Risk Of Mental Disorders Research Articles

The role of specific early trauma in adult depression: A meta-analysis of published literature. Childhood trauma and adult depression

BackgroundA large literature has long focused on the role of trauma in childhood and risk for psychological disorders in adulthood. Despite several studies performed, to date, it is not clear which weight have different childhood stressors specifically on the risk for depression in adult life. In the present study, we performed a meta-analysis of the literature in order to assess the effective role of childhood traumas as risk factor in the onset of depressive disorders in adults. MethodsPreviously published papers investigating the exposure to childhood trauma and their association with depression in adult subjects were retrieved in literature through common databases. Meta-analysis was conducted by the RevMan software. The quality of studies was evaluated by an adapted version of the New-Ottawa Quality Assessment Scale; bias publication was evaluated by the Egger's test. Meta-regression analysis was employed to detect potential confounders and/or moderating variables. Finally, a sensitivity analysis was post-hoc performed to control for potential confounders. ResultsEmotional abuse showed the strongest association with depression (OR=2.78) followed by neglect (OR=2.75) and sexual abuse (OR=2.42). Significant associations were also found for domestic violence (OR=2.06) and physical abuse (OR=1.98). Nevertheless, in post-hoc analysis, emotional abuse and neglect showed the strongest associations with depression as compared to other kinds of child trauma. ConclusionsThese findings support the role of neglect and emotional abuse as significantly associated to depression. Sexual/physical abuse or violence in family may be unspecific risk factors for mental disturbance. Other kind of trauma may play a less relevant role in risk of adult depression, though they should be not underestimated.

Emotional changes occurring in women in pregnancy, parturition and lying-in period according to factors exerting an effect on a woman during the peripartum period.

Pregnancy, parturition and childcare, which are important moments in a woman's life, are connected with many emotional states of a future mother, a pregnant woman and a lying-in woman. The perinatal period is the time when the risk of psychological disorders in a pregnant woman may increase by even several times. Objective. The objective of the study was recognition of the main emotional and psychological changes in pregnant women, those in labour and lying-in, according to the factors occurring during the peripartum period. The study was conducted in the form of a survey and covered a group of 108 mothers who were hospitalized in gynaecological-obstetric and obstetric wards in the Karol Marcinkowski Gynaecological-Obstetric University Hospital in Poznań. There are a number of factors which may exert a negative effect on the emotions of women in pregnancy, parturition, and during lying-in. The study showed that there is a close relationship between the occurrence of these factors and emotional states of the mothers after giving birth. Special attention should be given to women in whom already during pregnancy factors arise which may have a negative impact on their mental state. Emotions during pregnancy, parturition and lying-in are often quite extreme, and achieve a high intensity, as well being very variable within a short period of time.

Re-Envisaging the Eight Developmental Stages of Erik Erikson: The Fibonacci Life-Chart Method (FLCM)

The purpose of this study is to describe the use of Fibonacci numbers to model Erikson’s eight developmental stages and to formulate practical clinical implications. Using a new method, called the Fibonacci Life-Chart Method (FLCM), all prospective dates based on the Fibonacci sequence between January 1, 2000 and December 31, 2100 were identified. This study found the FLCM produced a developmental pattern characterized by eight recognizable stages. This finding constitutes a new classification of Erikson’s eight developmental stages. The present research provides support for Erikson’s epigenetic view of predetermined, sequential stages to human development based on the occurrence of Fibonacci numbers in biological cell division and self-organizing systems. This method may help identify populations at risk for psychological disorder, which would allow early intervention. However, a longitudinal study is required to establish its predictive power.

71 Does Attending the Breathing Space Clinic for Four Sessions Improve Quality of Life for Patients with Lung Cancer

Many patients with lung cancer are symptomatic from diagnosis (Beckles et al, 2003) and quality of life (QoL) may be maximised through use of specialist palliative care in parallel with other treatments. Patients are at increased risk of psychological disorders such as depression and anxiety (Persson et al, 2008). This feasibility study explored anxiety, depression and QoL of patients ( n =5), predominantly …

Desenvolvimento após o divórcio como estratégia de crescimento humano

O divórcio é um dos momentos mais estressantes na vida dos adultos. Após a dissolução conjugal, os ex-parceiros têm de enfrentar inúmeras mudanças e desafios. A literatura psicológica tem dado prioridade ao estudo das consequências negativas do divórcio nas trajetórias desenvolvimentais de todos os membros da família, através da pesquisa exaustiva de problemas de ajustamento que provariam que o divórcio é por si só um factor de desestabilização e risco psicopatológico. No entanto, atualmente, surgem linhas de investigação que se distanciam desta visão, para se focalizarem nas possibilidades de desenvolvimento positivo que podem germinar com a decisão de divórcio. Desta forma, a adaptação ao divórcio não é vista como um processo cumulativo de perdas mas, pelo contrário, como um potencial processo qualitativo caracterizado por novos objetivos de vida, melhoria de competências e maior maturidade afetiva e íntima. O presente artigo propõe uma conceptualização da adaptação ao divórcio como podendo ser medida através do resultado qualitativo de uma sequência de mudanças desenvolvimentais integradas, em que os níveis mais avançados de desenvolvimento, e de um certo modo também mais diferenciados, devem integrar e ultrapassar os níveis anteriores e mais instrumentais da adaptação ao divórcio. São também apresentadas as dificuldades teóricas existentes na literatura em definir o conceito de desenvolvimento ótimo, bem como os procedimentos metodológicos usados para compreender estas trajetórias de crescimento humano.

