Individual and Work-Related Psychological Characteristics Contributing to Subjective Well-Being in Air Rescue Employees.

Objective: Air rescue staff are subject to stressors, including frequent traumatic events, shift work, and unfavorable conditions during rescue missions. We investigated subjective well-being among employees of the Swiss Air-Rescue organization and the potential determining factors, such as sense of coherence, self-esteem, coping, stress, and mental health status.

Methods: All employees (N = 142) received a questionnaire battery composed of the Trier Inventory for the Assessment of Chronic Stress, the Salutogenic Subjective Work Analysis, the Stress Coping Questionnaire, the Health and Stress Questionnaire, the Sense of Coherence Scale 13-item scale, the Inventory for the Measurement of Self-Efficacy and Externality, the Brief Symptom Inventory, the 12-item General Health Questionnaire, and the Posttraumatic Stress Diagnostic Scale.

Electrocorticographic Activation Patterns of Electroencephalographic Microstates.

Electroencephalography (EEG) microstates are short successive periods of stable scalp field potentials representing spontaneous activation of brain resting-state networks. EEG microstates are assumed to mediate local activity patterns. To test this hypothesis, we correlated momentary global EEG microstate dynamics with the local temporo-spectral evolution of electrocorticography (ECoG) and stereotactic EEG (SEEG) depth electrode recordings.

The Impact of Foehn Wind on Mental Distress among Patients in a Swiss Psychiatric Hospital.

Psychiatric patients are particularly vulnerable to strong weather stimuli, such as foehn, a hot wind that occurs in the alps. However, there is a dearth of research regarding its impact on mental health. This study investigated the impact of foehn wind among patients of a psychiatric hospital located in a foehn area in the Swiss Alps.

Music, perceived arousal, and intensity: psychophysiological reactions to Chopin's "Tristesse".

The present study investigates the relation of perceived arousal (continuous self-rating), autonomic nervous system activity (heart rate, heart rate variability) and musical characteristics (sound intensity, musical rhythm) upon listening to a complex musical piece. Twenty amateur musicians listened to two performances of Chopin's "Tristesse" with different rhythmic shapes. Besides conventional statistical methods for analyzing psychophysiological reactions (heart rate, respiration rate) and musical variables, semblance analysis was used.