Identifying brain systems that regulate or modulate autonomic nervous system functions may identify pathways through which psychosocial factors can influence health and disease. Reduced high-frequency heart rate variability (HF-HRV) characterizes anxiety disordered patients and is predictive of adverse myocardial events. Sex differences in the prevalence of anxiety disorders and cardiac diseases implicate the possibility of sex specific neural regulation of HF-HRV. We investigated the correlation between HF-HRV and regional cerebral blood flow (rCBF) in 28 subjects (15 women) with social phobia undergoing a stressful public speaking task. Regional CBF was measured with [(15)O] water positron emission tomography. Stress induced rCBF correlated positively with HF-HRV in the right supra genual anterior cingulate cortex Brodmann's area (BA) 32, the right head of the caudate nucleus and bilaterally in the medial prefrontal cortex (BA10), extending into the dorsolateral prefrontal cortex (BA46) in the left hemisphere. Men showed larger positive co-variation in the caudate than women. These findings underscore the importance of the emotional division of the anterior cingulate cortex, the prefrontal cortex and the striatum in cardiovagal activity. The study replicates and extends results from published functional neuroimaging studies on cardioregulatory or modulatory areas in healthy subjects to men and women with social phobia. Moreover, caudate functions, possibly related to dopaminergic neurotransmission, have sexually dimorphic effects on vagal modulation of the heart.
Förmodligen ser återhämtningsbehovet ut ungefär som kostbehovet. Vi mår bäst av att äta då och då – några gånger per dag – snarare än att äta jättemycket en gång om dagen, eller bara på helgen … eller semestern.
Stresshantering har tidigare mest handlat om att minska faktorer som leder till stress. Men många forskare är idag överens om att det inte är stressen i sig som orsakar ohälsa – utan bristen på återhämtning.
Psykologen och forskaren Niclas Almén ger in sin bok många infallsvinklar på återhämtning. Han beskriver också ett program som stegvis och strukturerat vägleder dig i att förbättra din återhämtning i vardagen.
Programmet leder till ökad både mental och fysisk pigghet, samtidigt som det minskar upplevd stress, irritabilitet, jäkt, oro, ångest, nedstämdhet och utmattning. Ditt välbefinnande har med andra ord goda chanser att öka om du följer råden!
Boken riktar sig till dig som vill må bra, leva ett aktivt liv och prestera så bra som möjligt utan att behöva göra det omöjliga: ta bort all stress – vare sig om det är i förebyggande syfte eller om du har utvecklat utmattningsproblem.
Kulturer bestäms och formas av de symboler de använder och vördar och en människas identitet formas delvis av att hon initieras i en kulturs specifika symbolsystem. Symbolerna vänder sig till både våra intellekt, känslor samt våra andliga liv. Genom att använda Pietikainens modifiering av Jungs teori kring arketyper till att förstås som symboliska former så kan ett beskrivande värde uppnås gällande att närma sig människans mentala processer. Uppsatsens syfte är att visa exempel som illustrerar och kan öka förståelsen för vilken symbolisk och känslomässig betydelse fjället har för det samiska folket, i det här fallet representerat av fem personer med samiskt ursprung. Utifrån ett hermeneutiskt perspektiv har intervjuer gjorts och 17 teman utkristalliserats varav fyra visat sig vara framträdande. Fjällets känslomässiga och symboliska betydelse verkar främst vara kulturellt betingat och fungerar som ett gemensamt minne i den samiska kulturen, utvecklat över generationer. Ett minne som tillskriver fjället starka personifierade egenskaper.
Anxiety disorders are highly prevalent and disabling but seem particularly tractable to investigation with translational neuroscience methodologies. Neuroimaging has informed our understanding of the neurobiology of anxiety disorders, but research has been limited by small sample sizes and low statistical power, as well as heterogenous imaging methodology. The ENIGMA-Anxiety Working Group has brought together researchers from around the world, in a harmonized and coordinated effort to address these challenges and generate more robust and reproducible findings. This paper elaborates on the concepts and methods informing the work of the working group to date, and describes the initial approach of the four subgroups studying generalized anxiety disorder, panic disorder, social anxiety disorder, and specific phobia. At present, the ENIGMA-Anxiety database contains information about more than 100 unique samples, from 16 countries and 59 institutes. Future directions include examining additional imaging modalities, integrating imaging and genetic data, and collaborating with other ENIGMA working groups. The ENIGMA consortium creates synergy at the intersection of global mental health and clinical neuroscience, and the ENIGMA-Anxiety Working Group extends the promise of this approach to neuroimaging research on anxiety disorders.
