Cognitive functioning, behavior, and quality of life after stroke in childhood.

Rationale: To provide a better understanding of cognitive functioning, motor outcome, behavior and quality of life after childhood stroke and to study the relationship between variables expected to influence rehabilitation and outcome (age at stroke, time elapsed since stroke, lateralization, location and size of lesion). Methods: Children who suffered from stroke between birth and their eighteenth year of life underwent an assessment consisting of cognitive tests (WISC-III, WAIS-R, K-ABC, TAP, Rey-Figure, German Version of the CVLT) and questionnaires (Conner's Scales, KIDSCREEN). Results: Twenty-one patients after stroke in childhood (15 males, mean 11;11 years, SD 4;3, range 6;10-21;2) participated in the study. Mean Intelligence Quotients (IQ) were situated within the normal range (mean Full Scale IQ 96.5, range IQ 79-129). However, significantly more patients showed deficits in various cognitive domains than expected from a healthy population (Performance IQ p = .000; Digit Span p = .000, Arithmetic's p = .007, Divided Attention p = .028, Alertness p = .002). Verbal IQ was significantly better than Performance IQ in 13 of 17 patients, independent of the hemispheric side of lesion. Symptoms of ADHD occurred more often in the patients' sample than in a healthy population (learning difficulties/inattention p = .000; impulsivity/hyperactivity p = .006; psychosomatics p = .006). Certain aspects of quality of life were reduced (autonomy p = .003; parents' relation p = .003; social acceptance p = .037). Three patients had a right-sided hemiparesis, mean values of motor functions of the other patients were slightly impaired (sequential finger movements p = .000, hand alternation p = .001, foot tapping p = .043). In patients without hemiparesis, there was no relation between the lateralization of lesion and motor outcome. Lesion that occurred in the midst of childhood (5-10 years) led to better cognitive outcome than lesion in the very early (0-5 years) or late childhood (10-18 years). Other variables such as presence of seizure, elapsed time since stroke and size of lesion had a small to no impact on prognosis. Conclusion: Moderate cognitive and motor deficits, behavioral problems, and impairment in some aspects of quality of life frequently remain after stroke in childhood. Visuospatial functions are more often reduced than verbal functions, independent of the hemispheric side of lesion. This indicates a functional superiority of verbal skills compared to visuospatial skills in the process of recovery after brain injury. Compared to the cognitive outcome following stroke in adults, cognitive sequelae after childhood stroke do indicate neither the lateralization nor the location of the lesion focus. Age at stroke seems to be the only determining factor influencing cognitive outcome.     

Neuroticism and Affective Priming: Evidence for a Neuroticism-Linked Negative Schema

Neuroticism has been hypothesized to systematically relate to semantic memory networks favoring negative affect, but no studies using affective priming tasks have established this link. The present two studies, involving 145 undergraduate participants, sought to provide initial evidence along these lines. Study 1 used a task in which participants were asked to judge their emotions in the past, whereas Study 2 used a perceptual identification task in which participants merely had to identify the word in question. In both studies, neuroticism was positively correlated with negative affective priming, but not positive affective priming. The studies suggest that neuroticism systematically relates to the inter-connectivity of negative affect with semantic memory systems, whether involving the self-concept (Study 1) or not (Study 2). These results are novel and important in understanding individual differences in neuroticism and their affective processing correlates.     

Treatment rejecting and treatment seeking personality disorders: Type R and Type S

An important distinguishing feature of one group of personality disorders is the wish of the sufferer to seek treatment. For another group this wish is rarely entertained. Although there is some variation between different types of personality disorder the wish to change is not confined to any one diagnostic category. A useful subclassification of personality disorders is therefore into Type R (treatment rejecting) and Type S (treatment seeking) personality disorders, and these are defined operationally. The classification of 68 personality disordered patients on the caseload of an assertive community team using a simple scale showed a 3 to 1 ratio between Type R and Type S personality disorders with Cluster C personality disorders being significantly more likely to be Type S, and paranoid and schizoid (Cluster A) personality disorders significantly more likely to be Type R than others. It is suggested that this typology is useful for those contemplating treatment with those who have personality disorders.     

Co-constructing a cross-cultural course: resisting and replicating colonizing practices

This article examines the cross-cultural complexities of teaching and learning processes at different levels in a family therapy training program delivered in a different country. It presents two interlinked narratives of an advanced family therapy training program delivered in Slovenia by a U.K-based family therapy training institute. The context in which the training was negotiated and planned is discussed, highlighting issues at the macrosystemic level. Dilemmas that arose in relation to differing beliefs about teaching and learning are elaborated. We examine power relationships, ways that we positioned ourselves and each other, and how we tried and sometimes failed to take these into account. We question how the issue of spoken language and its meanings creates its own constraints and power structures, and how we respond to the impossibilities of translation. We argue that it is through the examination of uncomfortable processes that we develop self-reflexivity and work toward more equitable relationships.     

