Background: Patients with somatoform pain experience physical pain that cannot be attributed to any underlying medical or physiological cause, and it is often thought to be related to psychological factors. Health professionals encounter difficulties identifying this specific type of chronic pain, leading to suboptimal treatment strategies. Therefore, we aimed to describe the characteristics of patients with somatoform pain, to support the identification of affected patients.
View Article and Find Full Text PDFIntroduction: The aim of the present study was (1) to validate the method of guilt-induction by means of a written auto-biographical essay and (2) to test whether experimental pain is apt to alleviate the mental burden of guilt, a concept receiving support from both empirical research and clinical observation.
Methods: Three independent groups of healthy male participants were recruited. Group allocation was not randomized but within group pain/sham administration was counterbalanced over the two test-days.
Objective: Negative mood regulation expectancies (NMRE) describe the expectancies of an individual regarding his or her ability to regulate or reduce negative mood states by certain cognitive or behavioral strategies. NMRE are closely associated with the actual emotion regulation and potentially buffer the negative psychological and physical health consequences of stress. In the context of chronic pain, stress plays a central role, as long-term stress can have additional negative consequences regarding pain and its progression.
View Article and Find Full Text PDFBackground: Impulse control disorders (ICDs) are a frequent side effect of dopamine replacement therapy (DRT) in Parkinson's disease (PD). Reckless generosity might expand the spectrum of known ICDs.
Cases: Over 18 months, we encountered three PD patients exhibiting reckless generosity under DRT, leading to disastrous financial and social consequences.
Long-term consequences of aversive childhood experiences: effects on cerebral structures Early childhood stress experiences due to neglect, and physical, psychological or sexual abuse can lead to permanent changes in central nervous structures. The central nervous system generally shows a very high plasticity in early childhood. Objectively, these influences are reflected in functional and structural-morphological changes in certain brain areas.
View Article and Find Full Text PDFLong-term consequences of aversive childhood experiences: effects on the incidence of psychiatric illnesses Early childhood stress experiences through physical, psychological and sexual abuse as well as emotional or physical neglect often lead to permanent changes in the psychological well-being. Clinically, this is shown among other things in an increased incidence of various psychiatric disorders. This narrative survey aims to summarize the current status of existing studies on early childhood stress experiences and related psychiatric consequences.
View Article and Find Full Text PDFLong-term consequences of aversive childhood experiences: effects on pain processing Childhood experiences of stress due to neglect, physical, psychological or sexual abuse often lead to lasting changes in pain processing. Clinically, this is shown, among other things, in an increased sensitivity to pain, a stronger negative-affective connotation of pain and ultimately an increased risk of pain disorders in adulthood. George L.
View Article and Find Full Text PDFConsequences of aversive childhood experiences: effects on the neuroendocrine system Childhood experiences of stress due to neglect, physical, psychological or sexual abuse lead in many cases to permanent changes in the stress-regulating neuroendocrine processes. Epidemiological studies already showed 20 years ago that the extent of childhood stressors correlates with the occurrence of various somatic, functional and psychological diseases in adulthood and that cumulative stressors are also reflected in a significantly reduced average life expectancy. The altered stress-related endocrine system is of major importance with regard to the pathogenesis of the secondary somatic, functional and psychological disorders mentioned above.
View Article and Find Full Text PDFFunctional body disorders By definition, functional disorders cannot be conceptualized bio-morphologically at the organ level. They originate on the basis of dysregulated control processes and perceptional alterations at a superordinate level of the organism. Under excessive stress, any vegetatively regulated system might develop functional disorders.
View Article and Find Full Text PDFPurpose: Diagnostic criteria for fibromyalgia have been subject to debate and controversy for many years. The preliminary diagnostic criteria introduced in 2010 and 2011 have been criticized for different reasons, including questionable diagnostic specificity and a lack of an etiopathogenetic foundation. The "ABC indicators" presented in this study reflect a further development of the 2011 criteria and refer to (A) algesia, (B) bilateral, axial-symmetric pain distribution, and (C) chronic distress.
View Article and Find Full Text PDFHeroin dependence is a severe and chronically relapsing substance use disorder with limited treatment options. Stress is known to increase craving and drug-taking behavior, but it is not known whether the stress hormone cortisol mediates these stress effects or whether cortisol may rather reduce craving, for example, by interfering with addiction memory. The aim of the present study was to determine the effects of cortisol administration on craving in heroin-dependent patients and to determine whether the effects depend on the daily dose of heroin consumption.
