Author Interviews, Eating Disorders, Psychological Science, Weight Research / 18.01.2016

MedicalResearch.com Interview with: Samuel Chng PhD Researcher in Psychology Applied to Health University of Exeter Medical School St Luke’s campus Exeter, EX1 2LU, United Kingdom Medical Research: What is the background for this study? What are the main findings? Response: The study was conceptualised from the curious question from my childhood, “How did my parents influence my behaviours?” Together with my co-author, Dr. Daniel Fassnacht, we decided to explore how a specific form of parental influence, their comments, would influence the development of disordered eating symptoms. From studies conducted with Western samples that parental comments play a role in the development of eating disorder symptoms, and body dissatisfaction is one of the more studied mediator of this relationship. However, we could not find any study that investigated the influential nature of parent comments in Asia. So, we decided to focus our study on Asian parents and their children. Singapore, a developed Asian country that continues to have strong familial roots, provided an ideal population for our study, and we would expect, the relationships we found indicated some potential differences in amongst Asian families. We found that young women, compared to young men, in Singapore generally reported higher levels of parental comments (about their weight, body shape and eating habit), body dissatisfaction and disordered eating symptoms. However what we found for both young women and men was that negative comments from mothers (for example, ‘You need to lose weight’) was the only category of comments that predicted disordered eating and this was mediated by the presence of body dissatisfaction. Positive comments from parents, though suggested from past studies to be a protective factor, did not influence body dissatisfaction and disordered eating. (more…)
Author Interviews, Lancet, Psychological Science / 10.12.2015

MedicalResearch.com Interview with: Dr Bette Liu MD PhD University of New South Wales Sydney, NSW Medical Research: What is the background for this study? What are the main findings? Dr. Liu: There is a generally held belief that being happier makes you live longer. We wanted to look at this question. We examined over 700,000 women enrolled in the UK Million Women Study. We found that being in poor health was associated with being unhappy but after accounting for an individuals poor health, unhappiness in itself was not associated with an increased risk of death. This finding was true for overall deaths, for deaths from heart disease and from cancer and it was true for stress as well as for unhappiness.  (more…)
Author Interviews, Psychological Science, Sexual Health / 04.12.2015

MedicalResearch.com Interview with: Tess M. Gemberling, M.A. Social Psychology Ph.D. Student Co-Principal Investigator University of Alabama Medical Research: What is the background for this study? Response: Many stereotypes of BDSM (bondage and discipline [B&D], dominance and submission [D/s], sadomasochism [SM],) that can be seen on websites similar to fucked gay xxx, exist; however, research with practitioners suggests these stereotypes are largely unfounded. Preliminary evidence implies BDSM practitioners are psychologically healthy individuals. This study was conducted to further evaluate these results. Medical Research: What are the main findings? Response: Along with other findings, the majority of results indicates practitioners are well functioning. Overall, participants are healthy in the mental, emotional, and interpersonal aspects of their lives. In addition, practitioners are often victims of violence but are not perpetrators of violence. (more…)
Author Interviews, Psychological Science, University of Pittsburgh, Weight Research / 21.09.2015

MedicalResearch.com Interview with: Linda J Ewing PhD RN Department of Psychiatry and Lora E Burke PhD, MPH, RN, FAAN Department of Health and Community Systems University of Pittsburgh School of Nursing Pittsburgh, Pennsylvania Medical Research: What is the background for this study? What are the main findings? Response: This study was the product both of work done in Dr. Burke’s lab as well as cumulative findings of other investigators demonstrating that improved self-efficacy is related to positive changes in health behaviors (e.g., physical activity, increased Intake of healthier foods, such as fruits and vegetables).  Given that, we designed a behavioral weight loss study that included an intentional focus on enhancing participant self-efficacy for healthy behaviors related to weight loss maintenance.  No previous study had self-efficacy enhancement as a focus of intervention with the long-term goal of increasing weight loss maintenance.  Thus our study focused on mastery performance of weight loss related behaviors.  Findings supported our hypothesis; participants in both arms of the study (standard behavioral weight loss (SBT) and SBT with self-efficacy enhancement (SBT+SE) achieved clinically significant weight loss.  Participants in the SBT+SE group had greater weight loss maintenance while those in the SBT group had clinically significant weight regain. (more…)
Author Interviews, Insomnia, Psychological Science / 12.09.2015

Markus Jansson-Fröjmark PhD Associate professor, clinical psychologist Department of Psychology Stockholm University MedicalResearch.com Interview with: Markus Jansson-Fröjmark PhD Associate professor, clinical psychologist Department of Psychology Stockholm University   Medical Research: What is the background for this study? What are the main findings? Response: There is ample evidence suggesting that how people regulate their emotions might influence several types of psychopathology, including anxiety and mood disorders. The purpose of our longitudinal investigation was therefore to examine the association between emotion regulation and how insomnia develops over time. Our main finding was that people whose ability to regulate their emotions had diminished were more likely to develop insomnia and that it was more likely to be persistent. A reduced ability to regulate emotions was associated with an 11% increased risk of developing a new bout of insomnia or reporting persistent insomnia. For anyone that has to deal with insomnia on a daily basis, they may find that is can effect a large part of their lives. Sleep is important for even, as it allows us all to function properly throughout the day. When it comes to Insomnia, there is medication out there that people can take that may help them with this issue. A popular method of treatment is through the use of medical marijuana. If this is something that you have been planning on trying, you would need to obtain your medical marijuana card in Cincinnati (if you live in this city) before you could start receiving product. Hopefully this will help with your insomnia and provide you with a better quality of sleep. (more…)
Author Interviews, Psychological Science / 04.09.2015

