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Biomedical subjects

R Jouvent

Publications and source records attributed to R Jouvent.

106 records · Page 6Linked to original sources

Relationships between sensation seeking and emotional symptomatology during smoking cessation with nicotine patch therapy.

This study explored relationships between the sensation-seeking trait and the development of emotional symptomatology during smoking cessation with nicotine transdermal patches. Twenty-five subjects were evaluated before they stopped smoking, on Day 8, Day 30, Day 90, and Day 120. Initial motives for smoking and the sensation-seeking personality trait were tested as possible predictors for the development of specific mood disturbances. Our subjects scored very high on sensation seeking, consistent with previous results on smokers. This may also be due to the well-known tendency of high sensation-seekers to be willing to try new experiences. The sensation-seeking trait did not predict the issue of cessation. However, it was related to emotional deficit (anhedonia, affective blunting), tiredness, and a lack of energy, before and during smoking cessation. Two different interpretations of emotional deficit are proposed.

Administration, Cutaneous↗

Adaptation as a sensorial profile in trait anxiety: a study with virtual reality.

Twenty-four volunteers were recruited on the basis of their trait anxiety scores (low trait anxiety [LTA] and high trait anxiety [HTA]) as assessed by the State-Trait Anxiety Inventory. Adaptation to conflicting visual-vestibular stimulation (VVS) was used to study integration of space-related multi-sensory information in trait anxiety. First, vestibular perception was assessed by rotating the blindfolded subjects about the vertical axis (horizontal plane rotations) on a remote-controlled mobile robot. The subjects were asked to indicate the perceived rotation by use of an angular pointer. Subjects were then immersed into the center of a visual virtual square room by means of a head-mounted display. They were asked to control the robot with a joystick in order to perform 90 degrees rotations in the virtual room. However, a gain of 0.5 was introduced between visual scene and robot rotation so that the subjects were submitted to a conflict situation in which the 90 degrees rotational visual input was concurrent with a 180 degrees vestibular input. After 45 min of training with the virtual reality display, subjects were tested again in total darkness in order to determine whether their vestibular system had been reset by the conflicting visual signals. We found significant differences in adaptation to VVS between HTA and LTA groups as well as between males and females. Subjects of the HTA group demonstrated larger adaptation than that of the LTA group. Males also showed a greater level of adaptation compared to females. Our results suggest greater visual dependence in HTA subjects. This might be important for understanding the mechanisms underlying pathological anxiety and particularly agoraphobia.

Adult↗

Psychometric normalization of a hyperacusis questionnaire.

Clinical hyperacusis consists of a marked intolerance to ordinary environmental sounds, while hearing thresholds are quite often normal. Hyperacusis appears to be a subjective phenomenon, which is not easily defined or quantified by objective measurements. In order to create a tool suitable to quantify and evaluate various hyperacusis symptoms, a questionnaire screening several aspects of auditory symptomatology has been constructed. Two hundred and one subjects (who were either hyperacusic or not), randomly selected from the general population, were tested. A principal component analysis performed on the correlation matrix of the 14 items of the questionnaire isolated three dimensions: attentional, social, and emotional. The three dimensions had satisfactory internal consistency reliability. The mean +/- SD total score was 15 +/- 6.7 out of 42 (maximum of hyperacusis) and a score greater than 28 seems to represent a strong auditory hypersensitivity. This new psychometric tool should further be tested on hyperacusic patients to verify its relevance in pathology and define the involvement of the three dimensions statistically obtained on the hyperacusis symptomatology.

Adolescent↗

[Distinction between anxiety state/trait in general practice: a descriptive study].

