key: cord-0700561-eauxxjyn authors: Caputo, Andrea; Vicario, Carmelo Mario; Cazzato, Valentina; Martino, Gabriella title: Editorial: Psychological Factors as Determinants of Medical Conditions, Volume II date: 2022-03-21 journal: Front Psychol DOI: 10.3389/fpsyg.2022.865235 sha: b7aa8bf8009d2e3a1e264273af41158bfd07b439 doc_id: 700561 cord_uid: eauxxjyn nan Life expectancy is increasing world-wide, thus age-related diseases are becoming a major health concern. Chronic diseases and related outcomes, such as osteoporosis and associated fractures, diabetes, endocrine, and cardiovascular disease, may seriously impact people's quality of life and their perceived quality of life (Guicciardi, 2017; Marchetti et al., 2017; Catalano et al., 2020; Vita et al., 2020; Di Bari et al., 2021; Martino et al., 2021a,b,c) . This impact may, in turn, lead to psychopathological consequences (Di Giuseppe et al., 2020a; Giusti et al., 2021) . Indeed, psychopathological symptoms frequently occur in tandem with chronic medical conditions and can even predict, and impact, mortality independently of a wide range of potential confounders (Kiecolt-Glaser et al., 2002; Lapolla et al., 2012; Kelly et al., 2019) . Moreover, psychological aspects may also drive individual behavior, including adherence to medical advice, deeply conditioning the management of chronic diseases (Marchini et al., 2020 (Marchini et al., , 2021a . Anxiety and depression, emotional distress (e.g., alexithymia, abnormal disgust processing), body integrity identity disorders, cognitive deficits, lead to a variety of functional somatic disorders and affect a patient's attitude to treatment, which can impact their perceived quality of life (Vicario, 2013; Craparo et al., 2016; Di Giuseppe et al., 2019; Conversano et al., 2020; Martino et al., 2020; Barchetta et al., 2021; Gangemi et al., 2021; La Rosa et al., 2021; Liotta et al., 2021; Vicario et al., 2021; . Therefore, overturning the usual causal direction bodymind, evidence exists regarding the key role of psychopathological factors in the history of chronic illness (Castelnuovo, 2010; Castelnuovo et al., 2015; Conversano, 2019; Martino et al., 2019; Caputo, 2020; Vicario et al., 2020b) . A strict evaluation of the psychological variables could contribute to a better understanding of the individual condition and possibly predict the risk of the onset of new medical diseases or complications (Salehinejad et al., 2020; Lucifora et al., 2021; Sardella et al., 2021) . This could suggest a new direction in psychopathological research and prevention, leading to screening subjects at risk for medical events in order to individualize and improve diagnostic and therapeutic approaches (Vicario and Nitsche, 2013; Di Giuseppe et al., 2020b,c) . Following the previous Research Topic on Psychological Factors as Determinants of Medical Conditions (Martino et al., 2019) , in this second volume, we aim to update the latest developments including interdisciplinary and multidisciplinary contributions in order to understand the interrelations among psychopathological aspects, somatic symptoms, and medical outcomes. Our collection includes 17 articles-four opinion articles, five review studies, and eight research studies-which address several aspects of body-psyche integration from a theoretical, research and intervention perspective. Nine articles focused on clinical samples, with specific regard to developmental psychopathologies (Di Giuseppe et We hope that the articles here presented may provide interesting insights and help researchers and practitioners grasping the complexity of human mind and embracing a health promotion perspective, attentive to improving individuals' quality of life and adjustment processes at a physical, mental, and social level (Tomai et al., 2019; Vicario et al., 2020a; Conversano et al.; Conversano et al.) . It has been very pleasant and exciting for us to continue dealing with such issues and be newly involved in this Research Topic. In this regard, our thanks go out to all of them who made it possible, specifically Authors for their endeavors and interesting contributions, Reviewers for their competences and the time devoted, and the entire Frontiers Editorial and Developmental Staff for their patience and precious continued assistance. AC and GM wrote the first draft of the manuscript and revised it critically. CMV and VC provided opinions on it. All authors read and approved the submitted version. This article collection is sincerely dedicated to all participants and passionate researchers, including relatives and friends who supported them. Finally, it is also warmly dedicated to everyone who participated and contributed to its special development and realization. Alexithymia is linked with a negative bias for past and current events in healthy humans Illness and object relations: narratives from women with pulmonary hypertension No medicine without psychology: the key role of psychological contribution in clinical settings Chronic care management of globesity: promoting healthier lifestyles in traditional and mHealth based settings Executive functions predict fracture risk in postmenopausal women assessed for osteoporosis Common psychological factors in chronic diseases Retrospective analyses of psychological distress and defense style among cancer patients Impaired emotion recognition is linked to alexithymia in heroin addicts Vitamin D, bone metabolism, and fracture risk in polycystic ovary syndrome Qualitative and quantitative analysis of the defense profile in breast cancer women: a pilot study Defense mechanisms, gender, and adaptiveness in emerging personality disorders in adolescent outpatients Preliminary reliability and validity of the DMRS-SR-30, a novel self-report measure based on the defense mechanisms rating scales. Front Defensive profile of parents of children with externalizing problems receiving Regulation-Focused Psychotherapy for Children (RFP-C): a pilot study Alexithymia in an unconventional sample of Forestry Officers: a clinical psychological study with surprising results Psychological and psychosocial predictors of chronic postsurgical pain: a systematic review and meta-analysis Psychological aspects of physical activity in women with breast cancers Impacts of psychological stress on osteoporosis: clinical implications and treatment Interactions Emotions, morbidity, and mortality: new perspectives from psychoneuroimmunology Traumatic distress, alexithymia, dissociation, and risk of addiction during the first wave of COVID-19 in Italy: results from a cross-sectional online survey on a non-clinical adult sample Quality of life, wishes, and needs in women with gestional diabetes: italian DAWN pregnancy study. Intern Severe allergic asthma: does alexithymia interfere with omalizumab treatment outcome?. Asian Pac How self-control predicts moral decision making: an exploratory study on healthy participants Quality of life in women with gestational diabetes mellitus: a systematic review Emotional dynamics of persons with type 2 diabetes and their potential role in treatment adherence: insights from a clinical psychodynamic perspective Psychodynamics in diabetes: the relevance of deepening the symbolic in treatment adherence Unconscious loss processing in diabetes: associations with medication adherence and quality of care Anxiety levels predict bone mineral density in postmenopausal women undergoing oral bisphosphonates: a two-year follow-up Alexithymia and inflammatory bowel disease: a systematic review Alexithymia, emotional distress, and perceived quality of life in patients with hashimoto's thyroiditis Interrelations between mental health, generic and thyroid-related quality of life in patients with Hashimoto's thyroiditis receiving levothyroxine replacement Psychological factors as determinants of medical conditions Transcranial direct current stimulation in ADHD: a systematic review of efficacy, safety, and protocolinduced electrical field modeling results Dispositional optimism and context sensitivity: psychological contributors to frailty status among elderly outpatients Are social support and coping styles differently associated with adjustment to cancer in early and advanced stages? Altered insula response to sweet taste processing in recovered anorexia and bulimia nervosa: a matter of disgust sensitivity? Delay reward discounting in adolescents with Tourette's syndrome No evidence of perceptual pseudoneglect in alexithymia Transcranial direct current stimulation: a remediation tool for the treatment of childhood congenital dyslexia? Time processing, interoception, and insula activation: a mini-review on clinical disorders Quality of life in patients with hyperthyroidism: where do we stand? The authors declare that the research was conducted in the absence of any commercial or financial relationships that could be construed as a potential conflict of interest.