An overview of the existing body of knowledge on the most widely researched areas of childhood leukaemia was presented and it was argued that a conceptual shift is required to achieve a more comprehensive understanding of the problem. This conceptual shift encompassed an ecosystemic approach. This study was conducted within a holistic systemic epistemology. A qualitative approach employing a case study method to provide rich descriptions of the context in which two leukaemia sufferer's symptoms were embedded. / Psychology / M.A. (Psyhcoloy)

Objective: Self-stigma in overweight and obese individuals has strong associations with impairment in mental and global health. This study sought to explore self-compassion as a psychological resource in the self-stigma process. Methods: In a 2012 representative German population survey of N = 1,158 overweight and obese individuals, self-compassion was examined as a mediator between self-stigma and mental and physical health outcomes, including BMI (kg/m 2 ), using structural equation modeling and controlling for sociodemographic factors. Results: Psychological variables were assessed using validated self-report questionnaires. Self-compassion partially mediated the relationships between self-stigma and depression, somatic symptoms, and health status / quality of life, lowering the predictive effect of self-stigma on the outcomes by approximately one-third. In contrast, self-compassion, because it was unrelated to BMI, did not mediate the association between self-stigma and BMI. Conclusion: Self-compassion has the potential to act as a buffer against the mental and global health detriments of self-stigma in overweight and obesity and could thus represent a target for interventions to reduce self-stigma and prevent these health impairments. In order to influence the association between self-stigma and BMI, self-compassion should conceptually be linked to weight management.

Stress och sömnsvårigheter är centrala faktorer i psykisk ohälsa. Många personer drabbade av dessa hälsobesvär är i behov av behandling, vilket skapar ett högt tryck på vården. I tillägg antas en tredjedel av alla somatiska symptom inom vården vara associerade med psykisk ohälsa. I denna studie utvärderades två gruppbaserade interventioner, en stresskola och en sömnskola, administrerade av psykologstudenter vid Umeå universitet. Skolorna bestod av fyra träffar och baserades på kognitiv beteendeterapi (KBT). Med utgångspunkt i tidigare forskning testades hypotesen att interventionerna har hälsogynnande korttidseffekter med avseende på stress och sömnsvårigheter, men också på psykisk ohälsa i form av ångest, depression, utbrändhet samt somatiska symptom. Även skillnader i korttidseffekter mellan stress- och sömnskolan undersöktes. I studien deltog 95 individer (71 kvinnor och 24 män) som hade sökt hjälp för stress- eller sömnrelaterade besvär inom primärvården i Umeå. Genomsnittsåldern var 40.1 år. Data samlades in med validerade självskattningsinstrument före och efter behandling. Data analyserades genom tvåvägsvariansanalyser med Behandling som inomgruppsfaktor (för- vs eftermätning) och Typ av skola (stress vs sömn) som mellangruppsfaktor. Analysen visade på signifikanta effekter på samtliga utfallsvariabler, vilket betyder att stress- och sömnskolorna hade hälsogynnande korttidseffekter. Inga signifikanta skillnader i effekt upptäcktes skolorna emellan. Studiens resultat ger stöd för att fortsätta med interventionerna inom hälso- och sjukvården i Umeå. / Stress and sleep disturbances are key factors in mental ill-health. Many individuals suffering from these conditions are in need of treatment, leading to high demands on the health care system. In addition, about one third of the somatic symptoms in healthcare are believed to be associated with mental ill-health. In the present study two group interventions were evaluated, aimed at managing stress and sleep disturbances respectively. These were administered by clinical psychology students at Umeå University, consisted of four sessions and were based on cognitive behavioural therapy (CBT). Building on previous research, the hypothesis tested in the present study was that the interventions have positive effects on stress and sleep disturbances as well as other related mental ill-health conditions such as anxiety, depression, burnout and somatic symptoms. Short term differences between the two interventions were also examined. The total sample consisted of 95 individuals (71 women and 24 men) who had seeked treatment due to stress or sleep disturbances in the primary care in Umeå, Sweden. The mean age was 40.1 years.  The data were collected before and after treatment from validated questionnaire instruments. Data were analyzed with two-way analysis of variance with treatment as a within subject factor and type of intervention as a between subject factor. The results showed that the participants were significantly improved on all outcome variables regarding health after treatment. No significant differences between the two interventions were found. The findings support further use of the treatment interventions within the health care system in Umeå.

No description available.

Chronic headache may be the most frequently reported somatic symptom, yet it puzzles health experts and poses a considerable treatment challenge. It was suggested that this is because conventional views of headache, adhering to a Newtonian-Cartesian epistemology, focus almost exclusively on intrapsychic factors ignoring the wider social context in which the problem is embedded. An overview of the existing body of knowledge on the most widely researched headache conditions was presented, and it was argued that a conceptual shift is required to achieve a more comprehensive understanding of the problem. This study was conducted within an holistic, ecosystemic epistemology. A qualitative approach employing a case study method was adopted to provide rich descriptions of the contexts in which two chronic headache sufferers' symptoms were embedded. The case study presentations also illustrated the attempts that were made to intervene into the headache contexts from a second-order cybernetics stance. / Psychology / M.A. (Clinical Psychology)

No description available.

