Despite a robust literature documenting the relationship between childhood maltreatment and perso... more Despite a robust literature documenting the relationship between childhood maltreatment and personality pathology in adulthood, there is far less clarity about the mechanism underlying this relationship. One promising candidate for such a linking mechanism is disturbance in the sense of self. This paper tests the hypothesis that disturbances in the sense of self mediate the relationship between childhood maltreatment and adult personality pathology. Specifically, we assess the self-related traits of stable self-image, self-reflective functioning, self-respect and feeling recognized. The sample included 113 non-psychotic psychiatric inpatients. Participants completed the Child Trauma Questionnaire (CTQ), the Personality Diagnostic Questionnaire-4 (PDQ-4+), and the self-reflexive functioning, stable self image, self-respect, and feeling recognized scales from the Severity Indices of Personality Problems (SIPP-118). A series of linear regressions was then performed to assess the direct...
Objectives: The Adult Attachment Interview (AAI) has been the gold standard of attachment assessm... more Objectives: The Adult Attachment Interview (AAI) has been the gold standard of attachment assessment, but requires special training. The Relationship Scales Questionnaire (RSQ) is a widely used self-report measure. We investigate how each correlates with brain activity during appraisal of subjects' mothers. Methods: Twenty-eight women were scored on the AAI, RSQ, and mood measures. During functional magnetic resonance imaging, subjects viewed their mothers in neutral-, valence-, and salience-rating conditions. We identified regions where contrasts in brain activity between appraisal and neutral viewing conditions correlated with each measure of attachment after covarying for mood. AAI and RSQ measures were then compared in terms of the extent to which regions of correlating brain activity overlapped with " default mode network " (DMN) vs. executive frontal network (EFN) masks and cortical vs. subcortical masks. Additionally, interactions with mood were examined. Results: Salience and valence processing associated with increased thalamo-striatal, posterior cingulate, and visual cortex activity. Salience processing decreased PFC activity, whereas valence processing increased left insula activity. Activity correlating with AAI vs. RSQ measures demonstrated significantly more DMN and subcortical involvement. Interactions with mood were observed in the middle temporal gyrus and precuneus for both measures. Conclusion: The AAI appears to disproportionately correlate with conscious appraisal associated activity in DMN and subcortical structures, while the RSQ appears to tap EFN structures more extensively. Thus, the AAI may assess more interoceptive, 'core-self'-related processes, while the RSQ captures higher-order cognitions involved in attachment. Shared interaction effects between mood and AAI and RSQ-measures may suggest that processes tapped by each belong to a common system.
... W. Clark Still* and Igor Galynker Department of Chemistry, Columbia University New York, New ... more ... W. Clark Still* and Igor Galynker Department of Chemistry, Columbia University New York, New York 10027 Received November 23, 1981 ... (Lancini, GC; Lazzari, E.; Arioli, V.; Bellani, P. J. Med. Chem. 1969, 12, 775). See also: Braun, M.; Biichi, G.; Bushey, DF J. Am. Chem. ...
Background / Purpose: Insecure attachment has been linked to depression and to outcome in psychot... more Background / Purpose: Insecure attachment has been linked to depression and to outcome in psychotherapy, but the neural mechanisms subserving the relationship between attachment security and depression are not well understood.Depression and insecure attachment are subserved by overlapping components of circuits previously identified in studies of depression and mothers’ responses to infants.Depression and insecure attachment will demonstrate enhancing interactions.Neural responses will differ between early (Mother) and late (friend) attachment figures. Main conclusion: We found that depression and attachment insecurity were subserved by similar but distinct components of affect regulating circuits and demonstrated mutually enhancing interactions. This may explain greater treatment resistance for sufferers of depression who are insecurely attached. Subcortical and cortical activations during mother viewing versus only cortical activation on friend viewing suggests a ‘top-down’ model ...
The Israel journal of psychiatry and related sciences, 2012
This paper presents data from a research program investigating personality traits or childhood hi... more This paper presents data from a research program investigating personality traits or childhood historical factors that may contribute to the motivation for or failure to inhibit pedophilic behavior. The entire sample included 51 male subjects with pedophilic behavior, 53 opiate addicted subjects (69% males), and 84 healthy controls (77% males). Groups were compared on personality traits related to social anxiety/inhibition, impulsivity, propensity for cognitive distortions and psychopathy along with the incidence of sexual abuse in their own childhoods (CSA). Results supported an increased prevalence of CSA, psychopathic traits and traits related to a propensity for cognitive distortions in the pedophilic group relative to healthy controls. Compared to opiate addicted subjects, pedophilic subjects had higher rates of childhood sexual abuse, more schizoid traits, and lower impulsivity and behavioral psychopathy scores. While the group with pedophilic behavior scored higher than contr...
