Browsing by discipline "Psykologia"

Objectives. Alzheimer’s disease’s (AD) prevalence is currently explosively increasing because of progressive aging of the population. It causes serious problems among individuals and in community basis. AD is a progressive disease which causes gradual deterioration of different aspects of cognition (especially memory), behavioral- and emotional symptoms and problems with social relationships and everyday life. Non-pharmacological treatments are needed for comprehensive rehabilitation because medical interventions have very limited effectiveness. The goal of this review is to answer the question: Are creative therapies (music-. dance/movement- and art therapies) effective treatments as a part of comprehensive rehabilitation of AD? Method. Literature of this review was searched from PubMed, PsychINFO and Google Scholar database. Results and conclusion. Research about creative therapies are still very limited but there is already evidence especially about how music therapy can positively affect patients’ behavioral symptoms and emotional problems. Still there is lack of evidence about effectiveness of creative therapies to cognitive problems of AD.

Depression is a significant personal and societal burden, and it is unequally divided in population. The most important risk factors for depression are gender, age, socioeconomic status, marital status and negative experiences in childhood. This literary review considers the connection of depression and socioeconomic status. The study considers 18 exploratory articles of the topic. Low socioeconomic status is associated with psychiatric morbidity. The association with depression is more incoherent, but still significant. Low socioeconomic status is connected especially with the prevalence of depression, that is 1.8 times higher in the lowest class compared to the highest class. The connection with the incidence of depression is weaker. Socioeconomic background has an influence on depression already in childhood, and the socioeconomic background is also inherited in generations. The connection is two-directional because depression can also have negative effects on one’s socioeconomic status. Many physiological, behavioral and social factors have an impact on the connection of depression and socioeconomic status. The social distribution of depression is mainly explained with the stress theory, that focuses on the stress exposure, and on the other hand on social resources to cope with that stress. Lifestyle, diseases, social support, psychosocial stress and access to health care are some important mediators of the connection. That is how the problems are accumulating to those in the weakest positions. In summary, depression is more common in the lowest socioeconomic class. Society structures support the resources on some of its members, and exposes those same individuals to fewer harmful experiences. Also, those in the lower socioeconomic class might be easier left outside of mental care. It is important to take these things into account in political decision-making, mental care and health care.

Major Depressive Disorder (MDD) is a mental health disorder, which requires a diagnosis or identifying an illness in order to be treated. There are nine criteria symptoms for MDD, and to acquire a diagnosis, an individual must exhibit five to nine of these symptoms (DSM-5). The weight of the criteria symptoms is assumed to be equal and a sum-score is calculated. The sum-score determines whether the MDD in question is mild, moderate or severe. The sum-scores simplify MDD because it is a heterogeneous syndrome. The diagnostic criteria see MDD as a common cause network: criteria symptoms are equally weighted indicators of an illness called MDD. Symptom-based networks are presented as an alternative, more precise way of modeling MDD. In symptom-based networks MDD is seen as consisting of causal connections between symptoms so that a certain existing symptom is likely to result in the manifestation of another symptom. Symptom-based networks are well-suited for explaining the heterogeneity of MDD, the vast spectrum of symptom combinations and the interrelationships of symptoms. In addition, symptom-based networks bypass entirely the problematic assumption that MDD is a latent phenomenon. The heterogeneity hidden in the MDD diagnosis is critically examined through research evaluating the diagnosis and pathogenesis of MDD as well as symptom studies. The results from depression studies and clinical practice strongly indicate that the official view of the scientific community on the etiology of MDD is wrong. A tremendous amount of heterogeneity is hidden behind the MDD diagnosis.

Masennus on valitettavan yleinen mielialahäiriö. Lisäksi sen yleisyyden on todettu lisääntyneen huomattavasti, mutta silti sen tutkimus ja hoito eivät ole tuottaneet vielä toivottua tulosta. Tämän takia on ehdotettu, että sitä pitää tarkastella oireiden verkostona. Verkostoteorian mukaan taustalla ei ole masennusta aiheuttavaa taustatekijää vaan jokin verkostossa keskeinen masennusoire saa aikaan muita oireita ja näin syntyy kokonaisuus, jota kutsumme masennukseksi. Yksi näkökulma masennuksen taustalle on, että masennus olisi evoluution saatossa syntynyt adaptaatio. Tutkijoiden enemmistön näkemys vaikuttaisi kuitenkin olevan, että kliininen masennus olisi adaptiivisista reaktioista syntynyt toimintahäiriö. Yksittäiset masennusoireet voisivat mahdollisesti olla adaptiivisia, mutta diagnostiset kriteerit täyttävässä kliinisessä masennuksessa oireet esiintyvät ryppäissä. Masennusoireet riippuvat enemmän tilanteesta kuin henkilöstä. Ihmisen kohdatessa erilaisia vastoinkäymisiä oireprofiilit eroavat selkeästi toisistaan. Kun menettää läheisen tai epäonnistuu itselleen tärkeässä tavoitteessa, syntyy erilaisia masennusoirekokonaisuuksia. Masennuksen hoidon kannalta olisi ratkaisevaa ymmärtää, mitkä oireet ovat riskitekijöitä laukaisemaan masennuksen missäkin tilanteessa. Sen ehkäiseminen olisi helpompaa, jos tiedettäisiin, mitkä tekijät aiheuttavat nyky-yhteiskunnassa masennusta. Masennuksen yleisyys saattaa johtua stressaavasta työkulttuurista ja helposti yksinäisestä yksilökeskeisestä kulttuurista. Verkostoteoria voisi tuoda uutta ymmärrystä siihen, missä vaiheessa todennäköisesti adaptiiviset reaktiot muuttuvat diagnosoitavan masennuksen oireverkostoksi.

