Psychosomatic medicine
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Psychosomatic medicine · Feb 2013
Neural correlates of deficits in pain-related affective meaning construction in patients with chronic pain disorder.
Psychological and neural mechanisms of the affective dimension of pain are known to be disturbed in patients with chronic pain disorder. The aim of this functional magnetic resonance imaging study was to assess the neurofunctional and behavioral measures underlying the ability to construct pain-related affective meaning in a painful situation by comparing 21 clinically and psychometrically well-characterized patients with persistent non-nociceptive somatoform pain with 19 healthy controls. ⋯ Our results suggest that patients with chronic medically unexplained pain have an altered neural pain perception process owing to decreased activation of empathetic-affective networks, which we interpret as a deficit in pain-related affective meaning construction. These findings may lead to a more specific and detailed neurobiological understanding of the clinical impression of disturbed affect in patients with chronic pain disorder.
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Psychosomatic medicine · Feb 2013
Social isolation and loneliness: relationships with cognitive function during 4 years of follow-up in the English Longitudinal Study of Ageing.
This study aims to evaluate the impact of social isolation and loneliness, individually and simultaneously, on cognitive function in older adults during a 4-year period, using data from the English Longitudinal Study of Ageing, and to evaluate if these associations are moderated by educational level. ⋯ Loneliness and isolation are associated with poorer cognitive function among older adults. Interventions to foster social connections may be particularly beneficial for individuals with low levels of education.