Biomedical subjects

J van Mens-Verhulst

Publications and source records attributed to J van Mens-Verhulst.

4 recordsLinked to original sources

PubMed1999

Dealing with fatigue: the importance of health-related action patterns.

Fatigue complaints are frequent and important problems affecting people's quality of life and creating puzzles for the General Practitioners they consult. Little is known about what actions people undertake to deal with fatigue, and even less about their success. As revealed by multivariate analyses health-related action patterns can classify people as being particularly successful or unsuccessful in dealing with their complaints of chronic fatigue. This study suggests that a few actions applied in combination and in a concentrated manner constitute the basis for a successful action pattern. The number, type and predictive power of the relevant actions vary depending on the persons in question: having chronic diseases or not and being under 44 or over 44 years old.

Adaptation, Psychological↗

PubMed1997

Sex differences in persistent fatigue.

This study examines factors differentiating women and men who suffer from fatigue. It is based on diaries kept by Dutch citizens over a 21-day period between 1987-88. The majority of those with persistent fatigue complaints (PFs) were male, middle-aged, lower-educated and unemployed, and they had more psychological and psycho-social problems than the incidental fatigue sufferers (IFs). Factors differentiating the PFs from the IFs are not the same for both sexes. Moreover, on a number of socio-demographic variables PF men and women differed less from each other than IF men and women. Future research should focus on the gender-specificity of the factors that lead to the development of persistent fatigue.

Adult↗

PubMed1995

Reinventing the mother-daughter relationship.

Theories on mother-daughter relationships have long been one-sided and biologically biased. The resulting images put the mental and physical health of mothers and daughters at risk. This article examines the mothers' perspective, and highlights the mutuality and dynamics in the mother-daughter relationship. New perspectives for therapeutic activities are opened up.

Adolescent↗

PubMed1991

Perspective of power in therapeutic relationships.

Therapists can have several reasons to reflect on the helping process from a perspective of power. In effect, they all use a theory of power, be it implicit or explicit. If this theory is meant to support therapeutic thoughts and actions, it has to meet several requirements. First, it must recognize the human qualities of therapists, clients, and other people involved. Second, it must account for the complexity and dynamics of therapeutic situations; it must, for example, high-light possible shifts in power differences. Third, it must be applicable to a variety of therapeutic circumstances and systems. This means that the familiar paradigm of control, predictability, simple causality, full rationality and linearity of action must be replaced by an evolutionary paradigm that assumes continuous flows of changes between actors and factors. Some of the emerging patterns get fixed, spontaneously or artificially and become visible as shorter--or longer-lasting--stable patterns on micro- and macro-levels. Power is focussed on by an anarchistic decision-making approach. The (combinations of) people involved are depicted as living, i.e., evolving and learning systems: all actors are supposed to have their own intentions, resources, strategies, interpretations, opportunities, and development. One has to look for power inequalities between the actors on operational, organizational, structural, and cultural decision-making levels. The result is a multi-actor, multidimensional decision-making model for the therapeutic relationship that opens up new possibilities for intervention.

Decision Making↗