Beyond polarization towards dynamic balance: harmony as the core of mental health

Worldviews are culturally derived assumptions that influence individual and collective behaviors, values, and representations of reality. The study of mental functions is not exempt from this influence, as reflected in scientific theories, methodological approaches, and empirical studies. Despite acknowledging the interplay of mental processes with developmental, environmental, and cultural dimensions, psychological research is still primarily based on quantitative methods, and on the conceptualization of mental phenomena as unfolding along polarized continua. A lively epistemological debate surrounds this approach, especially underscoring the risk of blurring the distinction between constructs derived from statistical models and real-life processes and experiences. Based on this debate and on recent empirical evidence derived from the positive psychology literature, this paper is aimed at proposing an integrated view of mental health, as a holistically patterned, contextually imbedded, and dynamic phenomenon changing over time and across life events, with harmony, harmonization and dynamic balance as core qualities. The heuristic potential of investigating the qualitative configuration patterns of mental health dimensions across individuals and groups, beyond their position along a quantitative continuum, is outlined. The development of more integrated approaches and methodologies to investigate mental health as a harmonization process, taking into account personal, contextual and developmental features, would be aligned with evidence derived from the integration of traditional nomothetic and ideographic approaches, and other life sciences. However, the development of a transdisciplinary line of research requires further inputs from different epistemological views, as well as higher attention to the potential contribution of different philosophical traditions.

Harsh Parenting Predicts Novel HPA Receptor Gene Methylation and NR3C1 Methylation Predicts Cortisol Daily Slope in Middle Childhood

Adverse experiences in childhood are associated with altered hypothalamic-pituitary-adrenal (HPA) axis function and negative health outcomes throughout life. It is now commonly accepted that abuse and neglect can alter epigenetic regulation of HPA genes. Accumulated evidence suggests harsh parenting practices such as spanking are also strong predictors of negative health outcomes. We predicted harsh parenting at 2.5 years old would predict HPA gene DNA methylation similarly to abuse and neglect, and cortisol output at 8.5 years old. Saliva samples were collected three times a day across 3 days to estimate cortisol diurnal slopes. Methylation was quantified using the Illumina Infinium MethylationEPIC array BeadChip (850 K) with DNA collected from buccal cells. We used principal components analysis to compute a summary statistic for CpG sites across candidate genes. The first and second components were used as outcome variables in mixed linear regression analyses with harsh parenting as a predictor variable. We found harsh parenting significantly predicted methylation of several HPA axis genes, including novel gene associations with AVPRB1, CRHR1, CRHR2, and MC2R (FDR corrected p < 0.05). Further, we found NR3C1 methylation predicted a steeper diurnal cortisol slope. Our results extend the current literature by demonstrating harsh parenting may influence DNA methylation similarly to more extreme early life experiences such as abuse and neglect. Further, we show NR3C1 methylation is associated with diurnal HPA function. Elucidating the molecular consequences of harsh parenting on health can inform best parenting practices and provide potential treatment targets for common complex disorders.

Epigenetic Effects Mediated by Antiepileptic Drugs and their Potential Application

An epigenetic effect mainly refers to a heritable modulation in gene expression in the short term but does not involve alterations in the DNA itself. Epigenetic molecular mechanisms include DNA methylation, histone modification, and untranslated RNA regulation. Antiepileptic drugs have drawn attention to biological and translational medicine because their impact on epigenetic mechanisms will lead to the identification of novel biomarkers and possible therapeutic strategies for the prevention and treatment of various diseases ranging from neuropsychological disorders to cancers and other chronic conditions. However, these transcriptional and posttranscriptional alterations can also result in adverse reactions and toxicity in vitro and in vivo. Hence, in this review, we focus on recent findings showing epigenetic processes mediated by antiepileptic drugs to elucidate their application in medical experiments and shed light on epigenetic research for medicinal purposes.

