No full-text available
To read the full-text of this research,
you can request a copy directly from the authors.
Self-regulation and mortality from cancer, coronary heart disease, and other causes: A prospective study
Abstract
This article introduces a new personality inventory dealing with self-regulation. This is in some ways the opposite of neuroticism, and measures personal autonomy or independence, particularly as far as emotional dependence is concerned. Our concern was the relation between self-regulation and health, and large samples of healthy men and women were tested and followed up to demonstrate high predictability of mortality from cancer, coronary heart disease and other causes of death from scores on the questionnaire. It was also demonstrated that psychological risk factors were largely independent from physical risk factors, and could be changed by behavioural-cognitive treatment, reducing mortality.
... Es haben nämlich sowohl physische Risiko-faktoren wie die durch die Selbstregulation erfassten psychosozialen Faktoren eine Korrelation mit der Mortalität, das heisst, je stärker diese Risikofaktoren ausgeprägt sind, und je tiefer der Grad der Selbstregulation ist, desto höher ist die Mortalität bzw. desto kürzer ist die Überlebenszeit [9]. ...
... Im Hinblick auf die weiter oben referierten Ergebnisse aus Interventionsstudien mit einem Autonomietraining für die Selbstregulation [9] könnte die Iscador-Behandlung auch eine erhebliche Verbesserung der physischen Risikofaktoren zur Folge haben. Dies müsste jedoch noch genauer untersucht werden. ...
... Um andere Einflussfaktoren möglichst auszuschliessen, wurden zum Bei-spiel bei einer Studie über Krebspatienten (Beginn 1973) prospektive «Matched Pairs» gebildet, das heisst Patientenpaare mit vergleichbaren Charakteristiken (Alter, Geschlecht, Diagnosezeitpunkt, Tumorart, Therapiearten, etc.), aber jeweils unterschiedlicher Selbstregulation. Die Nachforschung im Jahre 1995 ergab, dass bei allen verglichenen Tumorarten und allen Therapieformen der psychosoziale Status, insbesondere die Selbstregulation, stark mit der Überlebenszeit korreliert war ([6], S. 110-115]; siehe auch [7], S. 114, 116, 123, 210, 213 und[9]). Chemotherapeutische Krebsbehand-lungen waren vor allem dann stark mit der Überlebenszeit assoziiert, wenn die Patienten eine die Selbstregulation stimulierende Psychotherapie hatten[10]. ...
A prospective epidemiologic cohort study of long duration with 10'226 cancer patients was able to show that treatment with the mistletoe preparation Iscador had a significant effect on survival time. For the 2 × 622 patients of a prospective matched-pair study within this cohort, the mean survival time for patients with the 8 cancer types considered (breast carcinoma without metastases, breast carcinoma with axillary metastases, breast carcinoma with remote metastases, rectum carcinoma, colon carcinoma, stomach carcinoma, small-cell and non-small-cell lung carcinoma) was up to 40% longer than in the group without Iscador. Two studies with randomised matched pairs essentially confirmed these results. In this paper we single out from the overall complex of possible influencing factors the interaction between therapy with Iscador and self-regulation in each patient. Self-regulation according to Grossarth-Maticek comprises activities of the individual self which satisfy basic needs and harmonise physical, emotional and spiritual functions. A self-regulated person in this sense has the capacity, through creating certain conditions within the physical body, soul and spirit, and in the the social environment, to bring about specific stimuli and challenges to enhance his or her overall well-being. Self-regulation can be measured on an ordinal scale from 1 to 6 using questionnaires specifically designed for this purpose. Measuring the degree of self-regulation gives a tool to determine the link between psychosocial factors (quality of life) and disease/health status and physical risk factors. Several studies have shown that greater self-regulation is associated with a smaller risk of contracting a disease (i.e. physical and psychosocial risk factors have less impact), as well as with a longer survival time if the disease, particularly cancer, has already begun. Treatment with Iscador as well as a higher self-regulation score both seemed - independently of each other - to contribute to a longer survival time for cancer patients. In addition, there was a positive interaction and synergy effect. On the one hand, patients with high self-regulation benefited more from Iscador treatment (+ 51% relative to the control group) than did patients with low self-regulation. It seems that Iscador exerted its positive effect in particular when self-regulation was high, or where self-regulation could be increased. On the other hand, Iscador treatment of cancer patients was associated with increased self-regulation and a corresponding enhancement of quality of life.
... There is some evidence that questionnaires measuring patients' adaptive capacity towards disease and healthorientated life-style change, such as the 'sense of coherence' (SOC) [10] or 'self-regulation' (SR) [11], could have stronger association with prognosis in oncology or other chronic conditions than HRQL scales [12][13][14][15]. One of these tools is based on Antonovsky's core question 'What may keep one healthy?' ...
... This questionnaire deals with the "ability to actively achieve wellbeing, inner equilibrium, appropriate stimulation, a feeling of competence, and a sense of being able to control stressful situations" [19]. Grossarth-Maticek & Eysenck characterized this concept as a short-hand personality trait term which "covers a conglomerate of concepts" related to reaction to a variety of stressors and coping mechanisms and not only as 'locus of control' [15]. The SR scale has been developed as an epidemiological, preventive health care and clinical measure in a long and short version, and has been validated, applied and evaluated against physical risk factors prospectively in breast and colorectal cancer patients [11,14]. ...
... Grossarth-Maticek & Eysenck propose autonomy training for the improvement of patients' self-regulation [31] and this has been tested in breast cancer prevention [32] with initial positive findings [15]. There is still a need for larger prospective observational studies alongside robust pragmatic trials of interventions based on the development of self-regulation. ...
Cancer Related Fatigue (CRF) and circadian rhythm have a great impact on the quality of life (HRQL) of patients with breast (BC) and colon cancer (CRC). Other patient related outcomes in oncology are measured by new instruments focusing on adaptive characteristics such as sense of coherence or self-regulation, which could be more appropriate as a prognostic tool than classical HRQL. The aim of this study was to assess the association of autonomic regulation (aR) and self-regulation (SR) with survival.
146 cancer patients and 120 healthy controls took part in an initial evaluation in 2000/2001. At a median follow up of 5.9 years later, 62 of 95 BC, 17 of 51 CRC patients, and 85 of 117 healthy controls took part in the follow-up study. 41 participants had died. For the follow-up evaluation, participants were requested to complete the standardized aR and SR questionnaires.
On average, cancer patients had survived for 10.1 years with the disease. Using a Cox proportional hazard regression with stepwise variables such as age, diagnosis group, Charlson co-morbidity index, body mass index (BMI)) aR and SR. SR were identified as independent parameters with potential prognostic relevance on survival While aR did not significantly influence survival, SR showed a positive and independent impact on survival (OR = 0.589; 95%-CI: 0.354 - 0.979). This positive effect persisted significantly in the sensitivity analysis of the subgroup of tumour patients and in the subscale 'Achieve satisfaction and well-being' and by tendency in the UICC stages nested for the different diagnoses groups.
Self-regulation might be an independent prognostic factor for the survival of breast and colon carcinoma patients and merits further prospective studies.
... Self-regulation can be characterized as a personality trait and defined as the "ability to actively achieve well-being, inner equilibrium, and a sense of being able to control stressful situations" [26]. The corresponding questionnaire was developed in the form of a long and a short version and is applied in epidemiological, preventive healthcare and clinical research [27]. Self-regulation is measuring two different factors, namely the ability to 'change behaviour to reach a goal' and the ability to 'achieve satisfaction and well-being' [25]. ...
... In the last decade a series of studies has published a positive influence of self-regulation on the survival of patients with a range of solid tumours [23,26,27,35]. Self-regulation (SR) represents the concept of the "ability to actively achieve well-being, inner equilibrium, appropriate stimulation and feeling of competence to control and manage stressful situations" and, in cross-sectional studies in cancer patients and patients with other chronic conditions, it shows negative moderate correlations with HADS-depression and anxiety [25]. ...
Cancer-related fatigue (CRF) has a major impact on the quality of life in breast cancer patients (BC). So far, only a few prospective studies have investigated the effect of adaptive salutogenic mechanisms on CRF. The aim of our study was to evaluate the possible prospective influence of autonomic Regulation (aR) and self-regulation (SR) on CRF and distress in long-term survivors.
95 BC and 80 healthy female controls (C) had been included in the observational study between 2000 and 2001 and completed the questionnaires on aR, SR and Hospital Anxiety and Depression Scale (HADS). Of these, 62 BC, and 58 C participated in the re-evaluation 6.6 years later: 16 participants were deceased (14 BC and 2 C). During follow-up, participants were requested to answer questions involving (Cancer Fatigue Scales) CFS-D, aR, SR and HADS. Multiple regression analysis was used to evaluate the influence of aR, SR, age, Charlson co-morbidity-index and diagnosis on CFS-D and HADS, and to select further potentially relevant factors.
High aR values showed significant effects, namely inverse relationships with CFS-D, cognitive fatigue, anxiety and depression. SR showed a reduced influence on anxiety and depression (all p < 0.05).
Autonomic regulation might have an independent, reductive influence on global fatigue, cognitive fatigue and - together with self-regulation - it seems to have a protective influence on anxiety and depression. The connection between these parameters is still unclear and awaits further evaluation.
AR seems to be a prognostic factor in breast cancer survivors, capable of reducing cancer-related fatigue and self-regulation distress as well. Further research is necessary in order to show how aR can be improved by therapeutic interventions.
... Quality of life was assessed in these studies as the degree of psychosomatic 'self-regulation'. This term applies to intrinsic activities of a human being through which he or she achieves well-being, inner equilibrium, appropriate stimulation, a feeling of competence and a sense of being able to control stressful situations (6,(24)(25)(26)(27)(28). Self-regulation is assessed by a self-administered questionnaire and measured on a scale from 1 (low) to 6 (high). ...
... In MammaLymRand the estimate of the median of improvement was 0.9 on a scale from 1 to 6. As there was no significant difference in the baseline values in MAMMARAND (Table 2), also minor improvements with respect to the Iscador group might be of some clinical relevance (25). ...
Mistletoe preparations such as Iscador are in common use as complementary/anthroposophic medications for many cancer indications, particularly for solid cancers. The efficacy is still discussed controversially. This paper presents an individual patient data meta-analysis of all published prospective matched-pair studies with breast cancer patients concerned with long-term application of a complementary/anthroposophic therapy with the mistletoe preparation Iscador. Six sets of data were available for individual patient meta-analysis of breast cancer patients, matched according to prognostic factors into pairs with and without mistletoe (Iscador) therapy. The main outcome measures were overall survival and psychosomatic self-regulation. Overall survival was almost significant in favor of the Iscador group in the combined data set of the randomized studies: estimate of the hazard ratio with 95% confidence interval 0.59 (0.34, 1.02). Overall survival was highly significant in the combined data set of the non-randomized studies: 0.43 (0.34, 0.56). In the combined analysis of the randomized studies, improvement of psychosomatic self-regulation, as a measure of autonomous coping with the disease, was highly significant in favor of the Iscador group: estimate of the median difference 0.45 (0.15, 0.80),
P
= 0.0051. The analyzed studies show that therapy with Iscador might prolong overall survival and improve psychosomatic self-regulation of breast cancer patients.
