Gemma Battagliese - Academia.edu (original) (raw)

Papers by Gemma Battagliese

Research paper thumbnail of Hypoglycaemia in patients with Alcohol-Related Disorders (ARD): unexplored features from the experience of an Emergency department

Research paper thumbnail of Transferrina Carboidrato Carente Nel Misuso Alcolico: Confronto Tra Metodiche Alternative DI Dosaggio e Rivalutazione Degli Intervalli DI Riferimento

Research paper thumbnail of Emotional Responses to Symptoms-Related Stimuli in Poor Sleepers and in Control Participants: Preliminary Results

Research paper thumbnail of Fetal alcohol spectrum disorders awareness in health professionals: implications for psychiatry La conoscenza della sindrome alcolica fetale negli operatori sanitari: implicazioni per la psichiatria

1Department of Gynecology, Obstetrics and Urology, Sapienza University Hospital of Rome, Italy 2C... more 1Department of Gynecology, Obstetrics and Urology, Sapienza University Hospital of Rome, Italy 2Centro Riferimento Alcologico Regione Lazio, ASL Roma 1, Italy 3Department of Pediatrics, Sapienza University Hospital of Rome, Italy 4National Centre on Addiction and Doping, Istituto Superiore di Sanità, Rome, Italy 5San Raffaele Roma, Open University, Rome, Italy 6Institute of Biochemistry and Cell Biology, IBBC-CNR, Rome, Italy 7ASUR Marche-AV4, Italy 8Department of Experimental Medicine, Sapienza University Hospital of Rome, Italy 9SITAC, Societa Italiana per Il Trattamento dell’Alcolismo e delle sue Complicanze, Rome, Italy §FASD Study Group Collaborators: Daniela Bertoli, Matilde Canepa, Rosaria Cappadona, Antonietta D’Alessio, Michelangela Danza, Angelo Morese, Antonella Paolino, Fausta Pileri, Nunzia Pinna, Isabella Neri, Roberta Razzano, Alba Ricchi and Mirco Rizzi

Research paper thumbnail of La relazione tra perfezionismo e insonnia

Research paper thumbnail of Diagnosis of alcohol use disorder from a psychological point of view

Rivista di psichiatria

Alcohol use disorder (AUD) is one of the most common psychiatric disease in the general populatio... more Alcohol use disorder (AUD) is one of the most common psychiatric disease in the general population, characterized by having a pattern of excessive drinking despite the negative effects of alcohol on the individual’s work, medical, legal, educational, and/or social life. Currently, the bio-psycho-social model describes properly AUD as a multidimensional phenomenon including biological, psychological, and socio-cultural variables affecting the nature, maintenance, and expression of the disorder. The AUD diagnostic process is crucial since the treatment success depends heavily on the accuracy and the adequacy of the diagnosis. The diagnosis is based on a comprehensive assessment of the patient’s characteristics and uses interviews and psychometric instruments for collecting information. This paper will provide insights into the most important psychological dimensions of AUD and on the best psychometric instruments for proposing AUD diagnosis.

Research paper thumbnail of Drop-out, relapse and abstinence in a cohort of alcoholic people under detoxification

Physiology & behavior, Jan 15, 2018

The Obsessive Compulsive Drinking Scale (OCDS) was developed to reflect obsessionality and compul... more The Obsessive Compulsive Drinking Scale (OCDS) was developed to reflect obsessionality and compulsivity related to craving and drinking behaviour for revealing in the long-term drop-out, abstinence and relapse. This study evaluates the early OCDS predictive value in drop-out, abstinence and relapse of patients suffering from Alcohol Use Disorders (AUD) for discovering an OCDS total score cut-off capable of disclosing patients most at-risk of relapse during the beginning of the therapeutic intervention in the Day-Hospital period. The sample includes 263 AUD patients, with 192 men and 71 women. The OCDS scores were measured during the two-weeks Day Hospital treatment for detoxification and after 30, 60, 90 and 180 days after discharge. We also investigated the association between the all OCDS scores and abstinence and between craving, relapse and drop-out. We found that high values of OCDS during Day Hospital detoxification may predict a lower ability to maintain abstinence with eleva...

