THE POSSIBLE ROLE OF HYPNOSIS IN HOMOGRAFT RETENTION: A PRELIMINARY REPORT.
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Hypnosis was used to alter body image in an attempt to enable a woman to retain a skin homograft from an unrelated male donor. The man also acted as a nonhypnotized control by receiving a homograft from the hypnotized woman. Oneinch square full-thickness skin homografts were exchanged between the upper arms of the two volunteers. The homograft on the arm of the woman is still viable after eight months; the homograft on the man was rejected within two weeks. A second experiment in which the same subject was told under hypnosis to reject the homograft failed to produce rejection.Definite conclusions are not yet justified. Among factors to be considered in the present case are an unusual compatibility, schizophrenia as an inhibitor of the rejection mechanism, hypnotically induced irreversible acceptance, or other unknown mechanisms. (+info)
Chronic prostatitis: a psychosexual approach.
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"Chronic prostatitis" unaccompanied by signs of active inflammatory disease is a psychosexual disturbance, not a bacteriological disease. Prostate massage, local therapy, and antibiotic therapy are usually of no therapeutic value; a careful history and evalution of the background and good social and psychiatric counseling are the only effective and rational means by which this so called "prostatitis" is controllable. (+info)
Occurrence of Raynaud's phenomenon in children ages 12-15 years: prevalence and association with other common symptoms.
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OBJECTIVE: Although Raynaud's phenomenon (RP) in adults is frequently reported as having been present since childhood, there have been no studies on the prevalence of RP in children. This study was undertaken to ascertain the prevalence of RP in children ages 12-15 years and to determine whether, as with other commonly reported symptoms, there were any associations with adverse psychosocial factors. METHODS: A previously validated self-administered RP questionnaire was distributed to 903 children ages 12-15 years, from 28 schools. The questionnaire also included questions on other common childhood symptoms and on adverse psychosocial factors. RESULTS: Seven hundred twenty children responded (80%), in whom the prevalence of RP was 15%. This was higher in girls (18% versus 12%) and increased with age. After adjustment for age and sex, there was an association with reporting of current pain, both in the arm/shoulder region and elsewhere in the body. There were no associations with psychosocial variables. CONCLUSION: RP is frequent in children ages 12-15 years. Unlike other common childhood symptoms, RP showed no association with psychosocial factors in this study. (+info)
Subjective quality of life and sexual functioning after germ-cell tumour therapy.
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PURPOSE: To evaluate the influence of germ-cell tumour therapy on sexual functioning and subjective quality of life (QL). To investigate the communication about sexual problems between patients, their partners, and doctors. In all, 474 patients treated for germ-cell tumours at the Department of Internal Medicine III, Ludwig-Maximilians-University Munich, from 1979 to 2000 were asked to complete a self-report questionnaire concerning psychosocial dimensions and subjective QL (QLS; Henrich and Herschbach, 2000). In total, 341 patients returned a completed questionnaire (response rate, 71.9%). The median age at survey was 41.9 years and the median follow-up period after therapy was 9.6 years. Persisting sexual sequelae were lower than in the current literature: decreased sexual desire (7.1%), erection (10.0%), orgasm (10.2%), ejaculation (28.8%), sexual activity (8.5%), and sexual satisfaction (4.8%). In QL the satisfaction with 'friends/acquaintances' (P<0.001) and 'family life/children' (P<0.001), is lower than in the healthy population. Correlations between functional scales and subjective QL were highly significant. There is a strong correlation between sexual satisfaction and global life satisfaction (Spearman's Rho: 0.48; P<0.01). A total of 61.4% of patients were not offered communication about sexual problems by their doctors and 21.2% were unable to talk with their partner about sexual issues. In conclusion, moderating psychosocial variables (e.g. personality factors, cognitive processes) should be investigated to clarify the relationship between life satisfaction (subjective QL) and functional impairments. Communication about sexual problems should be offered as a standard to patients treated for germ-cell tumours. (+info)
Primary level psychological services in South Africa: can a new psychological professional fill the gap?
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Care for common mental health problems in medium-resourced countries has been conceptualized by the World Health Organization as needing to be provided by primary health care personnel, in particular primary health care nurses. This study, which comprised a file audit of a psychological referral service at primary level in South Africa, suggests that in contexts where specialized psychological services are lacking, the demand for mental health services includes that of psychometric assessment services for mental retardation and/or scholastic problems. It is argued that in these contexts, third generation health systems reforms should be applied to the provision of care for more common mental health problems as well as mental retardation and/or scholastic problems in medium-resourced countries. This would require the insertion of a 'package' comprised of both psychological assessment and intervention services. It is suggested that in South Africa, such a 'package' could be provided by the new professional category of 'counsellor', which the Professional Board of Psychology of the South African Health Professions Council has recently accredited. (+info)
Encouraging adolescents toward mental health careers via website biographies.
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This project designed, developed, implemented and is currently evaluating the effectiveness of an interactive, multi-media website designed to encourage adolescents to consider careers in mental health. This Web-based learning environment features biographies of mental health scientists. Evaluation is conducted in a systematic, structured way using cognitive achievement, usability (ease of use), and affective scales (e.g., fun to use) as outcome measures (+info)
Quality of life and psychosocial development in adolescents with epilepsy: a qualitative investigation using focus group methods.
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The majority of previous studies investigating the impact of epilepsy on the QOL of adolescents have used proxy opinions from clinicians and/or parents. This study highlights the need for research to investigate QOL from the direct perspective of adolescents and consider issues in the context of a developmental perspective. A focus group technique was used. Twenty-two adolescents aged between 12 years 4 months and 18 years 0 months (6 males and 16 females) were stratified by age (12-13, 14-15 and 16+ years) into six focus groups. Data were transcribed and QSR NUD*IST 4.0 was used to help generate central themes. Several procedures were undertaken to increase validity and reliability of findings. Analysis identified two main themes comprising (a) issues related to adolescent development (identity formation) and (b) epilepsy related variables, with five and four main sub-themes, respectively ('peer acceptance', 'development of autonomy', 'school related issues', 'epilepsy as part of me' and 'future', and 'medication issues', 'seizures', 'knowledge of epilepsy' and 'sense of uncertainty'). The main issues related to peer acceptance and development of autonomy. In contrast to previous studies, academic difficulties were not highlighted as an issue. No significant age-related differences in issues were identified. A conceptual model representing these findings is presented and clinical implications and suggestions for future research are reported. (+info)
Collaboration between unlikely disciplines in the creation of a conceptual framework for nurse-computer interactions.
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A unique conceptual framework for the study of nurse-computer interaction was created through the collaboration of two researchers in seemingly diverse fields: nursing informatics and developmental psychology. The framework depicts nurses and computers interacting in a system of mutual influences, exchanging information during a particular task, and proceeding on a developmental trajectory. The conceptual framework can help guide research within nursing informatics and help build a cohesive body of knowledge for the future. (+info)