... Autonomous self-regulation is further characterized by positive actions to solve problems and wellbeing seeking behavior among patients (Marqués, Ibáñez, Ruipérez, Moya, & Ortet, 2005), which may be reflected by valuing continued dental treatment because they "find benefits" in it. This health promotion type of self-regulation has been shown to be negatively associated with vulnerability to develop a disease among healthy people, and has prospectively been negatively linked to death among patients with cancer, coronary heart disease, and other diseases (Grossarth-Maticek & Eysenck, 1995). Regarding indications of wellbeing, autonomous behavior has been negatively associated with autonomic, cognitive, and state types of anxieties, alienation, physical exhaustion, depression tendencies, and state and trait anger (Grossarth-Maticek & Eysenck, 1995). ...
... This health promotion type of self-regulation has been shown to be negatively associated with vulnerability to develop a disease among healthy people, and has prospectively been negatively linked to death among patients with cancer, coronary heart disease, and other diseases (Grossarth-Maticek & Eysenck, 1995). Regarding indications of wellbeing, autonomous behavior has been negatively associated with autonomic, cognitive, and state types of anxieties, alienation, physical exhaustion, depression tendencies, and state and trait anger (Grossarth-Maticek & Eysenck, 1995). ...
... The medical data were then checked and complemented through personal contact with the attending physician. Quality of life was assessed by the level of psychosomatic self-regulation using a questionnaire with 16 items [14][15][16][17]21]. Self-regulation was used in our studies as a prognostic factor, and in 2 studies also as an endpoint where it was measured twice. ...
... Concerning the short-term improvement of psychosomatic self-regulation in Cervix, estimated by the median of the pairwise differences in self-regulation between the second and first evaluation, the analyses of the original set and the subsets show a highly significant improvement. However, the estimate of the median of improvement is well below 0.5; given the high initial values in both groups, these minor improvements of the Iscador group vs. the control group may still be clinically relevant [17]. ...
Mistletoe preparations such as Iscador are commonly used in complementary medication for many cancer indications, particularly solid cancers. The efficacy of this complementary therapy is still controversial. Objective: Does longterm therapy with Iscador show any effect on survival, tumor progression and psychosomatic self-regulation of patients with cervical cancer? Patients and Methods: Prospective recruitment and long-term follow-up was carried out in 3 controlled cohort studies: In a randomized matched-pair study (19 pairs), cervical cancer patients with distant metastases and no mistletoe therapy were matched for prognostic factors. By paired random allocation, one of the patients was recommended mistletoe therapy by the attending physician. In 2 non-randomized matched-pair studies, cervical cancer patients without (102) and with (66) metastases, who already received mistletoe therapy, were matched with control patients without Iscador therapy. Results: For survival, the non-randomized studies showed significant effects in favor of Iscador therapy: hazard ratio (HR) estimate and 95% confidence interval (CI): 0.23 (0.14-0.39) and 0.37 (0.17-0.80), respectively. An effect of long-term Iscador therapy on tumor progression was not seen. Psychosomatic self-regulation in the Iscador group improved significantly within 12 months compared with the control group in the randomized as well as in 1 non-randomized study (cervical cancer without metastases): estimate of the median difference and 95% CI: 0.70 (0.15-1.05) and 0.25 (0.15-0.35), respectively. Conclusion: Iscador may have the effect of prolonging overall survival of cervical cancer patients. In the short term, psychosomatic self-regulation increases more markedly under complementary Iscador therapy than under conventional therapy alone.
... However, it does serve as a kind of final immunization of their work against the criticism expressed in this and other articles. (ix) Grossarth-Maticek and Eysenck (1995) have introduced a new inventory measuring self-regulation. This construct is similar to the opposite pole of neuroticism, reflecting dimensions such as personal autonomy or independence. ...
... No data have been presented by Grossarth-Maticek on the magnitude of this correlation in any published report of the longitudinal study in Crvenka in the former Yugoslavia. Nor have the reports of the more recently developed measures of these Types included these correlations (Grossarth-Maticek, 1989;Grossarth-Maticek and Eysenck, 1995). One item of data is available in the article by Grossarth-Maticek and Eysenck (1990): a factor analysis indicates that the Type 1 and Type 2 scales both loaded very highly together on one factor, as they did in the present psychometric study, suggesting that Types 1 and 2 are also very highly correlated in the study of Grossarth-Maticek and Eysenck. ...
The purpose of this study was to examine the validity of the scales from Grossarth-Maticek in the prediction of cancer and coronary heart disease (CHD). Factor analyses, based on responses from a community sample of 5133 subjects between the ages of 40 and 65, showed that the scale measuring Type 1 (disposition for cancer) correlated highly with the scale measuring Type 2 (disposition for CHD) personalities. Both scales had high positive loadings on a factor which had positive markers of neuroticism and depression and negative markers of optimism, sense of coherence, and social support. In two separate case–control studies, the Type 1, 2, and 4 (disposition for health) scales failed to successfully discriminate between groups of healthy individuals and those with a clinical diagnosis of cancer or CHD. Logistic regression analyses using data from the community sample showed that traditional risk factors such as gender, passive smoking, and neuroticism led to significant discrimination between healthy subjects and subjects with cancer or CHD. In contrast the scales from Grossarth-Maticek explained only a small part of the health versus illness variance and have little incremental validity over other traditional health-related personality constructs. © 1997 John Wiley & Sons, Ltd.
... Self-regulation can be characterized as a personality trait and defined as the "ability to actively achieve well-being, inner equilibrium, and a sense of being able to control stressful situations" [26]. The corresponding questionnaire was developed in the form of a long and a short version and is applied in epidemiological, preventive healthcare and clinical research [27]. Self-regulation is measuring two different factors, namely the ability to 'change behaviour to reach a goal' and the ability to 'achieve satisfaction and well-being' [25]. ...
... In the last decade a series of studies has published a positive influence of self-regulation on the survival of patients with a range of solid tumours [23,26,27,35]. Self-regulation (SR) represents the concept of the "ability to actively achieve well-being, inner equilibrium, appropriate stimulation and feeling of competence to control and manage stressful situations" and, in cross-sectional studies in cancer patients and patients with other chronic conditions, it shows negative moderate correlations with HADS-depression and anxiety [25]. ...
Objective
Cancer-related fatigue (CRF) has an important impact on the quality of life in breast (BC) and colorectal (CRC) cancer patients. Until now only a limited number of prospective studies have investigated the effect of adaptive salutogenic mechanisms on CRF, in addition to the biological influences. The aim of our study was to assess a possible effect of autonomic Regulation (aR) and self-regulation (SR) on CRF and distress in long-term survivors. Therefore, questionnaires on aR and SR were combined with the Hospital Anxiety and Depression Scale (HADS-D) and the Cancer Fatigue Scale (CFS-D), including three subscales.
Method
In total, 95 BC and 51 CRC patients as well as 120 healthy controls (C) had participated in the initial survey in 2000/2001. On average 6 years later, 62 BC, 17 CRC patients and 87 C could be followed up (number of females: 62 for BC, 11 for CRC, 60 C). Forty-one further participants were deceased (14 BC, 25 CRC and 2 C). During the follow-up, patients were requested to complete the CFS-D, HADS-D, aR and SR scales and to determine their Karnofsky-Index (KPI) through self-evaluation. Multiple regression analysis was used to evaluate the influence of aR and SR as well as age, gender and diagnosis groups.
Results
On average, disease duration of cancer patients was 10.1 years at a KPI of 93.3% at the follow-up. High aR values showed a significant effect 6 years after initial evaluation, reducing cancer fatigue with β=−0.66 (KI: −0.92 to −0.39; p<0.001), cognitive fatigue with β=−0.20 (KI: −0.31 to −0.09; p<0.001) and anxiety with β=−0.21 (KI: −0.31 to −0.11; p<0.001). SR had a positive influence on global fatigue (β=−2.39 KI: −4.45 to −0.34; p=0.022), anxiety (β=−0.87, KI: −1.65 to −0.10; p=0.028) and depression with β=−0.87 (KI: −1.36 to −0.38; p=0.001).
Conclusion
AR had an independent positive effect on anxiety, global and cognitive fatigue. Self-regulation showed an independent influence on fatigue, anxiety and depression-related symptoms. The connection between these parameters is still unclear and awaits further elucidation.
... For example, The Brief Self-control Scale (Tangney, Baumeister & Boone, 2008) includes the subdimensions of achievement of task performance, impulse control, adjustment, and interpersonal relationships. Grossath-Maticek and Eysenck's self-regulation inventory includes the subdimensions of positive actions, controllability, expression of feelings for needs, assertiveness, and well-being seeking (Grossarth-Maticek & Eysenck, 1995). We therefore constructed the Self-Control Scale, SCS, with nine items inspired by existing inventories. ...
Self‐control has been established as an important factor in various domains of life, significant for general well‐being; thus, a self‐induced lack of self‐control may prove detrimental for well‐being. Self‐induced lack of self‐control may stem from implicit beliefs about self‐control as a limited resource, but research has shown this belief to be unwarranted. Furthermore, it has been shown that a belief about self‐control resources as unlimited has a positive effect on many domains in life and ultimately on well‐being. This study addresses the question of antecedent beliefs about self‐control resources and proposes personal Grip on Life, defined as skill‐based goal setting and goal approaches, as a possible antecedent. This points to development of interventions altering a limited belief to an unlimited belief based on empowerment of one’s Grip on Life.
... The term s e l f-re g u l a t i o n applies to intrinsic activities of a human being through which he or she achieves well-being, inner equilibrium, appro p r i ate stimulation, a feeling of competence, and a sense of being able to control stressful situations. 2 Self-regu l ation influences the incidence and course of cancer. Studies c overing a 27-year period and involving 35 814 part i c i p a n t s 3 showed a higher incidence of cancer in those with poor self-regul ation, revealing detrimental synergies between low self-re g u l ation and other cancerigenic risk factors. 1 , 3 In patients with manifest cancer, higher self-re g u l ation corre l ated with longer survival. ...
