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Giancarlo Trombini

Bio: Giancarlo Trombini is an academic researcher from University of Bologna. The author has contributed to research in topics: Anxiety & Depression (differential diagnoses). The author has an hindex of 17, co-authored 49 publications receiving 712 citations. Previous affiliations of Giancarlo Trombini include Vita-Salute San Raffaele University.

Papers
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Journal ArticleDOI
TL;DR: A significant decrease of anxiety and neuroticism in both postoperative evaluations and an increase on the Extroversion scale only at the 6-month follow-up showed that psychological distress persisted in most patients after the operation.

57 citations

Journal ArticleDOI
TL;DR: Boys and girls suffering from obesity and their mothers showed a reduced ability to decode visual and verbal signs of emotion compared to the control group, which suggests the importance of developing therapeutic strategies to face alexithymic characteristics in obese children and their mother.
Abstract: OBJECTIVE: Referring to the alexithymia construct and Bruch's clinical observations, this study investigated the ability to decode nonverbal signs of emotion in obese boys and girls, and their mothers. METHOD: A group of 10 boys and 11 girls with obesity and their mothers, and a control group were tested. Both mothers and children were asked to recognize a set of 32 brief film sequences interpreted by four actors expressing four emotions (anger, sadness, fear, happiness) with two intensity levels. Each sequence was presented first without sound, second without video, and finally with video and sound. RESULTS: As expected, boys and girls suffering from obesity and their mothers showed a reduced ability to decode visual and verbal signs of emotion compared to the control group. DISCUSSION: This result may be interpreted in accordance with the alexithymia construct, and suggests the importance of developing therapeutic strategies to face alexithymic characteristics in obese children and their mothers.

53 citations

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TL;DR: In analyzing patterns of illness behavior patients with FS showed a high score on IBQ scales of disease conviction, psychological versus somatic focusing and denial, and significant correlations with illness behavior scales.
Abstract: This study reports psychological symptoms assessed in 327 patients with fibromyalgia (FS) in a multicenter investigation. Two self-report scales, in their validated Italian translations, were used for screening: the CES-D (the Center of Epidemiologic Studies-Depression) developed at the NIMH for measuring depression and the Illness Behavior Questionnaire (IBQ) developed by Pilowsky and Spence. The cutoff point of 23 in the CES-D scores revealed about 49% of the fibromyalgic patients as depressed. In analyzing patterns of illness behavior patients with FS showed a high score on IBQ scales of disease conviction, psychological versus somatic focusing and denial. CES-D scores showed significant correlations with illness behavior scales. These results and their implications for the treatment of fibromyalgic patients are discussed.

48 citations

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TL;DR: Psychological effects of rhinoplastic operations were evaluated in male and female patients who had sought surgical correction because of psychological distress caused by the appearance of the nose or because of a medical referral to correct functional disorders.

40 citations

Journal ArticleDOI
TL;DR: Patients diagnosed with urethral syndrome selected for short-term dynamic psychotherapy showed a general improvement in psychic status, particularly for the depression, anxiety and hostility levels, and no significant improvement was noted in the parameters examined.
Abstract: Urethral syndrome (urinary symptoms and pain without organic lesions) is a frequent female pathology but its aetiology is obscure and its treatment undetermined. A number of studies have highlighted emotional disturbances in these patients. To assess the efficacy of psychotherapy in the treatment of this syndrome, the authors studied 36 patients diagnosed with urethral syndrome. Of these, 13 were randomly selected for short-term dynamic psychotherapy. The remaining 23 patients were treated with traditional urological therapies and used as the control group. After the medical diagnosis and during follow-up at 6 months and 4 years, one psychological questionnaire (SQ) was administered together with a specially prepared clinical questionnaire. The urinary symptomatology and pain disappeared completely in over 70 per cent of the patients who had completed the psychotherapy. For the remaining patients, at the termination of the treatment the symptomatology had improved to the point that it was no longer a problem. These results proved stable in time and were associated with a general improvement in psychic status, particularly for the depression, anxiety and hostility levels. In the controls, on the other hand, no significant improvement was noted in the parameters examined.

38 citations


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Journal ArticleDOI
TL;DR: A review of 134 publications that report experimental investigations of emotional effects on peripheral physiological responding in healthy individuals suggests considerable ANS response specificity in emotion when considering subtypes of distinct emotions.

2,241 citations

Journal ArticleDOI
TL;DR: There is need for more methodologically sound studies that incorporate head-to-head comparisons of health care providers and significant others as proxy raters and employ well-validated quality-of-life measures and employ a longitudinal design in order to examine the effect of changes in patients' health status over time on the ability of proxies to provide valid quality- of-life assessments.