Research paper thumbnail of Treatment of alcohol dependence. Alcohol and homelessness: social point of view

Rivista di psichiatria

The phenomenon of homeless people is eliciting a devastating social impact with an estimated prev... more The phenomenon of homeless people is eliciting a devastating social impact with an estimated prevalence in the USA and in Europe between 5.6% and 13.9%. These persons have a poor quality of life, a limited or no social life. They are often unemployed or work only occasionally. They are at risk for problems with the law and often suffering from addiction to other drugs, psychiatric and other medical diseases. Alcohol is often not the cause of their social status, but only the result of other discomforts thus contributing to their bio-psycho-social degradation. In 2009 the US Department of Housing and Urban Development’s Homelessness Assistance Programs and in 2010 the European Consensus Conference on Homelessness discussed about the social rehabilitation of these people, using the concept of case management. In particular, the Standard Case Management was able to improve the housing stability, to reduce the use of drugs and to remove the working barriers. The Assertive Community Trea...

Research paper thumbnail of Treatment of alcohol dependence. Alcohol and the young: social point of view

Rivista di psichiatria

Adolescents are the most vulnerable group for alcohol-related diseases, as starting to drink at a... more Adolescents are the most vulnerable group for alcohol-related diseases, as starting to drink at a young age is associated with an increased risk of alcohol dependence in adulthood. Young people tend to drink large amounts of alcohol to seek out strong emotions and for reaching fun at all costs through the psychotropic properties of alcohol. The behavioural motivations of this kind of drinking (binge drinking) depend on the lack of awareness of the harmful effects of alcohol, in the rite of social conviviality (a condition for which alcohol is attributed to the function of facilitating the aggregation among young people), in the absence of personal interests, lack of controls and family habits. Actions to be taken to limit or stop harmful alcohol consumption in young people should be based on interventions aimed at delaying the age of first contact with alcoholic beverages through the implementation of educational campaigns aimed at young people, their families and the whole society.

Research paper thumbnail of I disturbi alimentari in adolescenza: assessment, trattamenti evidence-based e dati relativi al funzionamento psicologico in un campione di adolescenti romani

QUADERNI DI PSICOTERAPIA COGNITIVA

I disturbi alimentari rappresentano uno dei disturbi piu seri in adolescenza a causa del loro dec... more I disturbi alimentari rappresentano uno dei disturbi piu seri in adolescenza a causa del loro decorso cronico e delle gravi conseguenze mediche e psichiatriche ad essi associate. Tra i trattamenti evidence-based indicati per i disturbi alimentari troviamo il Family-Based Treatment, indicato come trattamento di prima scelta per l’anoressia, l’Adolescent-Focused Therapy e la CBT-E che permette di lavorare sugli aspetti del funzionamento psicologico che possono ostacolare il trattamento, quali perfezionismo, bassa autostima e difficolta interpersonali. Gli obiettivi del presente lavoro sono: fornire una panoramica sugli aspetti di diagnosi, valutazione, eziologia e trattamento dei disturbi alimentari in adolescenza e portare un contributo empirico circa la presenza di comportamenti alimentari disfunzionali in un campione di adolescenti italiani romani di eta compresa fra 14 e 19 anni. I risultati dello studio dimostrano che il 4% (6,4% femmine; 1% maschi) degli adolescenti esaminati riferisce sintomi di disturbi alimentari clinicamente rilevanti Relativamente alle caratteristiche psicologiche associate, gli adolescenti che riportano una maggiore intensita sintomatologica riportano anche una piu bassa autostima, maggiori problemi personali e interpersonali, una maggiore disregolazione emotiva, maggiore percezione di inadeguatezza, e disadattamento psicologico generale. Inoltre, nelle femmine una maggiore intensita dei sintomi si associa ad alti livelli di perfezionismo e ipercontrollo. E importante, quindi, che i clinici che si confrontano con questo spettro di disturbi in eta adolescenziale conducano un’adeguata valutazione, intervenendo con trattamenti basati sulle evidenze che tengano conto anche delle caratteristiche di funzionamento psicologico associate al disturbo.

