Effect of Mindfulness-Based Stress Reduction on Pain Severity and Mindful Awareness in Patients With Tension Headache: A Randomized Controlled Clinical Trial

Background: Programs to improve the pain and health status in illnesses with pain such as headache are still in their infancy. Mindfulness-based stress reduction (MBSR) is a new psychotherapy that appears to be effective in treating chronic pain. Objectives: This study evaluated efficacy of MBSR in improving pain severity and mindful awareness in patients with tension headache. Patients and Methods: This study was a randomized controlled clinical trial that was conducted in 2012 in Shahid Beheshti Hospital of Kashan City. Sixty patients who were diagnosed with tension-type headache according to the International Headache Classification Subcommittee were randomly assigned to treatment as usual (TAU) or MBSR groups. The MBSR group received eight weekly treatments. Any session lasted 120 minutes. The sessions were based on MBSR protocol. Diary scale for measuring headache and Mindful Attention Awareness Scale (MAAS) were administered at pretreatment, and posttreatment, and three-month follow-up in both groups. The data was analyzed using repeated measures analysis of variance. Results: The mean of pain severity was 7.36 ± 1.25 before intervention that was significantly reduced to 5.62 ± 1.74 and 6.07 ± 1.08 after the intervention and follow-up (P < 0.001). In addition, the MBSR group showed higher scores in mindful awareness in comparison with the control group at posttest session. The mean of mindful awareness before intervention was 34.9 ± 10.5 and changed to 53.8 ± 15.5 and 40.7 ± 10.9 after the intervention and follow-up sessions (P < 0.001). Conclusions: MBSR could reduce pain and improve mindfulness skills in patients with tension headache. It appears that MBSR is an effective psychotherapy for treatment of patients with tension headache

Effects of Dialectical Behavior Therapy on Executive Functions, Emotion Regulation, and Mindfulness in Bipolar Disorder

Bipolar disorder (BD) is a debilitating psychiatric disorder characterized by recurrent depression, manic, and hypomanic episodes. Patients with BD are also likely to experience difficulties with executive functions and emotion regulation. The literature review states that little research has been done on dialectical behavior therapy (DBT) for BD, and there has not been an examination of this therapy on BD patients� executive functions and emotion regulation. The present study addresses this absence of research with a pilot study on 60 BD patients. Participants in the intervention group received twelve 90-min sessions adapted from a standard DBT protocol for BD and the control group was on a wait-list for treatment. Participants completed measures of mental wellbeing and executive functioning at baseline, immediately after the intervention, and 3 months later as a follow-up. Results showed that the intervention group improved over time, having lower scores in mania, depression, and emotion disregulation than the control group post-treatment. Further, the intervention group had higher scores in mindfulness, planning, problem-solving, and cognitive flexibility than the control group. The findings highlight that DBT, alongside prescription medication, can be an effective therapy for BD as well as leading to reduced manic and depression symptoms and improved executive functions, emotion regulation, and mindfulness. © 2019, Springer Science+Business Media, LLC, part of Springer Nature

Effect of Metacognitive Skills Training on Metacognitive Awareness, Self-Efficacy and Academic Achievement of University Students

Aims: Metacognition deals with active monitoring and adjusting the results and cognitive processes to gain the purpose. Academic self-efficacy is dependent on students&rsquo; perception of learning and is an important factor in the success of students reasoning. This study aimed to determine the effectiveness of metacognitive skills training on metacognitive awareness, self-efficacy and academic achievement in university students. Materials &amp; Methods: This semi-experimental study with a pretest-posttest controlled approach was conducted in all students of Kashan University of Medical Sciences in 2014. 50 participants were selected by cluster sampling and were randomly divided into 2 intervention and control groups. Metacognitive awareness of reading strategies inventory (MARSI) and General Self-efficacy Scale were used for data gathering. Data were analyzed using ANCOVA test. Findings: There were significant difference between the score of the pretest and posttest of the intervention group in both self-efficacy and metacognition awareness. In addition, there were significant differences between posttest scores of intervention and control groups in self-efficacy (p&lt;0.001; F=42.46) and cognitive awareness (p&lt;0.001; F=190.99), but there was no significant difference (p=0.072; F=3.39) in academic achievement between the intervention and control groups&rsquo; posttest scores. Conclusion: Metacognitive training affects metacognitive awareness and self-efficacy but it is not founded for academic achievement

