Jon Christian Laberg

Reduced heart rate variability in chronic alcohol abuse: relationship with negative mood, chronic thought suppression, and compulsive drinking.

BACKGROUND Previous research suggests that heart rate variability (HRV) may be an important factor in various maladaptive psychological conditions. METHODS This study was conducted to investigate vagal tone assessed as tonic vagally mediated heart rate variability in alcoholic (n = 49) and control subjects (n = 45). RESULTS Alcoholic subjects had faster heart rate and lower preimaginary exposure levels of HRV compared with the control group. An increase in HRV was observed in the alcoholic group when subjects were exposed to an imaginary alcohol script. Tonic HRV was found to be related inversely to negative mood and chronic thought suppression and positively to positive mood. Furthermore, the compulsive subscale of the Obsessive Compulsive Drinking Scale (OCDS) was inversely related to HRV during the imaginary alcohol exposure. CONCLUSIONS It is concluded that the findings are in agreement with the neurovisceral integration model of affective regulation, which claims that dysfunctional psychologic states are rooted in an impaired inhibitory mechanism that is associated with low HRV.

Attentional and physiological characteristics of patients with dental anxiety

Twenty patients with dental anxiety were investigated while seated in a dental chair in a dental clinic. Heart rate (HR), heart rate variability (HRV), and skin conductance level (SCL) were recorded while the patients were exposed to scenes of dental treatment as well as a Stroop attentional task. Results showed an attentional bias with longer manual reaction times (RTs) to the incongruent compared to the congruent color words as well as the threat compared to the neutral words. Longer RTs to the incongruent and the threat words were found in the low HRV patients compared to the high HRV patients. Furthermore, all patients showed an increase in HR during exposure and the Stroop task compared to baseline. The HRV showed a decrease during the exposure and the Stroop task compared to baseline. HR and HRV did not differ between exposure and the Stroop task. Moreover, HR and HRV did not return to baseline levels during the recovery period. The SCL showed an increase from baseline to exposure, from exposure to the Stroop task and a decrease in the recovery phase. Results showed the importance of vagal cardiac control in attentional, emotional, and physiological processes in patients suffering from dental fear.

Outcome of pharmacological treatments of pathological gambling: a review and meta-analysis.

Although several qualitative reviews on pharmacological interventions for pathological gambling have been published, no quantitative review of this field has been conducted. Methods: Studies of pharmacological interventions of pathological gambling were identified by computer searches in the PsychINFO and MEDLINE databases covering the period from 1966 to July 2006, as well as from relevant reference lists. The inclusion criteria were as follows: the target problem had to be pathological gambling, the interventions were pharmacological, the study was written in English, and the study reported outcomes particularly pertaining to gambling. A total of 130 potential studies were identified of which 16 met the inclusion criteria. A total of 597 subjects were included in the outcome analyses of these studies. The grand mean age was 43.3 years. The overall proportion of men was 62.8%. The included studies were coded for outcome measures of pathological gambling. For each condition, means and SDs for gambling-related outcome measures were compiled at 2 points in time: baseline and posttreatment. Results: At posttreatment, the analysis showed that the pharmacological interventions were more effective than no treatment/placebo, yielding an overall effect size of 0.78 (95% confidence interval, 0.64-0.92). A multiple regression analysis showed that the magnitude of effect sizes at posttreatment was lower in studies using a placebo-control condition compared with studies using a predesign/postdesign without any control condition. Effect sizes were also negatively related to the proportion of male participants in the included studies. No differences in outcome between the 3 main classes of pharmacological interventions (antidepressants, opiate antagonists, mood stabilizers) were detected. Conclusion: Pharmacological interventions for pathological gambling may be an adequate treatment alternative in pathological gambling.

Big five personality factors, hardiness, and social judgment as predictors of leader performance.

Purpose – The purpose of this paper is to evaluate the influence of psychological hardiness, social judgment, and “Big Five” personality dimensions on leader performance in US military academy cadets at West Point.Design/methodology/approach – Army cadets were studied in two different organizational contexts, i.e. summer field training and during academic semesters. Leader performance was measured with leadership grades (supervisor ratings) aggregated over four years at West Point.Findings – After controlling for general intellectual abilities, hierarchical regression results showed leader performance in the summer field training environment is predicted by Big Five extroversion, and hardiness, and a trend for social judgment. During the academic period context, leader performance is predicted by mental abilities, Big Five conscientiousness, and hardiness, with a trend for social judgment.Research limitations/implications – Results confirm the importance of psychological hardiness, extroversion, and consc...

Psychometric properties of the revised Norwegian dispositional resilience (hardiness) scale.

