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PubMed1990

Rigidity of construing of self and significant others and psychological disorder.

This study was designed to test the hypothesis that more rigid construing of self and others is more common in non-psychotic psychological disorder than in the general population. Thirty-one adult referrals to either a psychiatric day hospital or a clinical psychology service were compared with 31 matched normal controls using a repertory grid. There was no support for the hypothesis, but there was evidence of greater negativity of self-construing in the client group. The implications of these findings for clinical practice are discussed.

Adult↗
PubMed1999

Psychological function in orthognathic surgical patients before and after bilateral sagittal split osteotomy with rigid and wire fixation.

A multisite randomized controlled trial was conducted to compare the psychological function of patients who undergo surgical correction of a Class II malrelation with bilateral sagittal split osteotomy with either wire or rigid fixation. Subjects were 31 male and 86 female patients referred by orthodontists. Psychopathological symptoms and psychological distress were measured with the Symptom Checklist-90 Revised at the following times: before placement of orthodontic appliances, 1 to 2 weeks presurgery, and 1 week, 8 weeks, 6 months, and 2 years postsurgery. Patients' satisfaction with their surgical outcome was measured with a 3-item questionnaire. Results showed no statistically significant differences in psychological function or satisfaction between patients treated with wire or rigid fixation. Psychological function was within normal limits immediately before surgery. Psychological parameters did not determine patient satisfaction, even among patients who met an operational definition of "psychopathological caseness." Psychological symptoms and general distress increased modestly immediately after surgery for both groups and then progressively declined over the succeeding 2 years, eventually reaching levels that were significantly lower than presurgical levels. It was concluded that (1) rigid and wire fixation do not differ in their effects on psychological function and satisfaction; (2) patients who seek orthognathic surgery for a Class II malocclusion are psychologically healthy, ie, comparable to normal populations, immediately before surgery; (3) presurgical psychological function does not determine satisfaction with surgical outcome; and (4) psychological function tends to improve during the 2 years after surgery.

Adult↗
PubMed1991

Psychological characteristics of women with androgenetic alopecia: a controlled study.

The psychological characteristics and the hair problems of 58 females with androgenetic alopecia were compared with a group of women with non-apparent dermatological diseases, and with a group of men with androgenetic alopecia. The women with androgenetic alopecia had higher scores for self-sufficiency and social inadequacy compared to women with non-visible dermatological complaints, and they scored higher for inadequacy, rigidity and general psychological maladjustment than the men and had lower scores for injuredness self-evaluation and self-esteem. The women with androgenetic alopecia had more psychosocial problems, which they attributed to the hair loss, than the other groups.

Adolescent↗
PubMed1999

Psychological stress and neuroendocrine function in humans: the last two decades of research.

This paper reviews experimental contributions published in the last two decades and exploring the effect of emotional stress on neuroendocrine function in healthy humans. Laboratory studies allow standardization of the stressor and better control for known confounding factors. Commonly used stressors are mental arithmetics, speech tasks, the Stroop test, videogame playing, films or videotapes and interviews. Little is known about the generalizability of laboratory results, with some studies suggesting great caution in extrapolating data to real-life stress conditions. Another strategy is studying the psychoendocrine reaction to real-life stressors, such as bereavement or anticipated loss, academic examinations, everyday work and parachute jumping. The effects of different stressors on neuroendocrine axes are reviewed, as well as the influence of gender, age, personality, coping style, social support, biological and nonbiological interventions. The subjective perception of the situation is probably a main determinant of the psychoendocrine response pattern. In fact, marked variability in individual responses to a variety of stressors has frequently been observed. Evidently, the 'objective' characteristics of a given event are not the only determinants of reaction to the event itself. According to a constructivistic perspective, every given stressor has a strictly personal and idiosyncratic meaning and loses its 'objective' characteristics. Of course, biological factors may also play a part. In any case, it is mandatory to overcome a rigid dichotomy between psychological and biological processes. Dualistic conceptions which imply a determination of the physical by the psychological or vice versa should give place to a systemic conception, which implies mutual, circular interactions.

Anxiety↗
PubMedDate not supplied

Denosologization of biological psychiatry or the specificity of 5-HT disturbances in psychiatric disorders.

5-Hydroxytryptamine (5-HT) disorders have been reported to occur in a variety of psychiatric disorders. The situation has been called chaotic, the disturbances non-specific. We reject this viewpoint. 5-HT disturbances are non-specific only from a nosological/categorical viewpoint; they seem rather specific from a functional/dimensional point of view, correlating as they do with particular psychopathological dimensions, i.e. aggression-, anxiety- and possibly mood-disregulation, across diagnosis. The evolution of 5-HT research in psychiatry illustrates the importance of what we have called the functional approach, implying dissection of a given psychopathological syndrome in its component parts, i.e., the psychological dysfunctions, and searching for correlations between biological and psychological dysfunctions. The rigid preoccupation of biological psychiatry with the search for markers of disease entities has hampered progress. The functional approach should be incorporated in biological psychiatry, not as an alternative for the nosological approach but as its complement.

