I got it! Transient cardiovascular response to the perception of humor.

I got it! Transient cardiovascular response to the perception of humor.

Biol Psychol. 2013 Apr;93(1):33-40

Authors: Lackner HK, Weiss EM, Schulter G, Hinghofer-Szalkay H, Samson AC, Papousek I

The aim of the present study was to examine the transient cardiovascular response to the perception of humor, that is, the impact of the cognitive process of insight as well as the modulation of the response by the affective appraisal of the humor. To this end transient heart rate, stroke volume, cardiac output, and blood pressure responses were obtained in the immediate context of detecting the punch line in cartoons. Fine-grained analysis of the transient behavior of cardiovascular variables during viewing the cartoons was contrasted to non-humorous cartoon-like pictures. The detection of a punch line was accompanied by relative heart rate acceleration in conjunction with increased cardiac output, which was more pronounced the more amusing the cartoons were perceived. These results provide first evidence of the usefulness of cardiovascular variables for detecting the moment of insight and the quantification of the size of the emotional response accompanying it.

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Coping humor and family functioning in parents of children with disabilities.

Coping humor and family functioning in parents of children with disabilities.

Rehabil Psychol. 2013 Feb;58(1):89-97

Authors: Rieger A, McGrail JP

OBJECTIVE: The purpose of this study was to investigate whether coping humor predicted certain measures of family functioning in parents of children with disabilities.
METHOD: Seventy-two parents of children diagnosed primarily with autism spectrum disorders and multiple disabilities completed the Coping Humor Scale (CHS) and Family Adaptability and Cohesion Evaluation Scales (FACES IV). The FACES IV measures two major dimensions of family functioning: cohesion and flexibility. The CHS measures the degree to which participants use humor to cope with stressful experiences in their lives. Optimal functioning of the family is theorized to be based on a balanced level of both cohesion and flexibility. In the present study, coping humor was hypothesized to predict balanced cohesion as well as balanced flexibility. The data were analyzed using single and hierarchical linear regression.
RESULTS: The results of the regressions indicated that coping humor significantly, albeit weakly, predicted cohesion and flexibility. However, the effects of education level and the number of children in the family also had a significant predictive effect on cohesion and flexibility.
CONCLUSIONS: Contributions of the study, limitations, and implications for future research and clinical practice are discussed.

23438005
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The use of humor in patients with recurrent ovarian cancer: a phenomenological study.

The use of humor in patients with recurrent ovarian cancer: a phenomenological study.

Int J Gynecol Cancer. 2013 May;23(4):775-9

Authors: Rose SL, Spencer RJ, Rausch MM

OBJECTIVE: Humor has been shown to decrease the use of pain medicine, improve mood, and decrease stress. However, the timing and setting for using humor can be perceived differently depending on the patient and the context. Our objective was to better understand how patients with recurrent ovarian cancer experience humor to gain insight into the feasibility of using humor as a therapeutic adjunct.
METHODS: We conducted structured patient interviews with women being treated for recurrent ovarian cancer. The phenomenological method of Colaizzi was used to gain an in-depth understanding of how women with recurrent ovarian cancer use and view humor in relation to their diagnosis.
RESULTS: Most patients used humor to cope with cancer and felt that humor alleviated their anxiety. The use of humor by physicians and nurses was perceived as appropriate and positive. A previous relationship with a physician was often felt necessary before the use of humor. Humor was often perceived not only in traditional jokes but was also found in humorous anecdotes from the caregiver's life outside of medicine.
CONCLUSIONS: This study revealed that humor is an often used coping mechanism for women with recurrent ovarian cancer and subjectively helps alleviate anxiety. The use of humor by physicians was found to be universally perceived as appropriate and positive. The waiting area seems to be a place where humorous experiences would be welcomed. These findings provide additional insight into the role that humor plays in the lives of patients with recurrent ovarian cancer.

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Laughing at the looking glass: does humor style serve as an interpersonal signal?

Laughing at the looking glass: does humor style serve as an interpersonal signal?

