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OBJECTIVE: Pregnancy and childbirth bring not only joy but also a concomitant sense of insecurity, which may adversely affect health, role adaptation, and relationships. This study aimed to explore the risk factors for postpartum mothers' sense of security. METHODS: This cross-sectional study used questionnaires on Parents' Postnatal Sense of Security, Tilburg Pregnancy Distress Scale, and the Emotional Inhibition Scale. Structural equation modeling was used to calculate the mediating effect. RESULTS: The mean postnatal maternal security value was 44.77 ± 9.02. Multiple regression analyses revealed that several factors, including companionship of the partner during pregnancy, number of prenatal visits accompanied by the partner, complications during pregnancy, pregnancy distress, and emotional inhibition, independently predicted maternal security. Moreover, our structural equation model revealed that emotional inhibition significantly influenced maternal postpartum security directly (ß = -0.30, P < 0.001). In addition, pregnancy distress affected maternal security directly (ß = -0.45, P < 0.001) and indirectly (ß = -0.129, P < 0.001) through emotional inhibition. CONCLUSION: This study indicated a lower level of postpartum maternal sense of security. Emotional inhibition partially mediates the relationship between postpartum maternal sense of security and pregnancy distress. Therefore, health care professionals providing guidance to pregnant and postpartum women on proper emotional regulation and early identification of pregnancy distress may be more effective in enhancing their postpartum sense of security.

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Epilepsy is often linked to various psychiatric symptoms, with anxiety, depression, and interictal dysphoric disorders being the most prevalent. Few studies have investigated posttraumatic stress disorder (PTSD) in epilepsy, but they suggest a notable prevalence of PTSD. PTSD is known to be associated with cognitive impairments, particularly memory and executive functions. Our proposed exploratory study aims to investigate executive attentional control and emotional inhibition in patients with drug-resistant epilepsy (DRE) who exhibit PTSD symptoms compared with a healthy control group. Additionally, some PWE can manage their seizures using emotional and cognitive strategies, we find it relevant to explore the connection between their regulation abilities, cognitive control performance, and PTSD symptoms. We included 54 PWE and 60 healthy participants. They completed anxiety and depression scales as well as two questionnaires assessing PTSD symptoms and a questionnaire that measured the perceived self-control of seizures. We measured executive control using an executive control task (Attention Network Test, ANT) and an emotional Go/No-Go task. We found a positive correlation between PTSD scores (PDS-5) and performance at the ANT task. In contrast, in the emotional inhibition (Go/No-Go) task, behavioral inhibition errors were positively correlated with PTSD scores, specifically with hypervigilance symptoms in PTSD+ patients. There was a positive correlation between response reaction times in an aversive condition and PTSD scores: the more severe the PTSD symptoms, the faster the PWE identified stimuli in the angry face condition of the Go/No-Go task. Regarding perceived seizure control, we found correlations between alertness and PTSD symptoms associated with seizure anticipation during the inter- and peri-ictal periods. Patients with PTSD symptoms reported better seizure control. Our findings suggest that epilepsy patients with PTSD experience cognitive changes such as heightened executive attentional control, weakened emotional inhibition, and improved seizure control perception.

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The Emotional Inhibition Scale (EIS) is a brief measure based on a four-factor model with documented validity in a mood disorder sample that may be useful for assessing emotional inhibition in patient populations, such as individuals with cancer. The present study adapted the EIS to Chinese conditions and examined the psychometric characteristics of the EIS in patients with cancer. The recruited participants comprised a sample of 100 patients (sample 1) and a sample of 202 patients (sample 2) with cancer. The two samples (sample 1 and sample 2) with cancer completed surveys including the EIS. The Toronto Alexithymia Scale-20 was completed by the two sample groups to assess criterion validity. Statistical analyses included internal consistency (sample 1), exploratory factor analyses (EFAs; sample 1), and confirmatory factor analyses (CFAs; sample 2). The results showed that EFA and CFA confirmed the four-factor solution proposed by the original authors (verbal inhibition, self-control, disguise of feelings, and timidity). The internal consistency and test-retest reliability of the EIS were satisfactory. In conclusion, the EIS demonstrated acceptable reliability and validity for assessing emotional inhibition in Chinese-speaking patients with cancer and may be a useful measure for assessing the level of emotional inhibition and the effect of emotional disclosure interventions.

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Research shows that chronic illness patients encounter difficulties in the social sharing of emotions (SSE). Since most SSE studies focus on quantitative aspects, the present study, aimed, among others, to study the associations between the quality of SSE in people living with HIV/AIDS and patients' psychological and physical well-being. A total of 101 HIV/AIDS patients answered a questionnaire (Likert scale items) which assessed: shame, guilt, perceived stigma, reasons for non-disclosure of serostatus, physical health, mental health, SSE and quality of SSE. While no associations were found between quantitative aspects of SSE, physical health and mental health, the quality of SSE was negatively correlated to shame and guilt, and positively correlated to physical and mental health. Furthermore, mediation analyses showed the mediating role of the quality of SSE in the relationship between, on the one hand, shame and guilt; and on the other hand, physical and mental health. Findings suggest the importance of qualitative aspects of SSE in the emergence of positive outcomes linked to emotional expression in people living with HIV/AIDS.

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Over-general autobiographical memory (OAM) retrieval is characterized by retrieval of categoric autobiographical memories. According to the CarFAX model, this tendency may result from avoidance which functions to protect the person against recalling details of upsetting memories. This study tested whether avoidance strategies impact on the ability to retrieve specific autobiographical memories. Healthy participants (N=51) watched a negative video clip and were instructed to either suppress any thought (thought suppression), suppress any feeling (emotional inhibition), or think and feel naturally (controls) in response to the video. Participants then completed the Autobiographical Memory Test. Participants engaging in either thought suppression or emotional inhibition retrieved fewer categoric autobiographical memories than controls. These findings challenge the affect regulation component of the CarFAX model insofar as they suggest that regulatory strategies that aim to reduce awareness of adverse emotional memories do not necessarily lead to increased recall of categoric autobiographical memories.

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In his theory of emotional inhibition Pennebaker [44] proclaimed that the disclosure of stressful or traumatic experiences reduces the probability of detrimental health effects. In his experimental paradigm disclosure was induced by asking the participants to write about their deepest thoughts and feelings relating to a stressful event during 3 to 4 writing sessions of 15 to 20 minutes. Based on a meta-analysis of 13 studies Smyth [58] reported an average effect size of d=0.47 for various health related variables. Considering the great number of studies published since then, the aim of our study was to update the state of evidence regarding the effects of expressive writing on health, including only randomized controlled trials in our analysis. From 42 trials fulfilling the inclusion criteria 30 could be used for the meta-analysis. Neither regarding somatic nor psychological health variables significant effect sizes were found. Various exploratory analyses (e.g. restriction to clinical samples) also resulted in non-significant effect sizes, except for one rendering a very small effect size. Results of our meta-analysis lead to the conclusion that expressive writing has minor or no effects on the subject's health contrary to earlier findings.