Carlos Pitillas

The quality of teacher-student relationships is a key factor in students' academic performance, psychological well-being, and social development. From an attachment theory perspective, teachers can function as a secure base and safe haven, supporting both the emotional security and exploratory behaviors of students. One of the most widely used instruments for assessing these relationships is the Student-Teacher Relationship Scale Short-Form, which evaluates two dimensions: Closeness and Conflict. Although the long version of this scale has been validated in Spain, no adaptation or validation of the short form existed for Spanish-speaking populations. The present study aimed to adapt and validate the Student-Teacher Relationship Scale Short-Form in a Spanish context. A total of 60 teachers from various regions of Spain completed 240 assessments of their students, including measures of the Student-Teacher Relationship, Student Attributes and Behaviors, and the degree of difficulty in working with each student. Confirmatory factor analysis (CFA) was conducted to examine the internal structure of the scale, and associations with external criteria were analysed. The CFA supported a two-factor structure consistent with the original version of the scale. One item showed weak psychometric performance, and a revised 14-item model demonstrated improved fit and coherence. The adapted version showed high internal consistency (Closeness, α = .892; Conflict, α = .894) and significant associations with teacher perceptions of student behavior and relationship difficulty. These findings provide preliminary evidence of validity based on internal structure and relations to external criteria for the Spanish version of the STRS-SF and highlight its potential as an efficient tool for assessing the quality of teacher-student relationships. This adaptation may provide educators and researchers with a culturally appropriate instrument to identify relational difficulties in the classroom and to inform intervention strategies aimed at promoting positive interactions and student well-being in Spanish-speaking educational settings.

In recent years, the Free Energy Principle (FEP) and the Predictive Processing Framework (PPF) have gained prominence as comprehensive models for understanding perception, action, and psychopathology. This paper integrates these frameworks to propose that parent-child interactions trajectories over time, marked by sensitivity, mirroring, and emotional attunement, play a central role in shaping the child’s generative model of the self and the social world. Drawing on empirical findings and theoretical developments, we argue that attachment relationships provide the primary context for the acquisition of priors, the calibration of precision weighting, and the establishment of strategies for prediction error minimization. We explore how secure and insecure attachment styles correspond to distinct predictive profiles and error minimization policies, and how early relational experiences influence emotional regulation, epistemic trust, and long-term adaptability. We provide testable hypotheses and propose a scientific agenda for future experiments. By framing early interpersonal experience as a process of model setting within a hierarchical predictive system, this work offers novel insights into the developmental roots of socioemotional functioning and highlights the clinical relevance of predictive frameworks for understanding attachment-related psychopathology.

This introduction outlines the conceptual framework of the book, which explores the interplay between psychoanalysis, trauma, and modern horror cinema. It focuses on how horror films metaphorically represent the re-emergence and processing of traumatic experiences. The introduction begins by presenting three case studies: Jay from It Follows, Annie from Hereditary, and Oskar from Let the Right One In. Each character deals with unprocessed trauma that manifests as supernatural threats, which metaphorize some of their core trauma-related conflicts. Horror films often showcase characters haunted by monstrous entities that symbolize their unintegrated traumatic experiences. This narrative device highlights the alien and invasive nature of trauma, and makes horror films and imagery a fertile ground for exploring psychological distress. The book is structured around three chapters that address a different aspect of trauma as depicted in horror cinema (disruption, fragmentation, re-emergence) and a fourth chapter that explores the essential aspects of horror storytelling, as it pertains to trauma. The first chapter examines trauma as a disruptive force that shatters an individual's worldview and sense of self. The second chapter discusses how trauma fragments the mind, leading to dissociation and isolated emotional experiences. The third chapter focuses on the cyclical nature of trauma, where unprocessed emotions and memories resurface. The final chapter analyzes the narrative journey of horror protagonists, from denial to confrontation and potential integration of their traumas. Overall, the book aims to demonstrate how horror cinema provides a unique lens for understanding and articulating the complexities of traumatic experiences, drawing parallels with psychoanalytic theories and therapeutic processes.

This chapter focuses on how trauma-induced psychic fragmentation is depicted in modern horror films. Trauma disrupts the harmonious integration of mental functions, leading to a fragmented psyche where memory, perception, emotion, and reason fail to coordinate, resulting in a disjointed sense of self and world. The chapter explores key aspects of post-traumatic fragmentation frequently portrayed in horror films. These include the disconnect between memory and perception (where traumatic memories remain rigid, isolated, and unmodifiable, akin to the immutable curses in horror narratives), clotted affect and resistance to mourning (where characters, unable to process their grief, encounter supernatural repercussions), or dissociative fragmentation (as seen in films where characters’ identities split into conflicting parts that struggle to coexist). The chapter also discusses identification with the aggressor and traumatic introjection, where the victim's psyche is populated by internal persecutory figures that sabotage the individual's well-being. Films like Psycho and The Haunting explore this dynamic through characters that are haunted by internalized voices of their abusers. Overall, modern horror cinema serves as a compelling narrative space to explore the complexities of traumatic fragmentation, highlighting the profound psychological and emotional disruptions caused by trauma.