In anthroposophical medicine, total extracts of Viscum album (mistletoe) have been developed to treat cancer patients. The oldest such product is Iscador. Although Iscador is regarded as a complementary cancer therapy, it is the most commonly used oncological drug in Germany.
To determine whether Iscador treatment prolongs survival time of patients with carcinoma of the colon, rectum, or stomach; breast carcinoma with or without axillary or remote metastases; or small cell or non-small-cell bronchogenic carcinoma; and to explore synergies between Iscador treatment and psychosomatic self-regulation.
Prospective nonrandomized and randomized matched-pair studies nested within a cohort study.
General community in Germany.
10,226 cancer patients involved in a prospective long-term epidemiological cohort study, including 1668 patients treated with Iscador and 8475 who had taken neither Iscador nor any other mistletoe product (control patients).
Iscador.
Survival time.
In the nonrandomized matched-pair study, survival time of patients treated with Iscador was longer for all types of cancer studied. In the pool of 396 matched pairs, mean survival time in the Iscador groups (4.23 years) was roughly 40% longer than in the control groups (3.05 years; P < .001). Synergies between Iscador treatment and self-regulation manifested in a longer survival advantage for Iscador patients with good self-regulation (56% relative to control group; P = .03) than for patients with poor self-regulation. Results of the 2 randomized matched-pair studies largely confirmed the results of the non-randomized studies.
Iscador treatment can achieve a clinically relevant prolongation of survival time of cancer patients and appears to stimulate self-regulation.
... uestionnaires. There may be a two-way relation between health and happiness: on the one hand, healthy people will suffer less physical discomfort and therefore be able to enjoy life more; on the other hand, there are indications that people who have many pleasant feelings are more likely to live a long and healthy life than people who feel bad (cf. Grossarth-Maticek & Eysenck, 1995), possibly because stress has a strong negative effect on health. Physical QOL is indicated by variables such as life expectancy and child mortality, which have strong correlations with life satisfaction. Among the factors that contribute to high life expectancy are adequate nutrition and quantity and quality of health care. Veenhoven ( ...
This paper argues that both the relativist and the pessimist critiques of the idea of progress are inadequate. Progress is defined as increase in global quality of life (QOL). Such QOL is intrinsically subjective, but not relative. It can be reliably measured through “life satisfaction”-type questions. The “World Database of Happiness” provides extensive data on social, economic and psychological factors that correlate with overall QOL. They include wealth, health, security, knowledge, freedom and equality. Various statistical data suggest that all these QOL indicators have undergone significant improvements during the last half century, in most of the world. This gives strong support to the thesis that progress objectively occurs.
... risk factors may function either independently (Grossarth-Maticek & Eysenck, 1995) or in a synergistic/additive manner with other risk factors (Marusic & Eysenck, 2001). ...
Numerous findings suggest that personality is linked to the incidence and experience of negative health outcomes. More specifically, trait negative affect is negatively related to a number of health outcomes. The current study expands our understanding of the link between personality and disease by examining the time course for lung cancer onset. In a sample of patients who had recently undergone surgical resection for lung cancer, a variety of negative affect-related personality variables were assessed to determine their relationship with age at surgery. After controlling for smoking behavior, it was found that trait negative affect was associated with time course for lung cancer onset, such that those with higher (vs. lower) levels of trait negative affect manifested lung cancer earlier in their lives. Thus, trait negative affect represents an independent risk factor among those prone to lung cancer (i.e. smokers).
... First, a recent study in France (9) reported that personality explained 24%-36% of all-cause mortality risk for men and 11% for women. That study used specific personality factors from classic psychosomatic medicine (41,42). In the United States, using the more general big 5 personality framework, we found that personality accounted for about 20% of the risk associated with lower SES, a number comparable across men and women. ...
The authors assessed the extent to which socioeconomic status (SES) and the personality factors termed the "big 5" (neuroticism, extraversion, openness to experience, agreeableness, conscientiousness) represented confounded or independent risks for all-cause mortality over a 10-year follow-up in the Midlife Development in the United States (MIDUS) cohort between 1995 and 2004. Adjusted for demographics, the 25th versus 75th percentile of SES was associated with an odds ratio of 1.43 (95% confidence interval (CI): 1.11, 1.83). Demographic-adjusted odds ratios for the 75th versus 25th percentile of neuroticism were 1.38 (95% CI: 1.10, 1.73) and 0.63 (95% CI: 0.47, 0.84) for conscientiousness, the latter evaluated at high levels of agreeableness. Modest associations were observed between SES and the big 5. Adjusting each for the other revealed that personality explained roughly 20% of the SES gradient in mortality, while SES explained 8% of personality risk. Portions of SES and personality risk were explained by health behaviors, although some residual risk remained unexplained. Personality appears to explain some between-SES strata differences in mortality risk, as well as some individual risk heterogeneity within SES strata. Findings suggest that both sociostructural inequalities and individual disposition hold public health implications. Future research and prevention aimed at ameliorating SES health disparities may benefit from considering the risk clustering of social disadvantage and dispositional factors.
... Outside the obesity and weight-management literatures, self-regulation of nutrition has received scant attention and has often been poorly defined [28]. Nevertheless, self-regulatory behavior has been associated with healthier eating [10,19,22,[29][30][31][32][33] and with promoting healthier activity levels in adults [20,22,34]. ...
The Internet is a trusted source of health information for growing majorities of Web users. The promise of online health interventions will be realized with the development of purely online theory-based programs for Web users that are evaluated for program effectiveness and the application of behavior change theory within the online environment. Little is known, however, about the demographic, behavioral, or psychosocial characteristics of Web-health users who represent potential participants in online health promotion research. Nor do we understand how Web users' psychosocial characteristics relate to their health behavior-information essential to the development of effective, theory-based online behavior change interventions.
This study examines the demographic, behavioral, and psychosocial characteristics of Web-health users recruited for an online social cognitive theory (SCT)-based nutrition, physical activity, and weight gain prevention intervention, the Web-based Guide to Health (WB-GTH).
Directed to the WB-GTH site by advertisements through online social and professional networks and through print and online media, participants were screened, consented, and assessed with demographic, physical activity, psychosocial, and food frequency questionnaires online (taking a total of about 1.25 hours); they also kept a 7-day log of daily steps and minutes walked.
From 4700 visits to the site, 963 Web users consented to enroll in the study: 83% (803) were female, participants' mean age was 44.4 years (SD 11.03 years), 91% (873) were white, and 61% (589) were college graduates; participants' median annual household income was approximately US $85,000. Participants' daily step counts were in the low-active range (mean 6485.78, SD 2352.54) and overall dietary levels were poor (total fat g/day, mean 77.79, SD 41.96; percent kcal from fat, mean 36.51, SD 5.92; fiber g/day, mean 17.74, SD 7.35; and fruit and vegetable servings/day, mean 4.03, SD 2.33). The Web-health users had good self-efficacy and outcome expectations for health behavior change; however, they perceived little social support for making these changes and engaged in few self-regulatory behaviors. Consistent with SCT, theoretical models provided good fit to Web-users' data (root mean square error of the approximation [RMSEA] < .05). Perceived social support and use of self-regulatory behaviors were strong predictors of physical activity and nutrition behavior. Web users' self-efficacy was also a good predictor of healthier levels of physical activity and dietary fat but not of fiber, fruits, and vegetables. Social support and self-efficacy indirectly predicted behavior through self-regulation, and social support had indirect effects through self-efficacy.
Results suggest Web-health users visiting and ultimately participating in online health interventions may likely be middle-aged, well-educated, upper middle class women whose detrimental health behaviors put them at risk of obesity, heart disease, some cancers, and diabetes. The success of Internet physical activity and nutrition interventions may depend on the extent to which they lead users to develop self-efficacy for behavior change, but perhaps as important, the extent to which these interventions help them garner social-support for making changes. Success of these interventions may also depend on the extent to which they provide a platform for setting goals, planning, tracking, and providing feedback on targeted behaviors.
... [71][72][73][74] The health implications are substantial, as there is now abundant evidence that the depletion of emotional energy plays a major and largely unrecognized role in both the genesis and aggravation of many health problems. [75][76][77][78][79] By fostering a state of psychophysiological coherence, positive emotion-focused techniques help individuals create an internal environment that is conducive to both physical and emotional regeneration. We suggest that such techniques are effective in helping to build back energy that has been depleted by persistent mental processing or negative emotional arousal, thereby enhancing health and healing. ...
In this chapter, the authors discuss a model of emotion that includes the heart, together with the brain, nervous, and hormonal systems, as fundamental components of a dynamic, interactive network from which emotional experience emerges. Furthermore, the authors review research that has identified new physiological correlates associated with the experience of heartfelt positive emotions, with a specific focus on appreciation. The authors discuss the use of heart-based positive-emotion-focused techniques to help people self-induce and sustain states of appreciation and other positive emotions. Finally, the authors summarize the outcomes of several studies in which these techniques have been introduced in organizational, educational, and clinical settings. (PsycINFO Database Record (c) 2012 APA, all rights reserved)
... All participants volunteered to complete, in counterbalanced order, within 20 minutes, both reliable and valid psychometric measures. One measure was McCown and Johnson's (1989) 15-item, uni-dimensional Adult Inventory of Procrastination (AIP; see Ferrari et al., 1995, for The other measure translated effectively in Spanish by Grossarth-Maticek and Eysenck (1995) to assess health-related coping behaviors was the 25-item Self-Regulation Inventory-Short (SRI-S) by Marqués, Ibáñez, Ruipérez, Moya, and Ortet (2005). This self-report coping measure has five factors that examine effective coping skills for life problems, namely: positive actions, solving problems and facilitating happiness (original author's α = 0.79), controllability, internal control attributions (original author's α = 0.68), expression of feelings and needs, identification and expression of needs, wishes and feelings (original authors α = 0.72), assertiveness, autonomy and self-confidence (original author's α = 0.69), and well-being seeking, satisfaction with oneself and others (original author's α = 0.70). ...
Research relating procrastination and mental health suggests that poor adjustment may be explained directly by the stress resulted from worry/anxiety over the delay, and indirectly by the tendency to put off important coping behaviors. In the present study, participants (80 women, 24 men; age range = 18-33 years, M age = 21.12 years old, SD = 2.03) completed Spanish versions of a measure of coping behaviours related to mental health and a procrastination inventory evaluating the tendency to avoid starting or completing tasks across a variety of everyday situations. Results indicated that procrastinators compared to non-procrastinators reported significantly lower positive actions and expression feelings/needs. Significant predictors of procrastination by students were low positive actions, expressing feelings, and assertiveness. Implications are considered relevant to student personality and development.
