The Relationship between Insecure Attachment to Depression: Mediating Role of Sleep and Cognitive Reappraisal

Effects of three-duration Tai-Chi exercises on depression and sleep quality in older women

OBJECTIVE

This study aims to explore the effects of 24 weeks of three-duration Tai-Chi (TC) practice on depression and sleep quality in older women.

METHODS

A total of 124 older women were randomly divided into four groups: short-time group (SG, n = 31, mean age: 65.3), medium-time group (MG, n = 30, mean age: 65.7), long-time group (LG, n = 32, mean age: 64.9) and control group (CG, n = 31, mean age: 66.2). The Beck Depression Inventory (BDI) and Pittsburgh Sleep Quality Index (PSQI), and serum levels of tumor necrosis factor-α (TNF-α), interleukin-6 (IL-6) and 5-hydroxytryptamine (5-HT) were measured.

RESULTS

1) Within-group comparisons: Compared with the baseline, the 12th and 24th weeks showed reductions in TNF-α and IL-6 levels and increase in 5-HT level in the SG, MG and LG (p < 0.05). The LG at the 24th week had reduced BDI and PSQI scores (p < 0.05). Compared with the 12th week, the 24th week showed reductions in TNF-α and IL-6 levels (p < 0.01) and increase in 5-HT level (p < 0.05) in the SG, MG, and LG. 2) Between-group comparisons: The SG, MG, and LG had lower TNF-α and IL-6 levels and higher 5-HT level than the CG at 12th and 24th weeks (p < 0.05). At the 24th week, the LG had lower BDI and PSQI scores than the CG and lower TNF-α level than the SG and MG (p < 0.05). The MG had lower TNF-α levels than the SG in the 24th week (p < 0.01).

CONCLUSION

These results indicate that older individuals may undertake at least 12 weeks of TC exercise with a duration of 60 min per session to significantly improve depressive mood and sleep quality.

Effect of Sleep Quality on Anxiety and Depression Symptoms among College Students in China's Xizang Region: The Mediating Effect of Cognitive Emotion Regulation

BACKGROUND

While the exact mechanisms are not fully understood, there are significant links between sleep quality, anxiety, depressive symptoms, and cognitive emotion regulation. This research examines how sleep quality affects anxiety and depressive symptoms, as well as the potential of cognitive emotion regulation strategies (CERS) to moderate the impact of sleep quality on these symptoms.

METHODS

The Chinese version of the Pittsburgh Sleep Quality Index (CPSQI), the Cognitive Emotion Regulation Questionnaire (CERQ), the Patient Health Questionnaire-9 (PHQ-9), and the Generalized Anxiety Disorder Scale-7 (GAD-7) were all completed online by students from two colleges in China's Xizang region.

RESULTS

The study included 4325 subjects. The prevalence of poor sleep quality, anxiety symptoms, and depression symptoms was 45.69%, 36.81%, and 51.86%, respectively. We observed significant direct effects on poor sleep and severity of anxiety/depression: c'1 = 0.586 (0. 544-0.628), and c'2 = 0.728 (0.683-0.773). Adaptive CERS only had a mediating effect on the relationship between sleep quality and depression symptoms, with a1b3 = -0.005 (-0.011--0.001). The link between poor sleep quality and the intensity of anxiety and depression was significantly affected by the indirect effects of maladaptive CERS: effect a2b2 = 0.126 (0.106-0.147), and effect a2b4 = 0.145 (0.123-0.167).

CONCLUSIONS

Individuals who experience poor sleep quality are more likely to have increased levels of anxiety and depression. However, enhancing sleep quality led to a decrease in anxiety and depression levels. Adaptive CERS did not predict anxiety, but they did predict depression. Multiple maladaptive CERS could increase levels of anxiety and depression. To prevent mental stress, it is crucial to examine sleep problems among college students, understand their cognitive strategies, promote the adoption of adaptive CERS, and reduce the reliance on maladaptive CERS.

