Den psykiska ohälsan bland barn och ungdomar i Sverige har ökat under 2000-talet. Socialstyrelsen rekommenderar psykologisk behandling för de flesta psykiatriska tillstånd hos barn och unga samtidigt som utskrivning av läkemedel ökar. Förändrade strukturer och synsätt inom vården riskerar att viktig kunskap och kompetens går förlorad och att behandlingsutbudet inom vården minskar. Forskning kring hjärnan och barns utveckling kan bidra med värdefulla aspekter att ta hänsyn till i beslut kring det psykoterapeutiska arbetet och utbudet inom BUP. Studiens syfte var därför att belysa och undersöka hur modern neurovetenskap och mer specifikt teorin kring interpersonell neurobiologi kan användas i psykoterapi med barn, unga och familjer. Genom en litteraturstudie har tre centrala aspekter lyfts fram som viktiga när man försöker integrera denna kunskap med den kliniska tillämpningen: Hjärnutvecklande interventioner, Psykoedukation och Relationsfokus. Även om studiens avgränsning medför vissa svagheter, bedöms dock resultaten kunna vara intressanta för både kliniskt verksamma och andra individer och grupper i samhället. / The mental ill health among children and adolescents has increased in Sweden during the last two decades. The National Board of Health and Welfare recommends psychological treatment as a primary intervention for most of the psychiatric conditions seen in children and adolescents, at the same time as medical prescriptions continue to increase. Changes in organizational structure and perspectives within mental health care applies risk of losing important knowledge, experience and narrowing the range of treatment methods. Modern neuroscience has an opportunity to provide valuable aspects in decisions regarding the content and variety of treatment methods provided in child and adolescent psychiatry. The aim of this study was to illustrate and investigate how modern neuroscience and specifically the theory of interpersonal neurobiology can be applied in the clinical practice of psychotherapy with children, adolescents, and families. A literature review was carried out where three central themes emerged as important aspects of integrating this perspective in the clinical practice: Interventions for positive brain development, Focus on relationships and Psychoeducation. The selection of literature is relatively narrow and a limitation of the study, but the results could nonetheless be useful for both clinicians and other individuals and groups in the larger community.

The primary purpose of this study was to examine the relationship of family-of-origin quality, adult regulation of negative affect, and marital stability with the extent to which couples report they drink similarly and the extent to which they report that the husband drinks more than the wife. It was hypothesized that these two types of couple drinking patterns would be impacted by each individual spouse's context as well as by the interaction of those contexts. A national sample of 1498 couples or 2996 individuals (1498 wives and 1498 husbands married to each other) participated in this study. This study sought to understand the family-of-origin influences when there was not an alcoholic parent in the home. Therefore, adult children of alcoholics were excluded from the sample. The results of this study suggested that wives family-of-origin quality and both spouses' regulation of negative affect were highly predictive of a husband drinking more than the wife, and moderately to highly predictive of couple drinking similarity. The husband's family-of-origin had only indirect effects on both alcohol use patterns. His family-of-origin had moderately significant effects on drinking similarity through the mediating variable of the husband's regulation of negative affect. His family-of-origin had moderate to highly significant effects on whether or not he drinks more than his wife through two indirect paths, with regulation of negative affect and marital stability as mediating variables. When examining partner effects on couple alcohol use patterns, findings suggest the contributions of husband and wife are not entirely equal. Findings suggest that the wife's family-of-origin influences the pattern of the ‘husband drinking more than his wife’, through the mediating variable of the husband's regulation of negative affect, and this relationship was found to be stronger than his own family-of-origin. The wife's family-of-origin and her regulation of negative affect were more predictive of whether or not the couple drank similarly than the husband's family-of-origin or his regulation of negative affect. The most poignant conclusion drawn from this study is the importance of recognizing not only individual contributors to later alcohol use, but also the influence of the interacting couple contexts when examining couple alcohol use patterns.