View Article and Find Full Text PDFThe dorsolateral prefrontal cortex (DLPFC) plays a key role in working memory. Evidence indicates that transcranial magnetic stimulation (TMS) over the DLPFC can interfere with working memory performance. Here we investigated for how long continuous theta-burst stimulation (cTBS) over the DLPFC decreases working memory performance and whether the effect of cTBS on performance depends on working memory load.
View Article and Find Full Text PDFAnn Clin Transl Neurol
January 2014
Cognitive functions, such as working memory, depend on neuronal excitability in a distributed network of cortical regions. It is not known, however, if interindividual differences in cortical excitability are related to differences in working memory performance. In the present transcranial magnetic stimulation study, which included 188 healthy young subjects, we show that participants with lower resting motor threshold, which is related to higher corticospinal excitability, had increased 2-back working memory performance.
View Article and Find Full Text PDFBackground: Fibromyalgia syndrome (FMS) is frequently associated with psychiatric conditions, particularly anxiety. Deficits in contingency learning during fear conditioning have been hypothesized to increase anxiety and, consequently, pain sensation in susceptible individuals. The goal of this study was to examine the relationship between contingency learning and pain experience in subjects with FMS and rheumatoid arthritis (RA).
View Article and Find Full Text PDFAim: To investigate the effect of acute psychological stress on glucose concentrations in patients with Type 2 diabetes, in the fasting state as well as in the postprandial state.
Methods: Thirty patients (12 female) with Type 2 diabetes were included. Mean ± SD age was 60 ± 12 years, BMI 28.
This article approaches the process of symbolization with a formalized framework that aims to integrate psychoanalytic and neurobiological findings. The authors propose a framework consisting of unconscious and conscious areas. Each of the areas provides networks for storing memories.
View Article and Find Full Text PDFPsychoneuroendocrinology
September 2010
Remembering painful incidents has important adaptive value but may also contribute to clinical symptoms of posttraumatic stress disorder and chronic pain states. Because glucocorticoids are known to impair memory retrieval processes, we investigated whether cortisol affects recall of previously experienced pain in healthy young men. In a double-blind, placebo-controlled crossover study, 20 male participants were presented pictures, half of them combined with a heat-pain stimulus.
View Article and Find Full Text PDFQuestions Under Study: In recent years, distress and alexithymia have been recognised as psychosocial factors related to both somatic and psychosomatic diseases. In this study distress and alexithymia and their associations with physical parameters were investigated in lung recipients.
Methods: The study, which included 76 patients after a lung transplant, measured psychological distress (Symptom Checklist, SCL-K-9) and alexithymia (Toronto Alexithymia Scale, TAS-20).
Chronic stress is a well-known consequence of somatic diseases. In this study, we investigated whether physical, sociodemographic, or transplant-related psychological factors were associated with the patient's chronic stress level. A cross-sectional study enrolling 76 patients measured chronic stress (Screening Scale, Screening Subscale of Chronic Stress of the Trier Inventory for the Assessment of Chronic Stress) and the emotional effects of the transplant (Transplant Effects Questionnaire), as well as physical and sociodemographic conditions (lung function, bronchiolitis obliterans syndrome, working status, and parenting).
View Article and Find Full Text PDFObjectives: Lung recipients undergo a complex psychological process, including organ integration and processing of attitudes towards the organ donor.
Design: Seventy-six lung recipients were asked to participate in a cross-sectional questionnaire study on the psychological processing of lung transplants.
Methods: The questionnaire consisted of statements describing aspects of organ integration and the patient's relationship with the donor.
Principles: Various non-specific questionnaires were used to measure quality of life and psychological wellbeing of patients after organ transplantation. At present cross-organ studies dealing specifically with the psychological response to a transplanted organ are non-existent in German-speaking countries.
Methods: The Transplant Effects Questionnaire TxEQ-D and the SF-36 Quality of Life Questionnaire were used to examine the psychological response and quality of life of 370 patients after heart, lung, liver or kidney transplantation.
Objectives: The present study investigates a) whether the German version of the Transplant Effects Questionnaire (TxEQ-D), which measures the emotional response to an organ transplantation, has the same factorial structure as the English original version and b) whether the psychometric properties as well as the correlations with the scales of the SF-36 are comparable.
Methods: The questionnaire TxEQ was translated into German and filled out by 370 heart, lunge, liver and kidney transplant patients. Subsequently, factor and item analyses were conducted.
Anxiolytic therapy with the benzodiazepine alprazolam is an established therapy in patients with panic disorder. Normally, panic-like anxiety and its concomitant physical symptoms quickly disappear under such treatment. Therefore we investigated whether there is a difference in sympathetic nervous system in patients with panic disorder compared to healthy controls.
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