Evol Psychol. 2013;11(1):201-26

Authors: Zeigler-Hill V, Besser A, Jett SE

OBJECTIVE: The provision of information appears to be an important feature of humor. The present studies examined whether humor serves as an interpersonal signal such that an individual's style of humor is associated with how the individual is perceived by others.
METHOD: We examined this issue across two studies. In Study 1, undergraduate participants (257 targets) were rated more positively by their friends and family members (1194 perceivers) when they possessed more benign humor styles. In Study 2, 1190 community participants rated the romantic desirability of targets ostensibly possessing different humor styles.
RESULTS: Across both studies, our results were consistent with the possibility that humor serves as a signal. More specifically, individuals with benign humor styles (affiliative and self-enhancing humor styles) were evaluated more positively than those targets with injurious humor styles (aggressive and self-defeating humor styles).
CONCLUSION: These findings are discussed in terms of the role that humor may play in interpersonal perception and relationships.

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It's in the way that you use it: attachment and the dyadic nature of humor during conflict negotiation in romantic couples.

It's in the way that you use it: attachment and the dyadic nature of humor during conflict negotiation in romantic couples.

Pers Soc Psychol Bull. 2013 Apr;39(4):496-508

Authors: Winterheld HA, Simpson JA, Oriña MM

In a behavioral observation study with dating couples, we examined (a) how attachment orientations predict humor use and (b) how people respond to their partners' use of humor. Couples were videotaped while trying to resolve a relationship conflict. Each discussion was rated on several theoretically relevant dimensions. Highly avoidant individuals used more aggressive humor and less affiliative humor during their discussions, whereas highly anxious individuals used more self-defeating humor. Individuals also tailored their humor use to partners who were highly anxious and distressed. Aggressive humor was received more negatively by partners who sought more care. Affiliative humor was favorably received, especially when partners were more distressed, whereas self-defeating humor elicited negative responses from highly distressed partners. Both highly anxious and avoidant individuals reacted unfavorably when they were the recipients of the humor styles they used most often. The implications of these results for our understanding of relationships and humor are discussed.

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A trial of improvement of immunity in cancer patients by laughter therapy.

A trial of improvement of immunity in cancer patients by laughter therapy.

Jpn Hosp. 2013 Jul;(32):53-9

Authors: Sakai Y, Takayanagi K, Ohno M, Inose R, Fujiwara H

PURPOSE: The study was on the impact of laughter therapy on immunological improvement of patients with gastrointestinal cancer undergoing surgery and chemotherapy.
MATERIALS & METHOD: Immunological measurements were performed in 41 cases with patients aged 68.9 years suffering from gastric or colorectal cancer. Intervention using Laughter Therapy was applied to 12 out of the 25 patients subjected to laproscopic surgery and 12 out of 19 patients subjected to chemotherapy.
RESULTS: Immunity of patients within the control group who had surgery decreased. Immunity of patients within the control group who had chemotherapy decreased. With intervention of Laughter Therapy, the immunity of patients with surgery had either decreased or was the same. However, with intervention of Laughter Therapy using the Smile-Sun Method, the immunity of chemotherapy patients increased, notably in patients with colorectal cancer. The improvement of immunity within the control group was 0 out of 7.
CONCLUSION: Patients with advanced cancer have lower immunity which is further decreased with surgery or chemotherapy. Chemotherapy patients who undertook the Laughter Therapy using the Smile-Sun Methodology during treatment in the hospital showed significantly higher immunity levels. The results of this study indicate that patients with gastrointestinal cancer, who undergo laparoscopic surgery or chemotherapy for stomach or colorectal cancer, benefit from a formal program of psychotherapeutic support during the in-patient hospital stay in terms of immunological improvement.

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Sense of humor and its association with psychological disturbances among dental students in India.

Sense of humor and its association with psychological disturbances among dental students in India.

