Search PubMedSearch

Biomedical subjects

T Field

Publications and source records attributed to T Field.

At least 19 recordsLinked to original sources

Smoking cravings are reduced by self-massage.

BACKGROUND: Attempts at smoking cessation have been correlated with severe withdrawal symptoms, including intense cigarette cravings, anxiety, and depressed mood. Massage therapy has been shown to reduce anxiety and stress hormones and improve mood. METHOD: Twenty adult smokers (M age = 32.6) were randomly assigned to a self-massage treatment or a control group. The treatment group was taught to conduct a hand or ear self-massage during three cravings a day for 1 month. RESULTS: Self-reports revealed lower anxiety scores, improved mood, and fewer withdrawal symptoms. In addition, the self-massage group smoked fewer cigarettes per day by the last week of the study. CONCLUSIONS: The present findings suggest that self-massage may be an effective adjunct treatment for adults attempting smoking cessation to alleviate smoking-related anxiety, reduce cravings and withdrawal symptoms, improve mood, and reduce the number of cigarettes smoked.

Adult

Pregnant women benefit from massage therapy.

Twenty-six pregnant women were assigned to a massage therapy or a relaxation therapy group for 5 weeks. The therapies consisted of 20-min sessions twice a week. Both groups reported feeling less anxious after the first session and less leg pain after the first and last session. Only the massage therapy group, however, reported reduced anxiety, improved mood, better sleep and less back pain by the last day of the study. In addition, urinary stress hormone levels (norepinephrine) decreased for the massage therapy group and the women had fewer complications during labor and their infants had fewer postnatal complications (e.g., less prematurity).

Adult

Intrusive and withdrawn behaviours of mothers interacting with their infants and boyfriends.

Investigated stability and change in intrusive and withdrawn interaction behaviours of 23 mothers in Study 1 and 31 mothers in Study 2. Comparisons between mother-infant and mother-boyfriend interactions revealed that mothers who had been withdrawn with their infants were quiet, bored-looking, physically distant, and underinvolved with their boyfriends. Mothers who had been intrusive with their infants were verbally sharp and controlling with their boyfriends. These findings suggested stability across social contexts. Comparing maternal responding to instructions to think about themselves (self-focus) or their infants (infant-focus) revealed that infant-focusing attenuated intrusive behavior among intrusive mothers and self-focusing attenuated negative affect among withdrawn mothers. These findings suggested that cognitive focusing ameliorates nonoptimal maternal behaviours and has differential effects on intrusive and withdrawn mothers.

Adult

Children with asthma have improved pulmonary functions after massage therapy.

Thirty-two children with asthma (16 4- to 8-year-olds and 16 9- to 14-year-olds) were randomly assigned to receive either massage therapy or relaxation therapy. The children's parents were taught to provide one therapy or the other for 20 minutes before bedtime each night for 30 days. The younger children who received massage therapy showed an immediate decrease in behavioral anxiety and cortisol levels after massage. Also, their attitude toward asthma and their peak air flow and other pulmonary functions improved over the course of the study. The older children who received massage therapy reported lower anxiety after the massage. Their attitude toward asthma also improved over the study, but only one measure of pulmonary function (forced expiratory flow 25% to 75%) improved. The reason for the smaller therapeutic benefit in the older children is unknown; however, it appears that daily massage improves airway caliber and control of asthma.

Adolescent

Depressed mothers' neonates improve following the MABI and a Brazelton demonstration.

OBJECTIVE: To assess the effectiveness of a short-term intervention for improving interaction behaviors of newborn infants with their depressed mothers. METHODS: Depressed mothers assigned to the experimental group first observed an administration of the Neonatal Behavioral Assessment Scale (NBAS) at delivery. Mothers then used a similar instrument, the Mother's Assessment of the Behavior of her Infant (MABI), to independently conduct NBAS-like infant assessments periodically at home. Depressed mothers in the control group were not present when the NBAS was administered at delivery, and they periodically completed written assessments at home of their parenting attitudes and infants' development. RESULTS: One-month NBAS assessments administered by an examiner revealed that experimental group infants performed more optimally than controls on Social Interaction and State Organization. CONCLUSIONS: Findings suggested that an intervention consisting of mothers taking part in NBAS/MABI assessments may be a simple and cost-effective technique for benefiting infants of depressed mothers during the early postpartum period.

Adolescent

Aromatherapy positively affects mood, EEG patterns of alertness and math computations.

EEG activity, alertness, and mood were assessed in 40 adults given 3 minutes of aromatherapy using two aromas, lavender (considered a relaxing odor) or rosemary (considered a stimulating odor). Participants were also given simple math computations before and after the therapy. The lavender group showed increased beta power, suggesting increased drowsiness, they had less depressed mood (POMS) and reported feeling more relaxed and performed the math computations faster and more accurately following aromatherapy. The rosemary group, on the other hand, showed decreased frontal alpha and beta power, suggesting increased alertness. They also had lower state anxiety scores, reported feeling more relaxed and alert and they were only faster, not more accurate, at completing the math computations after the aromatherapy session.

Adult

Music shifts frontal EEG in depressed adolescents.

Recent studies have found that positive affect is associated with greater relative left frontal EEG activation and negative affect is associated with greater relative right frontal EEG activation. Further, chronically depressed adults typically display stable right frontal EEG activation. The present study investigated the effects of music on mood state and right frontal EEG activation associated with chronic depression. Fourteen chronically depressed female adolescents listened to rock music for a 23-minute session. These adolescents were compared with a control sample of chronically depressed female adolescents who were simply asked to sit and relax their minds and their muscles for the same time period. EEG was recorded during baseline, music, and postmusic for three minutes each, and saliva samples were collected before and after the session to determine the effects of the music on stress hormone (cortisol) levels. No group differences or changes were noted for observed or reported mood state. However, cortisol levels decreased and relative right frontal activation was significantly attenuated during and after the music procedure. It was concluded that music had positive effects on the physiological and biochemical measures even though observed and self-reported mood did not change.

