Stress has long been reported to play a prominent role in the onset and course of diabetes mellitus. The present study first reviews the literature addressing the impact of stress on this disease, the physiological mechanisms and pathways the stress response might utilize, and psychotherapeutic tacts taken to date to ameliorate this response. A stress management package was then assembled, comprised of relaxation training, hypnosis, stress inoculation training, and imagery induction.

This diploma thesis focuses on posttraumatic stress disorder and the related psychosomatic conditions looking into the diversity of somatic responses to stress factors or a traumatic event. In the opening part, trauma processing mechanism is described as well as clinical changes in the brain after an unprocessed traumatic event. The following chapters describe therapy options in case of an existing posttraumatic stress disorder, accepting the traumatic event as part of a closed personal history and creating an added value in the form of higher resistance. The closing theoretic part deals with psychosomatic medicine. The practical part inquires into knowledge of students of the teaching and medical study programmes regarding posttraumatic stress disorder and compares the individual groups. The survey results discover surprising gaps in the professional knowledge of future physicians and teachers. By comparing the related data, a recommendation is being made that students' knowledge has to be broadened in this respect. KEY WORDS psychic traumatic, posttraumatic stress disorder, psychosomatic medicine

M.A. (Counselling Psychology) / Please refer to full text to view abstract

Given the presumed importance of cardiovascular reactivity and the role of anger in the development of hypertension and coronary heart disease, this study is the first to jointly examine three related areas (i.e. gender effects, anger direction preference, and opportunity/no opportunity to aggress following an anger Inducing situation). The present study tested the following hypotheses: a) that cardiovascular reactivity would vary as a function of subjects' gender and direction preference; b) that the rate of cardiovascular recovery would vary as a function of anger direction preference and opportunity/no opportunity to aggress; c) that the subjective feelings of anger after harassment would vary as a function of gender, anger direction preference, and opportunity/no opportunity to aggress; and d) that the evaluation of experimenter's competency and performance would vary as a function of anger preference. 56 females and 49 males executed a math task while being harassed for "poor performance". Next, they were randomly assigned to either write a negative evaluation of the frustrator or to copy a neutral paragraph and then to circle some letters in another paragraph. Heart rate and blood pressure were measured intermittently throughout. Subjects' preferred mode of anger expression (i.e. anger-in versus anger-out) had been previously assessed and cross validated by self as well as peer evaluations. Results indicated that gender was a better predictor than anger direction preference for cardiovascular reactivity to harassment. Complex patterns of recovery were detected with Intriguing sex differences. Results on male diastolic recovery were consistent with a matching hypothesis of anger direction preference but only for anger-out males. In addition, subjective anger for males was related to opportunity/no opportunity conditions, whereas females did not show such a relationship. Female anger-ln's showed quicker systolic recovery than anger-out's. Lastly, the evaluation of experimenter's competency and performance did not vary as a function of anger preference. Therapeutic implications of the findings within the context of anger control as well as trends for future research are discussed. / Arts, Faculty of / Psychology, Department of / Graduate

M.Ed. (Psychology) / There has been a growing concern about first year students who enter universities without adequate learning and study strategies to meet academic demands. This can result in failure and underachievement. Research subsequently focused on aspects which may negatively Influence the students' choice and use of learning strategies, such as cognitive and affective aspects of the learner. Very little attention has however been given to the influence of illnesses on the learner and his learning strategies. The aim of this study Is to compare first year students who suffer from migraine headaches with students who do not suffer from it. This is done In order to determine whether or not migraine could be considered as an Influencing factor. From the literature study that was undertaken it is clear that migraine headaches, which are classified as a chronic pain illness, can have a substantial impact on the psychological and social well-being of the patient. It can affect a patients cognitive and affective functioning as well as his behaviour. Current research also show that there might be a common neurochemical cause for migraine headaches, affective disorders and certain learning problems. This research offer therapeutic possibilities in all above mentioned areas. The question arose from the literature study of whether migraine headaches could be considered as a factor in the learning strategies of first year students. To answer this question, an empirical study was undertaken, Involving all 1992 first year students at RAU The battery contained the following diagnostic tests: • LASSI (Learning and Study Strategles Inventory). • A health questionnaire. The data was processed In order to find whether a statistically significant correlation exlsted between migraine headaches and learning strategies among the first year students. The empirical study confirmed that migraine headaches could be considered as an Influencing factor In the study and study learnlng strategies of first year students. Due to the limited size of the experimental group. migraine headaches asa possible factor In the learning strategies off first year students can only be applicable to RAU first year students

