Childhood maltreatment, psychological resources, and depressive symptoms in women with breast cancer.

Childhood maltreatment is associated with elevated risk for depression across the human lifespan. Identifying the pathways through which childhood maltreatment relates to depressive symptoms may elucidate intervention targets that have the potential to reduce the lifelong negative health sequelae of maltreatment exposure. In this cross-sectional study, 271 women with early-stage breast cancer were assessed after their diagnosis but before the start of adjuvant treatment (chemotherapy, radiation, endocrine therapy). Participants completed measures of childhood maltreatment exposure, psychological resources (optimism, mastery, self-esteem, mindfulness), and depressive symptoms. Using multiple mediation analyses, we examined which psychological resources uniquely mediated the relationship between childhood maltreatment and depressive symptoms. Exposure to maltreatment during childhood was robustly associated with lower psychological resources and elevated depressive symptoms. Further, lower optimism and mindfulness mediated the association between childhood maltreatment and elevated depressive symptoms. These results support existing theory that childhood maltreatment is associated with lower psychological resources, which partially explains elevated depressive symptoms in a sample of women facing breast cancer diagnosis and treatment. These findings warrant replication in populations facing other major life events and highlight the need for additional studies examining childhood maltreatment as a moderator of treatment outcomes

Psychologically controlling parenting and personality vulnerability to depression: a study in Peruvian late adolescents

This study examined associations between two domain-specific manifestations of perceived psychologically controlling parenting (i.e., dependency oriented and achievement-oriented), dimensions of personality vulnerability to depression (i.e., dependency and self-criticism), and depressive symptoms in Peruvian late adolescents (N = 292, 60 % female). Structural equation modeling showed that perceived dependency-oriented psychological control was related specifically to dependency and that perceived achievement-oriented psychological control was related specifically to self-criticism. Both dimensions of personality vulnerability played an intervening role in associations between the domains of psychologically controlling parenting and depressive symptoms. In addition, dependency-oriented psychological control interacted with perceived parental responsiveness in the prediction of depressive symptoms, such that responsiveness exacerbated effects of psychological control on depressive symptoms. Results were similar across maternal and paternal ratings of parenting. Findings are interpreted in light of the debate about the cross cultural generalization of the effects of psychologically controlling parenting

Psychological symptoms in obesity and related factors

Introduction: This study aimed to investigate the relationship between levels of depression and anxiety symptoms and quality of life, self-esteem in obesity. Methods: Fifty-two subjects whose Body Mass Index (BMI) is 30 kg/m² and over and 43 control whose BMI is normal were recruited for this study. The socio demographic data form, Hamilton Depression Rating Scale (HAM-D17), Hamilton Anxiety Rating Scale (HAM-A), Quality of Life Scale Short Form (WHOQOL-Brief-TR), Coopersmith Self Esteem Scale (CSES), The Eating Attitudes (EAT), were applied to the participants. Results: In this study most of the patients are women, married, postgraduated and live in urban areas. It was determined to scores of HAM-D17, HAM-A and EAT are higher in obese group than control group; WHOQOL-Brief-TR physical field scores was lower in obese group than control group. CSES scores wasn’t difference between obese and control group. In obese group, there was HAM-D17 and HAM-A scores a negative correlation between quality of life physical field score, negative correlation between CSES score, positive correlation between EAT scale score. There is no correlation between scores of HAM-D17 and HAM-A and BMI. Conclusion: Our results suggest that depressive and anxiety levels are high in induvidual with obesity. They have problems in eating attitudes and their quality of life especially physical field is poor. The psychological symptoms have negative effects on the quality of life, self-esteem, and eating attitudes. Our results suggest that psychiatric support to improving positive effects quality of life and self-esteem in individual with obesity. © 2015 by Turkish Association of Neuropsychiatry

Fathers’ parenting, adverse life events, and adolescents’ emotional and eating disorder symptoms: the role of emotion regulation

