A. Nuray Karanci

Variables related to posttraumatic growth in Turkish rheumatoid arthritis patients.

Rheumatoid arthritis (RA) is a chronic, deteriorative disease, which can cause great psychological distress. Although RA has negative psychological consequences, it may also lead to positive changes, which has been given relatively little attention in the research literature. The Posttraumatic Growth Inventory (PTGI) has been used to evaluate growth in survivor’s thinking, feeling and/or behavior following the experiencing of traumatic or severely adverse life events. The purpose of the current study was to examine the domains of the PTGI and to identify variables related to Posttraumatic Growth (PTG) in 117 RA patients from Turkey, a secular, Islamic, non-western developing country. Results showed that the PTGI has three domains: relationship with others; philosophy of life; and self-perception. Regression analyses showed that problem-focused coping had significant contributions to the total PTG levels and PTGI domains of relationship with others and self-perception. Perceived social support appeared as a significant associate for the total PTG levels and for all three domains. In addition, age and perceived disease severity were found to be significantly related to some domains of PTG. Clinicians, aiming to increase positive experience of RA patients, may need to focus on and facilitate perceived social support and problem-focused coping to facilitate growth experiences.

Why are religious individuals more obsessional? The role of mental control beliefs and guilt in Muslims and Christians

BACKGROUND AND OBJECTIVES The cognitive-behavioural perspective on obsessions recognizes that certain cultural experiences such as adherence to religious beliefs about the importance of maintaining strict mental control might increase the propensity for obsessional symptoms via the adoption of faulty appraisals and beliefs about the unacceptability and control of unwanted intrusive thoughts. Few studies have directly investigated this proposition, especially in a non-Western Muslim sample. METHOD In the present study high religious, low religious and religious school Canadian Christian and Turkish Muslim students were compared on measures of OCD symptoms, obsessive beliefs, guilt, religiosity, and negative affect. RESULTS Analysis revealed that religiosity had a specific relationship with obsessional but not anxious or depressive symptoms in both samples, although the highly religious Muslim students reported more compulsive symptoms than highly religious Christians. In both samples the relationship between religiosity and obsessionality was mediated by importance/control of thoughts and responsibility/threat beliefs as well as generalized guilt. LIMITATIONS The sample composition was limited to non-clinical undergraduates and only two major religions were considered without recognition of denominational differences. CONCLUSIONS These findings indicate that the tendency for highly religious Christians and Muslims to experience greater obsessionality is related to their heightened sense of personal guilt and beliefs that they are responsible for controlling unwanted, threatening intrusive thoughts.

Causal attributions for illness among Turkish psychiatric out-patients and differences between diagnostic groups

SummaryCausal attributions of 152 Turkish non-psychotic psychiatric out-patients for the development of their psychological problems were examined by using a 31-item attributions for psychological problems questionnaire (APP). The factor analysis of the responses to the APP yielded seven factors, which were: attributions to conflicts within the family of origin and with the present family, attributions to personal-characterological and behavioural attributes, work problems, interpersonal conflicts and bad luck. Examination of the causal attributions of patients from three DSM-III-R diagnostic groups revealed no significant differences between diagnostic groups. The highest attributional scores were for conflicts with the present family and personal-characterological attributes.

What Determines Posttraumatic Stress and Growth Following Various Traumatic Events? A Study in a Turkish Community Sample.

This study aimed to examine the roles of personality traits, traumatic event types, coping, rumination, and social support in explaining posttraumatic stress symptoms (PTS) and posttraumatic growth (PTG) in a representative community sample of 498 Turkish adults. The results of 2 multiple regression analyses showed that PTS was associated with neuroticism, experiencing events involving intentional/assaultive violence, intrusive and deliberate rumination, and fatalistic coping. In contrast, PTG was related to conscientiousness, openness to experience, injury/shocking and sudden-death type of events, deliberate rumination, problem-solving coping, and perceived social support. When all variables were entered into the equation, almost two thirds of the variability (R2 = .64) in the severity of PTS and more than one third of the variability (R2 = .40) in PTG was explained. The findings can aid in the development of psychosocial support programs for individuals experiencing traumatic events.

