Avicenna Journal of Neuropsychophysiology
Year:2016 | Volume:3 | Issue:4|Papers Count:6

Background: Borderline personality disorder (BPD) is a common disorder, associated with different biological and psychological parameters. However, further research is required to determine the optimal therapeutic methods and conditions, which can produce better outcomes for BDP patients.Objectives: This research aimed to compare the effects of cognitive behavioral therapy (CBT) and dialectical behavioral therapy (DBT) skills training on the symptoms of male patients with BPD.Methods: This comparative quasi-experimental study was performed with a pre-test, post-test design on 3 groups (2 experimental and 1 control). The statistical population consisted of all male patients, hospitalized at Farshchian Psychiatric hospital, affiliated to Hamadan University of Medical Sciences from April to October 2016. Availability sampling method was applied to select the subjects, and simple random sampling was used for replacement of subjects. In this study, out of 36 selected patients, 27 were studied. The patients’ symptoms were evaluated, using BPD Severity Index (BPDSI). The study was carried out in 3 stages of initial assessment, therapeutic intervention, and follow-up. Drug therapy, along with CBT, was implemented for the experimental group 1, while DBT skills training and drug therapy were applied for the experimental group 2. To analyze the data, repeated measures ANOVA was performed, using SPSS.Results: The findings showed that both CBT and DBT skills training could reduce the symptoms of BPD (F [2, 24], 42.276, P<0.05).Conclusions: With respect to the effect size measurements for CBT (Eta2, 0.67) and DBT skills training (Eta2, 0.85), it can be concluded that the effect size of DBT skills training was greater than CBT in reducing the symptoms of BPD.

Objectives: This study aimed to assess and compare the mental and personality disorders among people with substance-related disorder.Methods: This cross sectional study was performed from September 2014 to March 2015 in Hamadan city, Iran. The population of this study was all people who referred to the addiction clinics and were consumers of opioids or methamphetamine. Each client was examined in biaxial axis and patients with mental health were studied in the first axis using the SCID test. Also, in the second axis, the personality disorders were evaluated in the patients using the Minnesota multiphasic personality inventory (MMPI) test.Results: All the 103 patients participated in this study were males. The mean age of the patients was 9.13±9.41 years. The results of the MMPI test revealed that schizoid, paranoid, and passive aggressive personality disorders were significantly higher in people with an opioid use disorder compared with the people who taking methamphetamine. However, an antisocial personality disorder in patients taking methamphetamine was more common than in patients who taking opioid. In patients taking opioids, based on the results of the SCID, depression with or without psychotic features, major depressive disorder (MDD) and panic disorder were significantly higher compared with patients taking methamphetamine.Conclusions: The Bipolar mood disorder, panic disorder, paranoid personality disorder, MDD with psychotic features and passive aggressive personality disorder were more prevalent in patient who taking opiate and the antisocial personality disorder, schizoid personality disorder, substance-induced mood disorder and somatoform disorder were more prevalent in patients taking methamphetamine.

Objective: In this paper, the Interference model of test anxiety by Eysenck (1972), Beck’s cognitive theory of depression (1967) and information processing theory by Atkinson and Schifrin (1968) were assumed to develop the theoretical framework.Methods: Here, the above theories are discussed in relation to the present paper. Their application and implications and academic achievement are also considered.Results: Academic achievement was treated as a dependent variable. Depression and test-anxiety were considered as independent variables, this is because the researcher wanted to investigate whether variables, such as depression, test-anxiety, and memory have the potential to affect students’ academic achievement. The paper highlights the relationships between depression, test-anxiety, memory, and academic achievement. It has been postulated that depression and test-anxiety despair short–term memory, and short-term memory cannot transfer information to long term-memory. Thus, these processes are linked to low academic achievement. In other words, when depression and test-anxiety prevent the transfer of information from short-term memory to long-term memory, then students cannot memorize their lesson or recall it.Conclusions: Although much work has been done on academic achievement, yet there are not enough studies carried out on the relationship among test-anxiety, depression, memory and academic achievement. Thus, more studies are needed to ascertain the effects of depression and test anxiety on academic achievement through memory. The focus of the present paper was to examine the relationship between the above-mentioned variables and theories.

