Practice in Clinical Psychology
Year:2015 | Volume:3 | Issue:3|Papers Count:8

Objective: This study aimed to assess deficits of cognitive and emotional aspects of theory of mind in patients with bipolar disorder type 1 within a remission period.Methods: In this case- control study, 30 bipolar patients and 30 normal individuals were selected through Purposive sampling method for the purpose of the study. Then, they were matched based on their educational background and age. Finally, all participants were asked to complete the Kessler Psychological Distress Scale (K10), eyes test, Theory of Mind Picture Stories Tasks. Data were analyzed using the independent t-test.Results: Results show that there is a significant difference between two groups regarding their scores of cognitive theory of mind (t=4.85, P<0.01) and emotional theory of mind (t=4.54, P<0.01). and their reaction time for cognitive test (t=10.34, P<0.01) and emotional test (t=4.61, P<0.01).Conclusion: The results show that bipolar patients type I with remission period have deficit regarding cognitive and emotional theory of mind. And because of this, they are weak in understanding others ’cognitive mind states like opinions and ambitions, and others’ emotional mind states like feelings and emotions. In fact, it can be concluded that the deficit in Theory of cognitive and emotional mind in bipolar patients with remission period can be the result of the malfunction of brain regions and cognitive infrastructures like executive performances.

Objective: Obesity is a major health problem. Nowadays approximately one-third of the world population suffer from obesity which is frequently accompanied with serious medical and emotional problems. Three main evidence-based options exist for the treatment of obese individuals: lifestyle modification, pharmacotherapy, and bariatric surgery. The purpose of this study was to determine the effectiveness of cognitive-behavioral treatment in treating of patients with obesity.Methods: Three women with body mass index of 30 kg/m2 or more were selected by purposive sampling method to take a part in an A-B single subject design with follow up. Patients responded to the multidimensional body-self relations questionnaire-appearance scales (MBSRQ-AS), Binge eating scale (BES) and Rosenberg self-esteem scale (RSES) at 3 stages of baseline (pre-treatment), treatment (2nd, 4th, 6th, 8th, 10th, and 12th sessions), and follow up. In addition, weighing of patients was carried out at beginning of each session. Data were analyzed by graphs and improvement rates.Results: Results showed that therapy was effective in weight loss, reduction of binge eating, and maintaining of weight loss. It also increased body image satisfaction but failed in self-esteem improvement.Conclusion: The cognitive-behavioral treatment was effective in treating of obese patients. This treatment outcome data are consistent with cognitive-behavioral treatment of obesity proposed by other scientists.

Objective: Type 2 diabetes mellitus is a chronic and progressive disease that has reached the epidemic level around the world. In Malaysia, according to the third National Health and Morbidity Survey (2006), the prevalence of diabetes has increased to 14.9% from 8.3% in 1996. Co-morbid psychological factors such as depression, anxiety, and stress have been shown to be high among type 2 diabetic patients in Malaysia and they were also associated with the level of glycemia. The present study sought to examine the relationships of diabetes distress and psychological well-being to glycemic control among adults with type 2 diabetes.Methods: A total of 60 adults with type 2 diabetes participated in the study and were given the diabetes distress scale (DDS-17) and well-being questionnaire (W-BQ 22) to measure their level of distress and psychological well-being using Pearson correlation test. The most recent data on glycemic control (or blood glucose level, HbA1c) were obtained from the participants’ medical records, (with poor glycemic control defined by HbA1c>7.5%). Statistical Package for the Social Sciences (SPSS 19) used to analyze the data obtained from questionnaires.Results: Pearson correlation results indicated significant positive relationship between blood glucose level and variables of diabetes distress (r=0.27, P=0.03) and psychological well-being (r=0.53, P=0.00). There were no significant relationships between blood glucose level and diabetes distress dimensions (emotional burden, physician-related distress, regimen-related distress, and internal distress). However, there were significant relationships between blood glucose level and variables of depression (r=-0.27, P=0.03) and anxiety (r=-0.41, P=0.00), both of which are dimensions of psychological well-being.Conclusion: The study results have shown that diabetes distress and psychological wellbeing are associated with glycemic control and while it is not always possible to avoid stress, learning to recognize and cope with stressors may help individuals with diabetes maintain good glycemic control and improve general well-being. These results are consistent with the results of past studies in Malaysia. abuse.

Objective: The present study aimed to investigate the selective attention hypothesis in a group of Iranian outpatients with depressive disorder.Methods: Causal-comparative and correlation methods were used to analyze the data. A total of 60 subjects participated in this study. Of them, 31 patients diagnosed with depression were assigned in the depressive group and 29 nondepressed individuals were observed as control (normal) group. Participation in this study was completely voluntary. Participants were screened by the structured clinical interview for the DSM-IV (SCID), answered to Beck depression inventory–II (BDI-II), and took part in the Visual Dot-Probe (VDP) task. The data were analyzed by correlation analysis and t test.Results: The results showed that the depressed group got higher score in BDI compared to the control group and this difference was statistically significant. But the differences between two groups regarding attention biases were not large enough to be significant.Conclusion: The following results could be because of the different reasons such as culture. Furthermore, there were several limitations to the current study which are discussed.

