The Role of Stress as a Precipitating Factor of Psychiatric Illness

1977 ◽  
Vol 130 (1) ◽  
pp. 19-22 ◽  
Author(s):  
Arthur P. Schless ◽  
Alicia Teichman ◽  
J. Mendels ◽  
Joseph N. DiGiacomo
Keyword(s):  
Life Events ◽  
Psychiatric Illness ◽  
Psychiatric Patients ◽  
Normal Population ◽  
Surgical Patients ◽  
Control Groups ◽  
Life Event ◽  
Event Histories ◽  
Precipitating Factor

SummaryFifty-six psychiatric patients were interviewed to obtain a record of life events preceding admission to hospital, using a modified version of the Schedule of Recent Experiences. Two control groups were studied for comparison: medical and surgical in-patients and a ‘normal’ population studied independently by Myers. Psychiatric patients reported a significantly larger number of events than the medical-surgical patients, who, in turn, reported significantly more events than the ‘normal’ population. There were no significant differences in the specific life event histories between groups.

Life Events and Schizophrenia in Nigerians

1988 ◽  
Vol 153 (3) ◽  
pp. 367-375 ◽  
Author(s):  
Oye Gureje ◽  
A. Adewunmi
Keyword(s):  
Life Events ◽  
First Episode ◽  
Life Event ◽  
Sociodemographic Variables ◽  
Male Control ◽  
Control Subjects ◽  
The Family ◽  
Schizophrenic Patients ◽  
Event Histories

Forty-two first-episode RDC schizophrenic patients were matched on sociodemographic variables with an equal number of control subjects. The life-event histories of both groups for 6 months before onset or interview were compared. Onset of illness was not preceded by an increase in life events. The only significant observation was that control subjects had experienced more events in the month previous to interview. These were reported mainly by male control subjects, involved the family, and were possibly related to the period when the control subjects were interviewed. The observations are discussed within the context of the Nigerian culture.

The Reporting of Recent Stress in the Lives of Psychiatric Patients

1970 ◽  
Vol 117 (541) ◽  
pp. 635-643 ◽  
Author(s):  
Richard W. Hudgens ◽  
Eli Robins ◽  
W. Bradford Delong
Keyword(s):  
Life Events ◽  
Psychiatric Illness ◽  
Psychiatric Patients ◽  
Causative Role ◽  
Causal Connection ◽  
Specific Question ◽  
Interpersonal Conflicts ◽  
Positive Evidence ◽  
Medically Ill ◽  
Psychiatric Illnesses

Physicians and patients frequently assume a causal connection between life events and subsequent episodes of psychiatric illness. It seems to ‘make sense’ that an illness which is to some extent manifested by disordered emotions could be caused in part by emotion-producing events. But plausibility alone is no proof of the truth of such an assumption. Realizing this, several investigators have conducted systematic studies of the interrelationships of life events and illnesses, both psychiatric and medical. Such work has been reported by Adamson and Schmale (1), Holmes, et al. (3, 7, 9, 10) Brown and Birley (2) Clayton, et al. (4) Morrison, et al. (11) Murphy, et al. (12, 13) and Hudgens, et al. (8). These authors differed regarding the specific question of whether illnesses may be caused by emotion-producing stress. The first six of the above papers presented positive evidence for such a cause-effect relationship. The last four papers reported that psychiatric patients had significantly more interpersonal conflicts than did well persons or medically ill persons, at least while their psychiatric illnesses were in progress; but the latter authors were unable to find evidence that any type of stress, interpersonal or otherwise, played a causative role in the illnesses. Disagreements among all these workers may be traced to differences in both theoretical approach and methodology.

Life Events and Schizophrenia

1986 ◽  
Vol 148 (1) ◽  
pp. 12-22 ◽  
Author(s):  
M. A. F. Al Khani ◽  
P. E. Bebbington ◽  
J. P. Watson ◽  
F. House
Keyword(s):  
Saudi Arabia ◽  
Life Events ◽  
Single Women ◽  
Married Women ◽  
Arabic Version ◽  
Life Event ◽  
Acute Schizophrenia ◽  
Control Subjects ◽  
Event Histories

Using an Arabic version of the PSE, supplemented by CATEGO, we selected 48 patients with acute schizophrenia from the population of the Najd region of Saudi Arabia. Their life-event histories for the six months before onset or relapse were compared with those of 62 control subjects. A postive association between events and onset was established only for married women, although there was a parallel trend for men and single women suffering their first schizophrenic episode. The observed impact of life events was limited to the three weeks before onset. These findings are discussed in the light of Saudi culture.