Background: Happiness is one of the indicators of mental health that originates from the cognitive and emotional assessment of individuals from their lives. Happiness is believed to evolve from the comparison of the current circumstances related to achievement.However, gerontological literature has been limited to happiness in the elderly.Objectives: The aim of this study was to determine happiness status and examine the relationship between happiness and some variables among Iranian elderly.Methods: This cross-sectional study was carried out on 411 elderly people (60 - 75 years old) in Hamadan, west of Iran, in 2016, by using multistage random sampling method. Two instruments were used in this study including a demographic questionnaire and Oxford happiness questionnaire. Data analysis was performed using Pearson correlation, independent t-test, and One-way ANOVA.Results: The mean score of happiness was 41.17 (±15.2), which was evaluated at a moderate level. There was no significant difference between male and female elderly in happiness status. All 5 dimensions of happiness had a positive significant correlation with each other (P<0.01). Results from T-Test and ANOVA indicated that there was a significant relationship between happiness and some socio-demographic characteristics such as age (P=0.002), educational level (P=0.001), and income status (P=0.001).Conclusions: Life satisfaction, financial status, and educational level contributed to the positive feeling in the perception of happiness in the elderly. Thus, adopting programs to increase happiness in the elderly could be useful as one of the strategies to improve all dimensions of health such as physical, mental, and social aspects.

Background: Our previous studies indicated that nanoparticles of magnesium oxide (nano-MgO) can affect some of morphine withdrawal signs such as anxiety, but their interaction with opioidergic system activity in depression- like behavior induced by morphine withdrawal is not clear.Objectives: The present study aimed at investigating the effects of nano-MgO on depression induced by naloxone and morphine withdrawal in animals.Methods: Adult male NMRI mice were divided in 2 main groups. For the control group, intraperitoneal (i.p.) injection of nano- MgO (1, 2.5 and 5 mg/kg) or naloxone (3 and 5 mg/kg) and coinjections of naolxone5 before and after nano-MgO2.5 mg/kg were done. The morphine withdrawal group received saline or nano-MgO 2.5, 5 and 10 mg/kg as acute (a single injection at the test day) and chronic injection (coinjected with morphine for 4 days). To develop morphine dependency, increasing doses of 20, 40, and 80 mg/kg morphine were injected subcutaneously for 4 days. Then, mice received a final morphine injection (40 mg/kg) 3 hours prior to naloxone (5 mg/kg (i.p.)) on the test day. Depression- like behavior was assessed by the tail suspension test.Results: Naloxone 3 and 5mg/kg induced depression (P<0.05 and P<0.01, respectively), while acute injection of nano- MgO2.5mg/kg after naloxone5 mg/kg improved depression (P<0.01). Morphine withdrawal has induced depression in addicted mice (P<0.05), while acute injection of nano-MgO2.5 mg/kg (P<0.05) and nano-MgO 5 and 10 mg/kg (P<0.01) reduced it.Conclusions: Nano-MgO can reduce depression- like behavior induced by naloxone and morphine withdrawal in animals probably by interaction with opioid receptors.

Background: Its contact the main reason for the use of mobile phones is especially students living in dormitories. As well as students to communicate in cyber space than in real space of communication are interested, this can threaten their mental health.Objectives: The current study aimed at exploring the amount of mobile phone overuse and determining the association between mobile phone overuse and depression among medical college students in Hamadan, West of Iran.Methods: The current cross sectional study was conducted through the stratified sampling method on 300 students residing in dormitories of Hamadan University of Medical Sciences in 2016. The subjects completeda self-administered questionnaire including demographic characteristics, the cellphone overuse scale (COS), and the Beck depression inventory. Data were analyzed with SPSS version 16 using the linear regression analysis, independent t test, and one-way ANOVA.Results: The results showed that 45% of the students use their mobile phone for 3 to 6 hours per day; 32% had excessive use of cellphone. Similarly, 22% of participants had minor depression and 20.7% of the students had moderate depression. Also, the results showed that cellphone overuse significantly promoted depression (b=0.351, P<0.001).Conclusions: According to the obtained results, excessive users of cellphones were more depressed. It seems that living in student dormitories provides better conditions for mental disorders. Therefore, it seems necessary to consider the psychological problems of dormitory students.