Stress and depression of facing death: Investigation of psychological symptoms in patients with mesothelioma

Cancer often results in psychological impairment, and lung cancer has been associated with greater morbidity and higher levels of psychological distress than any other form. Chronic exposure to asbestos is a significant risk factor for development of lung cancer, called mesothelioma. Few have studied the psychological consequences of chronic asbestos exposure and mesothelioma. This study investigated stress and depression symptoms in 49 men (M = 51.1 years, SD = 6.0) diagnosed with mesothelioma. Participants completed traumatic stress, depression and general psychological health questionnaires. All participants reported significant levels of traumatic stress symptoms, which was associated with increased symptoms of depression, anxiety, somatic complaints and social dysfunction. The results provide important suggestions for clinicians treating such terminally ill patients.     

Emotional, cognitive and physiological correlates of abuse-related stress in borderline and antisocial personality disorder

Childhood abuse is an important precursor of borderline personality disorder (BPD) and antisocial personality disorder (ASPD). The current study compared the emotional reactivity to abuse-related stress of these patients on a direct and an indirect level. Changes in self-reported affect and schema modes, psychophysiology and reaction time based cognitive associations were assessed following confrontation with an abuse-related film fragment in patients with BPD (n = 45), ASPD (n = 21), Cluster C personality disorder (n = 46) and non-patient controls (n = 36). Results indicated a hyperresponsivity of BPD-patients on self-reported negative affect and schema modes, on some psychophysiological indices and on implicit cognitive associations. The ASPD-group was comparable to the BPD group on implicit cognitions but did not show self-reported and physiological hyper-reactivity. These findings suggest that BPD and ASPD-patients are alike in their implicit cognitive abuse-related stress reactivity, but can be differentiated in their self-reported and physiological response patterns.     

Designing the human stress ontology: A formal framework to capture and represent knowledge about human stress

A large number of papers have been published on the topic of human stress. There is a need to organise this knowledge under a unifying framework, linking and analysing it in mutual combinations so that new knowledge can emerge. Ontology is an enriched conceptual model for representing domain knowledge. An ontology can be designed to provide a framework for knowledge about human stress. This agreed knowledge model will facilitate knowledge sharing and communications. Additionally, ontologies are machine‐readable and can enable automated programs such as data mining to intelligently access and analyse information. The purpose of this paper is to discuss and explain some of the common stress‐related terms, their definitions, classifications and possible interrelations between them. A top‐layer of the human stress ontology (HSO) model is presented, which will continue to evolve as more research contributions and knowledge become available. It is believed that this framework can be used to build powerful tools to assist researchers and therapists in evaluating stress and facilitating their communication in both research and clinical spaces.     

An examination of the construct validity of posttraumatic stress disorder with veterans using a revised criterion set

Ongoing concerns exist in the literature regarding the construct of posttraumatic stress disorder (PTSD) and how to best conceptualize and measure this disorder. We compared the traditional DSM-IV PTSD symptom criteria (i.e., symptoms from clusters B, C, and D) to a revised criterion set that omits overlapping mood and other anxiety symptoms on PTSD prevalence, PTSD diagnostic caseness, associated psychiatric comorbidity, functional status, and structural validity using a cross-sectional, multi-site primary care sample of 747 veterans. After removing items theorized to overlap with mood and other anxiety disorders, PTSD prevalence was identical using both criterion sets (i.e., 12%). Overall, there were few statistically significant differences in PTSD caseness, associated psychiatric comorbidity, functional status, and structural validity across the two diagnostic criterion sets. These data provide further support that removing items that overlap with other psychiatric disorders does not significantly impact the prevalence of PTSD, its associated comorbidity and functional impairment, or its structural validity. Although the revised criterion set represents a more parsimonious model, the current study findings generally support the strong construct validity of PTSD. The implications of these study findings for research and clinical practice are discussed.     

An interruption in unconscious communication in the analytic couple

The authors describe an interruption in communication in the analyses of two patients, which gradually brings the analytic process to a halt/standstill. They propose several hypotheses for understanding this situation. One explanation is mutual identification of primitive superegos in the analytic couple which generates a moralizing effect thereby hindering investigation and discovery. They emphasize the importance of countertransference involvement which partly provokes this particular type of impasse. They also suggest the idea of shared acting out, with complementary participations of analyst and patient. In this way the analytic couple supports a 'bastion' which protects against the risk of breaking the omnipotence of patient and analyst or contributes to this omnipotence. Their shared unconscious phantasy feeds collusion linked to unconscious persecutory guilt. The authors also describe movements to break free from this impasse. The enclave created by the analytic couple is detected and subsequently worked through by way of the patient's contribution of dream material and the analyst's work with her countertransference.     

