Objective: This investigation sought to examine the potential moderating influence of heightened anxiety on working memory in Parkinson disease (PD) patients. Further, we wanted to determine whether this moderating influence of anxiety differentially affects PD patients with left hemibody (LBH) versus right hemibody (RHB) onset of motor symptoms.
Background: Research has examined the neurocognitive effects of depression in PD. However, a paucity of research has examined the effects of heightened anxiety in PD. We predicted that LHB PD patients with heightened anxiety would perform worse on a measure of working memory than RHB PD patients.
Method: A total of 59 PD patients completed the state-trait anxiety inventory and were also administered the digit span subtest of the Wechsler Memory Scale-III.
Results: The results supported the hypotheses, indicating that the LHB PD patients with heightened anxiety performed significantly worse than the RHB PD patients with heightened anxiety and the LHB PD patients with low anxiety.
Conclusions: These findings suggest that left hemibody onset PD patients may experience more disability in their activities of daily living. Future research should explore whether differences also exist between PD patients with and without the diagnosed anxiety disorders.
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http://dx.doi.org/10.1097/WNN.0b013e3181cc8be9 | DOI Listing |
Although behavioral avoidance is observed among those with heightened contamination concerns, the extent to which such avoidance is best predicted by state and/or trait characteristics is unclear. Furthermore, while disgust proneness is a disease-specific trait that has been shown to predict avoidance among those with symptoms of contamination-based obsessive-compulsive disorder (OCD), it is unclear if other disease-specific traits may also serve a similar function. In the present study, contamination-fearful participants (N = 89) first completed self-report measures of disease-specific (disgust proneness, health anxiety, perceived vulnerability to disease) and disease-nonspecific (intolerance of uncertainty, trait anxiety) traits.
View Article and Find Full Text PDFJ Neurol
January 2025
Department of Psychology, Institute of Psychiatry, Psychology and Neuroscience, King's College London, London, UK.
Background: The cognitive and behavioural changes that occur in around 50% of people with amyotrophic lateral sclerosis (ALS) may significantly affect people around them, contributing to heightened burden, anxiety, and depression. Despite existing evidence linking behavioural impairment to caregiver distress, the role of cognitive impairment remains less clear, with mixed findings on its impact.
Methods: This study assessed the influence of cognitive and behavioural impairments in people with ALS on the distress of their nominated informants.
eNeuro
January 2025
Department of Biomedical Sciences, University of Guelph
Chronic pain is a debilitative disease affecting 1 in 5 adults globally, and is a major risk factor for anxiety (Goldberg and McGee, 2011; Lurie, DI., 2018). Given the current dearth of available treatments for both individuals living with chronic pain and mental illnesses, there is a critical need for research into the molecular mechanisms involved in order to discover novel treatment targets.
View Article and Find Full Text PDFIntroduction: Adolescents living with HIV/AIDS in sub-Saharan Africa have heightened risk for mental health and psychosocial burden owing to their exposure to a multiplicity of adverse conditions such as stigma and discrimination. However, there is no comprehensive evidence synthesis and evaluation of the effectiveness of mental health interventions for adolescents living with HIV/AIDS in this region. We aim to conduct a systematic review to synthesise the literature on existing mental health interventions for adolescents living with HIV/AIDS in sub-Saharan Africa.
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