Linguistic correlates of asymmetric motor symptom severity in Parkinson’s Disease

Asymmetric motor severity is common in Parkinson’s Disease (PD) and provides a method for examining the neurobiologic mechanisms underlying cognitive and linguistic deficits associated with the disorder. In the present research, PD participants (N = 31) were assessed in terms of the asymmetry of their motor symptoms. Interviews with the participants were analyzed with the Linguistic Inquiry and Word Count (LIWC) program. Three measures of linguistic complexity – the proportion of verbs, proportion of function words, and sentence length – were found to be affected by symptom asymmetry. Greater left-side motor severity (and hence greater right-hemisphere dysfunction) was associated with the production of significantly fewer verbs, function words, and shorter sentences. Hence, the production of linguistic complexity in a natural language context was associated with relatively greater right hemisphere involvement. The potential neurobiological mechanisms underlying this effect are discussed.     

高、低强迫症状个体的词语再认差异

比较了高强迫症状（High obsessive compulsive symptom, HOC）和低强迫症状（Low obsessive compulsive symptom, LOC）被试对于不同类型词语（强迫症敏感词、情绪词和中性词）再认成绩和记忆信心的差异。结果发现,HOC组记忆保存量显著低于LOC组（p<0.05）,表明HOC组对强迫症敏感词存在一定的偏好;通过对被试反应信心的检测和信号侦察论的应用,发现HOC组对中性词再认正误的判断觉察能力（d’值）低于LOC组（边缘显著：p＝0.054）;在正确反应信心上,被试类型和词语类型间存在交互作用,F(1,22)=4.60,p<0.05。本研究认为HOC组辨别能力的缺损可能导致其记忆信心方面的降低,这种假设还需要进一步的认知和脑功能研究来证实。     

Symptom patterns in late luteal-phase dysphoric disorder

The symptom patterns of 180 women with prospectively confirmed late luteal-phase dysphoric disorder (LLPDD) were examined using a careful application of factor and cluster analytic techniques. Factor analysis of premenstrual change scores on 33 common premenstrual syndrome symptoms yielded four orthogonal factors that were consistent across two sets of menstrual cycle data. These were a negative affect dimension with concomitant behavioral changes, physical symptoms, agitation, and positive arousal. Cluster analysis of factor scores grouped patients into one of five symptom patterns, the most common of which is a general distress cluster, characterized by symptoms across all dimensions. The LLPDD symptom groups identified are remarkably consistent with those of earlier studies using both normative and clinic samples, and consideration of symptom pattern differences in future research may greatly increase our understanding of this disorder.     

改变因症就诊的医疗模式搞好慢性呼吸疾病的防控

本文简单介绍了各种慢性呼吸疾病的特点、重要性、病因和发病机理,重点阐述认真搞好三级预防是有效防控慢性呼吸疾病的基础,而目前我国慢性呼吸疾病医疗服务模式是因症就诊,这种医疗服务模式不利于慢性呼吸疾病的管理和控制,必须尽快改变。     

大学生考期应激的特征及原因分析

旨在研究考期应激的表现特征,并探讨其产生的原因和影响因素。以问卷方法测量了261名在校大学生。结果发现47．89％的被试有不同程度的考期应激症状,其中以睡眠症状为最典型的特征。考期应激症状很少受性别、专业、年级、是否担任班干部和个性倾向等因素的影响,且具有较明显的时间特征。诱发考期应激的主要因素有：考生“对考试目的的认知”、“对考试内容的认知”及“生恬和学习环境”等。结论为,考期应激是一种大学生中较普遍且具有多重原因的应激现象。     

SPONTANEOUS REMISSIONS: NORMAN REIDER'S FORGOTTEN PAPER,PART I

Almost sixty years ago, Norman Reider published a paper about spontaneous “remissions” he had observed. He discussed the manner in which psychoanalytic theory provided a way to partially explain these otherwise mysterious remissions or improvements in symptoms, some without benefit of either psychoanalysis or psychotherapy. Especially important were his comments about the negligible role of interpretation or insight in these examples. His conjectures reflected controversies that were current at the time and that remain unsettled. Of special interest is his introduction of some highly original ways to think of applying psychoanalytic ideas to supportive psychotherapy. But few analysts today have heard of this paper. A reconsideration of his paper allows us to be vividly reminded about our enduring and profound confusion about exactly what constitutes a “cure” at all. Spontaneous shifts in the severity of symptoms may be viewed as experiments of nature that we have neglected to investigate as valuable restraints on our immodest therapeutic claims.     

