Kellie S. Bennett

The blood-injection symptom scale (BISS): Assessing a structure of phobic symptoms elicited by blood and injections

Assessments for blood-injury-injection phobia measure feared stimuli and overt behaviours, but they have not systematically addressed the symptoms of fear and faintness. The Blood-Injection Symptom Scale (BISS) was developed to overcome this omission. An exploratory factor analysis grouped symptoms triggered by blood and injections into three internally consistent factors (faintness, anxiety and tension). A confirmatory factor analysis replicated the factor structure in a new sample. To test the construct validity of the BISS, an attempt was made to reproduce Osts (1992, Journal of Abnormal Psychology, 101, 68-74) finding that fear was stronger among people with concerns about injections, while faintness was stronger among people with concerns about blood. A community sample of 80 individuals with concerns (i.e. fear or fainting) about blood or injections completed the BISS. Controlling faintness, individuals with concerns about injections reported more fear than people with concerns about blood. In contrast, controlling for fear, the latter reported more symptoms of faintness. These data suggest that the BISS generates stable and internally consistent subscales useful in the measurement of symptoms elicited by blood and injections.

The Role of Family in the Development of Social Skills in Children with Physical Disabilities.

This study aims to identify the family characteristics that promote the development of social skills in children with physical disabilities. Parents and teachers completed a range of questionnaires in an Australia‐wide study of 212 parents of children (5–12 years of age) with physical disabilities who attend mainstream schools. The relationships between parental attitudes, parental involvement, family relationships, teachers’ opinions, disability severity, and children’s social skills were tested using structural equation modelling. The results of this study show the importance of family characteristics for the development of social skills in children with physical disabilities. A strong link was found between aspects of healthy family relationships, especially high levels of parental involvement with schooling, and greater social skills development in children. In short, families with highly cohesive, idealised, and democratic family styles strongly influence children’s social skills by providing a safe and sound foundation for children to explore their social environment. Practical implications arising from this study are discussed.

Genetics of Attention Deficit Hyperactivity Disorder: A current review and future prospects

While there have been significant advances in both the behaviour genetics and molecular genetics of Attention Deficit Hyperactivity Disorder (ADHD), researchers are now beginning to develop hypotheses about relationships between phenotypes and genetic mechanisms. Twin studies are able to model genetic, shared environmental and non‐shared environmental influences on aetiology. The present review describes recent behaviour genetic and latent class findings in relation to ADHD and its subtypes, including rater effects, comorbidity, and developmental effects, which have an impact on findings of high heritability. Molecular genetic studies have predominantly focused on dopamine genes, including dopamine receptor and transporter genes, because of animal and human studies indicating the importance of dopaminergic attention systems. The recent clinical use of noradrenergic reuptake inhibitors has also increased interest in noradrenergic genes. Adult ADHD and age‐related genetic effects, in addition to “reading” genes, are reviewed in relation to comorbidity and developmental effects.

Depression in Australian Women: the Varied Roles of Spirituality and Social Support

This study investigated the influence of spirituality on depression in Western Australian women. Two hundred and seventy-eight women (aged 18–78) completed an online survey about factors relating to daily spiritual experience, depression, anxiety and social support. Significant correlations were found between spiritual experience and depression, whereby individuals who reported higher spirituality also reported higher rates of social support and lower levels of depression. A major finding from this study was that spirituality accounted for a significant proportion of variance in depressive symptoms beyond the mediating effect of social support.

The Australian Twin ADHD Project: Current Status and Future Directions

This article describes the Australian Twin Attention-deficit/hyperactivity disorder (ADHD) Project (ATAP), the results of research conducted using this database and plans for future studies. Information has been actively collected from Australian families with twin children since 1991 for the ATAP database. The value of assessing siblings as well as twins is emphasized. Much work has gone into continuing the involvement of families in the study though this does become more difficult when twins reach maturity. The main focus of the project is ADHD in children and adolescents plus comorbid conditions including conduct disorder, oppositional defiant disorder, and generalized anxiety disorder. A major challenge has been how to retain continuity in the assessments, while at the same time covering changes in psychiatric classification, such as the move to Diagnostic and Statistical Manual of Mental Disorders (4th ed.; DSM-IV; American Psychiatric Association, 1994). Changes in the scale can affect the reports of twin similarity. Over the years, these twins have become part of other twin studies and future plans include linking different twin databases to investigate the relationships between childhood behavior and adult conditions. Recruitment, assessment and retention of twin families require a major commitment but create a significant resource for collaboration in areas outside the original aim.