Jeffrey A. Hall PhD Associate professor of communication studies University of KansasMedicalResearch.com Interview with: Jeffrey A. Hall PhD Associate professor of communication studies University of Kansas Medical Research: What is the background for this study? What are the main findings? Dr. Hall: Men might want to ditch the pickup lines and polish their punchlines in their quest to attract women, new research at the University of Kansas suggests. Jeffrey Hall, an associate professor of communication studies, found that when two strangers meet, the more times a man tries to be funny and the more a woman laughs at those attempts, the more likely it is for the woman to be interested in dating. However an even better indicator of romantic connection is if the two are spotted laughing together. Those findings were among the discoveries Hall made in his search for a link between humor and intelligence. For the past decade, research has debated whether women appreciate men’s humor, which is often cited as one of the most valued traits in a partner, because it allows them to suss out the smarts of potential mates. But Hall said finding someone who appreciates your sense of humor is valuable in its own right. “The idea that humor is a signal of intelligence doesn’t give humor its due credit,” Hall said. “If you meet someone who you can laugh with, it might mean your future relationship is going to be fun and filled with good cheer.” In the first study, 35 participants studied the Facebook profile pages of a 100 strangers to gauge their personalities. Their evaluations were compared to a survey completed by the Facebook users. Hall found humorous people were much more likely to be extroverted than intelligent, and were seen by strangers that way too. The data also suggested that men and women posted similar amounts of humorous content to their pages. In the second study, nearly 300 students filled out a survey on humor in courtship. Looking at GPA and ACT scores, the study found that there was no connection between how smart the person was and how funny he or she claimed to be.  But it did find a relationship with humor and extroversion. The study also didn’t find a difference in how men and women comprehended or appreciated humor. To find out how humor used by men and appreciated by women played a role in romantic attraction, the final study brought together 51 pairs of single, heterosexual college students who didn’t know each other. The pairs sat alone in a room and talked for about 10 minutes. Afterward they filled out a survey. The results didn’t indicate that one sex tried to be funnier than the other. However, it did suggest the more times a man tried to be funny and the more times a woman laughed at his jokes, the more likely she was romantically interested. The reverse was not true for women who attempted humor. It also showed that when the pair laughed together, they were more interested in each other. (more…)
Author Interviews, Genetic Research, Pediatrics, Psychological Science / 02.09.2015

Beate W. Hygen PhD Student Department of Psychology Norwegian University of Science and Technology Social ScienceMedicalResearch.com Interview with: Beate W. Hygen PhD Student Department of Psychology Norwegian University of Science and Technology Social Science Medical Research: What is the background for this study? Response: The study is part of the Trondheim Early Secure Study (TESS) conducted at the  Department of Psychology, Norwegian University of Science and Technology (NTNU) and NTNU Social Science. The main aim of TESS is to detect risk and protective factors with regards to children’s mental health and well-being.  TESS examines multiple factors which may play a role in children`s development. There is substantial research, based on diathesis-stress theorizing, indicating that some individuals, including children, are more susceptible to the negative effects of contextual adversity than are others. However, according to differential susceptibility theory, such "vulnerable" individuals may also be the ones that benefit the most from positive environmental conditions. Thus, some individuals are more malleable for "better and for worse" to environmental exposures. The article Child exposure to serious life events, COMT, and aggression: Testing differential susceptibility theory was designed to examine if the COMT polymorphism moderated the effect of early-life adversity on aggressive behavior. Thus, we sought to competitively evaluate which model of person X environment interaction best accounted for the anticipated differential effects of life event stress on children's aggressive behavior. (more…)
Author Interviews, Mental Health Research, Psychological Science / 30.08.2015

Brian W. Haas, Ph.D. Assistant Professor Department of Psychology University of Georgia MedicalResearch.com Interview with: Brian W. Haas, Ph.D. Assistant Professor Department of Psychology University of Georgia Medical Research: What is the background for this study? What are the main findings? Dr. Haas: We used a new way to study Borderline Personality Disorder.  We studied the traits associated with this condition in healthy people not diagnosed with Borderline Personality Disorder.  We found that people that possess more Borderline Personality traits exhibit reduced brain activity in parts of the brain important for empathy. (more…)
Addiction, Author Interviews, Mental Health Research, Psychological Science / 18.08.2015