Already a long ago some patients suffering from nonfluent aphasia, having lost their ability to speak complitely or partly, have been noticed to be able to sing words and phrases. Various singing-based speech rehabilitation methods have been developed since then, melodic intonation therapy (MIT) being probably the most well known of them. MIT is an intensive rehabilitation method that consists of several elements: simple melodic intonation that follows the prosody of a normal speech, rhythmic syllables, left hand tapping and multiple repetitions. The aim of this review was to present literature concerning the effectiveness of MIT, and the behavioral and neural mechanisms behind it. Some evidence has been found of the effectiveness of MIT both in the acute phase of the disorder and in the sub-acute and chronic phases. In several studies MIT has been compared with regular speech therapy. However, only preliminary conclusion should be made based on these studies, since they often lacked adaquate control and had too small sample sizes. Also, there is no full consensus concerning the bahavioral mechanisms that make MIT effective. Some studies suggest that it is the rhythmic component that makes the method work. On the other hand, in some studies the melodic intonation in itself has been said to play a crucial role. Results from brain imaging studies suggest that the way in which MIT helps in the speech rehabilitation is that it activates the right hemisphare through singing. This was also the initial idea of the inventors of MIT. At least some aphasia patients having gone through MIT have showed increased activity in the right hemisphere, especially in the sub-acute phase, as well as anatomical changes in the right subcortical areas in association with the rehabilitation. For patients whose left hemisphere language areas are complitely distroyed, MIT may be an especially effective treatment method for language rehabilitation.

Increasing academic interest has been targeted towards psychological factors behind elite athletes' performances. Mental toughness (MT) is an umbrella term created to depict these characteristics. MT is commonly seen as a caravan of psychological resources that supports pursuing sporting goals in both practice and competitive situations. Emotion and thought regulation and traits and attitudes such as determination and dedication to sport have been thought to be some of the most pivotal examples of MT characteristics. Although there are naturally differences between the psychological demands of different sports and their practices and competitions, MT is still seen as an adept construct to describe the psychological characteristics supporting performing at the highest level. The aim of this review is to examine the common aspects of the definitions of MT, what is known about the development of MT, the associations with sports performances and the mechanisms MT works behind performance in elite sports context. In addition to the likely genetic basis of MT, also parents in childhood and coaches with other sports personnel during later sports career play a significant role in the development of MT. A training environment that is supporting and challenging at the same time is seen optimal considering the development of MT. Higher MT scores have been connected rather systematically with both better results and higher levels of competition. Of the characteristics of MT, control of negative thoughts and emotions, self-confidence and dedication to sports have been the ones to be associated most strongly with better performances. The meanings of thought and emotion control have been thought to emphasize in demanding, pressured situations and in adversities during sports career. Dedication, conscientiousness and determination are seen as important features behind purposeful training and creating and following competition plans. Practicing these, frequently highlighted as important, characteristics could be particularly beneficial for elite athletes from the early stages of the career. It has also been noted that many characteristics of MT, for example emotion regulation and perception of self-efficacy support also psychological well-being. Although the first MT development interventions have yielded promising results, the results are still relatively scarce and need more attention to be focused in future.

Extensive amount of health information is available to people especially online, and most Finns have searched the internet for health-related guidance. However, some of the information is erroneous. At individual level, relying on false health assumptions can result in weakened health, whereas at societal level it can lead to, for instance, increased costs. Nevertheless, correcting misinformation can be challenging. The impact of prior information on people’s attitudes and decision making after receiving and accepting new, corrective information is called the continued influence effect. The continued influence effect has been studied quite much but less attention has been paid to its diverse examination from the perspective of health. The objective of this literature review is to clarify the general psychological factors that affect the challenges in correcting health-related misinformation. Studies showed that ensuring the cohesion of the general view about the topic was more effective in correcting false information than merely providing accurate facts. The corrections were the most influential when they included a sufficient explanation for the incorrectness of the original information. In addition, it was noticed that people might have evaluated wrong both the reliability of their memory and the probability of the risks of health disadvantages. People were also more favourable towards health-related knowledge that was in line with their previous expectations. Social consensus was sometimes used as a heuristic in evaluating claims, but yet the familiarity of the claim could create a false illusion of consensus. Moreover, it was noticed that the faster the correction of misinformation happened in media, the more efficient the correction was. Thus, it seems that when it comes to correcting false health information, it is important to tell why misinformation occurred in the first place and also ensure that the corrective information is sufficiently explained and is compatible with other related concepts. Taken into account the expectations and assumptions that are related to health, corrective information should be constructed with the target audience in mind in order to be effective. In addition, it is more difficult to change long-standing false beliefs compared to more recent ones. Therefore, reacting fast is required from media and the establishment when misinformation spreads. This review provides a comprehensive summary about the general psychological challenges in correcting misinformation from the perspective of health-related topics. However, due to the limited themes of the research literature, the conclusions remain partially uncertain. In order to get more knowledge about the continued influence effect precisely in health issues, it would be important to broaden the research topics even more in the future.