Genomic and physiological resilience in extreme environments are associated with a secure attachment style

Understanding individual capability to adjust to protracted confinement and isolation may inform adaptive plasticity and disease vulnerability/resilience, and may have long-term implications for operations requiring prolonged presence in distant and restricted environments. Individual coping depends on many different factors encompassing psychological dispositional traits, endocrine reactivity and their underlying molecular mechanisms (e.g. gene expression). A positive view of self and others (secure attachment style) has been proposed to promote individual resilience under extreme environmental conditions. Here, we tested this hypothesis and investigated the underlying molecular mechanisms in 13 healthy volunteers confined and isolated for 12 months in a research station located 1670 km away from the south geographic pole on the Antarctic Plateau at 3233 m above sea level. Study participants, stratified for attachment style, were characterised longitudinally (before, during and after confinement) for their psychological appraisal of the stressful nature of the expedition, diurnal fluctuations in endocrine stress reactivity, and gene expression profiling (transcriptomics). Predictably, a secure attachment style was associated with reduced psychological distress and endocrine vulnerability to stress. In addition, while prolonged confinement and isolation remarkably altered overall patterns of gene expression, such alteration was largely reduced in individuals characterised by a secure attachment style. Furthermore, increased resilience was associated with a reduced expression of genes involved in energy metabolism (mitochondrial function and oxidative phosphorylation). Ultimately, our data indicate that a secure attachment style may favour individual resilience in extreme environments and that such resilience can be mapped onto identifiable molecular substrates.

Family functioning and psychological distress in a sample of mental health outpatients: Implications for routine examination and screening

RATIONALE, AIMS, AND OBJECTIVES

Clinical and research evidence suggests that family functioning is an important variable in shaping psychological well-being, despite being often overlooked in the prevailing approaches to mental health. The aim of the present study is to examine the associations between psychological distress and family functioning in a sample of patients accessing a public mental health service.

METHOD

CORE-OM and FACES IV questionnaires were administered to 112 patients, and all the correlations between the scales and subscales were calculated. Descriptive statistics concerning family typologies and satisfaction with family communication or relationships were also evaluated.

RESULTS

The results showed significant associations between family functioning and psychological well-being. Positive aspects of family functioning, such as balanced cohesion and flexibility, were associated with lower distress, while negative aspects such as disengagement were associated with poorer mental health. According to the Circumplex model, most of the families were described as balanced in their functioning; however, the communication and family satisfaction scores revealed that many patients had concerns about their family relationships.

CONCLUSIONS

This study confirms that family functioning is significantly associated with psychological distress, also in the absence of clear and conspicuous signs of structural imbalances within family relationships.

In vivo profiling of four centrally administered opioids for antinociception, constipation and respiratory depression: Between-colony differences in Sprague Dawley rats

Outbred rodent stocks including Sprague Dawley rats, are known for their genetic diversity and so they are often used to develop animal models of human disease. Although between-colony differences in pharmaco-behavioural studies have been published previously, a direct head-to-head comparison study, whereby all research was performed in the same laboratory by the same experimenter utilising the supraspinal route of drug administration in the same strain of rat, is lacking. Herein, we report our head-to-head comparison study, involving assessment of antinociception, constipation and respiratory depression evoked by single bolus intracerebroventricular (ICV) doses of morphine, buprenorphine, DPDPE and U69,593 using male Sprague Dawley rats sourced from a different breeding colony (BC2) from that (BC1) used by us previously. Our data show that there are marked differences in the potency rank order for morphine and buprenorphine between rats sourced from BC2 and BC1. Although ICV morphine evoked a bell-shaped dose-response curve in the constipation test for rats from both colonies, this occurred at higher doses for rats from BC2. In conclusion, our head-to-head comparison shows considerable between-colony differences for the same rat strain, in the potency rank order of two clinically important strong opioid analgesics given by the ICV route.

