Sybil Hart

Pregnant women benefit from massage therapy

Twenty-six pregnant women were assigned to a massage therapy or a relaxation therapy group for 5 weeks. The therapies consisted of 20-min sessions twice a week. Both groups reported feeling less anxious after the first session and less leg pain after the first and last session. Only the massage therapy group, however, reported reduced anxiety, improved mood, better sleep and less back pain by the last day of the study. In addition, urinary stress hormone levels (norepinephrine) decreased for the massage therapy group and the women had fewer complications during labor and their infants had fewer postnatal complications (e.g., less prematurity).

Newborns of mothers with depressive symptoms are physiologically less developed

Sixty-three infants of mothers with depressive symptoms were compared on physiology and behavior to infants of nonsymptomatic mothers. The newborns of depressive mothers had greater relative right frontal EEG asymmetry (due to reduced left hemisphere activation), lower vagal tone, and less optimal scores on the Brazelton, suggesting that maternal depressive symptoms during pregnancy may be contributing to newborn neurobehavioral functioning.

DEPRESSED MOTHERS INTERACTIONS WITH THEIR ONE-YEAR-OLD INFANTS

During toy-play interactions, one-year old infants of depressed mothers engaged in less object examination, daughters of depressed mothers showed less positive and more negative affect. Depressed mothers were more intrusive with sons.

Jealousy in 6‐Month‐Old Infants

Thirty-two 6-month-old infants were exposed to their mothers attending, in turn, to a lifelike baby doll and a book. Infant negativity was greater when maternal attention was directed toward the social object, suggesting the presence of an early form of jealousy by 6 months of age.

Anorexia Nervosa Symptoms are Reduced by Massage Therapy

Nineteen women ( M age = 26) diagnosed with anorexia nervosa were given standard treatment alone or standard treatment plus massage therapy twice per week for five weeks. The massage group reported lower stress and anxiety levels and had lower cortisol (stress) hormone levels following massage. Over the five-week treatment period, they also reported decreases in body dissatisfaction on the Eating Disorder Inventory and showed increased dopamine and norepinephrine levels. These findings support a previous study on the benefits of massage therapy for eating disorders.

Infants protest their mothers' attending to an infant-size doll

Twelve-month old infants (N = 76) experienced 4 situations of unresponsiveness in which their mothers and a stranger directed positive attention toward a doll or a picture book while they ignored the infant. Infants demonstrated more protest, negative vocalizations and inhibited play during the doll condition, particularly if the doll was held by the mother. Infant contacts with the mother were more frequent when the mother held the doll. Infants’ distress during the mother/doll condition was interpreted as jealousy.

Premenstrual symptoms are relieved by massage therapy

Twenty-four women meeting Diagnostic and Statistical Manual of Mental Disorders (4th edn; DSM-fV) criteria for premenstrual dysphoric disorder (PDD) were randomly assigned to a massage therapy or a relaxation therapy group. The massage group showed decreases in anxiety, depressed mood and pain immediately after the first and last massage sessions. The longer term (5 week) effects of massage therapy included a reduction in pain and water retention and overall menstrual distress. However, no long-term changes were observed in the massaged groups activity level or mood. Future studies might examine the effects of a longer massage therapy program on these symptoms. Overall, the findings from this study suggest that massage therapy may be an effective adjunct therapy for treating severe premenstrual symptoms

HANDBOOK OF JEALOUSY: theory, research, and multidisciplinary approaches

HANDBOOK OF JEALOUSY: theory, research, and multidisciplinary approaches , HANDBOOK OF JEALOUSY: theory, research, and multidisciplinary approaches , کتابخانه مرکزی دانشگاه علوم پزشکی ایران

SPINAL CORD PATIENTS BENEFIT FROM MASSAGE THERAPY

The present study assessed the effects of massage therapy on depression, functionality, upper body muscle strength and range of motion on spinal cord injury patients. Twenty C5 through C7 spinal cord injury individuals recruited from a University outpatient clinic were randomly assigned to a massage therapy group or an exercise group. Patients in the massage therapy group received two 40-min massage therapy sessions per week for 5 weeks. Patients in the control group practiced a range of motion exercise routine targeting the arms, neck, shoulders, and back 2 times per week for 5 weeks. Although both the massage and exercise group appeared to benefit from treatment, only the massage group showed lower anxiety and depression scores and significantly increased their muscle strength and wrist range of motion.

Emotion Framing: Does It Relate to Children's Emotion Knowledge and Social Behavior?.

This study examined the associations between maternal emotion framing and mother–child relationship quality and childrens emotional and social competence. Sixty‐one mothers and their preschool children (33 boys) completed dyadic and individual measures. Observations were made of mother–child synchrony and maternal emotion framing. Childrens emotion understanding and receptive vocabulary was assessed via individual interviews. Teachers reported on childrens social skills. Results show that maternal emotion framing, particularly mildly positive framing, significantly contributes to childrens emotion understanding. Children in higher quality relationships with their mothers had better emotion understanding. Therefore, support was found for the roles of relationship quality and maternal emotion framing in childrens emotional competence. Unexpectedly, fewer significant associations were found between maternal emotion framing, synchrony and childrens social competence. The implications of examining emotion framing and relationship quality as correlates of childrens emotional and social competence are discussed.