Changes in psychopathological symptoms during pregnancy and after delivery: A prospective-longitudinal study in women with and without anxiety and depressive disorders prior to pregnancy

Background: The role of anxiety and depressive disorders prior to pregnancy for changes in peripartum psychopathological symptoms has not been resolved yet. Methods: A regional-epidemiological sample of 306 women was prospectively followed up in seven waves from early pregnancy until 16 months postpartum. Lifetime DSM-IV anxiety and depressive disorders were assessed at baseline with the CIDI-V. Psychopathological symptoms (somatization, obsession–compulsion, interpersonal sensitivity, depression, anxiety, hostility, phobic anxiety, paranoid ideation, and psychoticism) were measured with the BSI three times during pregnancy and three times after delivery. Results: Multilevel analyses revealed that women with versus without lifetime anxiety (β=0.22 to β=0.32) and depressive (β=0.24 to β=0.34) disorders prior to pregnancy experienced higher peripartum psychopathological symptoms. All symptoms linearly decreased during pregnancy (β=-0.02 to β=-0.07 per month). Somatization (β=-0.46) was lower, whereas paranoid ideation (β=0.26) and obsession-compulsion (β=0.21) were higher after delivery than during pregnancy. Though, obsession-compulsion linearly decreased after delivery (β=-0.02). Lifetime anxiety disorders prior to pregnancy interacted with linear changes in anxiety (β=-0.04) and phobic anxiety (β=-0.05) during pregnancy. That is, only women with but not without anxiety disorders prior to pregnancy experienced a linear decline in anxiety and phobic anxiety during pregnancy. Limitations: Lifetime anxiety and depressive disorders were assessed in early pregnancy and might be biased. Conclusions: Peripartum psychopathological symptoms are higher in women with versus without lifetime anxiety and depressive disorders prior to pregnancy, but symptom changes only slightly vary by lifetime diagnostic status.

The Mediation Effect of Phobic Anxiety on the Treatment Outcome of Activity and Participation across Age: Comparison between Online and Face-to-Face Rehabilitation Aftercare of an RCT

The efficacy of internet and mobile-based interventions (IMIs) has been demonstrated with different mental health disorders, but little is known about the mediating effect of phobic anxiety on activity and participation and the differential effect of age. The current study tested a moderated mediation model with short-term change in phobic anxiety mediating between treatment (IMI vs. face-to-face, F2F) and long-term change in activity and participation, and age of patients moderating this mediation. Participants (N = 142) were recruited from psychosomatic rehabilitation clinics and randomized into the IMI psychosomatic aftercare or F2F psychosomatic aftercare. Moderated mediation analyses were conducted using R software. Results showed that the long-term treatment effects of activity and participation (βc = −0.18, p = 0.034; βc’ = −0.13, p = 0.145) were improved through the successful decrease of phobic anxiety (βa = −0.18, p = 0.047; βb = 0.37, p = 0.010). Older patients benefited equally from both IMI and F2F interventions regarding short-term treatment change in phobic anxiety, while younger participants benefited more from IMI (βAge*Treatment = 0.20, p = 0.004). IMIs targeting mental disorders can improve activity and participation along with phobic anxiety, especially in younger individuals. The needs of older patients should be considered with the development and improvement of IMIs.

PSYCHOTHERAPEUTIC TREATMENT OPTIONS FOR PHOBIC ANXIETY DISORDERS: A BRIEF OVERVIEW

Nowadays, the problem of diagnosis, interpretation and selection of treatment options for phobic anxiety disorders is becoming more acute taking into account the multidimensionality of a human being. The data obtained on psychopharmacotherapy show its moderate effectiveness for phobic anxiety disorders. The combination of psychopharmacotherapy and psychotherapy, which often plays a leading role in the treatment process, works much better. The paper aims at analyzing psychotherapeutic treatment options for phobic anxiety disorders, such as exposure therapy, cognitive-behavioral therapy, group therapy and self-help groups, hypnotherapy, mindfulness, meditation, deep breathing, progressive muscle relaxation method. There are pros and cons for both psychopharmacological and psychotherapeutic treatment options. Therefore, the choice of the most effective treatment options should be determined after an in-depth examination of a patient and carried out by a multidisciplinary team of specialists.

Prevalence and Correlates of Work-Phobic Anxiety in a National Representative Sample

Work anxiety is a common mental health problem that is often overlooked and often causes long periods of sick leave. This is the first representative survey on the distribution of work-phobic anxiety in Germany. Of the 2,030 working-age participants (18 – 67 years), 7 % had increased work-phobic anxiety of a moderate (5 % with scores >1.5 – 2.5 on a scale from 0 – 4) or high (2 % with scores >2.5 – 4) degree. People with high levels of work-phobic anxiety reported the longest sick leave durations during the past 12 months (8 weeks) and the most periods of unemployment in their professional lives. The three groups were similar in age, sex, and partnership status. People with high work-phobic anxiety perceived themselves least competent in almost all dimensions of psychological capacity. Occupational health must consider work-phobic anxiety as a specific mental health problem closely linked to work-ability problems.