... Maticek and Eysenck (1995) proposed a self-regulation construct that refers to autonomy, emotional independence and the ability to actively regulate oneÕs own life in order to achieve oneÕs needs and aims, and to engage in appropriate health-seeking behaviour. This health-prone or coping dimension is related to the vulnerability to develop diseases in healthy people and the progress of physical diseases in patients (see Grossarth-Maticek, Eysenck, & Boyle, 2000 on those that had previously proved useful in predicting good or poor health in healthy individuals , and in patients with cancer, heart disease or other illnesses. ...
A Short 25-item version of the Self-Regulation Inventory (SRI-S) was devised from the long form of the questionnaire (Marqués, Ibáñez, Ruipérez, Moya, & Ortet, this issue). The results showed that the SRI-S presents sound internal consistency reliability and high correlations with the scales of the long version of the inventory. The SRI-S was also related to the dimensions of personality extraversion, emotional stability and impulse control.
... cacy is an important protective factor for cardiovascular diseases. It can, on the one hand, enhance people's ability to control and manage their own behaviors,[26][27][28]and on the other hand, prevent the impacts of risk factors such as anxiety, depression, and stress, leading to useful changes and improvements in patients' lifestyle. In patients with heart disease, studies on self-effi cacy are mostly focused on the successful role of cardiac rehabilitation[29,30]in enhancing people's ability to manage stress, do physical activities, and fi nally improve self-effi cacy.[31]As an important aspect of humanistic action related to reliability and health and improvement of the quality of life resulting in less disease and longer lifespan, much a ention has been paid to spirituality in recent years.[32,33]The ...
Conducted researches show that psychological factors may have a very important role in the etiology, continuity and consequences of coronary heart diseases. This study has drawn the psychological risk and protective factors and their effects in patients with coronary heart diseases (CHD) in a structural model. It aims to determine the structural relations between psychological risk and protective factors with quality of life in patients with coronary heart disease.
The present cross-sectional and correlational studies were conducted using structural equation modeling. The study sample included 398 patients of coronary heart disease in the university referral Hospital, as well as other city health care centers in Isfahan city. They were selected based on random sampling method. Then, in case, they were executed the following questionnaires: Coping with stressful situations (CISS- 21), life orientation (LOT-10), general self-efficacy (GSE-10), depression, anxiety and stress (DASS-21), perceived stress (PSS-14), multidimensional social support (MSPSS-12), alexithymia (TAS-20), spiritual intelligence (SQ-23) and quality of life (WHOQOL-26).
The results showed that protective and risk factors could affect the quality of life in patients with CHD with factor loadings of 0.35 and -0.60, respectively. Moreover, based on the values of the framework of the model such as relative chi-square (CMIN/DF = 3.25), the Comparative Fit Index (CFI = 0.93), the Parsimony Comparative Fit Index (PCFI = 0.68), the Root Mean Square Error of Approximation (RMSEA = 0.07) and details of the model (significance of the relationships) it has been confirmed that the psychocardiological structural model of the study is the good fitting model.
This study was among the first to research the different psychological risk and protective factors of coronary heart diseases in the form of a structural model. The results of this study have emphasized the necessity of noticing the psychological factors in primary prevention by preventive programs and in secondary prevention by rehabilitation centers to improve the quality of life of the people with heart diseases.
... It can be divided into acute and chronic. Chronic stress causes the most destructive conditions threatening a human organism (33). "Emotional brain", which has a completely separate structure from the neocortex and functions separately, controls vital emotions and reactions. ...
Objective:Stress is known as a major cause of sleep bruxism. This disorder is characterised by repeated contraction of the masticatory muscles and requires multidisciplinary treatment. The objective of this study is to determine the relationship between sleep bruxism and three elements, namely alexithymia, coping with stress and anxiety on women.Materials and Methods:One hundred female participants were examined in the study. All respondents completed a stress coping questionnaire, State-trait Anxiety inventory (STAI) and Toronto-alexithymia-scale (TAS-20). A Mann-Whitney U test, Student’s t-test and chi-square tests were applied to analyse the data. Statistical significance was assumed for p
... A state of strain of an organism is called stress, and it can be divided into acute and chronic. Chronic stress belongs to the most destructive factors threatening a human organism [25]. ...
In clinical practice, patients suffering from an occlusal parafunctional activity have increased. It can be observed that a negative influence of environment aggravates patient's health. The aim of this paper is to present the impact of environment and development of human civilization on the prevalence of bruxism and the correlation between them. The authors grasp the most relevant aspects of psychological and anthropological factors changing over time as well as their interactions and describe a relationship between chronic stress and bruxism. Current literature shows how contemporary lifestyle, working environment, diet, and habits influence the patient's psychoemotional situation and the way these factors affect the occluso-muscle condition.
... Tali studi si basano sull'idea di una stretta interconnessione tra stress, personalità ed abilità di coping. In particolare la personalità è definita in termini di atteggiamenti e stili di comportamento più o meno adattivi che l'individuo mette in atto come reazione agli stressor interni ed esterni (45). Gli stili cognitivi e comportamentali, diventano, quindi, fattori in grado di modulare la risposta all'evento stressante e di sviluppare conseguenze per la salute più o meno gravi. ...
... Overall STS scores were strongly correlated with self-regulation scores. The SRI-S serves as a general assessment of people's tendencies to be autonomous and independent in regulating their lives and health (Grossarth-Maticek & Eysenck, 1995). The results suggest that self-talk might serve an important causal or supportive role in self-regulation, or it may simply be a reflection of people's self-regulatory tendencies (e.g., Anderson, 1997). ...
... Type 5 (rational/antiemotional) has been classified by Schmitz (1992) as a disposition prone towards endogenous depression. In addition, a self-regulation dimension was proposed by Grossarth-Maticek and Eysenck (1995) to measure personal autonomy or independence (particularly in relation to emotional dependence). They reported that, "large samples of healthy men and women were tested and followed up to demonstrate high predictability of mortality from cancer, coronary heart disease and other causes of death from scores on the questionnaire." ...
Personality-stress subtypes measured via the Short Interpersonal Reactions Inventory (SIRI) have been claimed to predispose to cancer, cardiovascular disease, or overall good health. We examined such associations in a 1993–1996 study on health risk factors in Australians aged over 50 years. 2197 women and 919 men completed the questionnaire, with nine subscores calculated. After a median 23.4 years, protocols were matched against dates/causes of death (1108 out of 3027 respondents with useable SIRI scores had died). Survival analysis tested for associations between subscores and mortality from all causes, mortality from cancers (30% of deaths), cardiovascular disease (23% of deaths), and other known causes (35% of deaths). Type 2 (CHD-prone) and Type 4 (healthy) scores were significantly associated (p < 0.05) with all-cause and cardiovascular mortality but not with any-cancer mortality. Despite criticisms of the Grossarth-Maticek and Eysenck data, we found empirical support for some SIRI subtypes. In accord with the Grossarth-Maticek and Eysenck personality-stress model, and consistent with two previous SIRI studies, inverse associations of Type 4 (healthy) scores with all-cause mortality were found and also Type 2 scores predicted CVD mortality. However, no significant relationship was found between Type 1 scores and cancer mortality.
... Other studies confirmed that improvements of SRS had a prospective impact on morbidity and life extension in cancer patients. 41 Both variables were improved in patients by the multimodal therapies and have stabilized over time. ...
Background: Recent studies have proved the relevance of salutogenetic variables for fatigue management in breast cancer survivors with cancer-related fatigue (CRF). This comprehensive cohort design study is the first to examine the impact of 2 multimodal therapies, multimodal therapy (MT) and combined therapy (CT), compared with standard aerobic training (AT) on salutogenetic variables (self-regulation and internal coherence) and distress in breast cancer survivors with CRF. Methods: A total of 105 patients started the therapies and n = 84 completed the Self-regulation Scale, the Internal Coherence Scale, the Cancer Fatigue Scale, and the Hospital Anxiety and Depression Scale at baseline, 10 weeks after treatment (T1) and n = 81 after 6 months (T2). Patient satisfaction and qualitative feedback regarding therapy quality was assessed at T1. A general linear model including allocation type, therapy arm (MT/CT/AT), and bias-adjusting propensity scores tested the superiority of both multimodal therapies versus AT for all questionnaires at T1 and T2. Results: MT and CT were superior to AT to improve self-regulation and patients’ satisfaction at T1. Additionally, CT showed superiority for self-regulation at T2 (all P < .05). Compared with AT, internal coherence was significantly higher for patients in the MT arms at T2, respectively (all P < .01). Pearson’s correlations between self-regulation, internal coherence, and CRF improved from baseline to T2 (Mean r = −0.60). Qualitative feedback confirmed patients’ benefits in several health-related categories. Conclusions: Self-regulation and internal coherence are manipulable variables with relevant CRF associations. They can be positively affected by multimodal therapies. Alongside patients’ satisfaction and qualitative feedback they help refine treatment.
... Providing their scientific contribution on this topic, Hirose et al. showed that emotional stress, such as that induced by hypnotic suggestion of "fear" and "anxiety", causes a significant reduction in hepatic blood flow (69) and Fukudo et al. showed a positive correlation between the intensity of exposure to psychosocial stress and aggravation of inflammatory changes in the liver of patients with alcoholic liver disease (70). A statistically significant positive correlation between the levels of transaminases and the degree of depression (measured by the short form of the "Beck Depression Inventory") was demonstrated in several studies, even in patients with either chronic B and C hepatitis, even after adjustment of results for key factors such as age, sex, level of education, smoking, alcohol, and length of disease (71)(72)(73). ...
The Journal of Health Psychology publishes here Dr Anthony Pelosi's analysis of questionable science by one of the world's best-known psychologists, the late Professor Hans J Eysenck. The provenance of a huge body of data produced by Eysenck and Ronald Grossarth-Maticek is highly controversial. In Open letters to King's College London and the British Psychological Society, this editor is requesting a thorough investigation of the facts together with retraction or correction of 61 publications. Academic institutions have a conflict of interest concerning allegations of misconduct, which is why I believe that the only way forward is to have a National Research Integrity Ombudsperson to investigate allegations.
The aim of this paper is to identify positive psychological concomitants of moderate alcohol consumption. Current research and public-health perspectives on alcohol emphasize harms disproportionately relative to benefits. The major exception is research establishing beneficial effects of moderate drinking on cardiovascular health and overall mortality. In addition, much observational and experiential data suggest the widespread prevalence of positive drinking experiences. This paper is one of the first attempts since 1985 to codify such benefits in epidemiological terms. Methodological difficulties in accomplishing this include defining moderate drinking, controlling for confounding variables, and establishing causality. Nonetheless, evidence of psychological benefits has been found in experimental, observational, interview, self-report, correlational, and some prospective research. These positive findings are in the areas of subjective health, mood enhancement, stress reduction, sociability, social integration, mental health, long-term cognitive functioning, and work income/disability. Problem drinkers and alcoholics also seek mood and other benefits from alcohol, but are more likely to drink to counteract negative feelings and to support their egos than are social drinkers. It is as yet impossible to determine to what extent moderate alcohol consumption causes positive psychological outcomes and to what extent it is part of a complex pattern of mutually reinforcing variables.
