Neuroticism is associated with the onset and maintenance of a number of mental health conditions, as well as a number of deleterious outcomes (e.g. physical health problems, higher divorce rates, ...lost productivity, and increased treatment seeking); thus, the consideration of whether this trait can be addressed in treatment is warranted. To date, outcome research has yielded mixed results regarding neuroticism's responsiveness to treatment, perhaps due to the fact that study interventions are typically designed to target disorder symptoms rather than neuroticism itself. The purpose of the current study was to explore whether a course of treatment with the unified protocol (UP), a transdiagnostic intervention that was explicitly developed to target neuroticism, results in greater reductions in neuroticism compared to gold-standard, symptom focused cognitive behavioral therapy (CBT) protocols and a waitlist (WL) control condition.
Patients with principal anxiety disorders (N = 223) were included in this study. They completed a validated self-report measure of neuroticism, as well as clinician-rated measures of psychological symptoms.
At week 16, participants in the UP condition exhibited significantly lower levels of neuroticism than participants in the symptom-focused CBT (t(218) = -2.17, p = 0.03, d = -0.32) and WL conditions(t(207) = -2.33, p = 0.02, d = -0.43), and these group differences remained after controlling for simultaneous fluctuations in depression and anxiety symptoms.
Treatment effects on neuroticism may be most robust when this trait is explicitly targeted.
Lockdown orders were issued on January 23, 2020 in Wuhan, China, for the purpose of preventing and controlling COVID-19, which led to severe psychological problems for residents. The present study ...aimed to investigate the recovery model of hopelessness through interpersonal pathways during the COVID-19 epidemic. An online survey was conducted in 34 provinces (those in autonomous regions and municipalities) of China. This survey investigated residents' hopelessness and the impact of three factors on it, including their perceived social support, meaning in life, and epidemic risk levels. Results showed that both perceived social support and meaning in life negatively predicted hopelessness, while meaning in life played a partial mediating role between perceived social support and hopelessness. Further, epidemic risk level played a moderating role between perceived social support and meaning in life, indicating a “marginal zone effect.” Specifically, when comparing other province, perceived social support showed a stronger positive relationship with meaning in life among residents living in other regions of Hubei province. In sum, this study extends the recovery model of hopelessness through interpersonal pathways, and has important implications for public health emergency management.
•In Corona Virus Disease 2019 epidemic, residents’ psychological states shows a “marginal zone effect”.•Residents can recover from hopelessness through the interpersonal pathway.•Perceived social support can work as a psychological protective factor for alleviating hopelessness.•Meaning in life mediated the relationship between perceived social support and hopelessness.•Epidemic risk level moderated relationship between perceived social support and meaning in life, implying a “marginal zone effect”.
Health care workers (HCWs) during the COVID-19 pandemic experience numerous psychological problems, including stress and anxiety. These entities can affect their sleep quality and predispose them to ...insomnia. The aim of the present study was to investigate the prevalence of insomnia among HCWs during the COVID-19 crisis via an umbrella review.
The PRISMA guideline was used to conduct this review. By searching relevant keywords in databases of Scopus, PubMed, Web of Science, and Google Scholar, studies that reported the prevalence of insomnia among HCWs during the COVID-19 pandemic (January 2020 to the end of January 2021) and had been published in English were identified and evaluated. The random effects model was used for meta-analysis, and the I2 index was used to assess heterogeneity. The Egger test was used to determine publication bias. Based on the results of the primary search, 96 studies were identified, and ultimately 10 eligible studies entered the meta-analysis phase.
The results of the umbrella review of meta-analyses showed that the prevalence of insomnia among HCWs during the COVID-19 pandemic was 36.36% (95% CI: 33.36–39.36, I2 = 59.6%, p = 0.006).
The results of this umbrella review of meta-analyses showed a relatively high prevalence of insomnia among HCWs during the COVID-19 pandemic. As insomnia can be associated with other psychological problems, policymakers and health managers should regularly screen HCWs for psychological disorders as well as a possible tendency for suicide. Furthermore, by treating insomnia, one can reduce the incidence of these psychological disorders.
•HCWs are at high risk of developing sleep disorders during an outbreak.•During the COVID-19, the prevalence of insomnia increased significantly.•Insomnia prevalence in HCWs during the COVID-19 was estimated at 36.6%.
Objective
The current study sought to investigate the effects of perceived stigma and discrimination on epilepsy patients' psychological problems, such as depression, anxiety, and quality of life.
