مجله تحقیقات علوم رفتاری
سال نهم شماره 5 (پیاپی 21، آذر و دی 1390)

Aim and Pain is a complex experience involving psychological factors which results in functional disorder. This study aimed to analyze the correlation between cognitive and emotional factors with chronic low back pain among women in Isfahan, Iran.Methods and Materials: In this cross-sectional research, the target population included all women with chronic low back pain that referred to clinics and hospitals of Isfahan during summer 2011. A total number of 50 women with chronic low back pain were selected by simple random sampling. Instruments used in this research included a demographic questionnaire, the multidimensional pain inventory, the fearavoidance beliefs inventory, the pain catastrophizing scale, and the hospital anxiety scale. The obtained data was analyzed by stepwise and hierarchical regression analysis and Pearson's correlation coefficient. Pain was positively related with fear-avoidance beliefs, catastrophizing, and anxiety. The results of stepwise regression showed that fear-avoidance beliefs and catastrophizing explained 45.6%of the variance of the pain. In addition, moderated hierarchical regression analysis revealed that job had amoderating effect on the relationship between anxiety and pain. Chronic low back pain can be predicted by fear-avoidance beliefs and catastrophizing.Moreover, decreasing professional stress would reduce the overall anxiety and thus low back pain among women.

Asthma is a chronic illness that can severely affect people's lives. The aim of this study was to compare anxiety, depression, brain Behavioural systems (BIS-BAS), coping styles, anger and hostility among people with and without asthma.

Fifty women with asthma attending Shahid Motahhari specialized clinic in Shiraz and 50 normal women were selected using purposive sampling method and were asked to fill these questionnaires: Hospital Anxiety and Depression Scale (HADS), behavioural inhibition/activation system (Carver and White), coping styles (Lazarus and Folkman), and the Multidimensional Anger Inventory (Siegel). All participants ranged in age from 16 to 27 years. Data analysis was done by SPSS 11.5 and LISREL 8.54 using Multi-way analysis of variance test (MANOVA), and path analysis.

Data analysis showed that the two groups had significant differences in nxiety- depression,behavioural inhibition / activation system and BAS subscales (response to drives, fun seeking, reward responsiveness), coping style, anger-arousal, range of anger-eliciting situations, hostile outlook and angerin (all P<0.05).

The results of this study showed that in comparison with normal people without asthma,people with asthma show more anxiety, depression, BIS activity and less BAS activity. Also People with asthma use more emotion oriented coping styles and experience more anger-arousal, anger, range of anger-eliciting situations, hostile outlook and anger-in. Also by path analysis, carefull examination of the relationships between variables showed that coping style has a mediational role in personality traits and clinical symptoms in patients with asthma.

According to the self-transcendence model, interventions to promote the level of self-transcendence can in turn improve physical health status. Therefore, the aim of this study was to investigate the relationship between self-transcendence and perceived physical health in patients with multiple sclerosis (MS) attending peer support groups.

This quasi-experimental study used pretest and posttest to investigate the relationship between self-transcendence and perceived physical health in 33 patients with confirmed MS.Patients participated in three peer support groups (10 males in the male group, 11 females in female group and 12 males and females in the mixed group). Participants were required to attend 8 weekly sessions comprising 2 hours each. Data was collected by the Self-Transcendence Scale (STS) and physical health section of the Multiple Sclerosis Quality of Life Inventory (MSQLI). Wilcoxon, Kruskal-Wallis and Mann-Whitney U tests and Spearman and Pearson coefficients were used for data analysis.

Comparing mean scores of self-transcendence (pretest: 44.57 (8.2); posttest: 53.21 (6.2);P = 0.001) and physical health status (pretest: 151.84 (33.3); posttest 171.58 (37.5); P = 0.009) showed significant differences after attending peer support groups. There was a positive relationship between selftranscendence and physical health status (P = 0.01).

The results showed that promoting self-transcendence would lead to enhanced physical health status and the quality of life in general.

The aim of this research was to evaluate the effectiveness of cognitive-behavioral group therapy on reducing body dysmorphic disorder (BDD) and interpersonal sensitivity among female high school students in Ahvaz, Iran.

