South African Psychiatry - February 2019

CULINARY CORNER
researchers therefore concluded that mirror therapy
is effective in relieving the intensity, duration and
frequency of PLP.
ALEXITHYMIA OR MALINGERING
It is embarrassing and discouraging to go to one’s
physician with a list of complaints that he or she
cannot find any reason for. Merckelbach et al (2018)
note that doctors often suspect such patients of being
malingerers or - one might add - attention-seekers.
However, these researchers questioned whether an
over-reporting of eccentric symptoms might not be
associated with alexithymia, which refers to a deficit
in reading one’s internal experiences. Alexithymia
has also been linked to sleep problems and fatigue.
In their exploratory study, Merckelbach et al (2018)
therefore administered measures of alexithymia,
symptom-over-reporting and sleep quality to
both forensic psychiatric outpatients and nonforensic
participants. They found that overreporting
correlated positively and significantly with
alexithymia. While sleep problems were also found to
be associated with over-reporting, the link between
alexithymia and over-reporting was stronger. They
concluded that alexithymia as a potential source of
over-reporting should therefore be explored further.
REFRESHER
GENIUS BEGINS AT HOME
For those of us who understand the intense suffering
engendered by not having one’s genius recognised,
the following study offers a small comfort.
STEFFENS ET AL (2017) EXPLORED THE
EXTENT TO WHICH THE RECOGNITION OF
CREATIVE WORK IS AFFECTED BY SOCIAL
GROUP MEMBERSHIP. THEY DID THIS BY
ANALYSING THE AWARD OF MERIT PRIZES
FOR THE BEST ACTOR OR ACTRESS IN A
LEADING ROLE IN THE UNITED STATES-
BASED OSCARS AND THE BRITISH BAFTAS,
GOING BACK TO 1968.
They found that US actors won a significantly greater
proportion of the Oscars (odds ratio: 2.10), while
British artists won a greater proportion of BAFTAs
(odds ratio: 2.26). They concluded that, among
other things, a creative performance is more likely to
be viewed as outstanding when the artist involved is
perceived to be “one of us”.
DESSERT
CAN EXPRESSIVE ARTS ALLEVIATE
SYMPTOMS OF TRAUMA?
Demott et al (2017) carried out a study of an expressive
arts group intervention with unaccompanied
minor asylum children in Norway. The goal was to
determine whether such an intervention alleviated
symptoms of trauma and enhanced life satisfaction
and hope.
One hundred and forty-five unaccompanied
refugee boys between the ages of 15 and 18 years
were allocated into either a ten-session expressive
arts intervention group (EXIT) where participants
worked through a manual of creative tasks, or a
life as usual group (LAU). The participants were
assessed at onset and four times over a period of
25 months on instruments measuring post-traumatic
stress, general psychological distress, current life
satisfaction and expected life satisfaction.
72 * SOUTH AFRICAN PSYCHIATRY ISSUE 18 2019