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Background Despite considerable improvements in outcomes for children with short bowel syndrome (SBS), many clinicians remain pessimistic about long-term quality of life (QoL) for this population. Methods The validated FaMM tool was used to measure parent-perceived impact of the child's condition on child and family life. Partnered disease-specific survey questions relevant to child's overall wellbeing and family function were additionally completed and reported. The cross-sectional surveys were distributed to a convenience sample of parents of children with SBS. Child and family wellbeing were described and compared across child age group and involvement of an intestinal rehabilitation program (IRP). Multivariate regression analyses investigated associations between outcomes and IRP management. Open-ended responses were analyzed to investigate perceived impact of the child's SBS on the parent. Results Seventeen parents completed both surveys; 71% perceived child QoL as higher today than what they had originally been told to expect. Child daily life and family difficulty scores suggest parents perceived both to be fairly "normal". While acknowledging effort invested in condition management, parents perceived high competence in managing their child's condition; 56% perceived personal growth resulting from their child's SBS journey. IRP management was associated with better child daily life (4.11, p = 0.015), family difficulty (-4.85, p = 0.048), and family management ability (4.28, p = 0.014) scores. Conclusions Many parents perceive child and family life with SBS to be fairly "normal", manage their child's care with great competence, and report personal growth because of their child's SBS journey. Additional research inclusive of diverse patient and parent backgrounds is warranted. Level of evidence prognosis study; Level IV.

Experimental studies in behavioral finance historically have confirmed that subjects are highly influenced by reference points when making economic decisions. A recent study by Baucells, Weber and Welfens (2011) analyzed the dynamics of reference price formation using experimental methods with subjects forming reference prices for stocks based on observed price sequences. Their study helps to clarify behavioral effects of past prices on reference price formation but it does not consider contextual information. We extend the BWW study by adding market price information as background to the experiment, and we investigate how this additional information affects reference point formation and updating. Our overarching hypothesis is that if the market background information has no impact then it should not alter the results of BWW; otherwise, the additional market information should be an explanatory variable for the reference point. Our results confirm the hypothesis that market information matters. We also investigate the impact of pessimism and optimism on reference prices by the combining the BWW framework with a model of disappointment aversion and anticipatory feelings developed by Gollier and Muerman (2010). Our study fills a void in the literature by providing new evidence on the impact of contextual market information on reference point formation in an investment setting.

Background/Aim. Among the various factors that after lumbar microdiscectomy can influence on continued postoperative back pain and/or leg pain and functional disability are gender, depression and pessimism. The aim of this study was to determine the correlations between these factors. Methods. The research was conducted after microdiscectomy on 198 patients (95 men and 103 women), with mean age 50.20 ± 10.26 years. For examinations were used the following questionnaires: for assessment of pain and its intensity and character - PainDETECT Test; for functional disability - Oswestry Low Back Pain Disability Questionnaire; for the presence and degree of depression - Beck Depression Inventory II; and questionnaire for the assessment of personal expectations (pessimistic / optimistic) about the treatment results. These assessments were carried out after microdiscectomy in the terms: just before rehabilitation treatment, one month later and then 3 and 6 months after microdiscectomy. Results. On the pain and functional disability significant negative influences had depression (p

El trastorno depresivo persistente, es un trastorno afectivo crónico que permanece al menos por dos años en adultos y un año en niños y adolescentes. Los pacientes con este diagnóstico se pueden mostrar pesimistas, regularmente negativos, con bajo o nada sentido del humor, muy pasivos, retraídos, muy críticos hacia sí mismos y también hacia los otros. Los pacientes con este trastorno tienen probabilidades de presentar trastornos de ansiedad generalizada, el cual se caracteriza por presentar preocupación excesiva y continua por asuntos que son desproporcionados a lo que realmente se vive, se percibe constantemente un futuro amenazante, esto es difícil de controlar por la persona e interfiriere en su rutina diaria. Muchas veces estos trastornos pueden ser provenientes de otros enfermedades o trastornos, como, por ejemplo, del estrés post traumático que se desarrolla a raíz de haber vivido o presenciado un acontecimiento traumático como lo es una agresión sexual, estos pacientes a lo largo del tiempo no se sienten mejor, sino más bien estresados o asustados después de que la situación traumática haya concluido, en el siguiente caso clínico se presume que la sintomatología ansiosa y depresiva fue desarrollada a raíz de un trastorno de estrés post traumático cronificado. Palabras clave: trastorno depresivo persistente, ansiedad generalizada, estrés post traumático, terapia cognitivo-conductual.

Rumination is a transdiagnostic risk factor that appears to be reduced through mindfulness interventions. However, mindfulness mobile apps have not been tested for their effects on rumination, especially among adolescents. Thus, we aimed to test the acceptability and effects of a mindfulness mobile intervention among ruminative adolescents using a within-subjects pretest/posttest design. Participants were 80 adolescents ages 12-15, selected for moderate-to-high rumination (M age = 14.01, SD = .99; 46.2% girls; 86.25% White; 3.75% Hispanic). We asked adolescents to use our mindfulness app 3 times per day for 3 weeks. Participants and parents completed questionnaires at baseline, post-intervention, and 6 and 12 weeks later. Acceptability was assessed by tracking app use and asking adolescents and parents to report on their experiences post-intervention. We assessed repetitive negative thinking (i.e., rumination and worry) and internalizing symptoms via self- and parent-report. The intervention demonstrated acceptability, and there were significant reductions in rumination, worry, anxiety and parent-reported internalizing symptoms post-intervention. Effects on rumination, anxiety and internalizing symptoms persisted throughout the 12-week follow-up with large effect sizes using an intention-to-treat approach. Thus, a brief mindfulness mobile app intervention appeared to be both engaging and helpful in reducing negative repetitive thinking and internalizing symptoms among ruminative adolescents. It will be important to test this intervention in a randomized controlled trial to control for effects of time and attention.

Purpose Although there have been numerous studies investigating the mental health of individuals during the pandemic, a comparison between countries is still scarce in the literature. To explore this gap, the present study aimed to compare the mental health (i.e., anxiety and depression), quality of life (QoL), and optimism/pessimism among individuals from Brazil and Portugal during the COVID-19 pandemic and the associated factors. Method A cross-sectional population-based study was conducted during the COVID-19 pandemic in Brazil and Portugal. Data collection was carried out between May and June 2020, using an online form which was sent through social networks. A total of 2069 participants (1156 from Brazil and 913 from Portugal) were included. Depressive symptoms (PHQ-9), Anxiety (GAD-7), optimism/pessimism (Revised Life Orientation Test – LOT), QoL (WHOQOL-Bref), and sociodemographic, health, and social distancing variables were assessed. Data was analyzed using univariate and multivariate models. Results There were remarkable differences between Brazil and Portugal in all outcomes during the COVID-19 pandemic, including higher levels of depressive symptoms, anxiety, and optimism for the Brazilian individuals and higher levels of QoL and pessimism for the Portuguese individuals. The following factors were associated with the mental health and QoL in both Brazilian and Portuguese populations: gender, age, being a healthcare professional, and days in social distancing. Conclusion Despite the fact that Brazilians were more optimistic during the COVID-19 pandemic, they had lower levels of mental health and QoL as compared to the Portuguese individuals. Supplementary Information The online version contains supplementary material available at 10.1007/s11136-021-03031-9.

