Social Support and the Perception of Geographical Slant

The visual perception of geographical slant is influenced by physiological resources, such as physical fitness, age, and being physically refreshed. In two studies we tested whether a psychosocial resource, social support, can also affect the visual perception of slants. Participants accompanied by a friend estimated a hill to be less steep when compared to participants who were alone (Study 1). Similarly, participants who thought of a supportive friend during an imagery task saw a hill as less steep than participants who either thought of a neutral person or a disliked person (Study 2). In both studies, the effects of social relationships on visual perception appear to be mediated by relationship quality (i.e., relationship duration, interpersonal closeness, warmth). Artifacts such as mood, social desirability, and social facilitation did not account for these effects. This research demonstrates that an interpersonal phenomenon, social support, can influence visual perception.     

吸毒者心理社会生活质量分析

本研究旨在考察吸毒者的心理社会生活质量。云南地区194名吸毒者和198名正常被试参与了此项研究。结果表明：1)吸毒者和正常人在幸福感、自尊感、社会交往焦虑感、无力感、无意义感等方面都有显著差异,吸毒者的心理社会生活健康质量较差;2)不同性别、从事不同工作、兄弟姐妹数目和父母教育水平不同的吸毒者的心理社会生活质量不同;3)首次吸毒和复吸的大多数原因是心理因素。本研究对有关结果对吸毒者戒毒及教育的指导意义进行了讨论。     

Cognition–emotion interactions in schizophrenia: Emerging evidence on working memory load and implicit facial-affective processing

Although much is known about working memory (WM) and emotion perception deficits in schizophrenia, little is known of how these deficits interact. We sought to address this gap by conducting a narrative review of relevant literatures and distilling core themes. First, people with schizophrenia have difficulty with high load and during initial phases of WM (e.g., encoding, early rehearsal), yet are able to activate WM-related prefrontal brain regions to the same maximal degree as comparison controls under certain circumstances. Second, people with schizophrenia have difficulty identifying and expressing facial emotions, yet demonstrate heightened automatic/implicit processing of facial emotions. Third, people with schizophrenia behaviourally demonstrate intact cognition–emotion interactions on laboratory tasks wherein emotional processing is automatic/implicit, yet demonstrate cognition–emotion disconnections in other levels of analysis. Insights are drawn from basic science showing interdependency between WM load and implicit emotion. Future research questions are raised regarding interactions between WM load and implicit facial-affective processing in schizophrenia.     

Evaluation of a Family Systems Intervention for Managing Pediatric Chronic Illness: Mastering Each New Direction (MEND)

Family systems play a crucial, albeit complex, role in pediatric chronic illness. Unfortunately, very few psychosocial interventions are available to help these stressed families navigate the developmental steps of chronic illness. A new intervention (MEND) addresses the needs of these families and applies to a broad range of chronic illnesses. This article presents this family systems intervention as well as includes preliminary program evaluation data on 22 families that graduated from the program. Results show consistently strong effects across an array of psychosocial measures. Conclusions from this preliminary study suggest that families entering MEND present with high levels of stress due to the child's chronic illness, but after MEND, the level of stress and other functioning measures are comparable to those seen in healthy families, suggesting that the program offers a significant benefit to families with pediatric chronic illness.     

Psychosocial health of 4-year-old boys and girls,as observed by parents and teachers

Both parents and teachers assessed the psychosocial health of 228 4-year-old children at the start of elementary school in the Netherlands. Assessments were conducted using the Child Behaviour Checklist (CBCL; ages 1 ½–5) and the Caregiver–Teacher Report Form (C-TRF; ages 1½–5). Results were compared to epidemiological studies with respect to informants, instruments, gender and age of the children. Most children in this study were thriving. The percentage of children without problems varied from 88 to 98%. The difference depended on the informant (parent or teacher) and the gender. Teachers recognized significantly more externalizing problems among girls and anxious/depressed problems among boys and girls. Parents reported more somatic complaints among girls. The problems identified by parents and teachers did not predominantly concern the same children. This has to be taken into account in the case of screening on psychosocial problems.     

