<p>The article studies cerebral palsy in Nepal in the context of a cultural exploration of cosmology and disability. The study was conducted in the spirit that even studies with problematic methodologies or with limited exposure to another culture can enhance understanding if their findings are treated with caution and circumspection. (Rajeev Ranjan Singh 2007-03-07)</p>
Two studies examined the role short-term changes in adult attachment and mindfulness play in depression and general anxiety. Study 1, using a sample of college students (n = 121) who were not engaged in any clinical intervention, showed that changes in attachment anxiety and security, but not in avoidance, predicted changes in depressed and anxious mood. Study 2, using a college age clinical sample (n = 28), showed that changes in adult state attachment (avoidant, anxious, and secure) predicted reductions in depression, but that only changes in avoidant attachment, not anxious or secure attachment, predicted reductions in general anxiety. These findings suggest that reducing avoidant attachment is particularly important in successful therapy, but plays less of a role in natural fluctuations in depressed and anxious mood in non-clinical settings. Mindfulness predicted changes in depression and general anxiety in both the clinical and class studies. Mediation analyses showed that mindfulness partially mediated the association between adult attachment and depression and general anxiety. Implications for research and clinical practice are discussed.
Favorite Table | PrintPruritus at a GlancePruritus is the predominant symptom of skin disease. May originate in the skin or nervous system.Clinical classification of itch includes:pruritus on diseased (inflamed) skinpruritus on nondiseased (noninflamed) skinpruritus presenting with severe chronic secondary scratch lesionsChronic itch consists of multidimensional phenomena including sensory, emotional, and cognitive components.Central and peripheral mediators in humans include histamine, proteinases, opiates, substance P, nerve growth factor, interleukins, and prostaglandins.Treatment should address the multifactorial nature of pruritus including central pathways and peripheral mediators.
The dynamics of sexual and social selection are overviewed for humans, and the associated traits are used to identify sex-specific vulnerabilities. These include vulnerabilities in physical growth and development, social relationships, and in brain and cognition. Sex-specific traits are identified in each of these areas, and identified as being especially vulnerable during childhood, adolescence, or adulthood. The identified traits, in turn, are used to organize reviews of human vulnerabilities described in subsequent chapters.
From iPads to Xboxes, the modern child has a vast array of electronic media to help alleviate boredom, pass the time and play online games. Parents may often wonder about the impact such activities can…
The cholinergic system has consistently been implicated in Pavlovian fear conditioning. Considerable work has been done to localize specific nicotinic receptor subtypes in the hippocampus and determine their functional importance; however, the specific function of many of these subtypes has yet to be determined. An alpha7 nicotinic antagonist methyllycaconitine (MLA) (35 microg), and a broad spectrum non-alpha7 nicotinic antagonist mecamylamine (35 microg) was injected directly into the dorsal hippocampus or overlying cortex either 15 min pre-, 1 min post-, or 6h post-fear conditioning. One week after conditioning, retention of contextual and cue (tone) conditioning were assessed. A significant impairment in retention of contextual fear was observed when mecamylamine was injected 15 min pre- and 1 min post-conditioning. No significant impairment was observed when mecamylamine was injected 6h post-conditioning. Likewise, a significant impairment in retention of contextual fear was observed when MLA was injected 1 min post-conditioning; however, in contrast, MLA did not show any significant impairments when injected 15 min pre-conditioning, but did show a significant impairment when injected 6h post-conditioning. There were no significant impairments observed when either drug was injected into overlying cortex. No significant impairments were observed in cue conditioning for either drug. In general, specific temporal dynamics involved in nicotinic receptor function were found relative to time of receptor dysfunction. The results indicate that the greatest deficits in long-term retention (1 week) of contextual fear are produced by central infusion of MLA minutes to hours post-conditioning or mecamylamine within minutes of conditioning.