Objective: Recent studies on treating obsessive compulsive disorder (OCD) have investigated noninvasive brain stimulation techniques such as transcranial direct current stimulation (tDCS) to improve patients’ impaired emotion and cognition. However, such experiments have yielded mixed results, especially with respect to cognition. This study aimed to investigate whether anodal and cathodal tDCS applied over the dorsolateral prefrontal cortex (DLPFC) would improve decision making and reduce obsession symptoms in patients with OCD.Methods: the current study is analysis of variance. In this regard, 20 patients with obsessive compulsive disorder (n=20) were randomly assigned to receive either experimental (active) or control (sham) tDCS. To measure cognitive functions, the participants underwent a series of decision making neuropsychological tasks; to measure obsession symptoms, the Yale-brown obsessive compulsive and Beck anxiety scale (BAI) were used. The parameters of active tDCS included administration of 2 mA for 20 minutes per day for 15 consecutive days, anode electrode over the right DLPFC (F4), and cathode electrode over the left DLPFC (F3) region.Results: After 10 sessions of anodal and cathodal tDCS, patients showed significant improvement in decision making tasks. The same results were observed for obsession symptoms.Conclusion: The data were analyzed by SPSS 18.0.0 software, using analysis of variance methods. This study demonstrated that anodal tDCS over left DLPFC, concurrent with cathodal tDCS over right DLPFC, improved cognitive impairment and reduced obsession symptoms in patients with OCD.

Objective: The purpose of this study was to investigate the relationship of psychological wellbeing with variables of mindfulness and emotion regulation strategies, and then to identify which one predicts better psychological well-being.Methods: We used a descriptive-analytical design for this study. A total of 243 students from 3 Tehran universities were selected using the convenience sampling method. Three measurement instruments were used in this study: mindful attention awareness scale (MAAS), cognitive emotion regulation questionnaire (CERQ), and psychological well-being scale (PWS). The statistical analysis included the Pearson correlation coefficient and stepwise regression analysis. Study variables were calculated with SPSS ver.19.Results: The results indicated that mindfulness and psychological well-being are positively correlated to most of the more adaptive cognitive emotion regulation strategies and negatively correlated to most of the less adaptive ones. In the fifth model of regression analysis, positive reappraisal (Beta=0.27), catastrophizing (Beta=-0.24), refocus on planning (Beta=0.24), mindfulness (Beta=0.22), and acceptance (Beta=-0.10) were the best predictors of psychological well-being, consecutively, and together accounted for 46% of the variance.Conclusion: Higher mindfulness and using more adaptive cognitive emotion regulation strategies are associated with higher psychological well-being. Regression analysis also suggests that higher levels of positive reappraisal, refocusing on planning, mindfulness, lower levels of catastrophizing, and acceptance predict higher levels of psychological well-being.

Objective: This study aimed to investigate the mediating role of maladaptive schemas between childhood emotional maltreatment and psychological distress among college students.Methods: This was a descriptive-correlative and after the fact study. A total of 315 students were selected with multistage cluster sampling from students of Tehran universities. The participants completed the lifetime of experiences questionnaire (LEQ), Young’s schema questionnaire short form with 90-item (YSQ-SF-3), and the trauma symptom checklist-40 (TSC-40). Data were analyzed by path analysis using SPSS 16.Results: The results indicated that perception of childhood emotional maltreatment was associated with later psychological distress and mediated through schema of defectiveness/ shame, vulnerability to harm, self-sacrifice, and entitlement.Conclusion: In this study, our findings suggested that childhood emotional maltreatment is contributed to later psychological distress by developing cognitive vulnerability of children through maladaptive schemas. These schemas are rigid and extreme cognitive structures that negatively filter and bias cognitive and emotional information.

Objective: The purpose of the present study was to compare the efficacy of metacognitive therapy with cognitive therapy on reducing test anxiety and meta-worry among students.Methods: The present study is a quasi-experimental research with pre- and post-test design with a control group. Study population comprised all female students of Tarbiat-Modares University of Tehran and sample included 15 students who selected by available sampling method and then randomly assigned in 3 groups. Test Anxiety Inventory and the Anxious Thoughts Inventory were given to 3 groups. For analyzing the data, analysis of covariance (ANCOVA) and repeated measure method were used. Students in 3 groups were matched with regard to age and marital status.Results: The results of co-variance test showed that there are differences between 3 groups in test anxiety. Metacognitive and cognitive therapy had same efficacy in reducing test anxiety, while the metacognitive therapy had more efficacy than cognitive therapy in reducing meta-worry.Conclusion: Considering the effectiveness of two treatments on test anxiety, results of the present study can be useful for specialists. Also, results of metacognitive therapy can be helpful in reduction of meta-worry.