Journal of psychosomatic research
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Prior investigations have failed to find reliable personality differences in placebo responding. The present study tests the hypothesis that personality and situational variables interact to determine placebo responding. ⋯ The personality variable optimism-pessimism relates to placebo responding when individuals are given a deceptive but not a conditional expectation. This suggests that personality and situational variables interact to determine placebo responding.
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Somatic symptoms are widespread in clinical practice. The association of somatic symptom severity with impaired health status holds both when symptoms are medically unexplained and when they are medically explained. The role of personality dimensions in the formation of somatic symptoms in patients with established, chronic diseases when compared to healthy participants had not been investigated prior to this study. ⋯ These data suggest that similar personality traits and defense mechanisms are associated with somatic symptom severity in health and disease, indicating that somatic symptoms are not simply consequences of having a medical condition. The specific associations of the self-sacrificing defensive profile and self-criticism with somatic symptom severity in the patient sample may have important clinical implications.
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In order to clarify the classification of physical complaints not attributable to verifiable, conventionally defined diseases, a new diagnosis of bodily distress syndrome was introduced. The aim of this study was to test if patients diagnosed with one of six different functional somatic syndromes or a DSM-IV somatoform disorder characterized by physical symptoms were captured by the new diagnosis. ⋯ Bodily distress syndrome seem to cover most of the relevant "somatoform" or "functional" syndromes presenting with physical symptoms, not explained by well-recognized medical illness, thereby offering a common ground for the understanding of functional somatic symptoms. This may help unifying research efforts across medical disciplines and facilitate delivery of evidence-based care.
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The aim of this study was to investigate the incidence of posttraumatic stress disorder (PTSD) and psychological health status among earthquake victims 1 year after the quake. ⋯ Consistent with the previous studies, it is vitally important to continue providing psychological counseling and social support for quake victims, particularly victims who sustained an injury.
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The study examines the association between mental adjustment, coping strategies [emotion (EF) and problem focused (PF)], and psychological distress. ⋯ ESRD patients in the adjustment phase (patients diagnosed at least 1 year previously) tend to struggle to lead as normal a life as possible despite the dependency caused by the illness.