阿尔茨海默病音乐疗法的新概念

Alzheimer's disease (AD) can induce cognitive impairment and serious damage to viability in AD patients. As a non-drug therapy, music therapy can improve cognitive function and improve quality of life in the patients. Numerous studies in recent years have been formed a new concept of music therapy for Alzheimer's disease: functional magnetic resonance imaging (fMRI) studies shown acting sites and mechanisms of music therapy in the brain, and clinical studies shown that music therapy can further reduce anxiety, depression and aggressive behavior in the patient. The authors believe that music therapy for AD patients is a safe, effective, and simple non-drug treatments, and should be widely applied.【摘要】阿尔茨海默病（AD）会导致患者认知障碍和严重损害生活能力。作为非药物治疗，音乐疗法可以改善患者认知功能和提高生活质量。近年来大量研究已经形成阿尔茨海默病音乐疗法的新概念：功能性磁共振成像（fMRI）法研究显示音乐疗法脑部的作用部位和机理，临床研究表明音乐疗法可以进一步减少患者的焦虑、抑郁和过激行为。作者认为，阿尔茨海默病患者的音乐疗法是一项安全有效、操作简便的非药物治疗方法，值得推广应用

J Affect Disord

Background The literature suggests that cognitive reactivity in bipolar patients can increase relapse vulnerability, is enhanced by depressive mood and dysfunctional attitudes, and could be improved with MBCT. Autobiographical memory (AM) could be involved in cognitive reactivity, and improved with MBCT training. This study aims to investigate the effect of MBCT for bipolar patients on depressive and anxious symptoms, dysfunctional attitudes and AM, and the predictive versus mediating role of AM in the impact of MBCT on clinical symptoms. Methods Sixty-two outpatients diagnosed with bipolar I disorder were assigned to MBCT and were compared to 37 bipolar patients on a waiting list. Affective symptoms and dysfunctional attitudes were explored using self-report inventories (BDI, BAI, DAS) and AM was assessed using the Autobiographical Memory Test. Results Patients receiving MBCT demonstrated significantly decreased depressive symptoms, dysfunctional attitudes, overgeneral memories and omissions, and increased specific memories. General AM and omissions at baseline respectively predicted lower anxiety and dysfunctional attitudes improvement following therapy, but the improvement of AM did not explain the impact of MBCT on depression and dysfunctional attitudes improvement. Limits Further studies should consider patients’ therapeutic adherence and mechanisms involved in MBCT in order to better apprehend how MBCT may reduce dysfunctional attitudes and improve AM in bipolar patients. Conclusion Results are consistent with the hypothesis that MBCT reduces cognitive reactivity and AM impairment in bipolar disorders. Findings suggest that AM training prior to MBCT may influence MBCT efficacy, but that MBCT efficacy on AM and clinical symptoms are non-related phenomena

Temperament and Character Inventory in Homicidal, Nonaddicted Paranoid Schizophrenic Patients: A Preliminary Study

International audienceThis study assessed the personalities of 13 murderer schizophrenics using Cloninger's Temperament and Character Inventory, controlling different factors such as institution, treatment, detention or loss of liberty, and can discriminate between schizophrenic patients involved in homicide, schizophrenics with no past violent behavior, paranoiac murderers, and imprisoned murderers with no psychiatric history. Results show significantly that murderer schizophrenics had significantly higher scores on the subscale, Self-transcendence, than other groups, which suggests that Self-transcendence as measured may be an aggravating factor for schizophrenia and may be found in the personality of schizophrenic subjects who performed homicidal acts. This dimension constitutes a way and an additional element for diagnosis not available with the DSM–IV criteria. It may help understanding and predicting violent behavior among schizophrenic patients

The boundaries of cooperation : sharing and coupling from ethology to neuroscience

Cooperation is usually described as a human tendency to act jointly that involves helping, sharing, and acting prosocially. Nonetheless clues of cooperative actions can be found also in non-humans animals, as described in the first section of the present work. Even if such behaviors have been conventionally attributed to the research of immediate benefits within the animal world, some recent experimental evidence highlighted that, in highly social species, the effects of cooperative actions on others' wellbeing may constitute a reward per se, thus suggesting that a strictly economic perspective can't exhaust the meaning of cooperative decisions in animals. Here we propose, in the second section, that a deeper explanation concerning cognitive and emotional abilities in both humans and animals should be taken into account. Finally, the last part of the paper will be devoted to the description of synchronization patterns in humans within complex neuroscientific experimental paradigms, such as hyperscanning

Échelle d'ajustement dyadique : intérêts cliniques d'une révision et validation d'une version abrégée