Statements that so many people are killed by smoking use the term "kill" in a very unusual manner which is easily misunderstood by people not expert in epidemiology. In addition, the usual calculations leave out of account the fact that smoking interacts synergistically with other risk factors, so that it is a combination of risk factors rather than any specific one that is likely to have a causal influence on mortality. Strictly speaking it is quite inappropriate to state that smoking kills anybody, if we use the term "kill" in a meaningful fashion.
This investigation sought to determine how different parenting styles are related to general self-regulatory processes that are linked to alcohol use and abuse. Self-regulation and, more specifically, thoughts of control over drinking are forms of positive self-control mechanisms. Parenting styles are known determinants of both negative and positive self-control mechanisms in offspring. According to social learning theory, stronger relationships between parenting style and self-regulatory processes would be expected from the parent who is the same sex as the respondent.
A total of 144 female and 107 male college students currently using alcohol were administered a questionnaire on their alcohol use and problems, perceived style of parenting (authoritarian, permissive, or authoritative) of their parents, self-regulation, and perceived control of drinking. A model linking parenting styles, self-regulatory processes, and control over drinking with alcohol use and alcohol problems was tested across sex groups by using structural equation modeling.
In general, the parenting style of the parent of the same sex as the respondent's was found to be significantly related to self-regulation, which is known to be protective against alcohol use and abuse. A permissive parent of the same sex as the respondent was negatively associated with good self-regulatory processes for both men and women. Having an authoritative mother was also shown to be related to higher levels of self-regulation for women.
Self-regulation mediated the pathway from a permissive parenting style to perceived drinking control, which, in turn, mediated the pathway from self-regulation to alcohol use and problems. Finally, self-regulation mediated the positive pathway from an authoritative mother to perceived control over drinking for women.
Most established risk factors for chronic disease incidence and mortality from cancer, such as cigarette smoke, alcohol drinking, occupational and environmental hazards and dietary factors, have been shown to vary in their importance in terms of relative risk. In studies which addressed the individual level of behaviour, but also coping and self-regulation, a strong modifying effect of long-lasting hopelessness and helplessness has been found to depend on personality. Autonomy and healthful self-regulation have been defined as the regulation of behaviour in those activities which are carried out in the physical and social environment and lead to stimulated feeling, pleasure, perception of inner and social security, and competence. Persons with such well-regulated behaviour are capable of coping with sources of listlessness, uncertainty and instability. Those individuals showing a well-regulated behaviour arrive at a psycho-neuro-physiological basis for better competence and defence against health hazards. The capability determined by the degree of self-regulation is measured with different instruments. The experience with a questionnaire for the assessment of self-regulation, its quantification and predictive value is presented here. The method of study is by prospective approach, which permits the demonstration of causal associations (promotion, co-causality) and facilitates the experimental approach through intervention. A causal association is likely if the effect of a modifier is not only found in a prospective (observational) follow-up but also if the (experimental) intervention shows an effect. The method of intervention by stimulation of self-regulation is the autonomy training developed by Grossarth-Maticek. Using several examples presenting the method, the modifying effect is shown by referring to four risk factors. If the risk factors are associated with an inhibited self-regulation, then the effect in terms of disease and pathological outcome is stronger. This was shown with the hazardous effects of smoking, alcohol drinking and dietary malnutrition as well as with automobile exhaust. It may be important, for example, whether a person feels self-determined when driving a car for hours but does not need to consume ethanol-containing drinks for feeling well. One's own capability to regulate well over time apparently modulates functions of the body and hence modifies the effects of physical factors. In epidemiological studies, which assess mostly only exogenous factors (so called established risk factors) this evidence has to be considered by including the pertinent data on the relevant questions in each field study.
Grossarth-Maticek et al. reported that an individual's level on a rationality/antiemotionality (R/A) personality was strongly predictive of cancer, ischemic heart disease and stroke mortality. To investigate the relationships of an individual's level on the R/A personality to cancer and cardiovascular disease mortality in Japan, we conducted a population-based cohort study.
A self-administered questionnaire was distributed to 36990 Japanese residents in September 1992. The response rate was 90.3%. Data from 13226 males and 14880 females were analyzed. Dates and causes of death through December 31, 1999 were obtained for deceased participants.
The results from multivariate hazard ratios (HRs) revealed that males scoring in the middle level compared to those scoring in the lower level of the R/A personality scale decreased their risk of death from cancer and cardiovascular diseases after controlling for covariates.
The level on the R/A personality scale may affect mortality from cancer and cardiovascular diseases differently in Japan.
Alcohol volume and pattern have been previously demonstrated to predict cardiovascular disease (CVD) in these data. The objective of this study is to assess whether personality is a mediator in this relationship. Interview data from 1154 men and women aged 18-64 in Winnipeg, Canada were linked to health care utilization and mortality records, with 8 years of follow-up. Cox regressions were performed for men and women on time to first event for physician visits, hospitalizations, and deaths due to coronary heart disease (CHD), hypertension, or other CVD. Models linking drinking to CHD outcomes were unaffected by personality covariates. Models of hypertension and other CVD outcomes were significantly affected by inclusion of personality covariates, but the only significant individual personality covariate was in the effect on other CVD in men: Ego strength had a protective effect [hazard ratio (HR)=0.95]. Personality covariates as measured by the Eysenck Personality Questionnaire (EPQ) and Barron's Ego Strength Scale make only a modest contribution to statistical models of the relation between drinking and cardiovascular health.
Die menschliche Gesundheit und die Entstehung von Krankheiten sind in ihren bio-psychosozialen Aspekten so komplex, dass es durch monokausal-linear orientierte Forschung kaum möglich ist, die systemischen Wechselwirkungen zu erfassen und die Gesundheit ins hohe Alter oder Krankheit vorherzusagen.
This paper reviews the history and present position of the theory that there exists a cancer-prone (Type C) personality which succumbs more readily to cancer, and dies more quickly after contracting cancer, than other types of personality. In particular, Type C is characterized by (a) a tendency to suppress emotions like anxiety and anger, and present a bland surface, and (b) to find it difficult to cope with stress, to develop feelings of hopelessness and helplessness, and finally depression. Modern work supports this theory quite strongly, both by controlled comparisons between cancer and other types of patients, and by prospective studies in which healthy cancer-prone subjects are followed up for up to 15 years and compared with subjects who are not cancer-prone, for mortality from and incidence of cancer. Intervention studies show that psychological therapy can (a) prevent cancer from arising, and (b) prolong life in terminal cancer patients. Theories have been developed to identify the way in which psychosocial factors can influence cancer production through affecting the workings of the immune system, and much experimental support has been found for these theories. There appears little doubt that psychosocial determinants constitute an important risk factor for cancer, and interact synergistically with other risk factors such as smoking, genetic influences, etc.
Hans Eysenck made outstanding contributions to the description of human personality with his identification of three orthogonal personality dimensions although his approach was less exhaustive than that of subsequent researchers. He also proposed an ambitious agenda for developing comprehensive theoretical explanations based on the experimental approach and the biological underpinnings of major personality dimensions. Subsequent theories have followed his blueprint. Hans Eysenck's higher-level theoretical assumptions have stood the test of time better than his lower-level ones. However, a general limitation was his de-emphasis of cognitive processes and structures. He was less successful at implementation and interpretation than theory generation. This occurred in part because of his preference for a lawyer-like approach to research rather than a more scientific and objective one.
This research studies some of the psychometric properties of the Self-Regulation Inventory (SRI), a questionnaire designed by Grossarth-Maticek and Eysenck (1995) in order to assess coping behaviours related to health. The relationships between the SRI and basic dimensions of personality have also been investigated. A sample of 559 participants, 182 men and 377 women, answered both the SRI and the Eysenck Personality Questionnaire-Revised (EPQ-R). Our results showed that a five-factor solution of the SRI items appeared as the most robust internal structure for this instrument: positive actions, controllability, expression of feelings and needs, assertiveness, and well-being seeking. These five primary factors were clearly interrelated and a second-order factor analysis revealed a general self-regulation factor. Both the internal consistency and the temporal stability reliabilities of the SRI were adequate. In relation to personality, self-regulation was associated with emotional stability (low N) and extraversion and, to a lesser degree, with impulse control (low P).
We report the results of a prospective study of a random sample of 1353 elderly but healthy men and women who were followed up for a period of 10 yr, when mortality and cause of death were ascertained. Overall results have been reported elsewhere for mortality from cancer, coronary heart disease and other causes; here we are concerned with the personality factors predicting breast cancer, cervical cancer, cancer of the corpus uteri specifically, as well as other types of cancer in women. Ten specific hypotheses were tested, using specially constructed questionnaires for the purpose, and for most of these statistically significant support was obtained. The results justify belief that specific types of cancer may be related to specific stress/personality factors.
Psychooncology, a comparably young discipline, connects the psychological and biomedical aspects of cancer research and treatment. Although a clear association between psychological and biological factors in cancer has been shown, and psychological intervention fulfils the criteria of "evidenced based medicine", clinical research and practice has paid little attention to psychooncology up to now. The reasons for this may be the abundance of empirically established psychological factors, which are hardly amenable to non-psychologists, and the partially unsystematic medical research and assessment of the results. This article summarizes relevant theoretical and practical psychological aspects and paradigms for psychooncology and presents a model for the systematisation of different medical and psychological research and treatment conceptions. The model allows a differentiated assessment of theoretical and practical approaches and helps to identify possible strengths and weaknesses.
Measures of hardiness and the health typology of Grossarth-Maticek and Eysenck (Grossarth-Maticek, R., & Eysenck, H. J. (1990). Personality, stress, and disease: description and validation of a new inventory. Psychological Reports, 66, 355–373) were administered to 94 Iranian managers along with scales recording stress and psychopathology. Hardiness displayed expected and sometimes strong linkages with the health types. Control, for example, correlated −0.62 (p<0.001) with the coronary-prone type. Of the hardiness factors, Commitment served as the most reliable predictor of four stress measures, with relationships ranging from −0.21 (p<0.01) to −0.36 (p<0.001). Commitment and Control also predicted lower depression and anxiety, with linkages of −0.20 (p<0.05) to −0.44 (p<0.001). Among the health types, the coronary-prone scale yielded the strongest pattern of results, displaying hypothesized relationships with three of four stress and four of five psychopathology measures. These correlations ranged from 0.18 (p<0.05) to 0.32 (p<0.01). These data most importantly demonstrated that constructs developed in the West for understanding the role of personality in stress and health apparently have a cross-cultural validity in Iran as well.