Spider phobia is characterized by exaggerated fear of situations where spiders could be present, resulting in avoidance of such situations and compromised quality of life. An important component in psychological treatment of spider phobia is exposure to phobic situations that reduces avoidance behaviors. At the neural level, amygdala responses to phobic material are elevated, but normalizes following exposure treatment. To what extent amygdala activity decreases during a session of repeated phobic stimulation, and whether activity decrease is related to subsequent avoidance is not well studied. We hypothesized reduced amygdala activity during the course of repeated exposure to spider pictures, and that the degree of reduction would predict subsequent avoidance of spider pictures. To test our hypothesis, functional magnetic resonance imaging was performed in 45 individuals with spider fear during repeated exposure to spider pictures. Results showed that repeated exposure to spider stimuli attenuated amygdala reactivity and individual differences in activity reductions predicted subsequent avoidance behavior to spider pictures in an incentive-conflict task, with larger attenuations predicting less avoidance. At 6-month follow up, initial reductions in amygdala activation still predicted avoidance. This result demonstrates that reduction in amygdala responses is related to clinically meaningful outcomes in human anxiety, and suggests that within-session reductions in amygdala responses could be an important mechanism explaining the clinical effects of exposure therapy.
We present a study where we explored whether the Foreign Language effect, where one tends to make less selfish and more utilitarian decisions in a second than in a first language, can be used as a strategy to nudge people towards more environment-friendly decisions in a tourism context, where proven strategies normally fail. Participants completed a tourism-specific decision-making task where they chose between a less environment-friendly (selfish) and a more environment-friendly (utilitarian) alternative. Participants chose the selfish alternative significantly more often when answering in their first language, and the utilitarian alternative significantly more often when answering in their second language. This suggests that the Foreign Language effect could be used as a strategy to increase environment-friendly decisions in tourism.
Objective To describe the design, methods, procedures and characteristics of the population involved in a study designed to compare Intimate Partner Violence (IPV) in eight European countries.
Methods Women and men aged 18–65, living in Ghent-Belgium (n = 245), Stuttgart-Germany (n = 546), Athens-Greece (n = 548), Budapest-Hungary (n = 604), Porto-Portugal (n = 635), Granada-Spain (n = 138), Östersund-Sweden (n = 592), London-United Kingdom (n = 571), were sampled and administered a common questionnaire. Chi-square goodness of fit and five-age strata population fractions ratios for sex and education were computed to evaluate samples' representativeness.
Results Differences in the age distributions were found among women from Sweden and Portugal and among men from Belgium, Hungary, Portugal and Sweden. Over-recruitment of more educated respondents was noted in all sites.
Conclusion The use of a common research protocol with the same structured questionnaire is likely to provide accurate estimates of the general population IPV frequency, despite limitations in probabilistic sampling and restrictions in methods of administration.
This study examined the contribution of working memory (WM) above and beyond other domain general (e.g., processing speed; PS) and domain specific abilities (e.g., Approximate Number System; ANS) for mathematical performance in low achieving (LA) preschool children. Pre-schoolers aged 3 to 5 years (N = 139) were included in the study. Children performing below the 35th percentile on a Test of Early Mathematical Abilities (TEMA-3) were considered LA and at potential risk for later mathematical learning difficulties (MLD). First, the relationships between measures of simple and central executive visuospatial and verbal WM tasks (forward, backward, and dual processing tasks), ANS, PS abilities and early mathematical abilities were explored. Then, the contribution of these measures in predicting low mathematical performance was examined in several stepwise logistic regressions. The results showed that all measures were significantly correlated, and that ANS alone explained only a smaller amount of variance in low maths achievement. Surprisingly, PS did not contribute to prediction of low maths achievement and when visuo-spatial and verbal WM measures were added to the analyses they alone explained variance to a large degree. We concluded that central executive WM and particularly backward processing ability seems to play an important role in the development of mathematical abilities in LA preschool children. Results were discussed in relation to research on WM, executive functions (EF), and early mathematical development. Conclusions for early screening and intervention in preschool were also drawn.
