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Are patients with COPD psychologically distressed?

This study was designed to assess the level of psychological distress in a heterogeneous group of patients with chronic obstructive pulmonary disease (COPD), and compare them with the general population and psychiatric outpatients. A total of 118 patients with COPD, a random sample of 500 subjects from the general population and 500 psychiatric outpatients participated in this study. The Dutch version of the Symptom Checklist-90-Revised was used to assess general psychological distress. The sample of patients with COPD experienced significantly more psychological distress than the general population and significantly less than psychiatric outpatients. Furthermore, no significant association was found between the severity of the pulmonary disease and the level of psychological distress, although patients with severe or very severe COPD appeared to be at increased risk of depression. Lastly, the pattern of psychological complaints seems comparable in depressed patients with COPD and psychiatric outpatients. Once patients with COPD report suffering from depressive symptoms, the level of distress seems to increase to that found in psychiatric outpatients. In conclusion, in clinical settings in which psychological complaints are not routinely assessed, the Beck Depression Inventory and Symptom Checklist-90-Revised are very useful for drawing attention to depression and psychological distress.

Aged↗

Comparative psychology, a new perspective for the 21st century: up the spiral staircase.

This article responds to the continuing obituaries for Comparative Psychology. We understand the field to be a general psychology, a way of understanding the origins of all behavior of all species. We outline a methodological and conceptual foundation for comparative psychology to enter the new millennium-with an anagenetic and dynamic systems perspective. We see an important role to be played by comparative psychologists in managing resources, increasing our activity in social and political issues, and transcending our traditional role as the study of animal behavior to one that makes significant contributions to psychology and humanity by studying relationships between animals and changing environments, and by providing a historical perspective on human evolution.

Animals↗

Exploring the mental number line: evidence from a dual-task paradigm.

In a parity-judgment task smaller numbers are responded to faster with the left-hand key and vice versa for larger numbers (SNARC effect; Dehaene et al., in Journal of Experimental Psychology: General, 122, 371-396, 1993). We used the psychological refractory period paradigm involving a parity-judgment task and tone-discrimination task to address the question at which stage this effect arises. When the parity-judgment task is performed second, then we found equal SNARC effects for the short and the long SOA. According to the central bottleneck model, this indicates that the effect arises during the response-selection or execution stage. In Experiment 2 the parity-judgment task was performed first. The pattern of results indicates that the SNARC effect originates during the perceptual encoding or response-selection. Together, our results suggest that the SNARC effect originates while the response is selected.

Adult↗

The effects of moderate exercise training on psychological well-being and mood state in women.

The relationship between moderate exercise training (five 45 min sessions/week, brisk walking at 62 beta +/- 2% VO2max for 15 weeks, psychological well-being and mood state was investigated in a group of 35 sedentary, mildly obese women. A 2 (exercise (EX) (N = 18), and nonexercise (NEX) (N = 17) groups) x 3 (baseline, 6-week, 15-week testing sessions) factorial design was used with data analyzed using repeated measures ANOVA. Four psychological tests were administered: Daily Hassles Scale (DHS), General Well-being Schedule (GWB), Spielberger State Anxiety Inventory (S-Anxiety), and Profile of Mood States (POMS). The EX and NEX groups had significantly different patterns of change over time for GWB total scores [F(2,66) = 5.72, p = 0.005] and the GWB subscales 'energy level' and 'freedom from health concern or worry'. Scores for the EX group were elevated at both 6 and 15 weeks. General well-being total scores and subscale 'energy level' scores were significantly correlated with improvement in submaximal cardiorespiratory fitness (r = -0.41, p = 0.014; r = -0.40, p = 0.017, respectively). Exercise training also had a significant effect on frequency but not intensity of DHS scores, and S-Anxiety, with a significant decrease seen in the EX group at 6 weeks but not 15 weeks. Profile of Mood States scores were not significantly related to exercise training. These data support the results of other studies that have reported improvement in general psychological well-being with exercise training.

Adaptation, Psychological↗

A systematic review of the prevalence and covariates of anxiety in caregivers of people with dementia.

BACKGROUND: Caregiving for people with dementia has consistently been linked with psychological problems, usually in terms of caregiver burden, general psychological distress and depressive symptomatology, while morbidity due to anxiety has been relatively neglected in this group. METHODS: We conducted a systematic review of the literature, searching electronic databases, reference lists, relevant systematic reviews and contacting experts in the field. We used Centre for Evidence Based Medicine (CEBM) criteria for inclusion and rating the validity of all studies that reported (1) the prevalence, predictors and covariates of anxiety disorders or anxiety caseness, and (2) covariates and predictors of the level of anxiety symptoms. RESULTS: Thirty-three studies met our inclusion criteria. Clinically, significant anxiety affects about a quarter of caregivers for people with dementia and was more common than in matched controls. Such caregivers have higher anxiety levels than controls, and that confrontative and escape avoidance coping, caregiver burden and poorer caregiver physical health are factors associated with higher anxiety levels from cross-sectional studies. CONCLUSIONS: Coping style may be more associated with anxiety than depression while other covariates (burden and poor physical health) are similar to those for caregiver depression. We found no conclusive evidence about factors associated with anxiety disorders or predicting anxiety from longitudinal studies. Neither care recipient cognition nor ADL impairment; nor caregiver age nor duration of caring are associated with caregiver anxiety levels. Good quality cohort studies are needed to determine whether these factors also predict anxiety disorders.

Aged↗

GENERALIZATION GRADIENTS FOLLOWING TWO-RESPONSE DISCRIMINATION TRAINING.

Stimulus generalization was investigated using institutionalized human retardates as subjects. A baseline was established in which two values along the stimulus dimension of auditory frequency differentially controlled responding on two bars. The insertion of the test probes disrupted the control established to the two S(D)s during training. The discrimination was recovered between each test probe and the resulting gradients were stable across 10 test sessions. These gradients, supported by other two-response generalization studies, indicate that this type of two-response discrimination training divides the stimulus dimension into two functional classes separated by a region of transition from one class to the other. Each stimulus value in a class, which extends from an S(D) outward to the functional limit of the dimension, controls a similar proportion of the two responses as each other value in the class. All values on the stimulus dimension control identical response rates with an absence of the usual generalization decrement. The latency of the initial response, however, shows a bimodal gradient with the modes at the S(D) values.

Adolescent↗