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Genetic counselling is a process of helping people to understand and adapt to the medical, psychological and familial implications of genetic contributions to disease. Although it has traditionally been provided mainly for families affected by single gene disorders or by complex disorders for which genetic susceptibility testing is available, recently, having a better understanding of the genomics of mental disorders, genetic counselling for psychiatric disorders is gradually more present. The paper presents a case study exemplifying how genetic counselling can be carried out in the case of a patient with schizophrenia. Implications for research and practice are discussed. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

Throughout our lives, as children or adults, each event we encounter is a mixture of positive and negative aspects. Depending on our perspective, various characteristics of objects or situations become salient. The tendency to attend, use and learn more from negative features of stimuli (i.e., negativity bias) can constitute a risk factor for emotional disorders, especially mood and anxiety. The evolutionary perspective is that weighting negative information more heavily than the positive has served as an adaptive mechanism throughout evolution. Nowadays, giving far more importance to negative features of stimuli than to positive, manifesting a high sensitivity to threat and using biased interpretations of the world can seriously alter optimal functioning of individuals. Given the existing theoretical framework for understanding the mechanisms through which cognitive biases influence vulnerability to emotional disorders and the empirical data regarding their assessment and modification,we highlight the need to investigate such cognitive mechanisms in regard to emotionally relevant novel stimuli that parallel an ecological environment. We conclude our paper by discussing the practical implications and future directions that such research may provide. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

The present paper looks into the attentional biases and their relation to non-clinical and clinical anxiety in order to offer an analysis of research as the field moves from discussing associative relations between the two variables to causal ones. Implicitly or explicitly, attentional biases are considered by most theoretical positions as an etiological factor of anxiety disorders. New research aiming at experimental manipulation of such biases has brought into attention the possibility of proving causal relations in the field of cognitive factors involved in anxiety. In this light we discuss the theoretical framework grounding the investigations, the research and the conclusions stemming from it; we also identify and critically analyze their implications, especially from the perspective of challenging data from studies with children. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

The present paper aimed to investigate the relation between prefrontally-mediated attentional flexibility and anxiety levels in a non-clinical sample of preschool children. Anxiety was assessed using the Spence Preschool Anxiety Scale (Spence, Rapee, McDonald, & Ingram, 2001), while cognitive flexibility was measured using the Intra/Extradimensional Set Shift task (IED) from the Cambridge Neuropsychological Test Automated Battery (CANTAB). Two separate studies were conducted, using two different versions of the IED task. In both studies, the samples were divided into a high-anxiety and a low-anxiety group based on each sample's median score on the scale. In the first study (N=78; age range: 3-6 years), we found a trend towards better performance (more stages completed) in the high-anxiety group. The tendency was statistically significant only in girls, while it was absent in boys. This pattern of performance was related to a tendency towards longer response latencies in girls with higher levels of anxiety. There was also a general tendency towards more extradimensional shifting errors than reversal errors. The second study (N=29; age range: 4-7 years) revealed only a performance trend towards fewer total errors in girls than boys. However, the rule reversal shift tended to have a significantly larger impact in high-anxiety boys, compared to either girls or low-anxiety boys. These results point to the relevance of investigating anxietyrelated cognitive performance in preschoolers. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

The present paper aims to provide an overview of current research investigating the impact of childhood anxiety upon working memory paralleling the mounting evidence documenting this relationship in the adult literature. We review mostly behavioral evidence, but we also consider neurobiological data and theories where available. From a processing efficiency perspective developed by M. W. Eysenk and M. G. Calvo (1992), the documented detrimental effect of childhood anxiety on cognitive performance, in general, and academic performance, in particular, is thought to be mediated by the impact of anxiety-biased processes upon working memory processes, at both the level of storage and manipulation of information. This effect is proven to be present even in emotionally neutral tasks, therefore not only in those that manipulate the emotional arousal and valence of the stimuli. Still, even if we keep the focus on available research at the behavioral level, the data regarding the extent of the working memory transitory impairment in anxious children, as well as its exact target, that is the verbal, visual-spatial or executive component of working memory, remain controversial. We attempt an in-depth task-analysis indicating that outputs of current studies are not directly comparable. We propose further lines of investigation, considering specific developmental aspects; finally, some emergent implications for educational and clinical practice are delineated. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]