1,721,159 research outputs found
Psychobiological Stress Regulation Through Group Music Therapy in Depressive Women
No full textAbstract
Background. Major Depressive Disorder (MDD) is known as a stress-related disease which affects women more often than men. Music therapy (MT) has been shown to be effective in the treatment of MDD. However, clinical trials investigating the effects of MT on psychological and psychobiological stress-related outcomes in women suffering from MDD are still scarce.
Methods. This study was conducted as a randomized controlled trial, with participants assigned to either an intervention group (IG), which received group MT (GMT), or a waitlist control group (CG) which received GMT 6 months later. The primary objective was to assess the impact of GMT on psychological stress outcomes (chronic stress, stress coping, and stress experienced in daily life) and psychobiological stress markers (diurnal salivary cortisol levels and circadian heart rate variability), considering the effects of both group allocation and time. Outcome measurements were taken before, immediately after, and for some variables, 10 weeks following the intervention period.
Results. A total of 102 women between 18 and 65 years diagnosed with current MDD took part in the study. Overall, the IG demonstrated more substantial stress-reducing effects compared to the CG. Significant improvements were observed in general stress coping, positive thinking, daily life stress, and cortisol.
Conclusion. GMT is a cost-effective and non-invasive approach to effectively address the stress-related psychological and psychobiological burden associated with MDD. To demonstrate long-term effects and gain a better understanding of the underlying mechanisms, further methodologically robust studies are needed
On the Healing Pathway – Zooming in on Patient-Provider Roles and Interactions in Psychotherapy
Full text linkThe therapeutic relationship is a paramount constituent of psychotherapy. Thus, the patient and provider persona who form this bond, as well as their interactions, are central within the therapeutic process. Accordingly, research underpins that patient and therapist characteristics as well as features of their interaction affect therapy outcomes considerably. Yet, several questions remain open comprising ethical, process, and interaction-related aspects and hence deserve further scrutiny. Clinical practice would, for instance, benefit from an expanded understanding of patients’ decision making, effects of transparent practitioner communication, and prospects of individualized therapy implementation. Given the challenge of disparities and inappropriate provision of psychotherapy across countries, a thorough understanding of patient-provider effects and underlying mechanisms might also support the provision of optimized, ethically eligible, and feasible psychotherapies.
To this aim, the present thesis zoomed in on three examples of patient-provider interactions in order to determine the importance of patient and provider roles and interactions for apt and ethically sound psychotherapies. Due to the complex and dynamic nature of psychotherapy, it seemed appropriate to adopt different methodological approaches. Consequently, this thesis builds upon distinct methodologies. Hence, i.) in order to determine health care providers’ influence on patients’ therapy uptake, a longitudinal study with oncological patients was conducted (Frey Nascimento et al., 2019; Study 1). Then, ii.) in order to assess the importance of a comprehensive treatment rationale, a randomized-controlled trial with a placebo intervention without deception was carried out with healthy participants by means of a heat pain experiment (Locher et al., 2017; Study 2). Further, iii.) a theoretical and ethical analysis on active patient involvement within the psychotherapeutic process was undertaken (Gerger et al., 2020; Study 3).
The study of oncological patients’ therapy uptake (Study 1) showed that patients who reported to have received a recommendation by their oncologist were more likely to use the offer than those who did not report having received a recommendation independent of distress level (odds ratio = 6.27, 95% confidence interval = 3.14-12.85, p < 0.001). The heat
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pain open-label placebo study (Study 2) revealed that healthy participants who obtained a plausible treatment rationale reported significantly less subjective heat pain intensity (t(146) = -2.15, p = 0.033, d = 0.43) and unpleasantness (t(146) = - 2.43, p = 0.016, d = 0.49) in comparison to a control group. The theoretical and ethical analysis (Study 3) indicated that active patient involvement should be strengthened and highlighted the need for transparent and patient-oriented communication within the therapeutic process.
