Progressive relaxation exercises and human gastric acid output—A study using telemetric measurements

The effect of progressive muscle relaxation exercises on human gastric acid output was examined using a modification of the Heidelburg Capsule pH telemetering equipment. Fourteen healthy subjects practiced the exercises eight times before the post-exercise acidity measures were compared with control periods in the same session. No mean difference in acidity was observed. It is suggested that gastric acid secretion is more related to cognitive rather than somatic activity. Eleven of the 14 subjects reported feeling physically relaxed yet 7 of these increased acidity. Gastric acid secretion is vagally mediated through the parasympathetic nervous system. Muscle relaxation is associated with lowered sympathetic arousal. It is possible that the relaxation exercises led to increased parasympathetic arousal concomitant with sympathetic lowering since the two systems frequently act antagonistically. Progressive relaxation training does not appear to be an effective method of decreasing gastric acid output.     

Taxonicity of anxiety sensitivity: an empirical test among youth

Taxometric coherent cut kinetic analyses were used to test the latent structure of anxiety sensitivity (AS) among 371 youth. Anxiety sensitivity was indexed by the 18-item Childhood Anxiety Sensitivity Index (CASI; Silverman et al., J. Clin. Child Psychol. (1991), 20, 162-168). Two sets of manifest indicators of AS were constructed using the CASI: (1) three item-parcel manifest indicators: disease concerns, unsteady concerns, and mental illness concerns; and (2) nine single-item indicators representing each of these three facets of AS. Results from standard and short-scale MAXCOV procedures, internal consistency tests, analyses of simulated Monte Carlo data, and MAMBAC external consistency tests indicated that the latent structure of anxiety sensitivity among youth was taxonic. Estimated base rate of the observed AS taxon ranged between 13.6 and 16.5%. The present findings are discussed in terms of theoretical implications for the study of AS and vulnerability for anxiety psychopathology.     

DSM-oriented scales and statistically based syndromes for ages 18 to 59: linking taxonomic paradigms to facilitate multitaxonomic approaches

We used behavioral and emotional problem items to construct (a) nosologically based Diagnostic and Statistical Manual of Mental Disorders (DSM) oriented scales from experts' ratings of the items' consistency with DSM-IV (4th ed.; American Psychiatric Association, 1994) diagnostic categories, and (b) statistically based syndromes from factor analyses of adults' self-ratings and ratings of adults by people who knew them (N = 4,628). Quantified, operationally defined, and normed DSM-oriented scales and statistically based syndromes facilitate multitaxonomic approaches to the assessment of adult psychopathology. Psychometric properties and cross-informant correlations were similar for DSM-oriented scales and statistically derived syndromes. Statistical associations between phenotypically similar DSM-oriented scales and statistically based syndromes were moderate to strong. Multitaxonomic approaches can avoid reification of provisional taxa that may result from excessive reliance on a single taxonomic paradigm.     

Assessing working memory and language comprehension in Alzheimer's disease.

Studies of language impairments in patients with Alzheimer's disease have often assumed that impairments in linguistic working memory underlie comprehension deficits. Assessment of this hypothesis has been hindered both by vagueness of key terms such as "working memory" and by limitations of available working memory tasks, in that many such tasks either seem to have little relationship to language comprehension or are too confusing or difficult for Alzheimer's patients. Four experiments investigated the usefulness of digit ordering, a new task assessing linguistic working memory and/or language processing skill, in normal adults and patients with probable Alzheimer's disease. The digit ordering task was shown to be strongly correlated with the degree of dementia in Alzheimer's patients. The task correlated with measures of language processing on which patients and normal controls performed differently. The results are interpreted as indicating that linguistic representations, linguistic processing, and linguistic working memory are intertwined, such that a deficit of one (e.g., working memory) cannot be said to "cause" a deficit in the other. The implications of this approach are explored in terms of task demands in comprehension and memory measures, and interpretation of previous results in the literature.     

Obsessive-compulsive tendencies may be associated with attenuated access to internal states: Evidence from a biofeedback-aided muscle tensing task

The present study was motivated by the hypothesis that inputs from internal states in obsessive-compulsive (OC) individuals are attenuated, which could be one source of the pervasive doubting and checking in OCD. Participants who were high or low in OC tendencies were asked to produce specific levels of muscle tension with and without biofeedback, and their accuracy in producing the required muscle tension levels was assessed. As predicted, high OC participants performed more poorly than low OC participants on this task when biofeedback was not available. When biofeedback was provided, the difference between the groups was eliminated, and withdrawing the monitor again reversed this effect. Finally, when given the opportunity, high OC participants were more likely than low OC participants to request biofeedback. These results suggest that doubt in OCD may be grounded in a real and general deficiency in accessing internal states.     