Social anxiety disorder (SAD) can come in different forms, presenting problems for diagnostic classification. Here, we examined personality traits in a large sample of patients (N = 265) diagnosed with SAD in comparison to healthy controls (N = 164) by use of the Revised NEO Personality Inventory (NEO-PI-R) and Karolinska Scales of Personality (KSP). In addition, we identified subtypes of SAD based on cluster analysis of the NEO-PI-R Big Five personality dimensions. Significant group differences in personality traits between patients and controls were noted on all Big Five dimensions except agreeableness. Group differences were further noted on most lower-order facets of NEO-PI-R, and nearly all KSP variables. A logistic regression analysis showed, however, that only neuroticism and extraversion remained significant independent predictors of patient/control group when controlling for the effects of the other Big Five dimensions. Also, only neuroticism and extraversion yielded large effect sizes when SAD patients were compared to Swedish normative data for the NEO-PI-R. A two-step cluster analysis resulted in three separate clusters labelled Prototypical (33%), Introvert-Conscientious (29%), and Instable-Open (38%) SAD. Individuals in the Prototypical cluster deviated most on the Big Five dimensions and they were at the most severe end in profile analyses of social anxiety, self-rated fear during public speaking, trait anxiety, and anxiety-related KSP variables. While additional studies are needed to determine if personality subtypes in SAD differ in etiological and treatment-related factors, the present results demonstrate considerable personality heterogeneity in socially anxious individuals, further underscoring that SAD is a multidimensional disorder.
Many schools in Sweden lack a proper indoor environment due to, e.g., poor thermal-envelope properties, overcrowded classes, poor visual appearance and insufficient ventilation. This study aims to explore the integration of a large number of indoor green plants into classrooms’ environments. This case study consists of three parts: measurements of the indoor environment including a final energy model, a questionnaire to the pupils with questions about their well-being and qualitative interviews with teachers. The case was two classrooms in a secondary education facility in central Sweden with an average annual temperature of 3 °C and a long and dark winter period with snow. The results showed 10% lower CO2 and slightly higher and more stable temperatures due to the green plants. Worries about climate change and war among the pupils decreased after several months with the plants and worry about infectious disease increased. The teachers experienced fresher air from the plants and used the plant stands for a flexible classroom design. The conclusion is that indoor plants have the potential to contribute to a better indoor environment, but due to the high number of uncontrolled variables (including the effect of COVID-19) in measurements of real-life conditions, more studies are needed.
Landsbygden står inför stora utmaningar. I en allt mer konkurrensutsatt värld utmanas etablerade modeller i välfärdssamhället och bland annat har serviceutbudet och möjligheterna till försörjning minskat på den svenska landsbygden. Samtidigt vill många bo kvar då landsbygden upplevs bidra med livskvalitet samt närhet till kulturella och sociala sammanhang. Därför engagerar sig många människor för att skapa förutsättningar för att det ska vara möjligt att arbeta och bo även utanför större städer. Samhällsentreprenörskap har kommit att bli ett attraktivt alternativ för att bryta nedåtgående trender i lokalsamhället och för att finna nya lösningar för en hållbar utveckling. Inom ramen för forskningsprojektet Societal Entrepreneurship in Sparsely Populated Areas (SESPA), som bedrivits vid Mittuniversitetet mellan åren 2010- 2014, har forskare från olika ämnesdiscipliner studerat samhällsentreprenörskapets roll i den lokala utvecklingen. SESPA:s forskning har kunnat genomföras med hjälp av stöd från EU:s regionala strukturfondsprogram samt Mittuniversitetet och Länsstyrelserna i Jämtland och Västernorrland. Forskningen har bedrivits i nära samspel med företrädare från det lokala näringslivet, ideella organisationer samt offentliga institutioner. De studier som presenteras i denna antologi visar att samhällsentreprenörskapet kan ta sig många olika uttryck. Det rör sig dock genomgående om människors engagemang, idérikedom och aktiva handlingar. Det rör sig om individer, kreativitet och organiserande processer. Och att alla initiativ har sin egen kontext. Syftet med den här boken är dels att sprida resultat från den forskning om samhällsentreprenörskapets roll för den lokala utvecklingen som utvecklats inom ramen för SESPA men även att bidra till en ökad förståelse om fenomenet samhällsentreprenörskap ur ett välfärdssamhälles perspektiv. Vår förhoppning är att boken ska bidra till reflektion men även fungera som inspiration till fler samhällsentreprenöriella initiativ.
