Psychology & health
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Psychology & health · Jan 2015
Mindfulness, physical impairment and psychological well-being in people with amyotrophic lateral sclerosis.
Mindfulness is the process of actively making new distinctions, rather than relying on habitual or automatic categorisations from the past. Mindfulness has been positively associated with physical well-being, better recovery rates from disease or infections, pain reduction and overall quality of life (QOL). Amyotrophic lateral sclerosis (ALS) is a rare, progressive and fatal neurodegenerative disease, clinically characterised by progressively increasing weakness leading to death, usually within five years. There is presently no cure for ALS, and it is considered one of the most genetically and biologically driven illnesses. Thus far, the aims of psychological studies on ALS have focused on understanding patient - and, to a lesser extent, caregiver - QOL and psychological well-being. No previous study has investigated the influence of psychological factors on ALS. ⋯ The available data indicate that a psychological construct - mindfulness - can attenuate the progress of a disease that is believed to be almost solely biologically driven. The potential implications of these results extend well beyond ALS.
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Psychology & health · Jan 2015
Longitudinal associations between social connections and subjective wellbeing in the English Longitudinal Study of Ageing.
The role of social relationships in determining well-being may be particularly salient in ageing populations. There is only limited longitudinal research examining the relationship between different dimensions of social relationships and change in well-being over time. The present analysis explores the association between isolation, loneliness and two measures of subjective well-being over six years using data from the English Longitudinal Study of Ageing. ⋯ Social isolation and loneliness show different associations with changes in evaluative and hedonic well-being over time.