Meaning in life after cancer: Validation of the sources of meaning card method among participants in cancer rehabilitation.

Cancer survivors may be struggling to re-create meaning in life. Addressing their personal sources of meaning can support them in this process. The sources of meaning card method (SoMeCaM) aims to map and explore personal sources of meaning in a 1-h session.

Mental health of Scandinavians during the first lockdown in the COVID-19 pandemic: Psychosocial resources and coping strategies as protective or risk factors for anxiety and depression.

Background: The COVID-19 pandemic was a global health and economic crisis. In the early phase of the pandemic, studies found that populations were reporting lower levels of mental well-being and high levels of distress and worry. This study investigated potential protective and risk factors such as sociodemographics and psychological factors such as adaptation/coping.

A Randomized Controlled Trial of the Sources of Meaning Card Method: A New Meaning-Oriented Approach Predicts Depression, Anxiety, Pain Acceptance, and Crisis of Meaning in Patients with Chronic Pain.

Objective: Although considered the first-line psychological treatment for chronic pain, cognitive behavioral therapy has recently been criticized as being too limited, insufficient, and sometimes ineffective in the treatment of patients with chronic pain. Moreover, important existential perspectives are sparsely or not at all integrated into cognitive behavioral therapy. We therefore propose to complement chronic pain treatment with a meaning-based intervention, the Sources of Meaning Card Method (SoMeCaM).

Cannabis-based medicines and medical cannabis for patients with neuropathic pain and other pain disorders: Nationwide register-based pharmacoepidemiologic comparison with propensity score matched controls.

Background: Neuropathic pain and other pain disorders have received attention as potential indications for use of cannabis-based medicines or medical cannabis (CBM/MC). Evidence regarding the efficacy and safety of CBM/MC for pain disorders is, however, insufficient. Denmark introduced a pilot programme of medical cannabis in January 2018.

Meanings of "the existential" in a Secular Country: A Survey Study.

"The existential" is a concept that many people use albeit associated with different meanings. In order to increase research-based insight into the meaning of "the existential," we conducted a questionnaire study in Denmark in 2018 in which we asked 1.106 Danes of various age, gender, educational and geographical background about personal associations linked to "the existential.

"My private theory is that it's all in the head": Understandings of chronic widespread pain among social workers from municipality job centers in Denmark.

People with chronic widespread pain (CWP) are often unfit for work, and consequently they are dependent on the municipality job center to receive social support and sickness benefits. The job center's case management is based on a social worker's assessment of the citizen's health condition. This qualitative study investigates social workers' understandings of CWP.

Between three chairs: Experiences of being a patient with chronic widespread pain in an intersectoral setting in Denmark.

This study explores how patients with chronic widespread pain experience their contacts with health and social services in Denmark, including general practice, hospitals, and municipality job centers. We analyzed interviews with 10 patients using interpretative phenomenological analysis and found the following four superordinate themes: meeting different attitudes, fragmentation of treatment, the importance of time, and feeling trapped. Findings show that when patients do not feel understood by professionals, they can resort to withdrawal strategies.

What brings meaning to life in a highly secular society? A study on sources of meaning among Danes.

This study presents psychometric properties of the Danish version of the Sources of Meaning and Meaning in Life Scale (SoMe-Da) and associations to socio-demographic and religious characteristics. Participants were 554 Danes, 66% women ranging in age between 15 and 91 years. Exploratory factor analysis (EFA) suggested a five factor structure for the 26 sources if meaning.

[Functional neurological movement disorders].

Functional movement disorders include motor dysfunctions which are not explained by relevant neurological examination. The prevalence of the disorders is relatively high (10-15%) within an ordinary neurological patient group. Untreated, prognosis for the conditions is poor, and neurological imaging has not yet provided explanatory hypotheses.

Comparison of patients diagnosed with "complex pain" and "somatoform pain".

Background And Aim: Chronic pain conditions can be diagnosed and treated in both somatic and psychiatric settings. It is still a discussed and unanswered question whether the two groups of patients differ. The purpose of this short article is to inform further reflections concerning the classifications of somatoform pain and complex pain.

Mindfulness--What Works for Whom? Referral, Feasibility, and User Perspectives Regarding Patients with Mixed Chronic Pain.

Objective: The purpose of this study was to describe and predict the patients who would benefit from a mindfulness-based stress reduction (MBSR) course and those for whom the conditions or timing are not optimal. The hypothesis was that patients' sociodemographic status would affect the effectiveness of MBSR.

