Motor imagery is the mental simulation of a movement without motor output. In recent years, there has been growing interest towards the application of motor imagery-based training, or "mental practice", in stroke rehabilitation. We have developed a virtual reality prototype (the VR Mirror) to support patients in performing mental practice. The VR Mirror displays a three-dimensional simulation o...

This book takes you on a journey through key changes and development of mental health policy and practice in the UK. By combining case studies, reflections and analysis followed by exercises and examples of further reading, the evolution of contemporary mental health services is described. As a reader you become acquainted with the rationale behind the path of the current policy and implication...

BACKGROUND AND PURPOSE Modified constraint-induced therapy (mCIT) is an outpatient therapy encouraging repetitive, task-specific practice with the affected arm. mCIT has shown efficacy in all stages poststroke. Given its efficacy when combined with other therapy regimens, the current study examined the efficacy of mental practice when combined with mCIT versus mCIT only using randomized, contro...

Early research on visual imagery led investigators to suggest that mental visual images are just weak versions of visual percepts. Later research helped investigators understand that mental visual images differ in deeper and more subtle ways from visual percepts. Research on motor imagery has yet to reach this mature state, however. Many authors have implicitly subscribed to the view that motor...

BACKGROUND Undocumented migrants (UM) frequently report mental health problems. It is unknown to what extent these migrants seek help for these problems in general practice and how these issues are explored, discussed, registered and treated by GPs. OBJECTIVE To gain insight in the registration and treatment of mental health problems in general practice of UM compared to documented migrants (...

In recent years, there has been significant uptake of meditation and related relaxation techniques, as a means of alleviating stress and fostering an attentive mind. Several electroencephalogram (EEG) studies have reported changes in spectral band frequencies during Qigong meditation indicating a relaxed state. Much less is reported on effects of brain activation patterns induced by Qigong tech...

PURPOSE Translate, adapt the language, and assess the psychometric properties of the Mental Vulnerability Questionnaire (MVQ) in a Portuguese population sample of young adults. DESIGN AND METHODS A psychometric validation study was performed. The sample comprised 166 undergraduate students. Factor analysis was applied to extract three indicators. FINDINGS The MVQ showed divergent validity w...

INTRODUCTION Social work is a key member of interprofessional primary healthcare teams and foundational to primary healthcare reforms that aim to improve the provision of mental healthcare. Little is known, however, about social work's scope of practice within primary healthcare settings, particularly in the provision of mental healthcare. The objective of this study is to identify and describe...

Converging lines of evidence suggest that motor imagery (the mental simulation of a motor act within working memory) is associated with subliminal activation of the motor system. This observation has led to the hypothesis that cortical activation during motor imagery may affect the acquisition of specific motor skills and help the recovery of motor function. In this paper, we describe a clinica...