State-anxiety has been defined as a transitory emotional response involving unpleasant feelings of tension and apprehensive thoughts. Trait-anxiety, on the other hand, has been defined as a personality trait referring to individual differences in the likelihood that a person would experience state anxiety in a stressful situation. The aim of the present study was to assess trait and state-anxiety in a population of patients consulting physicians for anxious complaints. Thus, patients who stopped the benzodiazepine (BZD) treatment after three months and those who continued it for six months were compared. Included patients were evaluated at inclusion (D0), after three months (M3) and after six months (M6). The investigator filled the Covi anxiety scale, the Raskin depression scale and a CGI; patients were asked to fill the Spielberger state/trait-anxiety questionnaire. 1,112 patients have been included, 48% considered their anxiety as chronic, 50% said the evolution was progressive, 87% considered it resulting of a trigger factor, 69% received a benzodiazepine (BZD) treatment. At D0: Covi anxiety score was 5.3 +/- 2.3 points, STAI I (state-anxiety) score was 57.4 +/- 12.2 points and STAI II (trait-anxiety) score was 52.7 +/- 10.2 points. At M3, all scores decreased, and 85% were considered as ameliorated, but differences were significant (p = 0.0001) at M6. When comparing at D0 patients who stopped BZD treatment at M3 and those who continued it, some differences appeared. In fact subjects who stopped the treatment had lower score at the STAI II, presented significantly less flushes (p = 0.01), less tremor (p = 0.04) and less feverishness (p = 0.05). Their score at Covi tended to be lower (p = 0.11). The severity of the disease, evaluated with the CGI, was also lower for the patients who stopped the BZD treatment. The trait-anxiety appeared as a good predictor of the efficacy of the BZD treatment. In fact, the trait-anxiety refers to a tendency to be anxious and higher anxiety necessitates longer treatment. The treatment response was less important in the patients who continued the treatment at M3, indicating the presence of residual anxiety in these patients.

Adolescent↗

[Comparative study of the relationship between alexithymia and affective dependence on 60 alcoholics and 57 control subjects].

UNLABELLED: Several authors have shown that alexithymia characterizes patients suffering from substance abuses. Moreover emotional and perceptual dependencies have also been described in these disorders. The aim of this study is to test two hypotheses: First that the emotional components of alexithymia and dependency were linked in alcoholics and secondly that the cognitive components of these two dimensions were also linked in these subjects. Two groups were recruited: 60 inpatients filled out the DSM IV criteria for alcohol dependence and 57 healthy subjects were the controls. All the subjects completed the following rating scales: the twenty items Toronto Alexithymia Scale (TAS-20), the Interpersonal Dependency Inventory (IDI), the Beck Depression Inventory, the Embedded Figures Test (EFT). Partial correlations (r Bravais Pearson), using BDI score as constant, were calculated. In normals the Feelings subscale of the TAS-20 correlated with the Lack of social self confidence subscale of the IDI (r = 0.43, p < 0.0018) and in alcoholics the Cognitive factor of the TAS-20 correlated with the Lack of social self confidence subscale (r = 0.41, p < 0.0018). Moreover in alcoholics, the cognitive factor of the TAS-20 correlated significantly with the EFT score (r = -0.35, p < 0.003). CONCLUSION: In alcoholics the cognitive component of alexithymia and the perceptual component of dependency were linked, independently of an associated depression. A particular cognitive style characterized by externality and field dependence could characterized dependent alcoholics.

Adult↗

[Sensation seeking and mood dimensions in depressive states].

This study presents the investigation of the relations between dimensions of depressive mood and sensations seeking in 55 hospitalized depressed subjects. The concept of sensation seeking, identified by M. Zuckerman as a personality dimension, has been defined as the need for the subject to reach his optimal level of activation. The four subscores of sensation seeking, relatively independent, are identified in the sensation seeking scale; they stand at different levels on the dimensions of activation and pleasure which are emotional dimensions. These emotional dimensions are investigated in the exploration of the emotional components of depressive mood; the different symptomatic regroupings, such as blunted affect or impulsivity, do not have the same relations with these dimensions. The sensation seeking concept appears fruitful to investigate the different troubles of affective dynamic, which stand on the expressive and behavioral level, and on the subjective level. As in several studies with normal populations, we find again the same inverse relation between age and sensation seeking, and men obtain higher scores on the Thrill and Adventure seeking factor and on the Desinhibition factor. Globally, depressed subjects have lower scores of sensation seeking than normal subjects (paired by age and sex); but the weakness of sensation seeking is not proportional to the intensity of depression (Hamilton Depressive Scale) and to the the intensity of anxiety (Covi Brief Anxiety Scale). Interesting relations appear with the depressive mood factors, which agree with previous studies of sensation seeking in psychology and psychopathology.(ABSTRACT TRUNCATED AT 250 WORDS)

Adult↗

[French translation and validation of Izard's differential emotion scale. Study of the verbal qualification of emotions].

