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The article focuses on the significance of skydiving on human anxiety and death based on the views of philosopher Martin Heideggeria. It notes that in a phenomenological focus, skydiving shows the radical disruption of instrumentality and that the loss of earthly concerns is an associated to anxiety. It mentions that disruption of the world and the experience of anxiety have a connection and that it is supported through the illustration of skydiving. Moreover, it states that the said unpleasant emotion opens the way for an experience of being-toward-death. It further notes that skydiving makes the possibility of directing one's own death.

Background: There are differences across ethno-cultural groups in the degree of somatization among patients with major depressive disorder (MDD). Studies showed that the attribution style of somatic symptoms is an important predictor of health outcome in depressed patients. Aims: The aims of this study were to investigate associations of psychologizing, normalizing and somatizing attribution styles as measured by the Symptom Interpretation Questionnaire (SIQ) in Turkish patients with MDD. Methods: Ninety patients who were diagnosed with a major depressive episode using a semi-structured interview were administered the SIQ to assess attribution styles, each of which was regressed on age, gender, educational level, depressive symptom severity, tendency for somatosensory amplification, current somatic symptoms and alexithymia. Results: Scores on somatizing, psychologizing and normalizing attribution subscales of the SIQ were strongly correlated with each other. Somatosensory amplification and alexithymia were independent correlates of somatizing attributions. Higher levels of psychologizing and normalizing attributions were both related to more severe symptoms of depression and to somatosensory amplification. Conclusions: These results suggested that patients with higher levels of depressive symptoms were more likely to engage in a greater diversity of attribution styles as measured by the SIQ in our sample. Independent correlates of somatic symptom attribution in patients with MDD were found to be different from Western countries, suggestive of disparate cultural characteristics and help-seeking pathways and behaviour in Turkey. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

The object of this paper is to provide a metapsychological definition of alexithymia as described in 1967 in terms of operational thinking and negative hallucination. This is a familiar and established concept in the fields of psychopathology, psychology, and of clinical and psychosomatic medicine. From a psychoanalytic and psychosomatic point of view, the term is conceptually close to P. Marty's 'operative thinking', as described in 1963, even though we know they do not belong to the same epistemological field: on one hand Neuroscience, Psychiatry and the objectalization of the symptom at different levels, and on the other, as regards mechanical functioning, a psychoanalytic clinical approach within the dynamics of the relationship between transference and counter-transference. The present authors consider that Freudian metapsychology, as now complexified by Andrè Green, allows for a metapsychological approach to alexithymia insofar as it relates to Marty's operative thinking. Thus does Green's conceptualization of the mother's negative hallucination, of negative introjection, of a psychically 'dead (and insecure) mother', now provide us with the opportunity to describe, in metapsychological terms, the genesis of this particular mode of psychical functioning. Given the mother's negative hallucination produces a host structure as a background to negativity that will fit future object representations, we will assume that in the case of ... future operational or alexithymic ...?, this negative hallucination will pathologically and defensively involve the endo-psychic perception of affect. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

This paper is a critique of the cross-cultural utility and validity of somatization in the diagnosis and treatment of psychological disorders. Somatization is defined as the process by which psychological distress is expressed as physical symptoms that have no known organic basis. Rather than a phenomenon limited to non-western cultures as commonly thought of in the past, somatization should be recognized as a universal experience found across cultures. It underscores the significant interrelationships between the mind/psyche and the body, an area embraced by some disciplines such as Jungian psychology and psychotherapy, but historically neglected by bioscience. This paper argues that the reputedly low prevalence of somatization observed in western cultures is an artifact, due to the overly restrictive diagnostic criteria used in clinical practice. This paper argues in favor of the retention of somatization as a valid concept in diagnosis, treatment, and in psychotherapy, especially at a time of increasing cultural diversity. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

This study sought to identify child and parent characteristics differentiating children with recurrent abdominal pain seen by a pediatrician (RAP-Peds) from those seen by a gastroenterologist (RAP-GI). Children (7—10 years) and mothers in three groups (RAP-GI, RAP-Peds, and Controls) completed mother and child reports of child's functional disability, internalizing symptoms, and somatic complaints, and mother report of her anxiety and somatization. Child report did not differentiate groups. RAP mothers were more likely than Control mothers to focus on somatic complaints in themselves and their children. Mother report of child disability was strongly related to tertiary care for child's recurrent abdominal pain. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