Background Individuals with chronic kidney disease (CKD), hypertension (HTN), or diabetes mellitus (DM) are at increased risk for cardiovascular disease (CVD). The extent to which psychosocial factors are associated with increased CVD risk within these individuals is unclear. Black individuals experience a high degree of psychosocial stressors due to socioeconomic factors, environment, racism, and discrimination. We examined the association between psychosocial factors and risk of CVD events among Black men and women with CKD and CKD risk factors in the Jackson Heart Study. Methods and Results We identified 1919 participants with prevalent CKD or CKD risk factors at baseline. We used rotated principal component analysis - a form of unsupervised machine learning that may identify constructs not intuitively identified by a person - to describe five groups of psychosocial components (including negative moods, religiosity, discrimination, negative outlooks, and negative coping resources) based on a battery of questionnaires. Multiple imputation by chained equation (MICE) was used to impute missing covariate data. Cox models were used to quantify the association between psychosocial components and incident CVD, defined as a fatal coronary heart disease event, myocardial infarction, cardiac procedure (angiography or revascularization procedure), or stroke. Of the 929 participants in the analysis, 67% were female, 28% were current/former smokers with mean age of 56 years and mean BMI of 33 kg/m2. Over a median follow-up of 8 years, 6% had an incident CVD event. In multivariable models, each standard deviation (SD) increase in the religiosity component was associated with an increased hazard for CVD event (hazard ratio [HR] = 1.52, 95% CI: 1.09–2.13). Conclusions Religiosity was associated with CVD among participants with prevalent CKD or CKD risk factors. Studies to better understand the mechanisms of this relationship are needed.

The research featured the way time attitude depend on the levels of subjective well-being and optimism. The attitude manifested as temporal freedom, dependence, and infantilism. The authors believe that attitude to one's time can be an indicator of one’s subjective well-being and optimism. The survey included 297 senior students (age 21–22, 154 female subjects) of the Ugra State University (Khanty-Mansiysk) and the Kurgan branch of the Russian Academy of National Economy and Public Administration under the President of the Russian Federation (Kurgan). All the participants were citizens of Russia. The study employed a set of methods, including authentic versions of The Scale of Attitude to Time and The Scale of Optimism of Personality, as well as The Scale of Subjective Well-Being adapted by M.V. Sokolova. The study established the interdependence of subjective well-being and optimism with time attitude represented by temporary freedom, dependence, and infantilism. Optimists saw time as a resource for activity and demonstrated no obsession with time management and control. Students with a sense of well-being and optimism had low temporal dependence; those with moderate levels of well-being and optimism had higher levels of temporal dependence; those with low levels of subjective well-being demonstrated high levels of temporal dependence. Time attitude proved to be an effective indicator of subjective well-being. For instance, flexible attitude to time management reflected subjective well-being. Time dependence indicated subjective disadvantage and pessimism. Temporal infantilism, i.e. irrational attitude to time management, was typical of senior students with increased self-esteem, poor selfunderstanding, non- acceptance, and rejection of difficulties.

Background To describe the psychosocial response of the infertile population whose care was curtailed due to the COVID-19 pandemic. Methods A web-based cross-sectional survey was administered to 117 infertile patients at our center who had their infertility treatment delayed due to suspension of care at our hospital during the COVID-19 pandemic. The survey consisted of 52-question multiple-choice questions including the Life Orientation Test-Revised (LOT-R) and the Hospital Anxiety and Depression Scale (HADS) instruments. Characteristics of respondents who "agreed" (strongly agree and agree) that "delaying treatment has permanently impacted my chances at future conception" were compared with participants who "disagreed" (neutral, disagree, and strongly disagree) using Fischer's exact test. Results In total, 79.5% agreed that delaying treatment has permanently impacted their chances at future conception. There were no discernible demographic differences between patients who "agreed" versus "disagreed" with the above statement. The mean LOT-R score was 14.1 (5.1) with an optimism score of 6.8 (2.6) and a pessimism score of 7.3 (2.9). The mean HADS depression score was 5.4 (3.4) with 28.2% reporting scores in the borderline-abnormal to abnormal range. The mean HADS anxiety score was 9.0 (3.9) with 64.6% reporting scores in the borderline-abnormal to abnormal range. Nearly one third of respondents (36.8%) reported wanting to "expedite/be more aggressive with treatment," whereas only 5.1% wanted to postpone treatment. Conclusions Women undergoing ART during the COVID-19 pandemic express significant concern and signs of distress about how delays in care affect their future reproductive potential.

Test anxiety, particularly cognitive test anxiety, is negatively associated with academic performance. Previous research has demonstrated that higher levels of perfectionistic concerns predict higher levels of cognitive test anxiety but has not explored potential mediators of this relationship. This study investigated whether repetitive negative thinking mediated the relationship between perfectionistic concerns and cognitive test anxiety in a non-clinical, academic sample.Participants were Australian university students (Mediation analysis yielded a total model accounting for 43.5% of variance in cognitive TA. Perfectionistic concerns significantly accounted for 10.6% of variance direction (Findings demonstrate that RNT significantly mediates the relationship between perfectionistic concerns and cognitive test anxiety in this sample. Importantly, these findings may direct future studies towards investigating the effectiveness of targeting repetitive negative thinking in interventions to mitigate levels of cognitive test anxiety.

Depression Index (DEPI) is one of the specific Rorschach Index developed as a part of the Comprehensive System. There has been a lot of research on Depression Index which identifies individuals who may be emotionally distraught, cognitively pessimistic, lethargic or self defeating. However, there are evidences which show inconsistent results about the depression index when they are used for the purpose of diagnosis of depressive disorder. The main aim of this paper is to study the Depression Index in patients suffering from moderate and severe level of depression. The sample consisted of 30 patients with depression and 30 normal subjects selected by using purposive sampling technique. Beck Depression Inventory (BDI) was administered on the patient group to assess the severity of depressive symptoms and Rorschach Inkblot Test was administered on patients and normal subjects to assess the structure of the personality. General Health Questionnaire-12 (GHQ) was administered as a screening tool in the group of normal control subjects. Results show difference on Depression Index variables among the two groups. No significant correlation was found between BDI scores and DEPI. The diagnostic efficacy was found to be low for DEPI. In conclusion, it can be said that the DEPI has not been found to be very effective in diagnosing depression. Â Key Words: Rorschach Test, Depression Index, depression