This work presents the validation of a French version of the emotional self rating scale by Izard (Differential Emotion Scale). This scale is based on the theory of the Discrete Emotions which proposes the existence of ten fundamental emotions. This self-rating scale consists of thirty emotional adjectives (three for each emotion). The validation was done by using a non inductive method (by asking the subject to describe his present emotional state) with 84 control subjects. It shows that this version is valid. Main results are first the binarisation of the emotions (positive and negative), then the existence of complex factors with psychopathological meaning after factorial analysis. These results are in agreement with a theory of expressive emotional levels more than with the theory of discrete emotions in psychopathology.

Adult↗

[The phenomenon of visual parallel detection. Construction and validation of a test and application to a psychosomatic model].

A psychometric test of visual detection, based upon the theory of parallel information processing taking place in the left (analytical) and the right (holistic) hemispheres, is presented. The aim of this test is to study the capacity of visual holistic attention during a simultaneous logical distractive task (point to point closure). We first present the validation study on one hundred and four normal subjects. A second study on 20 psychosomatics is then presented, showing significantly inferior results in all subtests in comparison with paired controls. Results are discussed in terms of cognitive psychology, and in particular the link between holistic processing and the emotion processing function of the right hemisphere. This test therefore constitutes a new model of exploration of the cognitivo-emotional process. It should lead to a better evaluation for the study of interhemispheric dysconnexion in neurology as well as psychopathological states such as psychosomatic diseases, where dysconnexion- like phenomena (alexithymia) are thought to play a part.

Adolescent↗

[Heterogeneity of the depressive mood. Construction of a polydimensional scale].

The evaluation of depressive mood implies several levels of the clinician's inferences: behaviour observation, subjective experience report, affective communication... The authors report the first stages in the construction of a specific depressive mood scale administered to a major depressive disorder population of 52 patients meeting DSM III criteria. The principal component analysis splits mood into three main factors: dysphoria, expressed sadness, emotional blunting. These various emotional dimensions should be taken into account for the analysis of drugs effects.

Adult↗

[The Pleasure-Displeasure Scale. Use in the evaluation of depressive illness].

The Pleasure-displeasure Scale is a self-report instrument consisting of 82 items for measuring the intensity of subjects' affective responses to usually pleasant and unpleasant situations. 81 depressed inpatients were compared to 120 normal subjects. The responses of the depressed patients to the Pleasure sub-scale (French translation of the Fawcett-Clark's Pleasure Scale) are more anhedonic than those of the normal subjects; but the difference did not reach statistical significance. Pleasure scores in the depressive group are bimodally distributed; a distinct subset (11% of depressives) is characterised by an extremely anhedonic Pleasure score. The sensitivity to unpleasant stimuli is significantly greater in the depressive group; however this difference seems to be related rather to a low cultural level than to depression itself. Finally pleasure and displeasure scores are closely correlated: this could possibly imply that anhedonia is not an independent symptom but rather belongs to the wider constellation of affective anesthesia.

Adult↗

[Automatic information processing, the frontal system and blunted affect. From clinical dimensions to cognitive processes toward a psychobiological explanation of temperament].

Several theorists have drawn a distinction between automatic and attentional or controlled processing. Hasher and Zacks (1979), were the very first to argue that effortful processes are reduced under conditions of stress including depression. They suggested that, in these conditions, no such deficit occurs in automatic processing. Then, Weingartner and co-workers provided some experiments which seemed to support such an interpretation of the cognitive dysfunction in depressed patients. However, some recent data do not fit with this well admitted theoretical framework. The purpose of our article is to try to clarify this issue both from a theoretical and from a methodological point of view. First, we make a critical review of the most recent results in three fields of experimentation related to the "automatic versus controlled" topic: 1) The classical neuropsychology of memory which manipulates the level of effort required to perform the tasks. Confusion arises when theories at the process level are tested with reference to data collected at the task level. The transparency assumption could be false: Impairment in an effort-demanding task could be due to a defect in automatic processes and it is possible to hypothesize that the more automatic processes are deficient, the more controlled processes are saturated and the effort demanding task impaired. The emergence of controlled processes could depend on the level of automaticity and the regulation of automatic processes could be determinant for the ability of the subject to make associations. 2) The recent studies on implicit memory in depression.(ABSTRACT TRUNCATED AT 250 WORDS)

Adolescent↗

[Hypothetical model of serotonin deficit in the aged subject. Development and validation of a clinical scale].