Purpose: To investigate the role of emotion regulation in the relation between fathers’ parenting (specifically warmth, behavioral control and psychological control) and adolescents’ emotional and eating disorder symptoms, after adjustment for controls. Methods: A total of 203 11-18 year-old students from a school in a socio-economically disadvantaged area in North-East London completed questionnaires assessing emotional symptoms (measured with the Strengths and Difficulties Questionnaire’s (SDQ) Emotional Symptoms Scale), eating disorder symptoms (measured with the Eating Attitudes Test (EAT-26)), difficulties in emotion regulation (measured with the Difficulties in Emotion Regulation Scale (DERS)), and fathers’ overprotection and warmth, measured with the Parental Bonding Instrument (PBI), as well as behavioral and psychological control. The confounding variables considered were number of proximal (i.e., during the last year) adverse life events experienced, gender, age, and socio-economic status (eligibility for free school meals). Results: Adolescents’ difficulties in emotion regulation mediated the link between fathers’ psychological control and adolescents’ emotional symptoms, but not the link between fathers’ parenting and adolescents’ eating disorder symptoms, which appeared to be more directly linked to fathers’ psychological control and number of proximal adverse life events experienced. Proximal adverse life events experienced were also strongly associated with difficulties in emotion regulation. Conclusions: The study findings have implications for intervention programs which may prove more fruitful in addressing adolescent emotional problems by targeting underlying emotion regulation abilities, and in addressing adolescent eating disorder symptoms by protecting adolescents with a recent experience of multiple adverse life events. Parenting programs also stand to benefit from the evidence presented in this study that paternal psychological control may have uniquely harmful consequences for adolescent development through the hampering or atrophying of emotion regulation abilities and the encouragement of eating disorders

Functional Incapacity and Physical and Psychological Symptoms: How They Interconnect in Chronic Fatigue Syndrome

Background: It has been argued that perceived functional incapacity might be a primary characteristic of chronic fatigue syndrome ( CFS) and could be explained by physical symptoms. If so, it could be expected to be closely associated with physical, but not psychological symptoms. The study tests this hypothesis. Sampling and Methods: The sample consisted of 73 patients, with a diagnosis of CFS according to the Oxford criteria, randomly selected from clinics in the Departments of Immunology and Psychiatry at St. Bartholomew's Hospital, London. The degree of fatigue experienced by patients was assessed using the Chalder Fatigue Questionnaire and a visual analogue scale. Self-rated instruments were used to measure physical and social functioning, quality of life, and physical and psychological symptoms. Results: Principal-component analysis of all scale scores revealed 2 distinct components, explaining 53% of the total variance. One component was characterized by psychological symptoms and generic quality of life indicators, whilst the other component was made up of physical symptoms, social and physical functioning and indicators of fatigue. Conclusions: The findings suggest that perceived functional incapacity is a primary characteristic of CFS, which is manifested and/or explained by physical symptoms. Copyright (C) 2008 S. Karger AG, Base

Managing behavioural and psychological symptoms in community dwelling older people with dementia:1. A systematic review of the effectiveness of interventions

© 2018 The Author(s) This is an Open Access article, distributed under the terms of the Creative Commons Attribution licence CC BY 4.0 (http://creativecommons.org/licenses/by/4.0/), which permits unrestricted re-use, distribution, and reproduction in any medium, provided the original work is properly cited.Background: Two-thirds of people living with dementia live at home in the UK and many experience distressing behavioural and psychological symptoms. This systematic review evaluates the effectiveness of non-pharmacological interventions for behavioural and psychological symptoms among community-dwelling people living with dementia. Methods: This two-stage review undertook an initial mapping of the literature followed by a systematic review of relevant randomised controlled trials. We searched electronic databases for pertinent studies reporting outcomes from interventions from January 2000 to March 2015 and updated searches in October 2016. We included studies that considered behavioural and psychological symptom management for older people living with dementia who live at home and excluded studies conducted in long-term care settings. This paper presents findings from a narrative synthesis of 48 randomised controlled trials evaluating interventions for people living with dementia alone, family carers alone and patient-carer dyads. Results: We retrieved 17,871 de-duplicated records and screened them for potential inclusion. Evidence from 48 randomised controlled trials suggests that family carer training and educational programmes that target problem behaviours and potential triggers can improve outcomes. Nurses and occupational therapists appear to help people with dementia with behavioural and psychological symptoms, but professional comparisons are lacking and there is no shared language about or understanding of behavioural and psychological symptoms amongst professionals, or between professionals and family carers. Conclusions: Future research should focus on the effectiveness of components of multi-faceted programmes and their cost effectiveness and include qualitative data to better target interventions for behavioural and psychological symptoms. It is important to consider family carer readiness to use non-pharmacological strategies and to develop a shared language about the inherent needs and communications of behavioural and psychological symptoms.Peer reviewe

Psychological distress and chronic obstructive pulmonary disease in the Renfrew and Paisley (MIDSPAN) study

