scholarly journals Viewing an alpine environment positively affects emotional analytics in patients with stress-related psychiatric disorders and healthy controls

2020 ◽  
Author(s):  
Katharina Hüfner ◽  
Cornelia Ower ◽  
Georg Kemmler ◽  
Theresa Vill ◽  
Caroline Martini ◽  
...  
Keyword(s):  
Mental Health ◽  
Psychiatric Disorders ◽  
Natural Environments ◽  
Healthy Controls ◽  
Self Assessment ◽  
Alpine Environment ◽  
Organizational Barriers ◽  
Increased Risk ◽  
Beneficial Impact ◽  
Dose Dependent

Abstract Background: Patients with stress-related psychiatric (psychosomatic) disorders often don´t respond well to medical treatment and experience many side effects. It is thus of clinical relevance to identify alternative, scientifically based, treatments. Our approach is based on the recent evidence that urbanicity has been shown to be associated with an increased risk for mental disorders. Conversely green and blue environments show a dose-dependent beneficial impact on mental health. Methods: Here we evaluate the effect of viewing stimuli of individuals in an alpine environment on emotional analytics in 183 patients with stress-related psychiatric disorders and 315 healthy controls (HC). Emotional analytics (valence: unhappy vs happy, arousal: calm vs excited, dominance: controlled vs in control) were assessed using the Self-Assessment Manikin. Further parameters related to mental health and physical activity were recorded. Results: Emotional analytics of patients indicated that they feel less happy, less in control and had higher levels of arousal than HC when viewing neutral stimuli. The comparison alpine>neutral stimuli showed a significant a positive effect of alpine stimuli on emotional analytics in both groups. Patients and HC both felt attracted to the scenes displayed in the alpine stimuli. Emotional analytics correlated positively with resilience and inversely with perceived stress. Conclusions: Preventive and therapeutic programs for patients with stress-related psychiatric disorders should consider taking the benefits of outdoor natural environments into account. Organizational barriers which are preventing the implementation of such programs in clinical practice need to be identified and addressed.

scholarly journals Viewing an alpine environment positively affects emotional analytics in patients with stress-related psychiatric disorders

2020 ◽  
Author(s):  
Katharina Hüfner ◽  
Cornelia Ower ◽  
Georg Kemmler ◽  
Theresa Vill ◽  
Caroline Martini ◽  
...  
Keyword(s):  
Psychiatric Disorders ◽  
Perceived Stress ◽  
Natural Environments ◽  
Self Assessment ◽  
Alpine Environment ◽  
Organizational Barriers ◽  
Increased Risk ◽  
Beneficial Impact ◽  
Dose Dependent ◽  
Positive Effect

Abstract Background: Patients with stress-related psychiatric (psychosomatic) disorders often don´t respond well to medical treatment and experience many side effects. It is thus of clinical relevance to identify alternative, scientifically based, treatments. Our approach is based on the recent evidence that urbanicity has been shown to be associated with an increased risk for mental disorders. Conversely green and blue environments show a dose-dependent beneficial impact on mental health. Methods: Here we evaluate the effect of viewing stimuli of individuals in an alpine environment on emotional analytics in 183 patients with stress-related psychiatric disorders and 315 healthy controls (HC). Emotional analytics (valence: unhappy vs happy, arousal: calm vs excited, dominance: controlled vs in control) were assessed using the Self-Assessment Manikin. Results: Patients showed significantly lower levels of resilience and significantly higher scores of self-perceived stress. Emotional analytics of patients indicated that they feel less happy, less in control and had higher levels of arousal than HC when viewing neutral stimuli. The comparison alpine>neutral stimuli showed a significant a positive effect of alpine stimuli on emotional analytics in both groups. Patients and HC both felt attracted to the scenes displayed in the alpine stimuli. Emotional analytics correlated positively with resilience and inversely with perceived stress. Conclusions: Preventive and therapeutic programs for patients with stress-related psychiatric disorders should take benefits of outdoor natural environments into account. Organizational barriers which are preventing the implementation of such programs in clinical practice need to be identified and addressed.

scholarly journals Viewing an alpine environment positively affects emotional analytics in patients with somatoform, depressive and anxiety disorders as well as in healthy controls