Research paper thumbnail of Ethylglucuronide in the urine as a marker of alcohol consumption during pregnancy: Comparison with four alcohol screening questionnaires

Toxicology letters, Jan 25, 2017

Ethyl glucuronide (EtG) is an ethanol metabolite and EtG is used as a biomarker of alcohol drinki... more Ethyl glucuronide (EtG) is an ethanol metabolite and EtG is used as a biomarker of alcohol drinking. EtG can be detected in the blood and in several biological matrices including urine, hair and nails. Alcohol consumption during pregnancy is a strong risk factor for fetus health so in the recent years different strategies to reveal alcohol use have been planning including the use of screening questionnaires as the AUDIT-C, T-ACE and TWEAK. The present study aims to investigate in pregnant women the specificity and predictive value of the AUDIT-C, T-ACE and TWEAK plus a food diary in use in Sapienza University Hospital compared with the results of urine EtG measurement. Seventy pregnant women were enrolled and examined. Urine samples were provided by pregnant women immediately after the interviews. EtG determinations were performed by Enzyme Immunoassay with a cut-off established at 100ng/mL. Data show that 34.28% of the enrolled pregnant women overcame the EtG cut off. No direct cor...

Research paper thumbnail of New Insight into Alcohol and Nicotine Addiction

Neuropathology of Drug Addictions and Substance Misuse, 2016

Alcohol and nicotine dependence are the most serious public health problems worldwide in terms of... more Alcohol and nicotine dependence are the most serious public health problems worldwide in terms of health care costs, social impact, morbidity, and mortality rates. In this chapter, we review the latest theories on the neurobiology of addiction, with an emphasis on alcohol and nicotine co-occurrence, focusing specifically on nicotinic cholinergic mechanisms and their interaction with other critical neurochemical systems. Finally, we discuss the role of the partial nicotinic agonist, varenicline, in the treatment of nicotine dependence and its potential utility in the treatment of alcohol dependence.

Research paper thumbnail of Efficacia dei programmi di intervento cognitivo-comportamentali per i disturbi esternalizzanti in età evolutiva: una metanalisi (Effectiveness of cognitive-behavioral intervention programs for externalizing disorders in children and adolescents: a meta-analysis)

Quaderni Di Psicoterapia Cognitiva, Dec 1, 2012

I disturbi esternalizzanti rappresentano la piu comune e persistente forma di disadattamento nell... more I disturbi esternalizzanti rappresentano la piu comune e persistente forma di disadattamento nell’infanzia. Proprio per questo motivo lo sviluppo di trattamenti basati sull’evidenza costituisce un’urgenza sociale. L’obiettivo del presente studio e quello di condurre una metaanalisi sistematica e quantitativa di studi randomizzati controllati finalizzati a valutare l’efficacia di programmi di intervento psicologico sui disturbi esternalizzanti in eta evolutiva. La ricerca bibliografica e stata condotta sulle banche dati PsycInfo e PsycArticles, Medline, PubMed ed EBSCO. Gli articoli sono stati selezionati e valutatati da giudici indipendenti. Dai risultati si evince che i trattamenti cognitivo comportamentali sono efficaci nel trattamento delle condotte esternalizzanti, quando invece si prendono in considerazione i comportamenti internalizzanti e la depressione materna non si evincono differenze significative tra il gruppo sperimentale trattato con interventi cognitivo-comportamentali ed il gruppo di controllo. Al fine di produrre un miglioramento del funzionamento globale i trattamenti per le condotte esternalizzanti potrebbero beneficiare di interventi diretti ai sintomi internalizzanti del bambino e alla depressione genitoriale.

