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Journal of Personality Feb 2020This article considers self and self-concept in bipolar disorder. Bipolar disorder, defined on the basis of manic symptoms, is a highly debilitating psychopathology. It... (Review)
Review
This article considers self and self-concept in bipolar disorder. Bipolar disorder, defined on the basis of manic symptoms, is a highly debilitating psychopathology. It is heavily grounded in biology but symptom course is still very responsive to psychological and social forces in the lives of persons who have the disorder. This review assumes an overall view of the self that is typical of personality psychology: self as traits, self as goals and aspirations, and ongoing efforts to attain those goals. In this review, we will discuss two different facets of self and identity in bipolar disorder. First, we review a body of goal pursuit literature suggesting that persons with bipolar disorder endorse heightened ambitions for attaining goals and recognition from others. Second, we will review multiple findings which suggest that among persons with bipolar disorder, self-worth depends on measurable success in an extreme way. We will consider how the intersection of these two themes may lead to unique identity challenges for people with bipolar disorder, drawing from self-report, behavioral, and neuroscience findings to critically examine this viewpoint.
Topics: Bipolar Disorder; Ego; Humans; Self Concept
PubMed: 30714166
DOI: 10.1111/jopy.12461 -
Nature Reviews. Neuroscience Mar 2021The default mode network (DMN) is classically considered an 'intrinsic' system, specializing in internally oriented cognitive processes such as daydreaming, reminiscing... (Review)
Review
The default mode network (DMN) is classically considered an 'intrinsic' system, specializing in internally oriented cognitive processes such as daydreaming, reminiscing and future planning. In this Perspective, we suggest that the DMN is an active and dynamic 'sense-making' network that integrates incoming extrinsic information with prior intrinsic information to form rich, context-dependent models of situations as they unfold over time. We review studies that relied on naturalistic stimuli, such as stories and movies, to demonstrate how an individual's DMN neural responses are influenced both by external information accumulated as events unfold over time and by the individual's idiosyncratic past memories and knowledge. The integration of extrinsic and intrinsic information over long timescales provides a space for negotiating a shared neural code, which is necessary for establishing shared meaning, shared communication tools, shared narratives and, above all, shared communities and social networks.
Topics: Animals; Cognition; Communication; Default Mode Network; Ego; Humans; Nerve Net; Nervous System Physiological Phenomena; Neural Pathways
PubMed: 33483717
DOI: 10.1038/s41583-020-00420-w -
The Journal of Analytical Psychology Jun 2021In this paper I discuss Jungian psychological work of the trauma and loss experienced in reaction to COVID-19 with a man who represents a clinical composite. The issues...
In this paper I discuss Jungian psychological work of the trauma and loss experienced in reaction to COVID-19 with a man who represents a clinical composite. The issues of precarity, a concept used by the philosopher Judith Butler, are combined with the notions of lack and absence of French psychoanalyst André Green. The psychological and societal situation of precarity aroused the man's childhood issues that were long repressed. The loneliness, isolation and death from COVID-19 mirrored his personal and the collective responses to the disaster from this global pandemic. He felt on the edge of collapse as what he knew of his world crashed and he found himself unable to cope. The subsequent Jungian work taking place through the virtual computer screen was taxing and restorative simultaneously for both analyst and analysand.