2020 ◽  
Author(s):  
Katharina Hüfner ◽  
Cornelia Ower ◽  
Georg Kemmler ◽  
Theresa Vill ◽  
Caroline Martini ◽  
...  
Keyword(s):  
Mental Health ◽  
Anxiety Disorders ◽  
Healthy Controls ◽  
Self Assessment ◽  
Alpine Environment ◽  
Organizational Barriers ◽  
Increased Risk ◽  
Beneficial Impact ◽  
Alpine Environments ◽  
Dose Dependent

Abstract Background: Patients with somatoform, depressive or anxiety disorders often don´t respond well to medical treatment and experience many side effects. It is thus of clinical relevance to identify alternative, scientifically based, treatments. Our approach is based on the recent evidence that urbanicity has been shown to be associated with an increased risk for mental disorders. Conversely green and blue environments show a dose-dependent beneficial impact on mental health. Methods: Here we evaluate the effect of viewing stimuli of individuals in an alpine environment on emotional analytics in 183 patients with psychiatric disorders (mostly somatoform, depressive and anxiety disorders) and 315 healthy controls (HC). Emotional analytics (valence: unhappy vs happy, arousal: calm vs excited, dominance: controlled vs in control) were assessed using the Self-Assessment Manikin. Further parameters related to mental health and physical activity were recorded.Results: Emotional analytics of patients indicated that they feel less happy, less in control and had higher levels of arousal than HC when viewing neutral stimuli. The comparison alpine>neutral stimuli showed a significant a positive effect of alpine stimuli on emotional analytics in both groups. Patients and HC both felt attracted to the scenes displayed in the alpine stimuli. Emotional analytics correlated positively with resilience and inversely with perceived stress.Conclusions: Preventive and therapeutic programs for patients with somatoform, depressive and anxiety disorders should consider taking the benefits of natural outdoor such as alpine environments, into account. Organizational barriers which are preventing the implementation of such programs in clinical practice need to be identified and addressed.

scholarly journals Viewing an alpine environment positively affects emotional analytics in patients with somatoform, depressive and anxiety disorders as well as in healthy controls

2020 ◽  
Author(s):  
Katharina Hüfner ◽  
Cornelia Ower ◽  
Georg Kemmler ◽  
Theresa Vill ◽  
Caroline Martini ◽  
...  
Keyword(s):  
Mental Health ◽  
Anxiety Disorders ◽  
Healthy Controls ◽  
Self Assessment ◽  
Alpine Environment ◽  
Organizational Barriers ◽  
Increased Risk ◽  
Outdoor Environments ◽  
Beneficial Impact ◽  
Alpine Environments

Abstract Background: Patients with somatoform, depressive or anxiety disorders often don´t respond well to medical treatment and experience many side effects. It is thus of clinical relevance to identify alternative, scientifically based, treatments. Our approach is based on the recent evidence that urbanicity has been shown to be associated with an increased risk for mental disorders. Conversely, green and blue environments show a dose-dependent beneficial impact on mental health. Methods: Here we evaluate the effect of viewing stimuli of individuals in an alpine environment on emotional analytics in 183 patients with psychiatric disorders (mostly somatoform, depressive and anxiety disorders) and 315 healthy controls (HC). Emotional analytics (valence: unhappy vs happy, arousal: calm vs excited, dominance: controlled vs in control) were assessed using the Self-Assessment Manikin. Further parameters related to mental health and physical activity were recorded.Results: Emotional analytics of patients indicated that they feel less happy, less in control and had higher levels of arousal than HC when viewing neutral stimuli. The comparison alpine>neutral stimuli showed a significant a positive effect of alpine stimuli on emotional analytics in both groups. Patients and HC both felt attracted to the scenes displayed in the alpine stimuli. Emotional analytics correlated positively with resilience and inversely with perceived stress.Conclusions: Preventive and therapeutic programs for patients with somatoform, depressive and anxiety disorders should consider taking the benefits of natural outdoor environments such as alpine environments, into account. Organizational barriers which are preventing the implementation of such programs in clinical practice need to be identified and addressed.

scholarly journals Residential green space in childhood is associated with lower risk of psychiatric disorders from adolescence into adulthood

2019 ◽  
Vol 116 (11) ◽  
pp. 5188-5193 ◽  
Author(s):  
Kristine Engemann ◽  
Carsten Bøcker Pedersen ◽  
Lars Arge ◽  
Constantinos Tsirogiannis ◽  
Preben Bo Mortensen ◽  
...  
Keyword(s):  
Mental Health ◽  
Mental Illness ◽  
Psychiatric Disorders ◽  
Lower Risk ◽  
Large Scale ◽  
Vegetation Index ◽  
Green Space ◽  
Wide Spectrum ◽  
Natural Environments ◽  
Parental History

