Browsing by discipline "Psykologia"

Autism spectrum disorder is associated to high rates of comorbid mental disorders, where depression is probably most common disorder. Although the high prevalence of depression in autism is well-known thing, relatively little is known about its underlying risk factors or explaining factors. This study aimed to examine whether there is evidence that some characteristic features of autism spectrum disorder would have an impact on high prevalence of depression in autism spectrum disorder. We discuss about two psychological factors: emotion regulation and its deficits and the tendency to perseverate and ruminate. Two factors related to perseveration, cognitive flexibility impairments and rumination were associated with depression and depression symptoms. The association between emotion regulation deficits and depression manifested in the use of maladaptive coping skills and in tendency to ruminate. More research is still needed to replicate these results and gain stronger evidence. The depression diagnosis in autism spectrum disorder is problematic in many ways, therefore all results concerning the subject should be interpreted with caution.

Introduction: Sleep related problems affect wellbeing extensively. Sleep problems share many common background factors with personality, such as individual way of processing cognitions and emotions. By understanding the interactions between personality and sleep, it is possible to develop better and more individual-friendly ways to treat sleep related problems. In this review, personality is approached from the framework of the Big Five personality traits, which are: extraversion, neuroticism, conscientiousness, agreeableness, and openness. The purpose of this review is to sum up the current results of the research conducted in the field of personality traits and sleep, to direct the future research on the field and to discuss the limitations of the current research. Results: There are interactions between personality traits and sleep. Neuroticism affects the quality and the amount of sleep negatively. However, the causality might go the other way around: sleep deprivation and problems falling asleep might cause later neuroticism. Extraversion has a relationship with better quality of sleep, diminished amount of sleep and fluctuating circadian rhythm between weekdays and weekends. Conscientiousness affects the quality of sleep, the regularity of the circadian rhythm and the morningness of the circadian rhythm. Individuals who have high openness have diminished need for sleep and they have coping-mechanisms that protect them against the negative effects of stress. Agreeableness has a relationship with better sleep in terms of quality and quantity, and with constant circadian rhythm between weekdays and weekends. The personality traits’ interactions include conscientiousness’ protective effect against neuroticism when considering sleep quality. Also, the differences in sleep quantity are statistically best explained with two traits: openness and neuroticism. Discussion: The interaction between personality traits and sleep has been investigated mainly from the point of view of personality traits. When the interactions are studied from the point of view of sleep it is possible to merge the effects of the personality traits and derive preliminary personality trait profiles for different aspects of sleep. The profile for good quality of sleep seems to be high extraversion, high consciousness, high openness, high agreeableness, and low neuroticism. The profile for poor sleep quality is almost reverse: high neuroticism, low extraversion, low consciousness, and low openness. Apart from the quality, it’s also possible to derive subjective sleep deprivation profile: high neuroticism and low extraversion or interestingly high extraversion if only the amount of sleep is being studied. Limitations of the current research in the field include a tendency to use university student samples, self-assessment inventories as the sole information source and the over-simplifying approach of merely studying one personality trait instead of the whole personality profile. Examining the personality trait profiles could lead to more statistically significant results and thus it might increase the practical implications in the field of personality and sleep.

Depersonalization/derealization-symptoms are a subclass of dissociation symptoms. These symptoms are characterized by numbness of emotions, a feeling of being separated from one’s body, and a feeling of unreality of the outside world. The source of these symptoms is unclear at the moment. However, studies have shown that depersonalization/derealization symptoms can be caused by traumatic stress experiences. This raises the question of how depersonalization/derealization symptoms could be connected to daily, minor stress. Could daily stress also be an influencing factor on depersonalization/derealization symptoms? On the other hand, it could be that depersonalization/depersonalization experiences would cause a person to be more vulnerable to experiencing stress. In this review I take a closer look at the relationship between daily stress and depersonalization/derealization symptoms. It seems that a positive connection exists between depersonalization/derealization symptoms and daily stress. However, the direction of the connection remains unclear. There is some evidence depersonalization/derealization symptoms and daily stress often appear simultaneously. In addition, it seems that people who experience high amounts of depersonalization/derealization symptoms experience stress more intensely than the average person. Daily stress has also been shown to be a predictor of depersonalization/derealization symptoms when the effect of other psychopathology symptoms has been taken into account. The amount of other psychopathology seems to be an important moderator of the connection. All in all, the relationship between daily stress and depersonalization/derealization symptoms seems to be very complicated and more research is needed on this area.