Methods: Data were collected by using mixed methods.

Validation of the Danish language Injustice Experience Questionnaire.

The Injustice Experience Questionnaire has shown promising ability to predict problematic rehabilitation in pain conditions, especially concerning work status. A Danish language version of the Injustice Experience Questionnaire was developed and completed by 358 patients with long-lasting pain/somatoform symptoms. These patients also completed questionnaires concerning sociodemographics, anxiety and depression, subjective well-being, and overall physical and mental functioning.

Effects of mindfulness meditation on chronic pain: a randomized controlled trial.

Objective: This randomized controlled clinical trial investigated the effects of mindfulness meditation on chronic pain.

Design: A total of 109 patients with nonspecific chronic pain were randomized to either a standardized mindfulness meditation program (mindfulness-based stress reduction [MBSR]) or to a wait list control.

Methods: Pain, physical function, mental function, pain acceptance, and health-related quality of life were measured.

Understanding of the word "spirituality" by theologians compared to lay people: an empirical study from a secular region.

Although widely used, we know very little of the meaning of the word spirituality in secular, non-English speaking societies, and different understandings might lead to misunderstandings and unclear communication. This empirical study compares a theologian and a lay group on their understandings of the term spirituality by analysis of a questionnaire consisting of 115 possible associations of the word spirituality. Analysis compares six understandings of spirituality: 1) positive dimensions in human life and well-being; 2) new Age-ideology; 3) integrated part of established religious life; 4) vague striving, opposed to religion; 5) selfishness; and 6) ordinary inspiration in human activities.

The clinical pain acceptance Q-sort: a tool for assessment and facilitation of pain acceptance.

The topic of pain acceptance can be clinically difficult to raise in a respectful way. This article introduces a method of managing the topic of pain acceptance in daily clinical practice: The clinical pain acceptance Q-sort. The Q-sort procedure comprises 13 small cards with printed statements concerning pain acceptance on the one side, score numbers on the other side.

Research on meaning-making and health in secular society: secular, spiritual and religious existential orientations.

This article proposes a framework of concepts for the field of existential meaning-making in secular cultures such as those of Northern Europe. Seeking an operational approach, we have narrowed the field's components down to a number of basic domains and dimensions that provide a more authentic cultural basis for research in secular society. Reviewing the literature, three main domains of existential meaning-making emerge: Secular, spiritual, and religious.

Rheumatic disease and complementary-alternative treatments: a qualitative study of patient's experiences.

Background: Complementary-alternative medicine (CAM) has been widely used by rheumatic patients for many years, but doctors are often unaware of the actual use.

Objectives: This study aimed at patients' experience and perceptions of CAM as a way for long-term coping with illness.

Methods: Fifteen in-depth interviews were conducted with patients sampled by contact with voluntary patient-driven rheumatic disease societies, outside of any treatment settings.

[Existential thoughts and religious life of Danish patients].

Introduction: The purpose of this investigation is to determine whether Danish patients have existential and religious thoughts and if these thoughts are intensified by illness and hospital admittance. Furthermore, we wish to investigate if patients have a higher degree of religious practice during illness and hospital admittance.

Materials And Methods: 480 patient-handled questionnaires containing questions on patients' thoughts about health, beliefs, and religion.

Neuropsychological assessment with the Visual Gestalt Test: psychometric properties and differential diagnostic probabilities.

The Visual Gestalt Test is a neuropsychological instrument developed for evaluation of learning and memory of visuo-spatial material. A revised strategy of scoring has motivated the present study, where data from 153 normal persons, 99 epilepsy patients, and 24 depressed patients are presented and compared. The Visual Gestalt Test is observed to discriminate between normal and diagnosed groups in several ways.

Religion and survival in a secular region. A twenty year follow-up of 734 Danish adults born in 1914.

The aim of the study was to analyse associations of religiosity and mortality in a secular region. The sample consisted of 734 Danish, community dwelling elderly persons, living in a secular culture, and all aged 70 when primary data were collected. Secondary data consisted of a 20 year follow-up on vital status or exact age of death.

Psychological defenses of Danish medical students.

Patterns in the psychological defenses of medical students may have implications for the way they handle and respond to the pressures and developmental issues they encounter in medical school and beyond. Using the Defense Style Questionnaire (DSQ40) to assess psychological defenses, a sample of first-year Danish medical students was compared with a sample of students at a short-term boarding school for general education. The medical students scored significantly higher on items connected with pseudo-altruism, denial, and undoing.