Acid folic supplementation in major depressive disorder treatment: A double-blind randomized clinical trial

Background: Augmentation therapy involves the addition of a second drug, such as mood stabilizers, antipsychotics, and nutritional supplements, to a primary antidepressant treatment. Studies on adding folic acid to a preexisting antidepressive regimen as a form of augmentation therapy have had different and even controversial results. Objectives: This study aimed to determine the effects that adding folic acid to a pharmaceutical diet with citalopram has on the treatment of depression. Methods: This double-blind randomized clinical trial was conducted in Kashan, Iran on 90 patients who suffered from depression. Patients were allocated to study groups using random permuted blocks. One group (n=45) received a dosage of 20 mg citalopram in combination with 2.5mgfolic acid on a daily basis, and the other group (n=45) received the same daily dose of citalopram with a placebo for eight weeks. To measure the severity of each patient’s depression, the Beck depression inventory II (BDI-II) questionnaire was used prior to starting the antidepressant therapy and was repeated four, six, and eight weeks after beginning the treatment. A reduction from the original BDI-II scores that was greater than 50% was considered to be a response to treatment. Results: The average depression scores before treatment were 30.11±10.41 in the intervention group and 31.24±10.26 in the control group (P=0.6). At the end of the study, the depression scores in the intervention and the control groups were 13.31±6.57 and 19.11±8.59, respectively (P<0.001). A reduction in the average depression scores of the intervention group was statistically significant after six and eight weeks (P=0.01 and P=0.001, respectively). At the end of the study, the frequency of response to treatment was 73.3% in the intervention group and 40.0% in the control group (P<0.001). Conclusions: Folic acid, when used as a complementary therapy, can improve a patient’s response to antidepressants used for the treatment of major depression

Comparison of anxiety and depression symptoms between male daily smokers and nondaily smokers resident in Kashan city during 2016-2017

Background: Several studies have shown the dangers of cigarette smoking among daily smokers. However, another group that has recently been investigated is a nondaily smoking group. The nondaily smokers experience the adverse health effects of smoking more than nonsmokers. This study aimed to evaluate the prevalence of depression and anxiety among daily and nondaily smokers. Materials and Methods: In this cross-sectional study with snowball sampling, 385 male residents of Kashan were selected and divided into three groups of daily smokers (118), nondaily smokers (114) and nonsmokers (135). Depression and anxiety were measured by the Beck depression inventory and beck anxiety inventory. Results: The results of the current study showed no significant difference in the prevalence of depression and anxiety in both daily and nondaily smokers (P&lt;0.05). Also, depression and anxiety levels in daily smokers and nondaily smokers were significantly higher than nonsmokers (P&lt;0.05). Conclusion: The prevalence of depression and anxiety among nondaily smokers is the same as the daily smokers. Thus, in both groups, in addition to smoking, special attention should be paid to anxiety and depression disorders

Efficacy of Mindfulness-Based Stress Reduction on Mood States of Veterans With Post-Traumatic Stress Disorder

Background: Mood and negative emotional states and their regulation in patients with post-traumatic stress disorder have family, social and employment problems. Practices that could be helpful in this area are highly important. Objectives: The current study aimed to investigate the influence of mindfulness-based stress reduction (MBSR) in improving mood state of combat veterans. Patients and Methods: In this randomized clinical trial study, participants were selected from the patients referring to the counseling center of the veterans. The participants had post-traumatic stress disorder according to diagnostic and statistical manual of mental disorders, fourth edition, text review (DSM-IV-TR). Sixty- two patients were randomly assigned into 2 groups: (31 for MBSR and 31 for the control group). Results: Analysis showed that there were no significant differences between the groups at baseline (P < 0.05). Comparison of the results between the two groups before the two-step test showed that anger and vitality scales between the two groups have no significant differences, but on the other scales (depression, dizziness, fatigue and tension), differences between pre and post-test groups were significant in the two groups. Conclusions: It was concluded that mindfulness-based stress reduction is a useful method to regulate the mood state in veterans with post-traumatic stress disorder (PTSD) who have difficulties in mood and emotions in Kashan