Dissociation is defined as disruption in the normal integration of consciousness, memory, identity, emotion, perception, body representation, motor control, and behavior. The definition has some similarities with five symptom domains of schizophrenia; hallucinations, delusions, disorganized thinking, disorganized motor behavior, and negative symptoms. This review aims to clarify the relationship between dissociation and schizophrenia from three perspectives. These are; dissociative symptoms in schizophrenia patients; schizophrenia related symptoms in dissociative patients; and the correlation between schizophrenia related symptoms and dissociative symptoms. The most systematically studied area was dissociative symptoms in schizophrenia patients, and the results showed that schizophrenia patients do not have particularly high dissociative symptoms compared to other mental health disorders. In contrast schizophrenia related symptoms in patients with dissociative disorder diagnosis is somewhat understudied area; yet a very few studies have found connections particularly between dissociative disorders and auditory hallucinations. There seems to be relatively high correlation between schizophrenia related symptoms and DES-scores. Research evidence was compared to three theories that have tried to explain the relationship between dissociation and schizophrenia. The theory by Moskowiz, Read, Farrelly, Rudgeair and Williams, according to which all symptoms of schizophrenia, (possibly excluding negative symptoms) would be caused by dissociation, found no support. The duality model by Şar and Öztürk, and Ross’ and Keyes’ model of dissociative subgroup within schizophrenia, were not in conflict with research evidence. However, more research is needed for reliable evaluation of these models.

Body dysmorphic disorder (BDD) is a disorder that consists of a distressing and impairing preoccupation with a nonexistent or slight defect in appearance. Patients often seek surgical, dermatologic and other nonpsychiatric medical treatment for their perceived appearance flaws. Psychological and pharmacological interventions are suggested format for the treatment. The aim of this study is to determine the effectiveness of the treatments of body dysmorphic disorder. The main interest is in the effectiveness of psychotherapy and which therapeutic techniques or strategies are effective in the treatment of body dysmorphic disorder. Although research on treatment is still limited, findings support the effectiveness of psychotherapy suggesting that cognitive-behavioral therapy is effective in treating patients with body dysmorphic disorder. Effective therapy may consist of both cognitive and/or behavioral elements, but use of exposure and response prevention is reported in many studies. Findings also suggest that serotonin reuptake inhibitors may be useful in treating patients with body dysmorphic disorder but nonpsychiatric medical treatment usually does not improve BDD symptoms. Although treatments improved the appearance of the treated body part, it led not to improvement in BDD symptoms.

Children and adolescents have a high rate of participation in organized sports and physical activities. Participation in contact sports has been shown to be related to an elevated risk of suffering a concussion, which makes the management of concussions in child and adolescent athletes an important public health concern. Most of the research on concussion has been conducted on adults and the management protocols of concussions in both adult and youth athletes is based on this research. In this thesis I aim to provide an overview of the common symptoms and consequences of sports-related concussions, the effect of recurring concussions, and the special concerns relating to sports-related concussions in child and adolescent athletes. Research suggests that despite significant overlap, clinical and neuropsychological symptoms of a concussion may resolve at a different rate. In addition, neurophysiological functions appear to be altered for a far longer period than either clinical or neuropsychological symptoms. This is a cause for concern, as return-to-play (RTP) policy of concussed athletes is often based on clinical symptoms alone. A conservative RTP policy should be considered especially in concussed child and adolescent athletes, as they seem to recover slower than adults. Supervision is essential in concussion management, as youth athletes are often unaware of previously sustained concussions, premature RTP may expose the athlete to an elevated risk of suffering a second injury, and recurring concussions have been shown to have accumulating effects on neurocognitive functions.

First impressions are quickly formed observations of a new acquaintance. The basis of these observations is to find out what are the intentions of the other person. Therefore, the question behind is to find out whether they are a friend or an enemy. This happens automatically and as studies have found within mere fraction of seconds. It has been found that longer observations of others lead to more precise conclusions and after five seconds people are able to judge each other’s extroversion above chance level. Furthermore, studies point out that first impressions are vulnerable to error as for example positive features like physical attractiveness and success are linked together. In addition, studies show that features signaling threat are seen faster than positive features. According to evolutionary psychology this behavior is valuable for staying alive. Studies also show that to some extent people can impact on their first impression and in photographs people have been successfully able to act extraversion and openness. The purpose of this overview is to consider first impressions and the questions of how they are formed and if they are truthful. In addition, this overview analyzes whether people are aware of the first impressions made of them and whether they can have an impact on them.