Suicide and Aggression

1967 ◽  
Vol 21 (3) ◽  
pp. 745-751 ◽  
Author(s):  
Sherman Eisenthal
Keyword(s):  
Suicide Attempt ◽  
Repeated Measures ◽  
Suicide Ideation ◽  
Psychiatric Patients ◽  
Significant Degree ◽  
Viewing Time ◽  
Control Groups ◽  
Content Analyses ◽  
Suicidal Patients

Suicide-attempt, suicide-ideation, and non-suicidal control groups of VA neuro-psychiatric patients were divided into psychotic and neurotic subgroups ( ns = 15). Ss viewed two classes of slides, a series of death scenes and one of unpleasant scenes. Each series contained both aggressive and non-aggressive content. Analyses of this 3 × 2 × 2 factorial design, with repeated measures, were based on measures of viewing time, rated tension, and rated liking. Aggressive slides induced greater threat than non-aggressive slides to a significant degree in the death slide series and to a lesser degree in the unpleasant slide series. Suicidal patients did not manifest a consistent style of response to aggressive slides in either series. The measure of aggressive mood also was not different for suicidal and non-suicidal patients. Suicide ideators did not differentiate aggressive and non-aggressive slides but attempters and controls did. The role of anxiety level was discussed.

Life Events and Maintenance Therapy in Schizophrenic Relapse

1973 ◽  
Vol 123 (577) ◽  
pp. 659-660 ◽  
Author(s):  
J. P. Leff ◽  
S. R. Hirsch ◽  
R. Gaind ◽  
P. Rohde ◽  
B. C. Stevens
Keyword(s):  
Maintenance Therapy ◽  
Environmental Stress ◽  
Life Events ◽  
Life Event ◽  
Acute Schizophrenia ◽  
Independent Events ◽  
The Subject ◽  
The Difference ◽  
Significant Concentration

The possible role of environmental stress in precipitating the onset or relapse of acute schizophrenia was investigated by Brown and Birley (1968), Birley and Brown (1970). They enquired about events which could be dated to a definite point in time and which usually involved either actual or threatened danger or important fulfilments or disappointments. They distinguished between independent events, which were outside the control of the subject, and possibly independent events, which were not so clearly out of his control but which seemed unlikely to be produced by unusual behaviour of the subject himself. In their main group of patients a significant concentration of independent events (about 60 per cent) was found in the three weeks preceding onset or relapse of schizophrenia. In examining two small sub-groups they found that 4 of 13 patients (31 per cent) who relapsed after reducing or discontinuing phenothiazine therapy had experienced a life event in the three weeks before relapse, compared with 3 of 5 patients (60 per cent) who had been taking phenothiazines regularly at the time of relapse. Although these proportions are very different, the numbers in the groups are too small for the difference to reach significance. Furthermore the groups were not matched in any way, and there may be important differences between patients who discontinue medication themselves and those who carry on taking it regularly.

Life Events and Psychiatric Disorder: the Role of a Natural Disaster

1987 ◽  
Vol 151 (3) ◽  
pp. 362-367 ◽  
Author(s):  
Alexander C. McFarlane
Keyword(s):  
Psychiatric Disorder ◽  
Life Events ◽  
Psychological Health ◽  
Psychiatric Illness ◽  
General Health Questionnaire ◽  
Health Questionnaire ◽  
Fire Fighters ◽  
The Impact ◽  
The Relationship

Examining the impact of natural disasters on psychological health provides an opportunity to study the role played by extreme adversity in the onset of psychiatric disorder. Four hundred and sixty-nine fire-fighters who had been intensely exposed to an Australian bushfire disaster completed a detailed inventory of their experiences four months later. They also completed a brief life events schedule and the 12-item General Health Questionnaire. Only 9% of the GHQ score variance could be accounted for by the disaster and other life events; the effects of the disaster appeared to be separate and additive. This is similar to the relationship between life events and psychiatric illness found in other settings. It is suggested that vulnerability is a more important factor in breakdown than the degree of stress experienced.