Role of mindfulness, psychological flexibility and integrative self-knowledge on psychological well-being among the university students

Background: Studies has shown the effect on environmental conditions on psychological well-being. In this regard, psychological characteristics have an important role. This study aimed to investigate the role of mindfulness, psychological flexibility and integrative self -knowledge amonge the university students. Material and Methods: This cross-sectional study was performed on the students of Kashan university of medical sciences (n=300) and based on quota sampling, a number of students (n=241) were selected based on the faculty and the major of the study. The administered tools were Ryff scale of psychological well-being (RSPWB-18), mindfulness (MAAS), acceptance and actions (AAQ-II) questionnaires and integrative self-knowledge scale (ISKS). Finally the data were analyzed using correlation and stepwise regression. Results: Pearson correlation disclosed a positive and considerable relation between mindfulness, integrative self-knowledge, psychological flexibility and psychological well-being. In addition, the findings showed significant role of mindfulness, integrative self-knowledge and psychological flexibility to predict the psychological well-being of the students; so these variables can predict 21 of psychological wellbeing changes. Conclusion: This study disclosed that the mindfulness, psychological flexibility and integrative self -knowledge can in part specify the variance of psychological well-being

Mindfulness Training and Quality of Life Among Pregnant Women: A Randomized Clinical Trial

quality of life (QOL). Objectives: The current study aimed to examine the effect of mindfulness training on QOL among pregnant females. Methods: In this clinical trial, 80 pregnant females eligible for inclusion were selected by convenience sampling method from Akramian, Taleghani and Ketabchi health centers in Kashan, Iran. The participants were randomly allocated into experimental and control groups (n = 40, each group) by block randomization method. Females in the experimental group received eight sessions of 90-minute mindfulness training, while females in the control group only received routine prenatal care services. Data were collected using a demographic questionnaire and a short-form 36 (SF-36) health survey questionnaire to measure the QOL. Chi-square, independent samples T-test and repeated measures analysis of variance were used to analyze the data. Results: The results showed that the totalQOLscore and subscales of emotional role functioning, vitality, mental health, social functioning and general health in the experimental group had significant changes compared to those of the control group. However, there was no significant difference between other subscales. The mean total QOL score before intervention was 44.84 � 4.44 and after intervention and follow-up was 50.42�3.71 and 49.42�5.24, respectively (P < 0.05). Conclusions: Mindfulness training can be used as a psychological prenatal care to moderate negative emotions, improve social functioning and cope with psychological and physical changes

Personality Types and Emotional Intelligence as Predictors of Academic Achievement in Students at Kashan University of Medical Sciences

Background: Type of personality and emotional intelligence affects a person’s mental function and capabilities, which can influence academic achievement. Objectives: This study was designed to evaluate the relationship between emotional intelligence, type of character and academic achievement. Materials and Methods: This is a cross-sectional study on students of Kashan University of Medical Sciences in 2012. In total 221 students participated in the study. In addition to demographic information, a Five Factor Personality Questionnaire and Emotional Quotient Inventory were used. Participants completed questionnaires in their classrooms. Data were analyzed using SPSS software version 16. Descriptive statistics were calculated and analysis of variance and regression analysis were used. Results: Students in the various disciplines were not statistically different in terms of personality. Students with different grade point averages were significantly different in relation to: problem-solving, happiness, self-actualization, optimism, self-respect, flexibility and total emotional quotient (EQ) scores (P < 0.05). However, no statistically significant differences were observed between personality types in students with different grade point average. All variables (EQ, agreeableness, extroversion, openness, consciousness) except neuroticism were excluded from the regression model. Conclusions: Some components of personality types and emotional intelligence are predictors of academic achievement. Therefore, attention to these issues in students is needed to ensure the best achievement gains