Changes In Mental Distress Research Articles

Reduction in mental distress among substance users receiving inpatient treatment

BackgroundSubstance users being admitted to inpatient treatment experience a high level of mental distress. In this study we explored changes in mental distress during treatment.MethodsMental distress, as measured by the HSCL-10, was registered at admission and at discharge among 164 substance users in inpatient treatment in Northern Norway. Predictors of reduction in mental distress were examined utilizing hierarchical regression analysis.ResultsWe found a significant reduction in mental distress in the sample, but the number of patients scoring above cut-off on the HSCL-10 at discharge was still much higher than in the general population. A more severe use of substances as measured by the AUDIT and the DUDIT, and being female, predicted a higher level of mental distress at admission to treatment as well as greater reduction in mental distress during treatment. Holding no education beyond 10 year compulsory school only predicted a reduction in mental distress.ConclusionsThe toxic and withdrawal effects of substances, level of education as well as gender, contributed to the differences in change in mental distress during treatment. Regression to the mean may in part explain some of the findings.

Changes in Implicit and Explicit Measures of Ego Functions and Distress Among Two Eating Disorder Subgroups: Outcomes of Integrative Treatment

The study examined changes in ego functions and mental distress among eating disorder (ED) adolescent inpatients following integrative treatment. Participants included 31 restricting anorexia nervosa and 25 bingeing/purging spectrum ED inpatients. Rorschach Comprehensive System (CS; Exner, 2003) and self-report measures were administered on admission and discharge. We found that improvement in ego functions, mental distress and ED symptomatology occurred in both ED groups at discharge. Nevertheless, the two ED subgroups exhibited different configurations of change as well as varying patterns of relations between changes in mental distress and ego functions and improvement in ED symptoms. These data further indicate that the restricting and bingeing/purging patients may require different treatment approaches.

Partnership Transitions and Mental Distress: Investigating Temporal Order

The study uses 15 waves of the British Household Panel Survey and the General Health Questionnaire to investigate changes in mental distress over several years surrounding transitions both into and out of marital partnerships (marriages and cohabitations) using fixed effects models. Entering marital partnerships is associated with reduced distress in separated or divorced individuals but not with those not previously married. Partnership dissolution is associated with very high levels of distress, but most people experience levels of distress a few years after leaving a partnership similar to that of a few years before leaving. These results vary, however, between married and cohabiting individuals, between fathers and mothers, and between age and gender groups.

Providing emergency mental health care to asylum seekers at a time when claims for permanent protection have been rejected

In total, 90% of 'boat people' who make it to Australia's migration zone are assessed as legitimate refugees and given Temporary Protection Visas (TPV) allowing them to stay in Australia for 3 years in the first instance. With an increasing number of individuals and families on TPV having their claims for a Permanent Protection Visa (PPV) rejected, this paper argues using the National Mental Health Plan 2003-2008 as a guide, for interventions that are culturally and linguistically appropriate, thus, aiming to minimize risk from exposure to extreme mental stressors in the event of an application for a PPV being rejected. Continuity and integration of mental health care involving key stakeholders is best achieved by bridging discrete elements through preparing for visa appeals and reviews, news from home and ongoing psychosocial stressors--in the context of different episodes, interventions by different providers, and changes in mental distress. To help strengthen continuity and integration of mental health supports for TPV holders, well resourced care must be experienced as connected and coherent.

Re-traumatisation, fear and suicidal thinking: a case study of ‘boatpeople’ from Australia

Ninety percent of “boatpeople” who make it toAustralia’s migration zone are assessed as legitimate refugees and given Temporary Protection Visas (TPV) allowing them to stay inAustraliafor three years in the first instance. The aim of this paper is to pinpoint aspects of re-traumatisation, fear mistrust as stressors for one individual living on a TPV. This paper identifies how discrete elements in the recent and distant past interact with the present forming a re-traumatising environment with ongoing psychosocial stressors and changes in mental distress. The paper is based upon extensive ethnographic fieldwork with people released from Australian Immigration Detention facilities.

Patterns of mental distress following the violent death of a child and predictors of change over time.

We observed 173 parents bereaved by the violent death of an adolescent or young adult child. Data were collected 4, 12, 24, and 60 months postdeath. Using latent growth modeling, we examined how initial levels of mental distress and the rate of change over time are influenced by nine predictors: parents' gender, self-esteem, three coping strategies, perceived social support, negative life stressors, posttraumatic stress disorder (PTSD) symptoms, and an intervention offered in the early bereavement period. The results support a multiple-risk and -protective factor model of loss accommodation. Parents' gender, self-esteem, and affective and repressive coping were predictive of changes in mental distress over time. Although parents' initial levels of PTSD were the best predictor of baseline mental distress, they did not predict reductions in distress 5 years later. Theoretical, empirical, and clinical implications are discussed.

The relationship between psychological distress and traditional clinical variables: a 2 year prospective study of 216 patients with early rheumatoid arthritis.

In this longitudinal study (12 and 24 months follow-up) of 216 patients with early rheumatoid arthritis (RA) (< or = 4 yr duration), we assessed the strength and stability of the relationship between psychological distress and traditional clinical variables examined the ability of these clinical variables to predict changes in mental distress, and explored the directionality between mental distress and the other clinical variables. Study variables were symptoms of anxiety and depression measured by the Arthritis Impact Measurement Scales, tender joint counts, erythrocyte sedimentation rate (ESR), and self-reported pain and disability. Psychological distress showed high levels of stability over time. Pain and disability were the two variables most strongly and consistently related to mental distress. High levels of disability predicted an increase in depression during the next year; otherwise, changes in psychological distress were not predicted by disease-related variables. Attempts at causal modelling of the temporal relationship between mental distress, pain and disability failed to yield consistent results.