Purpose Applications to radiation oncology in the United States have decreased the past 3 years, resulting in unfilled residency positions (30 [14.5%] in 2019 and 35 [18.5%] in 2020). The aim of this study is to understand the concerns among radiation oncology applicants and whether these concerns may have led to a decline in applications. Methods and Materials An Internet-based survey was e-mailed to all radiation oncology applicants participating in the 2020 National Resident Matching Program Match for whom e-mail addresses could be obtained (n = 145, 78.8%). The survey was open from May to September 2020. Results Survey responses were received for 98 applicants out of 145 (67.6%) available applicant e-mails. Applicants’ top-rated concerns were location of practice restrictions and residency expansion/oversupply of practicing physicians. Applicants were less concerned about a lack of exposure to the field of radiation oncology, competitiveness of the match, and the content of residency training. The sources of information which applicants used most, which applicants trusted most, and which promoted the most optimism among applicants were radiation oncology attending and resident physicians. The sources of information which applicants used least, which applicants trusted least, and which promoted the most pessimism among applicants were online resources. As a result of their concerns, 27 (28%) respondents strongly considered choosing a different field of medicine. Applicants identified 93 fellow graduating medical students who were interested in radiation oncology but chose not to apply; applicants reported that potential applicants chose not to apply most often due to concerns about location of practice restrictions and residency expansion/oversupply of practicing physicians. Conclusions Applicant concerns about residency expansion and location of practice restrictions are prevalent and may have led to declining applications to radiation oncology. To assuage applicant concerns, radiation oncology stakeholders must address these concerns by mitigating underlying problems.

Covid-19 is, above all, a problem concerning public health and healthcare professionals. This seems totally obvious but not for everybody. However, just beginning the outbreak of the pandemic, in the midst of its deadliest first wave, some renowned intellectuals, such as Slavoj Žižek, speculated in highly idealized and utopian terms about the positive effects that would be unleashed for philosophical and political thought. In this article we try to think the biopolitical implications of this pandemic, especially through a critical pessimism that faces the immanentist prophetism, which is typical of intramundane futurist projects that we read today in political publications. To fulfill our goals, we fully enter into the debate on the pandemic through contemporary authors such as Foucault, Agamben, Fukuyama, Han, and other relevant thinkers. After the hybris of the pandemic, we propose an ethics of caring for oneself and others in a parrhesia where, what is hidden and biopolitically manipulated, comes to light as a support for the different democratic systems, where Covid-19 must be fought. © 2021 by Revista Portuguesa de Filosofia. All rights reserved.

The main goal of this correlational study is to examine the changes in the amount and type of physical activity of students of various study programs during the coronavirus pandemic. Furthermore, the motives for these changes as well as their relationship with general well-being are investigated. Therefore, 243 students (sport science, humanities, natural sciences) answered questions concerning (a) the amount and type of their physical activity before and during the pandemic, (b) their well-being and (c) their optimism/pessimism. The main result of the study is that the type and the motives for sports and physical activity changed for the study participants during the coronavirus pandemic: Team sports and swimming decreased, while individual sports and physical activity not associated with a sports club/business and with digital media increased. In this study the difference in sports and physical activity seemed to be related to well-being, especially for the students of sport science and humanities. To conclude the study indicated that a change occurred in the type of sports and physical activity as well as change in the motives for physical exercise in students during the pandemic.

Although central to well-being, functional and dysfunctional thoughts arise and unfold over time in ways that remain poorly understood. To shed light on these mechanisms, we adapted a “think aloud” paradigm to quantify the content and dynamics of individuals’ thoughts at rest. Across two studies, external raters hand coded the content of each thought and computed dynamic metrics spanning duration, transition probabilities between affective states, and conceptual similarity over time. Study 1 highlighted the paradigm’s high ecological validity and revealed a narrowing of conceptual scope following more negative content. Study 2 replicated Study 1’s findings and examined individual difference predictors of trait brooding, a maladaptive form of rumination. Across individuals, increased trait brooding was linked to thoughts rated as more negative, past-oriented and self-focused. Longer negative and shorter positive thoughts were also apparent as brooding increased, as well as a tendency to shift away from positive conceptual states, and a stronger narrowing of conceptual scope following negative thoughts. Importantly, content and dynamics explained independent variance, accounting for a third of the variance in brooding. These results uncover a real-time cognitive signature of rumination and highlight the predictive and ecological validity of the think aloud paradigm applied to resting state cognition.

Cognitive behavioral therapy (CBT) of depression is hypothesized to achieve its effects by correcting negative biases. However, little research has tested how biases change over the course of CBT. We focus on biases in interpersonal judgments and examine whether changes in biases occur in CBT and are associated with symptom improvements. A sample of 126 adults (60% women, mean age 31.7, 83% White) participated in CBT of depression. Observers provided ratings of patients participating in two interpersonal tasks on three occasions. Patients were asked to predict observers’ ratings. In a thin slice (TS) task, observers evaluated how patients came across in a brief segment in which patients talked about themselves. In a Standard Interaction Task (SIT), observers rated the social skills patients displayed in challenging role plays. The difference between patient predictions and observer ratings provided measures of bias in these interpersonal judgments. TS and SIT bias became significantly less pessimistic and more realistic over the course of CBT. Improvements in TS bias were associated with a faster reduction in symptoms, whereas there was a non-significant trend for improvement in SIT bias being associated with faster symptom reduction. Consistent with the CBT model, negative interpersonal biases became more realistic throughout a course of CBT for depression and at least some of the changes in bias were related to therapeutic outcomes. We encourage future researchers to continue examining for whom and under which conditions correcting such biases produces the greatest benefits.

Ernst Bloch is a philosopher of hope, of this there can be no doubt. It is the fidelity to the proposition that a better world is possible that undergirds Bloch’s work. Yet, the hopeful tenor of Bl...

In contrast to the classic models in psychopathology, the network model considers that the temporal interactions between symptoms are the causes of their occurrence. This model could also be particularly suitable for understanding the processes involved in post-stroke depression. The aim of this paper is to perform a network analysis in order to describe the temporal dynamic of the links existing between depression symptoms during the acute phase after stroke. Twenty-five patients (64% male, mean age 58.1±14.9 years old) hospitalized for a minor stroke (no neurocognitive or motor impairment) were involved in an Ecological Momentary Assessment methodology-based study. They used a smartphone application in order to complete four brief questionnaires each day during the week after hospital discharge. The questionnaire included 7-point Likert scales to measure the severity of the following depressive symptoms: sadness, anhedonia, fatigue, diminished concentration ability, negative thoughts on oneself, pessimism. We used Multilevel Vector Autoregressive analysis to describe the temporal links between those symptoms. We used the software R 3.6.0 with the mlVAR package. The p-value was set at .05. The results show two independent symptoms networks. The first one involves the anhedonia, fatigue, negative thoughts on oneself and sadness. It shows that: anhedonia predicts the activation of later fatigue (β=0.135, P=0.037) and later negative thoughts (β=0.152, P=0.019); negative thoughts predict later negative thoughts (β=0.143, P=0.028) and later sadness (β=0.171, P=0.021); fatigue predicts later fatigue (β=0.261, P