Parenting and Courage: Exploring the Mediating Role of Self-esteem and Emotion Regulation among Adolescents

With adolescence being a period for potential challenges but also positive growth, courage can aid adolescents in rising to some of these challenges. Yet few studies have investigated predictors and mechanisms of courage. The present study examined how three parenting constructs (attachment, autonomy support, and helicopter parenting) predict courage and if self-esteem or emotion regulation serve as mediators. The present study assessed predictors at Time 1 and courage at one-year follow-up. The sample included 203 American adolescents (51.7% girls, 14-15 year olds). Results suggested that relations between several parental variables (anxious attachment to parents, avoidant attachment to fathers, autonomy support of parents) and adolescent courage were mediated by self-esteem. In addition, cognitive reappraisal mediated associations between two mother-related variables (avoidant attachment, helicopter parenting) and courage. Findings contribute to the limited empirical research on adolescents' development of courage.

Eye movements and ERP biomarkers for face processing problems in avoidant attachment-style individuals

Background

Avoidant attachment poses a serious risk to intimate relationships and offspring. However, there are few studies on the face-processing characteristics and impairments of avoidant individuals based on basic emotion theory. Therefore, this study investigated the issues of emotional processing and deactivation strategies in individuals with avoidant attachment.

Methods

Avoidant and secure individuals were recruited to participate in an eye-tracking experiment and a two-choice oddball task in which they had to distinguish facial expressions of basic emotions (sadness, anger, fear, disgust, and neutral). Eye fixation durations to various parts of the face, including the eyes, nose, and mouth, were measured, and three event-related potentials (ERP) components (P100, N170, and P300) were monitored.

Results

Avoidant individuals could not process facial expressions as easily as secure individuals. Avoidant individuals focused less on the eyes of angry faces when compared to secure individuals. They also exhibited a more positive P100 component and a less negative N170 component when processing faces and a larger amplitude of the P300 component than secure individuals when processing emotional expressions.

Conclusion

Avoidant individuals use deactivating strategies and exhibit specific characteristics at different stages, which are of great significance in social interaction.

Relationship between World Assumptions and Post-Traumatic Growth among Polish Cancer Patients: Moderating Effect of Rumination

BACKGROUND

Although post-traumatic growth is believed to be the result of complex interplays between various factors, cognitive variables appear to play a special role in these interactions. Yet, research on this topic is scant. Therefore, the first purpose of this study was to verify whether there is a direct relationship between world assumptions and post-traumatic growth among Polish cancer patients. As the effect of psychological change in post-traumatic growth may be affected by basic beliefs about the world and oneself, the second goal was to assess whether this association is moderated by rumination.

METHODS

The study included 215 Polish cancer patients. The Post-traumatic Growth and Depreciation Inventory-Expanded version-(intrusive and deliberate rumination), the World Assumption Scale, and the Event-related Rumination Inventory were applied.

RESULTS

Positive, albeit weak, correlations were found between the dimensions of world assumptions and post-traumatic growth. Post-traumatic growth correlated negatively with intrusive rumination and positively with deliberate rumination. The outcomes show that the level of post-traumatic growth resulting from world assumptions is significantly different at various levels of intrusive and deliberate rumination.

CONCLUSION

Lower/medium intrusive rumination seems to strengthen the relationship between benevolence of the world/worthiness of the self and post-traumatic growth, and higher deliberate rumination tends to reinforce the relationship between meaningfulness and post-traumatic growth.

