The Relationship between Biogenetic Causal Explanations and Social Distance toward People with Mental Disorders: Results from a Population Survey in Germany

2006 ◽  
Vol 52 (2) ◽  
pp. 166-174 ◽  
Author(s):  
Sandra Dietrich ◽  
Herbert Matschinger ◽  
Matthias C. Angermeyer
2005 ◽  
Vol 20 (3) ◽  
pp. 246-250 ◽  
Author(s):  
M.C. Angermeyer ◽  
S. Dietrich ◽  
D. Pott ◽  
H. Matschinger

AbstractThere is ample evidence for a distorted presentation of the mentally ill in the media. However, only little is known about its impact on attitudes towards people with mental disorders. Therefore, we investigated the relationship between watching TV and reading the newspaper on the one hand, and the desire for social distance towards people with schizophrenia on the other. In 2001, a representative population survey was conducted in Germany, using a fully structured personal interview. We found that the desire for social distance towards people with schizophrenia increases almost continuously with the amount of TV consumption. The association between reading the newspaper and social distance is less pronounced and depends on the type of newspaper people read. Since, obviously, there is a relationship between media consumption and attitudes towards people with schizophrenia, inaccurate and one-sided messages about mental disorders should be replaced by accurate and more balanced messages.


2020 ◽  
Author(s):  
Louise Mewton ◽  
Briana Lees ◽  
Lindsay Squeglia ◽  
Miriam K. Forbes ◽  
Matthew Sunderland ◽  
...  

Categorical mental disorders are being recognized as suboptimal targets in clinical neuroscience due to poor reliability as well as high rates of heterogeneity within, and comorbidity between, mental disorders. As an alternative to the case-control approach, recent studies have focused on the relationship between neurobiology and latent dimensions of psychopathology. The current study aimed to investigate the relationship between brain structure and psychopathology in the critical preadolescent period when psychopathology is emerging. This study included baseline data from the Adolescent Brain and Cognitive Development (ABCD) Study® (n = 11,721; age range = 9-10 years; male = 52.2%). General psychopathology, externalizing, internalizing, and thought disorder dimensions were based on a higher-order model of psychopathology and estimated using Bayesian plausible values. Outcome variables included global and regional cortical volume, thickness, and surface area. Higher levels of psychopathology across all dimensions were associated with lower volume and surface area globally, as well as widespread and pervasive alterations across the majority of cortical and subcortical regions studied, after adjusting for sex, race/ethnicity, and parental education. The relationships between general psychopathology and brain structure were attenuated when adjusting for cognitive functioning. There was evidence of a relationship between externalizing psychopathology and frontal regions of the cortex that was independent of general psychopathology. The current study identified lower cortical volume and surface area as transdiagnostic biomarkers for general psychopathology in preadolescence. The widespread and pervasive relationships between general psychopathology and brain structure may reflect cognitive dysfunction that is a feature across a range of mental illnesses.


Author(s):  
Nicolas Bommarito

After a brief overview of the nature of attention, I argue that attention (and inattention) can be morally virtuous or vicious independently of associated overt actions. This is not, as others have claimed, because attention itself has moral value, but because attention can manifest underlying moral concern. After discussing the relationship between attention and concern, I discuss problematic cases related to mental disorders, in particular attention-deficit disorder and scrupulosity. I then apply the account to particular virtues associated with attention: modesty and gratitude. Gratitude, I argue, involves attention to our benefits and their sources, while modesty involves special patterns of attention away from our own good qualities. This account best explains how attention can be relevant to moral character.


BMJ Open ◽  
2021 ◽  
Vol 11 (2) ◽  
pp. e040480
Author(s):  
Amaya Ayala-Garcia ◽  
Laura Serra ◽  
Monica Ubalde-Lopez

ObjectivesTo assess the relationship between early working life patterns, at privately and publicly held companies, and the course of sickness absence (SA) due to mental disorders.MethodsCohort study of workers aged 18–28 years, affiliated with the Spanish social security system, living in Catalonia, who had at least one episode of SA due to mental disorders between 2012 and 2014. Individual prior working life trajectories were reconstructed through sequence analysis. Optimal matching analysis was performed to identify early working life patterns by clustering similar individual trajectories. SA trajectories were identified using latent class growth modelling analysis. Finally, the relationship between early working life patterns and subsequent SA trajectories was assessed via multinomial logistic regression models.ResultsAmong both men and women, four labour market participation (LMP) patterns were identified: stable permanent employment (reference group), increasing permanent employment, fluctuating employment and delayed employment. Among women, an increasing permanent employment pattern in early working life was related to a decrease of accumulated SA days over time (adjusted OR (aOR) 2.08; 95% CI 1.18 to 3.66). In men, we observed a trend towards a middle stable accumulation of SA days in those with fluctuating employment (aOR 1.25, 95% CI 0.57 to 2.74) or delayed employment (aOR 1.79; 95% CI 0.59 to 5.41). In both men and women, an early working life in big companies was related to a more favourable SA trajectory.ConclusionsEarly LMP patterns characterised by an increasing stability—decreased number of transitions between temporary contracts and lack of social security coverage towards permanent contracts—were related to a better future SA course due to mental diagnosis.


Author(s):  
Simin Zou ◽  
Xuhui He

The unprecedented COVID-19 pandemic has caused a traffic tie-up across the world. In addition to home quarantine orders and travel bans, the social distance guideline of about six feet was enacted to reduce the risk of contagion. However, with recent life gradually returning to normal, the crisis is not over. In this research, a moving train test and a Gaussian puff model were employed to investigate the impact of wind raised by a train running on the transmission and dispersion of SARS-CoV-2 from infected individuals. Our findings suggest that the 2 m social distance guideline may not be enough; under train-induced wind action, human respiratory disease-carrier droplets may travel to unexpected places. However, there are deficiencies in passenger safety guidelines and it is necessary to improve the quantitative research in the relationship between train-induced wind and virus transmission. All these findings could provide a fresh insight to contain the spread of COVID-19 and provide a basis for preventing and controlling the pandemic virus, and probe into strategies for control of the disease in the future.


2017 ◽  
Vol 82 (5) ◽  
pp. 779
Author(s):  
Nisha Fahey ◽  
Apurv Soni ◽  
Jeroan Allison ◽  
Jagdish Vankar ◽  
Anusha Prabhakaran ◽  
...  

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