MyMedR

Fulltext A feeling difficult to identify: Alexithymia is inversely associated with positive body image in adults from the United Kingdom

Longhurst P, Swami V

J Affect Disord, 2023 Aug 01;334:121-128.

PMID: 37156268 DOI: 10.1016/j.jad.2023.04.142

BACKGROUND: Research has increasingly examined the ways in which internal bodily experiences influence body image, including the relationship between alexithymia - the reduced ability to identify and describe one's own emotional feelings and bodily sensations - and negative body image. However, relationships between facets of alexithymia and positive body image remain unexplored.

METHODS: To bridge this gap in the literature, we assessed relationships between facets of alexithymia and multiple, core indices of positive body image in an online sample of adults from the United Kingdom. A total of 395 participants (226 women, 169 men) aged 18 to 84 years completed measures of alexithymia, body appreciation, functionality appreciation, body image flexibility, body acceptance by others, and positive rational acceptance.

RESULTS: Once the effects of age had been accounted for, alexithymia was significantly and negatively associated with all five body image constructs in hierarchical multiple regressions. In the final models, the alexithymia facet of Difficulties Identifying Feeling emerged as a significant and negative predictor of all indices of positive body image.

LIMITATIONS: The use of cross-sectional data limits the causal conclusions that can be drawn.

CONCLUSIONS: These findings extend previous work by demonstrating the unique relationship between alexithymia and positive body image, providing important implications for body image research and practice.

Matched MeSH terms: Affective Symptoms*

Fulltext Prevalence of emotional and behavioural problems in Johor Bahru District school children--comparing three geographical areas

Cheah YC, Kadir AB, Jeyarajah S

Med J Malaysia, 1997 Jun;52(2):124-33.

PMID: 10968069

This is a cross sectional community study in Johor Bahru District. The aim of this study is to estimate the overall prevalence of emotional and behavioural deviance among the school children in three different geographical areas, and to identify their correlates. This paper presents the findings of phase one of a two-stage procedure involving a total of 589 children aged 10-12 years. Using the cut-off point validated locally, the prevalence of deviance on the parental scale was 40% in the rural school, 30.2% in the agricultural resettlement (Felda) school and 32.3% in the urban school. On the teachers' assessment, the prevalence of deviance was 40.8% in the rural school, 10.8% in the Felda School and 8.9% in the urban school. There was significantly higher prevalence of deviance in the rural school on the teachers' scale. In the rural school, significantly higher prevalence of deviance was found among boys.

Matched MeSH terms: Affective Symptoms/epidemiology*

Somatic and non-affective symptoms of old age depression: ethnic differences among Chinese, Indians and Malays

Soh KC, Kua EH, Ng TP

Int J Geriatr Psychiatry, 2009 Jul;24(7):723-30.

PMID: 19089846 DOI: 10.1002/gps.2188

Somatic and other non-affective symptomatology characterizes late life depression and contributes to its under-diagnosis, especially in some ethnic groups.

Matched MeSH terms: Affective Symptoms/diagnosis; Affective Symptoms/ethnology; Affective Symptoms/psychology*

Fulltext Dataset to develop self-report measure of emotional instability and behavioral difficulties for Malaysian youths

Kadir NBA, Mohamad Aun NS, Ibrahim N, Mohd Nor HA, Johan D

Data Brief, 2020 Aug;31:105795.

PMID: 32566702 DOI: 10.1016/j.dib.2020.105795

The article presents reliability statistics data in relation to the development of emotional instability and behavioral difficulties scale for youths in a Malaysia context. The data were obtained from youths participants in Kuala Lumpur and Klang Valley, Selangor, Malaysia. The data has four different subscales in describing emotional instability and behavioral difficulties. The data were analyzed using Cronbach's alpha, McDonald's ω, and Gutmann's λ6 to examine internal consistency test. The data showed that this new scale can be used to measure three subscales of emotional instability and one subscale of behavioral difficulties among youths in a Malaysia context.

Matched MeSH terms: Affective Symptoms

Fulltext Emotional incontinence--the other poststroke phenomenon

Bharathi V, Lee FS

Med J Malaysia, 2006 Oct;61(4):490-2.

PMID: 17243530

Emotional incontinence is a disorder of emotional control following brain damage. It refers to the heightened tendency to cry or less commonly laugh, out of proportion to the underlying mood. Recognition of this phenomenon is often lacking as it is confused with other related sequelae of brain damage such as depression. This is a case report of an elderly female exhibiting poststroke emotional incontinence.