Examining the Relationship between Psychopathic Leadership, Work Phobic Anxiety and Employee Work Alienation: The Moderating Role of Hostile Attribution Bias

The current study examines the direct relationship between psychopathic leadership and work alienation while incorporating the mediating role of work phobic anxiety. The study sustains that work phobic anxiety mediates the relationship between leader psychopathy and employee work alienation. In addition to this, as grounded in Affective Events Theory, the study further establishes that Hostile Attribution Bias (HAB) as employee-centric dispositional factor moderates the relationship of leader psychopathy an affect inducing event and work phobic anxiety, an employee's behavioral outcome a reaction concerning stimulus workplace. The study employs a quantitative time-lagged design with multisource data collected in three waves through the survey method. Results of the data analysis established all hypotheses of the research in the proposed directions. Confirmatory Factor Analyses were also performed to ensure, reliability and validity of the scales employed in the study; the mediation & moderation were analyzed using SPSS Process Macro, using the "Bootstrapping Method" (Hayes, 2017).

Sleep disorders and their relationship to other psychiatric disorders in women with breast cancer: a case-control study

Background Breast cancer is the most frequent cancer among women, impacting 2.1 million women each year. The aim of the study is to determine prevalence of sleep disorders among patients with breast cancer, its correlation with different psychological symptoms and the ability of such symptoms to predict sleep disorders among those patients. The current study is a case-control study compromised of 153 participants, 93 breast cancer patients versus 60 cross-matched healthy control persons recruited from the outpatient clinic of Oncology Department—Assiut University Hospital. Arabic versions of Beck’s Depression Inventory, symptom checklist, and Sleep Disorder Scale were used to evaluate depression, obsession, sensitivity, anxiety, hostility, phobic anxiety, paranoia ideation, psychoticism, and sleep disorders, respectively. The correlation of this data with clinical and social variables of these patients and the effect of such variables on each other were also determined. Results A statistically higher prevalence of sleep disorders and depression was reported among breast cancer patients compared to the control group. Also, patients with breast cancer scored statistically higher mean scores in somatization, obsession, sensitivity, anxiety, and phobic anxiety than those of the control group. Conclusions Prevalence of sleep disorders, depression, obsession, sensitivity, anxiety, hostility, phobic anxiety, paranoia ideation, and psychoticism among breast cancer patients poses a challenge to the treatment of such patients. Misdiagnosis and mismanagement lead to poor treatment outcomes of both cancer disease and psychiatric disorders.

Relationship between Phobic Anxiety in Work and Leisure Activity Situations, and Optimistic Bias Associated with COVID-19 among South Koreans

Because of the ongoing COVID-19 pandemic, the public is unable to maintain a proper balance between work and leisure, and an increase in community-based infections is causing severe phobic anxiety. Therefore, the present study investigated the differences in phobic anxiety between work and leisure activities according to optimistic bias among 533 South Korean citizens. Frequency analysis, descriptive statistical analysis, t-tests, and a one-way analysis of variance were conducted to examine the data. The results showed that for leisure activities, women showed a higher perception of phobic anxiety. In addition, the group showing high optimistic bias had a higher perception of phobic anxiety in both work and leisure activity situations. Therefore, support measures to lower phobic anxiety among women are needed at the government level, while support and interest from family members are needed at home. Moreover, local governments must ensure active involvement to mitigate phobic anxiety among individuals, and measures are needed to more actively implement infectious disease prevention behaviors.

The Influence of Physical and Mental Exercises on the Mental Health of Middle-Aged and Old People: A Systematic Review and Meta-Analysis

BackgroundTo evaluate the influence effect of physical and mental exercises on the mental health of the middle-aged and old people by using Meta analysis method. MethodsRetrieve databases such as CNKI, WanFang data, VIP Database for Chinese Technical Periodicals, Pubmed, Scopus, web of science, etc. to collect randomized controlled trials of the effect of physical and mental exercises on the mental health of the middle-aged and old people. ResultsThe effects of physical and mental exercises on the somatization and obsessive-compulsive symptoms of middle-aged and old women belongs to a medium effect, and their influence effect on symptoms such as interpersonal sensitivity, depression, anxiety, hostility, phobic anxiety, paranoid ideation belongs to a small effect. The effects of physical and mental exercises on the middle-aged people is greater than that of the old people for symptoms such as obsessive-compulsive, interpersonal sensitivity, depression, and hostility, which belongs to a small-to-medium effect. For the symptoms such as somatization, anxiety, and paranoid ideation, the influence effect of physical and mental exercises on the old is greater than that of the middle-aged, which belongs to a small-to-medium effect. The effects of physical and mental exercises for 45-60 minutes each time, 3 times a week, lasting 12-20 weeks on the middle-aged and old for symptoms such as somatization, obsessive-compulsive, interpersonal sensitivity, depression, anxiety, hostility, phobic anxiety, paranoid ideation is significant, which belongs to a small-to-medium effect. The effects of Tai Chi exercise on somatization, obsessive-compulsive, interpersonal sensitivity, depression, anxiety, hostility, phobic anxiety, paranoia and other symptoms of middle-aged and elderly people were small to medium. ConclusionPhysical and mental exercises have a small-to-medium effect on the middle-aged and old people for the symptoms such as somatization, obsessive-compulsive, interpersonal sensitivity, depression, anxiety, hostility, phobic anxiety, and paranoid ideation, but they have no significant effect on psychosis.