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Translational Psychiatry May 2021Decentering is a ubiquitous therapeutic concept featuring in multiple schools of psychological intervention and science. It describes an ability to notice to day-to-day... (Review)
Review
Decentering is a ubiquitous therapeutic concept featuring in multiple schools of psychological intervention and science. It describes an ability to notice to day-to-day psychological stressors (negative thoughts, feelings, and memories) from an objective self-perspective and without perseverating on the themes they represent. Thus, decentering dampens the impact and distress associated with psychological stressors that can otherwise increase mental ill health in vulnerable individuals. Importantly, the strengthening of decentering-related abilities has been flagged as a core component of psychological interventions that treat and prevent anxiety and depression. We provide an in-depth review evidence of the salutary effects of decentering with a special focus on youth mental health. This is because adolescence is a critical window for the development of psychopathology but is often under-represented in this research line. A narrative synthesis is presented that integrates and summarizes findings on a range of decentering-related abilities. Section 1 reviews extant conceptualizations of decentering and data-driven approaches to characterize its characteristic. A novel definition is then offered to guide future empirical research. Section 2 overviews laboratory-based research into the development of decentering as well as its relationship with anxiety and depression. Section 3 examines the role decentering-related skills play in psychological interventions for anxiety and depression. Critically, we review evidence that treatment-related increases in decentering predict latter reductions in anxiety and depression severity. Each section highlights important areas for future research. The report concludes by addressing the vital questions of whether, how, why and when decentering alleviates youth anxiety and depression.
Topics: Adolescent; Anxiety; Anxiety Disorders; Depression; Emotions; Humans; Mental Health
PubMed: 33990541
DOI: 10.1038/s41398-021-01397-5 -
The Surgeon : Journal of the Royal... Aug 2022GRIT, defined as passion and perseverance for long-term goals, is a personality trait that is key to academic success and career achievement. Doctors face significant...
INTRODUCTION
GRIT, defined as passion and perseverance for long-term goals, is a personality trait that is key to academic success and career achievement. Doctors face significant challenges and exposure to stressful situations throughout their career and require high levels of grit and perseverance to achieve success and avoid burn-out. This study aimed to measure overall levels of grit among hospital doctors and medical students and to compare levels of Grit across specialties and career grades.
METHOD
ology: A cross-sectional survey was used to measure GRIT levels using the validated Short Grit Scale (GRIT-S). Hospital doctors and medical students at University Hospital Galway were asked to complete the questionnaire. Gender, age, grade, education, and speciality were recorded. Analysis was conducted using STATA V12.1™ and SPSS 25™.
RESULTS
378 questionnaires were completed with a participation rate of 75.6% eligible for analysis. The female: male ratio was 1.2:1, with a mean age of 29.6 ± 8.3 years. The mean Grit score of participants was 3.56 ± 0.55. Grit trait was independent of gender and increased with age and grade. Consultants had significantly higher mean Grit score (3.86 ± 0.59, p = 0.004). There was no difference between medical specialities, nor between graduate-entry and undergraduate medical students.
CONCLUSION
our results show that medical students and NCHDs alike have high levels of Grit compared to the general population, and the levels increase with career advancement, with the highest scores observed in consultants. This suggests that Grit might be of benefit as an adjunct in the selection process of applicants for training schemes and jobs that require high levels of resilience, as well as an adjunct to monitoring progress in training from a personality and mental health perspective.
Topics: Adult; Cross-Sectional Studies; Female; Hospitals; Humans; Male; Personality; Physicians; Students, Medical; Young Adult
PubMed: 34217616
DOI: 10.1016/j.surge.2021.04.010 -
Frontiers in Psychology 2021Students' success as a cognitive issue in learning is prejudiced by proper learning approaches which improve their comprehension and achievement. In an attempt to... (Review)
Review
Students' success as a cognitive issue in learning is prejudiced by proper learning approaches which improve their comprehension and achievement. In an attempt to scrutinize supplementary or alternate variables that envisage students' success, the researcher inspected a non-cognitive factor, namely grit, theorized as passion and perseverance due to its long-term quality, on the one hand, and its popularity among scholars in preceding decades on the other hand. Moreover, experiential learning (EL) is a momentous instructional approach used in the educational process to accelerate "do it and learn." The proposed review aims to gauge the EL approach as well as grit to regulate learners' educational success. Consequently, some pedagogical implications are presented for teachers, students, and syllabus designers.
PubMed: 34733225
DOI: 10.3389/fpsyg.2021.774149 -
Behavioural Pharmacology Dec 2023Nicotine use is a continuing public health concern. Smokers are more likely to make risky or maladaptive decisions compared to nonsmokers, so the relation between...