In this clinical trial, multistage random sampling was used to select 800 students. The subjects completed the Yale-Brown Obsessive Compulsive Scale (modified for BDD) and interpersonal sensitivity subscale of symptom checklist 90 (SCL-90). Then, 75 individuals with the highest scores in both scales were identified. Finally, 30 subjects from the 75 mentioned patients were selected and randomly assigned into two groups of experimental and control (n = 15 in each group). The experimental group was treated through 12 60-minute sessions of cognitive-behavioral group therapy based on Greenberg method. At the end, posttest was performed and the results were analyzed by analysis of covariance.

The scores of BDD and interpersonal sensitivity were significantly different between the experimental and control groups.

Our findings showed that cognitive-behavioral group therapy had an important role in reducing BDD and interpersonal sensitivity.

Hypertension, one of the most important public health problems in the world, is the main risk factor for heart disease. Depression is the common comorbid psychiatric disorder among patients with chronic physical diseases. This study aimed to compare depression between hypertensive patients and normal individuals.

In a case-control study, 143 consecutive patients with hypertension were selected according to inclusion criteria. Patients were matched with a normal group selected from their family. Data was collected using a demographic questionnaire and Beck depression scale. The collected data was then analyzed by Mann-Whitney and chi-square tests.

Mild to severe degrees of depression were observed in 59.4% of hypertensive patients 33.5% of healthy subjects. Findings of chi-square test revealed a significant difference between the two groups (P < 0.001). In addition, Mann-Whitney test showed significant differences in frequency of depression at three levels of mild, moderate, and severe between the two groups (P < 0.001). Disease duration and severity of depression were significantly related in patients with hypertension (P < 0.001).

Depressive symptoms are more prevalent in patients with hypertension compared to the normal population. Therefore, hypertensive patients need to be monitored for depression and receive psychiatric counseling as necessary.

Individuals are faced with numerous stressful life events which can negatively influence their mental health. Many individuals use smoking as a means of confronting stress. Given the relatively high prevalence of smoking in central Iran, the present study was conducted to compare stress levels in smokers, non-smokers, and those who had quit smoking.

This study was conducted as part of Isfahan Healthy Heart Program on 9752 individuals in the cities of Isfahan, Arak, and Najaf Abad in 2008. Sampling was performed using multistage cluster randomization method. Data on age, sex, demographic characteristics, and smoking status was collected through interviews. Stress level was detected by General Health Questionnaire (GHQ). Logistic regression analysis and chi-square test were used for data analysis.

In the present study, 30% of non-smokers, 32.1% ex-smokers, and 36.9% of smokers scored 4 and higher (P = 0.01) in the GHQ. In regression analysis, the final model which was controlled for age,sex, socioeconomic status (including place of residence, marital status, and education) showed that the odds ratio of stress in smokers and ex-smokers was significantly higher than non-smokers (OR = 1.66 and OR = 1.12, respectively).

Conducted studies revealed mental problems and stresses to be significantly related with smoking. Therefore, interventions are required to reduce the prevalence of smoking in the community through interventions which provide correct methods of coping with stress.

Eating disorders and obsessive-compulsive disorder co-occur on many occasions.Impulsivity is one of the prevalent features between the mentioned disorders. The purpose of this study is to compare the feature of impulsivity and its components in eating disorders, obsessive-compulsive disorder and the normal individuals.

This study carried on patients suffering from eating disorders and obsessive compulsive disorder receiving treatment at Bozorgmehr clinic in Tabriz in 1389-1390, using a convenience sampling. A normal group matched with patients’ groups and Barratt impulsiveness scale was used to collect data.

Data was analyzed using Multivariate Analysis of Variance (MANOVA). The results show that the clinical groups have the higher rates of impulsivity compared to the normal group but there are no meaningful differences between the clinical groups. Regarding the components, the study shows that the attention impulsivity and non-planning impulsivity have significant differences between eating disorders and obsessive compulsive disorder with normal group, but there are no differences between two clinical groups. Regarding motor impulsiveness, there are no differences between the groups.

high impulsivity and its components were noticed among the patients and this may justify the patients’ problems of behavioral inhibition and delay needs.

