Avicenna Journal of Neuro Psycho Physiology
Volume:6 Issue: 1, Feb 2019

The effectiveness of mindfulness-based cognitive therapy was compared with the quality of life therapy in perfectionism and rumination in patients with migraine.

Headache is the most prevalent neural symptom and one of the main medical complaints.

The present quasi-experimental study used a pretest-posttest design with 3 groups: 2 experimental groups and 1 control group. The study population consisted of all patients with migraine headache referring to the hospitals and clinics of Torbat Heidarieh, Iran. The sample group consisted of 45 individuals selected by the available sampling method. The participants were randomly divided into 3 groups each with 15 members. The experimental groups underwent therapeutic interventions. The first experimental group received quality of life therapy and the second one received mindfulness-based cognitive therapy. The control group received no intervention. The data were collected by a multidimensional perfectionism scale, Ahvaz migraine questionnaire, and ruminative response scale. The participants filled out the tools before and after the intervention. The data were analyzed by SPSS V. 22.

The mindfulness-based cognitive therapy had no significant effect on perfectionism, and it was effective in rumination in patients with migraine. The quality of life therapy was effective in perfectionism and rumination in the patients. The results supported a significant difference between the two types of treatments in terms of effectiveness in perfectionism and rumination in patients with migraine. With regard to perfectionism, mindfulness-based cognitive therapy was more effective than the quality of life therapy. Moreover, the results did not support a significant difference between the two treatments in terms of their effect on rumination. The effects of the two treatment methods were at the same level.

The treatment based on so-called basic cognitions and the replacement of negative and intrusive thoughts with positive thoughts and avoiding intrusive thoughts through neutralizing based on the two cognitive treatment methods led to notable improvements in the participants in terms of rumination, frequent intrusive thoughts, and perfectionism. In fact, changes in cognitive reactions to pain and change in beliefs and expectations were the main mechanisms of attenuation of headaches.

Cholinergic dysfunction is involved with age-related cognitive deficits and Alzheimer’s disease. Donepezil is a reversible acetylcholinesterase inhibitor. 

The present study examined the ability of chronic supplementation with donepezil on the cognition of the healthy young rats.

Twenty young male Wistar rats (140-160 g) were divided into the control and experimental groups. The rats received the oral administration of saline or 0.3 mg/kg of donepezil for 30 consecutive days. Then, they were trained and tested with Inhibitory Avoidance (IA) and 8-radial Arm Maze (RAM) tasks.

There was neither significant difference in the number of trials to acquisition in the IA nor the number of baited food arms in RAM tasks between the groups. In the IA retrieval test, the time spent in the dark compartment in the donepezil-treated group was significantly less than the saline-treated group. Also, in the RAM retrieval test, the number of total memory and working memory errors of donepezil-treated rats was significantly less than that of the saline-treated ones.

The chronic administration of donepezil (0.3 mg/kg) had no significant effect on the learning process, but it can improve memory performance in normal rats.

Adolescence is a sensitive stage, in which people tend to use narcotic drugs and exacerbate the dependence in adulthood. 

The aim of this study was to determine the effectiveness of Dialectical Behavior Therapy (DBT) on the addiction-prone male high school students.

The present quasi-experimental study used a pretest-posttest design with a control group. The sample consisted of 60 10th-grade male students of Tonekabon, Iran, in the academic year 2015-2016. They were selected by multistage random sampling (random cluster sampling) and assigned to the experimental and control groups. The experimental group was subjected to DBT for 12 sessions of 60 minutes. To collect the data, the Addiction-Prone Questionnaire in Iranian adolescents was used. The data were analyzed, using the analysis of repeated measures in pretest, posttest, and follow-up stages with a significant level of P<0.05.

DBT significantly affected the indicators of internal dissatisfaction, risk behaviors, self-view, deviation from the norms, self-centeredness, and relationships with friends during the posttest period (P<0.05). Only 3 factors were unreliable; there was no significant difference between the positive thoughts and the family dissatisfaction (P>0.05). Insecurity, positive thoughts, and family dissatisfaction were not significant (P>0.05).

DBT is effective in the components of addiction-prone male junior high school students.