...Study design
A purposive sampling technique was used in this cross-sectional study.
Materials and methods
The sample consisted of 186 patients with epilepsy. The Stigma Scale, Depression Anxiety Stress Scale, and Quality of life in Epilepsy-10 were used to measure the study variables.
Results
Findings showed that both the perception of stigma and discrimination have a significant positive correlation with depression as well as anxiety. Stigma is a significant positive predictor of depression and anxiety at F (1, 184) = 27.8, 15.92,
p
< 0.001, 0.001, respectively and explains 12.7 and 7.5% variance that could be attributed to Stigma. Stigma is also a significant predictor of quality of life at F (1, 184) = 16.10,
p
< 0.001 and explains the 7.5% variance that could be attributed to Stigma. Results also indicate that discrimination is a significant positive predictor of depression and anxiety at F (1, 184) = 32.39, 19.91,
p
< 0.001 and explains 15 and 9.8 % variance, respectively, that could be attributed to Stigma. However, stigma negatively predicts quality of life at F (1, 184) = 20.34,
p
< 0.001 and explains 10 % variance. Non-significant differences were found in all the demographic variables (i.e., gender, socio-economic status, and disease duration), except the quality of life was significantly high among individuals with high Socio-economic status.
Conclusions
Stigma is significantly higher in epileptic patients and has a detrimental effect on the patient's quality of life, recovery, and prognosis. Thus, there is undoubtedly a need to address psychological issues, most notably the stigma associated with illnesses. Psychologists, psychiatrists, other physicians, and care givers of epileptic patients must pay close attention to the stigma in this patient population.
Studies of the genetic and environmental factors that make children more or less likely to develop distressing and impairing psychological problems, and studies of the psychobiological pathways ...through which these causal factors operate, have the goal of improving our understanding of the basic nature of psychological problems to develop better methods of prevention and treatment. For this reason, we have long had our eye on the prize of discovering the causes and psychobiological mechanisms underlying each dimension of psychological problems. There are compelling reasons, however, to seek a different and more achievable prize to understand psychological problems. Dimensions of psychological problems are both far too heterogeneous and too highly correlated to line up with distinct causal pathways. In contrast, a small number of orthogonal cognitive and socioemotional dispositional dimensions are correlated with psychological problems in revealing cross-cutting patterns. Each of these dispositions shares its independent causal pathways with psychological problems and help us understand the complex shared and heterogeneous nature of their causal processes. I outline a strategy for understanding the causes and mechanisms of psychological problems using studies of independently measured dispositions.
Background:
End-stage liver disease is a common cause of morbidity and mortality worldwide, yet little is known about its symptomatology and impact on health-related quality of life.
Aim:
To describe ...symptom prevalence and health-related quality of life of patients with end-stage liver disease to improve care.
Design:
Systematic review.
Data sources:
We searched eight electronic databases from January 1980 to June 2018 for studies investigating symptom prevalence or health-related quality of life of adult patients with end-stage liver disease. No language restrictions were applied. Meta-analyses were performed where appropriate.
Results:
We included 80 studies: 35 assessing symptom prevalence, 41 assessing health-related quality of life, and 4 both. The instruments assessing symptoms varied across studies. The most frequently reported symptoms were as follows: pain (prevalence range 30%–79%), breathlessness (20%–88%), muscle cramps (56%–68%), sleep disturbance (insomnia 26%–77%, daytime sleepiness 29.5%–71%), and psychological symptoms (depression 4.5%–64%, anxiety 14%–45%). Erectile dysfunction was prevalent (53%–93%) in men. The health-related quality of life of patients with end-stage liver disease was significantly impaired when compared to healthy controls or patients with chronic liver disease. Compared with compensated cirrhosis, decompensation led to significant worsening of both components of the 36-Item Short Form Survey although to a larger degree for the Physical Component Summary score (decrease from average 6.4 (95% confidence interval: 4.0–8.8); p < 0.001) than for the Mental Component Summary score (4.5 (95% confidence interval: 2.4–6.6); p < 0.001).
Conclusion:
The symptom prevalence of patients with end-stage liver disease resembled that of patients with other advanced conditions. Given the diversity of symptoms and significantly impaired health-related quality of life, multidisciplinary approach and timely intervention are crucial.