This paper presents data from a series of preliminary neuropsychiatric studies, including neurops... more This paper presents data from a series of preliminary neuropsychiatric studies, including neuropsychological, personality, sexual history, plethysmographic and neuroimaging investigations, on a sample of 22 male, heterosexual, nonexclusive pedophiles and 24 demographically similar healthy controls. A psychobiological model of pedophilia is proposed, positing that early childhood sexual abuse leads to neurodevelopmental abnormalities in the temporal regions mediating sexual arousal and erotic discrimination and the frontal regions mediating the cognitive aspects of sexual desire and behavioral inhibition. In this way, pedophiles develop deviant pedophilic arousal. Subsequently, if there is comorbid personality pathology, specifically sociopathy and cognitive distortions, there will be failure to inhibit pedophilic behavior.
Neuropsychiatry, neuropsychology, and behavioral neurology, 2000
The purpose of this study was to examine negative symptoms (NSs) in patients with major depressiv... more The purpose of this study was to examine negative symptoms (NSs) in patients with major depressive disorder (MDD) and their relation to depressive symptoms (DSs) and other psychiatric symptoms. Features similar to NSs were previously described in patients with depression. The Hamilton Rating Scale for Depression (HRSD), Positive and Negative Symptom Scale (PANSS), Scale for the Assessment of Negative Symptoms (SANS), and Mini-Mental State Examination were administered to 23 patients with MDD and 10 normal control subjects. As expected, the mean scores of the HRSD, SANS, and negative symptom subscale of the PANSS of the patients with MDD were significantly higher than those of control subjects, validating the clinical significance of NSs as well as DSs in MDD patients. Within the MDD group, although measures of NSs were intercorrelated, there were no other correlations between the measures. Thus, measures of NSs and DSs were not intercorrelated. When the HRSD was divided in two subsc...
Journal of nuclear medicine : official publication, Society of Nuclear Medicine, 1998
The purpose of the current study was to compare regional cerebral blood flow (rCBF) in patients w... more The purpose of the current study was to compare regional cerebral blood flow (rCBF) in patients with major depressive disorder (MDD) to that of healthy subjects and to examine the relationship between rCBF, depressive symptoms (DS) and negative symptoms (NS) in these patients. Eleven psychiatric inpatients with diagnosed (MDD) and 15 normal control subjects were administered the scale for the assessment of negative symptoms (SANS) and the modified Hamilton rating scale for depression with items descriptive of NS excluded (HRSD-DS). Each patient underwent a SPECT scan using 99mTc-HMPAO at rest. Cortical and subcortical regions of interest (ROIs) were symmetrically defined in each hemisphere. Cortical-to-cerebellar perfusion ratios were established quantitatively using ADAC software. Subjects in the MDD group had significantly lower rCBF in the frontal cortex and cinglulate gyrus (MANOVA, p = 0.038) due to differences in dorsolateral prefrontal cortex bilaterally (right F = 7.69, p = ...
Despite a robust literature documenting the relationship between childhood maltreatment and perso... more Despite a robust literature documenting the relationship between childhood maltreatment and personality pathology in adulthood, there is far less clarity about the mechanism underlying this relationship. One promising candidate for such a linking mechanism is disturbance in the sense of self. This paper tests the hypothesis that disturbances in the sense of self mediate the relationship between childhood maltreatment and adult personality pathology. Specifically, we assess the self-related traits of stable self-image, self-reflective functioning, self-respect and feeling recognized. The sample included 113 non-psychotic psychiatric inpatients. Participants completed the Child Trauma Questionnaire (CTQ), the Personality Diagnostic Questionnaire-4 (PDQ-4+), and the self-reflexive functioning, stable self image, self-respect, and feeling recognized scales from the Severity Indices of Personality Problems (SIPP-118). A series of linear regressions was then performed to assess the direct...
Objectives: The Adult Attachment Interview (AAI) has been the gold standard of attachment assessm... more Objectives: The Adult Attachment Interview (AAI) has been the gold standard of attachment assessment, but requires special training. The Relationship Scales Questionnaire (RSQ) is a widely used self-report measure. We investigate how each correlates with brain activity during appraisal of subjects' mothers. Methods: Twenty-eight women were scored on the AAI, RSQ, and mood measures. During functional magnetic resonance imaging, subjects viewed their mothers in neutral-, valence-, and salience-rating conditions. We identified regions where contrasts in brain activity between appraisal and neutral viewing conditions correlated with each measure of attachment after covarying for mood. AAI and RSQ measures were then compared in terms of the extent to which regions of correlating brain activity overlapped with " default mode network " (DMN) vs. executive frontal network (EFN) masks and cortical vs. subcortical masks. Additionally, interactions with mood were examined. Results: Salience and valence processing associated with increased thalamo-striatal, posterior cingulate, and visual cortex activity. Salience processing decreased PFC activity, whereas valence processing increased left insula activity. Activity correlating with AAI vs. RSQ measures demonstrated significantly more DMN and subcortical involvement. Interactions with mood were observed in the middle temporal gyrus and precuneus for both measures. Conclusion: The AAI appears to disproportionately correlate with conscious appraisal associated activity in DMN and subcortical structures, while the RSQ appears to tap EFN structures more extensively. Thus, the AAI may assess more interoceptive, 'core-self'-related processes, while the RSQ captures higher-order cognitions involved in attachment. Shared interaction effects between mood and AAI and RSQ-measures may suggest that processes tapped by each belong to a common system.
