Roberta Lanzara

Chronic pain, with its complex and multidimensional nature, poses significant challenges in identifying effective long‐term treatments. There is growing scientific interest in how psychopathological and personality dimensions may influence the maintenance and development of chronic pain. This longitudinal study aimed to investigate whether alexithymia can predict the improvement of pain severity following a treatment‐as‐usual programme for chronic musculoskeletal pain over and above psychological cofactors (emotional distress, catastrophizing, and self‐efficacy). A consecutive sample of 129 patients with diagnosed chronic musculoskeletal pain referred to two tertiary care centres was recruited and treated for 16 weeks. Clinical pain, psychological distress, self‐efficacy, catastrophizing, and alexithymia were assessed with validated self‐report measures at the first medical visit (T0) and at 16‐week follow‐up (T1). Compared with non‐responder patients (n = 72, 55.8%), those who responded (i.e., reduction of >30% in pain severity; n = 57, 44.2%) reported an overall improvement in psychological variables except alexithymia. Alexithymia showed relative stability between baseline and follow‐up within the entire sample and remained a significant predictor of treatment outcome even when other predictive cofactors (i.e., pain interference, depressive symptoms, and catastrophizing) were considered simultaneously. Our results suggest that identifying patients with a co‐occurrence between alexithymia, depressive symptoms, catastrophizing, and the stressful experience of chronic pain can be clinically relevant in pain prevention and intervention programs.

Purpose: The aim of this longitudinal study was to examine the extent to which improved levels of binge eating (BE) behaviors, alexithymia, self-esteem, and psychological distress would predict a reduction in body mass at 9-month follow-up, following a lifestyle modification program for weight loss in obese or overweight patients. Methods: A convenience sample of 120 obese or overweight patients were recruited. Body mass index (BMI), binge eating (BES), levels of alexithymia (TAS-20), perceived stress (PSS), depressive symptoms (SDS), and self-esteem (RSE) were assessed during their first medical examination (T1), and after a weight-loss treatment period of 9 months (T2). Results: Compared with unimproved patients, improved patients reported a significant decrease in binge eating (p = 0.04) and perceived stress symptoms (p = 0.03), and a significant improvement in self-esteem (p = 0.02) over time. After controlling for gender, self-esteem, depressive symptoms, and perceived stress, baseline BMI (OR = 1.11, 95% CI [1.04,1.19]), ΔBES (OR = 0.99, 95% CI [0.98,0.99]), and ΔTAS-20 (OR = 1.03, 95% CI [1.01,1.05]) significantly and independently predicted a ≥ 5% reduction in body mass from baseline. Conclusions: Our finding supports the suggestion to consider psychological outcomes such as emotional aspects and dysfunctional eating behaviors when planning a weight loss programs to prevent a negative outcome. Level of evidence: Level III, case–control analytic study.

The pandemic of 2019 coronavirus disease (COVID-19) has burdened extraordinary psychological stress on the healthcare workforce. The present survey aimed to examine the personal resources and psychological symptoms associated with burnout in 933 healthcare workers in Italy during the COVID-19 outbreak period. Sociodemographic and occupational data, depression, anxiety, burnout, and post-traumatic symptoms, as well as psychological well-being, were cross-sectional assessed through an online questionnaire. A considerable part of the sample scored over the clinical levels of depression (57.9%), anxiety (65.2%), post-traumatic symptoms (55%), and burnout (25.61%). Working in the front-line (p < 0.05), being part of the medical staff (p < 0.05), experiencing lower levels of psychological well-being (p < 0.001), and higher levels of post-traumatic symptoms (p < 0.001) independently explained 38% of burnout variance. The healthcare industry, services, and professionals should be aware of the harmful effects of COVID-19 on healthcare workers and take adequate preventive measures.