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Biomedical subjects

M Hermanutz

Publications and source records attributed to M Hermanutz.

6 recordsLinked to original sources
PubMed2001

[Bank robbery as trauma--"but who understands me?"].

The different ways victims behave and feel after having experienced a bank robbery as well as some of the usual questions they may ask will be described using a typical case. The symptoms produced by a trauma do not only require a treatment based on empathy but also special attention. Should you ever have to deal with a traumatized victim of a robbery, the first and most important thing is not to leave the person alone. Simply talking to the person, without any reproaches may already help to calm him/her down. The most helpful thing is to involve the family, relatives and friends in further care. If the victim does not react when talking to him/her and counselling does not produce relief, then medication is advisable. If the persons have been taken hostage, or in the case of strong symptoms, it is advisable to seek the assistance of a psychologist or a psychiatrist. Therefore, dealing with victims after a bank robbery can be compared with a balancing act on a tightrope. A lot of sensitivity and patience are required.

Adult↗
PubMed1996

Responses to activation and rest in patients with panic disorder and major depression.

Physical activity may be a trigger for panic attacks in patients with panic disorder, while exercise may have an antidepressant effect in patients with major depression. In order to examine reactions to rest as well as to exercise periods, we assessed physiological responses (heart rate, blood pressure), subjective responses on a visual analogue scale, and attentional responses with the span of apprehension test. Twenty participants met the diagnostic criteria for panic disorder, 20 patients had major depression, and 20 participants served as controls. Patients with major depression showed slower reaction times than participants in the other groups; this difference was more pronounced with increased task difficulty. Physical activation led to lower depression scores in all groups. Patients with panic disorder had elevated anxiety scores after physical activation, but also after rest. Heart rate as well as systolic blood pressure showed the expected acceleration after physical activation, but there were no differences between the groups. Activation did not seem to influence attentional performance as measured by the span of apprehension test. Results are consistent with a cognitive view of panic disorder. In contrast to patients with panic disorder, patients with major depression seem to have an attentional deficit which is more pronounced with more complex cognitive processing.

Adult↗
PubMed1993

Covert effects of alcohol revealed by event-related potentials.

Contradictory evidence as to the effects of alcohol on early information processing stages has been obtained from behavioral and psychophysiological investigations. In the present study, choice reaction times, error rates, and event-related potentials (ERPs) were recorded in a task in which variations in stimulus discriminability and of the (task irrelevant) correspondence between stimulus location and response location were orthogonally combined. Both discriminability and stimulus-response correspondence affected reaction time and electrophysiological chronometric measures as expected. However, no behavioral effects of alcohol were observed, possibly because of strategic adjustments. Psychophysiological chronometric measures indicated that alcohol leaves the initial flow of perceptual evidence to motor stages unimpaired, whereas it appears to increase the duration of stimulus evaluation. Interestingly, a number of alcohol effects appeared in the ERP amplitudes. Decrements in early ERP components indicate alcohol-induced impairments of involuntary visual attention and/or the automatic stimulus location-dependent activation of response channels. In contrast, a strong enhancement of a late slow-wave component under alcohol may reflect the investment of processing resources in order to maintain normal performance levels.

Adult↗
PubMed1991

Computer-assisted attention training in schizophrenics. A comparative study.

The evaluation of a computer-assisted attention training program is compared with a cognitive group training program. Both programs were devised to reduce cognitive deficits in schizophrenics. The training programs were given to 30 acute schizophrenics and 30 healthy subjects. Both were shown to be effective in reducing distraction of schizophrenics in reaction-time tasks. By means of training, schizophrenics may attain the same results in reaction time tasks as healthy individuals. The results are discussed under theoretical, methodical and practical aspects.

Acute Disease↗