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First described for use in mapping the human visual cortex in 1991, functional magnetic resonance imaging (fMRI) is based on blood-oxygen level dependent (BOLD) changes in cortical regions that occur during specific tasks. Typically, an overabundance of oxygenated (arterial) blood is supplied during activation of brain areas. Consequently, the venous outflow from the activated areas contains a higher concentration of oxyhemoglobin, which changes the paramagnetic properties of the tissue that can be detected during a T2-star acquisition. fMRI data can be acquired in response to specific tasks or in the resting state. fMRI has been widely applied to studying physiologic and pathophysiologic diseases of the brain. This review will discuss the most common current clinical applications of fMRI as well as emerging directions.
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Objective: To provide a descriptive overview of the clinical trials assessing meditation practices for health care.Design: Systematic review of the literature. Comprehensive searches were conducted in 17 electronic bibliographic databases through September 2005. Other sources of potentially relevant studies included hand searches, reference tracking, contacting experts, and gray literature searches. Included studies were clinical trials with 10 or more adult participants using any meditation practice, providing quantitative data on health-related outcomes, and published in English. Two independent reviewers assessed study relevance, extracted the data, and assessed the methodological quality of the studies.Results: Four hundred clinical trials on meditation (72% described as randomized) were included in the review (publication years 1956–2005). Five broad categories of meditation practices were identified: mantra meditation, mindfulness meditation, yoga, t'ai chi, and qigong. The three most studied clinical conditions were hypertension, miscellaneous cardiovascular diseases, and substance abuse. Psychosocial measures were the most frequently reported outcomes. Outcome measures of psychiatric and psychological symptoms dominate the outcomes of interest. Overall, the methodological quality of clinical trials is poor, but has significantly improved over time by 0.014 points every year (95% CI, 0.005, 0.023).Conclusions: Most clinical trials on meditation practices are generally characterized by poor methodological quality with significant threats to validity in every major quality domain assessed. Despite a statistically significant improvement in the methodological quality over time, it is imperative that future trials on meditation be rigorous in design, execution, analysis, and the reporting of results.
This study evaluated the results of a social and emotional learning (SEL) program on academic achievement among students attending a large, urban, high-risk school district. Using a cluster-randomized design, 24 elementary schools were assigned to receive either the intervention curriculum (Promoting Alternative Thinking Strategies, or PATHS) or a curriculum that delivered few if any SEL topics (i.e., the control group). In addition to state mastery test scores, demographic data, school attendance, and dosage information were obtained from 705 students who remained in the same group from the 3rd to the 6th grade. Analyses of odds ratios revealed that students enrolled in the intervention schools demonstrated higher levels of basic proficiency in reading, writing, and math at some grade levels. Although these between-groups differences held for race/ethnicity, gender, and socioeconomic status, significant within-group differences also were noted across these variables. Collectively, these findings indicated that social development instruction may be a promising approach to promote acquisition of academic proficiency, especially among youth attending high-risk school settings. Implications of these findings with respect to SEL programs conclude the article.
Mindfulness is theorised to improve attention regulation and other cognitive processes. This systematic review examines whether 8-week standardised and manualised mindfulness training programs such as Mindfulness Based Cognitive Therapy (MBCT) and Mindfulness Based Stress Reduction (MBSR) enhances attention, memory and executive function abilities measured by objective neuropsychological tests. Seven databases were searched resulting in 18 studies meeting inclusion criteria for review. Overall studies did not support attention or executive function improvements. We found preliminary evidence for improvements in working memory and autobiographical memory as well as cognitive flexibility and meta-awareness. Short-term mindfulness meditation training did not enhance theorised attentional pathways. Results call into question the theoretical underpinnings of mindfulness, further highlighting the need for a comprehensive theoretical framework.
The Coming Home Project (CLIP) of the Snowflower Sangha in Madison, Wisconsin is an active member of MOSES, a nonpartisan interfaith organization that works to promote systemic change for social justice issues with a focus on mass incarceration and ending the use of solitary confinement in the state's prisons and jails. To support these efforts, and to restore dignity and safety to the entire community, CHI' members work to make Wisconsin's sentencing rules and laws more just and humane, increase treatment alternatives to incarceration, stop crimeless revocations back to prison, and remove harriers to employment for previously incarcerated individuals returning to their communities.