The purpose of this study was to compare patients with functional gastrointestinal disorders (FGID) and normal persons in terms of alexithymia, severity of gastrointestinal symptoms, and demographic variables.

This causal-comparative research included 129 FGID patients who were referred to a psychosomatic disorders clinic in Isfahan, Iran. A matched group of 108 healthy individuals (without digestive diagnoses) was also considered as the control group. Toronto alexithymia scale (TAS-20) and gastrointestinal symptoms rating scale (GSRS) were used to evaluate the participants. Data was analyzed using multivariate analysis of variance, correlation coefficient and Fisher's Z test.

There was a significant difference between patients with FGIDs and healthy controls in terms of number of alexithymia symptoms and severity of gastrointestinal symptoms. The results also indicated a relationship between education level and alexithymia as well as its dimensions (difficulty identifying feelings and difficulty describing feelings) in both groups. However, no significant differences were found between the two groups in this regard.

The findings of this study indicated that patients with FGIDs had higher scores of alexithymia and more severe somatic symptoms compared to the healthy control group. Furthermore,higher education levels were associated with lower risks of alexithymia. Such a finding might have been due to the higher ability of more educated patients in describing and identifying emotions.

Previous studies suggest that mental stress may influence serum lipid levels. This study was conducted on adult population living in rural and urban areas in central Iran to assess the correlation between stress levels and lipid profile disorders.

Data was extracted from final evaluation of Isfahan Healthy Heart Program (IHHP) in 2008. Multistage cluster random sampling was used. The study population consisted of 9752 adults aged ≥ 19 years living in 3 cities of Isfahan, Arak and Najaf Abad. Demographic data, age, and sex were recorded. Blood samples were taken to determine lipid levels including total cholesterol (TC), lowdensity lipoprotein cholesterol (LDL-C), high-density lipoprotein cholesterol (HDL-C) and triglyceride.Stress levels were assessed using the General Health Questionnaire (GHQ). Logistic regression analysis and chi-square test were used for statistical analyses.

After adjustment for age and sex, the odds ratios of high stress in individuals with high levels of TC and LDL-C and low levels of HDL-C were respectively 1.11 (1.08, 1.27), 1.13 (1.04, 1.24), and 1.12 (1.08, 1.28) compared to normal individuals.

According to the relationship between lipid profile disorders and stress levels, special attention needs to be paid to psychological and environmental issues to treat lipid profile disorders.

Coronary artery bypass graft (CABG) surgery is the most common surgical procedure for patients suffering from coronary artery diseases. Many studies demonstrated CABG as a serious crisis for patients resulting in excessive stress and anxiety. This study was performed to assess the effects of reflexology on anxiety levels among CABG surgery candidates in Shahid Chamran Hospital,Isfahan, Iran.

This clinical trial included 50 CABG candidates who were selected by simple random sampling. Patients were divided into the intervention and control groups based on the random numbers list. Reflexology was conducted for all patients in the intervention group for 30 minutes. Patients in the control group received usual interventions. Patient's anxiety was measured pre- and post-reflexology and usual interventions. Descriptive and inferential statistics methods were applied in SPSS to analyze the data.

Patient's anxiety significantly decreased in the intervention group in comparison with the control group (P < 0.001). However, no significant changes were observed in the control group.

The findings of the study showed reflexology to be a safe, effective, and cheap nursing intervention in reducing patient's anxiety before CABG surgery.

A significant proportion of the patients referred to health services are people who have some psychosocial problems.Many of these patients cannot explain their problem obviously and prefer to express them as nonspecific somatic and bodily symptoms; although there are no definite clinical and laboratory findings about any specific medical disease.This phenomenon named "somatization".Recurrent visits of these cases in outpatient clinics or hospitals and the vicious cycle of unnecessary investigations that reinforce "sick role" and somatic complaints, cause many problems for the patients, as well as the physicians and health services.

It has since long been known that there is strong relation between psychological status and Functional Gastrointestinal Disorders (FGID). However, until recently, the nature of this putative relationship was unclear due to a lack of non-invasive methods to investigate the neurobiological mechanisms underlying this relationship. Functional brain imaging has provided a method for in vivo study of brain-gut interactions.Methods and Materials: In this article, a review of brain imaging evidence on gastrointestinal sensation by functional Magnetic Resonance Imaging fMRI has been given.

fMRI studies pointed to altered function in insular cortex, anterior and posterior cingulated cortex, amygdala, ventromedial cortex of prefrontal lobe, cerebellum, and thalamus.