Research paper thumbnail of Cognitive-behavioral therapy for externalizing disorders: A meta-analysis of treatment effectiveness

Behaviour Research and Therapy, 2015

Externalizing disorders are the most common and persistent forms of maladjustment in childhood. T... more Externalizing disorders are the most common and persistent forms of maladjustment in childhood. The aim of this study was to conduct a meta-analysis evaluating the effectiveness of Cognitive Behavioral Therapy (CBT) to reduce externalizing symptoms in two disorders: Attention Deficit Hyperactivity Disorder (ADHD) and Oppositive Defiant Disorder (ODD). The efficacy of CBT to improve social competence and positive parenting and reduce internalizing behaviors, parent stress and maternal depression was also explored. The database PsycInfo, PsycARTICLES, Medline and PubMed were searched to identify relevant studies. Twenty-one trials met the inclusion criteria. Results showed that the biggest improvement, after CBT, was in ODD symptoms (À0.879) followed by parental stress (À0.607), externalizing symptoms (À0.52), parenting skills (À0.381), social competence (À0.390) and ADHD symptoms (À0.343). CBT was also associated with improved attention (À0.378), aggressive behaviors (À0.284), internalizing symptoms (À0.272) and maternal depressive symptoms (À0.231). Overall, CBT is an effective treatment option for externalizing disorders and is also associated with reduced parental distress and maternal depressive symptoms. Multimodal treatments targeting both children and caregivers' symptoms (e.g. maternal depressive symptoms) appear important to produce sustained and generalized benefits.

Research paper thumbnail of Perfezionismo e altre caratteristiche di personalità nei disturbi dell’alimentazione

Research paper thumbnail of La relazione tra perfezionismo e insonnia

Research paper thumbnail of L'insomnia Severity Index

Research paper thumbnail of L'attentional bias nella psicopatologia

Psicoterapia Cognitiva e Comportamentale

Empirical evidence suggest that in several mental disorders a bias do exist in the information pr... more Empirical evidence suggest that in several mental disorders a bias do exist in the information processing of symptom-related stimuli. The bias can be related to attention, memory and judgement processes. The attentional bias consists of a facilitating effect in the orienting of attention toward symptom-related stimuli or a difficulty in disengaging attention from symptomrelated stimuli. The attentional bias has been indicated as an important factor for the occurrence and the maintenance of several disorders. The aim of this review was to examine the literature available, addressing the issue of evidencing empirical support in the fields of anxiety disorder, depression, addiction, eating disorder and insomnia. Moreover we evaluated whether inconsistent results could be attributed to methodological differences (since the different paradigms used capture different aspects of the attentional bias process) or to conceptual reasons and to outline future perspectives. KEYWORDS: Attentional...

Research paper thumbnail of Emotional responses and emotion regulation in persistent insomnia

International Journal of Psychophysiology, 2012

Research paper thumbnail of Motivational enhancement therapy versus cognitive behavioral therapy in a cohort of men and women with alcohol use disorder

Biomedical Reviews

The clinical manifestations of alcohol dependence are not homogeneous. Many studies described bot... more The clinical manifestations of alcohol dependence are not homogeneous. Many studies described both cognitive impairments and psychiatric disorders among people with Alcohol use disorder (AUD). However, AUD can be present without comorbid psychiatric disorders or severe cognitive deficits, namely, "pure alcoholics". Until now, knowledge about effective treatments for this typology of AUD patients remains unknown. The aim of the present study was to assess two psychological methods of intervention: Cognitive-behavioral treatment (CBT) in the short format and the Motivational enhancement therapy (MET). We then opted to compare the efficacy of methods in treating AUD in both men and women pure alcoholics. We performed a controlled and randomized study consisting of 325 people affected by AUD (244 men, 81 women). 72.3% (n=235; 181 men 54 women) were excluded according to selection criteria. The major percentage of exclusion (38.7%; n=91; 63 men 28 women) regarded patients with comorbid psychiatric disorders. Only the 90 remaining test subjects (27.7% of the sample population; 63 men and 27 women) classified as pure alcoholics were eligible for this study. The test subjects were divided into two groups. One group underwent MET (n=47; 35 men and 12 women) and the other underwent CBT (n=43; 28 men and 15 women). We found a significant adherence to the treatment in the CBT group (19 men and 9 women) compared to the MET group (3 men and 1 woman). At the end of treatment, the dropout rates for the CBT and MET therapy groups were 34.

