Effects of Emotional Images on Cardiovascular Responses in Males with Coronary Artery Disease and in Healthy Males: The Role of Sensation Seeking

Introduction: Individuals exposed to certain types of images, based on their personality features, experience different emotional states and physiological responses. The present study addressed the effects of stressful and pleasant stimuli on blood pressure and heart rate in male patients with coronary problems and healthy males based on sensation seeking levels.Methods: One hundred and seventy eight male patients with coronary artery diseases referred to Madani Heart Hospital, Tabriz, Iran; and 185 healthy male subjects completed the Sensation Seeking Scale-form V (SSS-V). After obtaining acceptable scores, 100 patients and 100 healthy males were classified in four groups: high sensation seeker patients, low sensation seeker patients, high sensation seeker healthy subjects, and low sensation seeker healthy subjects (each group with 50 samples aged 30-49). First, blood pressures and heart rates were recorded before stimulus induction. Then, the participants were exposed to stressor pictures. After 15 minutes of relaxation, and a cognitive task, the participants were exposed to pleasant pictures. The blood pressure and heart rate were recorded after presenting the two stimuli.Results: High sensation seeker patients achieved lower scores in diastolic blood pressure in comparison with low sensation seeker patients after presenting the stressful stimulus, and healthy high sensation seekers achieved lower scores in systolic blood pressure in comparison with healthy low sensation seekers presented with pleasant stimulus.Conclusions: Low sensation seeker patients experienced negative emotions more than high sensation seeker patients. Therefore, the role of induced mood states may be important in relation to physical health

A Gender-Based Study of Sensation Seeking in Patients with Coronary Artery Disease Compared with Healthy Subjects

Introduction: The relationship between psychological factors and Coronary Artery Disease (CAD) is one of the topics that has occupied the minds of researchers in the field of health psychology. The present research aimed at studying the levels of sensation seeking in coronary patients and healthy subjects.Methods: Two hundred and twenty-three coronary patients and 255 healthy subjects completed the Sensation Seeking Scale-form V (SSS–V). Next, 100 coronary cases (50 males and 50 females) that had referred to Madani Heart Hospital, Tabriz, Iran, and 100 healthy subjects, were compared in terms of levels of sensation-seeking. All participants were selected by purposeful sampling (aged 25 to 64 years). Data were analyzed by Multivariate Analysis of Variance (MANOVA) through the SPSS 18 software.Results: Coronary male patients scored higher than coronary female patients in thrill and adventure seeking and healthy males scored higher than healthy females in boredom susceptibility. Healthy females scored higher than coronary females in thrill and adventure seeking, and in boredom susceptibility subscale, healthy males scored higher than coronary males.Conclusions: The identification of individuals with sensation seeking features will allow the identification of susceptible coronary patients for preventive procedures

Emotional and Behavioral Problems of Afghan Refugees and War-Zone Adolescents

"nObjective: Wars' stress and violence can have tremendous effects on children's and adolescents' health and general well being; it may result in patterns of bio-psychosocial problems. The goal of this study was to compare emotional and behavioral problems in Afghan refugees and war-zone adolescents. "n Method: One hundred and eighty high school students (90 students in the refugee group and 90 in the war-zone group) in Harat were included in this research. All participants completed the Youth Self-Report (YSR). War zone and refugee adolescents were compared based on their scores on different scales of behavioral and emotional problems. "n Results: War-zone adolescents scored significantly higher on Anxious/Depression, Withdrawn, Somatic Complaints, Attention Problems, and Internalizing Problems scales than refugee adolescents. In this study, no significant difference was found between the two groups on Social Problems, Thought Problems, Delinquent Behavior, Aggressive Behavior, and Externalizing scales. "nConclusion: Findings revealed that although asylum is not an ideal condition for children's and adolescents' psychological development and prosperity, it can have a protective role in comparison with war zone's circumstances. Further investigation is needed, however, to elucidate the lack of significant differences in externalizing scales among war zone and refugee adolescent

The Effect of Peers Support on Postpartum Depression: A Single-Blind Randomized Clinical Trial

Introduction: Postpartum depression and its consequences not only involve mothers and their children but it will also affect their families. Therefore, this study aimed to investigate the effect of mothers receiving peer support on postpartum depression. Methods: 100 eligible primiparous women participated in a randomized clinical trial. The intervention group received phone calls by their peers from the last three months of pregnancy until two months after delivery. The control group only had access to routine care. Both groups in the second month after delivery were checked regarding depression using Edinburgh Postnatal Depression Scale. Data analysis was performed using independent t-test, chi-square test and covariance analysis. Results: Mean depression score before intervention was 13.92 (3.23) in the control group and 14.06 (3.12) in the intervention group. In week 8 after delivery, mean score of depression in control group was 13.29 (4.08) but in the intervention group it was reduced to 10.25 (4.18). Difference in the reduction of mean postpartum depression score between the two groups showed statistically significant difference (p < 0.001). Conclusion: This study showed that peer support was effective in the prevention of postpartum depression, therefore, it is recommended to be used in the reduction of postpartum depression