Transgenerational effects of childhood conditions on third generation health and education outcomes

This paper examines the extent to which pre-puberty nutritional conditions in one generation affect productivity-related outcomes in later generations. Recent findings from the biological literature suggest that the so-called slow growth period around age 9 is a sensitive period for male germ cell development. We build on this evidence and investigate whether undernutrition at those ages transmits to children and grandchildren. Our findings indicate that third generation males (females) tend to have higher mental health scores if their paternal grandfather (maternal grandmother) was exposed to a famine during the slow growth period. These effects appear to reflect biological responses to adaptive expectations about scarcity in the environment, and as such they can be seen as an economic correctional mechanism in evolution, with marked socio-economic implications for the offspring.

Emergence, self-organization and developmental science

Our understanding is that psychology is a biopsychosocial science as well as a developmental science. Behavioral origins stem from ontogenetic processes, behavioral as well as biological. Biological factors are simply participating factors in behavioral origins and not causal factors. Psychology is not a biological science; it is a unique psychological science, a natural science consistent and compatible with the principles of the other sciences. Accordingly, we show in this chapter how principles and ideas from other sciences play important roles in psychology. While we focus on the concepts from physics of self-organization and emergence, we also address the cosmological and evolutionary biology idea of increased complexity over time, the organizing principle of integrative levels, and the epigenetic processes that are in part responsible for transgenerational trait transmission. Our discussion stresses the developmental science concepts of embodiment and contextualism and how they structure thinking about psychological processes. We conclude with a description of how these ideas support current postpositivist conceptions of relational processes and models in contemporary developmental science.

Evolutionary Systems Theory: A Unifying Meta-Theory of Psychological Science

Psychology is a theoretically heterogeneous discipline seeking a single, cohesive framework to unite the subdisciplines. To address this issue, I propose a hierarchical metatheory of psychological science that synthesizes neo-Darwinian selectionist thinking and dynamic systems theory by organizing evolutionary psychology, evolutionary developmental biology, developmental psychobiology, and the subdisciplines of psychology around four specific, interrelated levels of analysis: functional explanations for evolved, species-typical characteristics; explanations for between-groups differences arising from phylogenetic mechanisms; explanations for individual differences resulting from ontogenetic processes; and mechanistic explanations for real-time phenomena, respectively. Informational exchange between these levels advances their integration and facilitates important innovations, and the nonsubstantive metatheories of general selection and self-organization interpenetrate all four levels to promote consilience. I conclude by discussing the implications of this model for theory and research.

Modulating Gene Expression through Psychotherapy: The Contribution of Noninvasive Somatic Interventions

Mapping the relationship between gene expression and psychopathology is proving to be among the most promising new frontiers for advancing the understanding, treatment, and prevention of mental disorders. Each cell in the human body contains some 23,688 genes, yet only a tiny fraction of a cell's genes are active or “expressed” at any given moment. The interactions of biochemical, psychological, and environmental factors influencing gene expression are complex yet relatively accessible technologies for assessing gene expression have allowed the identification of specific genes implicated in a range of psychiatric disorders, including depression, anxiety, and schizophrenia. Moreover, successful psychotherapeutic interventions have been shown to shift patterns of gene expression. Five areas of biological change in successful psychotherapy that are dependent upon precise shifts in gene expression are identified in this article. Psychotherapy ameliorates (a) exaggerated limbic system responses to innocuous stimuli, (b) distortions in learning and memory, (c) imbalances between sympathetic and parasympathetic nervous system activity, (d) elevated levels of cortisol and other stress hormones, and (e) impaired immune functioning. The thesis of this article is that psychotherapies that utilize noninvasive somatic interventions may yield greater precision and power in bringing about therapeutically beneficial shifts in gene expression that control these biological markers. The article examines the manual stimulation of acupuncture points during psychological exposure as an example of such a somatic intervention. For each of the five areas, a testable proposition is presented to encourage research that compares acupoint protocols with conventional therapies in catalyzing advantageous shifts in gene expression.