Breast cancer affects the various aspects of mental health, aggravates mental stress, and challenges the person’s mental health because of the disturbance in the mental image of the subjects. It can also affect the mental status of these individuals. 

The aim of the present study was to compare the efficacy of Acceptance and Commitment Therapy (ACT) and Solution-Focused Brief Therapy (SFBT) on pain catastrophizing and the psychological well-being of patients with breast cancer.

The present quasi-experimental study used a pretest-Post-test design with the control group. The statistical population of the present study included all patients with breast cancer referring to health centers and hospitals of Babol and Babolsar in 2018. A sample of 45 people was selected by a random sampling method, and 3 groups of 15 women with breast cancer were randomly divided into ACT, SFBT, and control groups. ACT and SFBT were performed for the experimental groups and no intervention was performed in the control group. To obtain the data, the pain catastrophizing scale and psychological well-being questionnaire were used. The data were analyzed by SPSS V. 23, using the multivariate analysis of covariance test.

ACT and SFBT affected the pain catastrophizing (F=47.01, P<0.001) and psychological well-being (F=79.34, P<0.001) of patients with breast cancer. The ACT was more effective than the SFBT (P<0.01).

Both the ACT and SFBT had a desirable effect on reducing pain catastrophizing and increasing psychological well-being in patients with breast cancer, but the ACT was more effective than the SFBT.

prisoners are a vulnerable group; prison stay experience has several adverse effects on their lives. 

Compassion-Focused Therapy (CFT) is among the prominent therapies that have proven effectiveness in resolving various problems in individuals. The present study aimed to determine the effects of CFT on the social adjustment of female prisoners.

This was a descriptive, quasi-experimental study with a pre-test-post-test and a control group design. The research population comprised all female prisoners in Rasht City, Iran, in 2017. By the convenience sampling method, 30 individuals were randomly assigned in two groups of experimental and control. Both groups completed the Cognitive Emotion Regulation Questionnaire (CERQ) before the intervention. The experimental group received eight 90-minute sessions of CFT; however, the controls received no intervention. The obtained data were analyzed using descriptive statistics and Multivariate Analysis of Covariance (MANCOVA) in SPSS.

The mean±SD age of the experimental and control groups was 32.8(8.1) and 33.3(8.6) years, respectively. The Mean±SD score of social dis-adjustment scores of the experimental group decreased from 16.1(4.8) in the pre-test to 12.2(3.9) in the post-test (P<0.001). However, the Mean±SD scores of the dis-adjustment in the control group decreased from 15.7(4.5) in the pre-test to 15.4(4.3) in the post-test; this change was not statistically significant.

The study results suggested that CFT improved the decline of social dis-adjustment in female prisoners.

Positive psychology, as a new domain of psychology, is focused on understanding and describing happiness and mental wellbeing and predicting their associated factors. 

The present study aimed to investigate the psychometric properties of the virtue of courage scale and its relationship with social health and life quality among university students.

The research method was based on tool construction and development. The statistical population consisted of 10221 students of the Islamic Azad University of Sari Branch in the 2017-2018 academic year. Of whom, a sample of 384 subjects was selected. The required data were collected by a researcher-made questionnaire of psychological courage regarding Islamic scholars 'views, the 26-item World Health Organization Quality of Life (WHOQOL-26) questionnaire, and the Keyes Social Health Questionnaire. Nonparametric Spearman's rank-order correlation and multiple linear regression methods were used to determine the relationships between the items. The scale's content validity was assessed by the Content Validity Index (CVI) and Content Validity Ratio (CVR) indices based on Leo's Table. SPSS was used for data analysis.

The obtained results suggested that the value of the first factor equaled 5.47; therefore, it was a significant factor in factor analysis. In total, 7 factors explained 60.10% of the variance. The correlation coefficients between the subscales and the total score of courage, quality of life, and social health scales indicated a proper concurrent validity of the courage scale. To investigate the validity of the 31-item scale, internal consistency (Cronbach's alpha coefficient) was calculated, ranging from 0.83 to 0.93. 

The psychometric properties of the psychological virtue of courage scale have been supported; thus, it could be used in future research studies. Additionally, there was a significant relationship between courage, quality of life, and social health in this inventory.