A cry unheard: sudden reductions in blood pressure while talking about feelings of hopelessness and helplessness.

This paper describes sudden extreme drops in blood pressure in both experimental and clinical situations when a person is talking about or describing situations of hopelessness and helplessness. These changes are discussed in the context of historical perspectives about the cardiovascular system. A new perspective is introduced, one in which these blood pressure changes are seen as part of an unheard cry for understanding. It is hypothesized that such changes do not occur in response to a person's attempts to communicate a sense of hopelessness, but rather are the biological foundations of the hopelessness itself. Viewed from such a context an entirely new therapeutic approach is outlined regarding the treatment of patients suffering from a wide variety of psychosomatic as well as psychological disturbances.     

Neighborhood context and adjustment in African American youths from single mother homes: the intervening role of hopelessness

African American youths from single mother homes are more likely to live in neighborhoods characterized by greater risk and fewer resources than youth from two parent homes or European American youths; in turn, such adverse conditions are associated with increased adjustment problems. Despite this well-established vulnerability, relatively little is known about variables linking neighborhood context to youth adjustment. With the aim of identifying a potential youth-focused intervening variable amenable to intervention, this study examined the intervening role of hopelessness in the association between neighborhood context and adjustment problems in a sample of 171 African American youths (11-16 year olds) from single mother homes. Findings revealed direct associations between neighborhood context and youth adjustment, as well as indirect associations through youth hopelessness, although findings varied by the marker of neighborhood context (sense of community or perceived crime) and adjustment (internalizing or externalizing problems). Building on prior work noting that hopelessness is amenable to psychosocial intervention, the present findings suggest that hopelessness may afford a valuable target for prevention and intervention programming among African American youths from single mother homes in the context of adverse neighborhood conditions.     

Associations of depression status and hopelessness with blood pressure: a 24-year follow-up study

Hypertension is estimated to cause 12.8% of all deaths worldwide. Both literature and well-supported cognitive models indicate that hopelessness predicts depressive symptoms. This study aimed to test whether high levels of hopelessness are associated with increased blood pressure, as well as whether depression acts as a mediator between hopelessness and blood pressure. Data from the original 24-year longitudinal Baltimore Epidemiologic Catchment Area Study (ECA) were analyzed via linear regression (N = 917; 60.3% female; 62.9% European American; mean age = 42.96 years, SD = 16.94). Hopelessness was found to have a significant direct relationship with systolic blood pressure (SBP, p < .05), but not with diastolic blood pressure (DBP, p > .05); while depression had no significant direct relationship with SBP or with DBP. Overall, findings indicated that hopelessness has a significant relationship with SBP. Limitations and implications are discussed.     

Conditionals,Context, and the Suppression Effect

Modus ponens is the argument from premises of the form If A, then B and A to the conclusion B (e.g., from If it rained, Alicia got wet and It rained to Alicia got wet). Nearly all participants agree that the modus ponens conclusion logically follows when the argument appears in this Basic form. However, adding a further premise (e.g., If she forgot her umbrella, Alicia got wet) can lower participants’ rate of agreement—an effect called suppression. We propose a theory of suppression that draws on contemporary ideas about conditional sentences in linguistics and philosophy. Semantically, the theory assumes that people interpret an indicative conditional as a context‐sensitive strict conditional: true if and only if its consequent is true in each of a contextually determined set of situations in which its antecedent is true. Pragmatically, the theory claims that context changes in response to new assertions, including new conditional premises. Thus, the conclusion of a modus ponens argument may no longer be accepted in the changed context. Psychologically, the theory describes people as capable of reasoning about broad classes of possible situations, ordered by typicality, without having to reason about individual possible worlds. The theory accounts for the main suppression phenomena, and it generates some novel predictions that new experiments confirm.     

Self‐Esteem and Suicide Ideation in Psychiatric Outpatients

Depression, hopelessness, and low self‐esteem are implicated as vulnerability factors for suicide ideation. The association of self‐esteem with suicide ideation after controlling for depressed mood and hopelessness was examined. Adult psychiatric outpatients (N = 338) completed measures of self‐esteem, suicide ideation, hopelessness, and depression. Self‐esteem was operationalized as beliefs about oneself (self‐based self‐esteem) and beliefs about how other people regard oneself (other‐based self‐esteem). Each dimension of self‐esteem was negatively associated with suicide ideation after controlling for depression and hopelessness. Of the two dimensions of self‐esteem, other‐based self‐esteem was the more robust predictor of suicide ideation. These findings suggest that even in the context of depression and hopelessness, low self‐esteem may add to the risk for suicide ideation.     