Post-traumatic stress disorder in a Danish population of elderly bereaved

The objectives of this study were to examine psychological sequalae of loss of a spouse in late life especially the occurrence of post-traumatic stress disorder (PTSD) and possible predictors of PTSD and symptom development. Fifty-four bereaved Danes (mean age 75 years) from five geographically different areas were studied by the Harvard Trauma Questionnaire (HTQ), the Trauma Symptom Checklist (TSC), and the Crisis Support Scale (CSS). One month after the loss, 27% of the subjects had PTSD. Six months after the loss, this number decreased to 17%; if the A2 criterion was dismissed, the number increased to 24%. Lack of expressive ability, numbing, fear of death or illness, and helplessness in relation to the loss predicted 73% of the variance of the HTQ-total scores. The study concluded that for a considerable number of elderly, losing a spouse in late life appeared to be a traumatic experience. Pre- and peritraumatic factors together with numbing were important predictors of traumatization. Research implications are discussed.     

Inner speech and bilingual autobiographical memory: a Polish-Danish cross-cultural study.

Thirty years after fleeing from Poland to Denmark, 20 immigrants were enlisted in a study of bilingual autobiographical memory. Ten "early immigrators" averaged 24 years old at the time of immigration, and ten "late immigrators" averaged 34 years old at immigration. Although all 20 had spent 30 years in Denmark, early immigrators reported more current inner speech behaviours in Danish, whereas late immigrators showed more use of Polish. Both groups displayed proportionally more numerous autobiographical retrievals that were reported as coming to them internally in Polish (vs Danish) for the decades prior to immigration and more in Danish (vs Polish) after immigration. We propose a culture- and language-specific shaping of semantic and conceptual stores that underpins autobiographical and world knowledge.     

Factors associated with traumatic symptoms and internalizing problems among adolescents who experienced a traumatic event

Abstract

The aim of the present study was to identify factors that are related to the traumatic symptoms and problem behavior among adolescents who experienced the New Years fire in 2001 in Volendam, The Netherlands. Three groups of factors were considered: pre-trauma (personality and coping), trauma-related (physical and emotional proximity to disaster), and post-trauma factors (received social support). Forty-five adolescents completed the questionnaire. Two years after the disaster, these adolescents experienced significant traumatic stress reaction (70% within the clinical range) and showed clinically significant levels of internalizing problems (37%). Pre-trauma, individual factors were identified as the most important predictors of distress, followed by received social support. The indicators of physical and emotional proximity to disaster explained little variance in distress.     

Work happiness among teachers: A day reconstruction study on the role of self-concordance

Self-concordant work motivation arises from one's authentic choices, personal values, and interests. In the present study, we investigated whether self-concordant motivation may fluctuate from one work-related task to the next. On the basis of self-determination theory, we hypothesized that momentary self-concordance buffers the negative impact of momentary work demands on momentary happiness. We developed a modified version of the day reconstruction method to investigate self-concordance, work demands, and happiness during specific work-related tasks on a within-person and within-day level. In total, 132 teachers completed a daily diary on three consecutive work days as well as a background questionnaire. The daily diary resulted in 792 reported work activities and activity-related work demands, self-concordance, and happiness scores. Multilevel analysis showed that—for most work activities—state self-concordant motivation buffered the negative association of work demands with happiness. These findings add to the literature on motivation and well-being by showing that the levels of self-concordance and happiness experienced by employees vary significantly on a within-day level and show a predictable pattern. We discuss theoretical and practical implications of the findings to increase employees' well-being.     

Nature as therapist: Integrating permaculture with mindfulness- and acceptance-based therapy in the Danish Healing Forest Garden Nacadia

Nature-based therapy can be considered an umbrella term for a diverse range of psychotherapeutic and allied practices which integrate experiences and activities in nature as therapeutic means. The objective of this article is to describe the theoretical framework for nature-based therapy in a university-founded healing forest garden near Copenhagen, Denmark. The garden will offer a 10-week treatment for people who are on sick leave with stress-related illness. This article focuses on clarifying the integration between the psychotherapeutic and gardening aspects of the nature-based therapy. The psychotherapeutic aspects are based on mindfulness and an acceptance therapy, while the gardening aspects are highly inspired by permacultural principles and methods.     

The link between mental rotation ability and basic numerical representations

Mental rotation and number representation have both been studied widely, but although mental rotation has been linked to higher-level mathematical skills, to date it has not been shown whether mental rotation ability is linked to the most basic mental representation and processing of numbers. To investigate the possible connection between mental rotation abilities and numerical representation, 43 participants completed four tasks: 1) a standard pen-and-paper mental rotation task; 2) a multi-digit number magnitude comparison task assessing the compatibility effect, which indicates separate processing of decade and unit digits; 3) a number-line mapping task, which measures precision of number magnitude representation; and 4) a random number generation task, which yields measures both of executive control and of spatial number representations. Results show that mental rotation ability correlated significantly with both size of the compatibility effect and with number mapping accuracy, but not with any measures from the random number generation task. Together, these results suggest that higher mental rotation abilities are linked to more developed number representation, and also provide further evidence for the connection between spatial and numerical abilities.