Testing the alexithymia hypothesis: physiological and subjective responses during relaxation and stress.

Alexithymia has been linked to various disorders, including compulsive behaviors, anxiety disorders, and physical conditions with or without symptoms. It has been hypothesized that these disorders result from the alexithymic inability to differentiate and elaborate affect, which gives rise to physiological arousal and a negative subjective state, which are not regulated by psychological strategies. We tested these hypothesized mechanisms by comparing 42 alexithymic subjects with 42 sex- and race-matched non-alexithymic subjects on physiological and subjective responses to an autogenic relaxation exercise and three different laboratory stressors.

Self-efficacy and consumer satisfaction with housing.

During clinical recovery mental health consumers express increasing interest in assuming control over their community living arrangements. Despite recent policy initiatives toward consumer empowerment in housing services and supports, few studies have explored empowerment issues, such as self-efficacy, in relation to housing satisfaction. This study explored the extent to which specific areas of support and self-efficacy predict consumer satisfaction with housing.

The relationship between emotional-behavioral functioning and personal characteristics on performance outcomes of hearing impaired students.

Performance outcomes, emotional-behavioral functioning and other selected variables of deaf and hard of hearing students ages 11 through 21 years representing a variety of educational placements and levels of hearing loss were investigated. Results showed that deaf and hard of hearing students generally scored high on the outcome competencies and emotional-behavioral functioning was within the normal range. Statistically significant correlations were found between many of the performance outcomes and emotional-behavioral functioning.