Examining the Effectiveness of Mindfulness Based Cognitive Therapy (MBCT) on Increasing Resilience of War Injured Veterans

The present study aimed to investigate the impression of Mindfulness based on cognitive therapy (MBCT) on raise resilience of war injured veterans. The study is quasi-experimental study, with pre-test and post-test and control group. The sample included 30 war injured veterans in Mashhad city and they were divided into two groups as 15 in Mindfulness based cognitive therapy and 15 people in control group. The members of MBCT received 8 sessions of MBCT but there was no intervention for control group. Before and after intervention, Conner-Davidson Resilience Scale (CD-RISC) was completed by sample group. The results of covariance analysis showed that in post-test resilience scores in MBCT group had significant increase compared to control group. The study findings released that MBCT increased resilience of war injured veterans

Attitudes of Iranian Psychiatrists to Psychosomatic Medicine: A Qualitative Content Analysis

Objective: Psychosomatic attitudes may be rooted and grounded in the particular culture of the scientific community in each country. We conducted a qualitative research to understand the exclusive psychosomatic attitudes and psychosomatic medicine status of Iranian Psychiatrists. Method: This research was conducted using a qualitative content analysis based on Graneheim and Lundmanand method. All psychiatrists of Avicenna hospital, which is a teaching hospital of Mashhad University of Medical Sciences, were the target population of this study. Among them, 9 psychiatrists were selected by a non-random purposeful sampling method, and semi-structured interviews were used to collect data. Results: Results indicated that most psychiatrists do not have a proper understanding of the term “psychosomatic medicine”, but they acknowledged the importance of an integrative approach in medicine. Biopsychosocial model, as a unified and integrated concept, can encompass all emerged categories and refers to the overall pattern in psychiatrists' attitude. Conclusion: Despite acknowledging the importance of a comprehensive approach to medicine and profound theoretical knowledge of psychiatrists, the practical application of biological, psychological, and social dimensions has not been considered equally. Thus, the scientific practical stand of this comprehensive approach requires more serious consideration by the medical community

Neuroticism and Frontal EEG Asymmetry Correlated With Dynamic Facial Emotional Processing in Adolescents

The aim of this research was to investigate the link between resting frontal EEG asymmetry, neuroticism and the valence of emotional face processing in adolescents. Fifty right-handed adolescents (50% male; mean age = 14.20, SD = 1.97) were selected from schools in Mashhad. In order to investigate variables, we used BFQ-C, ADFES-BIV, and EEG. All data were analyzed using SPSS 22. The results showed that neuroticism correlates with the valences of fear, disgust, sadness, and surprise, but not with happiness, anger, and neutral faces. Furthermore, it was found that N was significantly positively correlated with mid-frontal asymmetry (F3–F4), and the lateral-frontal (F7–F8), whereas no correlation was found between N and frontal pole (Fp1–Fp2). We found significant negative correlations between the valence of fear, Fp1–Fp2, F3–F4, and F7–F8. The interaction findings revealed that neuroticism∗mid-frontal asymmetry can significantly affect the valence of fear. Therefore, neuroticism and mid-frontal EEG asymmetry may serve as a risk indicator for psychopathology

Novel Psychoactive Substances (NPS) : a Study on Persian Language Websites

BACKGROUND: During the past few years, there has been an increasing recognition that Internet is playing a significant role in the synthesis, the distribution and the consumption of Novel Psychoactive Substances (NPS).The aim of this study was to assess the online availability of NPS in Persian language websites. METHODS: The Google search engine was used to carry out an accurate qualitative assessment of information available on NPS in a sample of 104 websites. RESULTS: The monitoring has led to the identification of 14 NPS including herbal, synthetic, pharmaceutical and combination drugs that have been sold online. CONCLUSION: The availability of online marketing of NPS in Persian language websites may constitute a public health challenge at least across three Farsi-speaking countries in the Middle East. Hence, descriptions of this phenomenon are valuable to clinicians and health professional in this region. Further international collaborative efforts may be able to tackle the growth and expansion of regular offer of NPS.Peer reviewedFinal Published versio

The Relation of Attachment Styles, Emotion Regulation, and Resilience to Well-being among Students of Medical Sciences

Introduction: Psychological well-being, reflecting positive mood, vitality, and interest in milieu, is a part of quality of life psychology. Attachment styles could be theoretically linked to well-being through stress appraisal patterns that include emotion regulation and resilience. Researchers believe that attachment, resilience, and emotion regulation have generally been identified as important determinants of psychological health or specifically spoken, psychological well-being. The aim of this study is to investigate the relationship of attachment styles, emotion regulation and resilience with well-being among students of medical sciences. Methods: In this descriptive correlation investigation, study population included 200 medical sciences students of Semnan University selected through convenience sampling. Data was collected using questionnaires of attachment styles, emotion regulation, resilience and wellbeing. Data was analyzed using Pearson correlation and regression. Results: A significant positive relationship was observed between secure attachment (0.42) and reappraisal (0.37) to psychological well-being (p<0.05). In addition, the relationship of suppression (r=-0.42, p<0.05), preoccupied attachment (r=-0.23, p<0/05), and fearful attachment (r=-0.17 p<0.01) with well-being is significant and negative. Moreover, the results of stepwise regression analysis showed that suppression first and then secure attachment, reappraisal, resilience and fearful attachment style respectively have a significant role in predicting psychological well-being and predictor variables explain totally (0.34) of variations in psychological well-being (p<0.0001). Conclusion: The results indicate that attachment styles, resilience, and emotion regulation are proper predictors for psychological well-being. Therefore, forming strong networks of social support and interpersonal communication through academic programs is highly recommended to enhance students’ psychological well-being and mental health