What do you think I think you think?: Strategic reasoning in matrix games

In reasoning about strategic interpersonal situations, such as in playing games, an individual's representation of the situation often includes not only information about the goals and rules of the game, but also a mental model of other minds. Often such mental models involve a hierarchy of reflexive reasoning commonly employed in social situations ("What do you think I think you think..."), and may be related to the developmental notion of 'theory of mind'. In two experiments, the authors formally investigate such interpersonal recursive reasoning in college-age adults within the context of matrix games. Participants are asked to predict the moves of another player (experimenter's confederate) in a two-choice, sequential-move game that may terminate at various stages with different payoffs for each player. Participants are also asked to decide optimally on their own moves based on the prediction made. Errors concerning the prediction, or translation of those predictions into decisions about one's action, were recorded. Results demonstrate the existence of a "default" mental model about the other player in the game context that is dynamically modified as new evidence is accumulated. Predictions about this other player's behavior are, in general, used consistently in decision-making, though the opponent tends to be modeled, by default, to behave in a myopic fashion not anticipating the participant's own action.     

Holding hope and hopelessness: therapeutic engagements with the balance of hope

Hope and hopelessness are coexisting and powerful experiences in the human condition. The dynamics of hope and hopelessness within intimate relationships are complex, and individual and family experiences of hope and hopelessness are embedded within historical contexts and wider social processes. This article rests on a relational set of understandings about hope and hopelessness, and offers a dual exploration. It focuses first on the complexities of the patterns of hope and hopelessness within families, and then on the complexities of the therapist's relationship to hope and hopelessness and the family's experience. Orienting to the balance of hope in constellations of hope and hopelessness provides one compass point of therapeutic practice. Reflective practice enables the use of the therapist's involvement in the therapeutic relationship, and helps the therapist to witness the coexistence of hope and hopelessness in a way that nurtures hope and emotionally holds both hope and hopelessness.     

Evidence for preserved representations in change blindness

People often fail to detect large changes to scenes, provided that the changes occur during a visual disruption. This phenomenon, known as "change blindness," occurs both in the laboratory and in real-world situations in which changes occur unexpectedly. The pervasiveness of the inability to detect changes is consistent with the theoretical notion that we internally represent relatively little information from our visual world from one glance at a scene to the next. However, evidence for change blindness does not necessarily imply the absence of such a representation---people could also miss changes if they fail to compare an existing representation of the pre-change scene to the post-change scene. In three experiments, we show that people often do have a representation of some aspects of the pre-change scene even when they fail to report the change. And, in fact, they appear to "discover" this memory and can explicitly report details of a changed object in response to probing questions. The results of these real-world change detection studies are discussed in the context of broader claims about change blindness.     

Perceived Burdensomeness Predicts Outcomes of Short‐Term Psychological Treatment of Young People at Risk of Suicide

The interpersonal‐psychological theory of suicide (IPTS; Joiner, 2005 ) provides a model for understanding the mechanisms underlying suicide risk, but there is limited research measuring change in the constructs over the course of treatment. This study aimed to test whether changes in perceived burdensomeness (PB) and thwarted belongingness (TB) mediated the effects of changes in depression and hopelessness on suicide risk. The sample comprised 226 Australian young people (aged 12–24; 67.7% female; 5.7% Aboriginal and Torres Strait Islander) receiving short‐term psychological treatment for suicide‐related behaviors. Change scores over the course of therapy were generated using admission and discharge measures of PB, TB, depression, hopelessness, and suicide risk. Results revealed partial support for the theory. The relationship between changes in depression and hopelessness on suicide risk was fully mediated by changes in PB. However, changes in TB did not mediate these relationships. This study offers encouragement for the potential use of the IPTS in the context of psychological treatment of young people. Assessment of the IPTS constructs may be helpful in assessing change in suicide risk and further assist in treatment.     

