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The epidemic spread of obesity is nowadays recognized as a global health and economic burden, arising great interest in the scientific community. The rate of adult obesity steadily increases concomitantly with the cancer incidence. As has been comprehensively reported, obesity is included among the multiple cancer risk factors and can progressively cause and/or exacerbate certain cancer types, as colorectal and breast cancers. The term adiponcosis was forged precisely to emphasize the interconnection between obesity and cancer onset and progression. The underlying mechanisms of adiponcosis have not been fully elucidated yet, may vary on cancer type, and depend on body fat distribution. It has been proposed that insulin resistance and related chronic hyperinsulinemia, increased insulin‐like growth factors production, chronic inflammation or increased bioavailability of steroid hormones could be responsible of cancer hallmarks. Additionally, it has been suggested that adipose tissue‐derived hormones, cytokines and adipokines, such as leptin, adiponectin and inflammatory markers, may reflect mechanisms linked to tumorigenesis. This review summarizes the current evidence on pathways, hormones, cytokines and low‐chronic inflammation subtending adiponconsis, focusing on breast and colorectal cancers. In addition, we analyzed the lifestyle interventions that could attenuate the driving forces of obesity‐related cancer incidence and progression. Moreover, current targets and drugs, their pros and cons, as well as new mechanisms and targets with promising therapeutic potential in cancer are discussed. Depicting this complex interconnection will provide insights for establishing new therapeutic approaches to halt the obesity impacts and thwart cancer onset and progression. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

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The subjective experience of patients suffering from narcissistic personality disorder (NPD) has been studied using various methods. However, there has not been an analysis of psychotherapy session transcripts. It is much more likely that the facets of experience surface in this context than during a single interview or in a self-administered questionnaire. Using the Grid of Problematic States, designed to assess contents emerging in patients' transcripts, the authors analyzed the first 18 psychotherapy sessions with three female patients suffering from NPD and treated by therapists of the cognitive-constructivist school specializing in personality disorders. The three patients' dominant states of mind were characterized by anger, feeling excluded from groups, feelings of being harmed, and distrust toward others. The authors discuss the results and their implications for future research and for the definition of NPD in future editions of the Diagnostic and Statistical Manual of Mental Disorders. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

Persons exhibiting narcissistic personality traits are difficult to treat in psychotherapy, in particular because of the problems they have in building up a sound therapeutic relationship. We discuss the hypothesis that the threats to a therapeutic alliance emerge both from patients' maladaptive patterns of behaving towards others and from therapists being affected by these patterns and becoming a part of a dysfunctional dialogue. We examine this phenomenon in terms of Dialogical Self Theory and suggest that a patient can be conceptualised as embodying a cast of characters weaving a problematic dialogue both within the self and with other selves. Via the analysis of the transcripts of the first four audiotaped sessions of a psychotherapy involving a woman with narcissistic traits we identified one early dominant dialogical pattern in which a contemptuous and a contemptible character faced each other, shadowing characters in search for help. Such a pattern is consistent with the literature on interpersonal processes in narcissism. The therapist was involved in the pattern from the third session, suggesting that countertransference with individuals displaying narcissistic personality traits is caused more by the pathology than by their therapist's characteristics. Implications for treatment are discussed. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

The way in which patients tell therapists their stories has an impact on treatment. They try to put their emotions and the events generating them, their goals and the behavior they adopt to achieve them, and so on, together in a coherent discourse. But some patients fail in organizing their narratives. They might describe a diffuse arousal without letting the reasons for their discomfort be known, switch from one subject to another without any apparent connection, or pile up one topic after another, thus overwhelming a listener, who is unable to see which is the main one. We call such narratives disorganized. They do not help a patient to make sense of experience or achieve consistency in behavior. A therapist listening has difficulty in planning treatment and often reacts negatively to such patients. Here we propose a series of interventions aimed at improving narrative coherence, creating a sound therapeutic relationship and making treatment effective. We will describe the therapy with a seriously dissociated patient in which this intervention has proven useful. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

Over the past years, several lines of evidence support a therapeutic potential of Cannabis derivatives and in particular phytocannabinoids. Δ 9 -THC and cannabidiol (CBD) are the most abundant phytocannabinoids in Cannabis plants and therapeutic application for both compounds have been suggested. However, CBD is recently emerging as a therapeutic agent in numerous pathological conditions since devoid of the psychoactive side effects exhibited instead by Δ 9 -THC. In this review, we highlight the pharmacological activities of CBD, its cannabinoid receptor-dependent and -independent action, its biological effects focusing on immunomodulation, angiogenetic properties, and modulation of neuronal and cardiovascular function. Furthermore, the therapeutic potential of cannabidiol is also highlighted, in particular in nuerological diseases and cancer. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]