This chapter presents an argument for mindfulness and secular Buddhism as inherently suffused with what might be called social justice concerns and thus calls for mindfulness teaching which includes practices and teachings that make explicit the links between mindfulness and social justice. Drawing on my experience within the fields of mindfulness teaching, law teaching, and contemplative pedagogy, in the first part of this chapter, I discuss how the practices we call mindfulness tend to cultivate a felt sense not only of interconnectedness and compassion but also of solidarity—unity of agreement in feeling or action (especially among individuals with a common purpose)—among practitioners, that assist us in working together for a more just world. I support these claims by reference to an exploratory case study: an offering of community-engaged mindfulness to address a community facing revelations of racism among law enforcement in a major American city.
Undergraduate and graduate students show elevated levels of stress and could thus benefit from mindfulness interventions, but the best way to teach mindfulness has not been established. The present study compared a stress management program that used formal meditations and informal practice (Mindful Stress Management; MSM) to one that used brief mindfulness exercises and informal practice (Mindful Stress Management-Informal; MSM-I), and a wait-list control. MSM participants exhibited significant within-group changes on all measures, and when compared to the wait-list control, greater levels of mindfulness, decentering, and self-compassion, as well as lower stress. Students in MSM-I had significant within-group changes on a subset of measures, and greater mindfulness and self-compassion compared to the wait-list. MSM participants showed more improvement in self-compassion, psychological inflexibility, and stress than did those in MSM-I. Mediational analyses found increases in one facet of mindfulness and self-compassion, and decreases in worry mediated reductions in stress for MSM participants, while no mediator reached significance for MSM-I. Finally, no significant relation between amount of formal meditation and informal practice and reductions in psychological distress or increases in mindfulness was found. Results suggest that a program with formal meditations and informal practice may be a more promising intervention for university student stress than one with brief mindfulness exercises and informal practice.
Objective: To review selected complementary and alternative medicine (CAM) treatments for major depressive disorder (MDD).Participants: Authors of this report were invited participants in the American Psychiatric Association’s Task Force on Complementary and Alternative Medicine.
Evidence: The group reviewed the literature on individual CAM treatments for MDD, methodological considerations, and future directions for CAM in psychiatry. Individual CAM treatments were reviewed with regard to efficacy in MDD, as well as risks and benefits. Literature searches included MEDLINE and PsycINFO reviews and manual reference searches; electronic searches were limited to English-language publications from 1965 to January 2010 (but manual searches were not restricted by language). Treatments were selected for this review on the basis of (1) published randomized controlled trials in MDD and (2) widespread use with important clinical safety or public health significance relevant to psychiatric practice. An action plan is presented based on needs pertaining to CAM and psychiatry.
Consensus Process: Consensus was reached by group conferences. Written iterations were drafted and sent out among group members prior to discussion, resolution of any differences of interpretation of evidence, and final approval.
Conclusions: A review of randomized controlled trials for commonly used CAM treatments such as omega-3 fatty acids, St John’s wort (Hypericum), folate, S-adenosyl-l-methionine (SAMe), acupuncture, light therapy, exercise, and mindfulness psychotherapies revealed promising results. More rigorous and larger studies are recommended. Each CAM treatment must be evaluated separately in adequately powered controlled trials. At this time, several CAM treatments appear promising and deserve further study. The greatest risk of pursuing a CAM therapy is the possible delay of other well-established treatments. Clinical, research, and educational initiatives designed to focus on CAM in psychiatry are clearly warranted due to the widespread use of CAM therapies.
