Carmen Almendros

El presente estudio se centra en analizar las malas prácticas de los terapeutas en el ámbito de la psicología clínica y las pseudoterapias desde la perspectiva de los pacientes que han acudido a diversas opciones terapéuticas. El objetivo es investigar la ocurrencia de estas prácticas tanto en psicoterapias convencionales como en pseudoterapias, considerando variables como el género del terapeuta, el tipo de terapia y el recurso utilizado. La muestra estuvo compuesta por 120 participantes españoles, quienes completaron una escala autoinformada sobre malas prácticas realizadas por sus terapeutas, diseñada ad hoc (EMPT-60). Los resultados revelaron malas prácticas en ambos contextos, tanto en la psicoterapia convencional como en las pseudoterapias, siendo estas últimas las que mostraron una mayor incidencia. Las prácticas más destacadas fueron la competencia del terapeuta, la finalización de la terapia y las relaciones duales. Además, se observó una mayor frecuencia de malas prácticas vinculadas con relaciones duales sexuales en hombres y con la confidencialidad en mujeres. También se identificó una mayor presencia de malas prácticas de competencia en la sanidad pública. Adicionalmente, el estudio analizó la posible presencia de dinámicas coercitivas utilizando la Escala de Abuso Psicológico Experimentado en Grupos (PAEGS) en el contexto de las pseudoterapias. Los resultados señalaron la existencia de relaciones pseudoterapéuticas coercitivas, en las que se emplea control y manipulación, independientemente de la orientación o el marco del pseudoterapeuta. Estos hallazgos preliminares resaltan la importancia de abordar y prevenir las malas prácticas profesionales en todos los tipos de terapia, garantizando la seguridad y el bienestar de los pacientes. Asimismo, se subraya la necesidad de continuar con la investigación en este campo.

Purpose: Studies on families of individuals experiencing coercive control have generally considered them as informants or supporters, often overlooking their own difficulties and needs. Evidence from other areas highlights the importance of acknowledging family emotions and caregiving experiences, emphasizing their impact on family mental health and the progression of their relatives’ condition. This study aimed to explore the emotional and caregiving challenges faced by family members and friends of individuals in coercive controlling groups and relationships, along with their associations with distress, well-being, and mastery. Methods: Using data from the Family Caring Survey, a quantitative study investigating family members’ experiences and needs, we examined the factor structure, internal reliability, measurement invariance across gender, and criterion-related validity of the Family Questionnaire (FQ) and the Brief Experience of Caregiving Inventory (BECI) in a convenience sample of 264 family members of individuals in coercive controlling groups or relationships. Results: Interpretable and well-fitting factor structures emerged for both the FQ (intense emotional expression, over-concern, critical comments, monitoring) and BECI (stigma, difficult behaviors, positive personal experiences). Families face substantial emotional turmoil and caregiving challenges, significantly related to distress, anxiety, depression, and lower mastery. Stigma and Intense Emotional Expression were notably linked to poorer mental health outcomes. Strong ties existed between Difficult Behaviors and Critical Comments, both strongly associated to potential family separation. Gender differences in caregiving experiences and expressed emotion were mostly nonsignificant, though women exhibited a slightly heightened Over-Concern. Conclusions: The findings provide insights to understand the unique challenges these families face, underscoring the importance of developing family-based intervention programs and enhancing support for a population traditionally marginalized in scientific literature.

The authors wish to add the following corrections to their paper published in the International Journal of Environmental Research and Public Health

This study aims to verify the psychometric properties of the Spanish versions of the Social Roles Questionnaire (SRQ; Baber and Tucker, 2006), Modern Sexism Scale (MS), and Old-Fashioned Sexism Scale (OFS; Swim et al., 1995; Swim and Cohen, 1997). Enough support was found to maintain the original factor structure of all instruments in their Spanish version. Differences between men and women in the scores are commented on, mainly because certain sexist attitudes have been overcome with greater success in the current Spanish society, while other issues, such as distribution of power in organizational hierarchies or distribution of tasks in the household, where traditional unequal positions are still maintained. In all cases, it was found that men showed greater support for sexist attitudes. The correlations between the three instruments were as expected in assessing sexist attitudes that tend to relate to each other. Eventually, we found no empirical evidence for the postulated link between sexist attitudes and traditional gender stereotypes. Our results call for the validity and effectiveness of the classic theories of gender psychology, such as gender schema theories (Bem, 1981; Markus et al., 1982) and the notion of a gender belief system (Deaux and Kite, 1987; Kite, 2001).

Online hate is a topic that has received considerable interest lately, as online hate represents a risk to self-determination and peaceful coexistence in societies around the globe. However, not much is known about the explanations for adolescents posting or forwarding hateful online material or how adolescents cope with this newly emerging online risk. Thus, we sought to better understand the relationship between a bystander to and perpetrator of online hate, and the moderating effects of problem-focused coping strategies (e.g., assertive, technical coping) within this relationship. Self-report questionnaires on witnessing and committing online hate and assertive and technical coping were completed by 6829 adolescents between 12 and 18 years of age from eight countries. The results showed that increases in witnessing online hate were positively related to being a perpetrator of online hate. Assertive and technical coping strategies were negatively related with perpetrating online hate. Bystanders of online hate reported fewer instances of perpetrating online hate when they reported higher levels of assertive and technical coping strategies, and more frequent instances of perpetrating online hate when they reported lower levels of assertive and technical coping strategies. In conclusion, our findings suggest that, if effective, prevention and intervention programs that target online hate should consider educating young people about problem-focused coping strategies, self-assertiveness, and media skills. Implications for future research are discussed.

Este estudio se centra en analizar los componentes del abuso psicológico en la violencia de pareja desde un enfoque psicosocial. Tras realizar una revisión de los estudios sobre el tema, se plantea como primer objetivo el proponer una nueva taxonomía de estrategias de abuso psicológico, acompañadas de sus respectivas definiciones operativas. A partir de esta nueva clasificación, se traza un segundo objetivo que se centra en someter esta clasificación al juicio de un grupo de expertos a través de un estudio Delphi, en el que han participado 32 expertos de los ámbitos académico-universitario y profesional. Estos expertos debían juzgar la adecuación del sistema de categorías, además de evaluar cuantitativamente la severidad que aporta cada una de las estrategias al fenómeno global del abuso psicológico en la pareja. Los resultados muestran que los expertos ratifican la nueva clasificación de estrategias y sus definiciones operativas, avalando así su validez de contenido y constructo. Además, jerarquizaron las estrategias de abuso, atribuyendo mayor severidad a las de tipo emocional, seguidas de las relacionadas con el contexto cercano, de las de tipo cognitivo y, por último, las de tipo conductual. Finalmente se discuten los resultados, sus limitaciones y las implicaciones que pueden derivarse de ellos.