A mixed-methods pilot study of the acceptability and effectiveness of a brief meditation and mindfulness intervention for people with diabetes and coronary heart disease.

Mindfulness-based interventions can successfully target negative perseverative cognitions such as worry and thought suppression, but their acceptability and effectiveness in people with long-term conditions is uncertain. We therefore pilot tested a six-week meditation and mindfulness intervention in people (n = 40) with diabetes mellitus and coronary heart disease. We used a sequential mixed-methods approach that measured change in worry and thought suppression and qualitatively explored acceptability, feasibility, and user experience with a focus group (n = 11) and in-depth interviews (n = 16).

A systematic review of predictors and moderators of response to psychological therapies in OCD: do we have enough empirical evidence to target treatment?

Obsessive-compulsive disorder (OCD) is a disabling mental health condition. Despite effective psychological treatments for OCD, a significant percentage of patients fail to experience lasting benefit. Factors underlying variable treatment response are poorly understood.

Experiences of predictive testing in young people at risk of Huntington's disease, familial cardiomyopathy or hereditary breast and ovarian cancer.

While debate has focused on whether testing of minors for late onset genetic disorders should be carried out if there is no medical benefit, less is known about the impact on young people (<25 years) who have had predictive testing often many years before the likely onset of symptoms. We looked at the experiences of young people who had had predictive testing for a range of conditions with variable ages at onset and options for screening and treatment. A consecutive series of 61 young people who had a predictive test aged 15-25 years at the Clinical Genetic Service, Manchester, for HD, HBOC (BrCa 1 or 2) or FCM (Hypertrophic Cardiomyopathy or Dilated Cardiomyopathy), were invited to participate.

The effect of complex interventions on depression and anxiety in chronic obstructive pulmonary disease: systematic review and meta-analysis.

Background: Depression and anxiety are very common in people with chronic obstructive pulmonary disease (COPD) and are associated with excess morbidity and mortality. Patients prefer non-drug treatments and clinical guidelines promote non-pharmacological interventions as first line therapy for depression and anxiety in people with long term conditions. However the comparative effectiveness of psychological and lifestyle interventions among COPD patients is not known.

Don't stand so close to me: the effect of auditory input on interpersonal space.

We provide preliminary evidence that listening to music through headphones alters the perception of space around the body -- specifically, the interpersonal distance maintained between the self and others. In comparison to an external auditory environment, wearing headphones or earplugs increased the amount of space maintained between the wearer and another person during an active approach paradigm. This finding suggests that, when external cues to spatial location (such as sound) are removed, people compensate by increasing the distance between themselves and others.