Topics: Adult; Adverse Childhood Experiences; COVID-19; Ego; Humans; Jungian Theory; Loneliness; Male; Psychoanalytic Therapy; Psychological Trauma; Telecommunications; Telemedicine
PubMed: 34231886
DOI: 10.1111/1468-5922.12673 -
Journal of Clinical Medicine Mar 2024Atopic dermatitis (AD) is a common chronic inflammatory skin condition characterised by pruritus and recurrent eczematous patches and plaques. It impacts sleep and its... (Review)
Review
Atopic dermatitis (AD) is a common chronic inflammatory skin condition characterised by pruritus and recurrent eczematous patches and plaques. It impacts sleep and its visibility can lead to stigmatisation, low self-esteem, social withdrawal, reduced quality of life (QOL), and psychological burden. This study explores the relationship between AD and mental health, including possible causation pathways. A literature review was conducted in PubMed without using limiters. AD carries higher odds of suicidality and an increased risk of depression, anxiety, alexithymia, and obsessive-compulsive disorder (OCD) across all severities. While some studies report an association of AD with attention deficit hyperactivity disorder (ADHD), and possibly autism spectrum disorder (ASD), others do not. There is increasing evidence that AD contributes to chronic low-grade inflammation and cognitive impairment (CI). Causative factors for mental health complications of AD likely include both psychosocial and biological variables. AD is associated with higher levels of cutaneous and circulating proinflammatory cytokines; these can breach the blood-brain barrier and trigger central nervous system events, including oxidative stress, neurotransmitter breakdown, altered serotonin metabolism, and reduced neurogenesis in several brain regions. Excessive inflammation in AD may thus contribute to CI, depression, and suicidality. AD providers should be vigilant about mental health.
PubMed: 38541828
DOI: 10.3390/jcm13061602 -
Palliative Medicine Jun 2021Awareness for the importance of psychological and spiritual needs in patients with terminal diseases has increased in recent years, but randomized trials on the effects... (Randomized Controlled Trial)
Randomized Controlled Trial
BACKGROUND
Awareness for the importance of psychological and spiritual needs in patients with terminal diseases has increased in recent years, but randomized trials on the effects of psychosocial interventions are still rare.
AIM
To investigate the efficacy of the "Song of Life" music therapy intervention regarding the emotional and psycho-spiritual dimensions of quality of life.
DESIGN
Patients were randomly assigned to either "Song of Life" or a relaxation intervention. "Song of Life" is a novel three-session music therapy intervention working with a biographically meaningful song. Primary outcome was the improvement in psychological quality of life. Secondary outcomes included spiritual well-being, ego-integrity, momentary distress, and global quality of life and the explorative assessment of treatment satisfaction (patient and family member version). Intention-to-treat analysis was conducted including adjustment for multiple testing in secondary outcomes.
SETTING/PARTICIPANTS
Between December 2018 and August 2020, 104 patients receiving specialized palliative care were recruited from two palliative care wards.
RESULTS
No significant differences were found regarding psychological and global quality of life, but "Song of Life" participants reported significantly higher spiritual well-being ( = 0.04) and ego-integrity ( < 0.01), as well as lower distress ( = 0.05) than patients in the control group. Both patients' and family members' treatment satisfaction was higher after "Song of Life" with large between-group effect sizes on items asking for meaningfulness ( = 0.96) and importance ( = 1.00).
CONCLUSIONS
Our findings provide evidence that "Song of Life" is an effective and meaningful biographical music therapy intervention to facilitate psycho-spiritual integration in terminally ill patients.
TRIAL REGISTRATION
German Clinical Trials Register (DRKS)-DRKS00015308 (date of registration: September 7th 2018).
Topics: Hospice and Palliative Care Nursing; Humans; Music Therapy; Palliative Care; Patients; Quality of Life
PubMed: 33876660
DOI: 10.1177/02692163211010394 -
Schizophrenia Research Jul 2024Despite the historically consolidated psychopathological perspective, on the one hand, contemporary organicistic psychiatry often highlights abnormalities in... (Review)
Review
Despite the historically consolidated psychopathological perspective, on the one hand, contemporary organicistic psychiatry often highlights abnormalities in neurotransmitter systems like dysregulation of dopamine transmission, neural circuitry, and genetic factors as key contributors to schizophrenia. Neuroscience, on the other, has so far almost entirely neglected the first-person experiential dimension of this syndrome, mainly focusing on high-order cognitive functions, such as executive function, working memory, theory of mind, and the like. An alternative view posits that schizophrenia is a self-disorder characterized by anomalous self-experience and awareness. This view may not only shed new light on the psychopathological features of psychosis but also inspire empirical research targeting the bodily and neurobiological changes underpinning this disorder. Cognitive neuroscience can today address classic topics of phenomenological psychopathology by adding a new level of description, finally enabling the correlation between the first-person experiential aspects of psychiatric diseases and their neurobiological roots. Recent empirical evidence on the neurobiological basis of a minimal notion of the self, the bodily self, is presented. The relationship between the body, its motor potentialities and the notion of minimal self is illustrated. Evidence on the neural mechanisms underpinning the bodily self, its plasticity, and the blurring of self-other distinction in schizophrenic patients is introduced and discussed. It is concluded that brain-body function anomalies of multisensory integration, differential processing of self- and other-related bodily information mediating self-experience, might be at the basis of the disruption of the self disorders characterizing schizophrenia.