Psychosocial adjustment along the HIV disease continuum

Abstract

Evidence suggests that certain indices of stage of HIV disease are determinants of psychological distress, although information is lacking on how disease stage impacts on multiple domains of adjustment. The present study aimed: (1) to explore differences among clinical stages of HIV on measures of psychosocial adjustment, and (2) to explore the relationship between indices of psychosocial adjustment to HIV and self-report measures of physical health. Ninety six HIV-infected persons and 33 HIV seronegative comparison group participants were interviewed and completed self-administered scales. Participants were divided into four groups (the independent variable): a comparison group and three HIV groups, representing the three clinical indices of illness stage (asymptomatic, early symptomatic and AIDS). Three subjective health indices included number of HIV-related symptoms, global health rating, and T4 count. The dependent variables included 5 psychosocial adjustment measures. Results indicated that social and instrumental domains of adjustment were significantly associated with both clinical stage and all 3 subjective health indices. Levels of psychological distress were associated with number of physical symptoms and global health rating, but were unrelated to clinical stage and T4 count. Emotional and existential concerns were unrelated to all indices of illness stage.     

Comparing the role of psychological flexibility and traditional pain management coping strategies in chronic pain treatment outcomes

Psychologically-based interventions for chronic pain traditionally include a mix of methods, including physical conditioning, training in relaxation or attention control, strategies to decrease irrational or dysfunctional thinking patterns, and activity management training. Recent developments suggest additional methods to promote acceptance, mindfulness, values-based action, and cognitive defusion (a cognitive process entailing change in the influences exerted by thoughts without necessarily changing their form or frequency). Collectively, these processes entail what is referred to as psychological flexibility. This study examined how changes in traditionally conceived methods of coping compare to changes in psychological flexibility in relation to improvements in functioning over the course of an interdisciplinary treatment program. Participants were 114 chronic pain sufferers. Results indicated that changes in the traditionally conceived methods were essentially unrelated to treatment improvements, while changes in psychological flexibility were consistently and significantly related to these improvements. We suggest that psychological flexibility appears highly relevant to the study of chronic pain and to future treatment developments. The utility of more traditionally conceived pain management strategies, on the other hand, may require a reappraisal.     

Defining recovery from an eating disorder: Conceptualization, validation, and examination of psychosocial functioning and psychiatric comorbidity

Conceptually, eating disorder recovery should include physical, behavioral, and psychological components, but such a comprehensive approach has not been consistently employed. Guided by theory and recent recovery research, we identified a “fully recovered” group (n = 20) based on physical (body mass index), behavioral (absence of eating disorder behaviors), and psychological (Eating Disorder Examination-Questionnaire) indices, and compared them with groups of partially recovered (n = 15), active eating disorder (n = 53), and healthy controls (n = 67). The fully recovered group was indistinguishable from controls on all eating disorder-related measures used, while the partially recovered group was less disordered than the active eating disorder group on some measures, but not on body image. Regarding psychosocial functioning, both the fully and partially recovered groups had psychosocial functioning similar to the controls, but there was a pattern of more of the partially recovered group reporting eating disorder aspects interfering with functioning. Regarding other psychopathology, the fully recovered group was no more likely than the controls to experience current Axis I pathology, but they did have elevated rates of current anxiety disorder. Results suggest that a stringent definition of recovery from an eating disorder is meaningful. Clinical implications and future directions regarding defining eating disorder recovery are discussed.     

Integrating Behavioral Aspects into Community Preparedness and Response Systems

Summary

This article examines the role of psychosocial and behavioral dimensions of terrorism that influence community preparedness and homeland defense efforts. Public health interventions will fail if people do not follow the recommendations. A broader public health model is applied to help identify the interactions between risk and safety appraisals, social factors, and behavioral response to uncertain and stressful situations. Community preparedness would benefit by linking disparate programmatic and advocacy initiatives that already exist. It stands to reason that improving the cohesiveness of existing systems of social organization would strengthen community resilience and serve as effective countermeasures for terrorism.