J Dent Educ. 2013 Oct;77(10):1338-44

Authors: Madhan B, Barik AK, Patil R, Gayathri H, Reddy MS

Although the health benefits of humor and the potential advantages of having a good Sense of Humor (SoH) have been long recognized, they have not been investigated in dental students. The aim of this study was to assess the extent and demographic correlates of SoH in dental students and its association with their self-reported level of psychological disturbances. Six hundred and five students (age 20.3±1.83 years, 250 males, 355 females) from two dental schools in India anonymously completed the Multidimensional Sense of Humor Scale (MSHS) and the Depression Anxiety Stress Scales-21. Independent samples t-test and one-way ANOVA were used to analyze the intergroup differences based on gender and year of study, respectively. The association between SoH and each of the three negative affective states was evaluated with multiple linear regressions. The mean MSHS score of the sample was 59.65±11.77. Male students showed a marginally higher SoH than females (60.78 vs. 58.86, p<0.05). The level of SoH steadily improved along the course duration, with statistically significant increases in the third and fifth years of study. SoH was negatively associated with all three negative affective states and explained nearly 3 to 5 percent of their variance. These results warrant further inquiry on the correlates of SoH in dental students, the psychosocial roles of humor, and their application in improving the psychological climate in dental schools.

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Laughter in popular games and in sport. The other health of human play.

Laughter in popular games and in sport. The other health of human play.

Gesnerus. 2013;70(1):127-50

Authors: Eichberg H

Hurling in Cornwall, la soule in Britanny, Shrovetide football in England: Popular games have normally been treated as forerunners of modern sport, sport having regulated the space and the time of the game, the (non-) violence of behaviour, the control of results, the planning, strategy, tactics, techniques and evaluation of the competitive action. This is told as a story of social improvement and progress--and about turning unhealthy wildness into civilized 'healthy' sport activity. What sociological analysis of game-playing tended to ignore was the laughter of the participants. With the seriousness of modern sport, as it was established in the nineteenth century, a culture of laughter disappeared. This study tries to counter this mainstream by a phenomenology of laughter in popular games. A contrasting attention is turned towards the seriousness of sporting competition, the smile in modern sport and fitness, and the 'underground' dimension of laughter in modern sports. By comparative analysis, laughter reveals as a bodily discourse about the imperfect human being. It tells an oppositional story about the perfectionism in the order of Western thinking--in sports as well as in health. The bodily 'physiology' of laughter, the exploding psychical energy, and the inter-bodily social relations in laughter and play and game point towards the multi-dimensionality of health, as it was formulated by WHO: as "physical, mental, and social well-being".

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A pilot study of the relation between humor styles and the past-positive and past-negative time perspectives.

A pilot study of the relation between humor styles and the past-positive and past-negative time perspectives.

Psychol Rep. 2013 Aug;113(1):1359-65

Authors: Hampes W

Those who use self-enhancing and affiliative humor styles tend to recall positive experiences with their parents and primary caretakers, whereas those who use the self-defeating humor style tend to recall negative experiences with them. Considering the importance of experiences with parents and primary caretakers for life satisfaction and happiness, it was hypothesized that the affiliative and self-enhancing humor styles would be positively correlated with past-positive experiences and negatively correlated with past-negative experiences, and that the self-defeating humor style would be positively correlated with past-negative experiences and negatively correlated with past-positive experiences. The Humor Styles Questionnaire and the Past-Positive and Past-Negative subscales of the Zimbardo Time Perspective Inventory were administered to 114 undergraduates. The hypotheses were partially supported despite the retrospective nature of the Past-Positive and Past-Negative Subscales and the correlational nature of the study, indicating further research is needed.

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Measuring Meaning and Peace With the FACIT-Spiritual Well-Being Scale: Distinction Without a Difference?

Psychol Assess. 2013 Nov 4;

The Functional Assessment of Chronic Illness Therapy-Spiritual Well-Being Scale (FACIT-Sp; Peterman, Fitchett, Brady, Hernandez, & Cella, 2002) has become a widely used measure of spirituality; however, there remain questions about its specific factor structure and the validity of scores from its separate scales. Specifically, it remains unclear whether the Meaning and Peace scales denote distinct factors. The present study addresses previous limitations by examining the extent to which the Meaning and Peace scales relate differentially to a variety of physical and mental health variables across 4 sets of data from adults with a number of chronic health conditions. Although a model with separate but correlated factors fit the data better, discriminant validity analyses indicated limited differences in the pattern of associations each scale showed with a wide array of commonly used health and quality-of-life measures. In total, the results suggest that people may distinguish between the concepts of Meaning and Peace, but the observed relations with health outcomes are primarily due to variance shared between the 2 factors. Additional research is needed to better understand the separate and joint role of Meaning and Peace in the quality of life of people with chronic illness. (PsycINFO Database Record (c) 2013 APA, all rights reserved).