Activation or inhibition of specific brain regions may affect modulation of stress- gut interactions, perception of severity of visceral pain, induce homeostasis, and different pain perception between females and males.

Appropriate and comprehensive response to problems and needs of mental health services requires to employ participatory approaches. Therefore, this literature review study aimed to assess interprofessional collaboration as one of the beneficial methods of delivering mental health services.Methods and Materials: In this review study, data was collected by searching electronic resources including Google search engine and scientific databases as well as searching printed library resources.

The results showed that various studies have depicted many benefits for the complex concept of interprofessional collaboration. The beneficial effects of the approach were found to be related to receiving more sophisticated services by the clients and also to improved health professional's satisfaction and facilitated services.

considering the importance of interprofessional collaboration in mental health services, it is necessary for health sciences students and health professionals to get ready to employ the approach.

This review tried to describe the historical development of consultation-liaison (CL) psychiatry andpsychosomatic medicine in the world and Iran. It also aimed to present a classification of different models of patient care and service delivery in CL psychiatry. It finally provided some explanation about the status of psychosomatic medicine and CL psychiatry in Germany as a different model in comparison with other parts of the world.

Eating disorders are common psychological/psychosomatic disorders that disturb physical and mental health as well as quality of life. Binge eating disorder, in spite of being the most prevalent eating disorder,has not been largely investigated. In this article, we discussed the definition, classification, epidemiology,and physiopathology of different eating disorders, and then focused on binge eating disorder.

Fibromyalgia syndrome is a common disease whose main treatment option in most cases is alleviation of pain and prescription of medications. As it is commonly associated with mood and psychosomatic disorders, multidisciplinary approaches to treatment, including nonpharmacologic therapy, could result in better control of pain and improved quality of life among these patients.

Acne vulgaris is a disfiguring disease which can induce anxiety, depression, and other psychological problems particularly in young adults. Like any other serious physical disease, theses problems can disturb the quality of life among the affected patients. However, not paying enough attention to the psychological aspects of the disease while treating acne would lead to treatment failure and high noncompliance rates.Acne severity and psychological side effects are not necessarily related. Even mild acne can induce a major depressive situation or sever anxiety in patients with hypersensitivity to their general appearance.The following review focused on the psychosomatic aspects of acne as one of the most commonpsychodermatologic problems.

This research aimed to compare marital satisfaction between patients with coronary disease and the general population.Methods and Materials: This case-control study included 50 patients with coronary disease from Motahari Hospital (Fuladshahr, Iran) and 50 healthy persons from Fuladshahr (Iran). The two groups were matched regarding marital status and gender. Convenience sampling was used to select subjects. Data was collected by the index of marital satisfaction (IMS). SPSS16 was used for data analysis.

Statistical analyses showed marital satisfaction rates to be lower than the normal population among coronary artery disease patients (P < 0.01).

Based on our results, marital satisfaction should be considered as an important issue in cardiac patients.

Stress is one of the risk factors for heart diseases. It also reduces general health in patients with heart diseases. The aim of this research was to evaluate the effectiveness of cognitivebehavioral stress management interventions on general health among patients with heart diseases.Methods and Materials: A total number of 26 patients with heart diseases were selected by convenience sampling method from the rehabilitation unit of Cardiovascular Research Center (Isfahan, Iran). The subjects were randomly assigned into two groups of experimental (n = 13) and control (n = 13). The experimental group received 8 weekly sessions of cognitive-behavioral stress management intervention.The General Health Questionnaire (GHQ-12) was completed in the pretest and posttest phases by the patients of the two groups. Data was analyzed by SPSS16 using analysis of covariance (ANCOVA).

The results of ANCOVA showed that mean general health scores of posttest significantly decreased in the experimental group compared to the control group (P < 0.05).

The results of this study showed that cognitive-behavioral stress management interventions can be used as a useful interventional method for patients with heart diseases.