Cognitive reactivity and depressotypic information processing in children of depressed mothers.

Although high-risk research suggests that children of depressed mothers are at increased risk for psychological disorders, the mechanisms of this risk are not well understood. In the current study, the information processing of children of depressed mothers was compared with that of children whose mothers were not depressed. Half of each group received a priming induction designed to activate cognitive schemas prior to assessment. All children then completed a self-referent processing task that examined the recall of negative and positive information. Results indicate that when primed, at-risk children showed a less positive self-concept and more negative information processing than did the children in the other groups. These data may offer potential clues into the mechanisms of cognitive vulnerability in at-risk children.

Child Functioning Predictors of Outcome Among Boys at Risk for Psychological Disorder

This study examined the success of child functioning measures in predicting child outcome for 97 boys with one parent previously hospitalized for psychiatric illness. The best predictors of adaptive functioning at a 3-year follow-up were IQ and clinician ratings based on parent report. Peer and teacher assessments and clinician ratings from interviews were moderately successful.

Disability and coping as predictors of psychological adjustment to rheumatoid arthritis.

Rheumatoid arthritis (RA) patients have been identified as a medical population at risk for psychological disorder, largely because of the pain and functional disability that are the hallmarks of the disease. This study examined the degree to which self-reported functional disability and coping efforts contribute to psychological adjustment among adult RA patients over a 6-month period. Adaptive outcomes included maintaining a sense of worth, mastery, and positive affect despite the illness. Hierarchical multiple regression analyses indicated that increases in disability were related to decreased acceptance of illness and increased negative affect. Coping efforts were related to increases in positive affect. The findings provide modest support for the role individual coping efforts play in shaping illness-related outcomes. Although disability is not easily reversed, knowledge about coping strategies that moderate its psychological impact may provide a useful basis for designing psychological interventions to promote adjustment.

Parent Psychopathology and Child Functioning among Sons at Risk for Psychological Disorder

The notion of risk is expanded in this report to signify risk among the children of any parent who has experienced any psychiatric disorder, not only schizophrenia. This broader notion of risk does not exclude the possibility that specific indices of child deficit will show associations with the specific diagnostic classification of the disturbed parent and thus possibly indicate a risk for specific later pathology. However, at this point, school measures of child behavior can only be expected to define a generalized risk successfully. This broader definition of risk suggests the alternative that a parent's disordered overall level of impairment may be more important in defining a child's vulnerability for future disorder than the specific diagnostic classification assigned to the parent during an episode of disorder (Harder, Kokes, Fisher, & Strauss 1980). Still another possibility is that patterns of school deviance have so far not shown any diagnostic specificity because of the particular diagnostic criteria utilized. There is evidence-for example, in the case of schizophrenia-that choice of diagnostic criteria can strongly influence the number of people classified as schizophrenic and hence a study's results (Gift, Strauss, Ritzler, Kokes, & Harder 1980; Harder et al. 1980). A third possibility is that parent symptomatology, independent of diagnosis, may be more predictive of child risk for future psychological impairment than other aspects of parent psychopathology. The present study was undertaken to extend further the investigation of these questions regarding relationships between indices of parent psychopathology-diagnostic classification and overall impairment and levels of child competence in the school setting.

Issues in behavioral prevention: Empirical findings

Some conceptual issues hampering progress is primary prevention of social maladjustments are examined. A model is suggested whereby vulnerability, operationally defined in terms of test behavioral performance deficits, interacts with environmental “presses”, i.e. life events making additional demands upon an individual's adjustment potential. Those with high vulnerability and high press ratings are considered to be at risk for psychological disorders and, as such, constitute a target population for primary prevention. A group of sixty-four well functioning high school students was administered screening tests derived from the above model. Twenty-five per cent of the total group found to be high in vulnerability were also found to experience greater environmental press in the sense of deriving less response-contingent positive reinforcement for engaging in commonly occurring pleasant events. Evidence from a psychophysiological tests and 2 yr follow-up data on adolescents at high and low risk suggests that these two groups can be reliably distinguished in terms of variables other than those used in the original classification. The outcome of this study lends support to social skills training as one form of preventive behavioral intervention suitable for adolescents at risk for becoming adjustment casualties.