Psychosomatic medicine
-
Psychosomatic medicine · Jul 1999
Predictors of burden and infectious illness in schizophrenia caregivers.
The objective of the study was to test predictive models of schizophrenia caregiver burden and infectious illness episodes for caregivers who had regular contact with their mentally ill family members. ⋯ These data indicate that although schizophrenia caregiver burden and infectious illness are predicted by measures of patient stressors, vulnerabilities, and resources, the specific measures predicting these outcomes differ. The results also call attention to the powerful influence of patient symptoms as a predictor of burden and the presence of infectious illness among caregivers.
-
Psychosomatic medicine · Jul 1999
Comparative StudyCognitive performance in multiple trauma patients 3 years after injury.
Patients with sequelae from multiple trauma commonly display cognitive disturbances, specifically in the areas of attention and memory. This study was designed to assess cognitive functioning 3 years after severe multiple trauma and to investigate how cognitive performance is related to head injury severity and psychological distress respectively. ⋯ Cognitive deficits in multiple trauma patients were related both to the severity of the traumatic brain injury and to the degree of psychological distress. The strength of the association between brain injury as indicated by GCS scores and cognitive performance differed between different tasks. Neuropsychological testing may assist in differentiating primary organic from secondary psychogenic impairments.
-
Psychosomatic medicine · Jul 1999
Comparative StudyA comparison of economic and social reward in patients with chronic nonmalignant back pain.
Patients with chronic nonmalignant back pain are often exposed to multiple sources of economic and social reward. At issue in the present study was whether these rewards are 1) correlated with similar or dissimilar outcome variables and 2) able to account for unique variance in regression models of illness behavior. ⋯ Economic and social rewards were both associated with increased disability and depression, but only social rewards were associated with increased symptom reporting. Exposure to economic and social rewards may account for unique variance in illness behavior that cannot be explained by differences in medical diagnosis, symptom duration, pain intensity, depression, or somatization.
-
Psychosomatic medicine · May 1999
Comparative Study Clinical TrialEthnic differences in thermal pain responses.
Although numerous studies have reported ethnic differences in the prevalence and severity of clinical pain, little is known about how these differences affect the perception of experimental pain. The present experiment examined the effects of ethnicity (African American vs. white) on thermal pain responses in a healthy undergraduate population. ⋯ Collectively, these findings seem to suggest ethnic differences in the perception of the affective-motivational dimension of thermal pain.
-
Psychosomatic medicine · May 1999
Comparative StudyCritical life events, infections, and symptoms during the year preceding chronic fatigue syndrome (CFS): an examination of CFS patients and subjects with a nonspecific life crisis.
The purpose of this study was to describe the sequence of psychosocial events and infections preceding the onset of chronic fatigue syndrome (CFS). This information was related to the temporal development of crucial symptoms in relation to the onset of, namely, fatigue, sadness, irritability, pain, and feeling of fever. ⋯ According to the retrospective self-reports, there were differences between the groups in fatigue, pain, and feeling of fever during the months preceding the crisis. With regard to depressive and irritable feelings, no preillness differences were reported between the groups. There was a reported excess prevalence of both infections and negative life events during the quarter year preceding the onset of CFS or crisis. Potential sources of error are discussed. These findings must be replicated in longitudinal studies.