Situations and specific coping strategies associated with clinical and nonclinical panic attacks.

The present paper reports the results of further comparisons between clinical and nonclinical panickers. Both panic disorder patients and nonclinical panickers reported a variety of situational contexts associated with panic attacks, and differed markedly in their attempts to cope with panic. Nonclinical panickers tended to use more 'positive' coping strategies in response to panic. Conversely, one of the most commonly used and subjectively effective coping strategies reported by panic disorder patients was to escape the situation.     

Timed magnitude comparisons of numerical and nonnumerical expressions of uncertainty

Two experiments involving paired comparisons of numerical and nonnumerical expressions of uncertainty are reported. Subjects were timed under two opposing sets of instructions ("choose higher probability" vs. "choose lower probability"). Numerical comparisons were consistently faster and easier than their nonnumerical counterparts. Consistent distance and congruity effects were obtained, illustrating that both numerical and nonnumerical expressions of uncertainty contain subjective magnitude information, and suggesting that similar processes are employed in manipulating and comparing numerical and verbal terms. To account for the general pattern of results obtained, Holyoak's reference point model (1978) was generalized by explicitly including the vagueness of the nonnumerical expressions. This generalized model is based on the notion that probability expressions can be represented by membership functions (Wallsten, Budescu, Rapoport, Zwick, & Forsyth, 1986) from which measures of location for each word, and measures of overlap for each pair can be derived. A good level of fit was obtained for this model at the individual level.     

The physiology of the tunnel

Several theories to account for the origin of tunnel hallucinations and tunnel experiences near death are considered: (1) the idea of a real tunnel; (2) representations of transition; (3) reliving birth memories; (4) imagination; and (5) physiological origins. Three different physiological theories are considered that related the tunnel form to the structure of the visual cortex. All can account for much of the phenomenology of the tunnel experience, and all lead to testable predictions. It is argued that the tunnel experience involves a change in the mental model of the self in the world. Because of this, an experience of purely physiological origin, with no implications for other worlds or for survival, can nevertheless produce lasting changes in the sense of self and reduce the fear of death.     

The borderline hypertensive rat (BHR): A new model for the study of environmental factors in the development of hypertension

While many studies have attempted to produce hypertension through the use of various environmental Stressors, few have succeeded in producing chronic elevations in blood pressure beyond levels considered to be borderline hypertensive (140–160 mm Hg systolic). The problem with most studies stems from the use of genetically normotensive animals and the selection of Stressors to which animals readily adapt. A new approach is suggested, which recognizes the role of genetics in human essential hypertension. Animals with one hypertensive parent do not develop spontaneous hypertension but show a more sensitive cardiovascular response to environmental Stressors than animals with normotensive parents. Preliminary studies revealed that animals with a mixed genetic history of hypertension develop spontaneous borderline hypertension. When subjected to shock-shock conflict, these borderline hypertensive rats (BHR) developed permanent hypertension that failed to abate even after a ten-week, shock-free recovery period. The hypertension was accompanied by elevated heart weight to body weight ratios and by significant cardiac pathology. Subsequent work has demonstrated that these animals also become hypertensive when fed a high-sodium diet. Finally, in a series of exercise studies, we found that BHRs subjected to a shock stressor were protected against stress-induced hypertension if they exercised daily. The potential of this model for studies of the mechanisms by which environmental variables produce permanent hypertension is discussed.     

“Aunt Grace can't have babies”

One of the most necessarily sensitive areas of pastoral care is dealing with perinatal death. This case study grows from a need for care providers to understand better the feelings of a mother in the loss of her baby. This particular exploration evolved from a taped interview with the writer's aunt (now in her seventies) and her dealings with the multiple losses she experienced over fifty years ago. Her conversation in the interview gives credibility to many coping skills that we endeavor to teach today and that she developed for herself out of a need to survive....it was as if the birds would never sing again.-Aunt Grace