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PubMedDate not supplied

An invitation to laugh.

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Adaptation, Psychological↗
PubMed2003

Kinematical analysis of emotionally induced facial expressions in patients with obsessive-compulsive disorder.

UNLABELLED: BACKGROUND; Motor function is deficient in many patients with obsessive-compulsive disorder (OCD), especially in the face. To investigate subtle motor dysfunction, kinematical analysis of emotional facial expressions can be used. Our aim was to investigate facial movements in response to humorous film stimuli in OCD patients. METHOD: Kinematical analysis of facial movements was performed. Ultrasound markers at defined points of the face provided exact measurement of facial movements, while subjects watched a humorous movie ('Mr Bean'). Thirty-four OCD patients (19 male, 15 female; mean (S.D.) age: 35.8 (11.5) years; mean (S.D.) total Y-BOCS score: 25.5 (5.9)) were studied in unmedicated state and after a 10-week treatment with the SSRI sertraline. Thirty-four healthy controls (19 male, 15 female; mean (S.D.) age: 37.5 (13.1) years) were also investigated. RESULTS: At baseline, OCD patients showed significantly slower velocity at the beginning of laughing than healthy controls and a reduced laughing frequency. There was a significant negative correlation between laughing frequency and severity of OCD symptoms. Ten weeks later a significant increase of laughing frequency and initial velocity during laughing was found. CONCLUSIONS: Execution of adequate facial reactions to humour is abnormally slow in OCD patients. Susceptibility of OCD patients with regard to emotional stimuli is less pronounced than in healthy subjects. This phenomenon is closely correlated to OCD symptoms and is state-dependent.

Adult↗
PubMed2006

Examining the role of parental frightened/frightening subtypes in predicting disorganized attachment within a brief observational procedure.

Following Main and Hesse's hypothesis, several investigators have affirmed that frightened/frightening (FR) as well as particular atypical maternal behaviors are associated with infant disorganized and adult unresolved attachment. Here, for the first time, FR behavior was observed in (a) middle-class father-infant (n = 25) and independent mother-infant dyads (n = 50) and (b) a brief laboratory play session. In addition, relations between disorganization, unresolved attachment, and the six FR system subscales were explored. Paternal and maternal overall FR behavior was related to infant disorganization (n = 75, phi = .61, p < .001), and for a subsample where Adult Attachment Interviews were available (n = 32), to unresolved adult attachment (phi = .59, p < .001). At the subscale level, disorganized-FR behaviors were related to infant disorganization, but only for mother-infant dyads. Across the whole sample, both dissociative-FR and threatening-FR subscales were associated with infant disorganization. The dissociative-FR subscale emerged as the central predictor of infant disorganization and was the only subscale significantly related to unresolved attachment. The appearance of FR behavior in this 18-min play procedure suggests that FR probably occurs more frequently than previously suspected. The possible role of dissociative processes in unresolved adult attachment, disorganized attachment, and FR parental behavior is discussed.

Adult↗
PubMed1992

Trait humor and longevity: do comics have the last laugh?

Four sets of biographical data were analyzed in order to test the hypothesis that the ability to generate humor is associated with longevity. Although steps were taken to ensure that tests had high levels of statistical power, analyses provided very little support for the idea that individuals with a well-developed sense of humor live longer than serious writers and other entertainers. In addition, a subsidiary analysis revealed that those in the business of entertaining others died at an earlier age than those in other lines of endeavor. These findings suggest that researchers should turn their attention from trait humor to the effects of humorous material.

Aged↗
PubMed2004

Loss, trauma, and human resilience: have we underestimated the human capacity to thrive after extremely aversive events?

Many people are exposed to loss or potentially traumatic events at some point in their lives, and yet they continue to have positive emotional experiences and show only minor and transient disruptions in their ability to function. Unfortunately, because much of psychology's knowledge about how adults cope with loss or trauma has come from individuals who sought treatment or exhibited great distress, loss and trauma theorists have often viewed this type of resilience as either rare or pathological. The author challenges these assumptions by reviewing evidence that resilience represents a distinct trajectory from the process of recovery, that resilience in the face of loss or potential trauma is more common than is often believed, and that there are multiple and sometimes unexpected pathways to resilience.

Adaptation, Psychological↗
PubMed2006

Effects of normal and perturbed social play on the duration and amplitude of different types of infant smiles.

Different types of smiling varying in amplitude of lip corner retraction were investigated during 2 mother-infant games--peekaboo and tickle--at 6 and 12 months and during normally occurring and perturbed games. Using Facial Action Coding System (FACS), infant smiles were coded as simple (lip corner retraction only), Duchenne (simple plus cheek raising), play (simple plus jaw drop), and duplay (Duchenne plus jaw drop). In addition, again using FACS, the amplitude of lip corner retraction was coded on a 5-point scale. Rather than a single smile expression that differs only in amplitude, the authors found a complex family of different smile expressions differing in their duration and amplitude as a function of game, setup versus climax of the game, and perturbation. Both type of smiling and amplitude of smiling appear to be controlled independently by the infant in relation to the context. These findings reveal systematic and context-specific nuances in infant smiles in the 2nd half of the first year.

