Psychiatrikē = Psychiatriki
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Previous studies in bipolar disorder suggest patients' deficient performance in Theory of Mind tasks, both during manic or depressive episodes and in remission. However, most of the extant studies were cross-sectional and did not control for potential confounders such as residual symptoms or co-existent deficits in other cognitive functions. The present study is the first prospective study that assessed the effect of remission on Theory of Mind (ToM) in patients with Bipolar Disorder (BD) controlling for other cognitive deficits. ⋯ Differences in Faux Pas did not remain statistically significant when the effect of verbal memory and visuospatial working memory was controlled for. Differences in other ToM tests during episodes did not remain statistically significant, when other cognitive functions that were found impaired in patients during episodes, were controlled for. The findings of this study support the hypothesis that ToM dysfunction in BD is associated with mood symptoms and it might reflect underlying cognitive deficits rather than representing a specific trait marker of the disorder.
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The quest for existential meaning constitutes a universal phenomenon traditionally manifested in official religions (religiosity) or personal modes of transcendence (spirituality). Religiosity and spirituality have been found to be associated with a variety of mental health and illness parameters. In the last decades there is an increasing number of publications with interesting results on the relationship between religiosity and mental health, both on a theoretical and a clinical level. ⋯ Moreover, in the multiple linear regression analyses, "meaning" was independently negative associated with somatic symptoms (p=0.032), whilst "daily spiritual experiences" were positively associated with anxiety/insomnia (p=0.023). Also, "values/beliefs and the overall self-ranking were positively associated with social dysfunction (p=0.026), (p=0.01) and "daily spiritual experiences", "values/beliefs", "forgiveness", as well as the overall self-ranking with severe depression (p=0.03), (p=0.01), (p=0.017), (p=0.009). Certain religiosity dimensions ("daily spiritual experiences", "values/beliefs", "forgiveness" and "organizational religiousness") were correlated with lower morbidity, in accordance to previous reports in different populations, whereas "meaning" was correlated with more somatic symptoms.