A divergence of values has become apparent in recent debates between conservationists who focus on ecosystem services that can improve human well-being and those who focus on avoiding the extinction of species. These divergent points of view fall along a continuum from anthropocentric to biocentric values, but most conservationists are relatively closer to each other than to the ends of the spectrum. We have some concerns with both positions but emphasize that conservation for both people and all other species will be most effective if conservationists focus on articulating the values they all share, being respectful of divergent values, and collaborating on common interests. The conservation arena is large enough to accommodate many people and organizations whose diverse values lead them to different niches that can, with good will and foresight, be far more complementary than competitive. Los Nichos Complementarios de los Conservacionistas Antropocéntricos y Biocéntricos
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Most of the policy debate surrounding the actions needed to mitigate and adapt to anthropogenic climate change has been framed by observations of the past 150 years as well as climate and sea-level projections for the twenty-first century. The focus on this 250-year window, however, obscures some of the most profound problems associated with climate change. Here, we argue that the twentieth and twenty-first centuries, a period during which the overwhelming majority of human-caused carbon emissions are likely to occur, need to be placed into a long-term context that includes the past 20 millennia, when the last Ice Age ended and human civilization developed, and the next ten millennia, over which time the projected impacts of anthropogenic climate change will grow and persist. This long-term perspective illustrates that policy decisions made in the next few years to decades will have profound impacts on global climate, ecosystems and human societies — not just for this century, but for the next ten millennia and beyond.
"Body, mind, spirit family and relationships medical psychology religion self-help."
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<p>This article draws on research in neuroscience, cognitive science, developmental psychology, and education, as well as scholarship from contemplative traditions concerning the cultivation of positive development, to highlight a set of mental skills and socioemotional dispositions that are central to the aims of education in the 21st century. These include self-regulatory skills associated with emotion and attention, self-representations, and prosocial dispositions such as empathy and compassion. It should be possible to strengthen these positive qualities and dispositions through systematic contemplative practices, which induce plastic changes in brain function and structure, supporting prosocial behavior and academic success in young people. These putative beneficial consequences call for focused programmatic research to better characterize which forms and frequencies of practice are most effective for which types of children and adolescents. Results from such research may help refine training programs to maximize their effectiveness at different ages and to document the changes in neural function and structure that might be induced.</p>
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This article draws on research in neuroscience, cognitive science, developmental psychology, and education, as well as scholarship from contemplative traditions concerning the cultivation of positive development, to highlight a set of mental skills and socioemotional dispositions that are central to the aims of education in the 21st century. These include self-regulatory skills associated with emotion and attention, self-representations, and prosocial dispositions such as empathy and compassion. It should be possible to strengthen these positive qualities and dispositions through systematic contemplative practices, which induce plastic changes in brain function and structure, supporting prosocial behavior and academic success in young people. These putative beneficial consequences call for focused programmatic research to better characterize which forms and frequencies of practice are most effective for which types of children and adolescents. Results from such research may help refine training programs to maximize their effectiveness at different ages and to document the changes in neural function and structure that might be induced.
This article draws on research in neuroscience, cognitive science, developmental psychology, and education, as well as scholarship from contemplative traditions concerning the cultivation of positive development, to highlight a set of mental skills and socioemotional dispositions that are central to the aims of education in the 21st century. These include self-regulatory skills associated with emotion and attention, self-representations, and prosocial dispositions such as empathy and compassion. It should be possible to strengthen these positive qualities and dispositions through systematic contemplative practices, which induce plastic changes in brain function and structure, supporting prosocial behavior and academic success in young people. These putative beneficial consequences call for focused programmatic research to better characterize which forms and frequencies of practice are most effective for which types of children and adolescents. Results from such research may help refine training programs to maximize their effectiveness at different ages and to document the changes in neural function and structure that might be induced.
This article draws on research in neuroscience, cognitive science, developmental psychology, and education, as well as scholarship from contemplative traditions concerning the cultivation of positive development, to highlight a set of mental skills and socioemotional dispositions that are central to the aims of education in the 21st century. These include self-regulatory skills associated with emotion and attention, self-representations, and prosocial dispositions such as empathy and compassion. It should be possible to strengthen these positive qualities and dispositions through systematic contemplative practices, which induce plastic changes in brain function and structure, supporting prosocial behavior and academic success in young people. These putative beneficial consequences call for focused programmatic research to better characterize which forms and frequencies of practice are most effective for which types of children and adolescents. Results from such research may help refine training programs to maximize their effectiveness at different ages and to document the changes in neural function and structure that might be induced.
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