Facial Expression↗
PubMed1989

Electrical activity from the superior pharyngeal constrictor during reflexive and nonreflexive tasks.

The purpose of this investigation was to determine, in a quantitative manner, which, if any, nonswallowing tasks produce significant levels of activation in the superior pharyngeal constrictor muscle of normal human subjects. Bipolar hooked wire electrodes were inserted in the superior pharyngeal constrictor muscle of 15 healthy subjects. Electrode placement was controlled. Each subject performed two reflexive tasks, six voluntary tasks requiring phonation, and four nonspeech voluntary tasks. The electromyogram (EMG) was rectified and integrated. The resulting number was then transformed by taking its natural logarithm. An ANOVA was performed and a linear model was estimated. The magnitude of the EMG activity was related to the location of the electrodes. The largest values were recorded in the lateral-superior placement, followed by the lateral-inferior, medial-inferior and medial-superior. The superior pharyngeal contrictor was found to be a muscle activated primarily during reflexive activity. There was a general trend in the amplitude of EMG activity in relationship to task. Swallowing produced the greatest amount of activity and a gag produced about 60% of the activity produced by the swallow. Two tasks, production of the work /hok/ in which the phoneme /k/ was stressed, and a "modified Valsalva," which was actually a hard /k/ held for several seconds, produced the next greatest level of EMG.

Adult↗
PubMed1996

Nurses' accounts of cardiopulmonary resuscitation.

The relationship between theory and practice has received considerable attention within the nursing literature. This paper uses qualitative data from debriefing interviews with nurses following episodes of cardiopulmonary resuscitation (CPR) to illustrate the complexities of translating sanitized theory into the messiness of practice. The interplay of affect and cognition on both learning from experience and on professional practice are explored. The feelings engendered by the CPR event and the labour required for their management form the second and major part of the paper. These are explored by examining the realities of a CPR event with its accompanying threat of death; success and failure, dignity versus indignity and the place of appropriate emotions throughout.

Adaptation, Psychological↗
PubMed2003

Tickle therapy.

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Arousal↗
PubMed1998

The natural history of urinary symptoms during adolescence.

OBJECTIVE: To determine the prevalence and natural history of urinary symptoms and incontinence among healthy adolescent schoolchildren. SUBJECTS AND METHODS: A prospective longitudinal study using a confidential questionnaire administered to an original cohort of 1176 local schoolchildren at 11-12 years and again at 15-16 years old. RESULTS: There was a decrease in the prevalence of urinary symptoms with age. Daywetting was reported by 12.5% of children aged 11-12 years and 3.0% of children aged 15-16 years. Nocturnal enuresis was reported by 4.7% of children at 11-12 years and 1.1% at 15-16 years. Some of the children reporting daywetting and nocturnal enuresis at 15-16 years old had not reported these symptoms at 11-12 years old. CONCLUSION: Urinary symptoms become less prevalent with age, but are reported by a significant number of healthy schoolchildren.

Adolescent↗
PubMedDate not supplied

Long-term evolution of a laughing headache associated with Chiari type 1 malformation.

We describe an acute-onset, sharp, short-lasting (few seconds) headache at the vertex, that first occurred 10 years ago in a 44-year-old woman. Attacks were triggered by vigorous laughing. A magnetic resonance imaging study showed a Chiari type 1 malformation. To our knowledge, laugh-induced headache with long-term evolution in association with Chiari type 1 malformation has not been previously reported.

Adult↗
PubMed2000

The neuropsychiatry of pathologic affect: an approach to evaluation and treatment.

The ability to skillfully regulate the internal experience and outward expression of emotion is among the most complex and recently acquired functions of the human brain. When the capacity for emotional regulation is compromised by disease or injury the impact on individuals and their families may be considerable, both with regard to psychological well-being and social and occupational function. This article describes first a framework for the description, evaluation, and treatment of affective dysregulation. We review the literature regarding disorders of affective regulation, and in particular affective lability. Although disorders of affect as they occur in common neuropsychiatric disorders (eg, stroke, multiple sclerosis, traumatic brain injury, and so on) are the focus of this article, the review incorporates information from the study of patients with primary psychiatric disorders and hence the discussion herein may also be relevant to the understanding and treatment of affective lability in these conditions. An overview of the neurobiology that appears most relevant to understanding such problems is presented, along with several specific methods that appear to be useful in the evaluation of patients with affective lability. Finally, we review the literature regarding the treatment of disorders of affect and offer some practical suggestions for the treatment of patients with these problems.

Affect↗