The EEG as a Measure of Cerebral Functional Organization

1977 ◽  
Vol 130 (3) ◽  
pp. 260-264 ◽  
Author(s):  
J. C. Shaw ◽  
K. P. O'Connor ◽  
C. Ongley
Keyword(s):  
Psychiatric Disorders ◽  
Psychiatric Illness ◽  
Functional Organization ◽  
Psychiatric Patients ◽  
Practical Importance ◽  
Control Groups ◽  
Coherence Measure ◽  
Alpha Frequency ◽  
Normal Individuals ◽  
The Brain

SummaryEvidence suggests that anomalies of functional organization in the brain may be present in some psychiatric disorders and that EEG differences between psychiatric patients and appropriate control groups may depend on them. It is therefore of practical importance to develop further ways of examining the association between the EEG and such organization. The change in inter-hemisphere coherence (a measure of EEG synchronicity) in the alpha frequency band when carrying out a task is shown to discriminate a group of 11 right from 11 left preferent normal individuals. Since right and left preference is associated with differences in cerebral functional organization, the coherence measure may be a useful way of studying this feature of psychiatric illness.

Stress-Amplifying Effects of Negative Social Exchanges Among Female Japanese College Students

2012 ◽  
Vol 40 (6) ◽  
pp. 891-901
Author(s):  
Yasuyuki Fukukawa
Keyword(s):  
College Students ◽  
Social Network ◽  
Depressive Symptoms ◽  
Life Events ◽  
Financial Strain ◽  
Female College Students ◽  
Life Event ◽  
Social Exchanges ◽  
Negative Social Exchanges

The role of negative social exchanges that amplify the association between stressor and depressive symptoms was examined. Data collected from 121 female college students (mean age = 18.9, SD = 0.7) were analyzed to determine whether the effect of life event stress on depression differs depending on participants' negative exchanges with members of their social network. The results indicated that the association between the total number of experienced life events and depressive symptoms was not amplified by negative exchanges. However, analyses testing life events individually indicated that negative exchanges significantly amplified the association of depressive symptoms with life events that were related to participants' financial strain or salient social roles.

Suicidal Models—Their Frequency and Role in Suicide Attempters, Non-Suicidal Psychiatric Patients and Normal Control Cases: A Comparative German-Hungarian Study

1996 ◽  
Vol 33 (3) ◽  
pp. 233-241 ◽  
Author(s):  
S. Fekete ◽  
A. Schmidtke
Keyword(s):  
Problem Solving ◽  
Psychiatric Patients ◽  
Cultural Factors ◽  
Control Groups ◽  
Suicide Attempters ◽  
The Social ◽  
Problem Solving Strategy ◽  
Solving Strategy ◽  
Structured Questionnaire

Increasing evidence suggests that imitative behavior may have a role in suicide. The social transmission of this problem-solving strategy might be explained by the influence of modeling. The authors investigated suicide attempters, psychiatric patients without suicidal history as well as control groups of normal persons without a psychiatric or suicidal history matched for sociodemographic variables in Germany and Hungary. Using a structured questionnaire the occurrence of real and fictive suicidal models was investigated. Statistical analyses were performed to compare the frequency of suicidal models, the characteristics of the suicidal act, and the role of imitation of the different groups in each country. The differences between the German and Hungarian groups were explained according to different cultural factors and different learning histories.

Life Events and Psychosis

1993 ◽  
Vol 162 (1) ◽  
pp. 72-79 ◽  
Author(s):  
Paul Bebbington ◽  
Soraya Wilkins ◽  
Peter Jones ◽  
Alice Foerster ◽  
Robin Murray ◽  
...  
Keyword(s):  
General Population ◽  
Life Events ◽  
Free State ◽  
Psychotic Symptoms ◽  
Significant Excess ◽  
Life Event ◽  
The Past ◽  
Healthy Sample ◽  
Event Histories

Data from the Camberwell Collaborative Psychosis Study were used to examine the proposition that there is an excess of life events preceding the onset of psychoses of all types. Of 97 patients from the study who had episodes within the past year that were datable, 51 had developed psychotic symptoms from an essentially symptom-free state, 29 had been suffering only from neurotic symptoms, and 17 had experienced a marked exacerbation of psychotic symptoms. DSM–III diagnoses were collapsed into three major groups: 51 cases of schizophrenia; 31 cases of mania; and 14 cases of depressive psychosis. Life-event histories were taken for the six months before onset, and when these were compared with equivalent histories from a psychiatrically healthy sample from the local general population, there was a significant excess of life events, particularly in the three months before onset of psychosis. This was apparent in all groups, and remained even when events were restricted to the independent category. The excess of events began rather earlier than has been found in previous studies. In our view, this study provides some of the strongest evidence for a link between life events and the emergence of psychotic symptoms.

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