Browsing by Author "Ferreira, Tiago Bento"
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- Bridges Between Bipolar and Borderline Personality Disorders: Clarifying Comorbidity Through the Analysis of the Complex Network of Connections Between SymptomsPublication . Castro, Daniel; Ferreira, Filipa; Mendes, Ana Sofia; Ferreira, Tiago BentoThe reasons for the high rates of comorbidity between Bipolar (BD) and Borderline Personality (BPD) disorders remain elusive, due to the vast array of shared clinical features, which makes the differential diagnosis difficult. This constitutes an obstacle to provide quality of care services, which results in detrimental effects on individual’s mental health. The analysis of the complex network of connections between symptoms of both disorders is a promising pathway to uncover the mechanisms underlying the comorbidity structure of both disorders
- Exposure to Traumatic Events and Development of Psychotic Symptoms in a Prison Population: A Network Analysis ApproachPublication . Ferreira, Filipa; Castro, Daniel; Araújo, Ana Sofia; Fonseca, Ana Rita; Ferreira, Tiago BentoPrevious studies consistently observed an association between exposure to traumatic events and psychotic symptoms. However, little is known about the differential impact of distinct traumatic events and the role of general symptoms in mediating this relationship. Thus, our study aimed to explore the differential association of several traumatic events to the psychotic symptoms in a sample of prisoners and whether this association is mediated by general symptoms. The total sample from the Survey of Psychiatric Morbidity Among Prisoners in England and Wales (N = 3039; 75.4% male) was used. Participants completed a list of traumatic events experienced before reclusion, the Psychosis Screening Questionnaire, Clinical Review Schedule-Revised. Network analysis was used to estimate the network of interactions between traumatic events and general and psychotic symptoms. Shortest paths analysis was performed to identify the different development trajectories. Results suggested that memory problems, compulsions, and irritability might be key mediating symptoms for most traumatic events. However, sexual abuse showed alternative mediators that might be specific of this traumatic event. Finally, the traumatic events, suffered from violence at work, separation/divorce and been homeless showed direct associations with specific psychotic symptoms.
- Modularity of the Personality NetworkPublication . Castro, Daniel; Ferreira, Filipa; Ferreira, Tiago BentoThe Five Factor Model (FFM) is the most widely used personality model; it proposes a hierarchical structure of personality with personality characteristics, facets, and factors. An increasing number of studies have challenged the FFM and a plethora of factor models with varying numbers of facets and factors have been proposed, leading to uncertainties about the structure of personality. The networked system of interactions between personality characteristics has stimulated promising progresses, however, the methodological developments needed to map the topological structure and functional organization remain scarce. This study aims to explore the hierarchical modular structure of the personality network and the functional role of personality characteristics. A sample of 345,780 individuals (Mage = 24.99, SDage = 10.00; 59.18% female) that completed the International Personality Item Pool – NEO-120 in a previous study was reanalyzed. A non-regularized method was used to estimate the personality network and ModuLand was used to characterize its modular structure. Results revealed a modular structure comprising three levels: one level with the 120 personality characteristics, a second level with 35 modules, and a third with 9 modules. Such results suggest that specific personality characteristics and modules have specialized roles in the topological structure of the personality network.
- The Differential Role of Central and Bridge Symptoms in Deactivating Psychopathological NetworksPublication . Castro, Daniel; Ferreira, Filipa; de Castro, Inês; Rodrigues, Ana Rita; Correia, Marta; Ribeiro, Josefina; Ferreira, Tiago BentoThe network model of psychopathology suggests that central and bridge symptoms represent promising treatment targets because they may accelerate the deactivation of the network of interactions between the symptoms of mental disorders. However, the evidence confirming this hypothesis is scarce. This study re-analyzed a convenience sample of 51 cross-sectional psychopathological networks published in previous studies addressing diverse mental disorders or clinically relevant problems. In order to address the hypothesis that central and bridge symptoms are valuable treatment targets, this study simulated five distinct attack conditions on the psychopathological networks by deactivating symptoms based on two characteristics of central symptoms (degree and strength), two characteristics of bridge symptoms (overlap and bridgeness), and at random. The differential impact of the characteristics of these symptoms was assessed in terms of the magnitude and the extent of the attack required to achieve a maximum impact on the number of components, average path length, and connectivity. Only moderate evidence was obtained to sustain the hypothesis that central and bridge symptoms constitute preferential treatment targets. The results suggest that the degree, strength, and bridgeness attack conditions are more effective than the random attack condition only in increasing the number of components of the psychopathological networks. The degree attack condition seemed to perform better than the strength, bridgeness, and overlap attack conditions. Overlapping symptoms evidenced limited impact on the psychopathological networks. The need to address the basic mechanisms underlying the structure and dynamics of psychopathological networks through the expansion of the current methodological framework and its consolidation in more robust theories is stressed.