The coronavirus, otherwise known as COVID-19 or SARS-CoV2, is a family of first detected viruses in the latter part of the year 2019 in Wuhan, China. It has leaped into a pandemic disease in just a short time reaching almost all populated parts of the world plunging economies while causing millions of deaths and it is still emerging spreading with more infectious mutations as of the end of 2020. It overwhelmed Government and health care institutions with the large turnout of infected. The virus transmission effectively occurs in close distance person-to-person interactions and contacts. Among the vulnerable group worst hit are the health care workers receiving the most brunt and social stigma. Health care workers of Hail were not spared and had experienced social stigma too. Such demeaning experiences have led to this study to explore the sentiments of nurses stricken by COVID-19. This study utilized the descriptive-qualitative research methods that include NVivo plus in analyzing the transcribed statements of respondents. The thematic analysis employed yielded the classification of the participants' responses within three themes: Personal sentiment, pessimistic image, and unsupportive environment. The nurses diagnosed positively with COVID-19 felt stigmatized in their workstation and the community during and after complete recovery and undertaking the mandatory quarantine period. Since this study is limited to hospital nurses, parallel research is highly recommended to investigate other healthcare workers' sentiments and determine what allows stigmatization of the COVID-19 patients. © 2021 The Authors. Published by IASE. This is an open access article under the CC BY-NC-ND license (http://creativecommons.org/licenses/by-nc-nd/4.0/).

The research on ethnic differences in prevalence rates of depression is mixed. Additionally, culture has been hypothesized to impact symptom manifestation. The purpose of this study was to examine prevalence rates of depression among Spanish-speaking Latinx and non-Latinx White (NLW) primary care patients and explore ethnic differences in how depression symptoms manifest. Participants were 240 primary care patients who completed a demographic questionnaire and the Beck Depression-Inventory-2 (BDI-II). Latinx primary care patients had lower prevalence rates of depressive symptoms and less severe depressive symptoms than NLW primary care patients. Holding total BDI-II score constant, Latinxs also endorse pessimism, past failures, feelings of being punished, agitation, and problems with sleeping less than their NLW counterparts. This study adds support to research that indicates that Latinxs have lower rates of depression than NLWs and suggests that Latinxs are not more likely to endorse somatic complaints.

Background: Repetitive negative thinking is conceptualized to be a transdiagnostic process linked to the development and maintenance of psychopathology. Prior research distinguishes between disorder-specific exemplars (worry, rumination) and transdiagnostic measures of repetitive negative thinking with differences across disorders reported. However, establishing the measurement invariance of these measures is necessary to support meaningful comparisons across clinical groups. Method: Bayesian structural equation modelling was used to assess the approximate invariance of the Ruminative Response Scale, Penn State Worry Questionnaire, and the Repetitive Thinking Questionnaire across individuals with a principal diagnosis of either depressive disorder, social anxiety disorder, or generalized anxiety disorder. Results: All scales demonstrated approximate measurement invariance across the three disorder groups. The depressive disorder group reported a higher level of rumination than the generalized anxiety disorder group (Δµ = 0.25, 95% Credibility Interval [0.06, 0.45]), with no difference between the generalized anxiety disorder and social anxiety disorder groups. The depressive disorder and generalized anxiety disorder groups did not differ in their levels of trait repetitive negative thinking, but the social anxiety disorder group was markedly lower than the generalized anxiety disorder group (Δµ = −0.21 [−0.37, −0.05]). Similarly, levels of worry did not differ between the generalized anxiety disorder and depressive disorder group but were lower in the social anxiety disorder group than the generalized anxiety disorder group (Δµ = −0.23 [−0.41, −0.06]). Conclusions: The Ruminative Response Scale, Penn State Worry Questionnaire, and Repetitive Thinking Questionnaire are measuring trait repetitive negative thinking in a consistent manner across individuals with a principal diagnosis of depressive disorder, social anxiety disorder, or generalized anxiety disorder. This supports their use in transdiagnostic contexts and indicates that it is appropriate to directly compare the scores on these measures between diagnostic groups.

The presence of children will affect the lives of their parents. Parenting and educating Intellectual Disability (ID) children creates certain pressures, especially for mothers. Many mothers experienced stress and have feelings of uncertainty about their ability to care for which lead to pessimism. These stress and anxiety may have an impact on the psychological well-being of the mothers. The purpose of this study was to determine whether parenting self-efficacy and optimism affect the psychological well-being of mothers with ID children. This study used a quantitative approach with a causal correlational design. The research subjects were 43 mothers who had children with ID. The data was collected using a questionnaire consists of the Self-Efficacy for Parenting Index (SEPTI) adapted from Coleman and Karakker, optimism scale, and psychological well-being Scales (PWBS) adapted from Ryff. The results show that parenting self-efficacy and optimism had an effect on psychological well-being

Background Inequalities in health and wealth distributions are becoming pressing societal problems in many countries. How these inequalities are perceived and to what degree perceptions are aligned with actual distributions, is important for trust in public health services, social and economic policies, and policymakers. This study aims to assess perceived and desired levels of inequality in health and wealth in Germany and the UK. Methods The online-survey was filled out by 769 volunteers (322 from Germany, 447 from the UK), recruited from an existing commercial panel (Prolific Academic) or via Facebook advertisements in 2019. Perceived and ideal national health and wealth distributions were assessed and compared to actual health indicators (i.e. days absent from work, number of visits to general practitioners (GPs) and self-rated health), and actual wealth distributions with t-tests. Results A pronounced gap emerged between the estimated, ideal and actual inequality. Both samples strikingly underestimated the proportion of (very) good health in the national distribution by a factor of ~ 2.3 (participants estimated that 34% of the German and 36% of the UK population respectively are very healthy or healthy, while the actual proportion in the population was 75% in Germany and 84% in the UK, P P Conclusions Respondents in both Germany and the UK have profoundly negative misperceptions regarding the distribution of health, which contrasts with starkly positive misperceptions regarding the distribution of wealth, indicating that the public is healthier but poorer than they think. More importantly, from a public health perspective, a high level of consensus emerged, with both healthy and wealthy participants misperceiving health and wealth distributions.