Psychological wellbeing of Turkish university students with physical impairments: An evaluation within the stress-vulnerability paradigm

Generally, universities in developing countries offer little in the way of provisions and support (material, emotional, etc.) for disabled students. Therefore, disabled students experience considerable burdens and barriers in their educational life. This study investigated the psychological wellbeing of disabled Turkish university students by examining influences on stress-related growth and psychological distress. Disability is defined within the framework of a social model. According to this view, impairment refers to the functional limitation(s) that affect(s) a persons body, whereas disability refers to the loss or limitation of opportunities owing to social, physical or psychological obstacles. Seventy disabled university students with physical impairments were administered a questionnaire package, including a sociodemographic information sheet, Ways of Coping Questionnaire, Stress-Related Growth Scale, Multidimensional Scale of Social Support, Life Events Inventory, and Brief Symptom Inventory. Snowball sampling was used and voluntary participation was essential. The results showed that disability burden, daily hassles, and helplessness coping were significant predictors of psychological symptoms. For stress-related growth the only variable that appeared significant was problem-solving coping. The results pointed out that there may be different pathways to distress and growth. In order to decrease psychological distress and enhance growth in disabled university students, disability awareness programs, changes in the barriers in the academic and physical environments of the university campuses, and coping skills training to increase problem-focused coping and to combat helplessness may prove to be effective. Reducing daily hassles for the disabled students is likely to contribute to their wellbeing by decreasing their burdens. Also, a more disability-friendly environment is likely to be empowering for disabled university students.

How does locus of control and inflated sense of responsibility relate to obsessive-compulsive symptoms in Turkish adolescents?

This study aimed to examine the effects of responsibility attitudes, locus of control and their interactions on the general obsessive-compulsive (OC) symptomatology and the dimensions of OC symptoms in a sample of Turkish adolescents (n=385), their ages varied from 16 to 20 with a mean of 17.23 (S.D.=.68). The results of the present study revealed a significantly positive relationship between responsibility attitudes and general OC symptomatology. However, locus of control did not appear as a significant predictor of general OC symptomatology. Furthermore, results revealed that there was a significant interaction effect of responsibility attitudes with locus of control on OC symptomatology. That is, an inflated sense of responsibility and the presence of an external locus of control produced the highest level of OC symptoms. Related to the dimensions of OC symptoms, responsibility was a weak predictor of obsessive thinking symptoms, and a moderate predictor of cleanliness and checking symptoms. Locus of control and its interaction with responsibility attitudes only significantly predicted obsessional thinking symptoms.

Further Support for Responsibility in Different Obsessive-Compulsive Symptoms in Turkish Adolescents and Young Adults

According to the cognitive model, an inflated sense of responsibility is an important cognitive mediator both in the development and maintenance of obsessive-compulsive disorder (OCD). Empirical findings assign differential roles to responsibility in different kinds of obsessive-compulsive (OC) symptoms. However, findings that suggested a different function for responsibility revealed the need for an operational definition of responsibility and its multi-factorial structure. Few studies have examined the role of responsibility in OC symptoms in adolescents. The present study therefore aimed to explore responsibility concerns and to evaluate the relationship between responsibility dimensions and obsessive-compulsive symptom subgroups in two samples of adolescents and university students in a developing non-Western country. The findings suggested that the Responsibility Attitude Scale had a bifactorial structure, responsibility being based on self-dangerousness and prevention. Adolescents reported more responsibility in prevention and self-dangerousness than university students. The results appear to contribute to the symptom differentiation of OC behaviour by highlighting the importance of both dimensions of responsibility for checking symptoms, responsibility based on danger prevention for cleaning and, finally, responsibility based on self-dangerousness for obsessive thinking. Replication with clinical samples and different methodologies are encouraged.

