Aaron Honori Katcher

Social interaction and blood pressure: Influence of animal companions

The effect of the presence of a friendly animal on childrens blood pressures and heart rates while resting and their cardiovascular responses to verbalization were examined. The presence of the dog resulted in lower blood pressures both while the children (N = 38) were resting and while they were reading. The effect of the presence of the dog was greater when the dog was present initially than when it was introduced in the second half of the experiment. We speculate that the animal causes the children to modify their perceptions of the experimental situation and the experimenter by making both less threatening and more friendly. This study provides insight into the use of pets as adjuncts in psychotherapy.

Excitation transfer from physical exercise to subsequent aggressive behavior.

In a factorial design, Ss were (a) differentially aggressively instigated (low vs high), and (b) placed in different states of sympathetic arousal (low vs high) by means of physical exercise. Subsequent aggressive behavior, as measured by the intensity of shock ostensibly delivered to the earlier instigator, was found to increase significantly with initial instigation. It was also found to increase significantly with residual sympathetic activation from strenuous exercise (bike-riding) interpolated between instigation and retaliation. A significant interaction was obtained deriving from the fact that residual excitation greatly facilitated subsequent aggressiveness under conditions of pronounced initial instigation, whereas its effect was negligible under minimal instigation. The findings were interpreted as consistent with expectations from the two-factor theory and the transfer theory of emotion.

Future Directions in Human-Animal Bond Research

Human-animal contact can influence psychological and physiological parameters important to health and welfare; nevertheless, there has been relatively little research on the variables that influence or mediate those health consequences. In addition, little attention has been paid on how to create or alter the animal interactions for the betterment of people and their animals. The investigation can be guided by two theoretical perspectives, which make powerful but different and testable predictions: the biophilia hypothesis and social support theory. Along with this theoretically driven research, there is a need for replication of salient research findings to resolve important discrepancies in the literature. Last, animal-assisted therapy (AAT) has to be placed in the context of alternative therapies now available to define its specificity, risks, and overall benefits.

The Effects of Talking on the Blood Pressure of Hypertensive and Normotensive Individuals

&NA; The use of a recently developed noninvasive automated blood‐pressure device has revealed a striking relationship between human communication and elevations in blood pressure in both normotensive and hypertensive individuals. Individuals with higher resting baseline pressures tended to show greater increases during talking than did those with lower pressures. In some hypertensive individuals increases blood pressure greater than 25‐40% occurred within 30 sec after the initiation of human speech. Links between difficulties surrounding human communication and elevations in blood pressure are discussed.

Comparison of Contemplation and Hypnosis for the Reduction of Anxiety and Discomfort during Dental Surgery

Abstract Complex moving visual stimuli are used to induce states of relaxation, hypnosis and revery. To test the efficacy of using aquarium contemplation to induce relaxation, 42 patients were randomly assigned to one of five treatments prior to elective oral surgery: 1) contemplation of an aquarium, 2) contemplation of a poster, 3) poster contemplation with hypnotic induction, 4) aquarium contemplation with hypnosis, and 5), a non intervention control. Blood pressure, heart rate, and subjective and objective measures of anxiety were used as dependent measures. Pretreatment with aquarium contemplation and hypnosis, either alone or in combination, produced significantly greater degrees of relaxation during surgery than poster contemplation or the control procedure. Two-way analysis of variance demonstrated that a formal hypnotic induction did not augment the relaxation produced by aquarium contemplation.

Human speech and blood pressure.

The recent development of a noninvasive automated blood pressure device has revealed a strong relationship between human conversation and blood pressure. Conventional techniques of pressure measurement such as the stethoscope and manometer, which require silence during the measurement, tended to obscure this important relationship. Findings from this study indicate that interpersonal communications surrounding the measurement of blood pressure can rapidly alter systolic and diastolic pressures. In certain situations, changes greater than 20 per cent in systolic and diastolic blood pressure and heart rate can occur within 30 seconds after the initiation of human speech. Such variance can be of critical significance in making clinical judgments concerning hypertension. These findings are discussed in the context of recent non pharmacological treatment approaches being developed to help control hypertension

A self-administered social assets scale for predicting physical and psychological illness and health

THE MORE one has of what is valued in a society, the easier it should be to adapt to its demands and challenges and to cope with physical and psychological misfortunesthe “slings and arrows” that man is heir to. The possession of many socially desirable physical and psychological assets suggests that the person has in the past been able to perform successfully, and should be better able to bear life’s current stresses. Social factors have been found to be prognostic of the course of some physical illnessess-for example, obstructive pulmonary diseases [I]. Among psychiatric patients it has been shown that high social assets based on education, occupation, and marital status are associated with symptoms of turning against the self-e.g. suicide, depression-and low social assets with turning against 0thers-e.g. assaultiveness [2]. More recently Draguns et al. [3] have also found the same trend among Japanese psychiatric patients. We began developing a social assets scale by first listing items considered to be social assets. Most of these were synonomous with being healthy, wealthy, and wise, and other valued ‘goods’ in our society such as status, love, money, and safety [4]. We selected some items from an interview type of

Prediction of the Incidence of Recurrent Herpes Labialis and Systemic Illness from Psychological Measurements

About a third of variance in a years incidence of recurrent herpes labialis (RHL) was predicted from combinations of psychological and sociometric variables. Measures of social assets and psychological discomfort added significant predictive information when used in combination with measures of susceptibility to RHL (antibody titer or frequency of RHL determined by history).

Incidence of recurrent herpes labialis and upper respiratory infection: a prospective study of the influence of biologic, social and psychologic predictors.

In a 3-year prospective study of recurrent herpes labialis (RHL) in a population of 149 student nurses, 40 to 50 per cent of the variance in incidence could be explained by a small group of variables. Measures of previous experience with RHL accounted for the largest fraction of the explained variance, followed by upper respiratory infection (URI) rate, socioeconomic status, and mood trait, in order of declining influence. Timing of RHL episodes was not related to phase of the menstrual cycle.

Recurrent Herpes Labialis, Recurrent Aphthous Ulcers, and the Menstrual Cycle

A prospective study of 104 student nurses determined the frequency of recurrent herpes labialis and recurrent aphthous ulcers within the menstrual cycle. Each nurse kept daily calendars recording inter alia menses and episodes of lesions. Episodes of aphthae were not associated with any specific intervals in the menstrual cycle. There was a greater than expected incidence of episodes of herpetic lesions in the eight days preceding the onset of menses.