Professor Jackie Andrade PhD School of Psychology Cognition Institute Plymouth University Plymouth Australia MedicalResearch.com Interview with: Professor Jackie Andrade PhD School of Psychology Cognition Institute Plymouth University Plymouth Australia   Medical Research: What is the background for this study? What are the main findings? Dr. Andrade: We want to understand the mental processes that are going on during episodes of craving for drugs or food. We know that cravings are largely mental events because people rarely experience them when in the middle of a mentally-engaging task - giving a presentation or finishing an exciting novel, for example. By understanding the mental processes underpinning cravings, we can improve treatments for addiction and eating problems, and also find ways of strengthening desires for healthy activities. Visual mental imagery is a key component of craving, with people picturing themselves indulging their desires. Laboratory research has shown that blocking this craving imagery can reduce the strength of cravings for food and cigarettes. Tetris is a good task for doing this because it involves a lot of visual processing to keep track of the different coloured shapes and mentally rotate them to fit the spaces. For our latest study, we wanted to find out if Tetris helped block cravings in ‘real life’ rather than in the laboratory, and whether it worked for a range of common cravings. We asked 31 participants to carry iPods with them for a week. They received text messages 7 times a day prompting them to use the iPod to report whether they were craving something and, if so, what it was and how strong the craving was. A random 15 participants assigned to the Tetris condition were also asked to play Tetris for 3 minutes and answer the craving questions again. For this group, we compared the before-Tetris and after-Tetris craving scores on each occasion and found that cravings were 20% weaker after playing Tetris. People played Tetris 40 times on average, but the craving-reducing effect did not wear off as they got used to the game. The control group who reported cravings without playing Tetris allowed us to see how cravings varied naturally across the week. Tetris reduced craving strength across the range of cravings reported, which included cravings for drugs (alcohol, nicotine, caffeine), food, and ‘other activities’ including sleep, videogaming, sex and social interaction. (more…)
Author Interviews, Psychological Science / 09.08.2015

Andrew P. Hill, Ph.D, CPsychol, FBASES, FHEA Associate Professor and Head of Taught Postgraduate Programmes Faculty of Health and Life Sciences York St John University York UKMedicalResearch.com Interview with: Andrew P. Hill, Ph.D, CPsychol, FBASES, FHEA Associate Professor and Head of Taught Postgraduate Programmes Faculty of Health and Life Sciences York St John University York UK Medical Research: What is the background for this study? What are the main findings? Dr. Hill: Our research examines the effects of perfectionism in a wide range of contexts and for a number of outcomes. We are particularly interested in the perfectionism-burnout relationship. Perfectionism is a characteristic that is more common than you might think, everyone seems to know someone who is a perfectionist. Burnout is the result of stress and, anecdotally, people seem to be finding modern life more stressful. The main finding was that perfectionistic concerns, a core feature of perfectionism that reflects doubts and fears relating to the consequences of failure, was positively related to burnout in the workplace, sport, and education. This relationship was stronger in the workplace. (more…)
Author Interviews, Psychological Science / 08.08.2015

MedicalResearch.com Interview with: Daniel Conroy-Beam Department of Psychology University of Texas at Austin Austin, TX Medical Research: What is the background for this study? What are the main findings? Response: The main finding is that sex differences in mate preferences are much larger than we previously appreciated. So large, in fact, that if we knew nothing about a person but what they desired in a mate, we could predict their sex with 92.2% accuracy. Previous research has emphasized sex differences on individual preferences: how physically attractive should my mate be? How old should they be? How kind should they be? But we don’t pick our mates based on individual preferences; we use all of our preferences together. It’s not as though we want one partner who is attractive, and another who is intelligent, and another who is kind. We want one partner who is all of those things at once. We looking for partners with patterns of features. It turns out the patterns men and women are looking for are strikingly different. In fact, the patterns men are looking for barely overlap with the patterns women are looking for. (more…)
Author Interviews, Heart Disease, Psychological Science, Sexual Health, University Texas / 11.07.2015

Amelia Stanton, Graduate Student Department of Psychology The University of Texas at Austin Austin, TXMedicalResearch.com Interview with: Amelia Stanton, Graduate Student Department of Psychology The University of Texas at Austin Austin, TX Medical Research: What is the background for this study? What are the main findings? Response: Heart rate variability (HRV) has emerged as a valuable non-invasive test to assess autonomic nervous system (ANS) activity. Several studies have linked low resting Heart rate variability to mental health conditions including depression, anxiety, and alcohol dependence, indicating these disorders may be related to an imbalance in autonomic activity. As Heart rate variability is an index of the balance of sympathetic nervous system (SNS) and parasympathetic nervous system activity (PNS), it has proven a useful tool for examining the relative role of SNS activity in female sexual arousal. Moderate SNS dominance (relative to PNS activity) has been shown to predict women’s genital arousal in the laboratory, while high levels of SNS activation have been shown to inhibit genital arousal. Based on this background evidence and on a growing clinical literature indicating that low HRV (generally indicative of high SNS) is associated with negative health outcomes, we predicted a positive linear relationship between Heart rate variability and sexual arousal function. That is, we predicted that women with autonomic balance indicating moderate or low resting SNS activity (relative to PNS activity) would be less likely than women with autonomic balance indicating high resting SNS to report clinically relevant sexual arousal dysfunction. We also predicted that this relationship would hold for overall sexual function. To test this hypothesis, sexual arousal function, overall sexual function, and resting HRV were assessed in 72 women, aged 18-39. The main finding of the study is that women with below average Heart rate variability were significantly more likely to report sexual arousal dysfunction (p < .001) and overall sexual dysfunction (p < .001) than both women with average HRV and women with above average HRV. Based on these results, we concluded that low HRV may be a risk factor for female sexual arousal dysfunction and overall sexual dysfunction. (more…)
Author Interviews, Psychological Science, Sexual Health / 13.06.2015

