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The Lancet. Psychiatry Dec 2015Anorexia nervosa is an important cause of physical and psychosocial morbidity. Recent years have brought advances in understanding of the underlying psychobiology that... (Review)
Review
Anorexia nervosa is an important cause of physical and psychosocial morbidity. Recent years have brought advances in understanding of the underlying psychobiology that contributes to illness onset and maintenance. Genetic factors influence risk, psychosocial and interpersonal factors can trigger onset, and changes in neural networks can sustain the illness. Substantial advances in treatment, particularly for adolescent patients with anorexia nervosa, point to the benefits of specialised family-based interventions. Adults with anorexia nervosa too have a realistic chance of achieving recovery or at least substantial improvement, but no specific approach has shown clear superiority, suggesting a combination of re-nourishment and anorexia nervosa-specific psychotherapy is most effective. To successfully fight this enigmatic illness, we have to enhance understanding of the underlying biological and psychosocial mechanisms, improve strategies for prevention and early intervention, and better target our treatments through improved understanding of specific disease mechanisms.
Topics: Anorexia Nervosa; Humans; Psychotherapy; Randomized Controlled Trials as Topic
PubMed: 26514083
DOI: 10.1016/S2215-0366(15)00356-9 -
Cellular and Molecular Life Sciences :... Mar 2016There has long been discussion regarding the positive effects of physical exercise on brain activity. However, physical exercise has only recently begun to receive the... (Review)
Review
There has long been discussion regarding the positive effects of physical exercise on brain activity. However, physical exercise has only recently begun to receive the attention of the scientific community, with major interest in its effects on the cognitive functions, spatial learning and memory, as a non-drug method of maintaining brain health and treating neurodegenerative and/or psychiatric conditions. In humans, several studies have shown the beneficial effects of aerobic and resistance exercises in adult and geriatric populations. More recently, studies employing animal models have attempted to elucidate the mechanisms underlying neuroplasticity related to physical exercise-induced spatial learning and memory improvement, even under neurodegenerative conditions. In an attempt to clarify these issues, the present review aims to discuss the role of physical exercise in the improvement of spatial learning and memory and the cellular and molecular mechanisms involved in neuroplasticity.
Topics: Animals; Brain; Cognition; Exercise; Humans; Memory; Neuronal Plasticity; Resistance Training; Spatial Learning
PubMed: 26646070
DOI: 10.1007/s00018-015-2102-0 -
Redox Biology May 2021In the open metabolic system, redox-related signaling requires continuous monitoring and fine-tuning of the steady-state redox set point. The ongoing oxidative... (Review)
Review
In the open metabolic system, redox-related signaling requires continuous monitoring and fine-tuning of the steady-state redox set point. The ongoing oxidative metabolism is a persistent challenge, denoted as oxidative eustress, which operates within a physiological range that has been called the 'Homeodynamic Space', the 'Goldilocks Zone' or the 'Golden Mean'. Spatiotemporal control of redox signaling is achieved by compartmentalized generation and removal of oxidants. The cellular landscape of HO, the major redox signaling molecule, is characterized by orders-of-magnitude concentration differences between organelles. This concentration pattern is mirrored by the pattern of oxidatively modified proteins, exemplified by S-glutathionylated proteins. The review presents the conceptual background for short-term (non-transcriptional) and longer-term (transcriptional/translational) homeostatic mechanisms of stress and stress responses. The redox set point is a variable moving target value, modulated by circadian rhythm and by external influence, summarily denoted as exposome, which includes nutrition and lifestyle factors. Emerging fields of cell-specific and tissue-specific redox regulation in physiological settings are briefly presented, including new insight into the role of oxidative eustress in embryonal development and lifespan, skeletal muscle and exercise, sleep-wake rhythm, and the function of the nervous system with aspects leading to psychobiology.
Topics: Homeostasis; Hydrogen Peroxide; Oxidants; Oxidation-Reduction; Oxidative Stress
PubMed: 33657525
DOI: 10.1016/j.redox.2021.101867 -
International Journal of Environmental... Sep 2019: Research has consistently reported gender differences in mental health, but studies on differences in psychological well-being between women and men have not yielded...
: Research has consistently reported gender differences in mental health, but studies on differences in psychological well-being between women and men have not yielded conclusive results. The aim of this study was to examine the relevance of gender to the psychological well-being of adult individuals. A cross-sectional study with a sample of 1700 men and 1700 women from the general Spanish population was conducted. Their ages ranged from 21 to 64 years, and they were assessed with Ryff's Psychological Well-Being Scales and the Bem Sex Role Inventory. : Men scored higher than women in self-acceptance and autonomy, and women scored higher than men in personal growth and positive relations with others. The most relevant variable in the psychological well-being of both women and men was high masculinity. Other relevant variables in women's well-being were high femininity, not having a manual occupation, not being homemakers, and professional occupation. Men´s well-being also was higher in professional men and in men with a skilled non-manual occupation, men with high femininity and men who were not single, divorced or widowed. : Adherence to traditional gender roles is relevant to the psychological well-being of women and men, and women and men whose self-concept includes both masculine-instrumental and feminine-expressive characteristics have greater well-being.