Exploring Factors Associated with Psychological Resilience Among Earthquake Survivors from Turkey

ABSTRACT This study aimed to explore factors associated with psychological resilience in a sample of 360 survivors of the two earthquakes in Van, Turkey in 2011. Using a survey with measures on various pre-, within-, and post-disaster variables, it has been shown that psychological resilience was influenced by multiple factors, providing empirical evidence for a multifactorial understanding of resilience. Furthermore, the study extended the traditional ways of resilience assessment by including stress-coping ability and severity of trauma-related symptoms as indicators of psychological resilience simultaneously. Findings were discussed considering the implications for research and interventions in the aftermath of natural disasters.

Concerns about schizophrenia or possession

The article ‘‘Schizophrenia or Possession?’’ published in the J Relig Health (2014) (53: 773–777; doi:10.1007/s10943-012-9673-y) written by M. Kemal Irmak has serious flaws in its arguments about the possibility of demonic possession in patients with schizophrenia which to my concern may misguide patients and families and seriously hinder their access to proper mental health care. The view espoused about schizophrenia as a possession by devils is completely lacking any sound scientific evidence that it is very surprising to see it published in a peer reviewed scientific journal. First of all in the article, the evidence relating schizophrenia to possession by devils is only based on studies assessing the perceptions of faith healers and the beliefs among clergy, and not on any evidence of the examination of patients by at least a multidisciplinary team of experts and diagnosed according to an acceptable diagnostic system. Furthermore, the claim that a certain B. Erdem believes that he has successfully cured these patients has no substance to it apart from the word of the person. In an era of randomized controlled trials for testing the efficacy of treatments, unacceptable position to propose the possibility of demonic possession and the efficacy of treatments by faith healers on very scant and dubious evidence. The strict criteria necessary to provide scientific evidence for the efficacy of treatments, and the pathogenesis in disorders is completely discarded in the article. The article talks about consensus in our region, but only rests on research about the perceptions of only faith healers from Saudi Arabia and Sudan, as if the perceptions of faith healers are the sole determinant of the pathogenesis of schizophrenia. If perceptions are our guides than why not include the perceptions of scientists and researchers from relevant disciplines? This position is extremely unusual for a peer reviewed journal article. I do agree with the view that collaboration with faith healers when necessary is possible; however, the scope of this collaboration needs to be determined by scientific studies on the

Examination of The Mental Health Componet of Quality of Life of Haemodialysis Patients and Its Relationship to Perceived Expressed Emotion, Coping Self Efficacy, Optimism, Self Esteem, and Social Support -

ABSTRACT Objective: This study aimed to examine the mental health component of quality of life (MHC) of haemodialysis patients and its relationship with personal characteristics (two components of perceived expressed emotion (criticism/hostility and emotional over-involvement), optimism, self esteem, social support, and coping self efficacy related to symtom distress) and other resources within the Conservation of Resources(COR) Model (Hobfoll 1989). Method: Demographic variables and haemodialysis related information of patients, with the other resources classified as resources according to COR model, were also included in the study. One hundred and six haemodialysis patients voluntarily participated in the study. For the study, perceived expressed emotion, optimism, self-esteem, perceived social support and perceived coping self efficacy were taken as resources and were also included as measures. After examining the correlational matrix among the variables of, in order to examine variables related to MHC and test the main hypothesis of the study, multiple regression analysis was conducted. Results: The results of the analysis showed that age, income, house ownerhip, presence of additional diagnosis, self esteem, perceived criticism/hostility and coping self efficacy were significantly related to MHC. Directions of the relationship between age, presence of additional diagnosis, and criticism/hostility were negative with the outcome variables, whereas, directions of the relationship between income, house ownerhip, self-esteem and coping self-efficacy were positive with the outcome variable, MHC. Conclusion: Patients’ concerns about various aspects of demographic and illness related variables, perceived coping self-efficacy, self-esteem, and criticism-hostility were found to be predictive of their MHC.