To date there are many studies describing the protective and risk factors associated with alcohol consumption and cardiovascular health (the U- or J-shaped curve). These studies have only accounted for part of the effects. One hypothesis is that personality differences may account for some of the unexplained variance. It is also unclear if wine, beer and distilled spirits have equivalent effects on health. The purpose of this study is to describe the differences in personality among users of wine, beer and spirits.
Data were from a community sample of 1,257 men and women in Winnipeg, Manitoba, Canada, that was first enrolled in 1989-90. We examined and compared the demographic and personality characteristics of wine, beer and spirits drinkers in this sample.
The groups differed significantly on the dimensions of extraversion, psychoticism and reducer-augmenter in univariate tests. In multivariate models, for the total sample and for females, predominant drinking of wine was associated with low scores on the Vando scale (augmenters). Higher consumption of beer among males was associated with higher levels of neuroticism.
In these instances, personality does contribute to the characterization of groups.
This insightful and comprehensive monograph provides fundamental and detailed summaries of HeartMath Institute’s many years of innovative research. It presents brief overviews of heart rate variability, resilience, coherence, heart-brain interactions,intuition and the scientific discoveries that shaped techniques developed to increase fulfillment and effectiveness. Included are summary reports of research conducted in the business, education, health and first responder fields. Both the layperson and science professional will appreciate its simplicity and thoroughness.
In this chapter, Eysenck relates that since the times of Hippocrates and Galen there has been the tradition in medicine that certain personality characteristics are related to specific diseases. For example, the lack of emotional expression and feelings of impotence in the presence of unavoidable stress are characteristics attributed to victims of cancer. Cancer and heart disease are the focus here, as the evidence of consistent but contrasting personality characteristics being related to each is described. Past attempts at research in this area are criticized for their lack of theory, as Eysenck emphasizes the importance of putting forward hypotheses that can be tested, rather than pointing to correlations that cannot be interpreted causally. The bulk of the paper is given over to a description of two large-scale prospective studies, in two different parts of Europe: Crevenka, Yugoslavia and Heidelberg, West Germany. The striking thing about the two studies is the remarkable similarity of the data with relating personality characteristics and cancer/cardiovascular disease. Subjects were divided into four broad categories, the principal ones being Type I (cancer-prone—hopelessness, helplessness, depressive feelings, and repression in the face of stress) and Type II (coronary-prone—responding to stress with emotional expression, anger, irritation, and having unstable emotional relations). The hypothesized relationship was demonstrated. In both samples, Type I subjects were more likely than others to die of cancer, while Type II subjects were more like to suffer mortality due to infarct or stroke.
Since the 1960s, Grossarth Maticek and his colleagues have done several epidemiological studies in which they have proved their theory of healthy and disease prone personalities : a person of Type 1 personality tends to idealize a certain object as essential for his/her own happiness, often feels disappointed by it, and has been shown to be cancer prone ; a person of Type 2 personality tends to regard a certain object as the cause of his/her own unhappiness, often feels annoyed or irritated by it, and has been shown to be cardiovascular disease prone ; a person of Type 4 personality is ready to alter his/her way of doing or thinking towards an object whenever he/she finds it does harm or brings unhappiness to him/her in the long run, successfully avoids being repeatedly disappointed or annoyed by it, and has been shown to be resistant to various diseases. Such behavioral characteristics as in Type 1 or Type 2 personalities are called the object dependent behavioral pattern (or object dependence), which contrasts with the Type 4 personality called the autonomous and independent behavioral pattern (or autonomy). Autonomy Training (AUT) is a cognitive-behavior therapy that Grossarth-Maticek and his colleagues have developed as a device for reducing object dependency and increasing autonomy. The aim of this study is to determine if AUT is useful for Japanese. The subjects were two Japanese women suffering from dystonia : a thirty-nine-year-old working mother with blephalospasm and a fifty-year-old housewife with hemimasticatory dystonia, both of whom had not responded to medications and were referred to our clinic by an ophthalmologist and a dentist respectively. We applied AUT to the patients as a self-care manual based, outpatient therapy using a brief manual we adapted from Grossarth-Maticek's original that encourages a reader to identify and to solve his/her own problems on a trial-and-error basis and to gain a more comfortable and contented life. Changes of the patients' autonomy level were assessed through what they had reported in interviews as well as from scores of the Japanese version of the Self-Regulation Inventory (SRI), which was developed by Grossarth-Maticek to assess autonomy. The patients read the manual repeatedly and started to focus their attention mainly on their interpersonal relations. When they came to recognize their fixed and object dependent behavior patterns, especially in relations with their husbands, they started to try to change their attitudes and behaviors towards them in everyday life according to what they had learned from the manual. As a result of such changes, they reported improvement in their emotional status. Their behavior patterns were interpreted as Type 1 and Type 2 respectively, and showed improvement in the direction of increase in autonomy, confirmed by constantly improved SRI scores during their 57- and 22-week treatment periods and 41- and 74-week follow-up periods. Their behavioral changes were accompanied by improvements, although not perfect, in dystonic symptoms without receiving botulinum toxin injection therapy. In conclusion, AUT seems to be effective for Japanese in improving emotional and physical status through the development of autonomy.
Background: Mistletoe preparations such as Iscador are in common use as complementary medication for solid cancers. Efficacy and safety of this therapy is still controversial. Objective: Does the long-term application of the mistletoe preparation Iscador show any effect in prospective controlled studies on survival, tumor progression, and psychosomatic self-regulation of patients with melanoma? Patients and Methods: Prospective recruitment and long-term follow-up of two controlled cohort studies: (1) Randomised matched-pair study (22 pairs): patients with melanoma, treated with conventional therapies who had never used any kind of mistletoe therapy were matched for prognostic factors. By pairwise random allocation, a mistletoe therapy was suggested to one of the patients. (2) Non-randomised matched-pair study (32 pairs): patients with melanoma, treated with conventional therapies who already received mistletoe (Iscador) therapy were matched by the same criteria to control patients without Iscador therapy. Results: For overall survival, neither study shows a significant effect in favour of the Iscador therapy. The overall assessment of the effect of long-term Iscador therapy on tumor progression, however, is significant in favour of the Iscador group in both studies, hazard ratio estimate and 95% confidence interval (CI): 0.49 (0.32, 0.75) and 0.72 (0.54, 0.97) respectively. In the randomised study, the psychosomatic self-regulation improves within 12 months on a scale from 1 (low) to 6 (high) significantly in the Iscador group relative to the control group: estimate of the median of differences with CI: 0.55 (0.15, 0.85). Conclusion: The mistletoe preparation Iscador shows in these studies a clinically relevant and significant therapeutic effect on the progression of melanoma. In the short term, self-regulation rises more under Iscador therapy than under conventional therapy alone.
The study examined psychometric properties of a short version of the Self-Regulation Inventory (SRI-S) including reliability, validity, and exploratory factor analysis of the SRI-S in an Iranian students. Six hundred and seventy six Iranian volunteers (294 \males, 382 females) from universities in Iran were included in this study. All participants were asked to complete the SRI-S (Marques, Ibanez, Ruiperez, Moya, & Ortet, 2005), the Eysenck Personality Questionnaire-Revised Short Scale (EPQ-RS; Eysenck, Eysenck, & Barrett, 1985), and the Mental Health Inventory (MHI-28; Besharat, 2009). The results of explarotary factor analysis supported a single general factor of self-regulation and a five factor structure including Positive Actions, Controllability, Expression of Feelings and Needs, Assertiveness, and Well-Being Seeking. The convergent and discriminant validity of the SRI-S were supported by an expected pattern of correlations between the scale and the measures of personality and mental health. All correlation coefficients between the mean scores on the SRI-S and scores of the extraversion, neuroticism, psychological well-being, and psychological distress were statistically significant.
Maternal personality and social skills were used to predict both maternal and pediatrician communication patterns during pediatric well-child examinations. Audiotape recordings of mother-pediatrician interaction were collected and analyzed from 78 mothers of children less than 2 years of age at 5 private practice pediatric offices; questionnaires were completed at home by the mothers. Canonical and zero-order correlations indicated that specific utterances made by both mothers and pediatricians can be predicted from the mother's personality (particularly with regard to openness to experience, extraversion, and neuroticism) and from the mother's social skills, providing support for a dynamic mutuality model of medical communication. Theoretical and applied implications for doctor training and development of parent education programs are discussed.
Socioeconomic status (SES) is consistently associated with health outcomes, yet little is known about the psychosocial and behavioral mechanisms that might explain this association. Researchers usually control for SES rather than examine it. When it is studied, only effects of lower, poverty-level SES are generally examined. However, there is evidence of a graded association with health at all levels of SES, an observation that requires new thought about domains through which SES may exert its health effects. Variables are highlighted that show a graded relationship with both SES and health to provide examples of possible pathways between SES and health end points. Examples are also given of new analytic approaches that can better illuminate the complexities of the SES-health gradient.
This article describes a scale measuring dispositional optimism, defined in terms of generalized outcome expectancies. Two preliminary studies assessed the scale's psychometric properties and its relationships with several other instruments. The scale was then used in a longitudinal study of symptom reporting among a group of undergraduates. Specifically, respondents were asked to complete three questionnaires 4 weeks before the end of a semester. Included in the questionnaire battery was the measure of optimism, a measure of private self-consciousness, and a 39-item physical symptom checklist. Subjects completed the same set of questionnaires again on the last day of class. Consistent with predictions, subjects who initially reported being highly optimistic were subsequently less likely to report being bothered by symptoms (even after correcting for initial symptom-report levels) than were subjects who initially reported being less optimistic. This effect tended to be stronger among persons high in private self-consciousness than among those lower in private self-consciousness. Discussion centers on other health related applications of the optimism scale, and the relationships between our theoretical orientation and several related theories.
Contends that control theory provides a model of self-regulation that is useful in the analysis of human behavior. As an illustration of the breadth of its applicability, the basic construct of control theory––the discrepancy-reducing feedback loop––is presented, and certain implications for theory in 3 areas of human psychology are discussed. In personality-social, clinical, and health psychology, the construct proves to fit well with known phenomena and with the theories most recently developed to account for the phenomena. Moreover, in each case control theory appears to make a unique contribution to the state of the area. The integrative potential suggested by these illustrations and some issues that should receive attention in future work are noted. (3 p ref)
This study examines the predictive accuracy of four different methods of administration of a questionnaire designed to predict cancer and coronary heart disease (CHD) in healthy probands. The method of administration uses the establishment of trust and the explanation of questions as variables in all four possible combinations, i.e. trust and explanation, trust only, explanation only, and neither, the prediction being that the combination of trust and explanation would produce the most accurate prediction, the treatment using neither the worst prediction, with methods using either trust alone or explanation alone intermediate. The criterion was the successful prediction of cancer and CHD. A total population of 3563 men and women was used, and followed up over 15 years, death certificates being used to establish cause of death. As predicted, the combination of trust and explanation did best, use of neither worst. Explanation seemed more important than trust, and the combination seemed to have a synergistic effect. It is apparent that method of administration had an important effect on the outcome of the experiment.
