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Full-Text Articles in Medicine and Health Sciences

Mindfulness-Based Stress Reduction And Health-Related Quality Of Life In A Heterogeneous Patient Population, Diane K. Reibel, Jeffrey M. Greeson, George C. Brainard, Steven Rosenzweig Md Sep 2014

Mindfulness-Based Stress Reduction And Health-Related Quality Of Life In A Heterogeneous Patient Population, Diane K. Reibel, Jeffrey M. Greeson, George C. Brainard, Steven Rosenzweig Md

Jeffrey Greeson

This study examined the effects of mindfulness-based stress reduction (MBSR) on health-related quality of life and physical and psychological symptomatology in a heterogeneous patient population. Patients (n=136) participated in an 8-week MBSR program and were required to practice 20 min of meditation daily. Pre- and post-intervention data were collected by using the Short-Form Health Survey (SF-36), Medical Symptom Checklist (MSCL) and Symptom Checklist-90 Revised (SCL-90-R). Health-related quality of life was enhanced as demonstrated by improvement on all indices of the SF-36, including vitality, bodily pain, role limitations caused by physical health, and social functioning (all P<.01). Alleviation of physical …


Mindfulness-Based Stress Reduction Lowers Psychological Distress In Medical Students, Steven Rosenzweig Md, Diane K. Reibel, Jeffrey M. Greeson, George C. Brainard, Mohammadreza Hojat Sep 2014

Mindfulness-Based Stress Reduction Lowers Psychological Distress In Medical Students, Steven Rosenzweig Md, Diane K. Reibel, Jeffrey M. Greeson, George C. Brainard, Mohammadreza Hojat

Jeffrey Greeson

Background: Medical students confront significant academic, psychosocial, and existential stressors throughout their training. Mindfulness-based stress reduction (MBSR) is an educational intervention designed to improve coping skills and reduce emotional distress. Purpose: The purpose of this study was to examine the effectiveness of the MBSR intervention in a prospective, nonrandomized, cohort-controlled study. Methods: Second-year students (n = 140) elected to participate in a 10-week MBSR seminar. Controls (n = 162) participated in a didactic seminar on complementary medicine. Profile of Mood States (POMS) was administered preintervention and postintervention. Results: Baseline total mood disturbance (TMD) was greater in the MBSR group compared …


Coping Styles, Opioid Blockade, And Cardiovascular Response To Stress, Stephen Bruehl, James Mccubbin, John Wilson, Thomas Montgomery, Paloma Ibarra, Charles Carlson Jul 2014

Coping Styles, Opioid Blockade, And Cardiovascular Response To Stress, Stephen Bruehl, James Mccubbin, John Wilson, Thomas Montgomery, Paloma Ibarra, Charles Carlson

James A. McCubbin

We investigated the hypothesis that the effects of Monitoring and Blunting coping styles are mediated in part by endogenous opioids. Mean arterial pressure (MAP) and heart rate (HR) were measured in 39 males before, during, and after a mental arithmetic stressor. Each subject experienced the protocol once under opioid blockade (naltrexone) and once in a placebo condition, in counterbalanced order. Monitoring and Blunting were assessed using the Miller Behavioral Style Scale. High Blunting and high Monitoring were both associated with poorer MAP recovery under opioid blockade than in the placebo condition. Similar effects were noted for Blunting on the measure …


Relaxation Training And Opioid Inhibition Of Blood Pressure Response To Stress, James Mccubbin, John Wilson, Stephen Bruehl, Paloma Ibarra, Charles Carlson, Jane Norton, George Colclough Jul 2014

Relaxation Training And Opioid Inhibition Of Blood Pressure Response To Stress, James Mccubbin, John Wilson, Stephen Bruehl, Paloma Ibarra, Charles Carlson, Jane Norton, George Colclough

James A. McCubbin

The present study was designed to determine the role of endogenous opioid mechanisms in the circulatory effects of relaxation training. Opioid mechanisms were assessed by examination of the effects of opioid receptor blockade with naltrexone on acute cardiovascular reactivity to laboratory stress before and after relaxation training. 32 young men with mildly elevated casual arterial pressure were recruited for placebo-controlled naltrexone stress tests and relaxation training. The results indicated that relaxation training significantly reduced the diastolic pressure response to mental arithmetic stress. Opioid receptor blockade with naltrexone antagonized the effects of relaxation training. These findings suggest that some of the …