Borderline personality disorder is a difficult disease which lowers the patients general functioning drastically. It is characterized by increased mortality rate and high treatment costs. Symptoms of borderline personality disorder are very complex and its aetiology is far from simple. The goals of this literature review were to review the genetic background of the disorder and possible overlapping genetic factors between borderline personality disorder and other psychiatric disorders. Large-scale twin studies show that the heritability of borderline personality disorder varies between 0,35-0,67. It can be said that the incidence of borderline personality disorder is strongly influenced by genetic factors. However, genome-wide association studies are scarce so the specific genetic mechanisms are largely unknown. Studies show that many other psychiatric disorders have common factors and genetic overlap with borderline personality disorder. These disorders include for example attention deficit hyperactivity disorder, depression and substance use disorders. This review suggests that better understanding of the genetic factors of borderline personality disorder could improve diagnostics and treatment methods.

Objectives. Psychotherapy research has traditionally concentrated on the positive outcome of therapy whereas negative outcome has not been an object of interest. A comparison to psychopharmacological treatment, for which reporting of side-effects is mandatory, reveals a difference. The area of psychotherapy outcome has lacked consensus on theoretical, methodological and practical issues. This bachelor thesis is a literature review on the subject. The review is limited to cover research projects dealing with adult individual psychotherapy for mood and anxiety disorders concentrating on cognitive and psychodynamic therapy orientations. Method. The Bachelor thesis consisted of a literature review covering international scientific papers on negative outcome of psychotherapy concentrating on following research questions: operationalisation of psychotherapy outcome, measures for monitoring outcome, categorisation of psychotherapy outcome and methods for distinction between the categories. Additionally the work covered a review on quantitative results. Results and conclusions. No consensus on measuring psychotherapy outcome and the categorisation of outcome was evident. A typical approach was using the categories “recovered”, “improved”, “non-response” and “deteriorated”. Two alternative means of operationalising the psychotherapy outcome could be found. Measures for estimating symptomatic level, interpsychological functioning and social functioning were combined with the reliable change index (RCI) to assess observed changes. Another alternative formed measures to assess directly adverse effects of psychotherapy. Quantitative estimates of negative outcome were consistent: prevalence of deteriorated patients varied between 1 – 7% and share of non-responders was 39-67%

Physical activity has a positive impact not only on physical and mental health but also on cognitive functions. It seems that physical activity improves performance in a variety of cognitive tests and slows down the natural cognitive decline associated with aging. During adolescence the plasticity of the brain is greater and parts of the brain that are essential for cognitive functions develop significantly. At the same time there is some evidence that globally increasing physical inactivity and obesity might influence negatively on health of the brain and further on cognitive functions. From this point of view physical activity may have an underestimated role supporting cognitive development in youth. Physical activity has a positive effect on performance in a variety of cognitive tests in adolescence. Physically active adolescents outperform physically inactive controls in verbal and numerical abilities, different reasoning ability tests and especially in tests that measure executive functions and attention. Physical exercise has a positive effect also on emotional well-being, behaviour and academic achievement. Based on the articles of this thesis regular organized physical exercise that is vigorous and includes a cognitive component has the strongest impact on cognitive performance. In some studies the association between physical activity and cognitive and academic performance was stronger in girls than boys. This finding could be explained by the fact that physical exercise decreases symptoms of anxiety and depression and that girls have more of these symptoms than boys. The underlying mechanisms of the association include learning and developmental mechanisms and physiological mechanisms that include functional and structural features of the brain. Physical exercise increases cerebral blood flow and oxygen intake in the brain and upregulates multiple neurotrophic factors that are essential for new neurons. Regular physical exercise possibly leads to more efficient neuronal networks and permanent cortical changes in adolescent’s brain. Scarce literature and various study designs might explain some of the inconsistency in the results. In the future more research is needed about what kind of physical exercise by type, intensity and duration is the most effective on cognitive development in adolescence. Increasing amount of literature supports the idea that physical activity is a lifestyle factor that has a holistic impact on health and well-being throughout the lifespan.