Nicotine use is a continuing public health concern. Smokers are more likely to make risky or maladaptive decisions compared to nonsmokers, so the relation between nicotine and risky choice warrants further investigation. Risky choice can be operationally defined as the choice for a larger, uncertain reinforcer over a smaller, certain reinforcer and can be assessed through a probability-discounting procedure. Acute nicotine administration has been shown to alter risky choice, but because the everyday smoker uses nicotine repeatedly, more research on chronic administration is needed and would allow for assessment of tolerance or sensitization of any effects. The present study examined effects of acute and repeated nicotine administration on probability discounting. Sprague-Dawley rats were used as subjects and the probability-discounting task involved discrete-trial choices between a small, certain reinforcer and a larger, uncertain reinforcer. The probability of larger-reinforcer delivery decreased across blocks within each session. Acute nicotine (0.1-1.0 mg/kg) administration dose-dependently increased risky choice, increased lose-stay ratios (a measure of response perseveration), and decreased reinforcement frequency. Tolerance to nicotine's effects on larger-reinforcer choice was observed after repeated 1.0 mg/kg nicotine administration. The results of the present study add to the existing literature that acute nicotine administration increases risky choice and demonstrates that tolerance to this effect develops after chronic exposure to the drug. Possible behavioral mechanisms behind this effect are discussed, as are suggestions for future research on nicotine and risky choice.
Topics: Animals; Rats; Choice Behavior; Conditioning, Operant; Delay Discounting; Impulsive Behavior; Nicotine; Probability; Rats, Sprague-Dawley
PubMed: 37668161
DOI: 10.1097/FBP.0000000000000753 -
Frontiers in Neurology 2022The capacity for voluntary control is seen as essential to human movements; the sense that one intended to move (willing) and those actions were self-generated... (Review)
Review
The capacity for voluntary control is seen as essential to human movements; the sense that one intended to move (willing) and those actions were self-generated (self-agency) gives the sense of voluntariness and of being in control. While the mechanisms underlying voluntary movement have long been unclear, recent neuroscientific tools have identified networks of different brain areas, namely, the prefrontal cortex, supplementary motor area, and parietal cortex, that underlie voluntary action. Dysfunction in these brain areas can result in different forms of semivoluntary movement as the borderland of voluntary and involuntary movement where a person may experience a disordered sense of will or agency, and thus the movement is experienced as unexpected and involuntary, for an otherwise voluntary-appearing movement. Tics, functional movement disorders, stereotypies, perseveration, compulsions, utilization behaviors, and motor mannerism have been described elsewhere in the context of psychoses, and are often mistaken for each other. Yet, they reflect an impairment of prefrontal cortices and related circuits rather than simple motor systems, which results in the absence of subjective recognition of the movements, in contrast to other neurological movement disorders where principal abnormalities are located within the basal ganglia and its connections. Therefore, their recognition is clinically important since they are usually associated with neurodevelopmental and neurodegenerative disorders. In this review, we first defined a conceptual framework, from both a neuroanatomical and a neurophysiological point of view, for the generation of voluntary movement. We then examined the evidence linking dysfunctions in different motor pathways to each type of movement disorder. We looked at common semivoluntary movement disorders providing an overview, where possible, of their phenomenology and brain network abnormalities for each condition. We also emphasized important clinical feature similarities and differences to increase recognition of each condition in practice.
PubMed: 35265031
DOI: 10.3389/fneur.2022.834217 -
JNMA; Journal of the Nepal Medical... Nov 2022The journey of medical school is a roller coaster ride and learning how to survive is going to take much effort. Being consistent and having a reason that pushes you...
UNLABELLED
The journey of medical school is a roller coaster ride and learning how to survive is going to take much effort. Being consistent and having a reason that pushes you every moment, support from friends and family, and guidance from seniors can ease this pathway. Though it can be hypothetical to say that these measures would help comfortably sail through the medical journey, experiences and learnings gained at a similar cost of effort are undeniable and they can certainly make a difference. Perseverance, determination and motivation are essential to keep the flame burning.
KEYWORDS
learning; medical students; medical school.
Topics: Humans; Schools, Medical; Students, Medical; Motivation
PubMed: 36705166
DOI: 10.31729/jnma.7904 -
The Senior Care Pharmacist May 2020Anxiety disorders may be the most common mental disorder among older people. Experts estimate the prevalence of anxiety to be between 1.2% and 15% in community samples...
Anxiety disorders may be the most common mental disorder among older people. Experts estimate the prevalence of anxiety to be between 1.2% and 15% in community samples and 1% and 28% in medical settings. These patients manifest the symptoms of anxiety, and they are also at risk for increased disability, decreased health-related quality of life, and possibly mild cognitive impairment. For this reason, it is important for pharmacists to understand the challenges in assessing anxiety and the treatment options that are safe and effective for older people. Additionally, pharmacists must be able to communicate well with these patients despite their tendency to perseverate and fixate.
Topics: Aged; Aged, 80 and over; Anxiety; Anxiety Disorders; Humans; Prevalence; Quality of Life
PubMed: 32340656
DOI: 10.4140/TCP.n.2020.198 -
Addictive Behaviors Jan 2023According to the recent adaptation of the I-PACE model, desire thinking and craving might be closely related to problematic Internet pornography use. The overall aim of...
INTRODUCTION
According to the recent adaptation of the I-PACE model, desire thinking and craving might be closely related to problematic Internet pornography use. The overall aim of the present study was to investigate the role of two components of desire thinking (imaginal prefiguration and verbal perseveration) and craving in problematic Internet pornography use. Furthermore, we examined gender differences in the underlying mechanism linking desire thinking to problematic Internet pornography use.
