Does Time Fly 20 m above the Ground? Exploring the Role of Affective Response on Time Perception in a High‐risk Sport

A field study (n = 61) was performed in a Via Ferrata to explore how affective response influences time perception during an arousing activity in a real‐life setting (passing through a 69‐m‐long, 20‐m‐high, two‐rope bridge). Two questionnaires were administered (i) at the end point of the bridge (high‐arousing condition) and (ii) close to the end of the Via Ferrata (low‐arousing condition). Participants assessed their affect (arousal, valence, and dominance) and provided retrospective (duration estimation and passage of time judgments) and prospective (to produce a subjective minute using a stopwatch) temporal judgments. The results showed that the actual performance mediated the relationship between affect and retrospective time perception measures, with the exception of dominance, which directly predicted passage of time judgments. Regarding prospective measures, an increase in arousal was parallel to shorter temporal productions. The results are discussed in terms of the emotional factors underlying time perception in ecological contexts.Copyright © 2017 John Wiley & Sons, Ltd.     

Positive psychotherapy for distressed cancer survivors: Posttraumatic growth facilitation reduces posttraumatic stress

Background/Objective

There is increasing evidence that positive life changes, such as posttraumatic growth (PTG), can result from the experience of coping with cancer. However, no interventions have been specifically designed to facilitate the development of PTG in cancer. In this article, we describe and assess the results of Positive Psychotherapy for Cancer (PPC) survivors. It aims to facilitate PTG as a way of achieving significant reductions in the symptoms of emotional distress and posttraumatic stress. In addition, the corroboration of this PTG facilitation is assessed using interpersonal indicators. Method: We allocated 126 consecutive survivors of cancer with high levels of emotional distress and who were seeking psychological support to either an experimental group (PPC) or a waiting list group. Results: The PPC group obtained significantly better results after treatment than the control group, showing reduced distress, decreased posttraumatic symptoms, and increased PTG. The benefits were maintained at 3 and 12 months’ follow-up. Participants’ PTG was correlated to the PTG that their significant others attributed to them, corroborating PTG facilitation. Conclusions: PPC appears to promote significant long-term PTG and can reduce emotional distress and posttraumatic stress in cancer survivors. In addition, PTG facilitation induced by PPC is corroborated by significant others.     

The Messianic Thought of the Rule of Law

Philosophia - The first segment starts with a definition of two dimensions of the concept of rule of law; related to the notion of sovereignty and as a concept to control arbitrariness on the part...     

Stress management effects on psychological, endocrinological, and immune functioning in men with HIV infection: empirical support for a psychoneuroimmunological model

We present a psychoneuroimmunologic (PNI) model for Human Immunodeficiency Virus (HIV) infection, describe a 10-week group-based cognitive behavioral stress management (CBSM) intervention and summarize research demonstrating the effects of this intervention on mood, neuroendocrine (Hypothalamic Pituitary Adrenal [HPA], Hypothalamic Pituitary Gonadal [HPG] and Sympathetic Nervous System [SNS] hormones) and immune system status (lymphocyte subsets, anti-viral immune function) in HIV-infected persons. This work demonstrates that changes in relaxation skills, cognitive coping strategies and social support may mediate the mood effects of CBSM, and that these mood changes may mediate adrenal hormone regulation indicated by reductions in 24-h urinary cortisol (with reduced depressed mood) and norepinephrine (with reduced anxiety) and increases in serum DHEA-S and testosterone levels (with reduced depressed mood). Results also suggest that CBSM-related changes in production of these hormones may explain, in part, the effects of this intervention on short-term changes in IgG antibody titers to herpesviruses (with increased DHEA-S-to-cortisol ratio), and longer-term changes in lymphocyte subpopulations such as CD8 suppressor/cytotoxic cells (with reductions in urinary noradrenaline output) and transitional na?ve CD4 cells (with reductions in urinary cortisol output). Thus a multi-modal CBSM intervention is associated with alterations in mood, neuroendocrine functioning and immunologic status that may have health implications for HIV infection.     