Purpose of the study: In this study, Samuel Beckett's dramatic writings' major aspects and linguistic qualities are examined, focusing on Waiting for Godot. The importance of these texts' linguistic characteristics has also been investigated. The study also looks into whether linguistic interpretations of Waiting for Godot are compatible with Existential readings. Methodology: Computational techniques such as UAMCT, MAT, SUAS, and AntConc were used to analyze the data. However, UAMTC was employed as the primary tool, and the other techniques were only used to verify the results' validity and complement specific areas of analysis that UAMCT lacked. Main Findings: Samuel Beckett's dramatic works are a linguistic paradox, lexically simple but structurally complicated, according to our linguistic analysis. Waiting for Godot's linguistic elements develop themes such as "Pessimism," "Directionlessness," "Skepticism," "Nothingness," "Existence," "Ambivalence," "Boredom," and "Alienation," These topics are consistent with Waiting for Godot's Existential interpretations. Applications of this study: Applications of this study reside on its far-reaching pedagogical consequences for literature and language. It is extremely important for students and teachers of English Language and Literature and syllabus designers who deal with literature. Originality/ Novelty: The play has a linguistic spontaneity of Existential themes. In a nutshell, in Waiting for Godot, Beckett has not told the predicament of Existence but made it happen linguistically.

This article expands on what Bernard Stiegler describes as “The Ordeal of Truth”. Through an evolutionary account of cognition and its exteriorization in human technology, I highlight a recurring tension in philosophy between the “as-if” (Kant, Vaihinger) nature of our models and representations, and the doubt that infects even our most stable understanding of the world. Truth is here associated to the process of metastabilization that characterizes the biological organism. The famous case of Clive Wearing’s severe amnesia, as well as the fictional treatment of amnesia in Christopher Nolan’s Memento, are recalled to highlight the connection between truth and memory, and more importantly the contingent character of the formation of thoughts (von Kleist), and the desperate nature of the construction of truths, through the evolutionarily conditioned “subjective necessity” (Hume) to link the before and the after, the cause and the effect. I show that this same ordeal is reflected in the philosophy of science in what is known as “pessimistic meta induction” (going back to Poincare’s notion of the “bankruptcy of science”), which I put into dialogue with the growing pessimism about knowledge in contemporary technological culture known as “post truth”. Finally, a possible way out of this pessimism is briefly sketched: a compromise such that, without recourse to objective truth, and in full acceptance of an always already biased relation to the world, future technologies might be designed to incrementally reduce our biases, through an intrinsic mapping of the relative falsity of our models, rather than through some idealized extrinsic relation to an unattainable noumenal real.

Background: Through the coronavirus (COVID-19) pandemic, front-line nurses meet immense mental health challenges. It is actually a global health threat attributed to a negative impact on the mental health and well-being of the people. Aim: To study the effectiveness of psycho-educational program to alleviate depression, anxiety, stress, pessimism and provide optimism for COVID-19 isolation nurses. Design: A quasi-experimental two-group (randomized control trial) was utilized in this study. Participants: A purposive sample of sixty nurses were involved in this study. Tools: A constructed interview schedule was utilized to collect data; Depression, Anxiety and Stress Scale-21; and Optimism and Pessimism Scale. The training program consisted of 14 sessions. Results: Revealed that there were highly statistically significant relations between depression, anxiety, stress, and pessimism pre/post program in “experimental group”. Also, there were statistically significant relations between pessimism and anxiety among the control group pre/post observations. Conclusion: The program had a great positive effect on nurses who were caring for patients infected with coronavirus in reduced “levels of stress, anxiety, depression, pessimism and increased level of optimism”. Recommendations: The nursing staff must be prepared to challenge any pandemic in the future to alleviate their levels of depression, anxiety, stress pessimism, and provide optimism and feelings of hope.

Uveal melanoma, a rare eye cancer, presents potential vision loss and life threat. This prospective, longitudinal study interrogated the predictive utility of visual impairment, as moderated by optimism/pessimism, on depressive symptoms in 299 adults undergoing diagnostic evaluation.Depressive symptoms (Center for Epidemiologic Studies Depression Scale), subjective (Measure of Outcome in Ocular Disease vision subscale) and objective (logarithm of the minimum angle of resolution) visual impairment, and optimism/pessimism (Life Orientation Test-Revised) were assessed before diagnostic evaluation and 1 week, 3 months, and 12 months after diagnosis. Multilevel modeling, with repeated measures (Level 1) nested within individuals (Level 2) and imputation of missing data (Blimp software), was performed.Depressive symptoms were significantly more elevated 1 week after diagnosis in cancer patients (n = 107) versus patients not diagnosed with cancer (n = 192). Higher subjective (but not objective) visual impairment predicted greater depressive symptoms (p.001). Across the entire sample, the two-way (Optimism/Pessimism × Subjective Visual Impairment) interactions were statistically significant (ps.05), but not the three-way interaction (with diagnosis). The positive association between subjective visual impairment and depressive symptoms was significant at low and moderate levels of optimism (ps.001), but not at high optimism (p.05). The association was significant at high and moderate levels (ps.001), but not low (p.05) levels of pessimism.Elevated depressive symptoms are evident in adults who do (vs. do not) receive a diagnosis of uveal melanoma but appear to remit within 3 months. Perceived impaired vision, especially coupled with low optimism or high pessimism, predicts depressive symptoms over time, with implications for intervention. (PsycInfo Database Record (c) 2021 APA, all rights reserved).

The aim of this study is to investigate relationship between social and psychological indicators and the difficulties to adapt to the state of emergency during the COVID-19 pandemic. Secondary data from the survey (N = 2608, men 39.8%, aged from 18 – 74) carried out in July 2020, in the frame of the National research program (VPP-COVID-2020/1-0011) was used in this study. Data of only some demographic questions (age, gender, education, place of residence, family status, number of children, employment status, and changes in the workload), 6 items as proxy measures of 6 personality traits (persistence, openness, hostility, extraversion, pessimism, and rigidity), Resilience scale, Emotion Regulation Skills Questionnaire (ERSQ-27) and Social Problem-Solving Inventory-Revised version (SPRP-S) as well as answers on a criterion statement: “Overall it was very difficult for me to adapt to the state of emergency” were used. Results showed that it was more difficult to adapt to the state of emergency for such demographic groups as females, persons lining in an urban area, and for those, who have experience changes (in any direction) in their workload. Results of the series of stepwise linear regression analysis showed that Negative problem orientation, Avoidance style of social problem solving, Psychological resilience (negatively), Rigidity and Extraversion are prognostic psychological factors of the difficulties to adapt to lockdown. Based on the results of this study a more targeted recommendations and interventions to enhance the psychological resilience and adaptability to the changes associated with the COVID-19 crisis for the particular groups of the Latvian population could be developed.