The association between reality-based beliefs and indirectly experienced traumatization

The purpose of the study was to examine the association between belief types and the magnitude of indirect traumatization. Specific types of beliefs were defined in terms of the cognitive orientation theory, which is a cognitive-motivational approach to the understanding, predicting, and changing of behaviors. Belief types that were analyzed included beliefs about self, general beliefs, beliefs about norms, and goal beliefs as they relate to personal growth. Study participants included 38 rescuers (body handlers), 37 nurses, and 31 rehabilitation workers who treated injured civilians that had been exposed to politically motivated violence. The Cognitive Orientation for Posttraumatic Growth Scale was used to assess beliefs about personal growth. The Revised Posttraumatic Stress Disorder Inventory was administered to evaluate indirect traumatization. The results indicate that three of the four belief types related to personal growth were associated with the level of indirect traumatization. Optimistic and positive beliefs about self and general beliefs were associated with a lower level of indirect traumatization symptomatology, suggesting that these types of beliefs may counteract indirect traumatization. On the other hand, stronger goal beliefs were associated with greater indirect traumatization. The negative association between positive goal beliefs and indirect trauma may be related to the gap the individual perceives between the hoped-for ideals and the trauma-stricken reality. These results indicate the importance of cognitive beliefs and their possible role in determining the response to indirect traumatization.     

韵律在语言加工中的作用及其神经机制

综述了近年来使用即时加工方法进行的韵律理解和作用机制方面的一些研究。首先, 介绍了韵律特征在句法加工中的作用, 从重音、韵律边界和韵律单元三个研究角度分析了韵律在句子理解中所起的作用及作用的时间点; 然后, 探讨了韵律加工的脑机制问题。论文最后提出未来的研究应在更广阔的视野中对韵律的加工阶段以及韵律与其他心理过程之间的关系进行探讨。     

The Effects of Identity-Relevance and Task Difficulty on Task Motivation,Stress, and Performance

Tested the hypothesis that the identity-relevance of a performance domain would predict task motivation, stress, and actual performance. Psychology majors and non-majors (N = 94) completed either moderately difficult or very difficulty questions from a standardized verbal aptitude test. Before the test participants were told that performance on the test was either predictive of success as a psychologist (identity-relevant condition) or were given no information on the predictive ability of the test (control condition). Results revealed that only psychology majors evidenced higher motivation and stress in the identity-relevant condition in comparison to the control condition. The results of actual test performance revealed that when identity-relevance was high, psychology majors tended to do better than non-majors on a task of moderate difficulty, but tended to do worse on a task of high difficulty. Implications of the results for identity-relevance as a motivational and emotional lynchpin for performance are discussed. The author would like to thank Cynthia Ellison, Melissa Kinder, and Kelly Riddle for their assistance in data collection. A paper based on the results of the present study was presented at the 2004 meeting of the Southeastern Psychological Association and was the co-recipient of the outstanding professional paper award.     

社会支持与人格对大学生压力的影响

将横断与纵向研究相结合,对660名大学生进行了问卷调查。结果发现,社会支持对同期压力的主效应非常显著,对后期压力的主效应则不显著。社会支持的变化类型对后期压力也具有显著的主效应。“开朗—果断”与“拘谨—温和”两类人格对同期压力的主效应非常显著,前者同期的各类压力均显著低于后者的同类压力;前期人格类型对两年后压力的主效应依然显著。社会支持与人格的独立主效应和交互作用均显著;社会支持的变化与人格的独立主效应和交互作用均显著     

Facilitation of Extinction of Conditioned Fear by D-Cycloserine

Abstract— Excessive fear and anxiety are characteristic of disorders such as post-traumatic stress disorder (PTSD) and phobias and are believed to reflect abnormalities in neural systems governing the development and reduction of conditioned fear. Conditioned fear can be suppressed through a process known as extinction, in which repeated exposure to a feared stimulus in the absence of an aversive event leads to a gradual reduction in the fear response to that stimulus. Like conditioned fear learning, extinction is dependent on a particular protein (the N-methyl-D-aspartate or NMDA receptor) in a part of the brain called the amygdala. Blockade of this receptor blocks extinction and improving the activity of this receptor with a drug called D-cycloserine speeds up extinction in rats. Because exposure-based psychotherapy for fear disorders in humans resembles extinction in several respects, we investigated whether D-cycloserine might facilitate the loss of fear in human patients. Consistent with findings from the animal laboratory, patients receiving D-cycloserine benefited more from exposure-based psychotherapy than did placebo-treated controls. Although very preliminary, these data provide initial support for the use of cognitive enhancers in psychotherapy and demonstrate that preclinical studies in rodents can have direct benefits to humans.