Biomedical subjects

M A Lau

Publications and source records attributed to M A Lau.

4 recordsLinked to original sources

PubMed2000

Prevention of relapse/recurrence in major depression by mindfulness-based cognitive therapy.

This study evaluated mindfulness-based cognitive therapy (MBCT), a group intervention designed to train recovered recurrently depressed patients to disengage from dysphoria-activated depressogenic thinking that may mediate relapse/recurrence. Recovered recurrently depressed patients (n = 145) were randomized to continue with treatment as usual or, in addition, to receive MBCT. Relapse/recurrence to major depression was assessed over a 60-week study period. For patients with 3 or more previous episodes of depression (77% of the sample), MBCT significantly reduced risk of relapse/recurrence. For patients with only 2 previous episodes, MBCT did not reduce relapse/recurrence. MBCT offers a promising cost-efficient psychological approach to preventing relapse/recurrence in recovered recurrently depressed patients.

Adult↗

PubMed1995

Provocation, acute alcohol intoxication, cognitive performance, and aggression.

This study investigated the relationships between provocation, acute alcohol intoxication, impaired frontal-lobe function, and aggressive behavior. The authors ranked 114 men according to their performance on two neuropsychological tests associated with frontal-lobe function. Forty-eight men (24 with scores in the upper and 24 with scores in the lower performance quartiles) participated in the full study. Half completed and aggression task while intoxicated, the remainder while sober. Aggression was defined as shock intensity delivered to a sham opponent. Shock intensity significantly increased as a main effect of provocation, alcohol intoxication, and lower cognitive performance. Furthermore, provocation interacted significantly with test performance such that individuals in the lower cognitive performance quartile responded to increased provocation with heightened aggression.

Adolescent↗

PubMed1994

Alcohol and the Taylor aggression paradigm: a repeated measures study.

Acute alcohol intoxication has been shown to increase physical aggression in the laboratory as measured by the Taylor aggression paradigm with independent groups. Because it would be advantageous to use the Taylor paradigm in a repeated measures design to examine individual differences, the present study compared the performance of subjects on two counterbalanced occasions: when they were intoxicated and when they were sober. Order of testing significantly interacted with drug condition for the aggression measures and pain threshold. However, an analysis of the ratio of pain threshold to shock intensity, and to total aggression, revealed the procedure to be useful in understanding one aspect of how alcohol modulates aggression. The results suggest that acute alcohol intoxication interferes with the ability to integrate previously acquired knowledge in the formulation of behavioral strategies.

Adolescent↗

PubMed1993

A biosocial model of the alcohol-aggression relationship.

Four of alcohol's dose- and rate-dependent pharmacological properties may increase the likelihood of human aggression. As an anxiolytic, alcohol is capable of reducing the inhibitory effect of fear on manifestation of aggressive behavior. As a psychomotor stimulant, alcohol can potentiate aggressive behavior, once evoked, or lower the threshold for such evocation. Alcohol-related disruption of certain higher order cognitive functions may reduce the inhibitory control generally exercised by previously established knowledge and decrease ability to plan in the face of threat or punishment. Finally, alcohol's ability to increase pain sensitivity may increase the likelihood of defensive aggression. Discussion of the nature and relevance of these pharmacological properties is structured according to a heuristic and synthetic schema, predicated upon consideration of an inhibitory neuropsychological structure--the individually and culturally determined general expectancy set.

Aggression↗