Urban residence is associated with a higher risk of some psychiatric disorders, but the underlying drivers remain unknown. There is increasing evidence that the level of exposure to natural environments impacts mental health, but few large-scale epidemiological studies have assessed the general existence and importance of such associations. Here, we investigate the prospective association between green space and mental health in the Danish population. Green space presence was assessed at the individual level using high-resolution satellite data to calculate the normalized difference vegetation index within a 210 × 210 m square around each person’s place of residence (∼1 million people) from birth to the age of 10. We show that high levels of green space presence during childhood are associated with lower risk of a wide spectrum of psychiatric disorders later in life. Risk for subsequent mental illness for those who lived with the lowest level of green space during childhood was up to 55% higher across various disorders compared with those who lived with the highest level of green space. The association remained even after adjusting for urbanization, socioeconomic factors, parental history of mental illness, and parental age. Stronger association of cumulative green space presence during childhood compared with single-year green space presence suggests that presence throughout childhood is important. Our results show that green space during childhood is associated with better mental health, supporting efforts to better integrate natural environments into urban planning and childhood life.

Psychiatric disorders in low birthweight young adults. Prevalence and association with assessments at 11 years

2013 ◽  
Vol 28 (7) ◽  
pp. 393-396 ◽  
Author(s):  
I.B. Elgen ◽  
F. Holsten ◽  
M.D. Odberg
Keyword(s):  
Mental Health ◽  
Young Adults ◽  
Psychiatric Disorder ◽  
Personality Disorders ◽  
Psychiatric Disorders ◽  
Young Adulthood ◽  
Low Birthweight ◽  
Antisocial Personality ◽  
Mini International Neuropsychiatric Interview ◽  
Increased Risk

AbstractObjectiveTo compare mental health of 136 young adults without neurosensory handicaps born with low birthweight (LBW, birthweight less than 2000 g) with 132 adults with normal birthweight (NBW).MethodA cohort of moderate LBW and NBW young adults were assessed with the Mini-International Neuropsychiatric Interview (MINI) at 19 years and the Children Assessment Schedule (CAS) at 11 years of age.ResultsAt 19 years of age, 44 out of 136 (32%) LBW young adults were diagnosed with a psychiatric disorder compared to 10% NBW (OR: 2.8; 95% CI: 1.1, 4.5, P = 0.02). Among the LBW young adults, affective-, anxiety-, ADHD- and antisocial personality disorders were most common, and nine subjects (20%) had more than one diagnosis. Of 97 LBW subjects examined both at 11 and 19 years of age, 54 (56%) were mentally healthy though out adolescence. This was half as many as for controls (OR: 0.6; 95% CI: 0.3 to 0.9).ConclusionModerate LBW was associated with an increased risk of psychiatric disorders in young adulthood. Only half of LBW young adults stayed healthy throughout adolescence.

scholarly journals How nature nurtures: Amygdala activity decreases as the result of a one-hour walk in nature

2022 ◽  
Author(s):  
Sonja Sudimac ◽  
Vera Sale ◽  
Simone Kühn
Keyword(s):  
Mental Health ◽  
Preventive Measure ◽  
Brain Regions ◽  
Urban Environments ◽  
Natural Environments ◽  
Mental Strain ◽  
Fearful Faces ◽  
Increased Risk ◽  
Before And After ◽  
Amygdala Activity

Since living in cities is associated with an increased risk for mental disorders such as anxiety disorders, depression and schizophrenia, it is essential to understand how exposure to urban and natural environments affects mental health and the brain. It has been shown that the amygdala is more activated during a stress task in urban compared to rural dwellers. However, no study so far has examined the causal effects of natural and urban environments on stress-related brain mechanisms. To address this question, we conducted an intervention study to investigate changes in stress-related brain regions as an effect of a one-hour walk in an urban (busy street) vs. natural environment (forest). Brain activation was measured in 63 healthy participants, before and after the walk, using a fearful faces task. Our findings reveal that amygdala activation decreases after the walk in nature, whereas it remains stable after the walk in an urban environment. These results suggest that going for a nature walk can have salutogenic effects for stress-related brain regions, and consequently, it may act as a preventive measure against mental strain and potentially disease. Given the rapidly increasing urbanization, the present results aim to influence urban planning to create more accessible green areas and to adapt urban environments in a way that will be beneficial for citizens’ mental health.