Adolescent

Same-sex and opposite-sex best friend interactions among high school juniors and seniors.

Eighteen adolescents were videotaped during same-sex and opposite-sex interactions in the eleventh and twelfth grades. In both grades, females felt more comfortable during same-sex interactions than during opposite-sex interactions, and they rated their same-sex partners more positively than did males. Females in both grades and males in eleventh grade showed more peer intimacy than did males in twelfth grade. Eleventh-grade females showed the most playful behaviors (the most engaged state). More synchrony (matching of behavior) was found for the animated state in the twelfth grade as compared with the eleventh grade.

Adolescent

Feelings and attitudes of gifted students.

Differences between the self-perceptions of gifted high school freshmen (n = 62) and nongifted peers (n = 162) were assessed regarding intimacy with family and peers, social support, family responsibilities, self-esteem, depression, and risk-taking behavior. Gifted students perceived themselves as being more intimate with friends, assuming fewer family responsibilities, and taking more risks (both sports- and danger-related risks). Contrary to the literature suggesting delays in the social development of gifted students, these data indicate that gifted students may be socially precocious when compared with their nongifted peers. Gifted students and their teachers were also administered the Perceptions about Giftedness Scale. Gifted students reported feeling the same as, or better than, their peers about their academic and social skills, and their teachers closely agreed. However, the teachers rated the gifted students as being less happy than the students rated themselves.

Achievement

Early interventions for infants of depressed mothers.

Infants of mothers who remain depressed for 1 year after birth have a distinct profile of behavioral, physiologic, and biochemical dysregulation. Their mothers also have a distinct profile that can be used to target those in need of intervention. These interventions may include mood induction, massage therapy, interaction coaching, and natural buffers such as nondepressed fathers and caregivers.

Caregivers

Bulimic adolescents benefit from massage therapy.

Twenty-four female adolescent bulimic inpatients were randomly assigned to a massage therapy or a standard treatment (control) group. Results indicated that the massaged patients showed immediate reductions (both self-report and behavior observation) in anxiety and depression. In addition, by the last day of the therapy, they had lower depression scores, lower cortisol (stress) levels, higher dopamine levels, and showed improvement on several other psychological and behavioral measures. These findings suggest that massage therapy is effective as an adjunct treatment for bulimia.

Adolescent

Correlations between the BDI and CES-D in a sample of adolescent mothers.

Adolescent mothers were administered the Beck Depression Inventory (BDI), the Center for Epidemiologic Studies Depression Scale (CES-D), and the Diagnostic Interview Schedule for Children (DISC). They also were asked if they preferred the BDI or CES-D. The findings indicated that BDI and CES-D scores were significantly correlated, and that more adolescent mothers preferred the CES-D. Both the BDI and CES-D were correlated with the DISC; however, the BDI was more highly correlated with the Major Depression subscale, and the CES-D with the Dysthymia subscale.

Adolescent

Bully in sight.

Explore the source record for details and available documents.

Aggression

Child psychiatric patients' interactions with their mothers.

This study investigated whether child psychiatric patients' and their mothers interacted differently as a function of whether the children were diagnosed as having internalizing or externalizing disorders. Twenty children and their mothers were rated on eight behavior dimensions as they engaged in a ten-minute play session. Maternal depression was found to interact with their children's diagnoses and behavioral ratings.

Adult

EEG activation in 1-month-old infants of depressed mothers.

Previous research has documented differences in the pattern of EEG activation between 3-month-old infants of depressed mothers and infants of nondepressed mothers. In the present study, EEG was recorded in even younger 1-month-old infants of depressed and nondepressed mothers. The infants of depressed mothers exhibited greater relative right frontal EEG asymmetry (due to reduced left frontal activation), and this pattern at 1 month was significantly related to 3-month EEG asymmetry. Right frontal EEG asymmetry was also related to more frequent negative facial expressions (sad and pre-cry faces) during the Brazelton exam. Finally, the infants of depressed mothers showed more indeterminate sleep, were less active, and cried less than infants of nondepressed mothers.

Adolescent

EEG stability in infants/children of depressed mothers.

The stability of EEG was examined in infants of depressed (BDI > 16) and non-depressed mothers (BDI < 9) from 3 months to 3 years. Of the 32 infants seen at 3 months, 15 were seen again at 3 years of age. Seven of the eight children who had exhibited right frontal EEG asymmetry as infants still showed that EEG asymmetry pattern at the 3 year visit. Children with right frontal EEG asymmetry at 3 years were observed to be more inhibited during an exploratory play task, and children of depressed versus non-depressed mothers were less empathetic during simulated maternal distress.

Brain

Brief report: HIV-exposed newborns show inferior orienting and abnormal reflexes on the Brazelton Scale.

Assessed 48 infants of HIV-positive and HIV-negative mothers on the Brazelton Neonatal Behavioral Assessment Scale. Infants exposed to HIV-positive mothers were disadvantaged from birth due to their mothers having obstetric complications and to the infants having orienting problems and abnormal reflexes on the Brazelton Newborn Scale. These problems may be early precursors of the later visual-spatial delays and hypertonicity noted in these infants.

Case-Control Studies