We report five experiments using the picture-word task to examine lexical selection by comparing the effects of translation distractors in bilinguals and synonym distractors in monolinguals. Three groups of bilinguals named objects in their L1 or L2, and English monolinguals named objects using common names (e.g., DOG = “dog”) or, in a novel manipulation, using synonymous alternative names (e.g., DOG = “hound”, GLASSES = “spectacles”). All studies produced strikingly similar results. When bilinguals named in L1, there was a small facilitation effect from translation distractors, but larger facilitation when they named in L2. When monolinguals produced common names, there was no reliable effect from synonym distractors, but facilitation when they produced alternative names. (There were also strong identity facilitation effects in all naming conditions.) We discuss the relevance of these results for the debate concerning the role of competition in lexical selection and propose that for speech production there are direct facilitatory connections between the lexical representations of translations in bilinguals (and between synonyms in monolinguals). The effects of synonyms in monolinguals appear to “simulate” the effects found for translations in bilinguals, which suggest that there are commonalities in monolingual and bilingual lexical selection.
Research on bilingualism and emotions has shown stronger emotional responses in the native language (L1) compared to a foreign language. We investigated the potential of purposeful second language (L2) use as a means of decreasing the experience of psychological distress. Native Swedish speakers read and answered questions about negative and neutral texts in their L1 (Swedish) and their L2 (English) and were asked to rate their level of distress before or after the questions. The texts and associated questions were either written in the same (within-language), or different languages (cross-language). We found that within-language trials when the text was written in participants’ native language (Swedish–Swedish) resulted in an increase of distress, whilst cross-language trials (Swedish–English) resulted in a decrease of distress. This implies that purposeful second language use can diminish levels of distress experienced following a negative event encoded in one's first language.
Previous research has found that reading increases overall vocabulary size, and that reading fiction, specifically, is associated with higher levels of empathy and better perspective-taking skills. The current study investigated a potential link between reading habits and emotional vocabulary in particular, to assess whether the link between reading and empathy could be specifically related to emotion words. A total of 415 Swedish secondary and upper secondary school students were asked to generate words in various emotional categories, and to report their reading habits. Generally, females produced more words than males. For all participants, the largest amount of words was produced in the neutral, followed by positive, then the negative category. Crucially, the frequent readers produced more emotional words than the less frequent readers, suggesting that reading habits are associated with emotional vocabulary. We discuss the implications of these findings for the understanding of the link between reading and emotional competence.
We report two experiments investigating the foreign language effect (FLe) for culturally influential languages. Across two experimental paradigms, we found no FLe for Swedish participants when using their second language English. This highlights the limitations of the FLe and suggests that it may not be as robust as previously thought.
Culture, language and emotion all influence and affect our daily lives in their own manner. Although there is a large body of research suggesting that these factors interact with each other in intricate ways, they have traditionally been studied independently of each other. Furthermore, although biculturalism and bilingualism are not new phenomena, they are now prevalent globally to the extent that research investigating culture or language cannot be complete without taking them into account. Thus, in this paper, we discuss how culture, language and emotion may mutually influence one another in a globalized world where biculturalism and bilingualism are commonplace and suggest how future research could investigate these individual factors jointly.
Kognitiva intervjumetoden (KI) ger vittnesmål med hög frekvens och korrekthet av detaljrapporteringar, även från stressade vittnen. Då KI kräver utbildning i metoden och att den är tidskrävande är ett problem inom polisväsendet. Studien avsåg att undersöka om det initiala momentet inom KI, fri återgivning, är en effektiv intervjumetod för att erhålla vittnesmål med hög frekvens av korrekta detaljrapporteringar även när vittnesintervjun genomförs med stressade vittnen. Deltagarna (N =32) randomiserades till kontroll- respektive experimentgrupp och de tittade på ett inspelat butiksrån. Experimentgruppen utsattes därefter för stressmanipulation, varefter samtliga genomgick vittnesintervjuer. Resultatet visade ingen signifikant skillnad mellan grupperna i frekvens och korrekthet av detaljrapporteringen. Resultatet tyder på att fri återgivning är en adekvat metod för vittnesintervjuer i initiala skedet av brottsutredningar. En könseffekt observerades i experimentgruppen för andelen felaktigt rapporterade minnesdetaljer, vilket tyder på en benägenhet för gissningar.