The purpose of this study was to examine the levels of depression in adolescent with diabetes (type 1), non-insulin dependent diabetics (type 2) and the general adolescent population.

There currently exists a large body of research associating the Type A behavior pattern with an increased risk of coronary heart disease. Further, studies in the area of social support and health suggest that an absence of supportive relationships may result in a decreased resistance to disease in general, both physical and psychological. The present study sought to integrate the Type A research and social support literature through a correlational investigation of the relationship between Type A behavior and perceived quality of social support in 46 male subjects undergoing out-patient treatment for symptomatic coronary disease. It was hypothesized that the Type A pattern would show a significant inverse relationship with perceived quality of social support.

The present study investigated the effects of anxiety management training on the reduction of Type A coronary-prone behavior in a college student population and utilized behavioral measures as well as self-report indices of change. Evaluations pre- and post-treatment included self-report measures of Type A behavior, empirically validated performance measures of the achievement-striving and time-urgency components of coronary-prone behavior, and a learned helplessness manipulation that has been associated with this behavior pattern. Analysis of covariance indicated that the treatment group changed in the desired direction on all self-report indices, and on most of the performance measures and helplessness scores that were used as dependent variables. Discussion centered on the implications of these data to theoretical and practical conceptualizations of coping behavior and coronary disease and cautions were expressed concerning clinical significance, maintenance, and generalization of results.

The purpose of this study was to delineate those variables which are indicative of the patient whose health may be adversely affected by sensitivity to chemicals. In stage One analysis, the files of 10 chemically sensitive and 10 non-chemically sensitive patients were used to establish criterion variables as previously defined by legal proceedings prior to the study. Chemically sensitive and non-chemically sensitive patients were compared on all variables included in the study to empirically determine those variables which demonstrated significant differences by chi square analysis.

Aim: The aim of the study was to explore the association between school pressure and psychosomatic health complaints and the potentially moderating effect of physical activity in a Swedish cohort of adolescents.Method: Cross-sectional data from the Swedish Health Behavior in School-aged Children (HBSC) survey of 2017/2018 was used, with participants aged 11-15 (n=3,745). The exposure was school pressure, which was measured with one question. The outcome was psychosomatic complaints, with information on the frequency of eight complaints which was added to an index. Physical activity was measured with one question. Covariates were gender, grade, and family affluence. First, Cross-tabulations with Chi squared tests were performed to examine patterns related to the exposure variable, school pressure and the covariates as well, and one- way ANOVA was used to explore the bivariate association between school pressure and psychosomatic complaints. Next, linear regression analyses were conducted to examine the association between school pressure and psychosomatic health complaints, with adjusted models including age, gender, familial socioeconomic status, and physical activity. Moderation was examined with a multiplicative interaction term which was evaluated with a Wald test, as well as with a combined variable of both school pressure and physical activity.  Results: The results suggest that higher levels of school pressure were significantly associated with higher levels of psychosomatic health complaints. The association persisted even after the adjustment for covariates. The interaction analyses did not present any moderating effect of physical activity. However, the combined variable analysis showed indications of a buffering effect: for students in the high school pressure group, those with low physical activity had more psychosomatic health complaints than those with high physical activity, the difference being statistically significant.  Conclusion: This study helps further the knowledge on how adolescents’ experiences of school pressure is associated with psychosomatic health complaints and how physical activity can buffer against this association. Suggestions on future research and important study strengths and limitations were discussed.