Environmental Enrichment Prevents Methamphetamine-Induced Spatial Memory Deficits and Obsessive-Compulsive Behavior in Rats

Objective: This study was designed to examine the effect of environmental enrichment during methamphetamine (METH) dependency and withdrawal on methamphetamine-induced spatial learning and memory deficits and obsessive-compulsive behavior. Method: Adult male Wistar rats (200 ± 10 g) chronically received bi-daily doses of METH (2 mg/kg, sc, with 12 hours intervals) for 14 days. Rats reared in standard (SE) or enriched environment (EE) during the development of dependence on METH and withdrawal. Then, they were tested for spatial learning and memory (the water maze), and obsessive-compulsive behavior as grooming behavior in METH-withdrawn rats. Results: The results revealed that the Sal/EE and METH/EE rats reared in EE spent more time in the target zone on the water maze and displayed significantly increased proximity to the platform compared to their control groups. METH withdrawn rats reared in EE displayed less grooming behavior than METH/SE group. Conclusion: Our findings revealed EE ameliorates METH-induced spatial memory deficits and obsessive-compulsive behavior in rats

Anxiety Assessment in Methamphetamine - Sensitized and Withdrawn Rats: Immediate and Delayed Effects

   Objective: The anxiety profile in the stimulant-sensitized animals is not clear. Thus, this study was conducted to elucidate the effects of acute and chronic administration of methamphetamine (METH) on the anxiety profile. The aim of this study was to examine whether METH-sensitized rats would show an increase in the expression of anxiogenic-like behaviors and to determine whether a low dose of METH elicits behavioral sensitization. Methods:Rats were repeatedly given METH (2 mg/kg, s.c., once a day for 14 days), and the immediate and delayed effects of METH on the anxiety profile was compared considering 30 minutes (min) and 120 min after injections in METH-sensitized, withdrawn and intact rats using the elevated plus-maze (EPM), also, to re-challenge with a low dose of METH (0.5 mg/kg) in withdrawn groups . Results:Results have shown that METH-sensitized rats exhibited an increase in the open arm time and entries 120 min after injection compared to the control group. We found a reduction in the time spent in open arms for the immediate effects of METH (30 min after injection) in METH-sensitized rats as compared to the control group. In withdrawn rats, METH/METH groups exhibited an increase in the open arm time and entries than METH/Sal and Sal/METH groups. Conclusion:It was found that unlike delayed effects, an immediate effect of METH exhibited anxiogenic-like behaviors in METH-sensitized rats using the EPM. Also, results indicated that a low dose of METH is a potent stimulus for reinstatement of methamphetamine behavioral sensitization in a long withdrawn period

Comparison of Working Memory and Response Inhibition in Methamphetamine-Dependent Individuals and Normal Individuals

The aim of this study was the comparison of cognitive processes (working memory and response inhibition) in methamphetamine-dependent individuals. The design of the present study is causal-comparative. The study population was all methamphetamine-dependent individuals and normal participants at Ilam. The sampling method of current research was available sampling. Participants consist of 30 methamphetamine-dependend and 30 normal participants. The color-word Stroop test (type PC) was performed for assessing response inhibition and for assessing working memory and evaluating subtest Wechsler memory span data(computer type) was used. The data were analyzed by multivariate analyses of variance. Results showed that theperformance of methamphetamine-dependent individuals in components digits span was significantly different from the normal group. Also, methamphetamine-dependent individuals in the performance of response inhibition was significantly different from normal, but the components of congruent reaction time and incongruent reaction time and components without incongruent response no significant difference was observed between the two groups. Results showed that the methamphetamine-dependence has significant influence on working memory and inhibitory responses

Swimming exercise attenuates psychological dependence and voluntary methamphetamine consumption in methamphet- amine withdrawn rats

Objective(s): This study evaluated the effect of swimming exercise during spontaneous methamphetamine (METH) withdrawal on the anxiety, depression, obsessive-compulsive disorder (OCD) and voluntary METH consumption in METH-dependent rats.  Materials and Methods: Male Wistar rats were repeatedly administered with bi-daily doses of METH (2 mg/kg, subcutaneous) over a period of 14 days. Exercised rats were submitted to swimming sessions (45 min/day, five days per week, for 14 days) during spontaneous METH-withdrawal. Then, all animals were tested for the assessment of anxiety by using the elevated plus-maze (EPM), the grooming behaviors (OCD), and depression using forced swimming test (FST) and voluntary METH consumption using a two-bottle choice (TBC) paradigm for the assessment of craving. Results: The results showed that the swimmer METH-withdrawn rats exhibited an increase in EPM open arm time and entries and a reduction of immobility and grooming behaviors compared with the sedentary METH groups. Also, voluntary METH consumption was less in the swimmer METH-withdrawn rats than the sedentary METH groups throughout 5–8 days. Conclusion: This study showed that regular swimming exercise reduced voluntary METH consumption in animal models of craving by reducing anxiety, OCD, and depression in the METH-withdrawn rats. Thus, physical training may be ameliorating some of the withdrawal behavioral consequences of METH