Placebo may yield beneficial effects that are indistinguishable from those of active medication, but the factors underlying proneness to respond to placebo are widely unknown. Here, we used functional neuroimaging to examine neural correlates of anxiety reduction resulting from sustained placebo treatment under randomized double-blind conditions, in patients with social anxiety disorder. Brain activity was assessed during a stressful public speaking task by means of positron emission tomography before and after an 8 week treatment period. Patients were genotyped with respect to the serotonin transporter-linked polymorphic region (5-HTTLPR) and the G-703T polymorphism in the tryptophan hydroxylase-2 (TPH2) gene promoter. Results showed that placebo response was accompanied by reduced stress-related activity in the amygdala, a brain region crucial for emotional processing. However, attenuated amygdala activity was demonstrable only in subjects who were homozygous for the long allele of the 5-HTTLPR or the G variant of the TPH2 G-703T polymorphism, and not in carriers of short or T alleles. Moreover, the TPH2 polymorphism was a significant predictor of clinical placebo response, homozygosity for the G allele being associated with greater improvement in anxiety symptoms. Path analysis supported that the genetic effect on symptomatic improvement with placebo is mediated by its effect on amygdala activity. Hence, our study shows, for the first time, evidence of a link between genetically controlled serotonergic modulation of amygdala activity and placebo-induced anxiety relief.
BACKGROUND: Evidence is accumulating that pharmacological blockade of the substance P preferring neurokinin-1 (NK1) receptor reduces anxiety. This study compared the effects of an NK1 receptor antagonist, citalopram, and placebo on brain activity and anxiety symptoms in social phobia.
METHODS: Thirty-six patients diagnosed with social phobia were treated for 6 weeks with the NK1 antagonist GR205171 (5 mg), citalopram (40 mg), or matching placebo under randomized double-blind conditions. GR205171 was administered for 4 weeks preceded by 2 weeks of placebo. Before and after treatment, regional cerebral blood flow (rCBF) during a stressful public speaking task was assessed using oxygen-15 positron emission tomography. Response rate was determined by the Clinical Global Impression Improvement Scale.
RESULTS: Patients improved to a larger extent with the NK1 antagonist (41.7% responders) and citalopram (50% responders), compared with placebo (8.3% responders). Within- and between-group comparisons showed that symptom improvement was paralleled by a significantly reduced rCBF response to public speaking in the rhinal cortex, amygdala, and parahippocampal-hippocampal regions. The rCBF pattern was corroborated in follow-up analyses of responders and subjects showing large state anxiety reduction.
CONCLUSIONS: Short-term administration of GR205171 and citalopram alleviated social anxiety. Neurokinin-1 antagonists may act like serotonin reuptake inhibitors by attenuating neural activity in a medial temporal lobe network.
BACKGROUND: Although the amygdala is thought to be a crucial brain region for negative affect, neuroimaging studies do not always show enhanced amygdala response to aversive stimuli in patients with anxiety disorders. Serotonin (5-HT)-related genotypes may contribute to interindividual variability in amygdala responsiveness. The short (s) allele of the 5-HT transporter linked polymorphic region (5-HTTLPR) and the T variant of the G-703T polymorphism in the tryptophan hydroxylase-2 (TPH2) gene have previously been associated with amygdala hyperresponsivity to negative faces in healthy controls. We investigated the influence of these polymorphisms on amygdala responsiveness to angry faces in patients with social anxiety disorder (SAD) compared with healthy controls.
METHODS: We used positron emission tomography with oxygen 15-labelled water to assess regional cerebral blood flow in 34 patients with SAD and 18 controls who viewed photographs of angry and neutral faces presented in counterbalanced order. We genotyped all participants with respect to the 5-HTTLPR and TPH2 polymorphisms.
RESULTS: Patients with SAD and controls had increased left amygdala activation in response to angry compared with neutral faces. Genotype but not diagnosis explained a significant portion of the variance in amygdala responsiveness, the response being more pronounced in carriers of s and/or T alleles.
LIMITATIONS: Our analyses were limited owing to the small sample and the fact that we were unable to match participants on genotype before enrollment. In addition, other imaging techniques not used in our study may have revealed additional effects of emotional stimuli.