scholarly journals Psychiatric Comorbidities among People Who Inject Drugs in Hai Phong, Vietnam: The Need for Screening and Innovative Interventions

2018 ◽  
Vol 2018 ◽  
pp. 1-13 ◽  
Author(s):  
Khue Pham Minh ◽  
Roselyne Vallo ◽  
Huong Duong Thi ◽  
Oanh Khuat Thi Hai ◽  
Don C. Des Jarlais ◽  
...  
Keyword(s):  
Mental Health ◽  
Psychiatric Disorder ◽  
Psychiatric Disorders ◽  
People Who Inject Drugs ◽  
Community Based Interventions ◽  
Major Depressive ◽  
Psychiatric Comorbidities ◽  
Methamphetamine Use ◽  
Increased Risk

The objective of this study is to describe psychiatric comorbidities, associated factors, and access to psychiatric assessment and care in a cohort of people who inject drugs (PWID) in Hai Phong, Vietnam. Mental health was assessed after 12 months’ follow-up using the Mini International Neuropsychiatric Interview questionnaire (MINI 5.0.0). PWID medical history, drug use, and sociodemographic and clinical characteristics were also collected. Among 188 PWID who participated in the assessment, 48 (25.5%) had at least one psychiatric disorder and 19 (10.1%) had 2 or more psychiatric disorders. The most common current psychiatric disorders were major depressive episode (12.2%) and psychotic disorder (4.8%), reaching 10.1% for the latter when lifetime prevalence was considered. Females were more likely than males to have at least one psychiatric disorder, a major depressive disorder, or an anxiety disorder. Methamphetamine use was associated with an increased risk of presenting a lifetime psychotic syndrome. Problematic alcohol consumption was associated with an increased risk of having at least one psychiatric disorder. Psychiatric comorbidities are frequent among PWID in Vietnam. These results highlight the need for routine assessment and innovative interventions to address mental health needs among PWID. Community-based interventions targeting mental health prevention and care should be strongly supported.

scholarly journals Begleiterkrankungen oder Folgeerkrankungen – das Phänomen der Komorbidität bei autoimmun blasenbildenden Dermatosen

2021 ◽  
pp. 1-3
Author(s):  
Michael Sticherling
Keyword(s):  
Mental Health ◽  
Cohort Study ◽  
Psychiatric Disorders ◽  
Psychiatric Symptoms ◽  
Integrated Approach ◽  
Hazard Ratios ◽  
Increased Risk ◽  
Bidirectional Association ◽  
Broad Array ◽  
Subsequent Onset

<b>Background:</b> Bullous pemphigoid (BP) is an autoimmune blistering skin disease that takes a profound physical and mental toll on those affected. The aim of the study was to investigate the bidirectional association between BP and all bullous disorders (ABD) with a broad array of psychiatric disorders, exploring the influence of prescribed medications. <b>Methods:</b> This nationwide, register-based cohort study encompassed 6,470,450 individuals born in Denmark and alive from 1994 to 2016. The hazard ratios (HRs) of a subsequent psychiatric disorder in patients with BP/ABD and the reverse exposure and outcome were evaluated. <b>Results:</b> Several psychiatric disorders were associated with increased risk of subsequent BP (4.18-fold for intellectual disorders, 2.32-fold for substance use disorders, 2.01-fold for schizophrenia and personality disorders, 1.92–1.85–1.49-fold increased risk for organic disorders, neurotic and mood disorders), independent of psychiatric medications. The association between BP and subsequent psychiatric disorders was not significant after adjusting for BP medications, except for organic disorders (HR 1.27, CI 1.04–1.54). Similar results emerged with ABD. <b>Summary:</b> Psychiatric disorders increase the risk of a subsequent diagnosis of BP/ABD independent of medications, whereas medications used for the treatment of BP/ABD appear to account for the subsequent onset of psychiatric disorders. Clinically, an integrated approach attending to both dermatological and psychiatric symptoms is recommended, and dermatologists should remain vigilant for early symptoms of psychiatric disorders to decrease mental health comorbidity.