The contemporary concept of illness and disease has been shaped to a large extent by two main influences. The first dates back to the 17th-century philosopher and mathematician René Descartes, whose enormous influence is unusual in view of the fact that he made no important scientific discoveries. In actuality, some of his concepts were fallacious, the most egregious being his refutation of Harvey’s theory of the circulation of the blood in favor of his own proposition that the heart worked as a heat engine. What Descartes did accomplish (Traité de l’Homme) with great apparent logic and literary skill, was the persuasion of the scientific community that all the structures and functions of the human body could be reduced to mechanical models. As such, a problem or difficulty in any system might be resolved by a detailed knowledge of the nature and function of each component portion of the system, so that the specific defect could be isolated and corrected. The soul or mind was assumed to be a direct gift from God and entirely separate and distinct from the workings of this machine.
the studies here reported revert to earlier theories linking personality and coronary heart disease [CHD] in terms of anger, hostility and aggressiveness, and demonstrate that coronary heart disease can be predicted with considerable accuracy, in terms of personality theory, incorporating these traits into a wider stress-related model of personality
it is also shown that a special type of behaviour therapy designed to alter the coronary heart disease-prone types of behaviour can prevent deaths from this particular disease with considerable success
it is suggested that the theory here presented has taken from Type A theory those elements most directly related to CHD, while eliminating those elements which have not proved relevant (PsycINFO Database Record (c) 2012 APA, all rights reserved)
This study was designed to explore the psychological characteristics of individuals who score high on a measure assessing health orientation. The measure was constructed in the framework of the cognitive orientation theory and consists of beliefs of four types (about goals, rules and norms, oneself, and general) referring to themes such as trusting people, control, and enjoyment. The subjects were 176 healthy adults (88 men, 88 women) in the age range 31-50 (M = 39.4 years) examined in the framework of a health survey. They were administered the Cognitive Orientation of Health Questionnaire and other measures assessing emotions, authoritarianism, locus of control, daydreaming, repressiveness, neuroticism, somatic complaints, somatization, and alexithymia. The main results obtained by ANOVA and multiple regression analyses were that high-scorers on health orientation also scored higher on love, joy, contentment, hostility, jealousy (men only), emotional reactions, positive daydreams, internal control, repressiveness, neuroticism, functional-actional self-descriptions, and negative selfreferences. High-scorers on health orientation scored lower on depression, anxiety, fear, jealousy (women only), negative daydreams, poor attentional control, somatic complaints, somatization, alexithymia, positive self-references, and self-descriptions that capitalize on body parts, weight, and appearance. The major conclusions refer to the conception of a psychological general health orientation and its manifestations.
ABSTRACT Explanatory style and dispositional optimism have been linked to physical health In this issue, Peterson and Seligman and Carver and Scheier review an impressive series of studies which together suggest that there may be health risks associated with attributing bad outcomes to internal, stable, and global causes and with failing to maintain a generalized expectancy for good outcomes We attempt to broaden the scope of these studies by describing the situational constraints on the observed relations and by presenting evidence that there may be health risks, as well as benefits, associated with dispositional optimism and an optimistic explanatory style
The present study was concerned with assessing subjects' preexisting tendencies to engage in self-control behavior. Rosenbaum's Self-Control Schedule (SCS) was administered to college students prior to participation in the cold pressor test. It was discovered that subjects' scores on the SCS were not predictive of their actual performance on the cold pressor test. After failing to replicate Rosenbaum's findings, task-specific self-efficacy estimates were used to predict performance on the cold pressor test and it was found that these estimates correlated with and were predictive of cold pressor tolerance. These results were discussed with reference to the situation-specificity of self-control behavior and the need to consider situational variables in assessing self-control.
Recent theories of test anxiety hold that self-directed attention impairs the performances of test-anxious persons in evaluative situations. Researchers have not sought to experimentally validate the mediation of self-focus in this relationship, however. Two studies are reported that were intended to provide evidence on this point. The studies also integrate the impairment hypothesis with a broader model of self-regulation, in which self-focus is sometimes facilitating and sometimes debilitating, depending upon the person's expectancies of being able to perform adequately. In Experiment 1, subjects high and low in test anxiety attempted a series of anagrams in an evaluative situation. As predicted, rather than exerting a uniformly adverse effect, experimentally enhanced self-focus interacted with level of test anxiety, improving performances among low-anxious subjects, impairing them among the test-anxious. Subjects in Experiment 2 attempted an insoluble test item, while their persistence was unobtrusively monitored. Self-directed attention once again interacted with level of test anxiety, so as to increase persistence among low-anxious subjects and to decrease it among the test-anxious. In neither study was there strong evidence that the difference in responding to self-focus was mediated by expectancy of performing well. A general discussion addresses this issue, along with the following: the relationship between these studies and the earlier literature of test anxiety, the theoretical implications of the fact that self-focus had interactive effects, and the fact that the theoretical model predicting these effects was developed in the context of normal, rather than abnormal, behavior.
Several prospective studies conducted by H. Eysenck and R. Grossarth-Maticek have demonstrated that personality can be considered as a risk factor in cancer and coronary heart disease. It was found that persons being prone to certain kinds of illness showed different types of reactions to interpersonal stress. A questionnaire developed by Grossarth-Maticek and Eysenck to measure 6 different reaction types was applied to a sample of persons who were suffering from different kinds of psychosomatic complaints and who were attending relaxation training programs, and to a sample of students. In addition, data concerning personality, coping-styles and health behavior were collected in both samples. It was found (1) that Grossarth-Maticek and Eysenck's behavior types were markedly correlated with basic personality dimensions, such as Neuroticism, Extraversion, Psychoticism and open vs closed mindedness (Rokeach, 1960, The open and closed mind. New York: Basic Books), (2) that these behavior types were connected with different types of coping, and (3) that finally these behavior types were associated with different kinds of psychosomatic complaints and diseases, as well as cancer and coronary heart disease.
The study deals with the nature of repression as currently defined by low anxiety (Taylor's MAS) and high defensiveness (Marlowe-Crowne's Social Desirability Scale), and the psychological reality of the 4-group partition based on anxiety and defensiveness. The subjects, 227 men and women about 40 yr old, were administered questionnaires as part of a health survey. Analyses of variance showed that repressors scored low on Eysenck's neuroticism; low on negative emotions but high on positive emotions (MAACL, MACL); low on negative daydreams and low attentional control (Imaginal Processes Inventory); low on references to others and negative self descriptions but high on positive self descriptions and on experimental and actional contents (“Who-Am-I?”); low on somatic complaints (e.g. SUNYA checklist) but high on the motivation for physical health (Cognitive Orientation of Health, Kreitler & Kreitler). There were no differences in positive daydreaming, alexithymia, locus of control, authoritarianism, and somatization. Analyses of variance with anxiety and defensiveness as separate factors showed the two factors were involved in about half of the cases, but only one factor, mostly anxiety, in the other half. Major conclusions are that repression is a coping mechanism directed selectively against negative or unpleasant aspects and that the four groups have a broad-based psychological reality.
The present study was conducted to examine how private self-consciousness may ameliorate the effects of stressful life events on physical health. Subjects completed the Self-Consciousness inventory, and also answered questions about life changes and illnesses that occurred to them in the preceding 3 weeks. Subjects then returned 3 weeks later to report again on life changes and illnesses. With the use of Cross-Lagged Panel Correlation Analysis and multiple regression analysis we examined the moderating effects of private self-consciousness. The results indicated that the health of persons high in private self-consciousness was unaffected by the incidence of undesirable uncontrollable life events, but persons low in private self-consciousness became more susceptible to illness subsequent to the accumulation of such events. It is suggested that individuals high in private self-consciousness are more likely to notice their psychological and somatic reactions to stressful situations and take instrumental actions which ameliorate their reactions to stressors. Suggestions for future research and implications for prescriptive recommendations made by health practitioners are discussed.
This paper reviews the history and present position of the theory that there exists a cancer-prone (Type C) personality which succumbs more readily to cancer, and dies more quickly after contracting cancer, than other types of personality. In particular, Type C is characterized by (a) a tendency to suppress emotions like anxiety and anger, and present a bland surface, and (b) to find it difficult to cope with stress, to develop feelings of hopelessness and helplessness, and finally depression. Modern work supports this theory quite strongly, both by controlled comparisons between cancer and other types of patients, and by prospective studies in which healthy cancer-prone subjects are followed up for up to 15 years and compared with subjects who are not cancer-prone, for mortality from and incidence of cancer. Intervention studies show that psychological therapy can (a) prevent cancer from arising, and (b) prolong life in terminal cancer patients. Theories have been developed to identify the way in which psychosocial factors can influence cancer production through affecting the workings of the immune system, and much experimental support has been found for these theories. There appears little doubt that psychosocial determinants constitute an important risk factor for cancer, and interact synergistically with other risk factors such as smoking, genetic influences, etc.
The present article presents an integrative theoretical framework to explain and to predict psychological changes achieved by different modes of treatment. This theory states that psychological procedures, whatever their form, alter the level and strength of self-efficacy. It is hypothesized that expectations of per- sonal efficacy determine whether coping behavior will be initiated, how much effort will be expended, and how long it will be sustained in the face of ob- stacles and aversive experiences. Persistence in activities that are subjectively threatening but in fact relatively safe produces, through experiences of mastery, further enhancement of self-efficacy and corresponding reductions in defensive behavior. In the proposed model, expectations of personal efficacy are derived from four principal sources of information: performance accomplishments, vicarious experience, verbal persuasion, and physiological states. The more de- pendable the experiential sources, the greater are the changes in perceived self- efficacy. A number of factors are identified as influencing the cognitive processing of efficacy information arising from enactive, vicarious, exhortative, and emotive sources. The differential power of diverse therapeutic procedures is analyzed in terms of the postulated cognitive mechanism of operation. Findings are reported from microanalyses of enactive, vicarious, and emotive modes of treatment that support the hypothesized relationship between perceived self-efficacy and be- havioral changes. Possible directions for further research are discussed.
