Explore the vast range of titles available.

Irritability, anger, and impulsivity have important associations with psychological well-being. However, studying the internal relationships between such emotional constructs is challenging, largely because of the lack of precise operational definitions and extensively validated measurement tools. The aim of this study was to examine relationships between the above emotional constructs and how they relate to satisfaction with life and perceived negative impact on different life domains. Participants ( N  = 471) completed a self-report questionnaire online. Correlational analyses showed that higher levels of irritability and trait anger were associated with lower life satisfaction. Impulsivity displayed complex relationships with life satisfaction, with some aspects (sensation seeking) showing a positive relationship and others (urgency, lack of perseverance) showing a negative relationship. A two-factor Confirmatory Factor Analysis treating irritability and anger as separate constructs showed a better fit compared with a one-factor model, indicating that irritability and anger should be treated as separate constructs. An exploratory moderation analysis showed that higher irritability predicted increased anger only for participants scoring average to high on urgency (a facet of impulsivity). Our findings increase the understanding of the relationship between these dispositional constructs and supports the conceptualization of irritability and anger as related but distinct constructs.

The Ultimatum Game is an effective tool for understanding how social decision-making is influenced by emotions in both research and clinical settings. Previous findings have shown that the Ultimatum Game can evoke negative emotions, especially anger and aggression. In a sample of non-clinical adults ( N = 143) we evaluated the sensitivity of an anger-infused version of the Ultimatum Game to individual differences in anger and irritability. Findings showed significant relationships between anger and aggressive behaviors in the Ultimatum game, but no association between irritability and aggressive behavior were observed. This indicates that the anger-infused Ultimatum Game is a promising method for studying individual differences in trait anger and anger expression. However, the relationship between decision-making in the anger-infused Ultimatum Game and irritability is less straight forward and needs further investigation. Therefore, when studying the behavioral responses of irritability, it would be beneficial to capture other behaviors beyond aggressive responses.

[This corrects the article DOI: 10.1371/journal.pone.0258778.].

A rapid stream of research confirms that the COVID-19 pandemic is a global threat to mental health and psychological well-being. It is therefore important to identify both hazardous and protective individual factors during the pandemic. The current research explored the relationships between self-reported affective responding, perceived personal consequences of the COVID-19 pandemic, and subjective well-being. An online survey ( N = 471) conducted in Sweden between June and September, 2020, showed that higher levels of irritability, impulsivity, and the tendency to experience and express anger were generally associated with more severe personal consequences of the pandemic, particularly in areas related to family life, work/study, and finances. While more severe impacts of the pandemic in these areas of life were directly associated with lower subjective well-being, emotion regulation through cognitive reappraisal appeared to moderate the extent to which consequences of the pandemic in other areas of life (i.e., social, free-time and physical activities) translated into decreased well-being. This suggests that cognitive reappraisal may serve to protect against some of the debilitating effects of the COVID-19 pandemic on mental health. Overall, the results indicate that the perceived consequences of the pandemic are multifaceted and that future research should examine these consequences using a multidimensional approach.

A rapid stream of research confirms that the COVID-19 pandemic is a global threat to mental health and psychological well-being. It is therefore important to identify both hazardous and protective individual factors during the pandemic. The current research explored the relationships between self-reported affective responding, perceived personal consequences of the COVID-19 pandemic, and subjective well-being. An online survey (N = 471) conducted in Sweden between June and September, 2020, showed that higher levels of irritability, impulsivity, and the tendency to experience and express anger were generally associated with more severe personal consequences of the pandemic, particularly in areas related to family life, work/study, and finances. While more severe impacts of the pandemic in these areas of life were directly associated with lower subjective well-being, emotion regulation through cognitive reappraisal appeared to moderate the extent to which consequences of the pandemic in other areas of life (i.e., social, free-time and physical activities) translated into decreased well-being. This suggests that cognitive reappraisal may serve to protect against some of the debilitating effects of the COVID-19 pandemic on mental health. Overall, the results indicate that the perceived consequences of the pandemic are multifaceted and that future research should examine these consequences using a multidimensional approach.

