Autobiographical Memory and Suicide Attempts in Schizophrenia

According to the cry of pain model of suicidal behavior, an over‐general autobiographical memory function is often found in suicide attempters. The model has received empirical support in several studies, mainly of depressed patients. The present study investigated whether deficits in autobiographical memory may be associated with an increased frequency of suicide attempts in patients with schizophrenia. We found support for our hypothesis that patients with schizophrenia and previous suicide attempts have an over‐generalized autobiographical memory compared to patients with schizophrenia without previous suicide attempts. Adjustment for sociodemographic and clinical variables did not change the results.     

Manifestations of anxiety and coping strategies in patients with metastatic lung cancer and their family caregivers: a qualitative study

Objective: Advanced non-small cell lung cancer (NSCLC) is common, deadly, and associated with impairing anxiety for patients and caregivers who often co-experience similar symptoms that can vary together over time. We aimed to discover themes as to how NSCLC patients and caregivers express and cope with anxiety.

Design: Semi-structured interviews of patient-caregiver dyads (N?=?21), coded using NVivo Software.

Main Outcome Measures: Open-ended questions on anxiety mutuality, giving or receiving care, communication, and the most difficult aspects of having or caring for someone with Stage IV NSCLC.

Results: Analyses revealed that patients and caregivers were linked psychologically, co-experiencing symptoms of distress or coping, rising and falling together. Shared patient and caregiver themes emerged of cognitive, behavioural and physiological manifestations of anxiety and coping mechanisms.

Conclusions: Patient and caregiver expressions of anxiety and coping methods mapped onto the cognitive-behavioural model, implying potential use of cognitive behavioural therapy (CBT) to address these issues. This expands understanding of symptoms and coping strategies in NSCLC, explores patient-caregiver interaction, and confirms the need for future clinical intervention. Future research should focus on development and dissemination of CBT-based dyadic interventions addressing anxiety in NSCLC patients and caregivers.