published_or_final_version / abstract / toc / Clinical Psychology / Master / Master of Social Sciences

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No description available.

The use of provider based alternative medicine therapies such as chiropractic, massage, and acupuncture, has grown exponentially over the past decade as the price of traditional Western treatments has skyrocketed. Patients are seeking complementary treatments for a variety of ailments, including mental health. People with profound mental illness also have a reduced life expectancy and higher rates of chronic health problems than non-sufferers; and roughly 20% of people who used alternative therapies in the past year also had one or more psychiatric disorders. Healing Touch (HT) is based on the belief that humans have energy fields that change with states of illness; these energy fields can be manipulated to achieve wholeness or wellness. As nurses, touch has always been a part of our practice therefore it should not be a significant departure to entwine HT into our practice. Both anecdotal and research evidence has found that using HT for patients reduces anxiety and stress, helps support the life transition process, promotes self-empowerment, and enhances spiritual development. The implication of this evidence is that people suffering from anxiety and depression could benefit from HT in the primary care setting. When compared to the high cost of treating these illnesses, HT and other energy therapies are cost effective and have evidence supporting that treatment is effective enough to be inclusive. Depression and anxiety are extremely common and cross cultures, generations, and economic statuses. This describes the burden related to these conditions and why integrating HT in primary care practice is a viable, sustainable option. Current literature and research are discussed, and recommendations for practice in the form of a clinical practice protocol are presented.

No description available.

Cortical Spreading Depression (CSD) is characterized by a wave of neuronal and glial depolarization followed by depression of bioelectrical activity that slowly propagates through the cortex of many species, including humans. CSD is associated with brain disorders such as stroke, head trauma and migraine. Many earlier studies have provided compelling evidence that CSD is the underlying mechanism of aura in migraine; however, whether CSD can elicit headache associated with migraine is not fully understood. Cutaneous allodynia is highly prevalent in the peri-orbital area and extracephalic sites of migraine patients, suggesting that sensitization of primary afferents and central trigeminovascular neurons in these patients could be initiated by the underlying mechanism of aura.Unlike previous reports on the interaction between CSD and the trigeminal system, in which nociceptive behavior could not be measured since they employed anesthetized animals, we designed a model in which freely moving rats could be monitored for both CSD events and behavior responses due to pinprick plus KCl injection to the occipital cortex. We show that significant tactile hypersensitivity of the periorbital region of the face and hindpaws develop in a time-dependent manner following CSD. Enhanced expression of Fos protein and increased mRNA levels of the inflammatory cytokines IL-1beta and IL-6 are found within the trigeminal nucleus caudalis (TNC) two hours following cortical injection. We further show that systemic administration of anti-migraine drugs such as sumatriptan, naproxen and CGRP(8-37) (a CGRP antagonist) attenuate the generalized allodynia that ensue following cortical stimulation by KCl. Microinjection of bupivacaine in the ipsilateral trigeminal ganglion or in the rostral ventromedial medulla (RVM) prior to cortical pinprick plus KCl injection reversibly diminishes tactile hypersensitivity, suggesting that RVM pain-facilitating cells become activated by a trigeminal-RVM pathway following CSD. In addition we demonstrate that cortical pinprick plus KCl injection induced CSD events in 24/28 (85%) rats, among which 66% and 87% developed allodynia in the face and hindpaw, respectively.These studies suggest a potential association between CSD and development of hypersensitivity in rats, indicating that this model can be used to investigate the role of CSD-evoked migraine-related pain and to explore novel therapeutic strategies.

Although meditation-based interventions have been associated with improvement in depressive symptoms and prevention of relapse, the physiological mechanisms of meditation's therapeutic effects are unknown. At the same time, a growing body of literature has shown that meditation has profound effects on numerous physiological systems that are involved in the pathophysiology of depression. The first paper reviews many of the physiological abnormalities found in depression and the reversal or normalization of these same systems by meditation. The paper includes 1) a review of the physiological concomitants of depression, 2) a description of mindfulness meditation and its effects on mood disturbance, 3) the physiological effects of mindfulness and other related forms of meditation, and 4) suggestions for future research.The second paper summarizes the results of a randomized controlled trial of mindfulness meditation training on one of the previously identified candidate systems: sleep, as measured by overnight polysomnographic sleep studies as well as subjective reports (sleep diaries). The results indicate that mindfulness has an arousing effect on objectively measured sleep that corresponds with subjectively reported improvements in mood and sleep. This pattern is similar to the one observed in responders to antidepressant medications.

Inledning: I Sverige drabbas ungefär 30000 människor av stroke varje år. Nästan hälften av alla människor som genomgått en stroke blir nedstämda/deprimerade. Det är viktigt att få kunskap om vilka patientupplevelser som förekommer vid nedstämdhet/depression för att kunna möta patienterna på ett adekvat sätt. Syfte: Syftet med litteraturstudien var att belysa patienters upplevelser av nedstämdhet/depression efter stroke. Metod: Litteraturstudien har baserats på 11 kvalitetsgranskade vetenskapliga artiklar från 2003-2013. Den insamlade datan från artiklarna analyserades och delades in i sju teman. Resultat: Det centrala begrepp som sammanfattade resultatet var upplevelser hos den nedstämda/deprimerade patienten med stroke. De sju teman som framkom var att vara beroende av andra, begränsning, social isolering, trötthet, meningslöshet, självförakt och försämrat humör. Slutsats: Alla informanter har uppgett negativa upplevelser och känslor på grund av de förändringar som deras stroke inneburit. Förändringarna förknippades med upplevelser av nedstämdhet/depression.

The relationship between hopelessness and depression in a non-clinical sample of children (mean age = 10.75 years) was examined. A systematic comparison of three models of the role of hopelessness and global self-worth in childhood depression was conducted. The Children's Depression Inventory (Kovacs, 1983), the Self-Perception Profile for Students with Learning Disabilities (Renick & Harter, 1988), and the Hopelessness Scale for Children (Kazdin, French, Unis, Esveldt-Dawson, & Sherick, 1983) were administered. Results suggest that depressed children are hopeless but that hopeless children are not necessarily depressed; global self-worth and hopelessness are highly overlapping constructs; and no gender differences are present in childhood hopelessness. Results are interpreted with reference to the theoretical implications regarding the relative support of a new theory of depression and hopelessness, versus Greene's (1989) theory of the independence of hopelessness and depression as constructs, Beck's (1967) cognitive triad theory, and Haaga, Dyck, and Ernst's(1991) single dimension model of depression.

Syftet med denna uppsats var att undersöka hur cancerpatienter ser på stöd i samband med sjukdom samt vilka faktorer är det som gör att vissa människor klarar av att hantera sjukdomar medan vissa har större benägenhet att fastna i kriser och hamna i depression. För syftet valdes den kvalitativa forskningsansatsen och vidare valdes Ad-hoc metoden som intervjuanalys då målet och mitt fokus som forskare låg i att skapa mening och sammanhang i materialet. Två kvinnor har intervjuats vid ett tillfälle och till grund för det transkriberade intervjumaterialet ligger tidigare forskning om stöd vid sjukdom, upplevelser av sjukdom, KASAM, coping, kristeori och depression i samband med cancer. Resultat och analys består av utdrag från respondenternas beskrivelser och berättelser samt citat kopplat och knutet till tidigare forskning och teoretiska perspektiv. I resultatet framgår hur kvinnorna upplevde stödet under sjukdom såväl som efter, KASAM och coping samt fokus på personliga faktorer för livskvalité.