Personal review: Helicobacter pylori, NSAIDs and cognitive dissonance.
(1/41)
Helicobacter pylori and non-steroidal anti-inflammatory drugs (NSAIDs) each cause peptic ulcers but by different mechanisms. As a result, the effect of both of these risk factors together is not a synergistic enhancement of injury, ulceration or rates of complications. Indeed, there are circumstances under which patients infected with H. pylori are less prone to NSAID-induced ulcers than those who are not infected or who have undergone eradication treatment. This may be because of opposite effects on gastric mucosal prostaglandin synthesis or for other reasons. Reluctance to accept that there may be specific circumstances where H. pylori is beneficial may arise because of the psychological process of cognitive dissonance. (+info)
Conflict of intentions due to callosal disconnection.
(2/41)
OBJECTIVES: Three patients with callosal syndrome manifested a peculiar symptom in that they were unable to perform intended whole body actions because another intention emerged in competition with the original one. Attempts were made to clarify the symptomatology of this manifestation and its possible mechanism is discussed. METHODS: The three patients are described and previous reports on patients with callosal damage were reviewed. Four additional patients with similar symptoms were found and the clinical features common to all seven patients were examined. RESULTS: This symptom could not be attributed to unilateral movement disorders such as unilateral apraxia, intermanual conflict, or compulsive manipulation of tools. The manifestations included marked hesitation in initiating actions, interruption of actions, repetitive actions, and performance of unintended actions with difficulty in correcting them. All patients, except one, had a lesion in the posterior half of the body of the corpus callosum, and there was no significant involvement of the cerebral cortex. The symptom became manifest later than 4 weeks after callosal damage. It occurred during spontaneous actions, but not during well automated actions nor when following instructions. CONCLUSION: This symptom, tentatively named "conflict of intentions", can be regarded as a fragment of diagonistic dyspraxia originally described by Akelaitis, although it can occur independently of intermanual conflict. Normally, the right and left cerebral hemispheres may be complementarily modifying automated whole body actions in order to adapt behaviour to changes of the environment as well as to the intention. Partial callosal disconnection without significant cortical involvement would exaggerate the disparity between the role of each hemisphere through the reorganisation of neural systems after callosal damage. Such double, often contrary, behavioural tendencies may sometimes simultaneously enter the patient's awareness. (+info)
Cannabis and psychosis.
(3/41)
BACKGROUND: Cannabis use is commonly identified in people who present with psychosis. OBJECTIVE: This case study aims to provide a practical approach for general practitioners seeing patients with comorbid cannabis and mental health concerns. DISCUSSION: Cannabis related comorbidity is commonly seen in general practice. General practitioners can manage most presentations and help to reduce the likely occurrence of cannabis induced psychosis through the use of psychosocial support, brief interventions and harm minimisation. (+info)
Money for consent--psychological consideration.
(4/41)
CONTEXT: Regarding the increasing gap between demand and supply of donor organs the question is increasingly discussed, if families of organ donors should receive a financial incentive for consenting to organ donation. However, little attention has been paid to the psychological consequences of such incentives. OBJECTIVE: We discuss the question of financial incentives for families of presumed organ donors in the light of relevant psychological theories. DATA SOURCES AND STUDY SELECTION: Overview of the psychological literature. Only well established theories were included. CONCLUSIONS: We summarise, that financial benefits for consent to organ donoation could affect adversely the public opinion toward organ donation and the whole process of transplantation and thus could counterproductively influence the consent rates. (+info)
What we regret most... and why.
(5/41)
Which domains in life produce the greatest potential for regret, and what features of those life domains explain why? Using archival and laboratory evidence, the authors show that greater perceived opportunity within life domains evokes more intense regret. This pattern is consistent with previous publications demonstrating greater regret stemming from high rather than low opportunity or choice. A meta-analysis of 11 regret ranking studies revealed that the top six biggest regrets in life center on (in descending order) education, career, romance, parenting, the self, and leisure. Study Set 2 provided new laboratory evidence that directly linked the regret ranking to perceived opportunity. Study Set 3 ruled out an alternative interpretation involving framing effects. Overall, these findings show that people's biggest regrets are a reflection of where in life they see their largest opportunities; that is, where they see tangible prospects for change, growth, and renewal. (+info)
Avoiding versus seeking: the relationship of information seeking to avoidance, blunting, coping, dissonance, and related concepts.
(6/41)
QUESTION: How have theorists and empirical researchers treated the human tendency to avoid discomforting information? DATA SOURCES: A historical review (1890-2004) of theory literature in communication and information studies, coupled with searches of recent studies on uptake of genetic testing and on coping strategies of cancer patients, was performed. STUDY SELECTION: The authors' review of the recent literature included searches of the MEDLINE, PsychInfo, and CINAHL databases between 1992 and summer of 2004 and selective, manual searches of earlier literature. Search strategies included the following subject headings and key words: MeSH headings: Genetic Screening/psychology, Decision Making, Neoplasms/diagnosis/genetics/psychology; CINAHL headings: Genetic Screening, Genetic Counseling, Anxiety, Decision Making, Decision Making/Patient; additional key words: avoidance, worry, monitoring, blunting, cancer. The "Related Articles" function in MEDLINE was used to perform additional "citation pearl" searching. MAIN RESULTS: The assumption that individuals actively seek information underlies much of psychological theory and communication practice, as well as most models of the information-seeking process. However, much research has also noted that sometimes people avoid information, if paying attention to it will cause mental discomfort or dissonance. Cancer information in general and genetic screening for cancer in particular are discussed as examples to illustrate this pattern. CONCLUSION: That some patients avoid knowledge of imminent disease makes avoidance behavior an important area for social and psychological research, particularly with regard to genetic testing. (+info)
Dissonance and healthy weight eating disorder prevention programs: a randomized efficacy trial.
(7/41)
In this trial, adolescent girls with body dissatisfaction (N = 481, M age = 17 years) were randomized to an eating disorder prevention program involving dissonance-inducing activities that reduce thin-ideal internalization, a prevention program promoting healthy weight management, an expressive writing control condition, or an assessment-only control condition. Dissonance participants showed significantly greater reductions in eating disorder risk factors and bulimic symptoms than healthy weight, expressive writing, and assessment-only participants, and healthy weight participants showed significantly greater reductions in risk factors and symptoms than expressive writing and assessment-only participants from pretest to posttest. Although these effects faded over 6-month and 12-month follow-ups, dissonance and healthy weight participants showed significantly lower binge eating and obesity onset and reduced service utilization through 12-month follow-up, suggesting that both interventions have public health potential. (+info)
Overcoming denial and increasing the intention to use condoms through the induction of hypocrisy.
(8/41)
Feelings of hypocrisy were induced in college students to increase condom use. Hypocrisy was created by making subjects mindful of their past failure to use condoms and then having them persuade others about the importance of condoms for AIDS prevention. The induction of hypocrisy decreased denial and led to greater intent to improve condom use relative to the control conditions. The implications of these findings for AIDS prevention are discussed. (+info)