El objetivo de este trabajo es explorar la expresión y experiencia emocional de la pandemia COVID- 19, a través de un perfil de Facebook de universitarios mexicanos. En este estudio de caso se utilizó el método etnográfico virtual con la intensión de realizar un estudio detallado y avanzar en el conocimiento teórico del fenómeno en cuestión. La recuperación y análisis de la información se efectuó durante los meses de marzo a julio de 2020. Se capturaron un total de 113 memes de los cuales 55 (48.7%) expresaban emociones vinculadas con la pandemia. De los resultados se advierte que el meme es un sistema complejo en el que intervienen procesos cognitivos y juegos de lenguaje propios de la cultura donde se usan, favoreciendo la expresividad y las formas de compartir y ser afectuoso durante la pandemia. Prevalece la expresión de emociones negativas como el pesimismo, la desesperación, el miedo y la soledad; también se expresan emociones positivas como el asombro, el optimismo y la serenidad. Los resultados encaminan a comprobar parcialmente el supuesto de investigación en el entendido que las emociones que predominaron, si bien, son negativas, no son las emociones que se han identificado como parte de las premisas histórico-socio-culturales de la expresión emocional en los mexicanos. Se discute sobre la función edificadora de los memes para delinear pautas expresivas de valoración y planificación de la nueva realidad al constituirse en referentes que operan como unidades culturales que articularon actos comunicativos para proveer de sentido e identidad a los usuarios.

We examined the way people assess hospitalized patients’ quality of life from what they immediately observe when entering the patient’s room, from what they learn by conversing with the patient, and from what they know about the patient’s social life. A sample of 474 adults (among them 7 physicians, 57 nurses, and 42 nurse’s aides) aged 18–90 years was presented with 54 realistic scenarios depicting the situation of a terminally ill patient, and created by orthogonally combining the levels of four factors: chronic pain (e.g., requiring powerful painkillers), social support (e.g., some visits), mental status (e.g., alterations of consciousness), and physical autonomy. In each case, they assessed the patient’s health-related quality of life. Through cluster analysis, three different positions related to what is important when judging the quality of life of a hospitalized patient were found. They were labeled Almost Always Low (40%), Depends on Personal and Social Circumstances (49%), and Depends Mainly on Social Support (11%). Health professionals did not differ fundamentally from lay people in their positions regarding what determines the health-related quality of life of their patients. Many people take a particularly pessimistic view of the quality of life of people whose health is unlikely to improve. Others think that, in certain circumstances, a certain quality of life can be preserved but for this to happen, the situation must be nearly ideal. A minority expressed a position consistent with the insistence of voluntary patient-visiting associations on the importance of providing hospitalized patients with social support.

The outbreak of the novel SARS-CoV-2 virus has an enormous impact on health. People’s views about the virus impact public health efforts to mitigate the pandemic. In this study, we measured misconceptions toward coronavirus in the Jordanian population; 2,544 participants from the Jordanian population completed an online survey. Questions in the survey addressed misconceptions divided into four categories: optimism bias, pessimism bias, magical beliefs, and conspiracy theory beliefs. Questions were evaluated on a Likert scale, and average/median scores for each category were evaluated (“one” high misconception to “five” low misconception). Overall, the most common misconceptions involved conspiracy theory beliefs (2.68 ± 0.83), whereas the least common involved magical beliefs (2.25 ± 0.75). Females had more misconceptions than males (2.52 versus 2.47, P = 0.04). Participants who had attended a lecture on coronavirus, had a higher level of education, worked in a medical field, lived in urban area, or resided in Amman or northern Jordan had fewer misconceptions about SARS-CoV-2/COVID-19 (2.64, 2.34, 2.33, 2.50 and 2.50 versus 2.53, 2.73, 2.72, 2.64, and 2.66, respectively, P < 0.001). The use of social media appeared to be an important factor influencing the likelihood of false beliefs (2.61 versus 2.38, P < 0.001). Understanding of the factors influencing public perceptions surrounding the SARS-CoV-2/COVID-19 pandemic will help public health authorities improve public understanding and compliance with public health recommendations directed at combatting the virus, including the use of surgical masks, thorough handwashing, and avoiding close contact. These messages will be better received by the public through correcting misconceptions surrounding COVID-19.

Research suggests that psychological stress is associated with insomnia, but there is limited research on vulnerabilities that might amplify this association, particularly in college students. Based on a sample of 507 undergraduates, the current study demonstrates that the observed positive correlation between self-perceived stress and insomnia severity is moderated by the tendency to engage in repetitive negative thinking (RNT) at bedtime. Additionally, separate analyses of those who scored below/above the threshold for insomnia (non-insomniacs vs. insomniacs) revealed that the interaction between stress and these negative bedtime cognitions differed qualitatively between the two groups. In insomniacs, the stress-insomnia relationship was dampened for those with lower levels of bedtime RNT, but amplified for those with higher levels. For non-insomniacs, the stress-insomnia relationship was stronger for those with minimal bedtime RNT, while higher levels of bedtime RNT appeared to overshadow this association. To develop a better understanding of the contribution of stress and RNT to clinically relevant levels of insomnia, future studies should take into account the dissimilar patterns of moderation seen in non-insomniacs and insomniacs, either through prospective screening or separate analyses. Findings from the current study suggest that insomnia treatments that can simultaneously reduce stress and address bedtime RNT may be optimal.

This study aims to determine the various problems and stress coping performed by students in preparing their thesis for STIT Al-Amin Kreo Tangerang students. There are 5 (five) informants involved in this study. The research approach used a qualitative approach with data collection techniques through observation, interviews, and FGD (focus group discussion). The results showed that the problem faced by students who were writing their thesis was between happiness and stress. On the one hand, they feel happy because they have reached the final peak of activities to obtain a bachelor's degree, will finish college, graduate and be able to find work after bachelor's degree. On the other hand, feeling stressed, such as feeling overwhelmed, confused, worried, afraid, insecure, anxious, feeling helpless and helpless or pessimistic, feeling guilty, feeling worried, nervous, feeling very tense, panic, restless, feeling chaotic, arises feelings of fear and anxiety, depressed, embarrassed and sometimes sad, feels tired, tired, upset, bored, bored and feels stuck in the mind. These feelings are caused by internal and external factors. In stress coping, students have strategies that focus on the emotional realm and do not use coping that is focused on problems. A strategy that is considered effective for students in writing a thesis so that the thesis does not become a scary thing.

Initial evidence suggests Socratic questioning predicts session-to-session symptom change in cognitive behavioral therapy (CBT) for depression, but little is known about which clients are most likely to benefit from this approach. We examined pretreatment client characteristics as potential moderators of the relation between Socratic questioning and symptom improvement. Participants were 55 adults who met criteria for major depressive disorder and participated in CBT. Clients on antidepressant medication were required to be on a stable dose during the study. Therapist use of Socratic questioning was rated by trained observers at sessions 1–3 and depressive symptoms were assessed at each session. We examined four potential pre-treatment moderators of the relation of within-client Socratic questioning and session-to-session symptom change: cognitive bias, medication use, presence of a personality disorder, and dysfunctional attitudes. Pessimistic bias in predicting future life events and concurrent use of antidepressant medication emerged as significant moderators with small effects. Among clients with a greater pessimistic bias and those not on antidepressant medication, Socratic questioning more strongly predicted symptom improvement. Findings are consistent with the view that Socratic questioning promotes session-to-session symptom improvements for some clients but plays a less important role for others.