Emotional eating and cognitive conflicts as predictors of binge eating disorder in patients with obesity

Background/Objectives: Binge Eating Disorder (BED) is often associated with obesity. In order to identify the variables that allow to better detect the presence of BED, people with overnutrition were compared with and without BED in the presence of cognitive conflicts, eating symptoms and anxious-depressive symptoms. The inclusion of cognitive conflicts had been relevant in bulimia studies but had not been investigated with respect to BED. Method: Two groups with obesity were evaluated, one without BED (OB, n = 54) and the other with BED (OB-BED, n = 48), using a social-demographic questionnaire as well as a semi-structured interview to assess BED, questionnaires (DASS-21, EDE-Q, EEQ) and the Repertory Grid Technique. Results: Overall, the OB-BED group presented more conflicts and more symptoms. The model that best differentiated between the groups included emotional eating and level of cognitive conflicts, correctly classifying 91.4% of the sample. Conclusion: These results highlight the role played by cognitive conflicts and emotional eating as differentiating elements between OB and OB-BED, with a high level of predictive accuracy.     

Semisimples in Varieties of Commutative Integral Bounded Residuated Lattices

In any variety of bounded integral residuated lattice-ordered commutative monoids (bounded residuated lattices for short) the class of its semisimple members is closed under isomorphic images, subalgebras and products, but it is not closed under homomorphic images, and so it is not a variety. In this paper we study varieties of bounded residuated lattices whose semisimple members form a variety, and we give an equational presentation for them. We also study locally representable varieties whose semisimple members form a variety. Finally, we analyze the relationship with the property “to have radical term”, especially for k-radical varieties, and for the hierarchy of varieties (WL_k)_k>0 defined in Cignoli and Torrens (Studia Logica 100:1107–1136, 2012 [7]).     

Interpersonal sensitivity, partner support, patient-physician communication, and sexual functioning in men recovering from prostate carcinoma

Prostate carcinoma (PC) is the most commonly diagnosed cancer in men. Treatments for localized PC are associated with side effects including sexual dysfunction, which has been linked to decrements in health-related quality of life and elevated distress levels. In this study, we examined the relationship between 2 personality traits, interpersonal sensitivity and lack of sociability, assessed by the Inventory of Interpersonal Problems (IIP; Pilkonis, Kim, Proietti, & Barkham, 1996) and recovery of sexual functioning in 121 men (M age = 60.6 years) recently treated with radical prostatectomy. Interpersonal sensitivity refers to the predisposition to perceive and elicit criticism and rejection from others; lack of sociability refers to chronic difficulties taking the initiative in interpersonal situations. After adjusting for relevant covariates, interpersonal sensitivity, but not sociability, was significantly associated with lower levels of sexual functioning. Patient-physician communication and partner perceived social support were explored as mediators of this relationship. Although interpersonal sensitivity was significantly associated with both poorer patient-physician communication and lower levels of partner support, the results did not support mediation. This study provides preliminary evidence that certain IIP-assessed interpersonal styles may complicate the recovery of sexual functioning after surgical treatment for PC.     

Cognitive-behavioral stress management increases free testosterone and decreases psychological distress in HIV-seropositive men.

The effects of a 10-week group-based cognitive-behavioral stress management (CBSM) intervention on psychological distress and plasma free testosterone in symptomatic, HIV-seropositive men were examined. Participants were randomized to either CBSM (n = 42) or a wait-list control group (n = 23). Men in the CBSM intervention showed significant increases in testosterone, whereas control participants showed significant decreases. Those participating in CBSM had significant distress reductions, whereas controls showed no such change. Alterations in free testosterone were inversely related to changes in distress states over time, independent of any changes in cortisol. These findings demonstrate that a short-term CBSM intervention increases free testosterone levels among symptomatic, HIV-seropositive men, and alterations in free testosterone are associated with changes in psychological distress observed during CBSM.     

Negative affect and barriers to exercise among early stage breast cancer patients.

OBJECTIVE: To assess the relative frequency of and barriers to exercise among women with breast cancer while controlling for cancer-relevant and demographic factors. DESIGN: The present study employed concurrent samples, correlational research design. MAIN OUTCOME MEASURES: Exercise frequency and its association with negative affect and barriers to exercise, independent of cancer treatment, among women (N=176) with Stage I or II breast cancer who were 3, 6, and 12 months postsurgery. RESULTS: After accounting for cancer-relevant and control variables, degree of negative affect and frequency of perceived barriers were significantly inversely associated with exercise. CONCLUSION: These findings suggest that attention to both emotional factors and psychosocial barriers to exercise may be warranted to further understand exercise among women with early stage breast cancer.