A hypothetic model for examining the relationship between happiness, forgiveness, emotional reactivity and emotional security

The ultimate goal of life is happiness, according to Plato. Perhaps the most critical questions in the life of human beings have been on happiness and processes that affect happiness. The present study was planned during the COVID-19 pandemic; perhaps human beings are most needed for happiness. The original hypothetical model and the findings constitute the powerful and different aspects of the present study. This study determined a hypothetical model to examine the relationships among happiness, forgiveness, emotional reactivity, and emotional security. The participant group of the study consists of a total of 916 individuals from Turkey, 617 women, and 299 men. The age scale of the participants is between 18-25. Participants completed the Heartland Forgiveness Scale, the Emotional Security Scale, the Emotional Reactivity Scale, and the Oxford Happiness Scale. Mediation analysis was conducted using Hayes' (2017) process macro. According to the proposed model in the study, emotional reactivity mediates the relationship between forgiveness and happiness. As the individual's forgiveness increases, their emotional reactivity decreases, and as the emotional reactivity decreases, the individual's level of happiness increases.

Patient characteristics as predictors of sleep disturbances in multimorbid primary care patients - A secondary analysis

OBJECTIVE

The aim of the study was to identify patient characteristics (adult attachment, health status, number and severity of chronic conditions, social support) predictive sleep disturbances after 12 months.

METHODS

In a secondary analysis of a prospective longitudinal study dealing with adult attachment and self-management, attachment- and health-related characteristics, socio-demographic data at baseline and symptoms of insomnia at the follow up (12 month later) was recorded by 219 patients between the ages of 50 and 85 years with multimorbidity in primary care. Adult attachment was measured by the ECR-RD12. The overall health status was measured using a visual analogue scale (VAS) and a standardized list of chronic conditions. The number and severity of chronic diseases (CIRS-G) was assessed by general practitioners (GPs). Sleep disturbances was measured by the ISI 12 month later.

RESULTS

Approximately 19% of the respondents were found to have clinically relevant symptoms of insomnia, and a further 34% to be subclinical insomnia. Attachment-related anxiety, a poorer perceived social support, the number of chronic conditions and a better general health status could predict higher levels of sleep disturbance after 12 month.

CONCLUSION

Sleep disorders can play a major role in patients with multimorbidity. Attachment anxiety and lack of social support may also be possible risk factors for the development of sleep disturbances.

Effects of Coronavirus-19 Induced Loneliness on Mental Health: Sleep Quality and Intolerance for Uncertainty as Mediators

Objective: The aim of the study is to investigate effects of loneliness on individual's mental health and the mediating effects of intolerance of uncertainty and sleep quality in the post Coronavirus-19 period, especially for the young people. Methods: The questionnaires used in this study include UCLA loneliness scale (UCLA-3), the Pittsburgh Sleep Quality Index (PSQI), intolerance for uncertainty (IU) and the Chinese version of DASS-21. A total number of 289 subjects were recruited in the study, which includes 209 females (72.3%), 80 males (27.7%); and 212 students (73.4%), 77 working staffs (26.6%). Results: The results showed that: (1) people have high levels of loneliness, anxiety, depression and stress, and poor sleep quality; (2) the mediating effect of intolerance for uncertainty in the relationship of loneliness and mental health is significant (effect size = 0.178, 95% CI confidence interval: [0.115, 0.241]), and the mediating effects of sleep quality in the relationship between loneliness and mental health is significant (effect size = 0.127, 95% CI confidence interval: [0.017, 0.239]). Conclusion: Loneliness invokes a stronger self-concerned inadaptability to threat response and may lead to more mental diseases through more serious intolerance for uncertainty and insomnia.

Neurotransmitters and Electrophysiological Changes Might Work as Biomarkers for Diagnosing Affective Disorders