METHOD
A total of 414 Italian adults (mean age = 27.55 years, SD = 6.13; age range = 18-58; 53.6 % men) participated in this study. Participants completed an online survey to assess problematic Internet pornography use, pornography craving, desire thinking and problematic Internet use. Path analyses and a multi-group approach were used to test the relationships among variables and to explore gender differences.
RESULTS
Imaginal prefiguration was associated to pornography craving which, in turn, was associated to verbal perseveration as proximal antecedent of problematic Internet pornography use, above and beyond the effect of age, relationship status, and problematic Internet use. Two paths significantly differed between men and women: the path between verbal perseveration and problematic Internet pornography, which for women was weaker and did not reach significance; and the path between problematic Internet use and problematic Internet pornography use that was not significant for women.
CONCLUSIONS
In line with the I-PACE model, the present study provided support for the potential role of desire thinking in problematic Internet pornography use as a specific Internet-use disorder and expanded the literature in the field by testing unexplored gender differences. Preventive and clinical implications are discussed.
Topics: Adolescent; Adult; Craving; Erotica; Female; Humans; Internet; Internet Use; Male; Middle Aged; Surveys and Questionnaires; Thinking; Young Adult
PubMed: 36055058
DOI: 10.1016/j.addbeh.2022.107469 -
The Clinical Neuropsychologist Aug 2023: In early stages of disease, the differential diagnosis between Parkinson's Disease (PD) and atypical parkinsonism, such as Progressive Supranuclear Palsy (PSP), could...
: In early stages of disease, the differential diagnosis between Parkinson's Disease (PD) and atypical parkinsonism, such as Progressive Supranuclear Palsy (PSP), could be challenging. Growing attention has recently been dedicated to investigating neuropsychological markers of degenerative parkinsonism. The Rey-Osterrieth Complex Figure Test (ROCFT) copy score was hypothesized able to differentiate PSP from PD. However, ROCFT is a drawing test requiring multiple cognitive abilities and it is still unknown which of them assumes an important role in PSP performance. Using a qualitative scoring system, we investigated which cognitive abilities underpin the PSP performance at the ROCFT copy trial. Moreover, we evaluated usefulness of the BQSS scores in discriminating PSP from PD. : Thirty PSP-Richardson's Syndrome (PSP-RS) patients, 30 PD patients, and 30 healthy control (HC) comparable for age, education, and gender were enrolled. All subjects underwent a neuropsychological evaluation; ROCFT copy were evaluated with the 36-Point Score and with the Boston Qualitative Scoring System (BQSS). : PSP-RS patients performed worse in ROCFT 36-Point Score and in several BQSS scores compared to other groups. Most suitable scores discriminating PSP-RS from PD were "Perseveration" and "Vertical Expansion" of BQSS. A logistic regression model considering "Perseveration" and "Vertical Expansion" showed a diagnostic accuracy of 83,3% for PSP-RS condition. our findings showed that "Perseveration" and "Vertical Expansion" BQSS scores were useful in discriminating PSP-RS from PD. "Perseveration" and "Vertical Expansion" BQSS scores might be included in the cognitive evaluation along with quantitative scores when PSP diagnosis is considered.
Topics: Humans; Supranuclear Palsy, Progressive; Neuropsychological Tests; Parkinson Disease; Parkinsonian Disorders; Cognition
PubMed: 35997036
DOI: 10.1080/13854046.2022.2112296 -
Addictive Behaviors Jul 2021Desire thinking (voluntary thinking involving a perseverative focusing on desired target-related memories, images, and information), is an important factor in the...
Desire thinking (voluntary thinking involving a perseverative focusing on desired target-related memories, images, and information), is an important factor in the experience of drinking urges and cravings. Research has not examined the relationship between desire thinking, behavioural intention and the implementation of that behaviour into action, nor how one's past repeated behaviour in situ (expressed as habit) may moderate these relationships. We employed an ad libitum drinking paradigm to provide indirect measures of in-the-moment drinking behaviours (amount poured [mls] and amount consumed [mls]) in a group of eighty-eight self-defined social drinkers immediately after measuring self-reported drinking habit, drinking-related desire thinking, and general drinking behaviour. Results confirmed the predicted positive relationship between desire thinking and in-the-moment drinking behaviour with the effects increasing as a function of rising drinking habit strength. We also observed a dissociation between desire thinking components (verbal perseveration and imaginal prefiguration) in the moderating effects of habit strength on drinking behaviour. For imaginal prefiguration (thoughts related to construction of mental images of a desired target or of its context for consumption) a direct effect on drinking behaviours was shown. In comparison, the effect for verbal perseveration (repetitive self-talk regarding the need to achieve a desired target) was not shown to independently predict drinking-related behaviour but was significantly moderated by increasing drinking-related habit strength. Future work should formulate the nature of this moderating influence on perseverative goal-directed thinking.
Topics: Alcohol Drinking; Cognition; Craving; Habits; Humans; Motivation
PubMed: 33744619
DOI: 10.1016/j.addbeh.2021.106899