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PubMed2001

The effects of selected classical music on self-disclosure.

A cognitive theory of emotion and aesthetics in music suggests that listening to music is cognitively and in turn emotionally arousing. In addition a theory of inhibition and psychosomatic disease suggests that disclosing personal and traumatic information is psychologically and physically beneficial. This study examined the effect of music within a disclosure setting on the use of cognitive and emotional language in 85 undergraduates. Participants in both the background music and no music conditions wrote or spoke into a tape recorder, about the most significant event or experience of their lives. In addition to language, self-reported moods, subject impressions about the disclosure experience, and the environment were examined. Results indicate that background music had an effect on the disclosure topics chosen, promoted cognitive suggestion and expression, and increased the enjoyment of listening to classical music.

Adult↗

PubMedDate not supplied

Enduring effects of infant feeding experiences on adult blood pressure.

OBJECTIVE: Vulnerability to psychosomatic diseases is influenced by events early in life. The objective of this article is to discuss animal research that demonstrates relationships between feeding experiences and growth in infancy and risk of hypertension in adulthood. METHOD: Subjects were spontaneously hypertensive rats (SHR) and their normotensive Wistar Kyoto progenitors. Initial experiments involved observations of the behaviors of rat mothers and their infants and follow-up measurements of blood pressures. Further studies focused on measurements of infant blood pressure during feeding, and recent investigations manipulated weight gain and sex hormones early in life. RESULTS: Infant rats whose mothers were seen nursing more often had increased blood pressure as adults. Each time rat mothers delivered milk to their young, the nursing pups' blood pressures rose dramatically. These feeding-induced increases in blood pressure have been observed in the young of many species including humans. They are mediated by autonomic nervous system activity and are larger in SHR pups. Finally, animals that gain weight rapidly as infants as a consequence of being reared in small litters had higher adult blood pressure; but, this effect is seen only in intact males. CONCLUSIONS: Adult physiologic traits can be influenced by the joint actions of genetic predisposition and essential psychosocial interactions during early development. Animal models can stimulate new ideas, provide important confirmations and elaborations of hypotheses from human investigations, and afford experimental approaches for identifying mechanisms underlying the transduction of behavioral experience to disease susceptibility.

Adult↗

PubMedDate not supplied

History of modern psychopharmacology: a personal view with an emphasis on antidepressants.

OBJECTIVE: This article provides the chemical basis for the molecular modification of H1 antihistamines in the rational development of some antidepressant and antipsychotic drugs. METHODS: A review of the literature and personal experiences have been compiled. CONCLUSIONS: The contributions of many basic scientists, the crucial observations of clinicians, and the desire of the drug industry to make money have resulted in the currently available psychopharmacological treatments. The future development of psychopharmacology depends on better clinical research to generate new hypotheses of the chemical and behavioral pathology of mental disease. Psychosomatic medicine can make a unique contribution in its interdisciplinary role of stressing brain, body, and mind relationships.

Antidepressive Agents↗

PubMed1981

Firefighters' reaction to alarm, an ECG and heart rate study.

Firemen's reaction to alarm was investigated with a pulse rate and ECG analysis. The frame of reference was the psychophysiological alarm reaction and its relation to psychosomatic diseases. ECG and pulse rate measurements were recorded continuously from 22 first-string firemen. According to an exercise stress test, the subjects were healthy, but not more fit than a sedentary population. High pulse rates occurred during the alarm due to vigorous movement to the trucks. No anticipatory pulse rate rise occurred as the firemen approached the fire. Non-pathological ECG deviations were found 13 subjects although no abnormalities were found in the same subjects during exercise test. Different firefighting practices, environment, selection, and training might explain the differences between the findings of the present investigation and those of other recent studies.

Adult↗

PubMed2005

Psychosomatic pain: new insights and management strategies.