Chronic headache may be the most frequently reported somatic symptom, yet it puzzles health experts and poses a considerable treatment challenge. It was suggested that this is because conventional views of headache, adhering to a Newtonian-Cartesian epistemology, focus almost exclusively on intrapsychic factors ignoring the wider social context in which the problem is embedded. An overview of the existing body of knowledge on the most widely researched headache conditions was presented, and it was argued that a conceptual shift is required to achieve a more comprehensive understanding of the problem. This study was conducted within an holistic, ecosystemic epistemology. A qualitative approach employing a case study method was adopted to provide rich descriptions of the contexts in which two chronic headache sufferers' symptoms were embedded. The case study presentations also illustrated the attempts that were made to intervene into the headache contexts from a second-order cybernetics stance. / Psychology / M.A. (Clinical Psychology)

BARBOSA, Kílvia Queiroz. Câncer infantil: lugares simbólicos e imaginários no laço pais/filhos. 2008. 132 f. Dissertação (Mestrado em Psicologia) – Universidade Federal do Ceará, Departamento de Psicologia, Programa de Pós-Graduação em Psicologia, Fortaleza-CE, 2008. / Submitted by moises gomes (celtinha_malvado@hotmail.com) on 2012-01-23T13:40:44Z No. of bitstreams: 1 2008_dis_KQBarbosa.PDF: 782162 bytes, checksum: 12d7333c3780b94c19525e99d8eef077 (MD5) / Approved for entry into archive by Maria Josineide Góis(josineide@ufc.br) on 2012-02-24T16:55:09Z (GMT) No. of bitstreams: 1 2008_dis_KQBarbosa.PDF: 782162 bytes, checksum: 12d7333c3780b94c19525e99d8eef077 (MD5) / Made available in DSpace on 2012-02-24T16:55:09Z (GMT). No. of bitstreams: 1 2008_dis_KQBarbosa.PDF: 782162 bytes, checksum: 12d7333c3780b94c19525e99d8eef077 (MD5) Previous issue date: 2008 / We propose in this dissertation to understand the childhood cancer linked to the subjective constitution process, taking as a reference the psychoanalytic study of somatic symptoms in babies and small children from the symbolic and imaginary places that children have on parent’s desire. We address this issue articulating the process of the subject construction with the drive work, where the mother – as the Other - is of great importance for its function of excitement-shielding and, therefore, as an organizer of the drive circuit. It is, therefore, on the time of subjective constitution that we believe we can find the key to understanding the somatic symptoms, since it is in early childhood that the imaginary and symbolic body is formed in this double with the anatomical body. In this study, we used as the theoretical framework the psychoanalytic psychosomatic and Assoun´s texts, both based in Freudian metapsychology. The first one gives us an understanding about the formation of somatic symptoms from the primary relationships the child has with his parents. The second one, deals with somatic symptoms from a drive unmerge located in the origin of the I-body, forming the link with the Other. This is a qualitative research, with semi-structured interviews with six parents who were accompanying their children during hospitalization time in a known public hospital in Fortaleza-CE. The data were submitted to the method of content analysis, which center themes were maternal function and somatic symptoms. The analysis of these issues has shown us that the quality of the parents/children link suffer the effects of maternal desire that brings, itself, the mark of the inherent ambivalence in this relationship, through the psychic conflict, that when is not resolved in terms of symbolic development, falls on the body (of the child) as an affiliation, the mark of the Other’s desire power. The parent’s phantasmagoric constructions about the cause of cancer of their children were another relevant thing, enabling us to have a better understanding of the parents / children link, and of the child’s place in maternal libidinal economy. Thus, the understanding of somatic symptoms in babies and small children should take into account not only the somatic reality of this physical body, but also the vicissitudes of maternal desire that act through the embodiment of the ghost, denouncing the plastic effect that is active in unconscious process, that is, the embodiment (in the son) of the ghost (maternal). / A proposta desta dissertação é compreender o câncer infantil entrelaçado ao processo de constituição subjetiva, tomando como referência o estudo psicanalítico dos sintomas somáticos em bebês e crianças pequenas a partir dos lugares simbólicos e imaginários que os filhos ocupam no desejo dos pais. Abordamos esse tema articulando a constituição do sujeito com o trabalho da pulsão, em que a mãe – enquanto Outro – assume grande importância por sua função de para-excitação e, portanto, na qualidade de organizadora do circuito pulsional. É, portanto, no tempo de constituição subjetiva que acreditamos poder encontrar a chave para a compreensão do sintoma somático, visto que é na pequena infância que o corpo simbólico e imaginário se forma nesse duplo com o corpo anatômico. Neste estudo, utilizamos como referenciais teóricos a Psicossomática psicanalítica e os textos de Assoun, ambos fundamentados na metapsicologia freudiana. O primeiro oferece compreensão acerca da constituição dos sintomas somáticos nas relações primordiais que a criança estabelece com seus pais. O segundo aborda o sintoma somático com base em uma desfusão pulsional localizada na origem do eu-corporal, constituído no laço com o Outro. Trata-se de uma pesquisa qualitativa, com realização de entrevistas semi-estruturadas com seis pais que estavam acompanhando os filhos durante o período de internação num hospital público de referencia em Fortaleza/CE. Os dados foram submetidos ao método de análise de conteúdo, cujas categorias temáticas centrais foram a função materna e o sintoma somático. A análise desses temas mostrou que a qualidade do laço pais/filhos recebe a influência do desejo materno que, por sua vez, traz a marca da ambivalência inerente a esta relação, mediante o conflito psíquico que, não sendo resolvido em termos de uma elaboração simbólica, recai sobre o corpo (da criança) como inscrição, marca do poder do desejo do Outro. As elaborações fantasmáticas dos pais sobre a causa do câncer dos filhos foram outro dado relevante, possibilitando melhor compreensão do laço pais/filhos e do lugar que o filho ocupa na economia libidinal materna. Dessa forma, a compreensão dos sintomas somáticos em bebês e crianças pequenas deve levar em consideração não apenas a realidade somática desse corpo físico, como também as vicissitudes do desejo materno, que operam por meio da corporização do fantasma, denunciando o efeito plástico ativo do processo inconsciente, ou seja, a corporização (no filho) do fantasma (materno).