Asthma and menstruation: the relationship between psychological and bronchial hyperreactivity.

The aim of this study was to investigate a possible interrelation between bronchial hyperreactivity and psychological hyperreactivity. In order to record changes in both bronchial and psychological reactions throughout the menstrual cycle, 10 women out-patients with moderate asthma were followed up for six months, and their physical and psychological status as well as their reactions to life-events and environmental influences were assessed through self-reporting measures and weekly psychotherapeutic sessions. Psychotherapy was used both as a supplement to the medical treatment and as a method of data collection. A relationship between lowered resistance to stress, lowered resistance to infections and increased bronchial hyperreactivity is suggested as background aetiological factors for the exacerbation of asthma around menstruation.

The condition of "tightness": the somatic complaints of Turkish migrant women.

This article is based on intensive interviews made with 75 Turkish migrant women living in Denmark. The interviews were conducted in the women's own homes, in their own language, and special care was taken to establish an atmosphere of confidence. The methodological problems involved in this kind of research are discussed. The purpose of the study was to obtain information on the women's own evaluation of their physical, psychological and social conditions in the host country. Only 8% of the informants reported that they were in good health. The remaining had complaints of somatic character and considered themselves as being ill. There were no cases of severe psychopathology. The background of the women's illnesses is analysed at three levels: the physical, the psychosocial and the cultural levels respectively, in an attempt to elucidate their multifactorial etiology as well as to give a more comprehensive picture of the meaning of illness in a societal context.

Stress and distress in migration: problems and resources of Turkish women in Denmark.

PIP: Data collected through interviews with 72 Turkish female immigrants to Denmark show that migration and the inevitable confrontation with an unfamiliar cultural mileu, create several stress producing situations, which they are unable to cope due to their multiple disadvantage of being poor, uneducated, alien and female. Turkish women began arriving in Denmark after 1973, in order to join male members of their families, when Denmark began experiencing economic recession and rising unemployment. This was responsible for the lukewarm reception they faced in their host country, even from their own relatives. A feeling of uprootedness is common in these women, who, leaving behind the security of their their own society, are constantly exposed to behavior patterns that appear to be in sharp contrast to their own. An unfamiliarity with the implicit structure of the society and rules of conduct can be threatening. Having a job outside the home creates the double burden of working to earn a living and having to take full responsibility for children and the household. On the other hand, not having a job creates an excess of leisure time, due to the availability of time saving gadgets, which is spent indoors with no meanigful activities. Lack of mobility compounds the situation. While proximity to other Turks inbitits freedom for fear of criticism, staying away brings loneliness. Changing concepts of sex roles can be disruptive, especially when roles they are brought up to believe are theirs, are no longer needed. As accompanying wives, they are excessively dependent on their husbands, and are more isolated and overwoked than they would have been in their homeland. All these factors help render the women extremely powerless. The women interviewed attributed their complaints, physical or emotional, to their state as immigrants. Women's complaints, especially if they are psychological in nature, lead to the danger of the women being labelled mentally ill. Despite their general low status, these women seemed determined to solve their problems, and thus had strength and resources as well, arising out of, among other factors, the knowledge of Turkish girls that, because of their sex, they have to be prepared to make adjustments.^ieng

Perinatal complications in offspring of psychotic parents.

The birth records of 78 subjects born to psychotic parents and 72 subjects born to normal parents were studied. No significant differences in the rates of pregnancy and birth complications (PBCs) were found between the offspring of psychotic parents and normal control parents. There were no differences between offspring born to psychotic mothers compared to psychotic fathers. Neither the onset of the parent's illness, nor the mother's age at delivery, nor the sex of the offspring seemed to influence the rate of PBCs. The offspring of chronic schizophrenic mothers and manic-depressive fathers had lower PBC rates than the offspring of parents of other diagnostic categories. The parents of these two groups, which were of a limited size, did not differ on any variable of significance, excepting the time of their first psychiatric hospital admission.