Emotional Dampening In Persons With Elevated Blood Pressure: Affect Dysregulation And Risk For Hypertension, James Mccubbin, J Loveless, J Graham, D Moore, G Hall, R Bart, M Merritt, R Lane, J Thayer Jul 2014

Emotional Dampening In Persons With Elevated Blood Pressure: Affect Dysregulation And Risk For Hypertension, James Mccubbin, J Loveless, J Graham, D Moore, G Hall, R Bart, M Merritt, R Lane, J Thayer

James A. McCubbin

Background Persons with higher blood pressure have emotional dampening in some contexts. This may reflect interactive changes in central nervous system control of affect and autonomic function in the early stages of hypertension development. Purpose The purpose of this study is to determine the independence of cardiovascular emotional dampening from alexithymia to better understand the role of affect dysregulation in blood pressure elevations. Methods Ninety-six normotensives were assessed for resting systolic and diastolic (DBP) blood pressure, recognition of emotions in faces and sentences using the Perception of Affect Task (PAT), alexithymia, anxiety, and defensiveness. Results Resting DBP significantly predicted PAT …


Cardiovascular Emotional Dampening: The Relationship Between Blood Pressure And Recognition Of Emotion, James A. Mccubbin, Marcellus M. Merritt, John J. Sollers Iii, Michele K. Evans, Alan B. Zonderman, Richard D. Lane, Julian F. Thayer Jul 2014

Cardiovascular Emotional Dampening: The Relationship Between Blood Pressure And Recognition Of Emotion, James A. Mccubbin, Marcellus M. Merritt, John J. Sollers Iii, Michele K. Evans, Alan B. Zonderman, Richard D. Lane, Julian F. Thayer

James A. McCubbin

Objective—Persons with elevated blood pressure show dampened emotional responses to affectladen stimuli. We sought to further examine cardiovascular emotional dampening by examination of the relationship between resting hemodynamic measures and recognition of emotion in an African-American community-based sample. Methods—Participants were 106 African American men and women (55 female; mean age 52.8 years), mainly low in socioeconomic status and part of the Healthy Aging in Nationally Diverse Longitudinal Samples (HANDLS-Pilot) Pilot Study. Participants evaluated emotional expressions in faces and in sentences using the Perception of Affect Test (PAT). Resting blood pressure, total peripheral resistance (TPR), cardiac output and heart rate were …


Effects Of Stretch-Based Progressive Relaxation Training On The Secretion Of Salivary Immunoglobulin A In Orofacial Pain Patients, Jeffrey Sherman, Charles Carlson, James Mccubbin, John Wilson Jul 2014

Effects Of Stretch-Based Progressive Relaxation Training On The Secretion Of Salivary Immunoglobulin A In Orofacial Pain Patients, Jeffrey Sherman, Charles Carlson, James Mccubbin, John Wilson

James A. McCubbin

There is a growing body of evidence that psychologic stressors can affect physical health and proneness to disease through depletion of the body's immune system. Relatively little research, however, has investigated the potential immunoenhancing effect of stress-relieving strategies such as progressive muscle relaxation. This study explored the relationship between immune functioning and relaxation training with persons experiencing persistent facial pain. In a single experimental session, 21 subjects either received relaxation training or rested for an equivalent time period. Salivary immunoglobulin A, mood, pain, and tension levels were measured before and after relaxation and rest periods. Results indicated that a greater …


Laboratory Routines Cause Animal Stress, Jonathan P. Balcombe, Neal D. Barnard, Chad Sandusky May 2014

Laboratory Routines Cause Animal Stress, Jonathan P. Balcombe, Neal D. Barnard, Chad Sandusky

Jonathan Balcombe, PhD

Eighty published studies were appraised to document the potential stress associated with three routine laboratory procedures commonly performed on animals: handling, blood collection, and orogastric gavage. We defined handling as any non-invasive manipulation occurring as part of routine husbandry, including lifting an animal and cleaning or moving an animal's cage. Significant changes in physiologic parameters correlated with stress (e.g., serum or plasma concentrations of corticosterone, glucose, growth hormone or prolactin, heart rate, blood pressure, and behavior) were associated with all three procedures in multiple species in the studies we examined. The results of these studies demonstrated that animals responded with …