5 results match your criteria: "The Netherlands. degucht@fsw.leidenuniv.nl[Affiliation]"
Explaining medically unexplained symptoms: toward a multidimensional, theory-based approach to somatization.
J Psychosom Res
April 2006
Department of Psychology, Section of Clinical and Health Psychology, Leiden University, 2300RB Leiden, The Netherlands.
In spite of the apparent clinical importance of somatization, the concept does not have a single meaning. The focus of the present article is therefore not on scrutinizing existing diagnostic categories but rather on the different dimensions that relate to somatization and on the relevance of psychological models such as social learning theory, stress coping, illness cognition, and self-regulation models for explaining more carefully the predisposing, precipitating, and perpetuating factors of (different types of) somatization. This combined approach could lead to the definition of more homogeneous and, therefore, clinically more meaningful subgroups of somatization.
View Article and Find Full Text PDFQuality of life after myocardial infarction: translation and validation of the MacNew Questionnaire for a Dutch population.
Qual Life Res
October 2004
Department of Clinical and Health Psychology, Faculty of Social Sciences, Leiden University, The Netherlands.
A wide range of instruments have been used in health-related quality of life (HRQL) assessment of patients with coronary artery disease. The MacNew heart disease health-related quality of life questionnaire (MacNew) is a disease-specific measure of HRQL, that has been found to have both good discriminative and evaluative properties. The objective of the present study was to translate the MacNew for a Dutch population, and assess its reliability and validity.
View Article and Find Full Text PDFTemporal stability and differential relationships with neuroticism and extraversion of the three subscales of the 20-item Toronto Alexithymia Scale in clinical and nonclinical samples.
J Psychosom Res
July 2004
Department of Clinical and Health Psychology, Faculty of Social Sciences, Leiden University, Pieter de la Court Building, Wassenaarseweg 52, PO Box 9555, 2300 RB Leiden, The Netherlands.
Objectives: To examine the cross-sample and temporal stability of the three subscales of the 20-item Toronto Alexithymia Scale (TAS-20) and to study the pattern of associations between the TAS-20 scales, neuroticism, and alexithymia.
Methods: Two clinical and three nonclinical samples were included in the cross-sectional part of the study. One clinical and one nonclinical sample also participated in the 6-month follow-up study.
Personality and affect as determinants of medically unexplained symptoms in primary care; A follow-up study.
J Psychosom Res
March 2004
Section of Clinical and Health Psychology (KLIG), Department Psychology, Faculty of Social Sciences, Leiden University, Pieter de la Court Building, Wassenaarseweg 52, PO Box 9555, 2300 RB Leiden, The Netherlands.
Objective: To examine whether the personality dimensions, neuroticism and alexithymia, and the affective state dimensions measuring negative and positive affect significantly contributed to changes over time in the number of medically unexplained symptoms (MUS) reported.
Methods: A total of 318 patients, presenting to their primary care physician with MUS, participated in the study. Logistic regression analyses were conducted to assess to what extent neuroticism, alexithymia, negative affect and positive affect independently contributed to (1) increase vs.
Alexithymia and somatisation: quantitative review of the literature.
J Psychosom Res
May 2003
Section of Clinical and Health Psychology, Department of Psychology, Leiden University, Leiden, The Netherlands.
Article Synopsis
- The study reviewed existing literature to explore the relationship between somatisation (physical symptoms without a medical cause) and alexithymia (difficulty in identifying and expressing emotions).
- A small to moderate correlation was found, particularly between alexithymia's dimension of identifying feelings and the reporting of somatic symptoms, while the aspect related to externally oriented thinking showed minimal relevance.
- Results indicated that individuals with somatoform conditions exhibit significantly higher levels of alexithymia compared to healthy controls, but comparisons with other conditions yielded inconsistent findings, suggesting a need for better-controlled studies in the future.