Anxiety Disorders↗
PubMed1990

The development of a sedation model in dogs.

The effect of various sedatives (ketamine, valium, acetylpromazine) on the saliva flow rate, swallowing capacity, muscle rigidity and ability to immobilize in an upright position was investigated in dogs. Ten healthy beagle dogs (3, six months old, 3, six years old, and 4 fourteen years old) were used for this study. A combination of ketamine (5 mg/kg) and acetylpromazine (0.175 mg/kg) produced the desired effect of normal saliva flow rate, swallowing capacity and muscle rigidity; immobilization in an upright position was attained. The saliva flow rate (unsedated) was found to decrease with increasing age of the dogs. The time to recovery from the ketamine/acetylpromazine sedation increased with increasing age of the dogs.

Aging↗
PubMed2003

Psychological motives and political orientation--the left, the right, and the rigid: comment on Jost et al. (2003).

Presenting an impressive model based on a large body of evidence, J. T. Jost, J. Glaser, A.W. Kruglanski, and F. J. Sulloway (2003) proposed that political conservatism uniquely serves epistemic, existential, and ideological needs driven by fears and uncertainties. The authors offer an alternative view based on conceptual considerations, historical events, features of communist ideology and practice, and additional social science research not reviewed by Jost et al. (2003). First, the authors take issue with Jost et al.'s (2003) description of the two core components of political conservatism. Second, they propose that the motives in the model are equally well served by rigid adherence to any extreme ideology regardless of whether it is right wing or left wing.

Choice Behavior↗
PubMed1986

The contribution of acupuncture to clinical psychotherapy by means of biofeedback (EMG-BFB) training.

This study examines the effectiveness of acupuncture in Biofeedback as a positive reinforcement and evaluates acupuncture and Biofeedback in their combined effect for anxiety and muscle tension. From a 24 person sample, two groups were tested one with Biofeedback and acupuncture, and, another with only Biofeedback. Measured by the Minnesota Multiphase Personality Inventory before and at the end of the study and the Electromyograph (EMG) BFB record of data for each person during the treatment shows an improvement in the anxiety syndrome in both test and check groups but more so in the test group. In clearly improved subjects, time analysis shows what acupuncturist experience, a quick fall in factors measured within the first three or four sessions, then a progressive improvement through the end of therapy. However in subjects with little or no improvement, though their is a general drop or decrease in factors, it takes a rather irregular course. Overall, acupuncture appears to improve the emission of learned behavior.

Acupuncture Therapy↗
PubMed2004

Chasing rainbow notions: enacting community psychology in the classroom and beyond in post-1994 South Africa.

This paper discusses tensions and contradictions experienced by a group of psychologists in post-1994 South Africa as we struggled to develop an MA program in community psychology. Situating our work within the history of the subdiscipline and the historical context confronting South Africans in the "wake of apartheid," we explore models of community psychology that informed praxis under apartheid and contemporary challenges confronting a country in transition. We discuss three tensions that inform the ongoing program development. These include (1) the construction and deconstruction of Western and indigenous knowledge systems; (2) assessment and intervention at multiple levels and from differing value perspectives; and (3) paradoxes experienced by a team of university-educated, primarily White academic staff committed to challenging oppression. We conclude our discussion by suggesting that, within these shifting sands of economic, political, cultural, and institutional change community psychology must, of necessity, resist rigid self-definition and seek to position itself as a "work-in-progress." We suggest that this seemingly anomalous self-description may be suggestive for other community psychologists-in-the-making facing similar challenges within the majority world.

Community Mental Health Services↗
PubMed2006

Psychological trauma and fixed ideas in Pierre Janet's conception of dissociative disorders.

This article describes Janet's concept of psychological trauma and the formation of rigid thought complexes (fixed ideas). This concept forms the basis for Janet's functional nosology of the neuroses, and is related to his dynamic psychology of conduct or action. It can be viewed as an early self-regulation model, because it contains a stratified bio-, socio-, and psycho-genetic hierarchy of behavioral "tendencies" that produce a more or less adaptive act by means of two hypothesized intervening variables: psychological force and psychological tension. Fixed ideas are viewed within this framework as an outcome of deficient processes of adaptation to psychological trauma. The article closes by pointing out affinities between Janet's psychological concept and modern cognitive and behavioral therapies.

Affect↗
PubMed2002

Rigidity of thought and behavior: 100 years of research.

