Publications by authors named "Paul J Geiger"

Background: Cardiorespiratory fitness (CRF) is associated with important health risk outcomes, including the development of Type 2 diabetes and cardiovascular disease. Measures of maximal or peak oxygen consumption (VO) are the typical criterion methods for determining CRF; however, in clinical settings, these measures are impractical.

Methods: We validated a clinically derived estimate of CRF against predicted maximal VO in a sample of healthy, midlife and older adult women ( = 188).

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Objective: The aim of this study was to determine the efficacy of transdermal estradiol (E2) plus intermittent progesterone (EPT) for improving self-reported sleep in perimenopausal women, after controlling for vasomotor symptoms (VMS) bother and depressive symptoms.

Methods: Using a double-blind, placebo-controlled design, 172 healthy women meeting STRAW+10 criteria for being in the menopausal transition or early postmenopause were randomized to 12 months of transdermal E2 (0.1 mg/d) + 200 mg progesterone (12 d every 3 mo) or placebo.

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Subjective cognitive complaints increase with age. Although subjective cognitive difficulties have been linked to cognitive impairment and psychological distress, some studies have failed to establish a link between subjective cognitive complaints and present or future cognitive impairment. The present study examined the interactive, longitudinal effects of age, psychological distress, and objective cognitive performance on subjective cognitive function.

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The ability to savor positive life events is associated with higher emotional well-being; however, few studies have examined savoring ability in older adults. The present study used a longitudinal design to examine changes in perceived savoring abilities and associations with perceived health in older adulthood. Older adults (=131) reported on beliefs about savoring and perceived health at baseline and 2½ years later.

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Socioemotional selectivity theory predicts that when perceived time in life is limited, people will prefer emotionally close social partners over less emotionally rewarding partners. Regulating social choices with regard to time perspective can make the best use of time with regard to well-being. However, doing so may depend on the self-regulatory capacity of the individual.

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This comprehensive review examined the effects of mindfulness-based interventions on the physical and emotional wellbeing of older adults, a rapidly growing segment of the general population. Search procedures yielded 15 treatment outcome studies meeting inclusion criteria. Support was found for the feasibility and acceptability of mindfulness-based interventions with older adults.

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Shame has emerged as a particularly relevant emotion to the maintenance and exacerbation of borderline personality disorder (BPD) features; however, little attention has been paid to the potentially differing effects of other forms of self-conscious affect. While guilt has been demonstrated to have adaptive functions in the social psychology literature, it has not been previously explored whether a lack of socially adaptive guilt might also contribute to BPD-related dysfunction. The present study examined the relationship between BPD features and self-conscious emotions in a sample of undergraduate students (n = 839).

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Objective: Exposure to endogenous cortisol is associated with hippocampal degeneration and may contribute to problems with declarative memory, but effects of persistent versus phasic cortisol elevations have not been established. The present longitudinal investigation examined persistent individual differences and phasic changes in cortisol as they related to verbal memory, executive functions, and subjective cognitive function.

Methods: Older adults (n = 132, aged 60-93 years) were followed up for up to 5 years.

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Unlabelled: BACKGROUND/STUDY CONTEXT: Chronic pain is associated with increased interference in daily functioning that becomes more pronounced as pain intensity increases. Based on previous research showing that older adults maintain well-being in the face of pain as well as or better than their younger counterparts, the current study examined the interaction of age and pain intensity on interference in a sample of chronic orofacial pain patients.

Methods: Data were obtained from the records of 508 chronic orofacial pain patients being seen for an initial evaluation from 2008 to 2012.

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Objectives: Mindfulness training reduces anger and aggression, but the mechanisms of these effects are unclear. Mindfulness may reduce anger expression and hostility via reductions in anger rumination, a process of thinking repetitively about angry episodes that increases anger. Previous research supports this theory but used measures of general rumination and assessed only the present-centered awareness component of mindfulness.

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Problems with interpersonal functioning and difficulties with emotion regulation are core characteristics of borderline personality disorder (BPD). Little is known, however, about the interrelationship between these areas of dysfunction in accounting for BPD symptom severity. The present study examines a model of the relationship between difficulties with emotion regulation and interpersonal dysfunction in a community sample of adults (n = 124) with the full range of BPD symptoms.

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Two prominent emotions in borderline personality disorder (BPD) are shame and anger. Rumination has been demonstrated to occur in response to shame and to escalate anger, and rumination, particularly anger rumination, has been shown to predict BPD symptoms. The present study tested a structural equation model in which shame leads to the features of BPD via increased anger and anger rumination.

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Previous research has identified an invalidating childhood environment and a biological predisposition for affective instability to be two precursors for the development of borderline personality disorder (BPD). In addition, rumination, particularly in response to anger, is significantly associated with symptom severity and dysregulated behavior in BPD. This study examined whether a significant relationship between childhood precursors and current BPD symptom severity could be accounted for by the tendency to engage in anger rumination in a sample of undergraduate students (N = 342), including many with high BPD features.

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Previous research has demonstrated that maladaptive cognitive content, including dysfunctional attitudes and negative automatic thoughts, is associated with emotional distress. Similarly, dysfunctional cognitive processes, including thought suppression and rumination, have been shown to intensify psychological difficulties. Although maladaptive cognitive content and dysfunctional processes have been linked to borderline personality disorder (BPD), most research has been conducted with Axis I disorders.

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Maladaptive cognitive processes, including selective attention and memory, distorted beliefs and interpretations, and thinking processes such as rumination and thought suppression, are strongly associated with many emotional disorders. This paper reviews research that extends these findings to the emotional dysfunction characteristic of borderline personality disorder (BPD). Results suggest that people with BPD habitually attend to negative stimuli, have disproportionate access to negative memories, endorse a range of BPD-consistent negative beliefs about themselves, the world, and other people, and make negatively biased interpretations and evaluations of neutral or ambiguous stimuli.

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Individuals with borderline personality disorder (BPD) are widely considered to have problems with emotional reactivity. However, the specific kinds of stimuli that are associated with heightened emotional reactivity in BPD have not been well characterized. Thus, it is unclear whether the emotional dysfunction in BPD occurs in response to any emotionally evocative stimuli, or to specific classes of stimuli.

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