Matched MeSH terms: Affective Symptoms/drug therapy; Affective Symptoms/etiology*

Incidence rates of emotional and behavioural problems in Malaysian children as measured by parent ratings of the Strengths and Difficulties Questionnaire

Gomez R, Suhaimi AF

Asian J Psychiatr, 2013 Dec;6(6):528-31.

PMID: 24309866 DOI: 10.1016/j.ajp.2013.06.009

The aim of this study was to ascertain the rates of emotional and behavioural problems (emotional problems, conduct problems, hyperactivity, peer problems, and low prosocial behaviour) of Malaysian children.

Matched MeSH terms: Affective Symptoms/epidemiology*

The pattern of psychotropic drug usage in a general out-patient clinic

Yeoh OH

Med J Malaysia, 1979 Dec;34(2):167-70.

PMID: 548722

This study show that within a general hospital outpatient setting, the prescription of psychotropic medication is mainly confined to the anti-anxiety drugs and and secondarily to the hypnotics. There is a conspicuous absence of prescription for antipsychotic drugs and negligible use of antidepressants. The use of anti-anxiety drugs and hypnotics was higher in the general outpatient clinic than in the psychiatric outpatient clinic in the same hospital. This finding is in the trend of similar findings by others that non-psychiatrists prescribe more psychotropic medication including an-anxiety and hypnotic medication. In this study the use of psychotropic medication for patient generated psychiatric symptomalogy was only in 14.5% of cases prescribed these medication. The anti-anxiety drugs were prescribed as adjuncts in non-psychiatric conditions as well. Frequent use as adjuncts were in the treatment of muscular tension and in chronic cardiovascular disorders. There is a core of patients (20%) that had been continuously prescribed medication up to a period of 5 years. Half of these were chronic cardiovascular patients and half presented with no demonstrable systemic organicity. None had been referred to psychiatrist.
Study site: Outpatient clinic, general hospital, Malaysia

Matched MeSH terms: Affective Symptoms/drug therapy

Psychocutaneous disorders

Hai TC

Med J Malaya, 1970 Dec;25(2):91-8.

PMID: 4251141

Matched MeSH terms: Affective Symptoms/complications*

Fulltext Emotional disorders among medical students in a Malaysian private medical school

Zaid ZA, Chan SC, Ho JJ

Singapore Med J, 2007 Oct;48(10):895-9.

PMID: 17909672

A study was done between December 2005 and January 2006 to determine the prevalence of emotional disorders among medical students in a private medical school in Ipoh, Perak, Malaysia and to determine the demographical characteristics, contributing factors and the key person consulted for emotional problems.

Matched MeSH terms: Affective Symptoms/epidemiology*

Fulltext Cannabis as a risk factor for persistent and severe depression: a case report

Khadijah Hasanah, A.A., Aia Harlina, A.R., Nik Ruzyanei, N.J.

Malaysian Journal of Psychiatry, 2014;23(2):73-76.

MyJurnal

Evidence linking cannabis use and depression remains inconsistent. Variations of clinical features were observed in those with history of cannabis use presented with affective symptoms. We report a case of a 19-year-old male college student with a history of heavy cannabis use for at least seven months. A month after stopping cannabis, he presented with severe persistent depressive symptoms. He had no withdrawal symptoms prior to this. He had severe depressive symptoms with melancholic features and progressed to multiple and serious suicidal attempts. While the use of cannabis is implicated in neither the patient’s diagnosis nor management, its use has a significant role in influencing the clinical features and course of the illness. This case suggests that depression can start long after cessation of cannabis use with the history of cannabis remained as a significant risk factor.

Matched MeSH terms: Affective Symptoms

Culture and alexithymia: mean levels, correlates, and the role of parental socialization of emotions

Le HN, Berenbaum H, Raghavan C

Emotion, 2002 Dec;2(4):341-60.

PMID: 12899369

Two studies examined the relationship between culture and alexithymia. In Study 1, mean levels and correlates of alexithymia were examined in 3 cultures: European American (EA), Asian American (AA), and Malaysian college students. Both Asian groups had higher alexithymia levels than the EA group. Somatization was more strongly associated with alexithymia in the Asian groups than in the EA group. Mood and life satisfaction were associated with alexithymia in similar ways across groups. In Study 2, the relations among culture, gender, retrospective reports of parental socialization of emotions, and alexithymia were examined among EA and AA college students. Cultural and gender differences were found in alexithymia and emotion socialization levels. Most important, parental emotion socialization mediated the relations among culture, gender, and alexithymia.