Context-specific adjustment of cognitive control: Transfer of adaptive control sets

Cognitive control protects processing of relevant information from interference by irrelevant information. The level of this processing selectivity can be flexibly adjusted to different control demands (e.g., frequency of conflict) associated with a certain context, leading to the formation of specific context–control associations. In the present study we investigated the robustness and transferability of the acquired context–control demands to new situations. In three experiments, we used a version of the context-specific proportion congruence (CSPC) paradigm, in which each context (e.g., location) is associated with a specific conflict frequency, determining high and low control demands. In a learning phase, associations between context and control demands were established. In a subsequent transfer block, stimulus–response mappings, whole task sets, or context–control demands changed. Results showed an impressive robustness of context–control associations, as context-specific adjustments of control from the learning phase were virtually unaffected by new stimuli and tasks in the transfer block. Only a change of the context–control demand eliminated the context-specific adjustment of control. These findings suggest that context–control associations that have proven to be adaptive in the past are continuously applied despite major changes in the task structure as long as the context–control associations remain the same.     

Cognitive vulnerability to depression, rumination, hopelessness, and suicidal ideation: multiple pathways to self-injurious thinking

In order to advance the detection and prevention of suicide, recent research has focused on predictors of suicidal ideation and behavior such as negative cognitive styles, dysfunctional attitudes, hopelessness, and rumination. In this study the relationships among these risk factors in the context of the Attention Mediated Hopelessness (AMH) theory of depression are examined. One hundred and twenty-seven undergraduates in the Cognitive Vulnerability to Depression (CVD) project were followed for 2.5 years. The CVD project followed initially nondepressed freshmen, at either high or low cognitive risk for depression, in order to predict onsets and recurrences of depressive disorders. The presence and duration of suicidal ideation were predicted prospectively by rumination and hopelessness, and hopelessness partially mediated the relationship between rumination and ideation and fully mediated the association between rumination and duration of suicidality. Further, rumination mediated the relationship between cognitive vulnerability and suicidal ideation.     

The social signal value of emotions

Human interactions are replete with emotional exchanges. In these exchanges information about the emotional state of the interaction partners is only one type of information conveyed. In addition, emotion displays provide information about the interaction partners' disposition and the situation as such. That is, emotions serve as social signals. Acknowledging this role of emotions, this special section brings together research that illustrates how both person perception and situational understanding can be derived from emotional displays and the modulation of this process through context. Three contributions focus on information about expressers and their intentions. An additional article focuses on the informative value of emotional expressions for an observer's construal of social situations and another article exemplifies the way context determines the social impact of emotions. Finally, the last article presents the dynamic nature of mutual influence of emotions. In an attempt to integrate these contributions and offer lenses for future research, this editorial offers a contextualised model of social perception which attempts to systematise not only the types of information that emotion expressions can convey, but also to elaborate the notion of context.     

Blood pressure response during verbal interaction: Review and prospect

Blood pressure changes during verbal interaction have typically been measured by noninvasive devices, at regular intervals of 1 to 5 minutes, in hypertensive as well as in normotensive subjects. In early studies the role of content variables was emphasized together with that of the emotions of anger and anxiety. Later the focus was on transactional involvement as one of the main causes of blood pressure changes. Two categories of independent variables that have received recent attention are the act of speaking itself and individual difference variables such as the Type A behavior pattern, which is characterized by a competitive, aggressive and impatient style of living. The discontinuous and momentary nature of most measurement techniques poses serious limitations to the study of fast fluctuating physiological changes during verbal episodes. In this regard, the recent advent of a noninvasive device for the continuous measurement of blood pressure could give a new impetus to the experimental clinical investigation of blood pressure changes during verbal communication.     

The Hopelessness Theory of Depression: A Test of the Diathesis–Stress and Causal Mediation Components in Third and Seventh Grade Children

The goal of the current study was to test the diathesis–stress and causal mediation components of the hopelessness theory of depression in third- and seventh-grade children. The procedure involved an initial assessment of depressive symptoms, hopelessness, and the 3 cognitive styles posited as vulnerability factors by hopelessness theory. The procedure also involved a series of 6 weekly follow-up assessments in which depressive symptoms, hopelessness, and the occurrence of negative events were assessed. A depressogenic attributional style interacted with negative events to predict increases in depressive symptoms in seventh-grade children but not in third-grade children. A depressogenic inferential style about consequences interacted with negative events to predict increases in depressive symptoms in both third- and seventh-grade children. Last, a depressogenic inferential style about the self interacted with negative events to predict increases in depressive symptoms in third- and seventh-grade girls but not boys. None of these interactions were mediated by hopelessness.     