Personality disorders and spirituality

Purpose of review In order to consider findings about the relationship between spirituality, religiosity and personality disorders, recent research was reviewed and emerging patterns in the latest findings were explored. Recent findings Within the diagnostic category of personality disorders, recent research into the role of spirituality has focused on schizotypy and borderline personality traits and aspects of ‘control’ relating to antisocial personality disorder. Although the number of studies is quite limited, this review has highlighted an interesting pattern emerging from recent studies that suggests that, while overall psychological well being has previously been reported as low, spiritual well being remains high in studies of personality focusing on schizotypy and borderline personality traits. Summary The positive link between religious and spiritual well being and mental health has been corroborated by a number of studies. This review of recent research has identified emerging trends suggesting that the dimensions of religious and spiritual well being remain high for individuals displaying schizotypy and borderline personality traits, and is not as reduced as general well being in individuals diagnosed with personality disorders. Although much work remains to be conducted with individuals diagnosed with personality disorders, spirituality appears to be an interesting area to explore clinically.

An Oasis in the Hospital: The Perceived Benefits of a Cancer Support Center in a Hospital Setting Offering Complementary Therapies

Aims: The aim of this study was to explore and describe the experiences of persons attending a cancer support center, providing emotional support to cancer patients through self-selected complementary therapies offered free of charge through qualified volunteer therapists. A grounded theory methodology was used. Sources of data were 16 semistructured interviews with persons attending the center. Interviews were digitally recorded and transcribed verbatim. Analysis was conducted using the constant comparative method. Findings: The overarching theme that emerged in this study was the benefits attributed to attendance at the cancer support center. The center was described as an “oasis” in the hospital, and three aspects relating to this were identified: (a) facilitating comfort, (b) increasing personal control, and (c) helping make sense of the cancer experience. Conclusion: A drop-in center offering complementary therapies appeared to enable coping with the diagnosis and treatment of cancer by facilitating comfort and increasing perceptions of personal control. The center also helped some participants to make sense of their experience with cancer. This research has provided a unique insight into the ongoing emotional needs of cancer patients, and directions for further development and research into the provision of holistic care for patients within a hospital setting.

Spirituality, suffering, and healing: a learning option for Western Australian medical students.

Douglas T. Bridge, BMedSc(Hons), MBBS, FRACP, FRCP, FAChPM, DTMH School of Medicine and Pharmacology (D.T.B.) and Behavioural Science Unit (K.S.B.), School of Psychiatry and Clinical Neurosciences, University of Western Australia, Perth, Western Australia; and Australasian Chapter of Palliative Medicine (D.T.B.), Royal Australasian College of Physicians, Sydney, New South Wales, Australia

The effects of gestational use of antidepressants and antipsychotics on neonatal outcomes for women with severe mental illness

Psychotropic medication use occurs in 8% of pregnancies, with rates increasing, and often multiple medications prescribed.

A pilot study to assess the validity of the DASS-21 subscales in an outpatient oncology population

Given the high prevalence of emotional disorders within patients with cancer, identifying these comorbidities is essential in providing patient centric care within a multidisciplinary team environment. The Depression Anxiety Stress Scale Short Form (DASS)‐21 is an empirically developed self‐report measure which assesses anxiety, depression and stress. The conceptual basis of DASS is a tripartite model comprising 3 subscales: anxiety (DASS‐A—autonomic arousal, physiological hyperarousal, and situational anxiety), depression (DASS‐D—anhedonia, hopelessness, and dysphoria) and stress (DASS‐S—nondiscriminating anxiety and depression items that predominantly consisted of tension, nervous arousal, and irritability) and provides a global measure of psychological distress. Because of the positive psychometric properties and ease of use, the DASS‐21 is increasingly used in a cross section of oncology settings to assess psychological distress but has not been validated in the cancer population. Our study aimed to examine the assumptions of the structure of the DASS‐21 within a cancer population actively receiving chemotherapy treatment in an outpatient setting and evaluate its psychometric properties.