Topics: Adult; Cross-Sectional Studies; Female; Gender Identity; Humans; Male; Masculinity; Mental Health; Middle Aged; Self Concept; Sex Factors; Young Adult
PubMed: 31547223
DOI: 10.3390/ijerph16193531 -
Biological Psychiatry May 2022The locus coeruleus (LC)-noradrenergic system is the main source of noradrenaline in the central nervous system and is involved intensively in modulating pain and... (Review)
Review
The locus coeruleus (LC)-noradrenergic system is the main source of noradrenaline in the central nervous system and is involved intensively in modulating pain and stress-related disorders (e.g., major depressive disorder and anxiety) and in their comorbidity. However, the mechanisms involving the LC that underlie these effects have not been fully elucidated, in part owing to the technical difficulties inherent in exploring such a tiny nucleus. However, novel research tools are now available that have helped redefine the LC system, moving away from the traditional view of LC as a homogeneous structure that exerts a uniform influence on neural activity. Indeed, innovative techniques such as DREADDs (designer receptors exclusively activated by designer drugs) and optogenetics have demonstrated the functional heterogeneity of LC, and novel magnetic resonance imaging applications combined with pupillometry have opened the way to evaluate LC activity in vivo. This review aims to bring together the data available on the efferent activity of the LC-noradrenergic system in relation to pain and its comorbidity with anxiodepressive disorders. Acute pain triggers a robust LC stress response, producing spinal cord-mediated endogenous analgesia while promoting aversion, vigilance, and threat detection through its ascending efferents. However, this protective biological system fails in chronic pain, and LC activity produces pain facilitation, anxiety, increased aversive memory, and behavioral despair, acting at the medulla, prefrontal cortex, and amygdala levels. Thus, the activation/deactivation of specific LC projections contributes to different behavioral outcomes in the shift from acute to chronic pain.
Topics: Anxiety; Chronic Pain; Depressive Disorder, Major; Humans; Locus Coeruleus; Norepinephrine
PubMed: 35164940
DOI: 10.1016/j.biopsych.2021.11.023 -
Sleep Medicine Clinics Dec 2023
Topics: Female; Humans; Women's Health; Sleep
PubMed: 38501533
DOI: 10.1016/j.jsmc.2023.09.001 -
The American Journal of Clinical... Jan 2017The legacy model of professional clinical hypnosis training presents a restrictive frame increasingly incompatible with our evolving understanding of psychobiology,... (Review)
Review
The legacy model of professional clinical hypnosis training presents a restrictive frame increasingly incompatible with our evolving understanding of psychobiology, health, and care. Emerging science recognizes human experience not as disease and diagnosis, but as manifestations of individual, uniquely-endowed, adaptively self-regulating systems. Hypnosis is a particularly well-suited discipline for effecting beneficial change in this paradigm. Training in clinical hypnosis must progress from the current linearly-structured, diagnosis-based, reductionist model toward a more responsive, naturalistic, and client-centered curriculum in order to remain relevant and accessible to clinicians beginning to integrate it into their practices. To that end, this article extends Hope and Sugarman's (2015) thesis of hypnosis as a skill set for systemic perturbation and reorientation to consider what those skills may be, the principles on which they are based, and how they may be taught. Parsing a clinical vignette reveals how incorporation of novelty and uncertainty results in less restrictive and more naturalistic hypnotic encounters that, in response to client-generated cues, elicit psychophysiological plasticity. This disruptive hypnosis education and training framework extends the utility and benefit of applied clinical hypnosis.
Topics: Humans; Hypnosis; Psychotherapy
PubMed: 27982786
DOI: 10.1080/00029157.2016.1231657 -
Sleep Medicine Clinics Dec 2023Postmenopause is defined retrospectively after 12 consecutive months of amenorrhea. It represents the end of the reproductive period and ovarian failure. A decrease in... (Review)
Review
Postmenopause is defined retrospectively after 12 consecutive months of amenorrhea. It represents the end of the reproductive period and ovarian failure. A decrease in estrogen leads to several changes in the short and long term. Among the early changes, vasomotor symptoms (hot flashes) are particularly common, occurring in about 70% of women. In addition, there are changes in mood, anxiety, depression, and insomnia. Insomnia occurs in almost 60% of postmenopausal women. Psychosocial aspects may also affect sleep. Proper diagnosis may lead to adequate treatment of sleep disturbances during menopause. Hormonal or other complementary therapies can improve sleep quality.
Topics: Female; Humans; Sleep Initiation and Maintenance Disorders; Retrospective Studies; Menopause; Sleep; Postmenopause
PubMed: 38501515
DOI: 10.1016/j.jsmc.2023.06.004 -
Frontiers in Psychology 2022
PubMed: 35865675
DOI: 10.3389/fpsyg.2022.970345 -
The World Journal of Biological... 2018Adjustment disorder has been reconceptualized as a trauma- and stressor-related condition, and there is a growing understanding of the psychobiology of stress responses.... (Review)
Review
BACKGROUND
Adjustment disorder has been reconceptualized as a trauma- and stressor-related condition, and there is a growing understanding of the psychobiology of stress responses. Against this context it is timely to review of the pharmacotherapy of adjustment disorder.
METHODS
A comprehensive electronic database (Pubmed) was searched for randomised controlled trials of the pharmacotherapy of adjustment disorder. Data from each trial were extracted and collated.
RESULTS
To date there have been relatively few controlled trials in this area. Comparator trials provide limited support for a number of antidepressant agents, and a series of studies indicate that etifoxine is superior to buspirone and benzodiazepines for adjustment disorder with anxiety.
CONCLUSIONS
The work done has been useful insofar as it provides clinicians with some insights into the advantages and disadvantages of a number of pharmacotherapy options. Additional rigorously designed trials are needed to further advance the field.
Topics: Adjustment Disorders; Humans; Psychotropic Drugs
PubMed: 30204560
DOI: 10.1080/15622975.2018.1492736