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BACKGROUND: The article concerns the psychology of trauma: the intensity of the experienced threats and reactions to the trauma in the form of post-traumatic stress disorder (PTSD), defenses and post-traumatic growth (PTG) in Ukrainian immigrants in Poland. The issues of trauma psychology were studied in connection with the relationships with parents. PARTICIPANTS AND PROCEDURE: The methods used mainly concerned the specifics of experiencing strong threats (trauma) and responding to them (PCL-5 questionnaire, Psycho-Social and Psychic Defenses Questionnaire, Post-Traumatic Growth Inventory), determination of closeness to parents (Scale of Closeness to Biological Parents) and secure and non-secure attachment style (Attachment Style Questionnaire). The subjects were 178 people (including 147 women and 31 men), citizens of Ukraine, who arrived in Poland after the outbreak of war on February 24, 2022, and at the time of the study were living in and around Krakow, Wroclaw, Lublin, or Warsaw. The mean age of the subjects was 38 years (SD = 12.57). RESULTS: The results of the study indicate that non-secure attachment styles (anxious-avoidant and anxious-ambivalent), along with frustration of the need for competence and intensity of threats, are predictors of PTSD and non-constructive defenses. In contrast, a secure attachment style, along with frustration of the need for competence and intensity of threats, is a predictor of constructive defenses, while a secure attachment style is a predictor of PTG. Statistical analyses show that closeness to the mother is not significantly associated with any of the explained variables. CONCLUSIONS: The accumulation of risks associated with war trauma and the necessity to cope with them are strongly associated with the ongoing war. Attachment styles support or hinder the process of adaptation. The absence of closeness to the mother among the predictors in the models tested represents the most intriguing result, to be confirmed in further research. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR] more...

The basic aim of our theoretical and research activity is to prepare a research procedure and a theoretical basis for such procedure directed at diagnosing three possible ways of responding to trauma (absence of adaptation, adaptation and post-traumatic development) among people who were mentally stable before experiencing trauma. In subject literature, traumatic responses are most often described by grouping into three categories: absence of adaptation, adaptation, and post-traumatic growth (development). In our case study, we introduce two examined women, who had in common the type of traumas experienced. They are women between 29 and 32 years old (young adults) whose child had died in the last 3 to 5 years. We have therefore focused not on the description of individual steps in carrying out a single case diagnosing reaction to trauma, but on the presentation of preparing procedure for such a study, i.e. the description of consecutive steps that led us from the fi rst question: what model will we use for the analysis of response to trauma and why this model and not the other one? - to the last question: what set of methods will we use to investigate the response to trauma and why this one as opposed to some other? In this case study, we present ensuing answers to the questions raised together with their rationale, dilemmas and doubts accompanying their formulation. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR] more...

Dental anxiety is a condition suffered by many dental patients. It causes psychological discomfort and avoidance of dental appointments, which in turn may lead to oral health issues. Dental anxiety has not yet been fully explored and seems to be still posing challenge to both dentists and psychologists. The aim of this article is to review dental anxiety studies, paying particular attention to the conditions, social, demographic and psychological correlations, as well as the ramifications of this type of anxiety. The article presents the most common psychological models of dental anxiety, methods to measure this type of anxiety and therapy techniques used with patients suffering from dental anxiety. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR] more...

This article contains the main assumptions of the social-cognitive model of identity construction by M. Berzonsky, the characteristics of the Polish adaptation of the Identity Style Inventory (ISI-5), a report from five studies conducted using this questionnaire, and an evaluation of the Polish adaptation of ISI-5. We followed the guidelines provided by the authors of the ISI-5 (Berzonsky, Soenens, Luyckx, Smits, Papini, Goossens, 2013), adjusting our procedure and analysis of results to the original ISI-5 study. The results obtained showed the adaptation to have similar properties to its original. Confirmatory factor analysis (CFA) revealed the fit of the Polish data to the three-factor model of identity styles (RMSEA = .062; sRMR = .069; GFI = .90). Cronbach's alpha reliability coefficients for ISI-5 scales were satisfactory and measured .68 for the Normative style scale, .77 for the Informational style scale, .71 for the Diffuse-avoidant style scale, and .80 for the Commitment scale. Intercorrelations between ISI-5 scales were also similar to those provided by Berzonsky et al. (2013). Correlations of ISI-5 scales with dimensions of identity (DIDS) and factors of personality (NEO-FFI) were approximate to the expected ones as well. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR] more...

BACKGROUND: The sense of threat to health and life in the face of a pandemic, accompanied by difficulties imposed by lockdown, may trigger a serious crisis. Among possible consequences of such a crisis may paradoxically be the phenomenon of psychological growth. The aim of this article is to identify predictors of pandemic-activated psychological growth (PPG). The relationships between extraversion, reflective and ruminative self-consciousness and PPG were the subject of our inquiry. Additionally, a question was posed about the indirect effect of self-consciousness on PPG through anxiety. participants and procedure The study involved 1206 participants aged 18 to 26 years, who declared that the pandemic situation significantly threatened their important life goals. Procedure: crosssectional design. Four online short questionnaire-measures were used: the Ten-Item Personality Inventory (TIPI), the Rumination-Reflection Questionnaire (RRQ), the Current Self-disposition Scale (CSS), and the Post-traumatic Growth Inventory (PTGI). RESULTS: Extraversion and reflective self-consciousness were direct predictors of higher PPG, whereas ruminative self-consciousness was directly related to a lower PPG. There was an indirect effect of ruminative self-consciousness on PPG through COVID-19 related anxiety. CONCLUSIONS: Although the results do not confirm the permanence of a growth effect, finding PPG predictors considered as beneficial resources for coping with difficult pandemic circumstances appears to be valuable in the current state of affairs. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR] more...