ABSTRACT
Recent literature has been concerned with the relationship between life-events and psychological symptoms, and more particularly studies of communities subsequent to disasters have suggested the presence of intrusive cognitions to be a mediating variable. In this investigation new patients presenting to a general community psychiatric clinic over a four-month period completed a brief life-event scale, the Impact of Event Scale (IES) and the 28-item General Health Questionnaire (GHQ). Appropriate statistical methods were employed to model the intervening role of IES scores between numbers of life-events and subsequent psychiatric symptomatology. Data was collected on 48 subjects, for whom it was shown that IES score accounted for the reporting of psychiatric symptoms following adversity. It appeared to be the dimension of cognitive intrusion that mediated this effect, with cognitive avoidance occupying a subsidiary, reactive role. There was also evidence of specific relationships between intrusion and anxiety and somatic subscales of the GHQ, and between avoidance and depression. Despite small numbers and simple measures, the findings supported the post-disaster studies, and raises further questions about the emotional processing of adversity.
Subject(s)
Affective Symptoms/psychology , Life Change Events , Psychophysiologic Disorders/psychology , Stress, Psychological/complications , Adaptation, Psychological , Adolescent , Adult , Avoidance Learning , Cognition Disorders/psychology , Defense Mechanisms , Female , Humans , Male , Middle Aged , Psychological Theory , Regression AnalysisABSTRACT
This study examines the role of coping in the onset of post-traumatic stress disorder (PTSD) in a nonpatient population following exposure to a natural disaster. In contrast to other studies, the use of all coping strategies was found to be associated with the presence of PTSD rather than the absence of symptoms. These data suggest that coping (in this sense) represents a psychological process used to contain the distress caused by symptoms as well as to manage environmental adversity.
Subject(s)
Adaptation, Psychological , Anxiety Disorders/psychology , Disasters , Stress Disorders, Post-Traumatic/psychology , Anxiety Disorders/diagnosis , Anxiety Disorders/etiology , Australia , Female , Fires , Humans , Male , Psychiatric Status Rating Scales , Stress Disorders, Post-Traumatic/diagnosis , Stress Disorders, Post-Traumatic/etiology , Surveys and QuestionnairesABSTRACT
Lymphocyte response to stimulation with phytohaemagglutinin (PHA) was assessed in 11 patients with major depression and 8 subjects anticipating bereavement, in order to examine whether altered immune response (PHA stimulation index) was more closely related to depressed mood than to sleep and weight changes. No significant relationship was found between sleep or weight changes and immune response. Depression, measured using the HRSD (with and without sleep scores) and the BDI, was related differently in the two groups. For the depressed patients, increasing depression was associated with reduction in immune response; among those anticipating bereavement (with low depression scores), increasing depression was associated with enhanced immune response. A regression curve using data from both samples demonstrated an inverted 'U'-shaped curve relating immune response to mild and severe depressed states. The results of this study suggest a hypothesis that may explain previous discrepant results and which requires testing on more subjects.
Subject(s)
Bereavement , Depressive Disorder/blood , Leukocyte Count , Adult , Aged , Female , Humans , Male , Middle Aged , Sleep , Weight LossABSTRACT
Fifty patients suffering from the alcohol dependence syndrome were detoxified over a 10-day period using a reducing regime of chlordiazepoxide. Twenty-four had been consuming minor tranquillisers together with alcohol prior to admission. The severity of the withdrawal syndrome was assessed daily but no differences were found between the 26 who had taken alcohol alone and the 24 who had taken a combination of alcohol and drugs. Four from each group had a transient hallucinosis and none had fits.