Concluding, the three presented studies corroborate the need for health care providers to be conscious about how their behavior and communication shapes patients’ decisions and affects therapy outcomes. What is more, in order to comply with ethical principles and to provide psychotherapy aptly, therapies should be patient-centered and, whenever possible, communication should be transparent
Going Beyond Counting First Authors in Author Co-citation Analysis
Full text linkThe present study examines one of the fundamental aspects of author co-citation analysis (ACA) - the way co-citation
counts are defined. Co-citation counting provides the data on which all subsequent statistical analyses and mappings
are based, and we compare ACA results based on two different types of co-citation counting - the traditional type that
only counts the first one among a cited work's authors on the one hand and a non-traditional type that takes into
account the first 5 authors of a cited work on the other hand. Results indicate that the picture produced through this non-traditional author co-citation counting contains more coherent author groups and is therefore considerably clearer. However, this picture represents fewer specialties in the research field being studied than that produced through the traditional first-author co-citation counting when the same number of top-ranked authors is selected and analyzed. Reasons for these effects are discussed
Oxytocin and vasopressin effects on the neural response to social cooperation are modulated by sex in humans
Full text linkRecent research has examined the effects of oxytocin (OT) and vasopressin (AVP) on human social behavior and brain function. However, most participants have been male, while previous research in our lab demonstrated sexually differentiated effects of OT and AVP on the neural response to reciprocated cooperation. Here we extend our previous work by significantly increasing the number of participants to enable the use of more stringent statistical thresholds that permit more precise localization of OT and AVP effects in the brain. In a double-blind, placebo-controlled study, 153 men and 151 women were randomized to receive 24 IU intranasal OT, 20 IU intranasal AVP or placebo. Afterwards, they were imaged with fMRI while playing an iterated Prisoner's Dilemma Game with same-sex partners. Sex differences were observed for effects of OT on the neural response to reciprocated cooperation, such that OT increased the caduate/putamen response among males, whereas it decreased this response among females. Thus, 24 IU OT may increase the reward or salience of positive social interactions among men, while decreasing their reward or salience among women. Similar sex differences were also observed for AVP effects within bilateral insula and right supramarginal gyrus when a more liberal statistical threshold was employed. While our findings support previous suggestions that exogenous nonapeptides may be effective treatments for disorders such as depression and autism spectrum disorder, they caution against uniformly extending such treatments to men and women alike
Effects of oxytocin and vasopressin on the neural response to unreciprocated cooperation within brain regions involved in stress and anxiety in men and women
Full text linkAnxiety disorders are characterized by hyperactivity in both the amygdala and the anterior insula. Interventions that normalize activity in these areas may therefore be effective in treating anxiety disorders. Recently, there has been significant interest in the potential use of oxytocin (OT), as well as vasopressin (AVP) antagonists, as treatments for anxiety disorders. In this double-blind, placebo-controlled, pharmaco- fMRI study, 153 men and 151 women were randomized to treatment with either 24 IU intranasal OT, 20 IU intranasal AVP, or placebo and imaged with fMRI as they played the iterated Prisoner’s Dilemma game with same-sex human and computer partners. In men, OT attenuated the fMRI response to unreciprocated cooperation (CD), a negative social interaction, within the amygdala and anterior insula. This effect was specific to interactions with human partners. In contrast, among women, OT unexpectedly attenuated the amygdala and anterior insula response to unreciprocated cooperation from computer but not human partners. Among women, AVP did not significantly modulate the response to unreciprocated cooperation in either the amygdala or the anterior insula. However, among men, AVP attenuated the BOLD response to CD outcomes with human partners across a relatively large cluster including the amygdala and the anterior insula, which was contrary to expectations. Our results suggest that OT may decrease the stress of negative social interactions among men, whereas these effects were not found in women interacting with human partners. These findings support continued investigation into the possible efficacy of OT as a treatment for anxiety disorders
Variations on the Author
Full text link“Variations on the Author” discusses two of Eduardo Coutinho’s recent films (Um Dia na Vida, from 2010, and Últimas Conversas, posthumously released in 2015) and their contribution to the general question of documentary authorship. The director’s filmography is characterized by a consistent yet self-effacing form of authorial self-inscription: Coutinho often features as an interviewer that rather than express opinions propels discourses; an interviewer that is good at listening. This mode of self-inscription characterizes him as an author who is not expressive but who is nonetheless markedly present on the screen. In Um Dia na Vida, however, Coutinho is completely absent form the image, while Últimas Conversas, on the contrary, includes a confessional prologue that moves the director from the margins to the center of his films. This article examines the ways in which these works stand out in the filmography of a director who offers new insights into the notion of cinematic authorship
Appropriate Similarity Measures for Author Cocitation Analysis
Full text linkWe provide a number of new insights into the methodological discussion about author cocitation analysis. We first argue that the use of the Pearson correlation for measuring the similarity between authors’ cocitation profiles is not very satisfactory. We then discuss what kind of similarity measures may be used as an alternative to the Pearson correlation. We consider three similarity measures in particular. One is the well-known cosine. The other two similarity measures have not been used before in the bibliometric literature. Finally, we show by means of an example that our findings have a high practical relevance.information science;Pearson correlation;cosine;similarity measure;author cocitation analysis
Wie Oxytocin die Partnerschaft beeinflusst
No full textDer Volksmund nennt es Kuschelhormon: Oxytocin. Jeder Mensch schüttet dieses körpereigene Hormon aus. Es bewirkt, dass wir soziale Kontakte knüpfen und Vertrauen zu Mitmenschen gewinnen. Forscher wollen nun herausfinden, ob mit zusätzlich verabreichtem Oxytocin sogar die Qualität einer Partnerschaft gesteigert werden kann
Dispelling the Myths Behind First-author Citation Counts
Full text linkWe conducted a full-scale evaluative citation analysis study of scholars in the XML research field to explore just how different from each other author rankings resulting from different citation counting methods actually are, and to demonstrate the capability of emerging data and tools on the Web in supporting more realistic citation counting methods. Our results contest some common arguments for the continued
use of first-author citation counts in the evaluation of scholars, such as high correlations between author rankings by first-author citation counts and other citation
counting methods, and high costs of using more realistic citation counting methods that are not well-supported by the ISI databases. It is argued that increasingly available digital full text research papers make it possible for citation analysis studies to go beyond what the ISI databases have directly supported and to employ more
sophisticated methods
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