Elisabeth Maria Balint

Privatklinik Meiringen · Au soleil (burnout ward)

Objective Slow-paced breathing (SPB) with prolonged exhalation is assumed to stimulate vagal reflexes, which is represented by increased heart rate variability (HRV) values. However, most trials were conducted in healthy participants. We sought to evaluate the feasibility of SPB in hospitalized patients with confirmed bilateral COVID-19 pneumonia w...

Recent systematic reviews have shown that emotional competencies can be improved through training. In the workplace, such training has become increasingly popular over the last decade. These programs aim to enhance emotional intelligence, empathy or emotion regulation. This study wants to assess the training effects and potential moderators of thes...

Symposia IV-2: MEASURE FOR MEASURE: COMPARATIVE UTILITY OF HEART RATE VARIABILITY INDICES OF CARDIAC VAGAL CONTROL Slow-paced breathing (SPB) is a long-known, noninvasive, and inexpensive method to stimulate vagal fibers known to directly decrease heart rate (HR) and increase indicators of HR variability (HRV). The aim of the present analysis is t...

Hintergrund: Die Corona-Pandemie liess gerade bei Kindern und Jugendlichen die psychische Belastung in die Höhe schnellen und die Inanspruchnahme von psychischen Gesundheitsleistungen steigen. Ziel dieser Arbeit war, einen aktuellen Stand von Belastungen, Suizidgedanken und Inanspruchnahme von Behandlung an einem Gymnasium im Berner Oberland zu erh...

The irritation scale is a widely used and reliable self-report scale for measuring cognitive and emotional strain related to the work environment. It extends existing measures by providing a sensitive assessment for pre-clinical stress at work. Existing normative data are based on convenience samples and are therefore not representative. This study...

Background: Occupational health physicians are increasingly confronted with mental health issues at their workplace. Facing them, most of them feel insecure and not sufficiently trained. Employee's mental well-being depends at the same time on individual and significantly on organizational variables. This complicates the physician's position, since...

(1) Background: A new health care offer called ‘psychotherapeutic consultation in the workplace’ is an early and effective intervention for employees with common mental disorders. Although cost-effective, it lacks a broader roll-out. This might be attributable to undefined context, mechanisms of change, and a lack of communication; therefore, this...

Measures of heart rate variability (HRV) as a predictor of risk of disease and mortality have been investigated from various perspectives for more than six decades. The aim of the present comprehensive meta-analysis is to examine eight different HRV parameters to determine their association with all-cause and cardiac mortality. A total of 32 studie...

Purpose A characteristic problem occurring in COVID-19 is excessive elevations of pro-inflammatory cytokines (e.g. IL-6 and CRP) which are associated with worse clinical outcomes. Stimulation of the vagally-mediated cholinergic anti-inflammatory reflex by slow paced breathing with prolonged exhalation may present a clinically relevant way to reduce...

The bio-psycho-social model highlights intra-individual and inter-individual interactions, including psychotherapy. The processing of these interactions within a person takes place, among others, in the central autonomic network (CAN). The CAN's autonomic output to the periphery can be indexed by heart rate variability (HRV), representing individua...

Objective: There is a need for tools that help to communicate the biopsychosocial idea of health consisting of adequate interaction between mind, body, and environment. A visualization of a time series of 24h heart rate variability (HRV) combined with a diary provided the basis to feedback the individual biopsychosocial interactions. Methods: One h...

Background: Mental illnesses have received increasing attention in the work context in recent years, yet they are still often accompanied by stigma. One starting point for stigma reduction is interventions in the workplace. The present study evaluated a one-day workshop for managers in a large company. Method: Enrolled managers (n = 70) were rando...

Abstract 1031: Background: In a previous exploratory study, there was evidence of differences in the reactivity of the trigeminocardial reflex between psychosomatic patients (PP) and healthy controls. This reflex can be elicited by cold stimulation of the trigeminal nerve on the forehead (so-called cold face test; CFT) and measured by heart rate va...

Abstract 1168: Background Disturbed stress axes, namely a reduced activity of the autonomic nervous system, indexed by heart rate variability (HRV), and changes in the hypothalamus-pituitary-adrenal axis, indexed by cortisol, have been firmly associated with common mental disorders. We aim to simultaneously investigate these associations using HRV...

Stress management interventions aim to reduce the disease risk that is heightened by work stress. Possible pathways of risk reduction include improvements in the autonomous nervous system, which is indexed by the measurement of heart rate variability (HRV). A randomized controlled trial on improving stress management skills at work was conducted to...

Importance: Vagus nerve stimulation via slow-paced breathing could serve as adjuvant therapeutic approach to reduce excessive inflammation in coronavirus disease 2019 (COVID-19) pneumonia. Objective: Does a slow-paced breathing technique increasing vagal activity reduce Interleukin-6 (IL-6) in patients hospitalized with moderate COVID-19 pneumonia...

Background: A heightened stress reactivity to mental stress tasks has been shown in hypertensive patients and might contribute to a higher disease risk. We investigated this hyperreactivity with regard to an attachment related stressor that focuses on emotions instead of performance and we examined whether this effect can also be found in patients...