This chapter presents a narrative structure for horror films that represent trauma. By combining different analyses, such as those by John Clute and Noël Carroll, the chapter explores a four-part narrative structure. The first part, sightings, involves the protagonist's initial realization that their cognitive map is failing. The second part, resistance, encompasses the hero's efforts to deny or rationalize the supernatural nature of the phenomenon they are facing. Inevitably, all conventional authority figures—police, medicine, parents—will prove useless or disappear. This leads the main character to acceptance, which involves ceasing to run away and seeking help from an alternative authority, such as a "medium" or "shaman" figure (or any of its variations). This figure provides the language—firstly, the name of the monster—and the ritualistic tools needed by the protagonist to engage in a direct confrontation with the source of their fears, which is ultimately identified and accepted as a representation of an unresolved emotional conflict or trauma. A voluntary approach to the monster is key in the final trance, which requires not only courage but also regaining control of the body to assume responsibility for the ultimate risk. The chapter suggests that facing the monster, even if the hero does not prevail, constitutes a psychological victory as it demonstrates the overcoming of fear.

This chapter explores the therapeutic use of horror films in psychotherapy with traumatized patients. Trauma disrupts the psyche's ability to integrate emotional experiences, leading to chronic states of hyperactivation and subcortical defense mechanisms. Traditional therapeutic approaches often struggle to access the deep, non-verbal pain of trauma survivors. Horror films, with their intense emotional and symbolic content, offer unique opportunities for therapists to engage patients in reflective and metaphorical processes. The chapter discusses a model of intervention that moves between three methods of using horror films in therapy (evocative, cathartic, and prescriptive), and that aims to help patients connect with dissociated emotional content, process traumatic experiences, and model healthier coping mechanisms. Using movies’ iconic language, moving within a window of emotional tolerance, using films as transitional phenomena, or delving into allegorical moments in horror films to explore the paradoxes of traumatic experience, are some of the strategies that the chapter explores. By engaging with the symbolic imagery of horror cinema, such as monsters and haunted spaces, patients can externalize and reframe their trauma in ways that promote healing and resilience. The chapter concludes by suggesting that horror films facilitate a therapeutic space where patients can regain a sense of agency and control over their emotional world.

This chapter delves into the re-emergence of trauma in modern horror cinema, examining how unresolved traumatic events resurface and affect individuals and communities. Trauma, often repressed or dissociated from conscious memory, returns in various forms, disrupting the present and demanding acknowledgment and resolution. In cinema, this re-emergence manifests as insidious, often inexplicable supernatural phenomena representing unprocessed past experiences. The chapter uses John Carpenter's film The Fog as a central example, where a century-old crime resurfaces through a supernatural fog, causing chaos in the town of Antonio Bay. Traumatic memories, like the fog in Carpenter's film, are pervasive, shapeless, inaccessible by will, yet invasive. These memories often emerge as physical symptoms, flashbacks, and recurrent dreams, reflecting the uncontrollable intrusion of past experiences into the present. Horror films frequently depict the inescapable, intrusive nature of traumatic memory through ghostly presences and monsters. The chapter explores psychological mechanisms of trauma re-emergence, such as affective disorganization and attachment disturbances, leading to emotional dysregulation and contradictory behaviors. It highlights how developmental transitions or current stressors can trigger these traumatic re-emergences, resulting in intense anxiety, panic, or behavioral disturbances. Cinematic examples like The Exorcist, His House, and Annihilation illustrate how horror films depict the return of trauma through ghostly presences, supernatural threats, and monstrous entities. These films emphasize the relentless nature of traumatic memories and the necessity for recognition and processing to achieve psychological resolution. Overall, the chapter underscores the role of horror cinema in exploring the complexities of traumatic re-emergence, offering a narrative space for understanding and confronting the enduring impacts of trauma.

This chapter explores disruption, one of the first aspects of trauma, as it is depicted in modern horror films. Trauma, characterized by events that overwhelm the individual's psychic processing capabilities, results in a profound shattering of basic assumptions about the self, others, and the world. In horror narratives, these disruptions are metaphorically represented through supernatural phenomena, monstrous entities, and apocalyptic scenarios, reflecting the incomprehensibility and unpredictability of traumatic experiences. Key themes in horror cinema include the fragmentation of the self and body (where characters encounter dark, unrecognizable versions of themselves), and the erosion of trust in interpersonal relationships (often depicted through metaphors of body replacement, possession, or the negative transformation of protective figures). Seminal stories like The Strange Case of Dr. Jekyll and Mr. Hyde and modern depictions such as Black Swan illustrate the concept of the double, which challenges the notion of a cohesive self. Similarly, maternal horror, as seen in Carrie and The Babadook explores the transformation of nurturing figures into sources of terror. The chapter also examines how trauma disrupts the individual's ability to predict and process experiences, leading to a persistent state of hyper-vigilance and emotional dysregulation. This is mirrored in horror films through the portrayal of haunted spaces and relics that symbolize the immutability of past traumas.