MedicalResearch.com Interview with: Fiona Dyshniku, M.A. Ph.D. Candidate, Clinical Psychology - Adult Clinical track Department of Psychology University of Windsor MedicalResearch: What is the background for this study? Response: This study was conducted in the context of previous research that has found other evidence that pedophilia has biological roots that start before birth, such as shorter stature and left-handedness. Both of these correlates have prenatal origins, meaning that their development necessarily precedes the onset of more socially oriented correlates, such as parenting styles, sexual abuse during childhood, etc. Moreover, these neurodevelopmental correlates appear permanent and immune to later psychosocial influences. Much like handedness and stature, minor physical anomalies (MPA) develop prenatally, are permanent, and remain immune to psychosocial influences. There are additional benefits to examining minor physical anomalies, including the fact that they tend to develop in a set sequence, are actually formed from the same tissue that gives rise to the central nervous system, and have been widely studied in other well-established neurodevelopmental disorders, such as schizophrenia. MedicalResearch: What are the main findings? Response: We found that individuals simultaneously possessing more craniofacial anomalies and fewer peripheral anomalies scored higher on several well-established pedophilia indices, including phallometric testing, possession of child pornography, and number of child victims. We also found that craniofacial anomalies on their own were more prevalent among individuals classified as pedophiles through phallometric testing. Taken together, these results suggest that there is further evidence for a biological cause of pedophilia. Moreover, since craniofacial anomalies develop around week 5 of gestation, it would appear that biological differences occur quite early on during foetal developmental. (more…)
Author Interviews, Neurological Disorders, PLoS, Psychological Science / 12.06.2015

Dr. rer. nat. Kristin Prehn, Dipl.-Psych. Charité Universitätsmedizin Berlin Department of Neurology & NeuroCure Clinical Research Cente Berlin GermanyMedicalResearch.com Interview with: Dr. rer. nat. Kristin Prehn, Dipl.-Psych. Charité Universitätsmedizin Berlin Department of Neurology & NeuroCure Clinical Research Cente Berlin Germany MedicalResearch: What is the background for this study? What are the main findings? Dr. Prehn: The study is based on the theory by renowned American psychologist Lawrence Kohlberg stating that people progress through different levels of moral reasoning. At lower levels, individuals judge moral issues based on self-interest or laws and rules. Individuals at the post-conventional level also take into account deeper principles and shared ideals. The Kohlbergian theory influenced moral psychology and education for decades. No study to date, however, had investigated in which way moral development is reflected in human brain structure and function. In our study, we compared gray matter brain volume in healthy young subjects who either reached the post-conventional level or did not reach that level so far. We found that subjects at the post-conventional level showed larger volume in a specific brain region of the prefrontal cortex which is essential for moral reasoning as well as the integration of emotion and cognition during human behavior. (more…)
Author Interviews, Psychological Science, Weight Research / 10.06.2015

MedicalResearch.com Interview with: Katie Becofsky Ph.D. Weight Control and Diabetes Research Center The Miriam Hospital Providence, RI Medical Research: What is the background for this study? What are the main findings? Dr. Becofsky: Previous research has provided clear evidence of a relationship between social relations (e.g., frequency of social participation, perceived social support) and mortality risk.  We investigated two specific aspects of social relations- source of social support and size of weekly social network- in more detail.  The purpose of our study was to examine the associations between different sources of social support (relative, friend, and partner support), as well as size (and source) of weekly social network, on mortality risk in a large cohort of patients from the Aerobics Center Longitudinal Study. We found that perceived support from one’s spouse/partner and relatives, as well as weekly social interaction with a network of 6-7 friends, was associated with lower long-term mortality risk.  When the sources were reversed, the effects did not stand- perceived social support from friends did not affect mortality risk, nor did the quantity of weekly familial contacts. (more…)
Annals Internal Medicine, Author Interviews, Insomnia, Psychological Science / 10.06.2015

MedicalResearch.com Interview with: Dr David Cunnington Sleep Physician & Director Melbourne Sleep Disorders Centre East Melbourne Australia Medical Research: What is the background for this study? What are the main findings? Response: Insomnia is a very common problem with 15-20% of adults having chronic insomnia, that is, trouble getting to sleep or staying asleep most days for  3 months or more. The most commonly used treatment is sleeping pills or hypnotics, however, they don’t address the underlying disorder, and come with potential side effects. Also, sleeping tablets just mask the symptoms, and as soon as tablets are stopped, symptoms recur. People with chronic insomnia think and behave differently around sleep, which perpetuates their symptoms. The key to improving symptoms in the long run is addressing thoughts and behaviours around sleep, which is what cognitive behaviour therapy does. Our study showed that cognitive behaviour therapy reduced the time taken to get to sleep by 20 minutes and reduced the amount of time spent awake after falling asleep by nearly 30 minutes. These effects were maintained out to 12 months after treatment. These reductions in time taken to get to sleep and time spent awake are similar to those reported in clinical trials of hypnotics.  (more…)
Author Interviews, Genetic Research, Psychological Science / 20.05.2015