Music listening is considered one of the most ubiquitous activities in everyday life, and one of the main reasons why people listen is to affect and regulate their mood. The vast availability and unlimited access of music has made it difficult to find relevant music that fits both the context and the preferences of the music listener. The aim of this project was to investigate the personalized relationship between music and mood using everyday technologies, focusing on how a listening experience could be adapted to the desired affect of a music listener while also taking the user’s individual listening history into account. In large, the project concentrated on the possibility of using context-aware music recommendation to generate personalized playlists by focusing on the audio features and corresponding mood of the music. A web-based application was developed to act as a prototype for the study, where the application allowed users to connect to Spotify, pick a desired mood and generate a playlist. By allowing people to access music in this personalized way, a user study could be conducted in order to investigate their music listening while incorporating this recommendation tool. The findings showed that the users’ found the experience to be engaging in that they could use the application as a companion to everyday tasks in addition to it being a tool for getting new, personalized music recommendations. Overall, the participants also found the generated playlists to be accurate to their music preferences and desired affective state.

<p>The aim of the thesis was to examine the applicability of attachment theory to adult and adolescent religiosity. Attachment theory is an empirically oriented research paradigm that takes evolutionary theory as the starting point in the study of child-parent relations and their socioemotional correlates in development. The work consisted of two interrelated tasks. First, limitations in theory and research in the psychology of religion, particularly the traditional psychodynamic perspectives, were highlighted, and attachment theory was proposed as an integrative framework to remedy some of those limitations. Second, four empirical studies (I-IV), based on attachment theoretical predictions, were conducted to investigate relations between individual differences in attachment and religiosity. </p><p>The combined results from the studies suggest the existence of two religiosity profiles in relation to attachment. Both profiles resemble influential descriptions of individual religiosity differences in the psychology of religion literature. The religiosity of individuals in the first profile is similar to their parents' religiosity and is likely to be stable over time. If religious changes have been experienced, these are likely to be gradual, to occur early in life, and in a context pointing to the importance of relationships with religious significant others. Such individuals' God image is likely to be loving, and not distant. It was hypothesized that these religiosity characteristics stern from experiences with sensitive attachment figures in childhood, and that such experiences have promoted partial adoption of the attachment figures' religious standards. The mental representations of attachment resulting from the favorable experiences were suggested to be responsible for a corresponding image of a loving God. </p><p>The religiosity of individuals in the second profile is independent of parental religiosity, and is likely to fluctuate (increase and decrease) over time. Their religious changes are more sudden and intense, occur relatively later in life, and in a context pointing to an emotionally supportive function for religion. Such individuals' God image is more distant, and less loving. These religiosity characteristics were hypothesized to stem from experiences with insensitive attachment figures in childhood. It was suggested that they reflect an affect regulation strategy to obtain/maintain a sense of felt security, and that God is utilized as a compensatory attachment-like figure in this regard. </p><p>Findings pertaining to the profiles generally emerged regardless of whether the design was cross-sectional (I-IV) or longitudinal (III); whether participants were adults (I, II, and IV) or adolescents (Study III); and whether attachment was assessed with self-report questionnaires (I-IV) or independent ratings based on a semi-structured interview (IV).</p>