Affective disorders are the leading causes of human disability worldwide; however, the diagnosis is still hard to define, because emotion is the least study subjects in psychology. Recent emotional studies suggest that human emotions are developed from basic emotions, which are evolved for fundamental human lives. Even though most psychologists agree upon the idea that there are some basic emotions, there is little agreement on how many emotions are basic, which emotions are basic, and why they are basic. In our previous papers, we suggested that there are three basic emotions: joy, fear, and disgust. These basic emotions depend on the peptides and monoamines: dopamine-joy (peptides-reward), norepinephrine-fear (anger), and serotonin-disgust (sadness). Further tests with event-related potentials (ERP) found that joy, fear, and disgust showed the fastest response compared with other emotions, suggesting that they are fast automatic responses, which confirmed that these three emotions are prototypical emotions. Other basic emotions, anger and sadness, are due to object induced behaviors instead of sensation of object, so they developed secondary to prototypical emotions. Thus, we concluded that only joy, fear, and disgust are prototypical emotions, which can mix into other emotions, like the primary colors. In all, the neural substrates for all emotions, including the affections, are possibly monoamine neuromodulators: joy-dopamine (peptides), fear (anger)-norepinephrine, and disgust-serotonin. We hope these basic emotional studies will offer some neural mechanisms for emotional processing and shed lights on the diagnosis of affective disorders.

Radix Scutellariae Ameliorates Stress-Induced Depressive-Like Behaviors via Protecting Neurons through the TGFβ3-Smad2/3-Nedd9 Signaling Pathway

Chronic stress can impair hippocampal neurogenesis, increase neuronal apoptosis, and cause depressive-like behaviors. Our previous studies found that Radix Scutellariae (RS) can rescue the stress-induced neuronal injury, but the mechanism is not clear. Here, we continued to investigate the underlying antidepressant mechanisms of the RS extract. A 7-week chronic unpredictable mild stress (CUMS) procedure was used to establish a murine depression model. 0.75 g/kg or 1.5 g/kg RS was administered daily to the mice during the last 4 weeks. Depressive-like behaviors were evaluated by the sucrose preference test (SPT), forced swimming test (FST), open field test (OFT), and tail suspension test (TST). The neuroprotective effect of RS was evaluated with the expression of hippocampal neuron-related markers and apoptosis-associated proteins by Nissl staining, immunohistochemistry, and western blot. Transforming growth factor-β3 (TGFβ3) pathway-related proteins were detected by western blot. Results showed that RS could ameliorate depressive-like behaviors, increase the expression of the antiapoptotic protein B-cell lymphoma 2 (BCL-2), reduce the expression of the proapoptotic protein BCL-2-associated X (BAX), and increase the number of doublecortin- (DCX-), microtubule-associated protein 2- (MAP2-), and neuronal nucleus- (NeuN-) positive cells in the hippocampus. Moreover, RS could reverse the CUMS-induced decrease of TGFβ3 protein, promote the phosphorylation of SMAD2/3, and increase the expression of downstream NEDD9 protein. These results suggest that RS could exert antidepressant effects via protecting neurons. And the molecular mechanism might be related to the regulation of the TGFβ3-SMAD2/3-NEDD9 pathway.

The Mediating Effects of Coping Style on the Effects of Breath Count Mindfulness Training on Depressive Symptoms among International Students in China

Mindfulness training has gained popularity in the scientific field and has been proposed as an efficient way for emotional regulation. Mindfulness-based cognitive therapy (MBCT) is designed especially for depressive people in reducing risk of depression relapse and is recommended in national guidelines as a treatment choice for relapse prevention in recurrent depression. The aim of the current study was to investigate the effects of mindfulness training on depressive symptoms of international students and probe into the mediating role of mindfulness in stressful events and depression. In addition, we introduced a new kind of mindfulness training, the breathing exercise-based mindfulness training, which is based on the integration of Buddhism and Daoism. Self-report questionnaires assessing the coping style, abnormal depressive behavior, and stressful live events were completed in 260 international students in China (mean age = 21.4 years). The results showed that (1) many international students showed depression symptoms, (2) stressful life events play a completely mediating role in the initiation of depression and anxiety, and (3) mindfulness training for 8 weeks significantly reduced the depressive symptoms, and it was also related to a positive coping style. This study has certain theoretical significance in exploring the mechanism of the occurrence and development of depression among international students and provides useful tools for this special group of international students. In addition, the international students can also learn Chinese culture through the training. These findings indicate that mindfulness training and positive coping style are interrelated with treating depressive symptoms for international students.