Processing of Emotion in Functional Neurological Disorder

Emotions have traditionally been considered crucial in the development of functional neurological disorder, but the evidence underpinning this association is not clear. We aimed to summarize evidence for association between functional neurological disorder and emotions as formulated by Breuer and Freud in their conception of hysterical conversion. Based on a systematic literature search, we identified 34 controlled studies and categorized them into four groups: (i) autonomic arousal, (ii) emotion-motion interactions, (iii) social modulation of symptoms, and (iv) bodily awareness in FND. We found evidence for autonomic dysregulation in FND; convergent neuroimaging findings implicate abnormal limbic-motor interactions in response to emotional stimuli in FND. Our results do not provide enough empirical evidence for social modulation of the symptoms, but there is a clinical support for the role of suggestion and placebo in FND. Our results provide evidence for abnormal bodily awareness in FND. Based on these findings, we propose that functional neurological symptoms are forms of emotional reactions shaped into symptoms by previous experience with illness and possibly reinforced by actual social contexts. Additional research should investigate the effect of social context on the intensity of functional neurological symptoms and associated brain regions

"How do you feel now and here""? Neural correlates of emotional awareness"""

Přehledový článek přináší pohled současných neurověd na koncept emočního uvědomění. Popisuje neurofyziologické mechanismy, které stojí vjeho pozadí a zasazuje tyto poznatky do kontextu vývojové psychologie a psychoterapie.The aim of this article is to provide an overview of current neuroscience findings about the emotional awareness concept. We describe the neurophysiological mechanisms that stand behind it and put these findings into the context of developmental psychology and psychotherapy. Miroslav Světlák, Faculty of Medicine, Masaryk University, Brno; Psychiatric Clinic, First Faculty of Medicine, Charles University, Prague, Czech Republic e-mail: [email protected] Roman, Faculty of Medicine, Masaryk University, Brno,Czech Republic e-mail: [email protected] Obereignerů, Department of Psychology, Faculty of Arts, Palacký University in Olomouc, Czech Republic e-mail: [email protected] Damborská, Faculty of Medicine, Masaryk University, Brno, Czech Republic e-mail: [email protected]

The effectiveness of three mobile-based psychological interventions in reducing psychological distress and preventing stress-related changes in the psycho-neuro-endocrine-immune network in breast cancer survivors: Study protocol for a randomised controlled trial

Background: A growing body of literature shows that psychological distress is not only a major threat to psychological well-being but can also have a significant impact on physical health. In cancer patients, it can negatively affect prognosis and posttreatment recovery processes. Since face-to-face psychological interventions are often inaccessible to cancer patients, researchers have recently been focusing on the effectiveness of eHealth adaptations of well-established approaches. In this context, there has been a call for high-quality randomised controlled trials that would allow for a direct comparison of different approaches, potentially addressing different needs and preferences of patients, and also for more systematic research focusing on how psychological interventions affect not only psychological but also biological markers of stress. Both of these questions are addressed in the present study. Methods: A randomised controlled trial will be carried out to test and compare the effectiveness of three eight-week eHealth programmes for the mental health support of cancer patients. All programmes will be delivered through the same application for mobile devices MOU MindCare. N = 440 of breast cancer survivors will be recruited at the end of their adjuvant treatment (chemotherapy, radiotherapy, or both) and randomly assigned to one of the three interventions – Mindfulness-Based Cognitive Therapy for Cancer (MBCT-Ca), Positive Psychology (PP), or Autogenic Training (AT) – or the treatment-as-usual (TAU) control group. Psychological and biological markers of stress and adaptive functioning will be assessed at baseline (T0), post-treatment (T1), three-month follow-up (T2), and nine-month follow-up (T3). Primary outcomes will include heart-rate variability and self-report measures of depression, anxiety, perceived stress, general quality of life, and positive mental health. Secondary outcomes will include the levels of serum cortisol and immunomarkers, sleep quality, fatigue, common health symptoms, and several transdiagnostic psychological variables that are expected to be specifically affected by the MBCT-Ca and PP interventions, including dispositional mindfulness, emotion regulation, self-compassion, perceived hope, and gratitude. The data will be analysed using the mixed model repeated measures (MMRM) approach. Discussion: This trial is unique in comparing three different eHealth interventions for cancer patients based on three well-established approaches to mental health support delivered on the same platform. The study will allow us to examine whether different types of interventions affect different indicators of mental health. In addition, it will provide valuable data regarding the effects of stress-reducing psychological interventions on the biomarkers of stress playing an essential role in cancer recovery processes and general health