Ten‐month‐old infants use prior information to identify an actor's goal

For adults, prior information about an individual's likely goals, preferences or dispositions plays a powerful role in interpreting ambiguous behavior and predicting and interpreting behavior in novel contexts. Across two studies, we investigated whether 10‐month‐old infants’ ability to identify the goal of an ambiguous action sequence was facilitated by seeing prior instances in which the actor directly pursued and obtained her goal, and whether infants could use this prior information to understand the actor's behavior in a new context. Experiment 1 demonstrated that the goal preview impacted infants’ subsequent action understanding, but only if the preview was delivered in the same room as the subsequent action sequence. Experiment 2 demonstrated that infants’ failure to transfer prior goal information across situations arose from a change in the room per se and not other features of the task. Our results suggest that infants may use their understanding of simple actions as a leverage point for understanding novel or ambiguous actions, but that their ability to do so is limited to certain types of contextual changes.     

Psychosocial Factors Relating to Adaptive Capacity in a New Zealand District Health Board

ABSTRACT

Communities assume that health care systems are adequately preparing for disasters, yet health sector capacities are restricted. The current research examined factors associated with adaptive capacity of staff in the New Zealand health sector. Two studies were carried out in the context of large-scale emergency management exercises, with the assumption that such exercises provide information about psychosocial responses to real emergency situations. The focus of the research was on adaptive capacity to address routine work-related stressors, as high levels of routine demands in the health sector have implications for staff health and organizational functioning, both of which are important for managing the stressful demands arising from emergency situations. The implications of these findings are discussed.     

Parenting and Chinese Adolescent Suicidal Ideation and Suicide Attempts: The Mediating Role of Hopelessness

Various family factors are risk factors for adolescent suicidality (suicidal ideation and suicide attempts). However, little is known about the role of parenting in adolescent suicidality. The present study examined the unique relations between three parenting dimensions (parental warmth, behavioral control, and psychological control) and adolescent suicidality, as well as the mediating role of adolescent hopelessness among these relations. A total of 1529 Chinese adolescents (52 % male; mean age = 14.74 years, SD = 1.48) completed anonymous questionnaires designed to assess three parenting dimensions, hopelessness, suicidal ideation and suicide attempts. After controlling for gender, age, family structure, and socioeconomic status, it was found that parental warmth negatively predicted adolescent suicidality, whereas psychological control positively predicted adolescent suicidality. In addition, parental warmth negatively predicted adolescent hopelessness, whereas psychological control positively predicated adolescent hopelessness, which in turn enhanced adolescent suicidality. Although behavioral control did not predict adolescent suicidality, it did negatively predict adolescent hopelessness, which in turn promoted adolescent suicidality. These findings revealed the differential roles of different parenting dimensions in adolescent suicidality, and the mediation effect of adolescent hopelessness between parenting and adolescent suicidality. Future practices would benefit from incorporating both parenting and hopelessness for optimal intervention effect.     

Religious and Spiritual Practices Among Patients with Cancer

The aim of this study was to investigate the frequency with which cancer patients engage in religious and spiritual practices, the methods used, the reasons for such a search, and the levels of depression and hopelessness in patients who seek spiritual assistance. One hundred and ten radiation oncology patients, who gave voluntary informed consent were included in this study. Questionnaires about religious and spiritual practices were administered, along with the Beck Depression and Beck Hopelessness scales. Twenty percent of the patients preferred spiritual practices. Female gender, lower education levels, and higher depression and hopelessness scores were associated with this preference. The frequency of depression was 18.2%, and the frequency of hopelessness was 20.9%. A significant number of cancer patients engaged in religious and spiritual practices. We recommend that practitioners offer their patients brief but sufficient information about religious and spiritual support and determine their patients’ depression and hopelessness levels.     

Les soignants face au burnout : quelles attributions causales ?

The objective of this study was to investigate the nature of the explanations produced by nurses when they are questioned about professional situations related with professional exhaustion such as burnout (BO), independently of a real-life situation of BO. The analysis of the 30 nurses’ adherences to causal explanations scale constructed and validated for this purpose showed greater adherence to internal causal explanations, both controllable and non-controllable, as explanations under external causalities, whatever the professional situation mentioned. The discussion focuses on the relevance of a psychosocial approach of explanations of the BO situations and its implications in terms of primary prevention of psychosocial risks in occupational context.