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Music therapy for patients who have undergone hematopoietic stem cell transplant.

Music therapy for patients who have undergone hematopoietic stem cell transplant.

Evid Based Complement Alternat Med. 2014;2014:742941

Authors: Ratcliff CG, Prinsloo S, Richardson M, Baynham-Fletcher L, Lee R, Chaoul A, Cohen MZ, de Lima M, Cohen L

Objectives. This study examines the short- and long-term QOL benefits of a music therapy intervention for patients recovering from hematopoietic stem cell transplantation (HSCT). Methods. Ninety allogeneic HSCT patients, after transplant, were randomized to receive ISO-principle (i.e., mood matching) based music therapy (MT; n = 29), unstructured music (UM; n = 30), or usual care (UC; n = 31) for four weeks. The ISO principle posits that patients may shift their mood from one state to another by listening to music that is "equal to" the individual's initial mood state and subsequently listening to music selections that gradually shift in tempo and mood to match the patient's desired disposition. Participants in MT and UM groups developed two audio CDs to help them feel more relaxed and energized and were instructed to use the CDs to improve their mood as needed. Short-term effects on mood and long-term effects on QOL were examined. Results. MT and UM participants reported improved mood immediately after listening to CDs; the within-group effect was greater for UM participants compared to MT participants. Participant group was not associated with long-term QOL outcomes. Conclusions. Music listening improves mood acutely but was not associated with long-term benefits in this study.

24527052 [PubMed]
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Can Inner Peace be Improved by Mindfulness Training?

Can Inner Peace be Improved by Mindfulness Training: A Randomized Controlled Trial.

Stress Health. 2013 Nov 22;

Authors: Liu X, Xu W, Wang Y, Williams JM, Geng Y, Zhang Q, Liu X

This article reports a randomized controlled trial to investigate whether mindfulness training can successfully improve inner peace in participants with no known mental disorder. Fifty-seven participants were randomized to either mindfulness training (n = 29) or wait-list control (n = 28). The experience sampling method was used to measure the fleeting momentary experience of inner peace in participants. In addition, we used an experimental approach to assessing ability to focus attention: the Meditation Breath Attention Score, as well as the self-report Five-Facet Mindfulness Questionnaire (FFMQ). Compared with the wait-list control group, mindfulness training led to an increase in scores of inner peace, Meditation Breath Attention Score and FFMQ, using analysis of repeated measures analysis of variance. Change in inner peace was not, however, mediated by changes in self-rated mindfulness (FFMQ) nor by increased attentional focus. The findings provide first evidence suggesting that using mindfulness training improves the participants' inner peace. The focus here was on the immediate effects and future studies need to use follow-up. © 2013 The Authors. Stress and Health published by John Wiley & Sons Ltd.

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Are feelings of peace or depression the drivers of the relationship between neighbourhood social fragmentation and mental health in Aotearoa/New Zealand?

Are feelings of peace or depression the drivers of the relationship between neighbourhood social fragmentation and mental health in Aotearoa/New Zealand?

Health Place. 2013 Nov 27;26C:1-6

Authors: Pearson AL, Ivory V, Breetzke G, Lovasi GS

Exploration of the influence of neighbourhood social context on supportive relationships and social cohesion is on the rise. Positive social contexts may be less stressful for residents, resulting in mental wellbeing and calmness; whereas negative contexts may increase stress and deleterious mental health. To examine this, we measured the relationship between an Index of Neighbourhood Social Fragmentation and overall mental well-being in New Zealand. Then we examined the influence of fragmentation on two components of mental health: depression and calmness. Increased fragmentation was significantly associated with lower mental health scores for the entire population and for females, with similar but insignificant trends for males. Increased fragmentation was associated with increased depression in both sexes, but not calmness. Depression rather than calmness may contribute to the observed association between fragmentation and overall mental health. Groups vulnerable to stressful social contexts may be prone to depression in fragmented neighbourhoods. Further examination of the specific aspects of living in fragmented neighbourhoods which increase depressive feelings is warranted.

