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Interaction between childhood trauma and genetic factors influences the pathophysiology of posttraumatic stress disorder (PTSD). This study examined the interaction effect of childhood trauma and brain-derived neurotrophic factor (BDNF) Val66Met polymorphism on PTSD symptoms and brain cortical thickness. A total of 216 participants (133 healthy volunteers and 83 PTSD patients) were recruited. T1-weighted structural magnetic resonance imaging, BDNF rs6265 genotyping through blood sampling, and clinical assessments including the childhood trauma questionnaire (CTQ) and posttraumatic stress disorder Checklist (PCL) were performed. A moderated regression analysis, two-way multivariate analysis of covariance, and correlation analysis were conducted. An interaction between the CTQ and the BDNF polymorphism significantly influenced PTSD symptom severity. In fact, people with rs6265 Val/Val genotype and higher CTQ scores showed higher PCL scores. Additionally, this interaction was significant on both left fusiform and transverse temporal gyri thickness. Furthermore, the thickness of both brain regions was significantly correlated with psychological symptoms including depression, anxiety, rumination, and cognitive emotion regulation methods; yet this was mainly observed in people with the Val/Val genotype. The interaction between childhood trauma and BDNF polymorphism significantly influences both PTSD symptoms and cortical thickness and the Val/Val genotype may increase the risk in Korean population.

Self-criticism represents a central phenomenon among a variety of psychological distress and has been shown to relate to the motivational systems of competing and social ranking. The purpose of our study was to test the effect of online compassion-focused therapy (CFT)-based intervention (CFI) on Chinese international students in South Korea suffering from high self-criticism and related psychological distress. Thirty-two Chinese international students with a high level of self-criticism were randomized to either a four-session CFI group, a four-session rational emotive behavior therapy (REBT)—based online self-help approach group, or a wait-list (WL) control group. The results suggest that the CFI group demonstrated significant improvements in self-criticism, compassion, depression, anxiety, and shame, and these were greater than those in the REBT and WL groups. Our work provides evidence that CFI offers a possible approach for reducing self-criticism and related psychological distress and increasing compassion level for young Chinese populations.

The increasing recidivism rate of sex offenders indicates potential problems in existing recidivism programs. The present study was conducted to determine whether the polygraph examination is a useful technique to obtain a sex offender's concealed past sexual history. We collected fifty-two sex offenders' data and analyzed it. Among the 52 participants, the court ordered 26 sex offenders to take the psychiatric evaluation and the polygraph test. The other half were prisoners at the hospital who were currently undergoing treatment. The participants in the polygraph group disclosed more deviant sexual behaviors and paraphilia interests/behaviors than the comparison group. Thus, the polygraph examination is a powerful tool that can encourage sex offenders to disclose hidden information to help create suitable psychological therapy programs for preventing recidivism in the future.

In this study, we aimed to investigate the impact of indirect gratitude experience on life satisfaction and perceived social support. The participants included 68 adults (33 males and 35 females) who were assigned to a direct gratitude group, an indirect gratitude group, or a control group for a 6-day writing intervention. This study shows that gratitude treatment, including direct and indirect gratitude, significantly increases life satisfaction and perceived social support levels in the direct and indirect gratitude groups compared to the control group. There was no significant difference in life satisfaction and social support between the direct and indirect gratitude groups. In addition, changes in the measured values of direct and indirect gratitude before and after the intervention were significant in both life satisfaction and perceived social support, indicating that just reading or seeing other people’s gratitude experiences enhances the feeling of gratitude and its psychological effects. Finally, the limitations of this study and suggestions are discussed.

We investigated how covert narcissism influences depression through shame-focused coping strategies, and tested the moderating effect of self-compassion in this mediating link. Participants were 316 Chinese international students living in South Korea who completed a battery of measures, including the Hypersensitive Narcissism Scale, the Compass of Shame Scale, the depression items of the Symptom Checklist-90-Revised, and the Chinese Self-Compassion Scale. We found an association between covert narcissism and depression, and this link was mediated by the shame-focused coping strategies of attack self and withdrawal. Further, self-compassion had a significant moderating effect in the relationship between covert narcissism and the coping strategies of attack self or withdrawal. These findings support a moderated mediation model in which self-compassion buffered the relationship between covert narcissism and depression by mediating the link between covert narcissism and the attack self and withdrawal coping strategies. Our findings may be useful for understanding and helping individuals who have a high level of covert narcissism.