Healthcare professionals (HCPs) experience a wide range of physical and psychological symptoms that can affect quality of patient care. Previous meta-analyses exploring mindfulness-based ...interventions (MBIs) for HCPs have been limited by their narrow scope regarding intervention type, target population, and/or measures, and reliance on uncontrolled studies; therefore, a more comprehensive and methodologically rigorous examination is warranted. This meta-analysis quantified the effectiveness of MBIs on distress, well-being, physical health, and performance in HCPs and HCPs-in-training.
RCTs examining the effect of meditation and MBIs on HCPs and HCPs-in-training were identified and reviewed. Two independent reviewers extracted data and assessed risk of bias.
Thirty-eight studies were included in the analyses (n = 2505; 75.88% female). Intervention had a significant moderate effect on anxiety (Hedge's g = 0.47), depression (Hedge's g = 0.41), psychological distress (Hedge's g = 0.46), and stress (Hedge's g = 0.52). Small to moderate effects were also found for burnout (Hedge's g = 0.26) and well-being at post-intervention (Hedge's g = 0.32). Effects were not significant for physical health and performance. Larger intervention effects on overall outcomes were found with HCPs (Hedge's g = 0.52), with Mindfulness-based Stress Reduction intervention (Hedge's g = 0.47), and inactive controls (Hedge's g = 0.36).
Results suggest mindfulness-based interventions are effective in reducing distress and improving well-being in HCPs and HCP-ITs. Subgroup analyses suggest the importance of exploring potential participants' needs prior to selecting the type of mindfulness intervention. Future studies should assess changes in mindfulness and include active controls.
•MBIs have been used to help reduce distress and increase well-being for HCPs and trainees.•Past reviews have been limited in their scope and use of uncontrolled studies.•Pooled data from 38 RCTs (2505 participants) showed sustained small to medium gains.•Type of MBI impacted outcomes differently; suggesting benefit of assessing needs prior to program selection.•Electronic delivery of MBIs appears to be an effective and feasible option.
Athlete’s Mental Health and Psychological Support YAMAGUCHI, SHINJI; NAKAMURA, MIYUKI; NOGURI, RYUSEI ...
Juntendo Iji Zasshi = Juntendo Medical Journal,
2020, Volume:
66, Issue:
Suppl.1
Journal Article
Peer reviewed
Open access
Athletes can experience a number of psychological, physical, and behavioral problems, but if these problems are dealt with appropriately mental health can be well maintained. However, if these ...problems are not dealt with properly and psychological problems become more serious, they could lead to depression, burnout, and eating disorders. In the worst-case scenario, it may be necessary for the athlete to withdraw from a competition and even consider retirement. Consequently, it is important for athletes to maintain both their mental and physical health to deliver their best competitive performance, and in addition appropriate psychological support is required to maintain and improve the athlete’s mental health. In the field of mental health and psychology, research on psychological approaches to athletes’ mental health is being actively conducted ahead of the 2020 Tokyo Olympics. In the field of mental health and psychology there is a growing interest in research on mental health issues related to athletic performance, an increase in the number of case studies using mental training to demonstrate methods to increase competitive performance, as well as other sports psychological efforts in preparation for the Olympics. On the sports field, sports mental training instructors, clinical psychologists, and mental health welfare workers are also active. In 2018, an examination to become a Licensed Psychologists was carried out, the first national qualification in psychology. It is expected to play an active role in the field of mental health in the future. This paper focuses on athletes’ mental health, examines related psychological problems and actual case studies and investigates how mental health relates to the field of sportology. The author also plans to collaborate with professionals and athletes in connection with the 2020 Tokyo Olympics.
This study is aimed at knowing the role of recreational sports activities in decreasing some psychological problems caused by the COVID-19 pandemic among adolescents, and done on a sample of 400 ...adolescents chosen from the final year of the Intermediate education stage (Hamam bouhjar Middle school - Ain Temouchent state, Sig middle school – Mascara state), the questionnaire was applied as a tool for the study and it consisted of three axes: the axis of aggressive behavior, isolation, and self-confidence, and each axis consists of a group of questions. We used Frequencies, Percentage, and Chi-square goodness of fit test to analyze and interpret the results. In the end, we concluded that recreational sports activities have a role in alleviating some psychological problems resulting from the COVID-19 pandemic in adolescents, and this is based on the results that we have researched which states that recreational sports alleviate the aggressive behavior caused by the COVID-19 and its major role in reducing the weakness of self-confidence caused by COVID-19 among adolescents, as well as mitigating the weakness of self-confidence under the COVID-19 pandemic Finally, the researchers recommend the necessity of practicing recreational sports activities in spare time.