Living in the Seventies

An Australian teenager living in Jakarta in the 1970s meets an Iraqi diplomat and is attracted by the exotic

The Manchester Color Wheel: development of a novel way of identifying color choice and its validation in healthy, anxious and depressed individuals

Abstract Background For the purposes of our research programme we needed a simple, reliable and validated method for allowing choice of a color in response to a series of questions. On reviewing the literature no such instrument was available and this study aimed to rectify this situation. This was achieved by developing a simple method of presenting a series of colors to people validating it in healthy volunteers and in individuals where color choice might be distorted, namely anxiety and depression. Methods A series of different presentations of four shades of eight colors and grey, as well as black and white were evaluated. 'Mood', 'favourite' and 'drawn to' colors were assessed in 105 healthy, 108 anxious and 110 depressed participants. The positive, neutral or negative attribution of these colors was recorded in a further 204 healthy volunteers. Results The circular presentation of colors was most favoured (Color Wheel). Yellow was the most 'drawn to' color and blue the commonest 'favourite' color in all subjects. Yellow was most often associated with a normal mood and grey with an anxious or depressed mood. Different shades of the same color had completely different positive or negative connotations. Reproducibility was exceptionally high when color choice was recorded in positive, neutral or negative terms. Conclusions The Color Wheel could be used to assess health status, mood or even treatment outcome in a variety of clinical situations. It may also have utility in circumstances where verbal communication may not be optimal, such as with children.</p

Sweat distribution and perceived wetness across the human foot [Abstract]

Sweat distribution and perceived wetness across the human foot [Abstract

A randomised controlled trial of cognitive behaviour therapy for psychosis in a routine clinical service

Objective: To evaluate CBTp delivered by non-expert therapists, using CBT relevant measures. Methods: Participants (N=74) were randomised into immediate therapy or waiting list control groups. The therapy group was offered six months of therapy and followed up three months later. The waiting list group received therapy after waiting nine months (becoming the delayed therapy group). Results: Depression improved in the combined therapy group at both the end of therapy and follow-up. Other significant effects were found in only one of the two therapy groups (positive symptoms; cognitive flexibility; uncontrollability of thoughts) or one of the two timepoints (end of therapy: PANSS general symptoms, anxiety, suicidal ideation, social functioning, resistance to voices; follow-up: power beliefs about voices, negative symptoms). There was no difference in costs between the groups. Conclusions: The only robust improvement was in depression. Nevertheless, there were further encouraging but modest improvements in both emotional and cognitive variables, in addition to psychotic symptoms

Sweat distribution and perceived wetness across the human foot [Abstract]

Sweat distribution and perceived wetness across the human foot [Abstract

Brief Coping Strategy Enhancement for distressing voices: an evaluation in routine clinical practice

Background – hearing voices can be a common and distressing experience. Psychological treatment in the form of Cognitive Behaviour Therapy for Psychosis (CBTp) is effective, but is rarely available to patients. The barriers to increasing access include a lack of time for clinicians to deliver therapy. Emerging evidence is suggesting that CBTp delivered in brief forms can be effective and offer one solution to increasing access. Aims – we adapted an existing form of CBTp, Coping Strategy Enhancement (CSE), to focus specifically on distressing voices in a brief format. This intervention was evaluated within an uncontrolled study conducted in routine clinical practice. Methods - This was a service evaluation comparing pre-post outcomes in patients who had completed CSE over four sessions within a specialist outpatient service within NHS Mental Health Services. The primary outcome was the Distress scale of the Psychotic Symptoms Rating Scale – Auditory Hallucinations (PSYRATS-AH). Results – data were available from 101 patients who had completed therapy. A reduction approaching clinical importance was found on the PSYRATS distress scale post-therapy when compared to the baseline. Conclusions – the findings from this study suggest that CSE, as a focussed and brief form of CBTp can be effective in the treatment of distressing voices within routine clinical practice. Within the context of the limitations of this study, brief CSE may best be viewed as the beginning of a therapeutic conversation and a low-intensity intervention in a stepped approach to the treatment of distressing voices

Endophytic bacterial diversity in the phyllosphere of Amazon Paullinia cupana associated with asymptomatic and symptomatic anthracnose

Background Acting on harmful command hallucinations is a major clinical concern. Our COMMAND CBT trial approximately halved the rate of harmful compliance (OR = 0.45, 95% CI 0.23–0.88, p = 0.021). The focus of the therapy was a single mechanism, the power dimension of voice appraisal, was also significantly reduced. We hypothesised that voice power differential (between voice and voice hearer) was the mediator of the treatment effect. Methods The trial sample (n = 197) was used. A logistic regression model predicting 18-month compliance was used to identify predictors, and an exploratory principal component analysis (PCA) of baseline variables used as potential predictors (confounders) in their own right. Stata's paramed command used to obtain estimates of the direct, indirect and total effects of treatment. Results Voice omnipotence was the best predictor although the PCA identified a highly predictive cognitive-affective dimension comprising: voices’ power, childhood trauma, depression and self-harm. In the mediation analysis, the indirect effect of treatment was fully explained by its effect on the hypothesised mediator: voice power differential. Conclusion Voice power and treatment allocation were the best predictors of harmful compliance up to 18 months; post-treatment, voice power differential measured at nine months was the mediator of the effect of treatment on compliance at 18 months