Research paper thumbnail of Hypoglycaemia in patients with Alcohol-Related Disorders (ARD): unexplored features from the experience of an Emergency department

Research paper thumbnail of Transferrina Carboidrato Carente Nel Misuso Alcolico: Confronto Tra Metodiche Alternative DI Dosaggio e Rivalutazione Degli Intervalli DI Riferimento

Research paper thumbnail of Emotional Responses to Symptoms-Related Stimuli in Poor Sleepers and in Control Participants: Preliminary Results

Research paper thumbnail of Fetal alcohol spectrum disorders awareness in health professionals: implications for psychiatry La conoscenza della sindrome alcolica fetale negli operatori sanitari: implicazioni per la psichiatria

1Department of Gynecology, Obstetrics and Urology, Sapienza University Hospital of Rome, Italy 2C... more 1Department of Gynecology, Obstetrics and Urology, Sapienza University Hospital of Rome, Italy 2Centro Riferimento Alcologico Regione Lazio, ASL Roma 1, Italy 3Department of Pediatrics, Sapienza University Hospital of Rome, Italy 4National Centre on Addiction and Doping, Istituto Superiore di Sanità, Rome, Italy 5San Raffaele Roma, Open University, Rome, Italy 6Institute of Biochemistry and Cell Biology, IBBC-CNR, Rome, Italy 7ASUR Marche-AV4, Italy 8Department of Experimental Medicine, Sapienza University Hospital of Rome, Italy 9SITAC, Societa Italiana per Il Trattamento dell’Alcolismo e delle sue Complicanze, Rome, Italy §FASD Study Group Collaborators: Daniela Bertoli, Matilde Canepa, Rosaria Cappadona, Antonietta D’Alessio, Michelangela Danza, Angelo Morese, Antonella Paolino, Fausta Pileri, Nunzia Pinna, Isabella Neri, Roberta Razzano, Alba Ricchi and Mirco Rizzi

Research paper thumbnail of La relazione tra perfezionismo e insonnia

Research paper thumbnail of Diagnosis of alcohol use disorder from a psychological point of view

Rivista di psichiatria

Alcohol use disorder (AUD) is one of the most common psychiatric disease in the general populatio... more Alcohol use disorder (AUD) is one of the most common psychiatric disease in the general population, characterized by having a pattern of excessive drinking despite the negative effects of alcohol on the individual’s work, medical, legal, educational, and/or social life. Currently, the bio-psycho-social model describes properly AUD as a multidimensional phenomenon including biological, psychological, and socio-cultural variables affecting the nature, maintenance, and expression of the disorder. The AUD diagnostic process is crucial since the treatment success depends heavily on the accuracy and the adequacy of the diagnosis. The diagnosis is based on a comprehensive assessment of the patient’s characteristics and uses interviews and psychometric instruments for collecting information. This paper will provide insights into the most important psychological dimensions of AUD and on the best psychometric instruments for proposing AUD diagnosis.

Research paper thumbnail of Drop-out, relapse and abstinence in a cohort of alcoholic people under detoxification

Physiology & behavior, Jan 15, 2018

The Obsessive Compulsive Drinking Scale (OCDS) was developed to reflect obsessionality and compul... more The Obsessive Compulsive Drinking Scale (OCDS) was developed to reflect obsessionality and compulsivity related to craving and drinking behaviour for revealing in the long-term drop-out, abstinence and relapse. This study evaluates the early OCDS predictive value in drop-out, abstinence and relapse of patients suffering from Alcohol Use Disorders (AUD) for discovering an OCDS total score cut-off capable of disclosing patients most at-risk of relapse during the beginning of the therapeutic intervention in the Day-Hospital period. The sample includes 263 AUD patients, with 192 men and 71 women. The OCDS scores were measured during the two-weeks Day Hospital treatment for detoxification and after 30, 60, 90 and 180 days after discharge. We also investigated the association between the all OCDS scores and abstinence and between craving, relapse and drop-out. We found that high values of OCDS during Day Hospital detoxification may predict a lower ability to maintain abstinence with eleva...