The aim of the thesis was to examine the applicability of attachment theory to adult and adolescent religiosity. Attachment theory is an empirically oriented research paradigm that takes evolutionary theory as the starting point in the study of child-parent relations and their socioemotional correlates in development. The work consisted of two interrelated tasks. First, limitations in theory and research in the psychology of religion, particularly the traditional psychodynamic perspectives, were highlighted, and attachment theory was proposed as an integrative framework to remedy some of those limitations. Second, four empirical studies (I-IV), based on attachment theoretical predictions, were conducted to investigate relations between individual differences in attachment and religiosity. The combined results from the studies suggest the existence of two religiosity profiles in relation to attachment. Both profiles resemble influential descriptions of individual religiosity differences in the psychology of religion literature. The religiosity of individuals in the first profile is similar to their parents' religiosity and is likely to be stable over time. If religious changes have been experienced, these are likely to be gradual, to occur early in life, and in a context pointing to the importance of relationships with religious significant others. Such individuals' God image is likely to be loving, and not distant. It was hypothesized that these religiosity characteristics stern from experiences with sensitive attachment figures in childhood, and that such experiences have promoted partial adoption of the attachment figures' religious standards. The mental representations of attachment resulting from the favorable experiences were suggested to be responsible for a corresponding image of a loving God. The religiosity of individuals in the second profile is independent of parental religiosity, and is likely to fluctuate (increase and decrease) over time. Their religious changes are more sudden and intense, occur relatively later in life, and in a context pointing to an emotionally supportive function for religion. Such individuals' God image is more distant, and less loving. These religiosity characteristics were hypothesized to stem from experiences with insensitive attachment figures in childhood. It was suggested that they reflect an affect regulation strategy to obtain/maintain a sense of felt security, and that God is utilized as a compensatory attachment-like figure in this regard. Findings pertaining to the profiles generally emerged regardless of whether the design was cross-sectional (I-IV) or longitudinal (III); whether participants were adults (I, II, and IV) or adolescents (Study III); and whether attachment was assessed with self-report questionnaires (I-IV) or independent ratings based on a semi-structured interview (IV).

Syftet med studien var att undersöka om det fanns skillnader mellan skambenägenhet, självbild samt generell symtomnivå hos en patientgrupp inför behandling i Känsloskola jämfört med en normgrupp. Ett ytterligare syfte var att hos patientgruppen studera sambandet mellan dessa tre faktorer. Mätinstrumenten bestod av TOSCA, SASB Introject och SCL-90 GSI. I studien medverkade 18 vuxna patienter, varav 4 män och 14 kvinnor. Patienterna rekryterades från olika öppenvårdsmottagningar vid en vuxenpsykiatrisk klinik i Umeå där studien genomfördes. Resultaten visade på en tydlig signifikant skillnad mellan patientgruppen och normgrupperna. Patientgruppen uppvisade högre nivåer av skambenägenhet, självkontroll, självkritik, självhat, självförsummelse och symtom samt lägre nivåer av självacceptans, självkärlek, självvård än normalgruppen. Studien fann även ett tydligt signifikant positivt samband mellan skambenägenhet, självbildsaspekterna självkritik och självhat samt symtomnivå hos patientgruppen. Studien bidrar med ny kunskap om känsloskolans patientgrupp. Ett lågt deltagarantal och ojämn könsfördelning uppmanar till försiktighet vad gäller tolkning och generalisering av resultatet. En initial bedömning av patienternas tillstånd kan tillvaratas i utformningen av psykologisk behandling av olika psykiatriska tillstånd. Inte minst kunskapen om skambenägenhet och självhat. / The purpose of the study was to investigate whether there were differences between shameproneness, self-image and general symptom level in a patient group before treatment in Känsloskola (Emotion school) compared with a norm group. An additional purpose was to study the relationship between these three factors in the patient group. The measuring instruments consisted of TOSCA, SASB Introject and SCL-90 GSI. The study involved 18 adult patients, of whom 4 were men and 14 women. The patients were recruited from various outpatient clinics at an adult psychiatric clinic in Umeå where the study was conducted. The result showed a clear significant difference between the patient group and the norm groups. The patient group showed a higher level of shame proneness, self-control, self-critisism, self-hatred, self-neglect and symptom and lower levels of self-acceptace, selflove, selfcare than the normal group. The study also found a clear significant positive relationship between shameproneness, self-image aspects self-criticism and self-hatred and symptom level in the patient group. The study contributes with new knowledge about Känsloskolans patient group. A low number of participants and an uneven gender distribution call for caution with regard to the interpretation and generalization of the results. An initial assessment of the patients condition can be used in the design of psychological treatment of various psychiatric conditions. Not least the knowledge of shame and self-hatred.

No description available.

