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Full-Text Articles in Medicine and Health Sciences

How Prostate Cancer Patients Cope With The Effects Of Diagnosis And Treatment: Development Of The Effects Of Prostate Cancer Coping Strategies Scale, Christopher Sharpley, Vicki Bitsika, David Christie Sep 2012

How Prostate Cancer Patients Cope With The Effects Of Diagnosis And Treatment: Development Of The Effects Of Prostate Cancer Coping Strategies Scale, Christopher Sharpley, Vicki Bitsika, David Christie

Vicki Bitsika

Background: The elevated anxiety and depression experienced by prostate cancer (PCa) patients can impair their decision-making as well as decrease their psychological well-being and weaken relationships with partner and family. Although standardised assessment models exist for identifying the symptoms of anxiety or depression, relatively little attention has been given to identifying the causal antecedents that PCa patients encounter and that may lead to anxiety or depression, nor their own attempts to cope with those antecedents. This study investigated the coping strategies used by a sample of PCa patients in response to the specific stressors and lifestyle changes that arose from …


Variability In Anxiety And Depression Over Time Following Diagnosis In Patients With Prostate Cancer, Christoper Sharpley, David Christie, Vicki Bitsika Sep 2012

Variability In Anxiety And Depression Over Time Following Diagnosis In Patients With Prostate Cancer, Christoper Sharpley, David Christie, Vicki Bitsika

Vicki Bitsika

To determine the presence and nature of variability in anxiety and depression in patients with prostate cancer (PCa) over 3 years following diagnosis, 442 patients with PCa completed standardized anxiety and depression inventories via survey between 1 and 36 months after receiving their initial diagnosis. Data were analyzed from a series of 3-month cohorts, and results indicated that total scores and incidence of clinically significant anxiety and depression varied over time, but that this variability was restricted to specific subfactors of anxiety and depression. Provision of effective psychological treatment to patients with PCa is discussed.


How Is Resilience Associated With Anxiety And Depression? Analysis Of Factor Score Interactions Within A Homogeneous Sample, Vicki Bitsika, Christopher Sharpley, Kylie Peters Sep 2012

How Is Resilience Associated With Anxiety And Depression? Analysis Of Factor Score Interactions Within A Homogeneous Sample, Vicki Bitsika, Christopher Sharpley, Kylie Peters

Vicki Bitsika

Aim: To explore the ways in which resilience is associated with anxiety and depression within a homogenous sample.Methods: 401 Australian university students completed the Connor-Davidson Resilience Scale and the Zung SelfratingAnxiety and Depression Scales. Factor scores from the resilience scale were regressed against total anxiety and depression scores, combined anxiety-depression scores and the underlying factors of the combined anxiety-depression construct.Results: Self-confidence and optimism were most strongly negatively associated with anxiety and depression, followed by being decisive and solution-focussed and seeking challenges, having a strong purpose and being persistent, although different combinations of factors predicted anxiety than did depression. Spiritual beliefs …


Serotonin Transporter And Gaba(A) Alpha 6 Receptor Variants Are Associated With Neuroticism, Srijan Sen, Sandra Villafuerte, Randolph Nesse, Scott F. Stoltenberg, Jeffrey Hopcian, Lillian Gleiberman, Alan Weder, Margit Burmeister Jun 2012

Serotonin Transporter And Gaba(A) Alpha 6 Receptor Variants Are Associated With Neuroticism, Srijan Sen, Sandra Villafuerte, Randolph Nesse, Scott F. Stoltenberg, Jeffrey Hopcian, Lillian Gleiberman, Alan Weder, Margit Burmeister

Scott F. Stoltenberg

Background: A tendency to experience negative affect, as measured by the neuroticism component of the Neuroticism, Extraversion, and Openness Personality Inventory (NEO-PI), is a trait marker for major depression. Epidemiologic studies indicate a strong genetic component, but to date few specific genetic variants have been definitively implicated. A serotonin transporter promoter polymorphism (5-HTTLPR) has been extensively studied in neuroticism and several psychiatric disorders, with inconclusive results. A GABA(A) receptor α6 subunit variant (Pro385Ser) has been associated with alcohol-related traits but has not been studied in neuroticism or depression. Methods: A total of 384 subjects who completed the NEO-PI were genotyped …


A Bdnf Coding Variant Is Associated With The Neo Personality Inventory Domain Neuroticism, A Risk Factor For Depression, Srijan Sen, Randolph M. Nesse, Scott F. Stoltenberg, Sheng Li, Lillian Gleiberman, Aravinda Chakravarti, Alan B. Weber, Margit Burmeister Jun 2012