1,039 citations

Journal ArticleDOI
09 Mar 2005-JAMA
TL;DR: In the community, mammography remains the main screening tool while the effectiveness of clinical breast examination and self-examination are less, and new screening modalities are unlikely to replace mammography in the near future for screening the general population.
Abstract: ContextBreast cancer screening in community practices may be different from that in randomized controlled trials. New screening modalities are becoming available.ObjectivesTo review breast cancer screening, especially in the community and to examine evidence about new screening modalities.Data Sources and Study SelectionEnglish-language articles of randomized controlled trials assessing effectiveness of breast cancer screening were reviewed, as well as meta-analyses, systematic reviews, studies of breast cancer screening in the community, and guidelines. Also, studies of newer screening modalities were assessed.Data SynthesisAll major US medical organizations recommend screening mammography for women aged 40 years and older. Screening mammography reduces breast cancer mortality by about 20% to 35% in women aged 50 to 69 years and slightly less in women aged 40 to 49 years at 14 years of follow-up. Approximately 95% of women with abnormalities on screening mammograms do not have breast cancer with variability based on such factors as age of the woman and assessment category assigned by the radiologist. Studies comparing full-field digital mammography to screen film have not shown statistically significant differences in cancer detection while the impact on recall rates (percentage of screening mammograms considered to have positive results) was unclear. One study suggested that computer-aided detection increases cancer detection rates and recall rates while a second larger study did not find any significant differences. Screening clinical breast examination detects some cancers missed by mammography, but the sensitivity reported in the community is lower (28% to 36%) than in randomized trials (about 54%). Breast self-examination has not been shown to be effective in reducing breast cancer mortality, but it does increase the number of breast biopsies performed because of false-positives. Magnetic resonance imaging and ultrasound are being studied for screening women at high risk for breast cancer but are not recommended for screening the general population. Sensitivity of magnetic resonance imaging in high-risk women has been found to be much higher than that of mammography but specificity is generally lower. Effect of the magnetic resonance imaging on breast cancer mortality is not known. A balanced discussion of possible benefits and harms of screening should be undertaken with each woman.ConclusionsIn the community, mammography remains the main screening tool while the effectiveness of clinical breast examination and self-examination are less. New screening modalities are unlikely to replace mammography in the near future for screening the general population.

990 citations

Journal ArticleDOI
TL;DR: The authors review the epidemiology, differential diagnosis, clinical presentations, and response to treatment of this clinical problem, and address such methodological issues in the current literature in this area as the advantages and limitations of standardized assessment measures.
Abstract: Depressive symptoms and syndromes are common in the medically ill, although they are frequently unrecognized and untreated The authors review the epidemiology, differential diagnosis, clinical presentations, and response to treatment of this clinical problem They address such methodological issues in the current literature in this area as the advantages and limitations of standardized assessment measures and discuss treatment modalities for depression in the medically ill, including antidepressant medication and ECT This clinical problem warrants attention for a variety of reasons: its prevalence, associated morbidity, and treatability Elucidation of the mechanisms of depression in the medically ill may also contribute to a broader understanding of depression in other populations

460 citations

Journal ArticleDOI
TL;DR: The results challenge the assumption that long-term drug treatment is the only tool to prevent relapse in patients with recurrent depression and suggest CBT offers a viable alternative for other patients.
Abstract: Background Cognitive behavioral treatment (CBT) of residual symptoms after successful pharmacotherapy yielded a substantially lower relapse rate than did clinical management in patients with primary major depressive disorders. The aim of this study was to test the effectiveness of this approach in patients with recurrent depression (≥3 episodes of depression). Methods Forty patients with recurrent major depression who had been successfully treated with antidepressant drugs were randomly assigned to either CBT of residual symptoms (supplemented by lifestyle modification and well-being therapy) or clinical management. In both groups, during the 20-week experiment, antidepressant drug administration was tapered and discontinued. Residual symptoms were measured with a modified version of the Paykel Clinical Interview for Depression. Two-year follow-up was undertaken, during which no antidepressant drugs were used unless a relapse ensued. Results The CBT group had a significantly lower level of residual symptoms after discontinuation of drug therapy compared with the clinical management group. At 2-year follow-up, CBT also resulted in a lower relapse rate (25%) than did clinical management (80%). This difference attained statistical significance by survival analysis. Conclusions These results challenge the assumption that long-term drug treatment is the only tool to prevent relapse in patients with recurrent depression. Although maintenance pharmacotherapy seems to be necessary in some patients, CBT offers a viable alternative for other patients. Amelioration of residual symptoms may reduce the risk of relapse in depressed patients by affecting the progression of residual symptoms to prodromes of relapse.

454 citations