L’objectif de cette thèse est de jeter un éclairage sur ce qui influence une personne, ayant peur d’être abandonnée, à s’automutiler. Les modèles psychologiques des relations d’objet et de l’attachement ont montré empiriquement que la peur de l’abandon, via les concepts de l’anxiété d’attachement et de la dépendance, est associée à l’automutilation. Cependant, la nature de cette relation n’a jamais été approfondie. Après avoir défini et mis en contexte la notion d’automutilation, une explication théorique est proposée à l’aide des approches des relations d’objet, de l’attachement et de l’évitement expérientiel des fonctions de l’automutilation, afin de mieux comprendre ce qui influencerait une personne dépendante à s’automutiler. La présente thèse suggère que les individus dépendants et ayant peur d’être abandonnés s’automutileraient afin de gérer leurs émotions négatives liées à la perception d’un abandon, d’une séparation ou d’un rejet. Cette influence de l’automutilation se ferait, théoriquement, à travers des fonctions de régulation intrapersonnelle et interpersonnelle, telles que la régulation affective, l’autopunition et l’influence interpersonnelle, mais également par une fonction d’évitement de l’autonomie. Ces fonctions permettraient de préserver les représentations internes d’une relation de dépendance et ainsi réduire les sentiments subjectifs de l’abandon. Pour appuyer empiriquement ces propositions, 58 participants consultant en clinique externe de psychologie ont, entre autres, complété le Questionnaire des expériences dépressives (DEQ), l’Inventaire d’énoncés sur l’automutilation (ISAS) et l’Entrevue diagnostique révisée pour les troubles limites de la personnalité (DIB-R). Les résultats montrent qu’une dépendance, de type anaclitique, et la fréquence de l’automutilation sont associées et que leur relation peut s’expliquer par les effets médiateurs des difficultés sur les plans affectifs et interpersonnels. En outre, la dépendance anaclitique apparaît être liée spécifiquement à différentes fonctions de l’automutilation, soit symboliser la détresse interne, l’antidissociation, l’influence interpersonnelle ainsi que l’évitement de l’autonomie. Ces résultats suggèrent que la dépendance anaclitique favorise l’expérience de difficultés affectives et interpersonnelles qui augmentent la fréquence de l’automutilation. En outre, ils suggèrent que l’automutilation, associée à ce type de dépendance, servirait à réguler des états affectifs internes, influencer l’environnement interpersonnel et éviter l’autonomie. Quant à elles, la régulation affective et l’autopunition sont présentes chez une majorité des personnes qui s’automutilent, sans égard à leur niveau de dépendance. Ainsi, si ces fonctions sont bien liées théoriquement à la dépendance derrière l’automutilation de certains individus, les analyses rappellent qu’elles contribuent également à l’automutilation chez des personnes n’ayant pas de crainte particulière de l’abandon. / The objective of this thesis is to shed light on what may lead a dependent person who fears abandonment to engage in self-injury. Psychological models of object relations and attachment have shown that self-injury is empirically associated with fear of abandonment via dependency and attachment anxiety. However, the nature of this relationship has yet to be thoroughly explained. Having defined and contextualised self-injury, a theoretical explanation is proposed through object relations, attachment and experiential avoidance functions of self-injury, all with the goal of better understanding what can influence a dependent individual to self-injure. This thesis suggests that individuals who are dependent and afraid of being abandoned might use self-injury to regulate negative emotions associated with their perception of abandonment, separation or rejection. Theoretically, this influence of self-injury could occur through intrapersonal and interpersonal functions, such as affect regulation, self-punishment and interpersonal influence, as well as autonomy avoidance. These functions might serve to protect internal representations of dependence and thus, reduce subjective feelings of abandonment. To test these theoretical proposals, 58 outpatient participants completed, among other measures, the Depressive Experiences Questionnaire (DEQ), the Inventory of Statements About Self-Injury (ISAS) and the Revised Diagnostic Interview for Borderlines (DIB-R). Results showed a relationship between anaclitic neediness and self-injury frequency, which was explained by mediator effects of both affective and interpersonal problems. Furthermore, this type of dependency was found to be specifically associated with marking distress, anti-dissociation, interpersonal influence and autonomy avoidance functions of self-injury. These findings suggest that anaclitic neediness favours the experience of affective and interpersonal difficulties, which in turn increase the frequency of self-injury. Results also suggested that self-injury associated with this type of dependency might serve to regulate internal affective states, to influence the interpersonal environment and to avoid autonomy. Affect regulation and self-punishment functions were endorsed by the majority of individuals who self-injured, regardless of their level of dependence. While these two functions are associated in theory to dependency issues that underpin self-injury for some individuals, analyses indicated that these functions also contribute to self-injury behaviour in people who do not fear abandonment specifically.