Wendong Li, Ph.D. Assistant professor of psychological sciences Department of Psychological Sciences Kansas State University Manhattan, KSMedicalResearch.com Interview with: Wendong Li, Ph.D. Assistant professor of psychological sciences Department of Psychological Sciences Kansas State University Manhattan, KS Medical Research: What is the background for this study? What are the main findings? Dr. Wen-Dong Li: There has been a "nature versus nurture" debate in leadership: Are leaders born or made? In academia, research on trait theories of leadership has shown that important individual characteristics such as personality traits are predictive of whether one is a leader or not (leadership role occupancy or emergence). One author of this paper, Dr. Arvey conducted twin studies showing that about 30% of the individual differences in leadership is attributable to individual differences in their genetic makeup. But so far, little research has examined whether specific genes are involved and no research has examined the pathways linking genes to leadership. This is where this research came in. We found that a dopamine transporter gene, DAT1 was involved in genetic influences on leadership role occupancy, but through two opposing pathways. One pathway is through proactive personality: DAT1 10-repeat allele was negatively related to proactive personality, which in turn was positively associated with leadership role occupancy. The negative indirect effect was significant. On the other hand, DAT1 was positively related to (moderate) rule breaking, which was positively associated with leadership role occupancy. The overall relationship between DAT1 and leadership was not significant. Thus we call it a mixed blessing because the two opposing mechanisms offset each other. (more…)
Author Interviews, Heart Disease, Mayo Clinic, Psychological Science / 01.05.2015

Shannon M. Dunlay, M.D. M.S. Advanced Heart Failure and Cardiac Transplantation Assistant Professor of Medicine and Health Care Policy and Research Mayo Clinic RochesterMedicalResearch.com Interview with: Shannon M. Dunlay, M.D. M.S. Advanced Heart Failure and Cardiac Transplantation Assistant Professor of Medicine and Health Care Policy and Research Mayo Clinic Rochester MedicalResearch: What is the background for this study? What are the main findings? Dr. Dunlay: Left ventricular assist devices (LVAD) are increasingly utilized as destination therapy (DT) in patients that are not candidates for heart transplantation. Optimal patient selection is essential in improving outcomes, but many of the factors associated with favorable outcomes remain poorly understood. It is important for us to better understand the role that psychosocial factors may play in outcomes after DT LVAD. Unlike transplant, where the limited organ supply requires choosing candidates with optimal psychosocial characteristics, DT LVAD therapy is more readily available as it does not rely on organ donors. There are no clear guidelines on what constitutes an acceptable psychosocial risk prior to DT LVAD. As a result, many programs will offer DT LVAD to candidates despite psychosocial concerns if it is felt they will otherwise benefit. Data are needed to inform programs about whether such candidates are truly at elevated risk of adverse outcomes. In our single-center study including 131 patients, we found that several psychosocial characteristics are predictive of readmission after DT LVAD. A history of illegal drug use and depression are associated with a higher risk of readmission, while tobacco use is associated with lower readmission risk. Psychosocial characteristics were not significant predictors of death after DT LVAD. (more…)
Author Interviews, Psychological Science, Sleep Disorders / 01.05.2015

Jaime L. Tartar PhD Behavioral Neuroscience Major Chair Division of Social and Behavioral Sciences Nova Southeastern University Fort Lauderdale, FloridaMedicalResearch.com Interview with: Jaime L. Tartar PhD Behavioral Neuroscience Major Chair Division of Social and Behavioral Sciences Nova Southeastern University Fort Lauderdale, Florida Medical Research: What is the background for this study? What are the main findings? Dr. Tartar: We set out to understand how poor sleep quality can influence emotion processing. Our rationale for this study was that although sleep perturbations are known to impair cognitive performance, it is not currently clear how poor sleep alters emotion processes. However, given that poor sleep quality is closely associated with the development of mood disorders, it is important to understand how sleep quality affects emotional functioning. We specifically examined the possibility that poor sleep quality creates a cognitive bias in memory and interpretation for emotionally negative stimuli. This would result in maladaptive emotional experiences- for example, through enhanced memory for emotionally negative events (which is also a common characteristic of depression). The idea that negative cognitive bias occurs with poor sleep quality is also consistent with the finding that sleep loss increases sensitivity to emotional stimuli as well as increases undesirable mood states like irritability, anger, and hostility.  It is particularly noteworthy that sleep perturbations result in increased emotionality since sleep perturbations are shown to result in a decrease in non-emotional cognitive processes (attention and memory).  In order to clarify the role of sleep quality on emotion processing, we tested the relationship between sleep quality and a negative cognitive bias through the use of an emotional memory task.  We also aimed to contrast these findings with performance on a non-emotional attention task since sleep impairments have previously been shown to cause impairments in (non-emotional) sustained attention. An interesting feature of the study was that we also accounted for potential confounding effects of stress sensitivity and chronotype (ones preferred time of day) since these are both factors known to be related to sleep quality. We found that, compared to those who reported good subjective sleep quality, participants who reported poor subjective sleep quality showed a negative cognitive bias towards emotionally negative stimuli. Also in agreement with previous work, we show that poor sleep quality has a negative effect on affective symptom measures- poor sleep quality relates to increased depressive symptoms, greater state and trait anxiety, and higher total mood disturbance (increased tension, fatigue, confusion and less vigor). Consistent with previous findings, we also found that subjective sleep quality was related to a decrease in performance on a sustained attention task. Although previous research suggests that stress sensitivity and chronotype would be important variables to consider in the impact of sleep perturbations on emotion processing, we did not find any stress, chronotype, or time of testing effects on these measures. (more…)
Addiction, Author Interviews, Case Western, Psychological Science / 29.04.2015