Topics: Humans; Schizophrenia; Self Concept; Ego; Schizophrenic Psychology; Body Image; Brain
PubMed: 38815468
DOI: 10.1016/j.schres.2024.05.014 -
PeerJ 2022The COVID-19 pandemic has had a wide range of negative physical and mental impacts. This review begins with a theoretical explanation of the psychological defense... (Review)
Review
The COVID-19 pandemic has had a wide range of negative physical and mental impacts. This review begins with a theoretical explanation of the psychological defense mechanisms used to deal with the pandemic. It then discusses different categories of defense mechanisms and their roles in managing the impacts of psychological distress. The aim of this review is to highlight the various psychological defense mechanisms individuals use to deal with the pandemic and to discuss how adjustment mechanisms can protect individuals from internal and external threats by shielding the integrity of the ego (the mind) and helping individuals maintain their self-schema.
Topics: Humans; COVID-19; Pandemics; Psychological Distress; Defense Mechanisms
PubMed: 35186458
DOI: 10.7717/peerj.12811 -
Current Opinion in Psychology Aug 2019Self-related processing pertains to the complex construct of 'self', as studied across varied disciplines such as cognitive science, neuroscience, modern psychology... (Review)
Review
Self-related processing pertains to the complex construct of 'self', as studied across varied disciplines such as cognitive science, neuroscience, modern psychology (including clinical and behavioral psychology), and Western and Eastern philosophy. On a theoretical level, most contemporary models propose that mindfulness training impacts self-related processes. In this review, the empirical evidence for this hypothesis is examined and discussed. Overall, very few self-related processes have been measured in randomized controlled trials of mindfulness-based interventions to date, and, of those processes that have been measured, only negative self-rumination improved significantly. The data so far remain inconclusive as to whether mindfulness-based interventions have an impact on other self-related processes. Studies are especially needed on more basic levels of self such as embodiment and sense of agency.
Topics: Ego; Humans; Mindfulness; Rumination, Cognitive; Self Concept
PubMed: 31377633
DOI: 10.1016/j.copsyc.2019.07.002 -
Brain Plasticity (Amsterdam,... Dec 2019Self-control has been defined as the mental capacity of an individual to alter, modify, change or override their impulses, desires, and habitual responses. In this... (Review)
Review
Self-control has been defined as the mental capacity of an individual to alter, modify, change or override their impulses, desires, and habitual responses. In this review, we will discuss the bi-directional nature of the relationship between self-control and exercise. In brief, higher levels of trait self-control have been associated with greater exercise performance and adherence; whilst the depletion of state self-control has been shown to decrease performance and persistence on subsequent exercise tasks requiring self-control. In the opposite direction, long-term participation in exercise (and improved physical fitness) has been demonstrated to enhance self-control. Furthermore, an acute bout of exercise has been shown to enhance subsequent self-control, particularly when the exercise is of a moderate intensity and requires some degree of cognitive engagement. Throughout, when discussing each of these relationships, evidence will be drawn from other aspects of the review, where appropriate, to enhance our understanding of the observed effects. Finally, recommendations for future research will be made; including the importance of considering the bi-directional nature of the relationship, given that this has implications for our understanding of both self-control and exercise performance and adherence.
PubMed: 31970063
DOI: 10.3233/BPL-190082