Journal of psychosomatic research
-
Randomized Controlled Trial
Intervening on cognitions and behavior in irritable bowel syndrome: A feasibility trial using PDAs.
Irritable bowel syndrome (IBS) is a common, chronic, and often disabling disorder. Cognitive-behavioral therapy (CBT) has been shown to be effective in alleviating IBS symptoms. The aim of this study was to establish the feasibility and the efficacy of a cognitive-behavioral e-intervention using personal digital assistants (PDAs) on the self-management of IBS patients. ⋯ A cognitive-behavioral intervention on pocket-type computers appears feasible and efficacious for improving IBS-related complaints and cognitions in the short-term. The intervention group improved on several aspects, but most on catastrophizing thoughts, and these improvements even persisted after 3 months. Future studies should focus on unravelling the effective components of this innovative e-health intervention.
-
Medically unexplained symptoms (MUSs) are a humanitarian and economic burden. Among them, pain complaints without organic pathology are the most prevalent. Theoretically, activated illness-related memory may cause reporting of symptoms by changing perception and interpretation of bodily signals to the extent that they are not tolerated and become complaints. We tested whether activating illness-related memory without conscious awareness leads to decreased pain tolerance (PT). ⋯ The findings suggest that PT can be involuntarily decreased by activating illness-related memory. This implies partial evidence for a crucial element of a cognitive model of medically unexplained symptoms, which holds that chronically activated illness-related memory causes the development of somatic complaints without observable bodily pathology.
-
This study involves a comprehensive investigation of autonomic cardiovascular regulation in fibromyalgia syndrome (FMS) at rest and during painful stimulation and its association with pain indices. ⋯ The data suggest impaired autonomic cardiovascular regulation in FMS in terms of reduced sympathetic and parasympathetic influences, as well as blunted sympathetic reactivity to acute stress. The association between baroreflex function and pain experience reflects the pain inhibition mediated by the baroreceptor system. Given the reduced baroreflex sensitivity in FMS, one may assume deficient ascending pain inhibition arising from the cardiovascular system, which may contribute to the exaggerated pain sensitivity of FMS.
-
The objective of this work was to examine the relationship between illness perception, health status, and health-related quality of life (HRQOL) in a cohort of adults with cystic fibrosis (CF). ⋯ Adults with CF report a high understanding of their disease, feel that CF has significant consequences, and endorse both personal and treatment control over their outcomes. Illness perceptions did not vary with increased age or worsening disease severity, suggesting that illness perceptions may develop during adolescence. Illness perceptions were associated with psychosocial, but not physical, aspects of HRQOL. Efforts to modify illness perceptions as part of routine clinical care and counseling may lead to improved quality of life for adults with CF.
-
Attentional bias to emotion- and illness-related information plays a prominent role in many mental disorders, particularly major depressive disorder and anxiety disorders. Using the emotional Stroop task we investigated which variables beyond aspects of patients' psychopathology might influence reaction times and interference in the Stroop test. ⋯ The present study provides further support for the idea that the experience of childhood trauma influences adult neuropsychological performance. Furthermore, the findings suggest that the ability to suppress emotions may be an important predictor of attentional bias.