International audienceRésumé Les problèmes de couples constituent une des principales causes de consultation en psychothérapie individuelle. La Dyadic Adjustment Scale (DAS ; J Marriage Fam 38 (1976) 15-28) est l'un des outils les plus utilisés pour évaluer l'ajustement marital. Malgré ses qualités et sa capacité à distinguer des personnes selon leur niveau de détresse conjugale, sa structure reste critiquée. Une profonde révision factorielle a donc été réalisée à partir des réponses de 246 participants. La solution optimale se répartit selon deux facteurs -- " le degré d'accord " et " la qualité des interactions maritales " -- avec 16 items et 52 % de variance expliquée. La stabilité de la structure a été vérifiée à l'aide de deux échantillons. Les réponses des hommes et des femmes suivent la même structure. Enfin, cette échelle pouvant être utilisée pour comparer le niveau de satisfaction des conjoints au sein d'un même couple, il a été vérifié que la différence des réponses aux items entre les partenaires suivait la même structure. Une analyse factorielle complémentaire de second ordre soutient à la fois un facteur général d'ajustement et cette organisation en deux composantes. Cette forme abrégée est satisfaisante en termes de validité et d'utilisation en recherche et en clinique. SummaryBackground The problems associated with people interaction within a couple is one of the principal causes for consultations in individual psychotherapy. The Dyadic Adjustment Scale (DAS; J Marriage Fam 38 (1976) 15-28) is regarded as the most used evaluation tool of marital adjustment. To date, however, there is no fully satisfactory version of the test, either because the revised versions have undergone an over simplification of the underlying model, or the revised versions have remained faithful to the postulates of the DAS but have not been fully validated. Moreover, from a clinical point of view, marital therapy must be associated with the analysis of both convergences and divergences between the adjustment of each partner. Hence, the DAS could be viewed as a tool that is particularly adapted to such an evaluation. Nevertheless, a precise analysis of DAS is required in order to grasp both the individual profiles and the pattern differences between the individuals. Design of the study We conducted a series of studies with the aim to (1) test once more the limits of the original DAS structure and, (2) identify a simple structure for the tool through exploratory factor analysis. First, we showed that our analyses provided the possibility to simplify the inventory. Hence, it was possible to decrease the number of scales as well as the number of items used. Contrary to the unidimensional tendency and the extreme simplification of the number of items, we were able to identify furthermore the precise constructs taken into account by the DAS, and to proceed in a rigorous and validated analysis of two distinct samples. Second, we examined the stability of the structure according to the sex of both respondents. Finally, we checked the relevance of this factorial structure for the better understanding of the differences between partner interactions within the couple. Participants' data were collected from a sample of 123 couples. Results showed that the structure reported by Spanier is not replicated. After a first elimination of items on criteria of asymmetry and a weak capacity for discrimination, we ran factor analysis with the answers of the sub sample of validation. We chose principal components analysis with orthogonal rotations in order to identify the most independent constructs. Sixteen items were preserved. Results Results showed that they were organized according to two dimensions that explain 52% of the variance. The first factor relates to the degree of agreement in couples (DA). Ten items present loadings with this component explaining 32% of the variance. The second dimension, made up of six items, corresponds to the quality of the dyadic interactions (IQ). This factor explains 20% of the variance. The correlation between the scales that were derived from this analysis was found to be r = 0.50 (p < 0.01). The cross-validation analysis performed on the subjects' answers was found to follow the same factorial structure, just as the male and female samples did. Our analyses further highlighted the relevance of a hierarchical structure and consequently, the possibility of calculating a total score. The coefficients of internal consistency were 0.89 for the total scale and the scale of degree of agreement, and 0.75 for the scale of quality of the interactions. As the DAS-16 was strongly correlated with the full DAS version, the possibility of score equivalence was thus confirmed. In conclusion, our results provide a unidimensional structure and a two-dimensional comprehension of marital adjustments. The factors were shown to be stable and similar for sex. Moreover, one of the weaknesses of the original version of the DAS was the lack of independence of the scales. Our version of the DAS allows the identification of factors that are moderately correlated. Finally, one of the originalities of our work is the validation of the abbreviated form that used as indicator the differences between partner interactions within a given couple

Electrophysiological evidence for abnormal error monitoring in recurrent major depressive disorder

Previous neuroimaging work has identified anterior cingulate cortex (ACC) abnormalities in recurrent major depressive disorder (MDD), implicating a persistent underlying predisposition to depression. Error-monitoring studies in MDD, as indexed by error-related negativity (ERN), have yielded conflicting results, probably because of task differences or confounds in patient samples. ERN patterns were examined in remitted (n=19) and acutely depressed (n=17) patients, classified as a function of illness stage, and their matched controls in a go/no-go task using high-density ERPs. Results showed an abnormally larger ERN (p<.05) in remitted patients, especially in younger cases. Overall, ERN was found to decrease with age across all groups. The findings of increased ERN in remitted depression may implicate an overactive ACC associated with a hypervigilant error-monitoring system. The observed tendency of ERN reduction in a severe depressive state failed to reach statistical significance