CONCLUSION: Amygdala responsiveness to angry faces was more strongly related to serotonergic polymorphisms than to diagnosis of SAD. Emotion activation studies comparing amygdala excitability in patient and control groups could benefit from taking variation in 5-HT-related genes into account.
Fear conditioning is an evolutionarily conserved type of learning serving as a model for the acquisition of situationally induced anxiety. Brain function supporting fear conditioning may be genetically influenced, which in part could explain genetic susceptibility for anxiety following stress exposure. Using a classical twin design and functional magnetic resonance imaging, we evaluated genetic influences (h2) on brain activity and standard autonomic measures during fear conditioning. We found an additive genetic influence on mean brain activation (h2 = 0.34) and autonomic responses (h2 = 0.24) during fear learning. The experiment also allowed estimation of the genetic influence on brain activation during safety learning (h2 = 0.55). The mean safety, but not fear, related brain activation was genetically correlated with autonomic responses. We conclude that fear and safety learning processes, both involved in anxiety development, are moderately genetically influenced as expressed both in the brain and the body.
Many instances of sick leave can be linked to diseases caused by stress. An efficient way to counter the negative effects of stress is coping. However, trying to fit coping activities into an already busy schedule can be stressful in itself. Therefore it is interesting to study passive stress-reducing methods, for instance interaction with nature. This paper studied the effect of the presence of plants in a work-like environment on the stress level of 30 participants divided equally in a control group and a test group by measuring their heart rate. A factorial analysis of variance and a multivariate analysis of variance were used to analyze the data. Despite the heart rate of the control group being on an average 5 beats per minute higher than the test group, the difference was found not to be statistically significant. An explanation for this could be the poor reliability of heart rate as a measure of stress.
Keywords: coping, heart rate, indoors, nature, plants, stress, work
Syftet med denna studie var att undersöka och tydliggöra vissa skydds- och riskfaktorer som finns för barn placerade i familjehem. Den ansats som användes till denna studie var kvalitativ och urvalet till denna skedde genom kvoturval. Efter urvalet genomfördes halvstrukturerade intervjuer med fem stycken respondenter. Genom intervjuerna fick jag en tydligare bild av vilka faktorer som kunde inverka positivt eller negativt för de placerade barnen. Betydelsen av att familjehem samtalade med barn påvisades och genom detta bekräftades och hördes de placerade barnen. Det framgick tydligt att socialsekreterare ville ha mer tid för att kunna hålla regelbundna kontakter till barnen samt att kunna ge adekvat handledning till familjehemmen. Om socialsekreterarna kunde upprätthålla goda och täta kontakter gav det i flesta fall gensvar på ett positivt sätt utav vården, tilliten hos barnen ökade även gentemot socialsekreteraren. Slutsatsen är att tiden är en bristvara som blir en riskfaktor i hela vårdprocessen. Barnen är beroende av goda relationer till både socialsekreterare och familjehem, de är även i stor utsträckning till gagn för de placerade barnen om de biologiska föräldrarna är delaktig i vården. Således kan vi se vården som ett samspel mellan olika faktorer.
This study presents results from a group decision task in which groups were assigned either a competitive or a non-competitive goal. A total of 20 groups were tasked with putting together a relay team either with the goal to maximize the chance to win or with the goal to maximize the sense of community. Interaction process analysis revealed that there were more positive reactions in groups with the non-competitive goal. Analysis of the content of the conversations showed all groups to go beyond information given about the target persons. Attributes associated with the stereotype dimensions of competence and warmth were used to characterize the persons who were to be included or excluded on the relay teams. Groups with a competitive goal applied both positive and negative attributes, whereas groups with a non-competitive goal applied only positive attributes. The results suggest that stereotypes are applied to legitimize decisions about inclusion and exclusion.