Maria Pagano, PhD Case Western Reserve University School of Medicine Department of Psychiatry, Division of Child Psychiatry Cleveland, OHMedicalResearch.com Interview with: Maria Pagano, PhD Case Western Reserve University School of Medicine Department of Psychiatry, Division of Child Psychiatry Cleveland, OH MedicalResearch: What is the background for this study? Dr. Pagano: Socially anxious adolescents quickly figure out that alcohol and drugs can provide ease and comfort in social situations that are anxiety provoking.  Reaching for a substance to change how you feel can quickly become a knee-jerk reaction, can develop into an addiction, and robs youths of learning how to tolerate interpersonal differences and uncomfortable feelings, developing emotional maturity, and cultivating self acceptance. Adolescents who fear being criticized by their peers are likely to not speak up in group therapies during treatment, which can limit their benefit from treatment.  There is a lot of healing that comes sharing your insides with others. Socially anxious patients may not get this healing nor let others really get to know who they are and give input to their lives Higher peer helping in AA during treatment means getting active in low intensity tasks like putting away chairs, or making coffee at a 12-step meeting.  It is less about needing peer assistance or expecting praise or recognition from giving service.  It is more about adopting the attitude of "how can I be helpful?" (more…)
Author Interviews, Psychological Science, Weight Research / 08.03.2015

Margaret C. Campbell, Phd | Professor | Marketing Chair, Doctoral Curriculum Program Committee 437 Leeds School of Business University of Colorado at Boulder Boulder, CO 80309-0419MedicalResearch.com Interview with: Margaret C. Campbell, Phd | Professor | Marketing Chair, Doctoral Curriculum Program Committee 437 Leeds School of Business University of Colorado at Boulder Boulder, CO 80309-0419   Medical Research: What is the background for this study? What are the main findings? Dr. Campbell: People try to maintain healthy body weights, attain academic and career success, save money for a car, a house, or retirement, and achieve a host of other goals that require repeated, goal-consistent behaviors. Unfortunately, consumers’ efforts often fall short. For example, 68% of Americans are overweight (Weight Control Information Network 2010), 46% who begin college do not graduate within six years (Associated Press 2006), and although 93% say that saving for retirement is important, only about 60% are actually saving (TIAA-CREF 2010) and approximately 50% have accumulated less than $25,000 (Helman, VanDehrei and Copeland 2007). Understanding goal pursuit and consumers’ choices to continue effort toward a goal that requires repeated goal-consistent behaviors is thus important. People need to be able to make progress on important goals that substantially impact their quality of life. Monitoring the influence of behavior on distance from a focal goal has been identified as important for successful goal pursuit - such as weight loss. In seven experiments, we find that people tend to have a “progress bias” such that they perceive that goal-consistent behaviors (such as avoiding eating a piece of cake) help progress more than equivalent-sized goal-inconsistent behaviors (such as eating a piece of cake) hurt progress. An experiment on exercise and eating shows that the progress bias can lead to poor understanding of progress and thus, premature release of the goal. In this study, the progress bias resulted in people with a goal of expending more calories than they consumed ended up consuming more than they expended. (more…)
Author Interviews, Gender Differences, Heart Disease, Psychological Science / 16.02.2015