Few works exist about specific abnormalities of neurotransmission, therefore noticeable and with important clinical consequences in elderly patients. Specially serotonin, which neurotransmission is lower, seems to have a wide influence. The symptomatology of the serotonin shortage is well known in the young adult (Asberg and Van Praag). The aim of this study is to apply those hypothesis and to look for a particular clinical expression of symptoms usually related to a low level of serotonin in an older population, and this in a transnosographic way. We built up a clinical scale gathering different symptoms supposed to be related to a defect in the serotonin transmission in elderly subjects. From a first factor analysis, a dimensional scale of ten items as been settled and validated in 75 inpatients over 60 years old; each patient has also been assessed by a series of tests (MMS of Folstein, Hamilton Depression Rating Scale, Jouvent mood scale, Widlöcher Retardation Scale). Factor analysis results show an homogeneous factorial structure and highly selective items and had a three factors dispatching (a "main" factor, a "depression" factor, and "sleep" factor). Those subgroups of symptoms have a clinical meaning and fit the litterature. We also find a good specificity: the factor analysis on added items of depressive semiology (Hamilton scale) and serotonin related semiology shows the splitting of the Hamilton items, whenever the 5-HT- Scale items keep a steady factorial repartition. Those preliminary results deserve further studies; and external validation of the scale remains to be done. Nevertheless, the structure of this scale shows a beginning of internal validation and seems to be interesting in the elderly clinical evaluation.

Aged↗

[Translation and validation of the Revised Social Anhedonia Scale (SAS Social Anhedonia Scale, M.L. Eckblad, L.J. Chapman et al., 1982). Study of the internal and concurrent validity in 126 normal subjects].

The Revised Social Anhedonia Scale (SAS) with 40 items (Eckblad et al., 1982) which studies the social dimension of anhedonia has been validated in the United-States (Mishlove & Chapman, 1985). However, no french translation and validation of this scale has been made to date. This work presents the french translation of the Social Anhedonia Scale and its validation. After a back-translation and final adjustment, it has been submitted to a sample of 126 control subjects from the general population. Furthermore, they were asked to fill two other scales: the Chapman Physical Anhedonia (PAS) with 61 items and the Fawcett Pleasure Scale (36 items), both of them exploring the subjects answer in terms of anhedonia/hedonia towards social, sensorial and/or physical experiences. The internal validity has been determined on the one hand by the Cronbach alpha coefficient which showed a strong unidimensional characteristic (0.80) and the other hand by the correlation of each item with the total score using the point biserial coefficient which ranged from .204 to .559. The concurrent validation has been determined by the Pearson correlation coefficient between the french version of social anhedonia scale and the french version of physical anhedonia scale. The values were .42, p = .001. Furthermore, this two scales are significant inversely correled to the french version of the pleasure scale: r = -.22, p = .0125 for the first, and r = -.26, p = .0027 for the second. The internal and concurrent validity of the french version of the revised social anhedonia scale should allow to improve our understanding of anhedonia in psychiatry and psychopathology.

Adolescent↗

[Sensation seeking and anhedonia in risk taking. Study of a population of bungy jumpers].

This study presents the investigation of the relations between sensation seeking (41) and anhedonia in 80 subjects who practice a risk taking sport, bengy jump. These relations were examined according to different variables which characterize the practice of bengy jump: the total number of previous jumps and the motivations to jump (1. personal motivation, 2. professional motivation--working in the jumping organization, and 3. group motivation--for example being leaded to jump by friends). We also assessed the use of psychoactive substances. All jumpers (men and women) have higher scores than control subjects in Thrill and adventure seeking dimension. In men, the more the subjects score on this dimension, the less they score on the physical anhedonia scale (8). In women, Experience Seeking and Boredom Susceptibility dimensions are positively correlated with physical anhedonia and with the number of jumps. Moreover, women with personal motivation are those who score the highest on Thrill and Adventure Seeking and Boredom Susceptibility dimensions. These results suggest that in women, sensation seeking through bengy jumping may be linked to a boredom tendency and driven by a need to compensate for a difficulty in experiencing emotions and sensations from common and mundane stimuli. In men, high frequency of bengy jumping was negatively related to the use of psychoactive substances, suggesting that bengy jump, in a compulsive form recalling an addictive behavior, is a specific and preferential way of stimulation seeking.

Adolescent↗