... W. Clark Still* and Igor Galynker Department of Chemistry, Columbia University New York, New ... more ... W. Clark Still* and Igor Galynker Department of Chemistry, Columbia University New York, New York 10027 Received November 23, 1981 ... (Lancini, GC; Lazzari, E.; Arioli, V.; Bellani, P. J. Med. Chem. 1969, 12, 775). See also: Braun, M.; Biichi, G.; Bushey, DF J. Am. Chem. ...
Background / Purpose: Insecure attachment has been linked to depression and to outcome in psychot... more Background / Purpose: Insecure attachment has been linked to depression and to outcome in psychotherapy, but the neural mechanisms subserving the relationship between attachment security and depression are not well understood.Depression and insecure attachment are subserved by overlapping components of circuits previously identified in studies of depression and mothers’ responses to infants.Depression and insecure attachment will demonstrate enhancing interactions.Neural responses will differ between early (Mother) and late (friend) attachment figures. Main conclusion: We found that depression and attachment insecurity were subserved by similar but distinct components of affect regulating circuits and demonstrated mutually enhancing interactions. This may explain greater treatment resistance for sufferers of depression who are insecurely attached. Subcortical and cortical activations during mother viewing versus only cortical activation on friend viewing suggests a ‘top-down’ model ...
The Israel journal of psychiatry and related sciences, 2012
This paper presents data from a research program investigating personality traits or childhood hi... more This paper presents data from a research program investigating personality traits or childhood historical factors that may contribute to the motivation for or failure to inhibit pedophilic behavior. The entire sample included 51 male subjects with pedophilic behavior, 53 opiate addicted subjects (69% males), and 84 healthy controls (77% males). Groups were compared on personality traits related to social anxiety/inhibition, impulsivity, propensity for cognitive distortions and psychopathy along with the incidence of sexual abuse in their own childhoods (CSA). Results supported an increased prevalence of CSA, psychopathic traits and traits related to a propensity for cognitive distortions in the pedophilic group relative to healthy controls. Compared to opiate addicted subjects, pedophilic subjects had higher rates of childhood sexual abuse, more schizoid traits, and lower impulsivity and behavioral psychopathy scores. While the group with pedophilic behavior scored higher than contr...
This paper presents data from a series of preliminary neuropsychiatric studies, including neurops... more This paper presents data from a series of preliminary neuropsychiatric studies, including neuropsychological, personality, sexual history, plethysmographic and neuroimaging investigations, on a sample of 22 male, heterosexual, nonexclusive pedophiles and 24 demographically similar healthy controls. A psychobiological model of pedophilia is proposed, positing that early childhood sexual abuse leads to neurodevelopmental abnormalities in the temporal regions mediating sexual arousal and erotic discrimination and the frontal regions mediating the cognitive aspects of sexual desire and behavioral inhibition. In this way, pedophiles develop deviant pedophilic arousal. Subsequently, if there is comorbid personality pathology, specifically sociopathy and cognitive distortions, there will be failure to inhibit pedophilic behavior.
Neuropsychiatry, neuropsychology, and behavioral neurology, 2000
The purpose of this study was to examine negative symptoms (NSs) in patients with major depressiv... more The purpose of this study was to examine negative symptoms (NSs) in patients with major depressive disorder (MDD) and their relation to depressive symptoms (DSs) and other psychiatric symptoms. Features similar to NSs were previously described in patients with depression. The Hamilton Rating Scale for Depression (HRSD), Positive and Negative Symptom Scale (PANSS), Scale for the Assessment of Negative Symptoms (SANS), and Mini-Mental State Examination were administered to 23 patients with MDD and 10 normal control subjects. As expected, the mean scores of the HRSD, SANS, and negative symptom subscale of the PANSS of the patients with MDD were significantly higher than those of control subjects, validating the clinical significance of NSs as well as DSs in MDD patients. Within the MDD group, although measures of NSs were intercorrelated, there were no other correlations between the measures. Thus, measures of NSs and DSs were not intercorrelated. When the HRSD was divided in two subsc...
Journal of nuclear medicine : official publication, Society of Nuclear Medicine, 1998
The purpose of the current study was to compare regional cerebral blood flow (rCBF) in patients w... more The purpose of the current study was to compare regional cerebral blood flow (rCBF) in patients with major depressive disorder (MDD) to that of healthy subjects and to examine the relationship between rCBF, depressive symptoms (DS) and negative symptoms (NS) in these patients. Eleven psychiatric inpatients with diagnosed (MDD) and 15 normal control subjects were administered the scale for the assessment of negative symptoms (SANS) and the modified Hamilton rating scale for depression with items descriptive of NS excluded (HRSD-DS). Each patient underwent a SPECT scan using 99mTc-HMPAO at rest. Cortical and subcortical regions of interest (ROIs) were symmetrically defined in each hemisphere. Cortical-to-cerebellar perfusion ratios were established quantitatively using ADAC software. Subjects in the MDD group had significantly lower rCBF in the frontal cortex and cinglulate gyrus (MANOVA, p = 0.038) due to differences in dorsolateral prefrontal cortex bilaterally (right F = 7.69, p = ...
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