Xiao Xu, PhD Assistant Professor Department of Obstetrics, Gynecology and Reproductive Sciences Yale University School of Medicine andMedicalResearch.com Interview with: Xiao Xu, PhD Assistant Professor Department of Obstetrics, Gynecology and Reproductive Sciences Yale University School of Medicine and Harold H. Hines, Jr. Professor of Medicine (Cardiology) and Professor of Faculty of Arts and Sciences, of Investigative Medicine and of Public Health (Health Policy); Co-Director, Clinical Scholars Program; Director, Yale-New Haven Hospital Center for Outcomes Research and Evaluation New Haven, CT 06510Harlan M Krumholz MD, SM Harold H. Hines, Jr. Professor of Medicine (Cardiology) and Professor of Faculty of Arts and Sciences, of Investigative Medicine and of Public Health (Health Policy);  Co-Director, Clinical Scholars Program;  Director, Yale-New Haven Hospital Center for Outcomes Research and Evaluation New Haven, CT 06510 Medical Research: What is the background for this study? What are the main findings? Response: Prior research of heart attack has mostly examined older patients, while few studies have focused on younger patients. Although we know that younger women differ from men and older patients in heart attack etiology and mortality, there is limited data on non-mortality outcomes of younger women and factors influencing their recovery. Mental stress is a particularly relevant factor for younger women as prior research showed higher stress in women than in men and an inverse association between age and stress. Therefore, in this study, we compared women and men 18-55 years old with heart attack and examined gender difference in mental stress and its potential role in explaining the worse recovery in women. We addressed these questions using data from the Variation in Recovery: Role of Gender on Outcomes of Young AMI Patients (VIRGO) project, which is the largest prospective observational study of young and middle-aged women and men with heart attack and has comprehensive information on patients’ clinical and psychosocial characteristics. Our findings showed significantly higher stress in women than in men. Moreover, mental stress is associated with worse recovery in multiple health outcomes 1 month after heart attack, such as angina-specific and overall quality of life. The greater stress in women may partially contribute to their worse recovery. (more…)
Author Interviews, Cancer Research, Psychological Science / 31.01.2015

Miss Charlotte Vrinten, MSc, BA, BSc Research psychologist Cancer Research UK Health Behaviour Research Centre Department of Epidemiology and Public Health University College LondonMedicalResearch.com Interview with: Miss Charlotte Vrinten, MSc, BA, BSc Research psychologist Cancer Research UK Health Behaviour Research Centre Department of Epidemiology and Public Health University College London Medical Research: What is the background for this study? What are the main findings? Response: Many people are afraid of getting cancer, but fear doesn’t have the same effect on everyone.  For some people, cancer fear motivates them to get checked up, for others it puts them off finding out whether they have cancer.  No-one before has worked out why fear might have such opposite effects.  We hypothesized that it might be due to how people experience fear, because some fearful people tend to worry a lot about cancer, while others feel physically uncomfortable thinking about it.  In our study, instead of using a combined measure of cancer fear as is often done, we distinguished these different aspects of fear to see whether they had different effects on people’s decisions about cancer screening.  We found that the effect of cancer fear depended on the type of fear: worriers were more likely to want to get screened for colon cancer, but those who felt uncomfortable thinking about cancer were 12% less likely to go for the test. Twelve percent may not seem like a lot, but given that tens of thousands of people are eligible for this type of screening, it means a big difference in the number of people actually having the test. (more…)
Author Interviews, Brigham & Women's - Harvard, Psychological Science, Surgical Research / 20.12.2014

Brian I. Labow, MD Director, Adolescent Breast Clinic Assistant in Surgery Assistant Professor of Surgery Harvard Medical School PrimaryMedicalResearch.com Interview with: Brian I. Labow, MD Director, Adolescent Breast Clinic Assistant in Surgery Assistant Professor of Surgery Harvard Medical School Primary   Medical Research: What is the background for this study? What are the main findings? Dr. Labow:  This study is part of our larger Adolescent Breast Disorder Study, in which we examine the impact of several breast disorders on adolescent girls and boys and measure the effect of treatment. In this present study we have found breast asymmetry, defined as having at least 1 cup size difference between breasts, can have a significant impact on the psychological wellbeing of adolescent girls.  Validated surveys were given to adolescent girls with breast asymmetry, macromastia (enlarged breasts), and healthy unaffected girls between the ages of 12-21 to assess a wide array of health domains. Girls with breast asymmetry had noted deficits in psychological wellbeing and self-esteem when compared to healthy girls of the same age.  These impairments were similar to those of girls with macromastia, a condition known to have significant negative mental health effects. Interestingly, these negative psychological outcomes did not vary by patient’s age or severity of breast asymmetry. Older and younger adolescents were negatively impacted similarly, as were those with lesser and greater degrees of breast asymmetry. (more…)
Author Interviews, Psychological Science, Weight Research / 19.11.2014

MedicalResearch.com Interview with: Hanna Konttinen, PhD, Docent Post-doctoral researcher Department of Social Research University of Helsinki Medical Research: What is the background for this study? Dr. Konttinen: Bariatric surgery yields significant weight reduction for the majority of severely obese individuals with accompanied improvements in health status and health-related quality of life. Nonetheless, slow weight regain over time is frequent and there is a need for a better understanding on the factors that influence long-term post-surgical weight outcomes. To our best knowledge, this was the first study to examine whether psychological aspects of eating behavior predicted weight changes 10 years after surgical and conventional treatment for severe obesity. The participants were from the Swedish Obese Subjects intervention study: 2010 obese subjects who underwent bariatric surgery and 1916 contemporaneously matched obese controls who received conventional treatment. (more…)
Author Interviews, Cancer, Cancer Research, Psychological Science / 04.11.2014

