COVID-19 has come to change societal organization. Due to lockdowns, work typologies have been rethought and telework has gained strength. However, the impact of the constant use of information and communication technologies on the mental health of workers needs to be considered. We aimed to investigate the impact of different work conditions on mental health, to which end we disseminated an online questionnaire during lockdowns to assess imagined surveillance, mobile maintenance expectation, communication overload, feelings of entrapment, depression, anxiety, stress, and flourishing in four groups (employed in telework, employed on-site, employed in layoff, and unemployed). We computed mean comparisons and serial mediations. We show that depression and anxiety were more prevalent in women; parents flourished more than people without children; and people with a higher level of education feel more entrapment. Crucially, we show that telework was associated with imagined surveillance and communication overload, which mediated the association with mobile maintenance expectations and entrapment (which was exacerbated by parenthood), impacting mental health and the quality of life. However, this was also partially observed in the remaining work conditions. Finally, flourishing worked as a protector against mental health issues in all work conditions. We discuss this given the massification of digital migration.

This study explored the factors to which a sample of Portuguese war veterans attributed their recovery from posttraumatic stress disorder (PTSD). Participants were a sample of veterans (N = 60) with mental sequelae of the Portuguese Colonial War: 30 suffered from chronic PTSD (unrecovered) and 30 veterans with remission from PTSD (recovered). Two semistructured interviews were conducted. Analysis of the interviews was conducted using the Thematic and Categorical Analysis. Results showed that unrecovered participants reported higher postwar betrayal, appraisal of hostile societal homecoming, social stigmatization, lack of personal resources (mental fatigue and restriction of coping strategies), and reduced perceived social support. Recovered participants verbalized some capability for self-awareness of their own mental states and/or awareness of others’ mental states (mentalization ability), a wider repertoire of coping strategies, and higher perceived social support. The authors discussed that recovery from PTSD among veterans can be related to the assimilation of moral injury by developing higher mentalization abilities.

This study explored the factors to which a sample of Portuguese war veterans attributed their recovery from posttraumatic symptoms related to their war experiences. Participants were a sample (n 60) of war veterans with mental sequelae of the Portuguese Colonial war: 30 suffered from chronic PTSD (unrecovered) and 30 veterans with remission from PTSD (recovered). Two individual semistructured interviews were conducted. Analysis of the interviews was conducted using the Thematic and Categorical Analysis. Six themes were identified to which participants attributed their recovery: war zone stressors, stressful life events, mental and coping strategies, self-integration in personal schemas of morally incongruent experiences, self-awareness of mental states, and perceived social support. Recovered participants showed higher occurrence of integration of the morally incongruent events within existing personal schemas, self-awareness of mental states, and use of problem focused coping. Unrecovered participants showed higher occurrence of lack of self-awareness of mental states, use of acting out strategies and lack of social support. The authors discussed that reconciliation of morally discrepant experiences in their self- and relational-schemas, and development of higher self-awareness of their own mental states can play a pivotal role in recovery from PTSD among war veterans.Fundação para a Ciência e Tecnologia (FCT

This study analyzed the role of moral injury, self-awareness of mental states, self-integration of moral injury in personal schemas, and perceived social on the severity of Posttraumatic Stress Disorder (PTSD) and depression symptoms. The sample was composed of Portuguese war veterans (n 60) divided into 2 groups: 30 experienced chronic PTSD (nonrecovered) and 30 had remission from PTSD (recovered). A cross-sectional study was conducted using both qualitative and quantitative methods. Qualitative data were obtained through 2 interviews per participant, and the quantitative data were collected using the Impact of Event Scale–Revised and Brief Symptom Inventory. Content analysis was performed to analyze qualitative data. Multiple linear regression analyses were conducted predicting both PTSD and depression symptoms. Recovered participants showed higher frequencies on moral injury, high selfawareness of mental states, high self-integration of moral injury in personal schemas, and high perceived social support. Differences in moral injury (yes vs. no) showed no differences in both PTSD and depression symptoms. Participants who reported low self-awareness of mental states and self-integration of moral injury in personal schemas showed higher mean value for both PTSD and depression symptoms. Participants who reported low perceived social support showed higher mean value on depression symptoms. Self-integration of moral injury in personal schemas and self-awareness of mental states were predictors of both PTSD and depression symptoms. Combat exposure was a predictor of PTSD symptoms. The authors discuss the role of reconciliation of morally incongruent experiences in personal schemas and the ability to perceive and understand psychological states as key achievements in recovery from PTSD and depression symptoms among veterans.Fundação para a Ciência e Tecnologi

Parental emotional validation has been proposed of as a major explanatory mechanism of the association between intimate partner violence (IPV) and children’s psychological problems. The present study examined the effect of parental emotional validation and invalidation on the relationship between exposure to IPV, and both post-traumatic stress disorder (PTSD) and depression symptoms. Sample was composed of Portuguese children exposed to IPV and an age- and gender-matched control group. Structural equation modeling was conducted. Children who were exposed to IPV presented higher scores on PTSD (p < .001, d = .99) and depression symptoms (p < .01, d = .63), and paternal (p < .05, d = .67) and maternal (p < .01, d = .81) emotional invalidation. Children who were exposed to IPV presented lower scores on paternal emotional validation (p < .001, d = 1.23). Exposure to IPV directly predicts both PTSD and depression symptoms but the indirect effect was stronger. Paternal emotional validation moderated the impact of exposure to IPV on clinical symptoms; the relationship between exposure to IPV and both PTSD and depression symptoms was mediated by maternal emotional invalidation. Findings suggest the potential usefulness of parental emotional validation and invalidation as treatment goals in clinical intervention with this population. Interventions to improve the therapist-patient alliance recommend that therapists use emotional validation. Training of emotional validation skills in parenting training may prevent the deleterious effects of exposure to IPV.