At least 40 to 60 percent of women and at least 20 percent of men with chronic pain disorders report a history of being abused during childhood and/or adulthood. This incidence of abuse is two to four times higher than in the general population. Patients with more severe or frequent abuse, usually during childhood and worse if sexual in nature. often develop specific syndromes or combinations of syndromes. These syndromes include posttraumatic stress disorder, fibromyalgia, and other conditions characterized by repression, somatization, and increased utilization of medical care. Psychosomatic symptoms and dysfunctional behaviors may emerge as these patients seek attention and validation of their suffering, while paradoxically repressing painful memories of trauma. Behavioral observations and key features of the physical examination may greatly help the clinician identify both the presence and severity of psychosomatic disease. In addition, it is very interesting that various studies document physiologic changes in the brains of patients with a history of abuse and in patients with a diagnosis of fibromyalgia. These studies suggest that abuse may physiologically and developmentally increase a person's susceptibility to pain and that some organic changes may be associated with psychogenic disease. Diagnosis and treatment of even the most challenging patients with chronic pain is much more effective if it includes (a) careful inquiry about any history of past or present abuse or other severe trauma, (b) empathy and constructive validation of disease and suffering, (c) recognition of dysfunctional pain behaviors and personality traits, (d) documentation of nonanatomic as well as anatomic features on examination, (e) multidisciplinary treatments including psychotherapy whenever indicated, and (f) noninvasive procedures and alternatives to potentially habit-forming medications whenever possible and appropriate. Furthermore, it has been shown that helping patients gain insight about the relationship between abuse and their current symptoms leads to decreased health care utilization. Practical guidelines are provided for identifying psychopathology, communicating effectively, and achieving better treatment outcomes for these unfortunate patients.

Adult↗

PubMed1989

Defence mechanisms and some notes on their relevance for the caring professions.

Freud's concept of defence mechanisms means a perceptual, emotional or cognitive distortion of the inner or outer reality. The opposite of defence mechanisms is coping mechanisms. The adaptiveness/maladaptiveness of defences are disputed. Various fields of research have given evidence to their maladaptiveness as ways of dealing with threatening stimuli. It has been found that defences can lead to insensitivity to danger signals, lowered coping capacity to life stresses with increased vulnerability to "psychosomatic diseases", delay in seeking help for somatic symptoms, denial of death in dying patients, their relatives and medical attendants, and delayed or complicated grief reactions.

Adaptation, Psychological↗

PubMed1977

Predictive value of neuropathic traits.

The classic textbook concepts of neuropathic traits--enuresis, nail-biting, finger-sucking, sleep-walking, anxiety, nightmares, fear of darkness--have been anamnestically recorded in patients in a somatic hospital who were referred for psychiatric interview. More than 50% of the patients could report having had one or more such traits with an even distribution between males and females except for enuresis, which was recorded more frequently in males. The presence of such traits was correlated to adult mental health. No correlation was found between one single trait and later disorders. There was a positive correlation between two or more traits and neurotic states of anxiety or conversion neurosis, but no correlation with depressive disorders or psychosomatic diseases (after Alexander's concept).

Anxiety↗

PubMed1977

Oral complications in anorexia nervosa.

Anorexia nervosa (AN), a psychosomatic disease mainly affecting young women, is characterized by conscious starvation, periods of excessive carbohydrate intake and often deliberate vomiting. Medical history, dental examination, and saliva tests of 39 patients aged 14 to 42 years, having suffered from AN for periods of 1 to 20 years, showed dental caries, due to excessive carbohydrate consumption, in all subjects, often in a rampant form. In patients with a history of intense vomiting (27 cases) severe lingual-occlusal erosion (perimylolysis) was nearly always present. Buccal erosion, mainly due to high consumption of acid fruits and drinks to relieve thirst caused by dehydration, was more frequent in vomiting than in non-vomiting patients. Subnormal values of saliva properties, owing to dehydration or xerostomia-inducing medication, were present in the majority of cases; the lowest values occurred in those vomiting. The association AN - vomiting - perimylolysis is discussed, as well as prophylactic and therapeutic measures. A medical, psychiatric, and dental survey of AN is presented.

Adolescent↗

PubMed2006

[Placebo-controlled study of the effects of a standardized MORA bioresonance therapy on functional gastrointestinal complaints].