Purpose We aimed to systematically analyse how the radiology community discusses the concept of artificial intelligence (AI), perceives its benefits, and reflects on its limitations. Methods We conducted a qualitative, systematic discourse analysis on 200 social-media posts collected over a period of five months (April-August 2020). Results The discourse on AI is active, albeit often referring to AI as an umbrella term and lacking precision on the context (e.g. research, clinical) and the temporal focus (e.g. current AI, future AI). The discourse is also somewhat split between optimism and pessimism. The latter considers a wider range of social, ethical and legal factors than the former, which tends to focus on concrete technologies and their functionalities. Conclusions Further precision in the discourse could lead to more constructive conversations around AI. The split between optimism and pessimism calls for a constant exchange and synthesis between the two perspectives. Practical conversations (e.g. business models) remain rare, but may be crucial for an effective implementation of AI in clinical practice.

This study examines the influence of gender on mental health services utilization and on perceived barriers to treatment one year after the 2016 Fort McMurray wildfires. Data was collected through a phone survey from May to July 2017 (N = 1510). Participants were English-speaking evacuees aged 18 and older. Mental health services utilization and barriers to mental health care were assessed with the Perceived Need for Care questionnaire. Probable diagnoses of posttraumatic stress disorder, depression and insomnia were assessed with validated self-report questionnaires. Multiple logistic regressions confirmed that gender was a significant predictor of services utilization, after controlling for associated sociodemographic variables and presence of probable diagnoses. Women were respectively 1.50, 1.55 and 1.86 times more likely than men to receive information, medication and psychological help. Self-reliance was the most frequently reported reason for not receiving help, and motivational barriers, such as pessimism and stigma, were reported in a higher proportion than structural barriers, including nonresponse and finance. No significant gender differences were found in the types of perceived barriers to services. Among the Fort McMurray fire evacuees, mental health services utilization was similar to other studies on natural disaster victims, and higher in women than in men. Efforts to increase services utilization in natural disaster victims should focus on motivational barriers and offering treatments fostering people’s autonomy, such as online treatments. Supplementary Information The online version contains supplementary material available at 10.1007/s10488-021-01114-w .

Background Rumination and worry are repetitive negative thinking (RNT) tendencies that contribute to the development and maintenance of internalizing psychopathologies. Accruing data suggest rumination and worry represent overlapping and unique transdiagnostic cognitive processes. Yet, prior neuroimaging research has mostly focused on rumination in depression, which points to involvement of resting-state brain activity in default mode, executive, salience, and/or affective networks. Methods The current study examined relations between brain activity during rest and RNT in a transdiagnostic sample. Resting-state fMRI data was analyzed in 80 unmedicated patients with internalizing conditions. Regression analysis, controlling for anxiety and depression symptoms, was performed with seed regions implicated in default mode, executive, salience, and affective networks. Rumination and worry were assessed with standard self-report measures. Results Whole-brain regression results showed more rumination and worry jointly corresponded with greater positive resting-state functional connectivity (rsFC) between the amygdala and prefrontal regions (i.e., middle frontal gyrus, inferior frontal gyrus). Conversely, more worry (controlling for rumination) corresponded with greater negative rsFC between amygdala and precuneus. No significant results were observed for rumination alone (controlling for worry). Conclusions Findings indicate the affective network plays a role in RNT, and distinct patterns of connectivity between amygdala and regions implicated in the executive and default mode networks were observed across patients with internalizing conditions. Results suggest different mechanisms contribute to RNT as a unitary construct and worry as a unique construct.

The essence of sleep is to keep life in balance, ensuring that energy used during day time will also be replenished by resting at night. However, when sleep is interrupted and unable to achieve a blissful rest, it may compromise the health and unfolding tasks that teenagers need to accomplish. Young adults need at least 8 to 10 hours of sleep. Thus, grade 12 Science, Technology, Engineering, Agriculture, and Mathematics (STEAM) students from Silliman University Senior High School in the Philippines answered the online questionnaire on sleep deprivation, which correlates with sleep with academic performance. For nearly eight hours, these respondents in school were swamped with several academic tasks even after class hours leaving so little time to sleep. While this study reveals that sleep deprivation may affect academic performance, the study obtains 95% confidence that respondents show a mean between 6.85 hours and 7.40 hours 6. This indicates the respondents may occasionally lack 1 to 2 hours of sleep from the required average of 8 to 10 hours of rest. Also, it illustrates no linear correlation between the number of hours of sleep and the general average. This further demonstrates that students can sacrifice a portion of their sleep to have their desired grades and be accustomed to the lack of sleep and difficult academic tasks. Aside from that, 17 respondents are not sleep deprived. At the same time, 70% have partial sleep deprivation where most of their time is spent studying for exams, doing school projects, using social media, and video gaming. The top three outcomes of sleep deprivation are exhaustion, fatigue, and pessimism and succeeded by health risks, as well as a decline in thinking. Thus, to minimize having debt in sleep is to have time management, establish a comfortable sleeping environment, and less time on social media. The study concludes that there is no correlation between sleep and academic performance.

Depression and anxiety are common disorders in older adults. For some, even after a combination of pharmacological and psychological treatments, residual symptoms and periodic relapse persist throughout the lifespan. This pattern can lead to pessimism, as well as an increasing deficit in euthymia. Well-Being Therapy is an innovative approach to addressing depression and anxiety symptoms that are often influenced and accompanied by low levels of psychological well-being. The core principles of well-being therapy, as well as the related concepts of euthymia, eudaimonia, and psychological well-being, are described and illustrated.

A widely cited but poorly supported idea in the couples therapy field is that the average couple waits six years before starting therapy for serious relationship problems. This figure is often accompanied by the notion that many couples come "too late" and have poor prospects for recovery. This is the first large-sample study on the delay between the onset of serious marital problems and entry into couples therapy (N = 270) and individual therapy (N = 101) for relationship problems. We found an average interval of 2.68 years from onset of problems and entering couples therapy, with the great majority of couples entering therapy within two years. Findings were similar for seeking individual therapy for relationship problems. The main clinical implication is that therapists have little reason to be pessimistic about the majority of couples waiting so long before starting therapy that their problems are not resolvable.