Duale Prozessmodelle unterscheiden implizite und explizite Formen der Informations-verarbeitung (Strack & Deutsch, 2004). Implizite Verarbeitung erfolgt schnell und un-bewusst und basiert auf affektiv-assoziativen Netzwerken. Explizite Verarbeitung geschieht überlegt und langsam und beinhaltet bewusste, kognitive Entscheidungsprozesse. In dualen Prozessmodellen der Motivation sagen implizite Motive langfristiges Verhalten und explizite Motive bewusste Entscheidungen vorher (McClelland, et al., 1989). Hoher positiver Affekt sowie geringer negativer Affekt aktivieren implizite kognitive Systeme während eine entgegen gesetzte Ausprägung explizite Informationsverarbeitung bahnt (J. Kuhl, 2000a). Drei Feldstudien untersuchen die diskriminante Validität impliziter vs. expliziter motivationaler Prozesse für das Verhalten in unbewussten vs. bewussten kritischen Situatio-nen im Hochleistungssport. In Studie 1 und 2 wird bei Tennis- (N = 60) und Basketballspielern (N = 56) die Fähigkeit erhoben, positiven und negativen Affekt zu regulieren (ACS-90; J. Kuhl, 1994). In Studie 3 (N = 86) werden zusätzlich implizite (OMT; J. Kuhl & Scheffer, 1999) und explizite Motive (PRF; D. N. Jackson, 1999) sowie die Fähigkeit zur bewussten Selbstregulation (VCQ; J. Kuhl & Fuhrmann, 1998) gemessen. In Studie 1 sagen explizite Formen der Verarbeitung (niedrige positive Affektregulation) die Tennisleistung in objektiv kritischen (wie Tie Breaks) aber nicht in bewusst kritischen Situationen vorher. In Studie 2 führt implizite Verarbeitung (hohe negative Af-fektregulation) zu besseren Basketballleistungen in objektiv kritischen Spielen. In Studie 3 unterstützt explizite Verarbeitung Leistungen in bewusst kritischen Situationen im Rückschlagsport. In unbewusst kritischen Situationen erzielen dagegen Sportler mit ausgeprägten impliziten Motiven bessere Ergebnisse. Die Befunde werden hinsichtlich der Sportartenspezifik, dem Grad der Bewusstheit sowie Persönlichkeitsunterschiede diskutiert. / Dual-process models distinguish implicit and explicit ways of information processing (Strack & Deutsch, 2004). Implicit processes are based on associative affective networks and operate fast and unconsciously. Explicit processing is a cognitive, usually slow, deliberate, and conscious way of decision-making. Dual-process models of motivation propose that implicit motives predict long-term behavior and explicit motives predict deliberate decisions (McClelland, Koestner, & Weinberger, 1989). Up-regulation of positive affect and down-regulation of negative affect activate implicit cognitive systems while regulation in the opposite direction triggers explicit information processing (J. Kuhl, 2000a). Within three field studies it is investigated whether implicit vs. explicit motivational processes are of discriminant validity for professional athletic behavior in unconsciously vs. consciously critical situations. In study one and two, tennis (N = 60) and basketball professionals’ (N = 56) abilities to regulate positive and negative affect (ACS-90; J. Kuhl, 1994) are assessed. In study three (N = 86) the additional measures of implicit (OMT; J. Kuhl & Scheffer, 1999) and explicit motives (PRF; D. N. Jackson, 1999) as well as conscious self-regulation (VCQ; J. Kuhl & Fuhrmann, 1998) are used. Study one proposes that explicit processing supports performance in objective critical situations (tie breaks) in tennis. However, in consciously critical situations no advantage for explicitly processing athletes could be found. In study two implicitly processing basketball players perform better in objectively critical games. In the final study racquet sportsmen who process explicitly perform better in consciously critical situations. In contrast, in unconsciously critical situations athletes with high implicit motives gain better results. Findings are discussed from the perspective of task specificity, degree of awareness, and individual differences.

