Application of the Spielberger's State-Trait Anger Expression Inventory in clinical patients Aplicação do inventário de expressão de raiva estado-traço de Spielberger em pacientes clínicos

OBJECTIVE: To examine the factor structure of the Portuguese version of State-Trait Anger Expression Inventory (STAXI) in clinical patients. METHOD: 400 subjects from an internal medicine outpatient unit and 200 from a medical ward were recruited. Patients answered questions about clinical data, the STAXI, and the Beck Depression Inventory (BDI). Raw score of the STAXI was submitted to reliability assessment and factor analysis. RESULTS: Internal consistency using the Cronbach's alpha coefficient was of 0.84. The STAXI significantly correlated with BDI at r=0.352 (p<0.01). The final solution of Principal Component Analysis identified five meaningful factors: Trait-Anger, State-Anger, Anger-Control, Anger-Out, and Anger-In. This structural model is close to the original theoretical construct of Spielberger's STAXI. CONCLUSION: The Portuguese version of STAXI presented an adequate factorial structure that permits the evaluation of anger dimensions among clinical patients.<br>OBJETIVO: Avaliar o construto e as propriedades psicométricas da versão em português do Inventário de Expressão de Raiva Estado-Traço (STAXI) em pacientes clínicos. MÉTODO: 400 indivíduos de uma unidade ambulatorial e 200 de uma enfermaria de clínica médica foram recrutados. Foram coletadas informações sobre aspectos clínicos, o STAXI e o Inventário de Depressão de Beck (BDI). Os escores brutos do STAXI foram submetidos à análise de confiabilidade e análise fatorial. RESULTADOS: A consistência interna pelo coeficiente alfa de Cronbach foi de 0,84. O STAXI se correlacionou significativamente com BDI (r=0,352; p<0,01). A análise de Componentes Principais identificou cinco fatores significativos: Raiva-traço, Raiva-estado, Controle-de-raiva, Raiva-para-fora e Raiva-para-dentro. Esse modelo estrutural é similar ao apresentado originalmente por Spielberger. CONCLUSÃO: A versão em português do STAXI apresenta uma estrutura fatorial adequada que permite a avaliação das dimensões da raiva em pacientes clínicos

The experience of social exclusion in women with a history of suicidal acts: a neuroimaging study

International audienceSuicidal behaviors result from a complex interaction between social stressors and individual vulnerability. However, little is known of the specific neural network supporting the sensitivity to social stressors in patients at risk of suicidal acts. Using functional Magnetic Resonance Imaging, we investigated brain processing of social rejection in suicide attempters. Thirty-six euthymic women with a history of depression and suicidal behavior were compared to 41 euthymic women with a history of depression but no suicidal attempt, and 28 healthy controls. The Cyberball Game was used as a validated social exclusion paradigm. Relative to healthy controls, both patient groups reported higher levels of social distress related to the task, without significant differences according to suicidal status. Compared to patients without any history of suicide attempt and healthy controls, suicide attempters showed decreased contrast in the left insula and supramarginal gyrus during the exclusion vs. inclusion condition, after controlling for number of depressive episodes, medication, mood disorder type or social phobia. Our study highlights impaired brain response to social exclusion in euthymic female suicide attempters in regions previously implicated in pain tolerance and social cognition. These findings suggest sustained brain dysfunctions related to social perception in suicide attempters