Marriage in a panic: Panic disorder and intimate relationships.

Background: Panic disorder and agoraphobia not only affect the patients themselves but also may have a detrimental effect on their intimate relationships. A problem arising in the intimate sphere could be a trigger, a modulator, a maintenance factor, or the result of the panic disorder and agoraphobia. The consequences of panic disorder include increased demands on the non-affected partner to adapt, which may prove to be too challenging for some to manage.

Relation of personality factors and life events to waist/height ratio and percentage of visceral fat in women and men.

Purpose: The investigation aimed to explore the association between personality traits, stressful life events, quality of life on anthropometric characteristics (waist/height ratio and percentage of visceral fat).

Method: A total of 227 participants took part in this cross-sectional study. Participants completed the Social Readjustment Rating Scale (SRRS), Temperament and Character Inventory-Revised, Type-D Scale (DS-14), EuroQol Group 5-Dimension Self-Report Questionnaire (EQ-5D), and demographic questionnaire.

Discrepancy between readiness to change, insight and motivation in alcohol-dependent inpatients.

Background: Poland, Czech Republic, and the Slovak Republic are countries with high alcohol consumption, and alcohol-induced disorders are in the ten leading causes of Years Lost due to Disability. Therefore it is necessary to study factors as insight, motivation, and readiness to change for the better understanding the variables which are in probably connected with therapeutic effectiveness.

Aim: The purpose of the study was to examine the state of readiness to change at the beginning and the end of inpatient short (six weeks) and long (12 weeks) therapeutic program in the Slovak Republic, Poland, and the Czech Republic, and look for the relationship between readiness to change, insight, and motivation in alcohol-dependent persons.

The differences between patients with panic disorder and healthy controls in psychophysiological stress profile.

Background: Alarming somatic symptoms, in particular, cardiovascular symptoms, are the characteristic feature of panic attacks. Increased cardiac mortality and morbidity have been found in these patients. Power spectral analysis of electrocardiogram R-R intervals is known to be a particularly successful tool in the detection of autonomic instabilities in various clinical disorders.

Coping, schemas, and cardiovascular risks - study protocol.

The aim of this article is to describe the protocol of a trial focusing on the psychological, anthropometric, cardiac, and psychophysiological factors contributing to increased risk of cardiovascular diseases (CVDs). As background, the article provides a short overview of research literature linking personal traits, maladaptive schemas, and coping styles with CVDs through reactivity of the autonomic nervous system.