Research paper thumbnail of Treatment of alcohol dependence. Alcohol and homelessness: social point of view

Rivista di psichiatria

The phenomenon of homeless people is eliciting a devastating social impact with an estimated prev... more The phenomenon of homeless people is eliciting a devastating social impact with an estimated prevalence in the USA and in Europe between 5.6% and 13.9%. These persons have a poor quality of life, a limited or no social life. They are often unemployed or work only occasionally. They are at risk for problems with the law and often suffering from addiction to other drugs, psychiatric and other medical diseases. Alcohol is often not the cause of their social status, but only the result of other discomforts thus contributing to their bio-psycho-social degradation. In 2009 the US Department of Housing and Urban Development’s Homelessness Assistance Programs and in 2010 the European Consensus Conference on Homelessness discussed about the social rehabilitation of these people, using the concept of case management. In particular, the Standard Case Management was able to improve the housing stability, to reduce the use of drugs and to remove the working barriers. The Assertive Community Trea...

Research paper thumbnail of Treatment of alcohol dependence. Alcohol and the young: social point of view

Rivista di psichiatria

Adolescents are the most vulnerable group for alcohol-related diseases, as starting to drink at a... more Adolescents are the most vulnerable group for alcohol-related diseases, as starting to drink at a young age is associated with an increased risk of alcohol dependence in adulthood. Young people tend to drink large amounts of alcohol to seek out strong emotions and for reaching fun at all costs through the psychotropic properties of alcohol. The behavioural motivations of this kind of drinking (binge drinking) depend on the lack of awareness of the harmful effects of alcohol, in the rite of social conviviality (a condition for which alcohol is attributed to the function of facilitating the aggregation among young people), in the absence of personal interests, lack of controls and family habits. Actions to be taken to limit or stop harmful alcohol consumption in young people should be based on interventions aimed at delaying the age of first contact with alcoholic beverages through the implementation of educational campaigns aimed at young people, their families and the whole society.

Research paper thumbnail of I disturbi alimentari in adolescenza: assessment, trattamenti evidence-based e dati relativi al funzionamento psicologico in un campione di adolescenti romani

QUADERNI DI PSICOTERAPIA COGNITIVA

I disturbi alimentari rappresentano uno dei disturbi piu seri in adolescenza a causa del loro dec... more I disturbi alimentari rappresentano uno dei disturbi piu seri in adolescenza a causa del loro decorso cronico e delle gravi conseguenze mediche e psichiatriche ad essi associate. Tra i trattamenti evidence-based indicati per i disturbi alimentari troviamo il Family-Based Treatment, indicato come trattamento di prima scelta per l’anoressia, l’Adolescent-Focused Therapy e la CBT-E che permette di lavorare sugli aspetti del funzionamento psicologico che possono ostacolare il trattamento, quali perfezionismo, bassa autostima e difficolta interpersonali. Gli obiettivi del presente lavoro sono: fornire una panoramica sugli aspetti di diagnosi, valutazione, eziologia e trattamento dei disturbi alimentari in adolescenza e portare un contributo empirico circa la presenza di comportamenti alimentari disfunzionali in un campione di adolescenti italiani romani di eta compresa fra 14 e 19 anni. I risultati dello studio dimostrano che il 4% (6,4% femmine; 1% maschi) degli adolescenti esaminati riferisce sintomi di disturbi alimentari clinicamente rilevanti Relativamente alle caratteristiche psicologiche associate, gli adolescenti che riportano una maggiore intensita sintomatologica riportano anche una piu bassa autostima, maggiori problemi personali e interpersonali, una maggiore disregolazione emotiva, maggiore percezione di inadeguatezza, e disadattamento psicologico generale. Inoltre, nelle femmine una maggiore intensita dei sintomi si associa ad alti livelli di perfezionismo e ipercontrollo. E importante, quindi, che i clinici che si confrontano con questo spettro di disturbi in eta adolescenziale conducano un’adeguata valutazione, intervenendo con trattamenti basati sulle evidenze che tengano conto anche delle caratteristiche di funzionamento psicologico associate al disturbo.