躯体症状障碍的特点及综合诊疗原则

从美国精神疾病诊断与统计手册第三版（DSM-Ⅲ）的躯体形式障碍,到甚至更早的诊断名称为DSM-5的躯体症状障碍,这类疾病的名称一直在变化;学界对躯体化症状的分类和定义也一直存在争议.进行分类和诊断的主要目的是为了治疗.本文从躯体症状障碍相关概念的变迁及本质特点入手,分析、总结躯体症状障碍的心理行为特点及接诊和治疗原则,以期对广大临床工作者治疗工作的开展有所帮助.     

Some notes on Freud's concept of conversion

Abstract

The author investigates conversion, the process by which psychic contents are transformed into bodily symptoms. The author concludes that this process cannot be explained by libido theory or by assuming the existence of a psychic energy. He argues that although Freud was convinced that “the leap from a mental process to a somatic innervation … can never be fully comprehensible to us,” this process is, nonetheless, comprehensible in terms of Freud's own conceptualisation. To understand this process, one must take the characteristics of the primary process to which the “replacement of external by psychical reality” belongs as radical as his thesis of a hallucinatory wish fulfilment. This thesis includes not only the hallucinatory satisfaction of instinctual wishes, but also the hallucinatory satisfaction of the desire to avoid unpleasure, which is understood as a process by which the internal conditions of this affect are displaced from the presentational world into perceptions via conversion.     

The Symptom as Ally,not Enemy

The practice of the Western medicine often identifies the symptom with the disease itself, but a current of thought and medical practice considers it as the important message of an organic imbalance. In fact, in standard therapies symptoms are usually suppressed, thus interrupting a normal physiological process and risking severe reactions due to the organic imbalance. Dr. Hahnemann, the father of homeopathy, founded his diagnostic and therapeutic model on the interpretation of the symptoms and maintained that symptoms are an expression of altered physiology. The same concept is to be found in Dr. Reckeweg's “reactivity” and homotoxicology; he believed that diseases are the expression of the struggle of the body against toxins. Reckeweg's contribution was particularly important in considering the inflammation process as a biologic process through which the body restores its health. Also PNEI (psycho-neuro-endocrino-immunology) proposes a model where the symptom is interpreted as information and as the result of an imbalance. Several other medical approaches address particular attention to the meaning of symptoms. The Bach Flower Therapy, for instance, is guided exclusively by the negative moods, which can become the cause of functional and organic diseases; balance is restored thanks to superior harmonic energetic vibrations conveyed by the superior energy living in some flowers. This interpretation of the nature of symptoms is becoming a more and more relevant issue among both the specialistic and the general public.     

Psychological Predictors of Neurobehavioral Symptoms in a Polytrauma Veteran Sample

Given the high prevalence of comorbid conditions found in polytrauma settings, effective screening measures are needed. Several screening tools are commonly used in polytrauma clinics within the Department of Veterans Affairs (VA). This study examined the use of three screening measures—the Beck Depression Inventory-II (BDI-II), Beck Anxiety Inventory (BAI), and PTSD Checklist–Civilian Version (PCL-C)—to predict scores on the Neurobehavioral Symptom Inventory (NSI). Research suggests that the presence of mental health conditions, such as PTSD, shares a significant amount of variance with postconcussive symptoms. The investigators hypothesized that the PCL-C would be the best predictor of scores on the NSI. All subjects were administered the screening measures as part of an evaluation in an outpatient Level III polytrauma clinic. Regression analysis was used to determine which instrument might serve as the best predictor of NSI total scores. Regression analysis revealed that BAI, BDI-II, and PCL-C total scores were good predictors of NSI total scores, with the BAI accounting for the majority of the variance. Mental health conditions can account for higher scores on the NSI, and screening of other mental health conditions should be taken into account when reviewing the NSI for individuals in polytrauma settings.