scholarly journals Monitoring the effects of therapeutic interventions in depression through self-assessments

2021 ◽  
Vol 24 (3) ◽  
Author(s):  
Ines Moragrega ◽  
René Bridler ◽  
Christine Mohr ◽  
Michela Possenti ◽  
Deborah Rochat ◽  
...  
Keyword(s):  
Mental Health ◽  
Psychiatric Disorders ◽  
Mental Health Problems ◽  
Psychiatric Patients ◽  
Therapeutic Interventions ◽  
Voice Analysis ◽  
Self Assessment ◽  
Behavioural Changes ◽  
Analysis Scheme ◽  
Self Assessments

The treatment of major psychiatric disorders is an arduous and thorny path for the patients concerned, characterized by polypharmacy, massive adverse side effects, modest prospects of success, and constantly declining response rates. The more important is the early detection of psychiatric disorders prior to the development of clinically relevant symptoms, so that people can benefit from early interventions. A well-proven approach to monitoring mental health relies on voice analysis. This method has been successfully used with psychiatric patients to ‘objectively’ document the progress of improvement or the onset of relapse. The studies with psychiatric patients over 2-4 weeks demonstrated that daily voice assessments have a notable therapeutic effect in themselves. Therefore, daily voice assessments appear to be a lowthreshold form of therapeutic means that may be realized through self-assessments. To evaluate performance and reliability of this approach, we have carried out a longitudinal study on 82 university students in 3 different countries with daily assessments over 2 weeks. The sample included 41 males (mean age 24.2±3.83 years) and 41 females (mean age 21.6±2.05 years). Unlike other research in the field, this study was not concerned with the classification of individuals in terms of diagnostic categories. The focus lay on the monitoring aspect and the extent to which the effects of therapeutic interventions or of behavioural changes are visible in the results of self-assessment voice analyses. The test persons showed an over-proportionally good adherence to the daily voice analysis scheme. The accumulated data were of generally high quality: sufficiently high signal levels, a very limited number of movement artifacts, and little to no interfering background noise. The method was sufficiently sensitive to detect: i) habituation effects when test persons became used to the daily procedure; and ii) short-term fluctuations that exceeded prespecified thresholds and reached significance. Results are directly interpretable and provide information about what is going well, what is going less well, and where there is a need for action. The proposed self-assessment approach was found to be well-suited to serve as a health-monitoring tool for subjects with an elevated vulnerability to psychiatric disorders or to stress-induced mental health problems. Daily voice assessments are in fact a low-threshold form of therapeutic means that can be realized through selfassessments, that requires only little effort, can be carried out in the test person’s own home, and has the potential to strengthen resilience and to induce positive behavioural changes.

scholarly journals Psychiatric morbidity and substance use in young people aged 13–15 years: results from the Child and Adolescent Survey of Mental Health

2003 ◽  
Vol 182 (6) ◽  
pp. 509-517 ◽  
Author(s):  
A. Boys ◽  
M. Farrell ◽  
C. Taylor ◽  
J. Marsden ◽  
R. Goodman ◽  
...  
Keyword(s):  
Mental Health ◽  
Substance Use ◽  
Psychiatric Disorders ◽  
Psychiatric Morbidity ◽  
Strong Relationship ◽  
Cannabis Use ◽  
Specific Effects ◽  
Increased Risk ◽  
National Mental Health ◽  
The Relationship

BackgroundPsychoactive substance use is strongly associated with psychiatric morbidity in both adults and adolescents.AimsTo determine which of alcohol, nicotine and cannabis is most closely linked to psychiatric disorders in early adolescence.MethodData from 2624 adolescents aged 13–15 years were drawn from a national mental health survey of children. The relationship between psychiatric morbidity and smoking, drinking and cannabis use was examined by logistic regression analyses.ResultsHaving a psychiatric disorder was associated with an increased risk of substance use. Greater involvement with any one substance increased the risk of other substance use. Analyses of the interactions between smoking, drinking and cannabis use indicated that the relationship between substance use and psychiatric morbidity was primarily explained by regular smoking and (to a lesser extent) regular cannabis use.ConclusionsIn this sample, links between substance use and psychiatric disorders were primarily accounted for by smoking. The strong relationship is likely to be due to a combination of underlying individual constitutional factors and drug-specific effects resulting from consumption over the period of adolescent development and growth.

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