The Journal of nervous and mental disease
July 1, 2006
Victor Igreja, Wim Kleijn, Annemiek Richters
42 citations
Prolonged exposure to civil war in central Mozambique leads to sequential traumatic experiences for most women, producing ill health that ranges from posttraumatic stress symptoms to episodes of spirit possession (gamba). These effects impair women's ability to conceive and raise children and marginalize their social position. The study assessed 91 women using quantitative and qualitative methods. The authors recommend careful analysis of women's specific problems and needs in postwar contexts, along with systematic examination of available resources that may aid trauma recovery.
The Journal of nervous and mental disease
September 1, 2000
G Milstein, E Midlarsky, B G Link et al.
36 citations
Rabbis and clinical psychologists distinguish among mental disorder, religious or spiritual problem, and pure religious problem in a similar way, supporting the validity of the DSM-IV category 'religious or spiritual problem' (V62.89). A national random sample of 111 rabbis and 90 psychologists evaluated vignettes describing schizophrenia, mystical experience, and mourning. Both groups agreed on the religious etiology, helpfulness of psychiatric medication, and seriousness of each problem. The V code enables finer distinctions among the range of issues people bring to clergy and mental health professionals, potentially fostering co-professional consultation.
The Journal of nervous and mental disease
April 1, 2023
Yuejuan Wang, Haichao Sun, Qiaoying Ji et al.
17 citations
Demoralization is a common mental health concern for people with cancer that requires attention from clinical staff. This systematic review examined 14 intervention studies and found that 10 had a positive effect on reducing demoralization. Two main types of interventions were effective: psilocybin-assisted psychotherapy and psychological interventions. The review summarizes current evidence and calls for future studies to use more rigorous methods to test interventions that may affect demoralization in cancer patients.
The Journal of nervous and mental disease
April 1, 2024
Wei Lin Toh, Neil Thomas, Susan Lee Rossell
1 citation
Visual hallucinations in people with psychosis typically occur daily, last a few minutes, appear directly in the line of sight, and most often involve seeing persons or animals. These hallucinations are difficult to control and usually cause negative emotions. Among participants who also experienced voice-hearing, 46.8% reported tactile hallucinations and 39.0% reported olfactory hallucinations. Those with affective psychosis were more aware of their hallucinations and had less functional impairment than those with nonaffective psychosis. The study describes common themes across these hallucination types and calls for more research on less-studied hallucination modalities.
The Journal of nervous and mental disease
February 1, 2023
Joshua Chiappelli, Tiffany Beason
1 citation
Psychotic disorders may arise from an abnormal deviation in the normal developmental process of forming a personal identity and worldview during late adolescence and early adulthood. Drawing on Erikson's theory, the authors argue that the typical drive to develop a meaningful sense of identity can be accelerated by aberrant salience, leading to delusion formation. This model places psychosis onset within the broader context of normal development, offering a humanistic approach to understanding new-onset psychotic disorders.
The Journal of nervous and mental disease
November 1, 2023
Nicole Lindsay, Laura O'Sullivan, Rosemary Gibson et al.
People who have had near-death experiences often report sleep changes, but objective measurements have been lacking. In a 14-day actigraphy study with 57 participants—26 who had an NDE, 12 who had a near-death event without an NDE, and 19 who had never come close to death—no significant differences in objective sleep measures were found between groups. However, comparisons of subjective and objective measures revealed significant differences in sleep onset latency, sleep duration, and sleep efficiency, particularly among the NDE group. These results suggest sleep state misperception, where perceived sleep quality differs from objective measures, which may have clinical relevance for understanding NDEs and sleep perception.
The Journal of nervous and mental disease
November 1, 2022
Swaran P Singh
A personal account describes a mystical experience that occurred after anesthesia, characterized by noesis—a profound sense of revelation and complete understanding. The author argues that while such experiences have a neural basis, their subjective meaning cannot be reduced to mere brain dysfunction. Reconciling the mechanism and meaning of mystical experiences remains a challenge for neuroscience and philosophy.
The Journal of nervous and mental disease
September 1, 2024
Valerio Ricci, Giuseppe Maina, Gilberto Di Petta et al.
Substance-induced psychosis, especially from cannabis and cocaine, can transition to persistent psychosis, with cannabis posing a particularly high risk. Differences exist between substance-induced and primary psychotic disorders, and external factors play a key role. A phenomenological perspective describes this as a disruption in perception, altering time and space and causing hallucinations. The concept of a "twilight state" of consciousness helps explain the shift from substance use to psychosis, affecting spatiality, intersubjectivity, and temporality. This challenges standard diagnostic models and calls for a more nuanced understanding of how substances trigger psychotic experiences.
The Journal of nervous and mental disease
April 1, 1996
K Wenzel, D P Bernstein, L Handelsman et al.
Alcoholics reported higher levels of three types of dissociative experiences—amnesia, depersonalization/derealization, and absorption—than drug addicts. Among 138 detoxified male veterans, chronic (lifetime years) alcohol and cocaine use correlated with dissociation scores, and the amnestic effect of chronic cocaine use persisted after controlling for chronic alcohol use. No dissociative effects of recent (past 30 days) use of alcohol or drugs were found. These findings suggest dissociation may be a chronic residual effect of long-term substance abuse, including both alcohol and cocaine.
The Journal of nervous and mental disease
July 1, 1988
T E Oxman, S D Rosenberg, P P Schnurr et al.
Computerized content analysis of 66 autobiographical accounts of schizophrenia, hallucinogenic drug states, or mystical ecstasy and 28 control accounts of important personal experiences found distinct patterns of lexical choice among the four groups. Word frequencies differed significantly in 49 of 83 lexical categories. Using the 13 most statistically significant categories, 84% of the samples were correctly identified by their word frequencies. The findings suggest that the subjective experiences of schizophrenia, hallucinogenic drug-induced states, and mystical ecstasy are more different from one another than alike.
The Journal of nervous and mental disease
December 1, 1986
E M Bernstein, F W Putnam
The Dissociative Experiences Scale (DES) is a 28-item self-report questionnaire that measures dissociation—the lack of normal integration of thoughts, feelings, and experiences into consciousness and memory. The scale was developed using clinical data, interviews, and expert consultation, then pilot tested. Subjects mark their responses on 100-mm lines, and the average of all item scores (0 to 100) yields the DES score. Administered to normal adults, college students, and people with alcoholism, agoraphobia, phobic-anxious disorders, PTSD, schizophrenia, or multiple personality disorder, the scale demonstrated good test-retest and split-half reliability, significant item-scale correlations, and evidence of criterion-referenced validity.