Association of alexithymic characteristics and posttraumatic stress responses following medical treatment for children with refractory hematological diseases

The physical and psychological outcomes of art therapy in pediatric palliative care: A systematic review

Background

The integration of art therapy in health care is a growing trend in the care of cancer patients. Therefore, this study aimed to identify the physical and mental benefits of art in children with cancer.

Materials and Methods

A systematic review of English articles using Google Scholar, MEDLINE via PubMed, Scopus, the Cochrane Database of Systematic Reviews, and the Web of Science was conducted. Relevant keywords for cancer, child, art therapy and their synonyms were used accordingly. All searches were conducted to December 31, 2021.Relevant articles were included studies published in English and involving children aged 0-18 years. Studies evaluated the effects of art therapy in children with cancer.

Results

Seventeen studies had inclusion criteria, of which 12 studies were performed by clinical trial and 5 studies were performed by quasi-experimental method. Sixteen studies evaluated one type of art-therapy intervention, while one study used a combination of art-therapy approaches.The results showed that art-based interventions in the physical dimension lead to more physical activity, stability in breathing, and heart rate, and these children reported less pain. In the dimensions of psychology had less anxiety, depression, and anger but at the same time had a better quality of life and more coping-related behaviors.

Conclusion

It seems that the use of art therapy in pediatric palliative care with cancer can have good physical and psychological results for the child, but it is suggested to evaluate the effects of these interventions in children at the end of life.

Alexithymia in children with cancer and their siblings

OBJECTIVE

The purpose of this study was to examine the levels of alexithymia in children with cancer, in siblings of children with cancer, and in healthy controls.

METHOD

In order to compare the groups the Alexithymia Questionnaire for Children was used. The study group consisted of 97 children with cancer, 95 siblings, and 151 healthy controls.

RESULTS

The highest level of alexithymia was reported by children diagnosed with cancer, followed by their siblings. Healthy controls reported the lowest level of alexithymia. No gender differences were observed. The intensity of cancer was a significant predictor of the alexithymia score, with patients with the most severe cancers reporting the highest levels of alexithymia. No differences were found between the patients with moderately severe and least severe cancers.

CONCLUSIONS

Not only children with cancer, but also their siblings show significantly more alexithymia than their healthy counterparts. Professionals should aim at preventing or reducing the psychological problems in both patients and their siblings.

Understanding alexithymia and language skills in children: implications for assessment and intervention

PURPOSE

This article reviews the construct of alexithymia and its relationship to language impairment.

METHOD

The article includes a review of the literature on emotional competence, trauma effects, alexithymia, and language impairment; summarizes tools to assess alexithymia; and provides an intervention framework.

IMPLICATIONS

Understanding the relationship of emotional competence and language impairment may provide a new perspective for speech-language pathologists who are serving children with language and socioemotional impairments.

Recovered memory and the Daubert criteria: recovered memory as professionally tested, peer reviewed, and accepted in the relevant scientific community

Research during the past two decades has firmly established the reliability of the phenomenon of recovered memory. This review first highlights the strongest evidence for the phenomenon itself and discusses the survey, experimental, and biological evidence for the varying mechanisms that may underlie the phenomenon. Routes to traumatic amnesia from dissociative detachment (loss of emotional content leading to loss of factual content) and from dissociative compartmentalization (failure in integration) are discussed. Next, an argument is made that false memory is a largely orthogonal concept to recovered memory; the possibility of one phenomena is largely irrelevant to the potential for the other. Furthermore, some aspects of the false memory research offer supportive data for the recovered memory researcher. Finally, the issue of error rates in making the Daubert case is explored. It is concluded that the weight of the evidence should allow the recovered memory victim to come before the court.

An investigation of the construct validity of the 20-Item Toronto Alexithymia Scale through the use of a verbalization task

OBJECTIVE

The construct validity of the 20-Item Toronto Alexithymia Scale (TAS-20) was examined through a verbalization task requiring participants to discuss a past distressing event.

METHODS

Verbalizations were transcribed and coded for the frequency and number of different negative and positive emotion words used. Relationships between the TAS-20 and these variables were examined.

RESULTS

Controlling for negative affect (NA), the difficulty identifying feelings (DIF) subscale was positively associated with the frequency of negative emotion words used and negatively associated with the frequency and number of different positive emotion words used during the verbalization task. High, compared with low, scoring TAS-20 participants used a lower frequency of and fewer different positive emotion words.

CONCLUSION

The TAS-20 may be measuring negative emotional expressivity separate from negative affectivity, as well as a reduced capacity to access and elaborate upon positive emotion. Findings are discussed in regard to improving the conceptualization and measurement of emotional deficits in alexithymia.