Is it necessary to measure all brain regions for the assessment of PAF?

From decades of research, electroencephalography (EEG) has been proved as a potential non-invasive medical technique to measure the electrophysiological activities of brain. Alpha is one of the most prominent frequency bands of EEG because of its applications in cognitive enhancement and biofeedback methods. 300 participants were included in the present study to investigate the relationships between their cognitive performance and Peak Alpha Frequency (PAF). Brain activity was recorded from all significant brain regions in 250 participants and only from occipital region in 50 participants. The aim of the present study was to ensure the brain region which is the most dominant one to measure PAF/ IAF. Power Spectrum Density (PSD) method was used for EEG signal analysis. Interrelationship among PAF, IAF and PAF of six individual electrode positions was also explored. Findings reveled that parieto- occipital electrode points are sufficient to assess one’s peak alpha frequency

DISSOCIATIVE PHENOMENOLOGY AND GENERAL HEALTH IN NORMAL POPULATION

Background: Dissociative symptoms are most commonly found in females and adolescents, and when discussing their background, they can be from lower socio-economic backgrounds and rural areas. They are always preceded by psychosocial stressors. Dissociative disorders previously known as “hysteria” have been described since antiquity and Hippocrates even hypothesised “wandering uterus” to be the cause for dissociation in females. With the advances in science, there has been shift from these religious and spiritual concepts to a scientific basis for dissociation. Aim: To assess the dissociative phenomenology in normal population and to assess the subjective health in normal population. Methods: A group of 100 (50 females & 50 males) were selected from the community using a snowball sampling technique. Tools: Socio-demographic data sheet, General Health Questionnaire-12 and Dissociative Experience Scale-II were used. Results: The study found that females differ from males in the reporting of subjective health rating (X2=5.76, p=0.01) and similar results shown in terms of dissociative phenomenology (X2=67.76, p=0.001). Discussion: It has been found that only 4% from the female group and 2% from the male group rated their health under the “normal” category. 52% of females and 64% of males were categorised under “mild ill health” and 24% to 26% were in “moderate ill health”, whereas 20% of female participants and 8% of male participants rated their health as “severely ill”. In another domain of the study, dissociative phenomenology, 32% of female participants reported severe dissociative symptoms and 38% of male participants also showed similar results. Conclusion: Dissociative disorder significantly affects the population but it is hard to diagnose due to factors such as; cultural factors, socio-economic factors etc. The study shows clearly that dissociative symptoms are found in the general population also

ROLE OF PSYCHOLOGICAL STRESSORS IN DISSOCIATIVE PHENOMENOLOGY

Background: Dissociative phenomena have been observed in clinical populations as an independent diagnostic category as well as in non-clinical populations. It has been observed that a person with dissociation has relatively more adverse stressful life experiences than healthy controls. Various studies indicated that stressful life events may have a causative role in dissociative disorders, however findings are inconsistent. Objectives: To study this link the present study has been planned with the aim to assess and compare stressful life events and dissociative experience in patients with dissociative disorders and healthy controls. Methods: The study comprises 80 participants (40 dissociative patients and 40 healthy controls). In the sample total, 16 males and 64 females were enrolled. All participants assessed using the Presumptive Stressful Life Events Scale and Multidimensional Inventory of Dissociation. Healthy controls were screened by the General Health Questionnaire-12. Results: In the results of both groups have significant difference in the experience of life time psychological stress [t=2.92; p=0.05] and the correlation positively related with dissociative experiences and stressful life events. The finding from regression analysis indicates that the degree of life time stress emerged as a predictor of dissociative psychopathology treatment outcome (R2= 0.23, Beta coefficient = 0.48, p = 0.000, 95% Cl = 0.21- 0.50). This indicates that patients who had significantly higher psychological stress predicted dissociative psychopathology. Conclusion: A significant difference was found between both groups in the Presumptive Stressful Life Events Scale, the clinical population has higher scores than the normal population and higher psychological stress predicted dissociative psychopathology

A comparative study on distressful events in affective disorder and normal control

Background: Life events’ stresses are concerned with situational encounters and the meaning that a person attaches to such encounters. It refers to our feeling; it is something of importance to us and is being jeopardised by events in our daily life, and the stressful life events are causally linked to a variety of undesirable effects which influence our performance and health. Aim: This study was planned for assessment and comparison of stressful life events between mood disorder and normal people. Materials and methods: In this study, total 90 participants (30 manic patients, 30 depressive patients, and 30 normal participants) were recruited and severity of symptoms was assessed by Young Mania Rating Scale and Beck Depression Inventory. Normal participants were screened by General Health Questionnaire. Presumptive Stressful Life Events Scale was used for both groups for assessment of stressful life events. Findings and conclusion: The present study results revealed that clinical group had higher score on stressful life events as compared to normal participants. Patients with depression had more stressful life events as compared to the mania and normal population. Overall, life events precede the mood symptoms’ occurrence