Background: In 2018, the World Health Organization proposed a new diagnosis entitled Complex Posttraumatic Stress Disorder (CPTSD) in the ICD-11. It is a diagnosis that encompasses the classic symptoms of PTSD, along with symptoms of disturbances in self-organization (DSO). Although this disorder has been studied in several countries and populations, research on the population of women survivors of intimate partner violence (IPV) is scarce. Objectives: 1) To analyse the prevalence of CPTSD and PTSD according to ICD-11 criteria; 2) To analyse the associations between CPTSD symptomatology and severity of violence, level of fear, resilience and strategies of emotion regulation; 3) To analyse which risk factors (severity of violence, level of fear, resilience and strategies of emotion regulation) may differ between female survivors with CPTSD or PTSD. Method: 162 women IPV survivors who completed a socio-demographic and violence-related interview, as well as questionnaires to assess PTSD and CPTSD, severity of violence, resilience and emotion regulation strategies. Results: The results showed a higher prevalence of CPTSD (39.50%), compared to PTSD (17.90%). Moreover, a high level of fear was related to re-experiencing in the here and now, avoidance, current sense of threat and disturbances in relationships. Low levels of resilience and maladaptive emotion regulation strategies such as expressive suppression were related to affective dysregulation, negative self-concept and disturbances in relationships. Finally, the results showed that maladaptive emotion regulation strategies differentiated between meeting CPTSD and PTSD criteria in women survivors of IPV. Conclusion: The findings of this study indicated that CPTSD was twice as prevalent as PTSD within the sample. Moreover, maladaptive emotion regulation strategy as expressive suppression was the main variable related to experiencing CPTSD, in contrast to PTSD. These findings may have important implications for the design of specific treatments aimed at women survivors of IPV, who also suffer CPTSD.

Although the role of culture has increasingly gained acceptance in clinical neuropsychology, relatively minimal research exists regarding the actual impact on clinical activities. In this study, we assess how using North American neuropsychological tests affects diagnostic accuracy in cognitive disorders of culturally diverse individuals. To address this question, participants from Colombia, Morocco, and Spain were administered five commonly used neuropsychological tests and the test results were used to determine whether they would be classified as having the DSM-5 diagnostic criteria for Mild Cognitive and Major Cognitive Disorder. Results reveal that diagnostic error occurred up to 20% of the time, and that the frequency of misdiagnosis differed by nationality. These results provide evidence that using tests from one culture to assess individuals from other cultures produces significant false positives. Findings are discussed in terms of the foundations of neuropsychological assessment and its relationship to cultural variables.

Even though theories and research have pointed out the importance of variables such as age, gender, or education on neuropsychological assessment, much less emphasis has been placed on language and culture. With the increasing population of Spanish speakers in North America and the limited amount of clinical and scholarly information currently available, neuropsychological assessment of this group has similarly become of increasing importance. Though several studies have been published over the last two decades, an assumption exists that all Spanish speakers, holding education and age constant, would perform similarly regardless of their origin. To address this assumption, a sample of 126 participants was tested from four different countries (Chile, Dominican Republic, Puerto Rico, and Spain). Participants were compared on the following commonly used neuropsychological tests: Verbal Serial Learning Curve, Rey– Osterrieth Complex Figure Test, Verbal Phonemic Fluency Test, the Stroop Color and Word Test, and the Trail Making Test. Analyses revealed significant differences across the groups in two of the five tests administered. Significant differences were observed in the delayed recall of the Serial Learning Test and in the Verbal Fluency Test. The findings highlight the importance of within-group differences between Spanish speakers.

This study analyses different perceptions by women and men, from different social backgrounds and ages, regarding their health, vulnerability and coping with illness, and describes the main models provided by both sexes to explain determinants for gender inequalities in health. The qualitative study involved in‐depth interviews with women and men resident in Granada (Spain). The women rated their health worse than men, associating it with feelings of exhaustion. However, men tended to overrate their health, hiding their problems behind the ‘tough guy’ stereotype associated with masculinity. Both women and men shared the belief that women are more vulnerable, while men are weaker at coping with illness. The explanatory models offered for this paradox of ‘weak but strong women’ and ‘tough but weak men’ were different for each sex. Men used biological arguments more than women, centred on the female reproductive cycle. Women used more cultural models and identified determinants relating to social stratification, gender roles and power imbalances. In conclusion, gender constructions affect the health perceptions of both women and men at any social level or age. ‘Exhausted’ women and ‘tough’ men should form preferential target groups for intervention to reduce gender inequalities in health.

Intimate partner violence (IPV) is a complex and global phenomenon that requires a multi-perspective analysis. Nevertheless, the number of neuroscientific studies conducted on this issue is scarce as compared with studies of other types of violence, and no neuroimaging studies comparing batterers to other criminals have been conducted. Thus, the main aim of this study was to compare the brain functioning of batterers to that of other criminals when they are exposed to IPV or general violence pictures. An fMRI study was conducted in 21 batterers and 20 other criminals while they observed IPV images (IPVI), general violence images (GVI) and neutral images (NI). Results demonstrated that batterers, compared with other criminals, exhibited a higher activation in the anterior and posterior cingulate cortex and in the middle prefrontal cortex and a decreased activation in the superior prefrontal cortex to IPVI compared to NI. The paired t-test comparison between IPVI and GVI for each group showed engagement of the medial prefrontal cortex, the posterior cingulate and the left angular cortices to IPVI in the batterer group only. These results could have important implications for a better understanding of the IPV phenomenon.

Objective: To analyze the role of the antiphospholipid autoantibodies (aPL) on the neuropsychological deficits in systemic lupus erythematosus (SLE) patients, comparing groups of patients with antiphospholipid syndrome (APS; n = 15), SLE with aPL (n = 12), and SLE without aPL (n = 27), and a healthy control group (n = 31). Methods: Patients fulfilled the American College of Rheumatology SLE classification criteria or the Sydney criteria for APS. All participants were woman, and groups were matched on age and education. A standardized cognitive examination classified patients as cognitively declined or impaired according to the American College of Rheumatology. Results: Differences between the groups were found in all of the studied variables, comprising attention and executive functions (sustained and selective attention, fluency, and inhibition), and memory (verbal and visual). Post-hoc analyses showed cognitive performance was equivalent between APS and SLE with aPL. Differences between SLE without aPL and control groups were found only in four of the 10 studied variables, while differences in all but two memory variables were found between SLE without aPL and control groups. Furthermore, cognitive deficit was three times more frequent in APS and SLE with aPL patients than for the control group (80%, 75%, and 16%, respectively), and two times more frequent compared to SLE patients without aPL (48%). Conclusions: Our results support the relationship between aPL and cognitive symptoms in SLE. Also, almost half of the patients with SLE and no aPL showed cognitive problems, pointing to the multifactorial causes of cognitive problems in SLE. Future research with larger sample size is guaranteed to replicate our results.