Posts tagged with 'psychoneuroimmunology'
Kidney donation: preoperative preparation & facing challenges generally - aspects of self-compassion
29th January 2017
I've woken early. Lying here I feel an unfamiliar hollow pressure in my gut. What is this? Fear? Anxiety? Tension? "Tense apprehension" seems to fit. I'm lying here in the early hours of the morning, a hollow tense apprehension in my belly. And it isn't surprising. Pretty normal in fact …
Kidney donation: preoperative preparation & facing challenges generally - goals and journey
28th January 2017
I'm due to donate a kidney soon, and I have been writing about what's involved - see "Kidney donation: why it's well worth considering", "Kidney donation: what are the risks?" and "Kidney donation: preoperative preparation & facing challenges generally - values are central". Primarily these posts are for other donors, …
Recent research: two studies on panic, two on attention training for anxiety disorders, and three on the effects of child abuse
19th November 2009
Here are seven recent papers on panic, attention training, and the effects of childhood sexual abuse (all details & abstracts to these studies are listed further down this blog post). Pfaltz & colleagues report on a novel ambulatory respiratory monitoring system that seems to demonstrate that panic sufferers are not …
Recent research: six studies on positive psychology, goals, relationships, caregiving, mindfulness & nature
27th August 2009
Here are half a dozen studies that one could loosely put under the broad umbrella of positive psychology. Zorba the Greek said "Take what you want and pay for it, says God." and Niemiec et al's study, on the effects of achieving different kinds of goal, supports this statement (for …
Recent research: three depression papers that get me thinking
16th April 2009
Looking back over relevant research papers that caught my attention last month, some stand out for me more than the others. Here are three on depression that stood out and got me thinking. The Fergusson et al paper looks at links between alcohol abuse and major depression. There has been …
Recent research: five papers on childhood trauma, parenting & health in adulthood
12th March 2009
Here are five papers on childhood, the effects childhood experience can have on adulthood, and the effects adults may then have on their own children. The first paper by Brody et al. is the encouraging one. It demonstrates how caring parenting can combat genetic vulnerability - "involved-supportive" mothering greatly reduced …
Recent research: lifestyle - five papers on sleep, exercise & stress management
26th February 2009
Here are five papers on lifestyle and the benefits of making healthy choices. The first by Cohen et al on sleep habits and susceptibility to the common cold, showed increased risk of developing a cold after infection for those with shorter sleep duration. Interestingly the increased risk was even greater …
Recent research: mind-body & body-mind effects for cancer, allergy, dementia, & mental health
18th December 2008
Here are five studies on the loose theme of how the mind affects the body, and the body affects the mind ... and that the distinction between mind and body is pretty arbitrary anyway. Using meta-analysis, Chida & colleagues highlight considerable evidence suggesting that stress-related psychosocial factors have an adverse …
Recent research: six studies on couples - attraction, touch, viewpoint, comparison, empathy & sex
4th December 2008
Here are half a dozen recent studies on men & women. Elliot & Niesta found that red, relative to other colours, lead men to view women as "more attractive and sexually desirable". Holt-Lundstad & colleagues randomized couples to a "support enhancement intervention" involving shared gentle massage for 30 minutes three …
Recent research: a mixed bag of studies on personality, paranoia, burnout, somatization, and relationships
9th October 2008
This week's recent research post is a mixed bag of six studies covering the physiological & psychological changes triggered by being separated from one's partner, why similar levels of anxiety & interpersonal sensitivity can lead to social anxiety in some individuals and paranoia in others, how difficulty identifying feelings is …