Behavioral inhibition system (BIS) has a strong genetic basis, and emotional neglect (EN) in childhood is one of many environmental experiences that can affect individuals. This study aimed to examine the effects and interaction between BIS and EN on central serotonergic activity and other negative affect and cognition. A total of 153 non-clinical volunteers (54 men and 99 women; average age, 27.72 years, standard deviation = 6.40) were included in the analyses. The Behavioral Inhibition System scale, Childhood Trauma Questionnaire, and negative affect and cognition (Beck Depression Inventory, State-Trait Anxiety Inventory, and Rejection Sensitivity Questionnaire) were measured. As a biomarker of central serotonergic activity, the loudness dependence of auditory evoked potentials was measured. High EN was associated with higher loudness dependence of auditory evoked potential (LDAEP) levels and low EN was associated with lower LDAEP levels in high BIS people only. People with high EN people showed significantly higher levels of depression and state anxiety than did those with low EN. Moreover, of people with low BIS, those who had more EN experience had higher levels of rejection sensitivity than did those with less EN experience, while people with high BIS did not show different patterns of rejection sensitivity regardless of the difference of EN. This study revealed different effects on physiological (loudness dependence of auditory evoked potentials), intrapersonal (depression and state anxiety), and interpersonal aspects (rejection sensitivity) based on the interaction of BIS and EN. Our results suggest that the physiological and interpersonal aspects, but not the intrapersonal aspect, are significantly influenced by the interactive effect of BIS and EN.

The aim in the current study was to investigate the causal relationships among the variables of covert-overt narcissism, causal attribution, responsibility attribution, and forgiveness based on the entailment model. Our aim was to differentiate between overt and covert narcissism in terms of their relationship with forgiveness. First, our findings in this study demonstrated that only covert narcissism was associated with forgiveness, whereas there was no association between overt narcissism and forgiveness. Second, path analysis revealed that both causal attribution and responsibility attribution mediated the relationship between covert narcissism and forgiveness, but this was not the case for overt narcissism. In addition, responsibility attributions mediated the relationship between causal attributions and forgiveness. Study implications are discussed.

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We investigated the effects of thwarted interpersonal needs and acute alcohol consumption on cognitive and affective responses regarding death, with data from 67 students who were drinkers of alcoholic beverages. Each student was randomly assigned to 1 of 4 groups distinguished by the presence or absence of both thwarted interpersonal needs and acute alcohol consumption. Cognitive priming bias about death-related risk and fearlessness about death were assessed. Results show significant interaction effects between thwarted interpersonal needs and acute alcohol consumption on cognitive priming bias about death-related risk and fearlessness about death. The findings contribute to explaining how acute alcohol consumption can transform individuals' self-aggressive desire into behavior. Therefore, careful clinical assessment of individuals' frustration in interpersonal relationships and their alcohol consumption is required to prevent risks associated with self-aggressive behavior.

We investigated the effects of thwarted interpersonal needs and acute alcohol consumption on physical pain tolerance using data from 67 undergraduate students who drank alcohol at a level not classified as alcohol dependence. We assessed their physical pain tolerance and speed of action to inflict pain on themselves with the proactive paradigm (PAP), and their physical pain tolerance to externally inflicted pain with the reactive paradigm (RAP). We found that acute alcohol consumption had a main effect on the PAP for speed of action to inflict pain. Our results also showed that thwarted interpersonal needs and acute alcohol consumption had an interaction effect on the RAP but not on PAP pain tolerance. The combination of thwarted interpersonal needs and acute alcohol consumption increased pain tolerance and alcohol induced participants' behavioral impulsivity, potentially leading them to enact self-aggressive behavior by increasing their ability to inflict harm on themselves and facilitating acting out behavior.