A Bdnf Coding Variant Is Associated With The Neo Personality Inventory Domain Neuroticism, A Risk Factor For Depression, Srijan Sen, Randolph M. Nesse, Scott F. Stoltenberg, Sheng Li, Lillian Gleiberman, Aravinda Chakravarti, Alan B. Weber, Margit Burmeister

Scott F. Stoltenberg

Genetic factors influence vulnerability to depression (Sullivan et al, 2000), but no specific genes have been definitively implicated. One promising approach is to determine whether variations in specific (candidate) genes are associated not with disease per se, but with traits, such as personality factors, that are themselves associated with risk for the disorder (Lander and Schork, 1994; Stoltenberg and Burmeister, 2000). Often such traits have a higher heritability than the disease status (Almasy and Blangero, 2001). Neuroticism, as measured by the NEO personality inventory (NEO-PI) (Costa and McCrae, 1997), a psychometrically sound and widely used instrument, is one such trait. …


The Effects Of Adolescent Binge Drinking On Corticotropin-Releasing Factor Cells In The Amygdala And Social Predictors Of Alcohol Intake In Male And Female Rats, Chrisanthi Karanikas Jan 2012

The Effects Of Adolescent Binge Drinking On Corticotropin-Releasing Factor Cells In The Amygdala And Social Predictors Of Alcohol Intake In Male And Female Rats, Chrisanthi Karanikas

Masters Theses 1911 - February 2014

Alcohol is one of the most common drugs of choice among adolescents. Normally, the method of consumption is drinking large quantities of alcohol in short periods of time, otherwise known as “binge drinking.” Corticotropin releasing factor (CRF) stress peptide producing cells in central nucleus of the amygdala (CeA) has been implicated in behavioral responses to stress and addiction. The goals of this thesis were to determine the effects of voluntary binge drinking in adolescence and vapor-induced alcohol dependence in adulthood on CRF cells in the CeA. These studies were done using an operant model of voluntary binge drinking in rodents …


Neural Responses To Peer Rejection In Anxious Adolescents: Contributions From The Amygdala-Hippocampal Complex, Jennifer Y.F. Lau, Amanda E. Guyer, Erin Tone, Jessica Jenness, Jessica M. Parrish, Daniel S. Pine, Eric E. Nelson Jan 2012

Neural Responses To Peer Rejection In Anxious Adolescents: Contributions From The Amygdala-Hippocampal Complex, Jennifer Y.F. Lau, Amanda E. Guyer, Erin Tone, Jessica Jenness, Jessica M. Parrish, Daniel S. Pine, Eric E. Nelson

Psychology Faculty Publications

Peer rejection powerfully predicts adolescent anxiety. While cognitive differences influence anxious responses to social feedback, little is known about neural contributions. Twelve anxious and 12 age-, gender- and IQ-matched, psychiatrically-healthy adolescents received ‘not interested’ and ‘interested’ feedback from unknown peers during a Chatroom task administered in a neuroimaging scanner. No group differences emerged in subjective ratings to peer feedback, but all participants reported more negative emotion at being rejected (than accepted) by peers to whom they had assigned high desirability ratings. Further highlighting the salience of such feedback, all adolescents, independent of anxiety levels, manifested elevated responses in the amygdala-hippocampal …


Gender, Gender Roles, And Anxiety: Perceived Confirmability Of Self Report, Behavioral Avoidance, And Physiological Reactivity, Milena Stoyanova, Debra Anne Hope Jan 2012

Gender, Gender Roles, And Anxiety: Perceived Confirmability Of Self Report, Behavioral Avoidance, And Physiological Reactivity, Milena Stoyanova, Debra Anne Hope

Department of Psychology: Faculty Publications

Despite the well-documented gender effect in anxiety, less is known about contributing factors to women’s greater risk for anxiety and fears. The present study examined the relationship between gender, gender role orientation (i.e., expressivity/instrumentality) and fear of harmless insects (tarantula), using a multimodal approach of self-report measures, a Behavioral Approach Test (BAT), and physiological reactivity. Participants (144 college students; 67 women, 77 men) completed a questionnaire packet and then were instructed to approach a tarantula. We were unable to replicate Pierce and Kirkpatrick’s (1992) findings that men underreport anxiety. Consistent with the literature, women in the study experienced greater anxiety …