OBJECTIVE Eating disorders are serious and often long-lasting conditions with significantly elevated mortality risk. Treating eating disorders is challenging, and the interventions commonly used do not benefit all patients. The aim of this literature review was to examine the effects of different mindfulness-based interventions on the treatment and prevention of eating disorders. METHODS The literature was searched in PubMed and Google Scholar databases using combinations of the terms mindfulness, ACT (Acceptance and Commitment Therapy), DBT (Dialectical Behavior Therapy), MBCT (Mindfulness-Based Cognitive Therapy) and eating disorder. Three meta-analyses and six randomized controlled trials examining the effects of mindfulness-based interventions on eating pathology were selected for the review. RESULTS AND CONCLUSIONS Results concerning the effects of mindfulness-based interventions on eating disorders were promising. Several mindfulness-based interventions appear to be efficacious in the treatment of both subclinical eating disorder symptoms and diagnosable eating disorders. There are some limitations in this review and in the literature used. The meta-analyses included many uncontrolled studies and waitlist and treatment as usual control groups were often used in RCTs. Furthermore, the heterogeneity of the studies was high. More RCTs are needed, but based on this review, mindfulness-based interventions can be considered as potential psychosocial treatments for eating disorders and disordered eating behavior.

Objective. The aim of this literature review was to research whether mindfulness-based methods are related to stress reduction among students. Mindfulness, in other words the ability to be fully present in the moment, has been found to have many neurobiological, psychological and physiological effects on human health. Stress is linked to students' health in many ways and it is important to find effective ways to manage stress already while studying to prevent the negative sides of stress. In previous studies, stress has been reduced with mindfulness training. Methods. Research on mindfulness and students’ stress was searched in PubMed and Google Scholar with the keywords mindfulness, student and stress. Recent studies were searched between the years 2018 and 2019. Articles were also manually searched through the bibliographies of already selected articles. A total of six research articles were selected for the review, three of them using a mindfulness-based phone application and three of them using a traditional mindfulness course. Results and conclusions. The results between students’ stress and mindfulness exercises were ambiguous. In half of the studies, those who practiced mindfulness were less stressed after the intervention than those who were non-practitioners, and the results remained in follow-up. In half of the studies, mindfulness practitioners were as stressed after the intervention as non-practitioners. However, the latter studies give some hope for the effectiveness of mindfulness interventions among students. They found, among other results, that an improvement on the aspects of mindfulness was associated with less stress and stress decreased after mindfulness intervention in women but not in men. In one study they also found a slight decrease in stress among mindfulness practitioners. Mindfulness is a potential tool for students’ stress management, especially for students who are motivated to learn mindfulness and are ready to engage in regular practice.

Intellectual disability is a disability characterized by varying degrees of intellectual functioning limitations. Approximately one third of people with intellectual disabilities have problems regulating emotions and behavior management problems. In general, people with intellectual disabilities are offered psychodynamic individual therapy, psychodynamic group therapy, cognitive behavioral therapy, counselling and systematic family therapy as an intervention. The purpose of this thesis was to examine the suitability and effectiveness of the mindfulness-based interventions for people with intellectual disabilities. As a point of interest was the effects of mindfulness-based interventions for decreasing aggression, depression and anxiety. This thesis also examined the effects of effectiveness in mindfulness-based interventions when staff members working with people with intellectual disabilities and parents of people with intellectual disabilities had mindfulness training and practice. Furthermore, the effects of mindfulness-based interventions for people with intellectual disabilities to have a greater self-determination and mindfulness-based intervetions as cost-effective interventions was discussed. The studies show sings of the effectiveness of mindfulness-based interventions for decreasing aggression, depression and anxiety with people with intellectual disabilities. Trainig staff led to benefits for people with intellectual disabilities, decreased use of physical restraint for aggressive behaviour and increased job satisfaction. Training parents led to reduced stress and improved parent–child interactions. Despite the long duration of mindfulness intervention and its cost mindfulness-based interventions are still cheaper for society. This is caused by the positive effects of mindfulness therapy, such as reduced acts of violence with people with intellectual disabilities and because of that costs of staff’s lost days of work and cost of medical and rehabilitation because of injury caused by people with intellectual disabilities were reduced. In addition to these positive effects offering mindfulness-based interventions to people with intellectual disabilities, mindfulness might be useful for people with intellectual disabilities to have a greater self-determination in everyday life. The use of restriction measures for calming people with intellectual disabilities is considered as a factor that weakens their delf-determination. As people with intellectual disabilities being able to calm themselves the use of restriction measures would be decreased.