BACKGROUND AND OBJECTIVE: Many practitioners of natural medicine as well as a non-controlled study have reported about positive effects of MORA bioresonance therapy on psychosomatic diseases. The present placebo controlled study aimed to test the effects of MORA bioresonance therapy on non-organic gastro-intestinal complaints. PATIENTS AND METHODS: A randomized, placebo controlled study was carried out on 20 participants (10 in the placebo group, 10 in the verum group). The main outcome parameters were the patients' and the physician's estimation of the intensity and frequency of gastro-intestinal complaints as well as the examination results recorded by the physician: stomach pain by palpation, meteorism by percussion and intestinal noise by auscultation, assessed pre and post treatment. Secondary outcome parameters were the electric resistance between hands and feet, data from feces, urine and blood, and the subjective general condition of body, mind and soul. RESULTS: According to the participants' and the physician's estimation the intensity and frequency of the gastro-intestinalcomplaints were markedly and significantly reduced in theverum group (p < 0.01). This was also true for stomach pain(p < 0.01) and meteorism (p < 0.05), but not for intestinal noise (p > 0.05). The main outcome parameters in the placebo group changed only slightly (p > 0.05). CONCLUSION: TheMORA bioresonance therapy can markedly improve non-organic gastro-intestinal complaints.

Adolescent↗

PubMed1975

How are 'psychosomatic' patients different from 'psychoneurotic' patients?

Two groups of white male patients of the same racial stock were selected on the basis of their acceptance or rejection by psychiatric residents for extended treatment. The group of patients eagerly accepted were mostly college students with anxiety, several of a phobic type, while the completely rejected group was composed of rheumatoid arthritic patients. Examination of samples of verbal transcript material showed that previously determined criteria, established on the basis of content analysis of interview transcripts, place the arthritic patients very much in the 'unsuitable for psychoteraphy' category, whereas the selected patients were highly 'suitable'. Verbal patterns in several different contexts are compared to show the differences 'concretely'; in addition, another such comparison shows the abundance of psychosomatic diseases in the families of the arthritic patients. Comparison of verbal material shows that patients with anxiety tend to be acutely sensitive to the future and to human relations, especially those with physicians in a personal sense. Arthritic patients, on the other hand, 'worry' much less, attend little to the future, incongruguously report that they are 'in command of' feelings. In a hospital psychiatric ward, anxious patients soon adapt with relief; the arthritic in such a ward insists that he follows his own idea of the behaviour of the hospitalized patient, complete with night clothes and bed rest. The conclusion suggested is that the two types of patients live in quite separate 'universes of discourse'.

Anxiety↗

PubMedDate not supplied

Psychometric investigation in 48 Dutch patients suffering from psoriasis.

48 psoriasis were compared with patients suffering from a variety of psychosomatic diseases, with regard to neuroticism, extraversion and self-defensive attitude. In addition, a Social Anxiety Scale was administered to the psoriasis patients to evaluate the patient's concern of his appearance in social situations. Finally, some psychometric data, which differentiated between the males and the females of the psoriasis group, are discussed.

Adult↗

PubMed1979

Psychophysiological study on fasting therapy.

The Tohoku University method of fasting therapy was performed on 380 patients. The clinical results revealed an efficacy rate of 87%. With regard to psychosomatic diseases, irritable colon syndrome, neurocirculatory asthenia, mild diabetes mellitus, obesity and borderline hypertension were good indications for this therapy. In order to clarify the therapeutic mechanism, several clinical examinations were administered before, during and after therapy. EEG data was analysed according to the power spectral method. The peak frequency decreased as fasting progressed, while it increased as re-fed continued. Percent energy of alpha waves after fasting therapy was significantly higher than that of the pre-fasting stage. The dexamethasone suppression rate of urine 17-OHCS after fasting therapy was significantly lower than that of the pre-fasting stage. It seems that ketone nutrition may work as a strong stressor in the brain cell, temporarily placing all biological mechanisms in a stress state and then activating the natural healing power inherent to the human body, thereby bringing about homeostasis.

11-Hydroxycorticosteroids↗

PubMed1979

The theory and therapy of hyperkineses (torticollis).

The paper presents the interaction approach in psychosomatics, as developed by the author. In this context the physical proceedings, which are oversome by the categories of the structure of space, differ from the psychic ones which are not of space but of time. The psyche itself is understood as an intentional experience, wherein the affects and unconscious proceedings are essential. Language has an important function. The psychosomatic disease is understood as a presentative symbolic event and as compensation for the loss of the cognitive ability to symbolize in the field of language. The problem of symbolization is illustrated by a case of spasmodic torticollis. The results of an examination of 81 patients are given, 23 of whom were treated psychoanalytically. The object relation, the regression to the pregenital level, the ego-regression in the form of the omnipotence of motion, and the inability for developing an own self are presented. An alternative technique of treatment is pointed out. Finally, the results of an examination of 26 cases of tic, including a case of generalized tic, are described.