Research paper thumbnail of Ethylglucuronide in the urine as a marker of alcohol consumption during pregnancy: Comparison with four alcohol screening questionnaires

Toxicology letters, Jan 25, 2017

Ethyl glucuronide (EtG) is an ethanol metabolite and EtG is used as a biomarker of alcohol drinki... more Ethyl glucuronide (EtG) is an ethanol metabolite and EtG is used as a biomarker of alcohol drinking. EtG can be detected in the blood and in several biological matrices including urine, hair and nails. Alcohol consumption during pregnancy is a strong risk factor for fetus health so in the recent years different strategies to reveal alcohol use have been planning including the use of screening questionnaires as the AUDIT-C, T-ACE and TWEAK. The present study aims to investigate in pregnant women the specificity and predictive value of the AUDIT-C, T-ACE and TWEAK plus a food diary in use in Sapienza University Hospital compared with the results of urine EtG measurement. Seventy pregnant women were enrolled and examined. Urine samples were provided by pregnant women immediately after the interviews. EtG determinations were performed by Enzyme Immunoassay with a cut-off established at 100ng/mL. Data show that 34.28% of the enrolled pregnant women overcame the EtG cut off. No direct cor...

Research paper thumbnail of New Insight into Alcohol and Nicotine Addiction

Neuropathology of Drug Addictions and Substance Misuse, 2016

Alcohol and nicotine dependence are the most serious public health problems worldwide in terms of... more Alcohol and nicotine dependence are the most serious public health problems worldwide in terms of health care costs, social impact, morbidity, and mortality rates. In this chapter, we review the latest theories on the neurobiology of addiction, with an emphasis on alcohol and nicotine co-occurrence, focusing specifically on nicotinic cholinergic mechanisms and their interaction with other critical neurochemical systems. Finally, we discuss the role of the partial nicotinic agonist, varenicline, in the treatment of nicotine dependence and its potential utility in the treatment of alcohol dependence.

Research paper thumbnail of Efficacia dei programmi di intervento cognitivo-comportamentali per i disturbi esternalizzanti in età evolutiva: una metanalisi (Effectiveness of cognitive-behavioral intervention programs for externalizing disorders in children and adolescents: a meta-analysis)

Quaderni Di Psicoterapia Cognitiva, Dec 1, 2012

I disturbi esternalizzanti rappresentano la piu comune e persistente forma di disadattamento nell... more I disturbi esternalizzanti rappresentano la piu comune e persistente forma di disadattamento nell’infanzia. Proprio per questo motivo lo sviluppo di trattamenti basati sull’evidenza costituisce un’urgenza sociale. L’obiettivo del presente studio e quello di condurre una metaanalisi sistematica e quantitativa di studi randomizzati controllati finalizzati a valutare l’efficacia di programmi di intervento psicologico sui disturbi esternalizzanti in eta evolutiva. La ricerca bibliografica e stata condotta sulle banche dati PsycInfo e PsycArticles, Medline, PubMed ed EBSCO. Gli articoli sono stati selezionati e valutatati da giudici indipendenti. Dai risultati si evince che i trattamenti cognitivo comportamentali sono efficaci nel trattamento delle condotte esternalizzanti, quando invece si prendono in considerazione i comportamenti internalizzanti e la depressione materna non si evincono differenze significative tra il gruppo sperimentale trattato con interventi cognitivo-comportamentali ed il gruppo di controllo. Al fine di produrre un miglioramento del funzionamento globale i trattamenti per le condotte esternalizzanti potrebbero beneficiare di interventi diretti ai sintomi internalizzanti del bambino e alla depressione genitoriale.