Though a major illness in modern society, depression is still not completely understood. A number of empirical observations point to the importance of basic cognitive processes as well as personality variables as antecedents of a depressive disorder. In this work it is argued that “state orientation”, a personality style characterized by the inability to actively influence one’s focus of thought, plays an important role in the development of at least some forms of major depressive disorder. In the present work, it is suggested that (1) state-oriented cognitions are equivalent to sustained information processing, that (2) depressed individuals are characterized in particular by state-oriented cognitions related to prior failure experiences, that (3) sustained processing of affective information will interfere with normal executive cognitive functioning in depressed individuals resulting in impairments of normal behavior, and that (4) both sustained information processing and “affective interference” will be associated with specific dysfunctional patterns of brain activity in depressed individuals. In the first chapter of this thesis, theorizing pertaining to “action control” and the relationship between action control and state orientation are reviewed. After having established the potential functional significance of state-oriented cognitions, their possible link to depression is developed by introducing the “degenerated-intention hypothesis”. Afterwards, the role of state orientation in the advent of the depressive state is discussed against the background of the “functional helplessness” model of depression. Next, recent empirical findings related to executive dysfunction associated with state-oriented cognitions in major depressive disorder and related dysfunctional patterns of brain activity are reviewed. By considering evidence from studies on executive functioning, brain imaging, and neurophysiological studies, support is found for a possible frontocingulate dysfunction associated with a state-oriented cognitive style underlying a major depressive disorder. Consistent with the proposed link between depression and state orientation, in the second chapter of the thesis, Studies 1a – 1c demonstrate that subclinically and clinically depressed individuals are specifically characterized by failure-related state orientation. Moreover, the results of Study 2, described in Chapter 3, reveal that sustained processing of affectively valenced information may indeed interfere with subsequent executive cognitive functioning, especially in individuals demonstrating relatively high levels of depression. Finally, in line with the idea that sustained information processing and affective interference will be related to an individual’s level of state orientation and will be reflected in specific patterns of neural activity, Study 3, presented in Chapter 4, provides considerable evidence for disturbed brain function in clinically depressed individuals during processing of affective information as well as subsequent executive cognitive functioning and its relation to state-oriented thought. The current research supports the idea that state orientation, in particular its failure-focused form, is a crucial process involved in the development and maintenance of a depressive disorder. Specifically, the present findings suggest that certain forms of major depressive disorder are associated with sustained processing of affective information and with the resulting affective interference with executive cognitive functioning. Findings further suggest that sustained information processing is experienced by affected individuals as ruminative, state-oriented thought on past aversive experiences, and that both sustained information processing and affective interference are associated with distinct patterns of brain activity, which are related to early stimulus evaluation, conflict monitoring, and conflict resolution. The processes possibly underlying some forms of depression, as proposed in this thesis, comprise what may be called “the spinning mind”, whose important functional significance is to hinder an individual from adaptive behavior by impairing the ability to direct thought. Although state orientation may therefore appear to be maladaptive per se, it may be argued instead that this mode of action control is also an adaptive process as long as critical limits of certain parameters are met and the spinning mind is prevented. These and similar considerations are addressed in the concluding discussion in Chapter 5.