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Chants For Health

Musical Chant can have profoundly positive effects upon your health. It goes far beyond just calming your mind- it can give dramatic physical benefits as well.

Dr. Thomas F. Heston explores the benefits of chant in the prevention and treatment of disease. His e-book is online in Kindle format on Amazon.com
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Music for stress and anxiety reduction in coronary heart disease patients

BACKGROUND: The Cochrane Collaboration is an independent organization that performs systematic reviews in order to assess the scientific validity of research findings. Music interventions have been theorized to help patients with heart disease, but no clear consensus exists.

METHODS: This systematic review looked at the effect of music interventions in patients with coronary artery disease. There were  23 trials with 1461 patients included in the evaluation. In most studies, the main intervention was simply listening to music. A trained music therapist was not utilized in the intervention group in 21 of the 23 trials.

RESULTS: Although the results were inconsistent, overall, listening to music appeared to have a moderate and positive effect on anxiety in patients with coronary heart disease. There wasn't any clear evidence for an overall reduction of psychological stress by listening to music. Listening to music, however, did appear to lower the heart rate, respiratory rate, and blood pressure. In addition, there was evidence that two or more therapeutic music sessions led to a small but consistent reduction in pain. 

CONCLUSION: listening to music appears to have a beneficial effect upon blood pressure, heart rate, respiratory rate, anxiety, and pain in persons with coronary heart disease. It should be noted that the scientific evidence is not strong and the clinical impact of these findings unclear. More research is needed looking at the possible impact of using trained music therapists.

Cochrane Database Syst Rev. 2009 Apr 15;(2):CD006577.Read More

Psychiatric ethics in war and peace.

Psychiatric ethics in war and peace.

Ind Psychiatry J. 2013 Jan;22(1):71-6

Authors: Raju MS

Practice of psychiatry is a complex activity because the psychiatrist generally practises his art in an emotionally charged environment with patients who may not be in a in a state of mind to exercise autonomy as a result of cognitive impairment and preoccupation with symptoms. No one principle of ethics will be suitable to guide right conduct in widely variable situations. Making ethical judgements in the military context can be difficult and may have potential for abuse as for an uniformed psychiatrist mission takes priority over man. However mission centered and medical text book centred ethics need not be compartamentalised. The present paper seeks to offer a brief overview of ethical principles and specific situations in which one may have to make ethical judgements.

24459379 [PubMed]

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Eating in Color

 This is an interesting take on how to eat a healthy diet... basically, eat a wide variety of colors, which you get from a wide variety of fruits and vegetables. Seems like an easy way to keep your diet in balance. See: Eating in Color

25 year follow-up for breast cancer incidence and mortality

This study found no benefit of screening mammography in women aged 40 yo to 59 yo. In addition, significant adverse side-effects of screening were found (Twenty five year follow-up for breast cancer incidence and mortality of the Canadian National Breast Screening Study: randomised screening trial | BMJ). This will not be the last word on this subject, however, this study is important because it not only looks at overall survival, but also at adverse side-effects. Screening tests can have both benefits and harms. Ignoring the harms only gives one side of the story.

Acetaminophen Toxicity

The FDA is recommending that people decrease the amount of acetaminophen (Tylenol) they take for pain.

Acetaminophen Toxicity .  My recommendation for most people is to buy the regular strength (325 mg ) pills instead of the extra strength (500 mg) acetaminophen pills. Research studies show no difference in pain relief between a couple of 325 mg pills (total of 650 mg) and a couple of 500 mg pills (total of 1000 mg) but there will be less chance of harmful liver side-effects when taking the lower dose.