Adult↗

PubMed1983

Psychophysiological studies of eating disorders by means of visual evoked responses.

The psychic conditions of 14 patients with eating disorders were examined psychophysiologically. Visual evoked potentials (VEPs) and vertex potentials (V-potentials) as visual evoked responses (VERs) were recorded simultaneously at rest and during hyperventilation. The correlation between manifest anxiety measured by the MAS test and the increased amplitudes of VERs during hyperventilation was examined. The results showed that the psychic conditions of the typical anorexia nervosa patients were similar to a state of alexithymia, as they showed less manifest anxiety. The amplitudes of the VEPs and V-potentials did not increase during hyperventilation as did those of hysteric and obsessive-compulsive neurotic patients. Psychic conditions of patients suffering from the other type of eating disorders were contrary to the former group, viz., they showed much manifest anxiety. The amplitudes of the VERs increased markedly during hyperventilation as did those of anxiety neurotic patients. Mechanisms of increased amplitudes during hyperventilation as well as the correlation between manifest anxiety and anorexia nervosa are discussed. In conclusion, we would suggest that the typical cases of anorexia nervosa can be classified as psychosomatic disease and the atypical cases and the other eating disorders as neuroses.

Adult↗

PubMed1983

Report of an epidemiological field study about neuroses and psychosomatic disorders.

Our field study deals with a cohort investigation and a follow-up study of the age groups 1935, 1945 and 1955. The sample consists of 600 randomly selected Germans living in an industrial city (Mannheim/FRG). 200 subjects of each of the age groups are to be examined personally with regard to ICD diagnoses 300-307 (WHO, 8th rev.); these are: psychoneuroses, personality disorders, sexual deviations, alcohol and drug addiction, functional and other psychosomatic diseases. Preliminary countings from the first research check-up of the sample revealed 26% of cases with a clear predominance of females and statistically significant connections between actual disease and impairing or disturbing influences during early childhood.

Adult↗

PubMed1988

Alexithymia and symbolic function in the obese.

Based on recent literature in which obesity is considered a psychosomatic disease, the authors present results of a study attempting to identify the degree of alexithymia and symbolic function inhibition in two overweight groups (moderately and morbidly obese) and compare the results with a normal-weight control group. The sample was composed of 95 subjects divided into three groups. The results revealed that the two obese groups were generally more alexithymic and had a higher degree of symbolic function inhibition than normal-weight controls. Nevertheless, the two alexithymia measures used in this study disclosed inconsistent results. The data are discussed in terms of etiological, methodological and treatment implications.

Adult↗

PubMed1990

Positive psychotherapy: a transcultural and interdisciplinary approach to psychotherapy.

The development of society may be described in terms of the following structural changes: (a) increased population, which requires other rules of contact for adequate forms of social relationships; (b) urbanization, with people living together in clusters, which, on the one hand, intensifies social relationships, but, on the other, reduces possibilities for real friendship; (c) differentiation, which rests on increasing technological development and requires specialization in partial functions; (d) transcultural problems. With people in the industrialized countries, this somatic-psychosocial relationship finds expression in the famous deadly sins of civilization, the risk factors. The following five factors are responsible for the origin and development of psychosocial and psychosomatic diseases, especially the so-called diseases of civilization: alcohol; intoxicants and drugs; smoking, overweight, sedentary life; and emotional stress (anxiety and inner tension).

Conflict, Psychological↗

PubMed1983

Alexithymia in medical patients referred to a consultation/liaison service.

Seventy-three medically ill patients referred to a consultation/liaison service over a 4-month period were evaluated for alexithymia. Twenty-two (30%) of these patients had alexithymia. Age, race, and marital status were not associated with alexithymia scores. Patients in lower socioeconomic groups and men had significantly higher scores than their counterparts. The idea that alexithymia is prevalent in individuals with a diagnosis of a "psychosomatic disease" was not supported.

Affective Symptoms↗