Syftet med studien var att se om det förelåg skillnad i empati inom yrken i den offentliga sektorn, mätt på två yrkeskategorier, som har för uppgift att hjälpa människor i samhället. 344 deltagare deltog i studien (n=180, kvinnor, n =162, män, n=2, okänt kön). Fördelade i tre olika grupper, polis (n=154), sjuksköterska/undersköterska (n=119) och kontrollgrupp (n=71). Deltagarna var mellan 22-64 år gamla. Signifikant skillnad påvisades i empati som mäter emotionell förståelse, sympatisk fysiologisk affekt, altruism och bedömning av ett känslomässigt tillstånd. Men även där alla frågorna slagits samman till en variabel förelåg en signifikant skillnad. Sjuksköterskor/undersköterskor hade mer empati enligt självskattningsskalan som användes i samtliga tidigare nämnda mätta empatier. Polis hade lägst medelvärde i tidigare nämnda mätta empatier förutom i emotionell förståelse, där kontrollgruppen påvisade lägst resultat. Studien visade även att emotionell förståelse hade ett positivt samband med ålder hos poliser, men att perception av ett emotionellt tillstånd hade ett negativt samband med ökad ålder i samma yrkesgrupp.
This pilot study was intended to examine and to document whether the use of the garden environment and the activities that make up horticulture could be considered a possible method to be used in the vocational rehabilitation of persons sick-listed due to high levels of stress. The study is based on a theoretical (four-step) model using horticulture and the garden environment to provide the foundation of vocational rehabilitation for individuals with prolonged fatigue, chronic fatigue and burnout. The general interpretation is that the results are positive and promising but that further research is needed and should be pursued to examine what causal relationship(s) exist between the garden environment and the reduction of arousal levels; the effectiveness of pursuing this VR process for persons sick listed for stress-related complaints.
Keeping appropriate interpersonal distance is an evolutionary conserved behavior that can be adapted based on learning. Detailed knowledge on how interpersonal space is represented in the brain and whether such representation is genetically influenced is lacking. We measured brain function using functional magnetic resonance imaging in 294 twins (71 monozygotic, 76 dizygotic pairs) performing a distance task where neural responses to human figures were compared to cylindrical blocks. Proximal viewing distance of human figures was compared to cylinders facilitated responses in the occipital face area (OFA) and the superficial part of the amygdala, which is consistent with these areas playing a role in monitoring interpersonal distance. Using the classic twin method, we observed a genetic influence on interpersonal distance related activation in the OFA, but not in the amygdala. Results suggest that genetic factors may influence interpersonal distance monitoring via the OFA whereas the amygdala may play a role in experience-dependent adjustments of interpersonal distance.
Parental alienation (PA) is a form of childhood emotional abuse in which one parent instrumentally uses the child to inflict psychological harm on the other parent for revenge. The consequences of parental alienating behaviours range from mild (e.g., the child shows a certain resistance towards visiting the targeted parent but warm parenting is still possible) to severe, where the positive affective parent–child bond is severed and extremely difficult to reinstate under family therapy. In PA processes, parenting is disrupted with the targeted parent and dysfunctional with the alienating parent. Consequently, the child is at a high risk of developing internalising (e.g., depression, anxiety) and externalising (e.g., use of drugs/alcohol, violence) problems during later developmental stages and through the lifespan. Although the prevalence and severity of PA cases in our societies are largely unknown, in part because the construct is still an ongoing debate among academics, practitioners and family justice professionals, different authors defend that it should be treated as a public health problem. Early prevention should be the primary objective and family justice, child protection and mental health services must coordinate efforts to support the families and promote the best conditions for the development of affected children.
Parenting is generally conceived as a unidirectional construct in which parents arethought to be the direct or indirect cause of different child outcomes. Children whoexhibit problematic behavior, who display hurtful and uncaring behavior toward othersor who are aggressive or turn to delinquency when they reach adolescence are oftenviewed as the product of insufficient parental competence (i.e., nurture) in addition toinherited genetic predisposition (i.e., nature). Competent parental behavior, on the otherhand, counteracts the development of callous-unemotional traits and disruptive conductby promoting the internalization of prosocial and normative behavior. However, empiricalevidence consistently shows that the general behavioral patterns of parents and childrenbecome interdependent and mutually reinforcing during childhood. Parents withlow parental competence, who interact with temperamentally difficult children, consistentlycreate coercive exchanges that produce escalations in child oppositional andaggressive behavior, subsequently increasing the likelihood of continued harsh parentingstrategies. Therefore, early prevention and intervention programs must have a systemicapproach and target the parents, the children, and the interaction process itself. Ifthe cycle of harsh, negative, and confrontational interactions is not broken during earlychildhood, there is a risk that coercion settles as a baseline pattern of conduct for futurerelationships.