Background: This study examined whether psychological distress might be a predictor of chronic obstructive pulmonary disease (COPD). Method: The relation between psychological distress at baseline, measured by the general health questionnaire (GHQ), and chronic bronchitis three years later, as measured by the Medical Research Council (MRC) bronchitis questionnaire and forced expiratory flow in one second (FEV1), was examined in 1682 men and 2203 women from the Renfrew and Paisley (MIDSPAN) study. The analyses were run on men and women separately and adjustments were made for age, socioeconomic position, and lung function at baseline (FEV1). People with chronic diseases at baseline were then excluded to give a "healthy" baseline cohort. The effect of psychological distress on individual components of the MRC bronchitis questionnaire and FEV1 was also assessed. Results: In multivariate analyses of the whole cohort baseline psychological distress in women was associated with reduced FEV1 at follow up (OR 1.31 95% CI 1.0 to 1.73) after adjustment. In women, in the healthy cohort, psychological distress was associated with chronic bronchitis (OR 2.00, 95% CI 1.16 to 3.46), symptoms of bronchial infection (OR 2.14, 95% CI 1.44 to 3.19), symptoms of breathlessness (OR 3.02, 95% CI 1.99 to 4.59), and reduced FEV1 (OR 1.62, 95% CI 1.13 to 2.32). In men psychological distress predicted symptoms of bronchial infection (OR 2.09, 95% CI 1.28 to 3.42). Conclusion: This study supports research suggesting that psychological distress is associated with COPD and shows that psychological distress predicts COPD in women. The robustness of the association and the exact mechanism requires further investigation

Muscle Dysmorphia and its Associated Psychological Features in Three Groups of Recreational Athletes

AbstractMuscle Dysmorphia (MD) is a psychological disorder characterized by the preoccupation with the idea that one’s body is not lean and muscular. The current study aimed to explore MD behaviours and symptoms in three groups of recreational athletes: bodybuilders (BB; n = 42), strength athletes (SA; n = 61), and fitness practitioners (FP; n = 22). Furthermore, we assessed MD-related psychological features as well as possible psychological predictors of MD among groups. Results highlighted that the BB group reported more beliefs about being smaller and weaker than desired compared to the other groups, whereas individuals in the SA group reported setting higher standards for themselves than the FP group. Lastly, orthorexia nervosa and social anxiety symptoms emerged as predictors of MD symptoms in the BB group. Taken together, our findings suggest that individuals in the BB group are characterized by more MD general symptomatology than those in the other groups; furthermore, only orthorexia nervosa and social anxiety may play a specific role in predicting MD general symptoms in bodybuilders.</jats:p

Las diferencias en los síntomas psicológicos durante el embarazo y el postparto antes y después del COVID-19: un estudio transversal