Background The aim of this study was to explore perceived fatigue, experienced functional limitations due to fatigue and clinical correlates in patients with Myotonic Dystrophy type 1 (DM1). Methods In total, 32 consecutive patients with DM1 (14 women and 18 men) and 30 sex, age and education matched healthy control subjects participated. Perceived fatigue was rated on the Fatigue Impact Scale (FIS). Patients also completed a set of assessments aimed to characterize CTG-repeat size, muscle impairment, depression and cognitive functions. Non-parametric analysis were performed as appropriate, including Mann-Whitney U-test and Spearman correlation test. Results DM1 patients had higher FIS total score than healthy controls, suggesting higher fatigue levels. More specifically, DM1 patients scored higher on the FIS physical and psychosocial subscales than controls but not on the FIS cognitive scale. Scores on fatigue correlated significantly with muscle impairment and depression. Conclusions Perceived fatigue is significantly more common in patients with DM1 than in healthy controls. Higher ratings on depression and muscle impairment were associated with the condition. This indicates that both depression and muscle impairment may contribute to the experience of fatigue in DM1.

BackgroundPsychotic disorders are associated with impaired facial emotion recognition (FER) and poor functional outcome. Most studies regarding facial emotion recognition have focused on schizophrenia. The aim of this study was to explore FER in patients with different psychotic disorders at psychiatric outpatient facilities. The intention was also to examine if patients diagnosed with schizophrenia differed from patients diagnosed with other psychotic disorders in the ability to recognize facial emotions.MethodsFER was examined in forty outpatients, evenly divided between schizophrenia and other psychotic disorders and 33 healthy control persons. The ability to recognize facial emotions was assessed with The Facially Expressed Emotion Labelling (FEEL). To assess the severity of psychotic symptoms in the patient group The Structured Clinical Interview for Symptoms of Remission (SCI-SR) was used.ResultsPatients performed significantly worse than healthy controls (p<.001, r =-.28) in recognizing facial emotions in general, including expressions of fear, disgust and sadness. Subjects with a schizophrenia diagnosis performed poorer than healthy controls when depicting fear (p<.01, r=.45) or anger (p=.026, r=.36). Compared to other psychotic disorders they were less accurate in recognizing anger (p=.036, r=-.040). We did not find any significant differences between patients with other psychotic disorders and healthy controls in FER. Furthermore, patients performed significantly slower on the FEEL test (p<.001, r=0.44), including both patients with a schizophrenia diagnosis and other psychotic disorders as compared to healthy controls. Patients diagnosed with schizophrenia showed significantly more psychotic symptoms (p= .001, r= -.53). However, there were no significant differences between patients in remission (40 %) and patients with more severe psychotic symptoms regarding the FEEL measures.DiscussionIn this study, patients with psychotic disorders performed less accurately and slower on the FEEL task as compared to healthy control persons. Patients diagnosed with schizophrenia tended to exhibit more difficulties. The results from this between-group comparison should however be interpreted with caution due to limited statistical power. Since no significant difference in FEEL score was demonstrated between patients in remission and patients suffering from more severe psychotic symptoms, it could be suggested that deficits in FER are independent of current psychotic symptoms. Impaired facial emotion recognition ability may negatively influence social interaction and functional outcome and the results from this study indicate that FER should be further explored in larger cohorts of outpatients with different psychotic disorders.

Background This study was designed to investigate the prevalence and correlates of depression in Myotonic dystrophy type 1 (DM1). Methods Thirty-one patients with DM1 and 47 subjects in a clinical contrast group, consisting of other neuromuscular disorders, including Spinal muscular atrophy, Limb girdle muscle atrophy and Facioscapulohumeral dystrophy, completed Beck Depression Inventory (BDI). We aimed to establish whether different factors associated with DM1 correlated with ratings in the BDI. Results Signs of a clinical depression were prevalent in 32% of the patients with DM1, which was comparable with ratings in the clinical contrast group. The depressive condition was mild to moderate in both groups. In DM1, a longer duration of clinical symptoms was associated with lower scores on the BDI and higher educational levels were correlated with higher scores on depression. We also found a negative association with brain white matter lesions. Conclusions Findings indicate significantly more DM1 patients than normative collectives showing signs of a clinical depression. The depressive condition is however mild to moderate and data indicate that the need for intervention is at hand preferentially early during the disease process.