dimensions: focus on sensory experiences at a particular moment, self-reflection, wonder, appreciation of beauty, positive emotions, and insight of relation to nature. These findings actualize the notion of wonder, aroused by sudden feelings or by reflection, as a salient ingredient in feeling at home in wilderness. The finding of feeling at home in nature, as the most important feature relating to feelings and well-being, is discussed in relation to self-awareness, philosophical thinking, and potential ethical awareness.