Psychological Science
04 Nov Mindfulness Meditation Improved Telomere Length in Breast Cancer Patients
MedicalResearch.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.
30 Oct Meditation May Improve Creative Thinking and Problem Solving
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.23 Oct Internalized Fat Bias Impacts Bariatric Surgery Success
MedicalResearch.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.
21 Aug Future Uncertainty, Financial Issues Add to Stress in College Students
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.25 Jul Adverse Childhood Experiences Common in Military Men
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.
08 Jul Childhood Obesity: Sibling Influence May Be Greater Than Parents
MedicalResearch:.com Interview with:
Mark C. Pachucki, PhD
Senior Scientist, Mongan Institute for Health Policy
Affiliated Faculty, MGHfC Division of General Academic Pediatrics
Instructor in Medicine and Pediatrics, Harvard Medical School
Boston, MA 02114
MedicalResearch: What are the main findings of the study?
Dr. Pachucki: We found that in in one-child families, having an obese parent made a child about twice as likely to be obese themselves. However, in two-child families, a child’s obesity status was more strongly related with their sibling than with their parent. Even more interesting, in the case of the younger sibling, the parent’s obesity status was not related with that child’s obesity status at all. These findings matter because family members are primary sources of social influence for children – understanding how health status is correlated within a family gives us a better foothold on possible intervention strategies.
07 Jul Treating Psychogenic Nonepileptic Seizures With Psychotherapy Workbook Approach
MedicalResearch.com Interview with:
W Curt LaFrance Jr MD, MPH
Assistant Professor of Psychiatry and Neurology,
Alpert Medical School, Brown University
Director of Neuropsychiatry and Behavioral Neurology,
Rhode Island Hospital
Providence RI 02903-4923
MedicalResearch: What are the main findings of the study?
Dr. LaFrance: Patients treated with the 12 session, 1 hour, individual psychotherapy seizure treatment workbook had significant reductions in their seizures and improvement in their comorbid symptoms, quality of life and functioning. In contrast, treatment as usual /standard medical care (TAU/SMC) showed no improvement in seizures, comorbid symptoms or other outcomes.
04 Apr Hearing Loss Contributes to Personality Changes in Elderly
MedicalResearch.com Interview with:
Dr. Anne Ingeborg Berg:
University of Gothenburg, Sweden
MedicalResearch.com: What are the main findings of the study?
Answer: In our study of personality change in individuals aged 80+ we found that over a 6 year period individuals did not change in emotional stability, however, in line with previous research they got less extravert or outgoing. The only health aspect that could be related to an accelerated change in extraversion was impaired hearing at the first measurement occasion.
29 Mar Deviant Adult Behavior Linked to Childhood Social Instability
MedicalResearch.com Interview with: Dr. Prof. Natalia N. Kudryavtseva Head of Neurogenetics of Social Behavior Sector, Institute of Cytology and Genetics SD RAS, Novosibirsk, Russia MedicalResearch.com: What are the main findings of the study? Answer: Hostile environment and social instability stress can have a significant impact on adolescents, causing the development of anxiety and depression.24 Mar Violent Video Games Linked to Aggressive Thought Patterns and Behavior in Children
Posted at 22:02h
in Accidents & Violence, Author Interviews, JAMA, Pediatrics, Psychological Science
MedicalResearch.com Interview with:
Craig A. Anderson, Distinguished Professor
Director, Center for the Study of Violence
Department of Psychology
Iowa State University
Ames, IA 50011-3180
MedicalResearch.com: What are the main findings of the study?
Dr. Anderson: There are three main findings from this long-term study of violent video game effects.
1. Over time, repeated play and practice of violent video games led to an relative increase in aggressive thought patterns and in physical aggression.
2. As predicted by social-cognitive theoretical models, the violent video game effect on physical aggression was directly linked to the increase in aggressive thought patterns. That is, one key reason why repeated exposure to violent video games increases aggression is because such exposure changes the way children and adolescents think about people and events that occur in their lives. In a sense, their personality changes, so that they perceive more hostility around them and come to view physically aggressive behavior as a proper solution to even minor conflicts and provocations.
3. These effects of repeated exposure to violent video games were quite general across types of people. Boys and girls, younger children and older adolescents, high aggressive and low aggressive children, all showed pretty much the same effects. In other words, no subgroup was immune to the harmful effects of violent video games.
19 Mar Psychiatric Diagnosis Increased After Critical Illness and Mechanical Ventilation
Posted at 19:09h
in Author Interviews, Critical Care - Intensive Care - ICUs, JAMA, Pharmacology, Psychological Science
MedicalResearch.com Interview Invitation
Dr. Christian Fynbo Christiansen
Clinical Associate Professor
Department of Clinical Epidemiology
Aarhus University Hospital
MedicalResearch.com: What are the main findings of the study?
Dr. Christiansen: We included 24,179 critically ill nonsurgical patients receiving mechanical ventilation in intensive care units in Denmark, and matched comparison groups of hospitalized patients and the general population. We assessed psychiatric diagnoses and medication prescriptions before and after critical illness.
