Sociodemographic and Clinical Characteristics of Patients attending Psychotherapy in a Tertiary Care Hospital in Oman.

Objectives: There is significant evidence that psychotherapy is a pivotal treatment for persons diagnosed with Axis I clinical psychiatric conditions; however, a psychotherapy service has only recently been established in the Omani health care system. This study aimed to investigate the sociodemographic and clinical characteristics of attendees at a psychotherapy clinic at a tertiary care hospital.

Methods: An analysis was carried out of 133 new referrals to the Psychotherapy Service at Sultan Qaboos University Hospital, a tertiary care hospital.

Negative beliefs about breathlessness increases panic for patients with chronic respiratory disease.

Breathlessness is a multidimensional symptom of respiratory disease and is associated with the experience of panic. Patients with panic disorder have increased mortality, morbidity and healthcare utilisation that is unrelated to their disease severity. Our qualitative study aimed to appraise respiratory patients' experiences of breathlessness and whether their cognitions were associated with panic aetiology.

Depression and perceptions about heart failure predict quality of life in patients with advanced heart failure.

Background: Mood is an independent predictor of mortality and quality of life (QoL) for people with heart failure. However, the underlying belief systems involved in mood are unknown.

Objective: We sought to identify psychological and clinical variables predicting mood and QoL for people diagnosed with heart failure (HF).

A prospective 1-year study of changes in neuropsychological functioning after implantable cardioverter-defibrillator surgery.

Background: The testing of the implantable cardioverter-defibrillator (ICD), through the induction of repeated episodes of ventricular fibrillation, has been associated with disturbances in cerebral activity and increased levels of cytoplasmic enzymes. However, the neuropsychological outcomes of cerebral changes and their quality-of-life implications are unknown.

Methods And Results: Fifty-two ICD recipients completed standardized validated neuropsychological tests 1 to 3 days before ICD surgery and then 6 weeks, 6 months, and 12 months after surgery.

Pre-ICD illness beliefs affect postimplant perceptions of control and patient quality of life.

Background: The implantable cardioverter defibrillator (ICD) is a device used in the treatment of ventricular arrhythmias and the prevention of sudden cardiac death. However, the ICD has been associated with negative psychological outcomes such as anxiety, depression, panic, and poor quality of life (QoL). Recent studies suggest that the preimplantation psychology of patients, combined with their postimplantation perceptions about their cardiac condition, are greater contributory factors than their medical status to a poor outcome.

Understanding panic disorder in chronic respiratory disease.

As well as being physically debilitating, respiratory diseases present significant challenges to the psychological well-being of individuals and their families and are recognized to have an impact on health-care services, resources and time. Panic attacks and disorder are particularly prevalent in people with respiratory conditions and appear to be associated with reduced lung function. However, recent evidence suggests that the aetiology of panic in this area may be related more to underlying psychological processes, which can influence cognitions that are related to the experience of respiratory disease and its symptoms.

A qualitative study of the psychological experience of patients during and after mechanical cardiac support.

Objectives: Treatments for end-stage heart failure include medical therapy, heart transplantation, and, more recently, implantation of a ventricular support assist device (VAD). Little is known about the psychological adjustment and quality of life of these patients and how patients with a VAD in situ compare with those who underwent transplantation or had the device explanted.

Design And Methods: A cross-sectional study using grounded theory methodology was carried out.

The relationship between illness perceptions and panic in chronic obstructive pulmonary disease.

Background: Elevated levels of anxiety and panic are common in respiratory disease. To date the cognitive-behavioural model of panic has been utilised to help explain and manage panic in respiratory disease. This cross-sectional study investigated the relationship between illness perceptions and panic in chronic obstructive pulmonary disease (COPD) within a self-regulatory framework of adaptation to physical illness.

Quality of life after removal of left ventricular assist device for myocardial recovery.

Background: Longer term quality of life (QOL) outcome in patients who have had a left ventricular assist device (LVAD) explanted due to myocardial recovery (bridge to recovery, BTR) remains uncertain. This study evaluates the QOL of those patients and compares them to bridge-to-transplant (BTT) and transplanted (Tx) patients.

Methods: Anonymized QOL Short Form (SF)-36 questionnaires were sent to a total of 72 patients, including: 14 BTR patients (3.

Quality of life and psychological well-being during and after left ventricular assist device support.

Background: Left ventricular assist devices (LVAD) are increasingly being used to treat patients in end-stage heart failure to facilitate survival to cardiac transplant or as a bridge to myocardial recovery. The technical innovation of the LVAD has a significant benefit on the patients' physical functioning. However, within the United Kingdom, there has been no systematic evaluation of the psychological adjustment and quality of life (QoL) of patients currently living with an LVAD, or of the differences in QoL for patients who are either explanted or transplanted.

Quality of life outcomes after coronary artery bypass graft surgery: relationship to neuropsychologic deficit.

Objectives: Neuropsychologic assessment after coronary artery bypass graft surgery indicates cognitive deficits, but data on their effect on health-related quality of life are relatively sparse. The present study assessed neuropsychologic deficits, self-reported health-related quality of life, and mood, together with proxy rating of patients' activities after bypass surgery. More specifically, the study examines the relationship between these varied outcome measures.