Research paper thumbnail of Cognitive-behavioral therapy for externalizing disorders: A meta-analysis of treatment effectiveness

Behaviour Research and Therapy, 2015

Externalizing disorders are the most common and persistent forms of maladjustment in childhood. T... more Externalizing disorders are the most common and persistent forms of maladjustment in childhood. The aim of this study was to conduct a meta-analysis evaluating the effectiveness of Cognitive Behavioral Therapy (CBT) to reduce externalizing symptoms in two disorders: Attention Deficit Hyperactivity Disorder (ADHD) and Oppositive Defiant Disorder (ODD). The efficacy of CBT to improve social competence and positive parenting and reduce internalizing behaviors, parent stress and maternal depression was also explored. The database PsycInfo, PsycARTICLES, Medline and PubMed were searched to identify relevant studies. Twenty-one trials met the inclusion criteria. Results showed that the biggest improvement, after CBT, was in ODD symptoms (À0.879) followed by parental stress (À0.607), externalizing symptoms (À0.52), parenting skills (À0.381), social competence (À0.390) and ADHD symptoms (À0.343). CBT was also associated with improved attention (À0.378), aggressive behaviors (À0.284), internalizing symptoms (À0.272) and maternal depressive symptoms (À0.231). Overall, CBT is an effective treatment option for externalizing disorders and is also associated with reduced parental distress and maternal depressive symptoms. Multimodal treatments targeting both children and caregivers' symptoms (e.g. maternal depressive symptoms) appear important to produce sustained and generalized benefits.

Research paper thumbnail of Perfezionismo e altre caratteristiche di personalità nei disturbi dell’alimentazione

Research paper thumbnail of La relazione tra perfezionismo e insonnia

Research paper thumbnail of L'insomnia Severity Index

Research paper thumbnail of L'attentional bias nella psicopatologia

Psicoterapia Cognitiva e Comportamentale

Empirical evidence suggest that in several mental disorders a bias do exist in the information pr... more Empirical evidence suggest that in several mental disorders a bias do exist in the information processing of symptom-related stimuli. The bias can be related to attention, memory and judgement processes. The attentional bias consists of a facilitating effect in the orienting of attention toward symptom-related stimuli or a difficulty in disengaging attention from symptomrelated stimuli. The attentional bias has been indicated as an important factor for the occurrence and the maintenance of several disorders. The aim of this review was to examine the literature available, addressing the issue of evidencing empirical support in the fields of anxiety disorder, depression, addiction, eating disorder and insomnia. Moreover we evaluated whether inconsistent results could be attributed to methodological differences (since the different paradigms used capture different aspects of the attentional bias process) or to conceptual reasons and to outline future perspectives. KEYWORDS: Attentional...

Research paper thumbnail of Emotional responses and emotion regulation in persistent insomnia

International Journal of Psychophysiology, 2012

Research paper thumbnail of Motivational enhancement therapy versus cognitive behavioral therapy in a cohort of men and women with alcohol use disorder

Biomedical Reviews

The clinical manifestations of alcohol dependence are not homogeneous. Many studies described bot... more The clinical manifestations of alcohol dependence are not homogeneous. Many studies described both cognitive impairments and psychiatric disorders among people with Alcohol use disorder (AUD). However, AUD can be present without comorbid psychiatric disorders or severe cognitive deficits, namely, "pure alcoholics". Until now, knowledge about effective treatments for this typology of AUD patients remains unknown. The aim of the present study was to assess two psychological methods of intervention: Cognitive-behavioral treatment (CBT) in the short format and the Motivational enhancement therapy (MET). We then opted to compare the efficacy of methods in treating AUD in both men and women pure alcoholics. We performed a controlled and randomized study consisting of 325 people affected by AUD (244 men, 81 women). 72.3% (n=235; 181 men 54 women) were excluded according to selection criteria. The major percentage of exclusion (38.7%; n=91; 63 men 28 women) regarded patients with comorbid psychiatric disorders. Only the 90 remaining test subjects (27.7% of the sample population; 63 men and 27 women) classified as pure alcoholics were eligible for this study. The test subjects were divided into two groups. One group underwent MET (n=47; 35 men and 12 women) and the other underwent CBT (n=43; 28 men and 15 women). We found a significant adherence to the treatment in the CBT group (19 men and 9 women) compared to the MET group (3 men and 1 woman). At the end of treatment, the dropout rates for the CBT and MET therapy groups were 34.