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Frequent attenders in primary care (FAs) consume a disproportionate amount of healthcare resources and often have depression, anxiety, chronic health issues, and interpersonal problems. Despite extensive medical care, they remain dissatisfied with the care and report no improvement in quality of life. To pilot a Telephone-based Interpersonal Counseling intervention for Frequent Attenders (TIPC-FA) and assess its feasibility and efficacy in reducing symptoms and healthcare utilization. Top 10% of primary care visitors were randomly assigned to TIPC-FA, Telephone Supportive Contact (Support), or Treatment as Usual (TAU). TIPC-FA and Support groups received six telephone sessions over twelve weeks, while the TAU group was interviewed twice. Multilevel regression tested for changes over time, considering patient and counselor variance. TIPC-FA and Support groups demonstrated reduced depressive symptoms, and the TIPC-FA group showed decreased somatization and anxiety. The TIPC-FA group demonstrated a trend towards less healthcare utilization than the TAU group. This pilot study suggests that IPC via telephone outreach is a feasible approach to treating FAs, achieving a reduction in symptoms not seen in other groups. Promising reduction in healthcare utilization in the TIPC-FA group warrants further exploration in larger-scale trials. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

Teaching staff have been especially vulnerable to experiencing psychopathology and compassion fatigue during COVID-19, given the significant demands they have experienced. Yet, research on risk and resilience factors is scant. We assessed the psychological status of Israeli teaching staff during COVID-19, focusing on psychopathology (depression, anxiety, somatization), compassion fatigue (burnout, secondary traumatic stress), and compassion satisfaction. We also examined the role of transdiagnostic risk and resilience factors-mentalizing, self-compassion, self-criticism, social support, and specialized trauma training-in predicting psychological status and mitigating the link between COVID-19-related distress and psychological status. An online questionnaire was completed by 350 teaching staff. Analyses included outlining the distributions of psychological status outcomes and running a series of moderation models using hierarchical robust regression. While 48% of the participants exhibited moderated-to-high levels of anxiety and 28.27% had no somatization, only 13% exhibited moderate-to-severe levels of depression; 60% had moderate levels of burnout, 48% had moderate levels of secondary traumatic stress, and 52% had low levels of compassion satisfaction. COVID-19-related distress, self-criticism, prementalizing modes, low socioeconomic status, and being in an intimate relationship emerged as key risk factors positively associated with psychological status, while self-compassion, general mentalizing, interest and curiosity about mental states, and social support were negatively linked with these outcomes. Teacher's mentalizing about students' mental states and social support moderated the link between COVID-19-related distress and psychological status. The findings highlight the importance of risk and resilience factors for assessing and preventing teaching staff's psychopathology and compassion fatigue during COVID-19. (PsycInfo Database Record (c) 2024 APA, all rights reserved).

Background: Ample studies have focused on the negative consequences of COVID-19 on mental well-being, but fewer have explored the specific role of childhood abuse and neglect in the context of risk and resilience during this unprecedented crisis., Objective: We aimed to identify distinct profiles of individuals based on their experiences of childhood abuse and neglect, coping strategies, and psycho-social transdiagnostic risk and protective factors, using a person-centered approach., Participants and Setting: A convenience sample of 914 Israelis completed self-report questionnaires during the second wave of COVID-19., Methods: Latent Profile Analysis was employed based on levels of childhood abuse and neglect, coping strategies, and established factors underpinning risk and resilience in mental health: dissociation, self-criticism, self-efficacy, self-compassion, attachment insecurity, psychological resilience, mentalizing, distress disclosure, psychopathology, and relationship satisfaction. Profiles were compared in COVID-19-related distress and well-being using ANOVAs., Results: A four-profile solution was found to be optimal for describing individuals with different profiles of risk and resilience: "risk" (5.1 %)-individuals with meaningfully high levels of childhood abuse and neglect and dissociation; "vulnerable" (14.2 %)-individuals high in risk factors and low in protective factors; "moderately resilient" (47.6 %)-those with moderate levels of protective and risk factors; "highly resilient" (33.1 %)-individuals high in protective factors and low in risk factors; groups differed in mental well-being and COVID-19-related distress., Conclusions: Results highlight the importance of childhood abuse and neglect in differentiating between the two distinct profiles of at-risk individuals. Implications for risk assessment and treatment in the context of potential traumatic stress are discussed., Competing Interests: Declaration of competing interest The authors have no conflict of interest to disclose., (Copyright © 2024 Elsevier Ltd. All rights reserved.)

Background: Childhood sexual abuse (CSA) is a significant risk factor with consistently demonstrated negative implications for satisfaction with adult romantic relationships. Yet, research on risk and protective factors in this context is scarce, particularly among well-functioning adults., Objective: Addressing this gap, the present study focused on the potential mediating and moderating roles of mentalizing or reflective functioning, i.e., the capacity to understand oneself and others in terms of intentional mental states. We investigated whether impairments in mentalizing underlie the association between CSA and relationship satisfaction and whether robust mentalizing can buffer the CSA-relationship satisfaction link., Method: A sample of 667 individuals engaged in a meaningful romantic relationship was drawn from a larger sample obtained in an online convenience survey. A mediation and moderation model was examined using PROCESS., Results: The results confirmed our integrative model-the association between CSA and satisfaction with romantic relationships was mediated by impairments in mentalizing (uncertainty about mental states) and was simultaneously moderated by robust mentalizing (certainty about mental states). These effects were shown even when controlling for age, gender, education, and psychopathological symptoms., Conclusions: These findings highlight the importance of mentalizing, a key transdiagnostic factor. Reduced mentalizing is a risk factor for harmful impact of CSA on romantic relationships, while greater mentalizing abilities can be a significant resilience factor protecting CSA survivors. This study supports the potential contribution of mentalization-based interventions with survivors of CSA at risk for dissatisfaction with romantic relationships. (PsycInfo Database Record (c) 2024 APA, all rights reserved).

Background: Childhood maltreatment (CM) is a significant risk factor for intimate relationship and marital quality. However, there has been limited research exploring the underlying mechanisms of this link, with most studies focusing on individuals, while not considering the dyadic context and reciprocal influences within intimate relationships. Intimate relationships entail mutual processes, where each partner's abusive experiences can affect the partner's marital quality. In this study, we aimed to examine whether self-compassion is an underlying factor in the dyadic associations between CM and one's own and one's partner's marital quality., Method: A convenience sample of 115 heterosexual couples completed self-report questionnaires., Results: Utilizing an actor-partner interdependence model, we found partial support for our hypotheses, indicating that each partner's CM was indirectly associated with their own marital quality through their self-compassion. However, CM did not significantly impact their partner's marital quality through self-compassion., Conclusions: These findings contribute to the existing evidence supporting the mediating role of self-compassion as a transdiagnostic protective factor associated with increased marital quality for individuals with a history of CM. Nevertheless, the results suggest that this mediating effect may be specific to one's own marital quality and may not extend to the partner's marital quality. (PsycInfo Database Record (c) 2024 APA, all rights reserved).