Background: Psychosomatic consultation in the workplace (PSIW) is an offer for employees who are under mental and psychosomatic strain. Core elements are early diagnosis and short-term psychotherapy with the aim of improving the care for mentally stressed employees. This article provides a characterization of patients and presents initial data on...

Johann Franc (1649-1725), a physician in Ulm, left several writings, of which his diary is one of the most interesting. This book gives an overview of Franc, his life, work and in particular his diary. There he reports on anamnesis, treatment, and course of patient cases, but also deals with theoretical issues and describes his opinion on various t...

Background Leaders in small and medium-sized enterprises (SMEs) are exposed to increased stress as a result of a range of challenges. Moreover, they rarely have the opportunity to participate in stress management trainings. Therefore, KMU-GO (ger: Kleine und mittlere Unternehmen – Gesundheitsoffensive; en: small and medium-sized enterprises – healt...

New tools for non-specific primary prevention strategies covering somatic and mental health in occupational medicine are urgently needed. Heart rate variability (HRV) reflects the capacity of the body to adapt to environmental challenges and of the mind to regulate emotions. Hence, a 24 h-measurement of HRV offers a unique possibility to quantify t...

Zusammenfassung Arbeit und psychische Gesundheit stehen in einer engen wechselseitigen Beziehung zueinander. Psychisch bedingte Arbeitsunfähigkeitszahlen steigen seit Jahren an, sodass die Thematik für viele Betriebe, aber auch gesamtgesellschaftlich an Bedeutung gewonnen hat. Dieser Artikel gibt zunächst einen Überblick über verschiedene Arbeitsst...

Arbeit und psychische Gesundheit stehen in einer engen wechselseitigen Beziehung zueinander. Bei einem negativen Einfluss ist dann häufig von Burnout die Rede. Die Symptomatik kann jedoch vielfältig sein, ebenso wie der Grad des Arbeitsbezuges. Dieser Beitrag beschreibt die Hintergründe, gibt Orientierung bei begrifflichen und diagnostischen Einord...

In this chapter we discuss the practical application of the circadian HRV patterns, for example at different risk states and diseases including depression and elevated systemic low-grade inflammation as well as healthy individuals. The underlying method of cosine analysis is explained. In the second part we demonstrate the practical implementation...

The rising burden of common mental disorders (CMDs) in employees requires strategies for prevention. No systematic data exist about how those involved perceive their roles, responsibilities, and interactions with other professional groups. Therefore, we performed a multi-professional standardized survey with health professionals in Germany. A self-...

Background Within the framework of psychosomatic consultation in the workplace (PSIW), external expert psychotherapists offered consultation sessions for employees at the company premises in order to establish a first contact. In contrast to the first contact usually established in regular care, PSIW explicitly focuses on the workplace and enables...

Manchmal machen belastende Arbeitsbedingungen krank. In anderen Fällen werden psychisch kranke Menschen am Arbeitsplatz mit ihren Beschwerden auffällig. Die „Psychosomatische Sprechstunde im Betrieb“ kann in vielen Fällen durch kompetente Diagnostik und frühe Weichenstellung niederschwellig Abhilfe schaffen.

Burnout ist keine in den Klassifikationssystemen ICD-10 und DSM-5 definierte Diagnose, in der Arbeits- und Organisationspsychologie jedoch etabliertes ätiologisches Modell. Ärzte, Psychologen, Patienten, aber auch Vertreter des Sozialversicherungssystems nutzen den relativ unspezifischen Symptomkomplex häufig, der ätiologisch mit (Arbeitsplatz-)Anf...

Collaboration among occupational health physicians, primary care physicians and psychotherapists in the prevention and treatment of common mental disorders in employees has been scarcely researched. To identify potential for improvement, these professions were surveyed in Baden-Württemberg (Germany). Four hundred and fifty occupational health physi...

Ziel des Artikels ist die Darstellung der Kernelemente und Möglichkeiten des Versorgungsmodells „Psychosomatische Sprechstunde im Betrieb“ sowie ähnlicher Modelle in Deutschland anhand publizierter Daten. Dazu bedienen wir uns einer selektiven Literaturübersicht. Mit dem Angebot einer Psychosomatischen Sprechstunde im Betrieb können Patienten in de...

Elevated HPA axis response to an attachment-related stressor in patients with primary hypertension

Hypertension is a major cardiovascular (CV) risk factor and is predicted by heightened CV reactivity to stress in healthy individuals. Patients with hypertension also show an altered stress response, while insecure attachment is linked to a heightened stress reactivity as well. This is the first study aiming to assess attachment representations in...

Objective: Posttraumatic stress disorder (PTSD) is associated with a higher rate of arterial hypertension. However, data about prevalence rates of PTSD in patients suffering from arterial hypertension as well as the relation to blood pressure (BP) control are lacking. Methods: We recruited 145 patients with primary hypertension from March to Nov...

Diese Arbeit beschäftigt sich mit dem Tagebuch des Dr. Johannes Franc, der von 1677 bis 1725 als Stadtphysikus in Ulm tätig war. Das handschriftlich in lateinischer Sprache verfasste Werk besteht aus zwei Bänden mit 136 Kapiteln, die sich jeweils mit einem Krankheitsbild beschäftigen. Sie beinhalten sowohl konkrete Fälle mit Francs Verordnungen als...