ELTE Eötvös Loránd University, Doctoral School of Psychology, Budapest, Hungary.
ELTE Eötvös Loránd University, Institute of Psychology, Budapest, Hungary.
Psychiatry Res. 2019 Mar;273:240-246. doi: 10.1016/j.psychres.2019.01.023. Epub 2019 Jan 7.
Much of the psychiatric literature about prisoners concerns the associations between psychiatric conditions and criminality. More recently, there has been increased psychiatric interest in the moral emotions (i.e., emotions related to the rightness or wrongness of an individual's actions) and their association with psychological problems and psychopathology. The role of moral emotions has never previously been studied in relation to prison adaptation on initial incarceration. Their impact in adaptation to prison life was studied longitudinally. Immediately after prison incarceration, 316 adult male offenders were assessed in relation to moral emotions, coping strategies, and somatization symptoms. After four months, information relating to their prison adaptation were recorded using official data. Findings showed that (i) offence-related shame correlated positively with somatization symptoms, distraction, and self-blame, and that (ii) offence-related guilt correlated positively with self-blame, and negatively with venting on emotion. The relationship between self-blame and somatization was partly mediated by offence-related shame and guilt. Previous research has demonstrated that moral emotions are associated with increased severity of psychopathology such as depression, suicidal ideation, and psychological problems generally. Therefore, it is important that psychiatrists are aware of the effect that moral emotions can have on psychological functioning. Implications for prison psychiatrists are discussed.
关于囚犯的大部分精神病学文献都涉及精神状况与犯罪之间的关联。最近，精神病学越来越关注道德情感（即与个人行为的对错有关的情感）及其与心理问题和精神病理学的关联。在最初入狱时，道德情感与监狱适应之间的关系以前从未在相关研究中被探讨过。本研究从纵向角度研究了道德情感在适应监狱生活中的作用。在入狱后立即，对 316 名成年男性罪犯进行了道德情感、应对策略和躯体化症状评估。四个月后，使用官方数据记录了与他们的监狱适应相关的信息。研究结果表明：（i）与犯罪相关的羞耻感与躯体化症状、分心和自责呈正相关，而（ii）与犯罪相关的内疚感与自责呈负相关，与情感宣泄呈负相关。自责与躯体化之间的关系部分由与犯罪相关的羞耻感和内疚感所介导。先前的研究表明，道德情感与抑郁、自杀意念和一般心理问题等精神病理学的严重程度增加有关。因此，精神病医生了解道德情感对心理功能的影响很重要。讨论了对监狱精神病医生的启示。
