Research
Relationship of Early Childhood Neglect and Abuse with Emotion Regulation and Emotion Recognition in Adolescents
Background: Different patterns of childhood neglect and abuse are related with the level of seriousness of mental issue in adulthood. An investigation of this nature is essential to understand developmental trajectory of neglect and abuse and to base any intervention plan for affected individuals and to build up a risk alleviating techniques as primary prevention. Aim: To examine relationship of Childhood Neglect and Abuse with Emotion Regulation and Emotional Recognition in adolescents. Method: A purposive sample of 140 children studying in English and Hindi medium schools located in Delhi and NCR region (India) was taken to test the hypotheses. Willing individuals of age range from 16 to 18 years of either sex were administered a set of self-administered questionnaires, viz., General Health Questionnaire (GHQ), Toronto Alexithymia Scale (TAS), Difficulties in Emotion Regulation Scale (DERS) and The Childhood Experience of Care and Abuse Questionnaire (CECA) for collecting the data. Results: The analysis indicated that GHQ cut-off score did not differ significantly on any of the study variables; and the examined constructs (sexual abuse, physical abuse, parental loss with difficult in emotion regulation and neglect, physical abuse with alexithymia) were positively correlated with Difficulty as measured on Emotion Regulation Scale and Toronto Alexithymia Scale. Results also indicated that sexual abuse and physical abuse were significantly predicting difficulty in emotion regulation (R 2 = 0.38, p = 0.01) and alexithymia (R 2 = 0.35, p = 0.01). Conclusions: Deficits in emotion regulation and emotion recognition were ubiquitous in children reporting of adverse childhood experience such as neglect and abuse. Sexual and physical abuse emerged as significant variables, accounting for maximum variance in criterion variables viz. emotion regulation and recognition.
Comparison of Level of Alexithymia in Individual with Different Sexual Orientation
Alexithymia has been affecting the lives of people in many ways, though the affect is seen not immediately. Sometimes, it happens so subtly that other reasons with loud appearance are the only ones to be addressed, leaving behind the unfinished business keeping the question still unanswered or vice versa. Sexual Orientation, on the other hand, had been constantly gaining attention from various disciplines including psychology, medicine and law. Researchers have significantly associated sexual orientation with mental health. The present research aimed to study the relationship between alexithymia and sexual orientation. In the study, 60 heterosexuals, 5 bisexuals and 60 homosexuals (N= 125) were included. After filling up informed consent, they completed personal data sheet, General health Questionnaire (GHQ- 12), Klein Sexual Orientation Grid (KSOG) and Toronto Alexithymia Scale (TAS-20). The results did not show correlation between alexithymia and sexual orientation (r = 0.03, p = 0.75). However, on further analysis, significant negative correlation (r = -0.60, p = 0.02) with high alexithymic score.
Resilience and Quality of Life in Caregivers of Schizophrenia and Bipolar Disorder Patients
The present study was designed to explore the resilience amongst caregivers of individuals diagnosed with schizophrenia and bipolar disorder and also to examine whether resilience affects an individual’s quality of life. For this purpose, a sample of 50 caregivers (25 from each group) residing with the patients, aged between 20-70 years was selected from psychiatry department of hospitals, and organizations and clinics dealing with the mentally ill persons located in Delhi / National Capital Region, India. Two standardized instruments, World Health Organization Quality of Life – BREF and the Connor-Davidson Resilience Scale were used for the study. Results indicated resilience to be same in both the groups of caregivers, i.e., there was no significant difference between resilience in caregivers of schizophrenic patients and bipolar disorder patients. There was a significant correlation between the quality of life and resilience in caregivers of individuals diagnosed with schizophrenia and bipolar disorder. The present study, however, did not to compare the obtained results with a normal group of individuals to see if and how their quality of life and resilience differ from that of caregivers. The implication of this would be to work on a rehabilitation program that would focus on improving the financial factor and entertainment aspect of caregivers that would eventually maintain a good quality of life and in turn enhance their coping skills and resilience as well.
