The effectiveness of acceptance and commitment therapy (ACT) on illness perception in orthopedic patients.

BACKGROUND: Orthopedic pain is diagnosed and treated as a global health problem. Therapeutic interventions can change the behavior of patients and improve their quality of life. This study was aimed to evaluate the effectiveness of acceptance and commitment therapy (ACT) on illness perception among orthopedic patients. MATERIALS AND METHODS: This quasi-experimental study was conducted as a two-group design (one experimental group and one control group) with pretest and posttest. Participants were selected from patients referred to the Mooud Physiotherapy Center in Mashhad, Iran. Patients were randomly divided into experimental and control groups (12 in each group). The experimental group received weekly sessions for three months (eight sessions), whereas the control group did not receive any intervention. Data were collected through Weinman's Illness Perception Questionnaire (with Cronbach's alpha coefficient of 0.72). Data were analyzed using multivariate analysis of covariance (MANCOVA). RESULTS: The results of the study showed that in terms of time, the outcome, and the meaning of disease, the patients in the ACT group had a lower mean in the posttest. Patients of the ACT group in personal and therapeutic controls showed a higher mean in the posttest than those of the control group. Therefore, ACT had a significant effect on improving the understanding of disease in orthopedic patients (P < 0.05). CONCLUSION: Based on the results, ACT has a significant effect on the disease perception of orthopedic patients. Therefore, it is suggested that therapists use this therapy approach to illness perception in orthopedic patients.

Basic religious beliefs and personality traits.

OBJECTIVE: Spiritual beliefs can help people find meaning of life, and can also influence their feelings, behaviors and mental health. The present research studied the relationship between basic religious beliefs (Human, Existence and God) and five personality factors: neuroticism, extraversion, openness, agreeableness, conscientiousness. METHOD: One hundred seventy eight students of Islamic Azad University in Torbat-jam were randomly selected and completed the basic religious beliefs and NEO Questionnaires. RESULTS: Data showed that basic religious beliefs have a significant negative correlation with neuroticism (r=-0.29),and a significant positive relationship with extraversion(r=0.28),openness(r=0.14),agreeableness (r=0.29),and conscientiousness (r=0.48). Also, the results of the regression analysis showed that basic religious beliefs can anticipate neuroticism, extraversion, agreeableness and conscientiousness, but they cannot anticipate the openness factor significantly. CONCLUSION: The findings of this study demonstrate that basic religious beliefs have a positive relationship with good characteristics that help people resolve the challenges of their lives and identity crisis. Thus, the results of this study support the idea of Religious Cognitive-Emotional Theory that religiosity is correlated with positive personality traits.

Immunohistochemical detection of p53 and PCNA in ameloblastoma and adenomatoid odontogenic tumor.

Although ameloblastoma and adenomatoid odontogenic tumor (AOT) belong to the same group according to the World Health Organization, they show different biologic behaviors. PCNA, an amplifier of cell proliferation, and p53, a tumor suppressor protein, are overexpressed in some odontogenic lesions. The purpose of this study was to immunohistochemically evaluate the expression of p53 and PCNA to clarify the possible role of these proteins in different behaviors of ameloblastoma and AOT. The immunohistochemical expression of PCNA and p53 was determined in 30 solid ameloblastomas and 12 AOTs. Statistical tests including one-way ANOVA, t-test, chi-square, Mann-Whitney U and Kendall were used to analyze the data. All tissue sections (except one specimen of plexiform ameloblastoma) exhibited immunoexpression for p53. PCNA was expressed in all specimens. There was no significant difference in PCNA expression between ameloblastomas and AOTs (P > 0.05). For p53, there was no statistical difference between subtypes of ameloblastomas (P > 0.05), whereas statistical differences were observed between ameloblastomas and AOTs (P < 0.001). There was no statistical difference in PCNA intensity of staining between ameloblastomas and AOTs (P > 0.05), whereas the p53 intensity in ameloblastomas was stronger than AOTs (P < 0.05). Positive correlation between PCNA and p53 was observed. We concluded that PCNA overexpression is not responsible for the difference in clinical behavior of these two lesions, whereas the expression of p53 in ameloblastoma may explain the more aggressive nature of this tumor compared with AOT.

Religious cognitive-emotional therapy: a new form of psychotherapy.

From the ancient times up to this date, it has been thought that religion and spirituality have important effects on human being's mental life. However, some psychologists and psychotherapists have ignored this role, and thus neglected to study the effects of applying religion and spirituality in psychotherapy. However, many psychologists and psychotherapists have recently studied the relationship between religion or spirituality and mental health; or used religious interventions in psychotherapies. Although different kinds of religious psychotherapies have been proposed, no comprehensive theory has been presented in this area. In this article a scientific, comprehensive and applied spiritual method of psychotherapy is suggested. Religious Cognitive- Emotional Therapy (RCET) is a new form of cognitive therapy that uses the basic religious beliefs and insights in psychotherapy. RCET is a new integration of cognitive, humanistic, and existential psychotherapies that takes into account religious beliefs and insights of the clients. RCET is an effective method of psychotherapy for the treatment of those who suffer from identity crisis, depression, and anxiety; and it can be developed to address other psychological disorders as well. Because RCET is a new approach, practically is needed to do further theoretical research in this area.