Pregnant women are especially vulnerable to mental health problems, including stress, anxiety, and depression. This risk has been increased during the COVID-19 pandemic and differences in psychological symptoms in pregnancy and postpartum before and during COVID-19 exists. Mental health problems can have adverse effects on both the woman, and the neonate, including miscarriages, premature births, low birth weight, and higher rates of cesarean sections and instrument-assisted deliveries. Aim: To evaluate the prevalence of psychological symptoms of pregnant women before and during the COVID-19 pandemic. Method: A cross-sectional study was carried out to assess the psychological profile in a sample of pregnant women selected before the pandemic and a sample of women studied during the first wave of the pandemic. A total of 122 women were selected prior to the pandemic and 181 women during the COVID-19 outbreak. The Symptom Checklist-90 Revised (SCL-90-R) was used to assess depression and anxiety during pregnancy and in the postpartum period. Results: The prevalence of symptoms of depression and anxiety during pregnancy were higher in the sample of women studied during the pandemic (SCL-90-R: M = 54.6 vs. 42.6 and M = 62.6 vs. 51.7 respectively). In the postpartum the difference between both samples of women was even higher for depression and anxiety (SCL-90-R: M = 50.4 vs. 35.0 and M = 51.3 vs. 36.0 respectively). Being a pregnant woman at the COVID-19 outbreak was directly associated with a higher score of depression symptoms (aOR = 8.67, 95% CI [3.26, 23.02], p < .001). Anxiety during childbirth was more frequently reported by women before the pandemic (aOR = 5.13, 95% CI [2.53, 10.44], p < .001). The variable stage (before /during pandemic) was also associated with having a clinical SCL-90-R score above 70 (aOR = 7.61, 95% CI [2.7, 21.47], p < .001). Conclusion: During the pandemic, pregnancy and postpartum were associated with the presence of anxiety and depression. The main factor associated with postpartum depression was maternal age. These finding highlights the vulnerability of pregnant in front of the pandemic, in which psychological health and mental well-being are affected, not only during pregnancy, but also in the postpartum.Las mujeres embarazadas son especialmente vulnerables a los problemas de salud mental, como el estrés, la ansiedad y la depresión. Este riesgo se ha incrementado durante la pandemia de COVID-19, habiendo diferencias en los síntomas psicológicos en el embarazo y el puerperio antes y después de la pandemia. Los problemas de salud mental pueden tener efectos perjudiciales tanto en la mujer como en el recién nacido, como abortos espontáneos, partos prematuros, bajo peso al nacer y tasas más altas de cesáreas y partos asistidos. Objetivo: Evaluar la prevalencia de síntomas psicológicos de gestantes antes y durante la pandemia de COVID-19. Método: Se realizó un estudio transversal para evaluar el perfil psicológico en una muestra de mujeres embarazadas seleccionadas antes de la pandemia y una muestra de mujeres estudiadas durante la primera ola de la pandemia. Se seleccionó un total de 122 mujeres antes de la pandemia y 181 mujeres durante el brote de COVID-19. Se utilizó la Inventario de Verificación de Síntomas-90 Revisada (SCL-90-R) para evaluar la depresión y la ansiedad durante el embarazo y el puerperio. Resultados: La prevalencia de síntomas de depresión y ansiedad durante el embarazo fue mayor en la muestra de mujeres estudiadas durante la pandemia (SCL-90-R: M = 54.6 vs. 42.6 y M = 62.6 vs. 51.7 respectivamente). En el postparto la diferencia entre ambas muestras de mujeres fue aún mayor para depresión y ansiedad (SCL-90-R: M = 50.4 vs. 35.0 y M = 51.3 vs. 36.0 respectivamente). Ser mujer embarazada en el brote de COVID-19 se asoció directamente con una mayor puntuación de síntomas de depresión (aOR = 8.67, IC 95% [3.26, 23.02, p < .001). Las mujeres manifestaron ansiedad durante el parto con mayor frecuencia antes de la pandemia (aOR = 5.13, IC 95% 2.53, 10.44], p < .001). La variable estadio (antes/durante la pandemia) también se asoció con tener una puntuación clínica SCL- 90-R superior a 70 (aOR = 7.61, IC 95% [2.7, 21.47], p < .001). Conclusión: Durante la pandemia, el embarazo y el postparto se asociaron con la presencia de ansiedad y depresión. El principal factor asociado a la depresión posparto fue la edad materna. Estos hallazgos resaltan la vulnerabilidad de las mujeres embarazadas ante la pandemia, en la que la salud psicológica y el bienestar mental se ven afectados, no solo durante el embarazo, sino también en el posparto.Junta de Andalucía (RH-0069-2021)

The effect of exercise on behavioural and psychological symptoms of dementia: the EVIDEM-E randomised controlled clinical trial.

OBJECTIVE: The objective of this study is to evaluate the effectiveness of a simple dyadic (person with dementia and their main carer) exercise regimen as a therapy for the behavioural and psychological symptoms of dementia. METHOD: A two arm, pragmatic, randomised, controlled, single-blind, parallel-group trial of a dyadic exercise regimen (individually tailored walking regimen designed to become progressively intensive and last between 20-30 min, at least five times per week).Community-dwelling individuals with ICD-10 confirmed dementia with the following: clinically significant behavioural and psychological symptoms, a carer willing and able to co-participate in the exercise regimen, and no physical conditions or symptoms that would preclude exercise participation were invited by mental health or primary care services into the study. RESULTS: One hundred and thirty-one dyads were recruited to this study. There was no significant difference in Behavioural and Psychological Symptoms as measured by the Neuropsychiatric Inventory at week 12 between the group receiving the dyadic exercise regimen and those that did not (adjusted difference in means (intervention minus control) = -1.53, p = 0.6, 95% CI [-7.37, 4.32]). There was a significant between-group difference in caregiver's burden as measured by the Zarit Caregiver Burden Inventory at week 12 (OR = 0.18, p = 0.01, CI [0.05, 0.69]) favouring the exercise group. CONCLUSIONS: This study found that regular simple exercise does not appear to improve the behavioural and psychological symptoms of dementia, but did seem to attenuate caregiver burden. Further study to improve exercise uptake are needed