Coronavirus disease-2019 (COVID-19) caused by novel coronavirus 2019 (2019-nCoV) has led to 199,466,211 confirmed cases, including 4,244,541 deaths by 6:44 pm CEST. This epidemic is now on the period of global outbreak, the control of COVID-19 has severely challenged the world. At the beginning of the outbreak, patients infected or suspected were observed and close contacts were isolated. The country delayed the resumption of work and school and all walks of life are seriously affected. All kinds of true and false information and rumours on the internet exist, aggravating people’s anxiety and restlessness. These factors altogether often induce people to feel various negative emotions and psychological problems. In this paper, a patient with COVID-19 was examined through psychological dynamic observation at the beginning of the epidemic. It was found that in the early stage of the epidemic, due to the lack of clear treatment guidelines, the main treatment methods and psychological problems were the main reasons affecting the recovery of patients. Many uncertain factors, including individual and social factors and quarantine, worry about the prognosis, etc, resulting in anxiety, fear, unacceptance, insomnia, irritability and other pessimistic moods. After 16 days of symptomatic treatment, psychological counselling and adjustments in a timely manner, the patient eventually recovered and was discharged. The discussion of this case could serve as a reference for the treatment and rehabilitation of patients with COVID-19 in other countries and regions.

Background Virtual simulation as an emerging technology is thought to be most amenable to mental health nursing education. This study aims to evaluate the effects of virtual simulation on undergraduate nursing students’ beliefs about prognosis and long-term outcomes for people with depression and schizophrenia. Methods A prospective cohort design was used in this study. Students’ responses were compared between the simulation cohort (n = 149) and the nonsimulation cohort (n = 150) at a school of nursing in the United States. Results Nursing students developed a greater insight into the prognosis of people with depression after receiving virtual simulation. Furthermore, virtual simulation increased nursing students’ optimistic beliefs about the long-term outcomes for people with depression and decreased their pessimistic beliefs about the long-term outcomes for people with schizophrenia. Conclusions Virtual simulation can be used as an effective experiential learning tool to foster undergraduate nursing students’ positive beliefs about and attitudes toward mental illness.

BackgroundThe COVID-19 pandemic represents a global health crisis. How well people cope with this situation depends on many factors, including one’s personality, such as dispositional optimism. The aim of the study was to investi-gate: 1) optimists’ and pessimists’ concerns during lockdown, and mental and global health; 2) whether pessi-mists without known risk factors more often than optimists report being at risk for COVID-19.Participants and procedureA snowball sampling strategy was used; 4,527 people, 18 years or older, participated in a survey on a variety of mental health conditions and COVID-19 worries. In addition, they completed the Life Orientation Test-Revised (LOT-R). Optimism was defined by LOT-R f ≥ 17.ResultsFewer optimists than pessimists reported that they were worried about COVID-19, respectively 51.2% vs. 66.8%, p < .001. Among those reporting none of the known somatic risk factors, more pessimists than optimists (14.3% vs. 9.1%, p < .001) considered themselves at risk of a fatal outcome from COVID-19. Significantly fewer optimists reported that they had anxiety (5.1%), depression (3.4%), suicidal ideation (0.7%) and insomnia (19.3%) during the COVID-19 outbreak than pessimists (24.7% anxiety, 18.4% depression, 5.4% suicidal idea-tion, 39.8% insomnia, all p < .001). Optimists reported better global health than pessimists (87.2 vs. 84.6, p < .001).ConclusionsOptimists were generally less worried about the COVID-19 pandemic than pessimists and reported better men-tal and global health during lockdown. Pessimists more often than optimists reported being at risk for COVID-19 without reporting known risk factors.

The “May Fourth Movement” is undoubtedly a turning point in the history of modern Chinese society and culture. It must be acknowledged that the direction of development of Chinese culture was largely influenced by famous Chinese writer, educator and revolutionary Lu Xun (1881–1936). The structure of Lu Xun’s ideas and the influence of Lu Xun’s ideas today have shaped the ever-living “Lu Xun’s culture”. The main essence of Lu Xun’s culture is embodied in many important judgments regarding the development of the nation, society and culture. These judgments are aimed not only at the past, but also at the future and the present. Many of his thoughts were a century ahead their time. Speaking about Lu Xun’s anti-traditionalist approach to the development of new culture, one cannot ignore the rationalistic cultural spirit of the enlightenment ideology behind it. Lu Xun’s pessimism at the beginning of the “May Fourth Movement” and the subsequent bitterness can serve as a key to understanding the cultural spirit of the “May Fourth Movement” and its logical connection with Lu Xun’s culture. Analyzing Lu Xun’s criticism of China’s unrealized democracy and his skepticism about the new culture, one can see that Lu Xun’s inner mood is shrouded in a shadow of disappointment. Moreover, until the end of his days, he was accompanied by pain caused by too sober and deep perception of life. In addition, the reason for Lu Xun’s distrust is that too often, due to his decency and simplicity, he was deceived. We believe that the spiritual world of Lu Xun has always been characterized by the presence of two levels: Lu Xun is open, throwing loud calls, and Lu Xin is hidden, suffering and lonely. At the same time, his inherent sharpness stems from a deep understanding of the situation, and his bitterness comes from a firm will and an uncompromising attitude to his views. The reason for such bitterness is due to the strength and immensity of the objects of his resistance. Lu Xun’s views have enriched the thinking of China and all mankind.

A pessimistic strain of thought is fomenting in the health studies literature regarding the status of medicine. Ioannidis's (2005) now famous finding that "most published research findings are false" and Stegenga's (2018) book-length argument for medical nihilism are examples of this. In this paper, we argue that these positions are incorrect insofar as they rest on an untenable account of the nature of facts. Proper attention to fallibilism and the social organization of knowledge, as well as Bayesian probabilities in medical reasoning, prompt us to ask why the cynics expect the results of quantitative studies to be incontrovertibly true in the first place. While we agree with Ioannidis and others' identified flaws in the medical research enterprise, and encourage rectification, we conclude that medical nihilism is not the natural outcome of the current state of research.

Purpose\ud \ud Previous research suggests that catastrophisation and perseverative, or repetitive negative thinking (RNT) could play an important role in the aetiology of Psychogenic Nonepileptic Seizures (PNES). This study was designed to explore whether these cognitive tendencies are more prevalent in patients with PNES than those with epilepsy and to examine the relationship between these cognitions, depression, anxiety, seizure frequency and diagnosis.\ud \ud \ud \ud Methods\ud \ud 26 patients with PNES (PWPNES) and 29 with epilepsy (PWE) self-reported RNT (Perseverative Thinking Questionnaire), catastrophisation tendencies (modified Safety Behaviors and Catastrophizing Scale), symptoms of anxiety (Generalised Anxiety Disorder Assessment 7) and depression (Primary Health Questionnaire 9) as well as seizure frequency.\ud \ud \ud \ud Results\ud \ud RNT and catastrophic thinking were highly correlated with each other and more prevalent in PWPNES than PWE. Positive correlations were also found between all other self-report measures and seizure frequency. The PNES diagnosis predicted RNT (perseverative thinking) independently of catastrophic thinking, anxiety, depression and seizure frequency.\ud \ud \ud \ud Conclusion\ud \ud PWPNES exhibit greater negative perseverative and catastrophising cognitive tendencies than PWE. PNES as a diagnosis independently predicted RNT. Hence, RNT and catastrophisation should be considered as possible specific targets for psychological interventions in patients with PNES.