In the 30 years that have elapsed since it was first introduced, the concept of hardiness has continued to attract the attention and interest of researchers from all over the world. The purpose of this study was to examine the reliability and factor structure of a revised Norwegian hardiness scale (Dispositional Resilience Scale 15; DRS-15). Using exploratory and confirmatory factor analytic strategies with a large sample of working adults (N = 7,280), support was found for a hierarchical structure comprising a general hardiness dimension and three sub-dimensions (commitment, control, and challenge). Overall, the results support the reliability and validity of the revised DRS-15 and underscore the importance of examining the psychometric properties and cultural appropriateness of translated scales.

Attentional bias in active smokers, abstinent smokers, and nonsmokers

Attentional bias was studied with a modified version of the Stroop test in active smokers, abstinent smokers, and nonsmokers. The task was color-naming of incongruent color-words, smoking-related words, and neutral words. The results showed that the active smokers used longer verbal reaction time (VRT) to smoking-related words compared to abstinent smokers, i.e., indicating stronger attentional bias in the active smokers. Furthermore, longer VRTs to the Stroop words compared to the smoking words and the neutral words were found only in nonsmokers and abstinent smokers. Finally, a significant negative correlation was found between attitudes against smoking and VRTs to the smoking-related words. Taken together the main finding was that the active smokers showed no differential response to the stimuli. This could be caused by a lack of ability to modulate attentional processes in active smokers.

The effect of sensitization and coping style on post‐traumatic stress symptoms and quality of life: Two longitudinal studies

The present study investigated the effects of multiple trauma exposure and coping style on post-traumatic stress symptoms and quality of life. It was hypothesized that sensitization would occur in subjects repeatedly exposed to life-threatening situations (study 1), and different coping styles would act as a resilience or facilitating factor in symptom development (study 2). The results showed that the single-exposure group revealed a decrease in trauma specific stress reactions from three weeks to four months, with a persistent reduction at 12-month follow-up, while the repeated-exposure group showed an increase in symptom reporting over the 12-month period. The same pattern emerged for perceived quality of life-measured by the General Health Questionnaire (GHQ-30). The second study revealed a correlation between scores on avoidant-focused coping style and the Impact of Event Scale-avoidance dimension, Post-traumatic Symptom Scale and GHQ-30. Furthermore, only subjects with a dominant coping style of emotion-focused or task-focused coping showed a reduction in trauma-specific symptom scores over time.

Academic Stress and Health: Exploring the Moderating Role of Personality Hardiness

Attending university is a pleasurable experience for many students. Yet for others it represents a highly stressful time of extensive studying and pressure to meet the requirements of academia. Academic stress is associated with a variety of negative outcomes such as physical illness and deteriorating mental health. This paper explores the capacity of personality hardiness to buffer the relationship between academic stress and health. Results showed that hardiness was negatively associated with both academic stress and number of health complaints, and showed that hardiness moderated the association between academic stress and health.

Instructed versus pharmacological effects of alcohol in alcoholics and social drinkers

Abstract Twelve alcoholics and 12 social drinkers were studied in an experiment where instructions about alcohol or placebo were orthogonally crossed with administration of alcohol or placebo in a Balanced Placebo Design. Three subjects were simultaneously observed while watching soccer games on the TV together and having free access to a mixed drink, which in the alcohol conditions contained 150ml of 80% proof vodka. The assessment procedure included several aspects of drinking behavior, behavioral observations during the session, psychiatric ratings and nurse observations before and after each session, ratings for craving, self-reported state anxiety and physiological changes (heart rate and blood pressure). In general, the results showed the alcoholics behavior to be controlled by instruction-induced expectancies rather than by the actual beverage given, whereas the social drinkers showed tendencies in the opposite direction. The implications of these results for the traditional disease conception of alcoholism and for learning theory approaches are discussed.

Risk factors for PTSD, anxiety, and depression among adolescents in Gaza.

The present study examined among adolescents in Gaza the relationship between exposure to war stressors and psychological distress as well as the effects of age, gender, and socioeconomic status. Data were collected from a sample of 139 adolescents 12 to 17 years old. Results showed that adolescents reported elevated levels of intrusion, avoidance, and depression compared to levels in communities not affected by war in the recent past. The proportion scoring within the clinical range of posttraumatic stress disorder (PTSD) was 56.8% compared to 6.3% in peacetime populations, reflecting a Hedgess g of 1.29 (p < .001). Significant risk factors for PTSD were exposure (β = .377, p < .001), female gender (β = -.257, p < .001), older age (β = .280, p < .01), and an unemployed father (β = -.280, p < .01). Risk factors for anxiety were exposure (β = .304, p < .001), female gender (β = -.125, p < .01), and older age (β = 272, p < .01), whereas female gender (β = <.238, p < .001) was the only significant risk factor for depression. The present study suggests large individual differences in how adolescents are affected by war stressors.