Schema Modes and Personality Disorder Symptoms in Alcohol-Dependent and Cocaine-Dependent Patients.

Substance use disorders (SUD) and personality disorders co-occur frequently. This relationship might be understood by studying schema modes (a key concept in Schema therapy), which explain the dysfunctions characterizing personality disorder patients. In the present study, we compared the schema modes and personality disorder symptoms between alcohol-dependent patients, cocaine-dependent patients and healthy controls.

Optimal screening for increased risk for adverse outcomes in hospitalised older adults.

Background: Screening for frailty might help to prevent adverse outcomes in hospitalised older adults.

Objective: To identify the most predictive and efficient screening tool for frailty.

Design And Setting: Two consecutive observational prospective cohorts in four hospitals in the Netherlands.

Differences in changes in health-related anxiety between Western and non-Western participants in a trauma-focused study.

Disaster victims from ethnic minorities manifest more health complaints and concerns than others following a medical investigation. The authors aimed at analyzing ethnicity as a proxy for risk factors predictive of changes in health-related anxiety, and mediators that explain ethnic group differences after participating in a medical investigation. Western (n = 406) and non-Western participants (n = 379) were assessed at baseline and 12-week follow-up.

Offering a medical examination following disaster exposure does not result in long-lasting reassurance about health complaints.

Objective: This study tested the hypothesis that large-scale provision of individual medical examination will reduce persistent anxiety about health and subjective health complaints after involvement in an aviation disaster with alleged exposure to hazardous chemicals.

Method: Three measurements were performed: during the medical examination, 6 weeks later during consultation with the physician and 12 weeks after the first examination. Rescue workers (n=1736) and residents (n=339) involved in the disaster participated.

Participation in a trauma-focused epidemiological investigation may result in sensitization for current health problems.

Objectives: Participation in health survey research may result in a worsening of self-assessed health status and enhanced service-use by increasing self-awareness of current health status. The present study investigated whether participation in a trauma-focused epidemiological study sensitized participants for health problems irrespective of trauma exposure.

Methods: A total of 1,019 rescue workers and 453 residents involved in varying degrees in a large scale aviation disaster participated.

Predictors of fatigue in rescue workers and residents in the aftermath of an aviation disaster: a longitudinal study.

Objectives: Although medically unexplained physical symptoms such as fatigue are frequently observed after exposure to trauma, the vast majority of health outcomes studies in trauma and disaster research relates to the psychological and psychiatric problems met by victims. The objectives of this study were to investigate the prevalence of (persistent) fatigue in the aftermath of a disaster and to analyze the predictive value of sociodemographic and various health-related variables for fatigue among both rescue workers and residents.

Methods: A total of 1951 rescue workers and 753 residents involved in the Bijlmermeer aviation disaster participated in this study.

Associations among homesickness, anger, anxiety, and depression.

The study investigated the association of homesickness with the related concepts of anxiety, depression, and anger. Two conceptualizations of homesickness were used, one considering homesickness as a state, characterized by severe symptoms of a depressive episode, and the other one as a self-reported tendency to experience homesickness in times of separation from the familiar environment. The latter conceptualization can rather be considered as an enduring trait and does not specifically refer to actual feelings of depression.

Testimony method to ameliorate post-traumatic stress symptoms. Community-based intervention study with Mozambican civil war survivors.

Background: The effectiveness of the testimony method has not been established in rural communities with survivors of prolonged civil war.

Aims: To examine the effectiveness and feasibility of a testimony method to ameliorate post-traumatic stress symptoms.

Method: Participants (n=206) belonged to former war zones in Mozambique.

Anxiety sensitivity profile: dimensional structure and relationship with temperament and character.

Background: Anxiety sensitivity (AS), the belief that bodily sensations have harmful consequences, is a reliable predictor of panic attacks in both clinical and nonclinical populations. Recently, a new measure of AS has been proposed. The AS profile (ASP) was designed to be a more comprehensive measure of AS, and to be more suitable for the measurement of different AS dimensions.