We found an increased prevalence of psychiatric diagnoses in the 5 year period before critical illness, compared to both other hospitalized patients and the general population.
11 Mar Suicide in Children and Adolescents: Relationship Between Peer Victimization, Cyberbullying
Posted at 02:14h
in Author Interviews, BMJ, Mental Health Research, Pediatrics, Psychological Science
MedicalResearch.com Interview with:
Mitch van Geel, PhD
Institute of Education and Child Studies, Leiden University
Leiden, the Netherlands
MedicalResearch.com: What are the main findings of the study?
Dr.van Geel: We performed a meta-analysis, which is a way to statistically summarize effect sizes from earlier studies. Individual studies often provide varying effect sizes, which makes it difficult to judge whether and how strong variables are related. Furthermore, study characteristics (sampling methods, response rates, controlling for certain confounders) might influence study results. By using a meta-analysis it can be analyzed to what extent study characteristics are related to results; if a particular result only tends to be established in studies with certain designs (for example a convenience sample), we might wonder whether such an effect really exists; but if we find that a particular outcome is unrelated to study characteristics or found in studies with relatively stronger designs, we might feel more certain in concluding that a relation between variables (bullying-suicide thoughts or attempts) exists.
By using a meta-analysis we established a significant relation between bullying and thoughts about suicide, and bullying and suicide attempts, and we found that these results were unrelated to study characteristics.
31 Jan Pediatric Anxiety Disorders: Treatment Follow Up Course
Posted at 23:59h
in Author Interviews, Johns Hopkins, Mental Health Research, Pediatrics, Psychological Science
MedicalResearch.com Interview with:
Golda Ginsburg, Ph.D
Professor Director, Research,
Division of Child and Adolescent Psychiatry
Department of Psychiatry and Behavioral Sciences
The Johns Hopkins University School of Medicine
Baltimore, Maryland
MedicalResearch.com: What are the main findings of the study?
Dr Ginsburg: This study examined the long-term outcomes of youth treated for an anxiety disorders. Findings revealed that almost half of anxious youth treated for an anxiety disorder were in remission (i.e., did not meet diagnostic criteria for any of the three study entry anxiety disorders) at an average of six years since starting treatment. Youth showing clinically meaningful improvement after 12 weeks of treatment, were more likely to be in remission, had lower anxiety severity, and had better functioning compared to youth who showed minimal or no initial clinical improvement.
Treatment type did not affect long-term outcomes.
22 Jan Breast Cancer: Cognitive Therapy Plus Hypnosis For Radiation Fatigue
MedicalResearch.com Interview with:
Guy H. Montgomery, Ph.D.
Director, Integrative Behavioral Medicine Program
Cancer Prevention and Control
Department of Oncological Sciences
Icahn School of Medicine at Mount Sinai
New York, NY 10029-6574
MedicalResearch.com: What are the main findings of the study?
Dr. Montgomery: A brief psychological intervention comprised of cognitive behavioral techniques and hypnosis (CBTH) reduced fatigue during, and for up to six months after, radiotherapy in breast cancer patients.
21 Jan Genetic Factors Explain Substantial Part of Physical Aggression Differences
MedicalResearch.com Interview with:
Eric Lacourse, Ph.D.
Professeur agrégé
Département de sociologie
Université de Montréal
Groupe de Recherche sur l'Inadaptation Psychosociale chez l'enfant Centre de Recherche de l'Hôpîtal Ste-Justine
MedicalResearch.com: What are the main findings of the study?
Dr. Lacourse: The gene-environment analyses revealed that early genetic factors were pervasive in accounting for developmental trends, explaining most of the stability and change in physical aggression, ” Lacourse said. “However, it should be emphasized that these genetic associations do not imply that the early trajectories of physical aggression are set and unchangeable. Genetic factors can always interact with other factors from the environment in the causal chain explaining any behaviour.”
10 Dec Sexual Lifestyles Through Life Course: Attitudes Have Changed
MedicalResearch.com Interview with:
Catherine H. Mercer Ph.D.
Senior Lecturer
UCL Centre for Sexual Health & HIV Research
Research Department of Infection & Population Health
University College London London U.K.
MedicalResearch.com: What are the main findings of the study?
Dr. Mercer: Firstly, the National Surveys of Sexual Attitudes and Lifestyles, Britain’s nationally-representative surveys of sexual behaviour (or Natsal for short), have captured substantial changes in sexual attitudes and lifestyles over the past 60 years, having collected data from over 45,000 people born between the 1930s and the 1990s – a period spanning much of the 20th Century.
Secondly, the recent changes in behaviour that we have observed - so over the past decade - have however been considerably more marked for women than men, with the gender gap in reported behaviour narrowing, and in some cases, disappearing altogether.
Thirdly, we’ve seen a greater acceptance of more diverse sexual lifestyles, such as same-sex sexual partnerships, but greater intolerance of what many people might consider as ‘disrespectful’ sexual partnerships, including non-exclusivity in marriage.