Matched MeSH terms: Affective Symptoms/psychology*

Fulltext Prevalence and Factors Associated with Suicidal Ideation in Institutionalized Patients with Schizophrenia

Chong BTW, Wahab S, Muthukrishnan A, Tan KL, Ch'ng ML, Yoong MT

Psychol Res Behav Manag, 2020;13:949-962.

PMID: 33204188 DOI: 10.2147/PRBM.S266976

Purpose: The shorter life expectancy and increased risk of suicide in patients with schizophrenia have been well documented. However, study outcomes on suicidality in this special population have been few to date. This study investigated the prevalence and factors associated with suicidal ideation in a population of institutionalized patients with schizophrenia.

Methods: Two hundred fifty-six patients with schizophrenia between the age of 18 and 65 years were randomly recruited. This cross-sectional study utilised the Calgary Depression Scale for Schizophrenia (CDSS), the Positive and Negative Syndrome Scale (PANSS) and the Psychotic Symptom Rating Scale (PSYRATS-AH). Univariate analysis was performed using an independent t-test or chi-square test, followed by binary logistic regression to determine the factors associated with increased suicidal risks.

Results: The socio-demographic factors associated with suicidal ideation included level of education (p=0.039); secondary-level education (OR=5.76, 95% CI:1.49, 22.34, p=0.011) and tertiary-level education (OR=9.30, 95% CI: 1.80, 48.12, p=0.008) posed a greater risk. A history of attempted suicide (OR=2.09, 95% CI: 1.01, 4.36, p=0.049) and the presence of co-morbid physical illnesses (OR=2.07, 95% CI: 1.02, 4.21, p=0.044) were also found to be associated with a suicidal ideation. Other significant factors associated with suicidal thoughts were concurrent depression (OR=9.68, 95% CI: 3.74, 25.05, p<0.001) and a higher PSYRATS score in emotional characteristics of auditory hallucinations (OR=1.13, 95% CI: 1.06, 1.21, p<0.001).

Conclusion: Suicide in schizophrenia appears to be more closely associated with certain socio-demographic factors and affective symptoms. Appropriate screening and treatment addressing these challenges must be emphasized if suicidal thoughts and actions are to be reduced.

Matched MeSH terms: Affective Symptoms

Fulltext The needs and problems in epilepsy caregiving: a qualitative exploration

Lua, Pei Lin, Nor Khaira Wahida Khairuzzaman, Zariah Abdul Aziz, Foo, Jimmy Lee Kok

ASEAN Journal of Psychiatry, 2015;16(1):116-126.

MyJurnal

Objective: Living with epilepsy imposes great challenges on both patients and their family caregivers but most researchers only explored the impact on patients, with less attention given to family caregivers. Our study intended to explore the needs and problems of epilepsy family caregivers of epilepsy patients encountered during the caregiving process. Methods: Respondents were recruited from the Neurology Clinic of Hospital Sultanah Nur Zahirah (HSNZ), Kuala Terengganu. A semi-structured interview was conducted using openended and broad questions asking about their general experience in caregiving, daily routine activities, caregiving effects, caregiving difficulties and caregivers’ needs. The interviewed data were later transcribed into verbatim before further analysis using the QSR International’s NVivo10 software. Results: Fifteen Malay Muslim family caregivers between the age of 19 and 66 years participated. Most were females (53%), married (67%), with education level at secondary school or equivalent (73%) and were homemakers (40%). In particular, respondents expressed the need for extra support from their family members and experts in terms of physical (care relief), mental, and financial aspects. In addition, the major caregiving problems identified included: (i) emotional disturbances (sad, angry, depressed, and anxious); (ii) care giving challenges (family adjustments, physical burden, psychological burden, and time management); and (iii) financial issues (not working and limited family income). Some advantages in caregiving were also reported. Conclusion: In conclusion, their experiences while taking care of their loved ones in terms of feelings, beliefs and needs exposed the difficulties in caregiving, causing substantial emotional pressure which could later lead to poor quality of caregiving. ASEAN Journal of Psychiatry, Vol. 16 (1): Januray – June 2015: XX XX.

Study site: Neurology Clinic of Hospital Sultanah Nur Zahirah (HSNZ), Kuala Terengganu.

Matched MeSH terms: Affective Symptoms

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