Linda E. Carlson, Ph.D., R.Psych. Enbridge Research Chair in Psychosocial Oncology Alberta Innovates-Health Solutions Health Scholar Professor, Department of Oncology, Faculty of Medicine Adjunct Professor, Department of Psychology, Faculty of Arts University of Calgary Clinical Psychologist, Director of Research Department of Psychosocial ResourcesMedicalResearch.com Interview with: Linda E. Carlson, Ph.D., R.Psych.                Enbridge Research Chair in Psychosocial Oncology Alberta Innovates-Health Solutions Health Scholar Professor, Department of Oncology, Faculty of Medicine Adjunct Professor, Department of Psychology, Faculty of Arts University of Calgary Clinical Psychologist, Director of Research Department of Psychosocial Resources Medical Research: What is the background for this study? What are the main findings? Dr. Carlson: We have been investigating the effects of cancer support programs including the two in this study, Mindfulness-based cancer recovery, an 8-week group program in which patients learn mindfulness meditation and gentle yoga, and supportive-expressive therapy, a 12-week program where patients share difficult emotions in a supportive group environment. We know there is psychological benefit of these programs, but what about effects in the body? Telomeres are the protective caps on the end of chromosomes (like the tips on shoelaces) that protect them from damage and degredation. They are longest when we are young and naturally get shorter as we age. Shorter telomere's are associated with higher risk for many diseases, including cancer, and people with higher stress levels tend to have shorter telomeres. This is the first study to investigate whether short psychosocial interventions can affect telomere length in cancer pateints. We randomly assigned breast cancer survivors with cancer-related distress, feelings such as anxiety, fear, worry, and depression, to either mindfulness-based cancer recovery, supportive expressive therapy or a control group that just had a minimal intervention. We took blood samples before and after the groups (or at equal time points for those in the control condition) and measured the length of the telomeres. Women in both of the active support groups maintained the length of their telomeres over time, but the telomere length of women in the control group became shorter. This is the first controlled study to show that short-term interventions can actually have some effect on cellular aging in the telomeres. (more…)
Author Interviews, Cognitive Issues, Psychological Science / 30.10.2014

MedicalResearch.com Interview with: Dr. Lorenza S. Colzato, Assistant Professor and Dominque Lippelt, Research Master Student Cognitive Neuroscience ResearchProgram Leiden, The Netherlands Medical Research: What is the background for this study? What are the main findings? Response: Our study aimed to investigate whether prior meditation experience could modulate the effect of two types of meditation on two aspects of creative thought. Creativity can be thought of as consisting of two main ingredients: Convergent thinking (finding one solution to a defined problem) and divergent thinking (finding many possible solutions to a problem). In a previous study we found that Open Monitoring meditation and Focused Attention meditaton (FAM) have distinguishable effects on creativity. OMM induces a control state that promotes divergent thinking while Focused Attention meditaton does not improve convergent thinking. Our results confirm and extend these findings. Open Monitoring meditation improved performance on a divergent thinking task, while Focused Attention meditaton did not, and these effects were present in both experienced and novice practitioners, suggesting that one does not have to have many years of meditation experience to benefit from its effects. However, while solving convergent thinking problems experienced practitioners tended to solve more problems through insight as opposed to using an analytical strategy, a way of problem solving that bears similarities to divergent thinking. (more…)
Author Interviews, Psychological Science, Weight Research / 23.10.2014

Dr. Michelle Lent PhD Geisinger Health SystemMedicalResearch.com Interview with Dr. Michelle Lent PhD Geisinger Health System Medical Research: What is the background for this study? Dr. Lent: Previous study findings indicate that weight bias relates to a number of adverse outcomes in overweight and obese populations, including binge eating, psychological disorders and body image issues. In this study, we measured the degree to which people undergoing weight-loss surgery translate “anti-fat” attitudes into negative beliefs about themselves before surgery (known as “internalized weight bias”) and if this influences weight loss outcomes after surgery. (more…)
Author Interviews, Psychological Science / 21.08.2014

MedicalResearch.com Interview with: Ashley Merianos, PhD, CHES Health Promotion & Education Program University of Cincinnati Cincinnati, Ohio   45221-0068 Medical Research: What are the main findings of the study? Dr. Merianos: Our study found that college students are unhappy and have difficulty with stress management. Specifically, the majority (61.0%) of participants reported having high stress, and were most stressed about school, lack of time, and with their future career. Although high levels of stress were reported, most (72.0%) students reported low frequency in using stress management techniques. Our study shows that students who reported low happiness reported higher stress levels and lower emotional closeness to others. (more…)
Author Interviews, JAMA, Psychological Science, University of Pittsburgh / 25.07.2014

John Blosnich, Ph.D., M.P.H., Post-doctoral fellow at the Center for Health Equity Research and Promotion Veterans Affairs Pittsburgh Healthcare System. MedicalResearch.com Interview with: John Blosnich, Ph.D., M.P.H., Post-doctoral fellow at the Center for Health Equity Research and Promotion Veterans Affairs Pittsburgh Healthcare System. Medical Research: What are the main findings of the study? Dr. Blosnich: I think there are two main findings from our study: First, since the beginning of the All-Volunteer U.S. military in 1973, there has been a shift in childhood experiences among men who have served in the military. Second, the childhood experiences of women who have served in the military have been largely similar across the Draft and All-Volunteer Eras. (more…)