Previous investigations of psychiatric symptomatology after head injury using the MMPI–2 (Butcher, Dahlstrom, Graham, Tellegen, & Kaemmer, 1989) have consistently revealed greater Basic scale elevations in mild injuries versus more severe injuries. In this study, we tested this pattern of paradoxical severity effects using the Personality Assessment Inventory (PAI; Morey, 1991). We gathered PAI and MMPI–2 data from 34 patients with moderate-to-severe head injuries and from 52 patients with mild head injuries. MMPI–2 Basic scale profiles were consistent with the paradoxical severity effect; mild injury patients had significantly more elevated scores on four Basic scales (Scales 1, 2, 3, and 7). PAI Clinical scale profiles showed significantly more elevated scores among mild injury patients on 2 scales, Somatization and Depression, and more elevated scores among moderate-to-severe patients on 2 scales, Antisocial Features and Alcohol Problems. We consider unique contributions of the PAI for the psychological assessment of head injury. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

Much research has recently been conducted on somatoform disorders demonstrating their clinical importance, associated health-service burden and economic cost. These conditions are often comorbid with other mental and physical disorders and particularly prevalent in primary care and general medical settings. Although culture-specific manifestations and variations of somatization occur—it is now accepted that medically unexplained somatic symptoms are a universal phenomenon. The management of somatoform disorders is generally a complex and lengthy process; however, a number of recent studies have demonstrated the effectiveness of short-term treatments such as cognitive behaviour therapy and educational interventions. Despite advances in their understanding and treatment, debate still surrounds the conceptualization and categorization of somatoform disorders, with a number of experts proposing a complete revaluation and reassignment of this diagnostic classification category. The following paper represents a review of recently published literature on frequency, characteristics, conceptualization, impact and management of somatoform disorders. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

Somatic symptoms can occur in disease-free cancer patients. The causes of such symptoms in cancer can be many and varied. These could be due to anxiety, depression, somatization or a manifestation of illness behaviour. Somatic symptoms can also arise out of treatments for the cancer like radiation treatment or chemotherapy. Cancer related somatic symptoms have cognitive, psychological, and physiological causes, each of which is amenable to treatment. The occurrence of somatoform disorders in cancer patients is likely to complicate the treatment and outcome of the cancer. Common somatic symptoms in cancer have been found to be pain, fatigue, anorexia, tiredness or exhaustion, weakness, reduced energy, lethargy, and tremors. Breathlessness, muscle pain, dizziness, and palpitation are common symptoms of anxiety and panic attack which have also been noted in cancer patients. Somatic concern and preoccupation are also common. These symptoms create difficulty in diagnosing depression and anxiety in cancer patients, and leads to the need for modification of the standard diagnostic criteria. Somatic symptoms in cancer respond to counselling and psychopharmacotherapy. More research are needed on this area to understand the process of somatization in a somatic disease. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

Women with a history of physical or emotional abuse demonstrate a higher incidence of medical disorders but may be reluctant to disclose the abuse to health care providers. The present study explored whether measures of health status may serve as an indication of violence against women. Sixty-two Druze women (18–50 years old) completed health status (SF-36 survey), somatization (Brief Symptom Inventory-BSI), and abuse (the Abuse Assessment Screen-AAS) questionnaires during a visit to the family physician in the community primary care clinic. Higher somatization symptoms and diminished health status were associated with severity of violence. Results attest to the value of these measures as an additional indirect device for screening victims of domestic violence in general and among traditional societies in particular. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

Presents several pivotal reviews and researches on hypnosis, soma and cognition that have appeared in the scientific and medical literatures in the U.S. Use of hypnotic analgesia for clinical pain problems, both chronic and acute; Efficacy of hypnotic therapy on digestive tract disorders; Adjunctive hypnosis with surgery patients.

A review of research reveals that the prevalence rates of depression, somatization, and posttraumatic stress disorder among Asian Americans are at least as high as those for White Americans, and, in many cases, higher rates are exhibited. Findings with respect to anxiety have been equivocal. The conclusion that is best supported by research at this time is that Asian Americans are not extraordinarily well adjusted, in contrast to their stereotype as a model ethnic minority group. What has hindered researchers in determining the rates and distributions of mental disorders among Asian Americans has been methodological and conceptual problems. These problems involve (a) making cross-cultural comparisons using assessment instruments that have been standardized on one group and applied to another and (b) phenomena unique to Asian Americans, including their population size, heterogeneity, and rapid demographic changes. Suggestions for research directions are given. [ABSTRACT FROM PUBLISHER]

Groups of socioeconomically and diagnostically matched Japanese-American psychiatric patients at the Hawaii State Hospital were compared across religious lines in individual symptoms, and in their dominant symptom roles and spheres. Results revealed differences in spheres, but not in individual symptoms or roles, between Christian and Buddhist patients. With men, affect dominance was prevalent among Christian patients and somatization among Buddhists. Christian female patients were found to exceed their Buddhist counterparts in representation of thought dominance. These results appeared to be a replica in miniature of differences discovered earlier between patients in Japan and in the United States. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]