Salutary proximal processes and distal mood and anxiety vulnerability outcomes of mindfulness training: a pilot preventive intervention

The present study evaluated the effect of a brief mindfulness-based preventive intervention on (a) dispositional (MAAS; Brown & Ryan, 2003) and state (SMS; Tanay & Bernstein, 2010) mindfulness; (b) putative proximal factors/processes engendered through the development of mindfulness, including increased decentering (EQ-D; Fresco et al., 2007) and reduced experiential avoidance (AAQ; Hayes et al., 2004); and (c) distal mood and anxiety vulnerability factors, including reduced depression-related dysfunctional attitudes, (DAS; de Graaf, Roelofs, & Huibers, 2009), anxiety sensitivity (ASI-3; Taylor et al., 2007), and negative affectivity (PANAS-NA; Watson, Clark, & Tellegen, 1988) among a university-community sample in Israel. Fifty-three adult participants between the ages of 20 and 52 (M(age)=25.2 years, SD(age)=4.3 years; 65.4% women) were recruited from the Haifa University community. Nineteen participants were randomly assigned to an experimental condition (M(age)=25.3 years, SD(age)=4.3 years; 66% women) and studied prospectively over the course of a four-session (21-day) mindfulness skills training intervention; and 34 participants were randomly assigned to a no-intervention (control) condition (M(age)=24.9 years, SD(age)=2.4years; 64.7% women) and studied prospectively. Findings demonstrate statistically robust and clinically significant relations between mindfulness and the theorized proximal and distal mood and anxiety vulnerability factors. Findings are discussed with respect to their theoretical implications for better understanding mindfulness-psychopathology vulnerability relations, clinical implications for larger-scale universal and selective transdiagnostic prevention efforts, and future directions for this area of research.     

Group heterogeneity and tolerance: The moderating role of conservation values

Does diversity promote tolerance? We propose that reactions to group heterogeneity depend on individual value priorities. In three studies we investigate how values moderate the effect of raising the salience of group heterogeneity (versus homogeneity) on tolerance. As hypothesized, the findings indicate that conservation values moderate the effects of the saliency of the group's heterogeneity. People high on conservation values were more tolerant when the group's homogeneity was made salient than when its heterogeneity was made salient. People low on conservation were either insensitive to information on the group's heterogeneity (Studies 1 and 2), or were more tolerant when the group's heterogeneity was made salient than when its homogeneity was made salient (Study 3). Values are also directly associated with tolerance: conservation values (as well as SDO and RWA in Study 3) were negatively associated whereas openness-to-change and self-transcendence values were positively associated with tolerance. These findings indicate the importance of integrating individual and contextual variables in theories of group processes.     

Personality and altruism in the dictator game: Relationship to giving to kin, collaborators, competitors, and neutrals

We investigate altruism in the context of the economic dictator game experiment where subjects are presented with different persons who can be classified as kin, collaborator, competitor and neutral based on their similarity/relationship to the subject. The classification is based on the role others play in facilitating or impeding an individual’s access to resources needed for reproductive success. The role of the Big Five personality traits in giving to the different target persons is examined. We find that kin are treated most generously, followed by collaborators, neutrals, and competitors. Personality has no effect on giving to kin, but a significant effect on giving to collaborator, neutral and competitor. We also find non-linear relationships between personality and giving.     

“I Will Fear no Evil,for I Am with Me”: Mentalization-Oriented Intervention with PTSD Patients. A Case Study

Post traumatic stress disorder (PTSD) patients are described as suffering from a collapse of mentalization—the inability to understand and interpret their own behavior and that of others as emanating from intentional mental states. The present paper proposes an integrative focused intervention, called “traumatic mentalization change”, to improve and strengthen the mentalization abilities of PTSD patients. With the assistance of the therapist, patients learn how to embed their present self-states within their retrieved memories of the traumatic event and thus to change their traumatic narrative. These present selfstate images enrich the patients’ narratives with the emotional needs that were missing during the traumatic event by addressing mistaken attributions regarding these memories. In this way, the traumatic narrative changes, and the devastating selffeelings experienced during the original traumatic event are reduced. We demonstrate this intervention with a case study of a veteran PTSD patient who suffered from PTSD for 10 years after being involved in a terrorist attack. The neuro-clinical and clinical implications are discussed.