Alcohol consumption is a well-known risk factor for cancer, coronary heart disease (CHD), and various other diseases. It is here suggested that motivational factors may be important in mediating any effects of drinking on health. In particular, the hypothesis was tested that drinking to drown one's sorrows (S-type) was much more a risk factor than pleasure drinking (P-type). A total of 1,706 men were tested and followed for 13 years, when death and cause of death were established. The hypothesis was supported for all levels of drinking. In addition, subjects were divided into those 900 who were under stress at the beginning of the study and those 806 who were not. Stress and drinking combined in a complex fashion to form a risk factor for disease, and motivation combined with both in the predicted direction.
In this article we consider the effectiveness of creative novation behaviour therapy in preventing cancer and coronary heart disease in disease-prone probands, and also its effectiveness in extending life for patients suffering from terminal cancer. In all cases, suitably matched controls are provided as part of the general methodology, and results are reported to testify to the effectiveness of the therapy, whether administered a long-term individual therapy, group therapy, or bibliotherapy plus short-term individual treatment. We also consider the negative effects of psychoanalysis on outcome.
This paper describes a novel method of behaviour therapy applied to cancer-prone and coronary heart disease-prone patients in a prophylactic manner, to reduce the probability of their dying of cancer or coronary heart disease. The treatment can also be applied to patients already suffering from cancer in order to prolong their lives. The methods used are described in considerable detail, together with the rationale leading to their adoption. In Part II of this paper are the results of several studies showing that the methods are surprisingly successful in preventing death in cancer-prone and coronary heart disease-prone probands, and prolonging life in patients already suffering from terminal disease.
The construction of a new Personality-Stress Inventory is discussed, based on previous research and other types of inventory constructed on the same principles. Scores on the inventory divide people into six types, selectively prone to different types of disease. The instrument is administered twice, with six months intervening, and changes in the inventory scores are prognostic of the probability of contracting different diseases. Evidence is presented to show the validity of the questionnaire and the method used.
Explanatory style is an individual difference that influences people's response to bad events. The present article discusses the possibility that a pessimistic explanatory style makes illness more likely. Several studies suggest that people who offer internal, stable, and global explanations for bad events are at increased risk for morbidity and mortality. We tentatively conclude that passivity, pessimism, and low morale foreshadow disease and death, although the process by which this occurs is unclear.
This article examines the notion that personality plays a causal role in the development of disease. In particular, this article develops the heuristic strategy of simultaneously comparing several emotional aspects of personality and several diseases, with close attention to the strength of the links between personality and disease. The published literature on personality correlates of five diseases with so-called "psychosomatic" components—asthma, arthritis, ulcers, headaches, and coronary heart disease—is reviewed and discussed, with a focus on construct validity. The statistical technique of meta-analysis is used to provide an easily viewed comparative summary. The results point to the probable existence of a generic "disease-prone" personality that involves depression, anger/hostility, anxiety, and possibly other aspects of personality. However, except in the case of coronary heart disease, the evidence is weak. Nevertheless, there is sufficient evidence to argue for a key role for psychological research on the prevention and treatment of disease. Specific directions for future research are described.
This study pursues an earlier investigation by G. D. Friedman et al. [Prev. Med. 12, 533-540 (1983)] which reported that a group of psychological questions moderated the effects of cigarette smoking on myocardial infarction. In a group of 65 smokers drawn from a study of 278 middle-aged men it is shown that, among smokers, the personality dimension entitled dependence/independence appears to have a significant moderating effect on the relationship between the amount smoked and the elevations of diastolic blood pressure, cholesterol, triglycerides, and uric acid. It is suggested that the moderating effects of this personality dimension, which is sometimes called "Promethean Will," and which appears similar to the concept of hardiness introduced by S. C. Kobasa [J. Pers. Soc. Psychol. 37, 1-11 (1979)] may be attributable to either the differential effect of coincident dietary behavior or variation in sympathetic response. It is noted that this type of investigation may provide greater insight into how cigarette smoking affects coronary risk, and it is suggested that a potentially interesting future investigation would examine whether, among smokers, such personality dimensions have associated dietary effects or might moderate the relationship between the amount smoked and catecholamine response.
Using a prospective design, this study examined the hypothesis that a predisposition to focus on internal aspects of the self serves as a stress resistance resource. One hundred and twenty subjects filled out the Private Self-Consciousness inventory, a schedule of recent life events and a symptom checklist. Two months later they were asked again to report life events and symptoms that had occurred in the interval. Data were analyzed by means of hierarchical panel analysis. The results showed, consistent with the hypothesis, that incidence of stressful life events predicted subsequent illness among persons low in private self-consciousness but not in persons high in private self-consciousness. It is proposed that the tendency on the part of persons low in private self-consciousness to disattend to their psychologic and somatic reactions to stressful life events and to fail to take corrective actions may lead to lowered body resistance over time and hence increase their susceptibility to physical illness. The results are interpreted as consistent with Schwartz's concept of disregulation and control systems analysis of health behavior and Leventhal's work on the role of internal monitoring for coping with stress.
1848, as every student of history knows, was a revolutionary year in Europe. During that year, a minor, long forgotten revolution occurred in London medical circles when a physician, John Elliotson, published a paper entitled ‘Cure of a true cancer of the female breast with mesmerism’ (Elliotson, 1848). It is, as far as I can ascertain, the first recorded case of its kind. The author hypnotized his patient, a 42-year-old single woman, for “5 years and upwards … and for the greater part of the period three times a day”; during that time, Elliotson observed a ‘cancerous tumour’ in her right breast shrink away completely. No less than seven physicians and surgeons independently attested to the diagnosis of breast cancer, but no pathological examination was carried out. Elliotson was roundly abused, not for using hypnosis to treat cancer, but for using hypnosis at all—a practice condemned by certain physicians of fervid imagination as “indecent, disgraceful … liable to excite lascivious passions … an infernal system … the workings of Satan” (Elliotson, 1848).
The ability of a group of 94 psychological questions to discriminate between men in whom cigarette smoking was associated with increased risk of myocardial infarction and men in whom smoking was not so associated remains puzzling. Further analyses, controlling for reported alcohol consumption and for a questionnaire item that might reflect physical activity, failed to alter this finding. This interaction of the questionnaire responses with smoking was not found with two other major coronary risk factors, serum cholesterol and systolic blood pressure. Believing that these observations may provide (a) a clue to how cigarette smoking affects risk of myocardial infarction, or (b) some means of identifying greater or lesser susceptibility to the effects of smoking, we invite other investigators to join in the pursuit of this matter. A list of ten selected yes-or-no questions with strong interaction with smoking is provided to assist others in studying this phenomenon; these are similar to ten items on the Minnesota Multiphasic Personality Inventory.
Previous research has indicated that repressive styles of coping with stressful emotions may be associated with higher cancer incidence and poorer prognosis. Other studies have suggested that coronary-prone and cancer-prone individuals may be at opposite poles on the distributions of several coping and personality variables. In order to investigate whether these differences could be reflected in a measure that integrated psychological and physiological processes, the present study compared the repressive coping reactions of malignant melanoma patients to matched cardiovascular disease patients and disease-free controls (N of 20 in each group). Repressive coping reactions were operationally defined as the discrepancy between reported anxiety and that shown physiologically (electrodermal activity) in response to anxiety-provoking statements in an experimental procedure. The concurrent validity of this procedure was established through correlations with other indices of repressive tendencies which were administered to all subjects. Analysis of variance showed that the melanoma group was significantly more 'repressed' on these measures, while the cardiovascular disease patients were the least repressed or most sensitized. These differences in defensive posture were independent of disease severity, which suggested that they were not merely artifacts of differences in disease-related anxiety.
Alexithymia is a term meaning "no words for mood." It has been applied to patients who have marked difficulty in verbal expression of emotions and limited ability to use fantasy. These patients often have psychosomatic illnesses and tend to do poorly in traditional dynamic psychotherapy. The concept is discussed from an historical perspective and its current status in the understanding of psychosomatic illness is assessed. The alexithymia literature is critically reviewed with a focus on definition, measurement, etiological speculations, and the relevance of alexithymia to the psychotherapeutic process. The alexithymic concept has much to offer heuristically, but most of the literature to date has been anecdotal and theoretical, with few research investigations. Suggestions are made for future research that could serve to validate the concept and provide answers to questions regarding symptom formation and psychological problems.
This work describes assessment of the psychometric properties of a self-report instrument, the Glover Vulnerability Scale. This scale was administered to a total of 11 groups (N = 695). Six of the groups were Vietnam combat veterans diagnosed as having Posttraumatic Stress Disorder (n = 531). The estimate of internal consistency was .88; the test-retest correlation over 4 wk. was .81. Convergent and discriminant validations were satisfactory based on the pattern of the scale's correlations with relevant MMPI subscales and demographic data. Scale scores also discriminated levels of functioning within the population diagnosed with Posttraumatic Stress Disorder and discriminated veterans diagnosed with Posttraumatic Stress Disorder from patients with major depressive disorder and anxiety disorder. Principal component factor analysis gave a 4-factor solution: social comfort, vulnerability, paranoia, and family trust. Over-all, the findings strongly support the clinical application of the Vulnerability Scale.
We have tested the hypothesis in this study that different methods of administering a questionnaire produce differential approximations to truthful admission of undesirable personality traits and behaviours. Four different methods of administration produced different levels of trust and understanding, using the current prediction among healthy subjects of death by cancer or coronary heart disease 13 years later as the criterion. There were significant differences in the accuracy of the predictions, depending crucially on the method of administration of the questionnaires. Best predictions were achieved for subjects when both trust and understanding had been increased by interviewers' suitable participation; worst results were achieved for subjects when no special effort was made to increase either. Intermediate results were found for procedures which increased either trust or understanding. It is argued that the success or failure of studies investigating the influence of personality and stress on diseases like cancer and coronary heart disease may depend crucially on the adopted method of interrogation.
A preliminary account is given of a controlled personality investigation of 116 male lung cancer patients and 123 male non-cancer controls, in respect of extraversion and neuroticism, using the short form of the Maudsley Personality Inventory.The study was undertaken as one test of a hypothesis that lung cancer patients had a significantly diminished outlet for emotional discharge as compared with non-cancer patients.Account was taken of the presence or absence of a history of psychosomatic disorders in both lung cancer patients and non-cancer controls.The main findings, which are tentative, are that lung cancer patients are somewhat extraverted and markedly lower in neuroticism compared with non-cancer controls, and that there may be interaction effects with psychosomatic disorders.The available evidence suggests that lung cancer patients have personality features distinct from (1) the general cigarette smoking population, (2) non-cancer patients with a history of commonly accepted psychosomatic disorders, and possibly (3) patients with cancer in other sites.