BACKGROUND/AIMS Psychological conditions are increasingly linked with cardiovascular disorders. We aimed to examine the association between psychological distress and hypertension. METHODS We used data from the National Health Interview Survey for 2004-2013. Hypertension was self-reported and the 6-item Kessler Psychological Distress Scale was used to assess psychological distress (a score ≥1...

BACKGROUND Psychology and addiction research have found that cigarette smokers react with subjective and automatic responses to stimuli associated with smoking. This study examines the association between the number of cigarettes smokers consume per month and their response to cues derived from peer and psychological distress. METHODS We studied 1,220 adult past and current smokers drawn from...

BACKGROUND A substantial number of patients do not benefit from first line psychological therapies for the treatment of depression and anxiety. Currently, there are no clear predictors of treatment outcomes for these patients. The PROMPT project aims to establish an infrastructure platform for the identification of factors that predict outcomes following psychological treatment for depression a...

CONTEXT After the reports of human rights abuses by the US military in Guantanamo Bay, Iraq, and Afghanistan, questions have been raised as to whether certain detention and interrogation procedures amount to torture. OBJECTIVE To examine the distinction between various forms of ill treatment and torture during captivity in terms of their relative psychological impact. DESIGN AND SETTING A c...

OBJECTIVE To test whether critical incident stress debriefing after childbirth reduces the incidence of postnatal psychological disorders. DESIGN Randomised single-blind controlled trial stratified for parity and delivery mode. SETTING Two large maternity hospitals in Perth. PARTICIPANTS 1745 women who delivered healthy term infants between April 1996 and December 1997 (875 allocated to i...

BACKGROUND As advances in cancer screening and treatment increase the number of long-term cancer survivors, it is important to understand the long-term psychological sequelae of the cancer experience. METHODS The 4636 respondents who identified themselves as survivors of adult-onset cancer of 5 years or more and 122 220 respondents who were never diagnosed as having cancer were identified in ...

INTRODUCTION This report is one of a series on the Flight Analogs Project, which is designed to lay the groundwork for a standard bed rest protocol. Behavioral health services, similar to those offered to the U.S. astronauts who undertake 6-mo missions onboard the International Space Station, were provided to 13 long-duration head-down bed rest participants. Long-duration missions pose unique c...

Background and Objectives: Guidelines for bariatric surgery demand a psychological evaluation of applicants. The aim of this study was to evaluate if the presence of “psychological risk factors” predicts postoperative weight loss after gastric bypass. Methods: Medical records of obese women who underwent bariatric surgery between 2000 and 2004 were reviewed. Psychological assessment consisted o...

The relationship between youth offending and family background is still unclear in the literature. This study explored the role of family factors and psychological distress in relation to delinquency and youth offending to try and explicate the relative importance of family structure, family relations, and psychological distress. The study used the Brief Symptom Inventory, the Family Environmen...

BACKGROUND Psychological distress has been correlated with higher levels of nicotine dependence. To date, the possible association between individuals' levels of psychological distress and e-cigarette use has not been investigated, despite the dramatic growth of e-cigarette use in the US. We examined this possible association using a nationally representative sample of US adults. METHODS A to...