Rigidity is one of the oldest psychological constructs, with systematic research dating back to the late 19th century. The authors review this research in an attempt to clarify the construct of rigidity and to investigate its correlates. Rigidity is described as a multidimensional construct encompassing the tendency to form and perseverate in the use of mental and behavioral sets. A series of meta-analyses was performed based on three measures of behavioral rigidity: the Einstellung Water-Jar Task, the Wisconsin Card Sorting Task, and the motor-cognitive dimension of the Test of Behavioral Rigidity. The results indicated that rigidity is curvilinearly related to age, positively related to authoritarianism (particularly under stressful situations), and negatively related to intelligence; that men are more rigid than women; that obsessive-compulsiveness is positively related to rigidity; and that schizophrenics are more rigid than nonschizophrenic siblings and normal controls. Unresolved issues and gaps in the research are discussed.

Adult↗
PubMedDate not supplied

[Molecular basis of Huntington's disease and possible pathogenic mechanisms].

INTRODUCTION: Huntington s disease is one of the, at least, nine neurological disorders caused by a CAG triplet expansion coding for a poly glutamine sequence in the corresponding protein. Huntington s disease affects 3 7 in 100.000 individuals in Western Europe descendent population and the symptomatology comprises motor (including chorea and rigidity), cognitive (subcortical dementia), and psychological (including irritability and depression) manifestations until death. DEVELOPMENT: Neuropathology is extremely restricted, with atrophy occurring in the striatum and, to a lesser extent, in the cerebral cortex. Microscopically, the neuropathology is characterized by neuronal loss, reactive gliosis, and intraneuronal protein aggregates. Since the initial description of this disease by George Huntington in 1872, substantial advance has been achieved in the understanding of this pathology. The pathogenic gene and mutation were identified in 1993. This allowed the generation of multiple in vitro, cellular, and animal models of Huntington s disease. These studies have originated multiple hypotheses regarding the mechanism by which huntingtin with an expanded poly glutamine tract exerts its toxicity. CONCLUSION: We try to summarize the current knowledge about this disease from the clinical manifestations to the molecular basis, in an attempt to offer a global view of this pathology.

Humans↗
PubMed1990

[Characteristics of sensory regulation of the activities in hypochondriacal conditions of different etiologies].

The author analyzes the results of an experimental study into sense regulation of the activity of patients with the hypochondriac syndrome. Three groups of patients were examined: with neurosis, slow-progressive schizophrenia, and myocardial infarction. Four types of self-regulation were distinguished: related to the attitude towards the world, to oneself, to other people, to the characteristic features of the mediation of the relations indicated. It has been discovered that the egocentric tendencies, impoverishment, narrow motivation sphere, rigidity of senses, valuables are psychological causes of the derangement of higher sense regulation in hypochondriac conditions.

Adult↗
PubMed1988

Prediction of pain behavior and functional status of rheumatoid arthritis patients using medical status and psychological variables.

This study examined the extent to which the psychological variables of depression, anxiety, and helplessness predicted the pain behavior and functional status of 64 rheumatoid arthritis (RA) patients beyond what could be predicted on the basis of demographic and medical status variables. Pain behavior was evaluated using a standardized observation method, and functional status was assessed using a modified Health Assessment Questionnaire (MHAQ) and rheumatologists' ratings. Regression analyses revealed that a modified rheumatoid activity index and/or disease duration were significant predictors of levels of guarding, rigidity, and total pain behavior. The psychological variables examined did not predict independently RA pain behavior. The rheumatoid activity index explained a significant proportion of the variance in functional status ratings and MHAQ daily function scores. Age, disease duration and depression also were independent predictors of functional status ratings. Thus, depression had a significant relationship with physician ratings of functional status but not with patient self-reports of disability. Psychological factors not examined in this study that might influence RA pain behavior and self-reports of functional status are discussed.

Adult↗
PubMed1998

The evangelical Christian in psychotherapy.

The history of the evangelical attitudes to therapy is complex. Several of the historical roots to a general suspicion of psychological perceptive are explored. Freudian psychoanalysis and fundamentalism were not compatible and for decades no attempt at rapprochement developed. The liberal wing of Christianity made early attempts with the religion/psychiatry dialogue of the 1960s. Drastic changes in the youth of the evangelical, especially on the college campus in the 1960s, broke through some of the resistance. A growing disillusionment on the part of the evangelical in the pew concerning the efficacy of the traditional spiritual approach to relational and emotional problems accompanied these changes. The literalism and rigidity of a paranoid stance toward psychological insights has given way to a kind of chaos. The evangelical person seeks outside the church too. There is no consensus theoretically or practically among the many from within the church who are therapists. There are many strengths in the evangelical. These include family and developmental emphases in psychotherapy. The effective therapist will comfortably explore the religious life of the evangelical as it is relevant to the therapeutic task. Acceptance and elimination of countertransferential bias will foster the honesty and mutual respect that are essential for positive outcomes in therapy.

Christianity↗