Posts

Book: Abused Men: The Hidden Side of Domestic Violence

Published on by Andrew MarshallLeave a comment

Book Title:

Abused Men: The Hidden Side of Domestic Violence

Author(s): Philip W. Cook.

Year: 2009.

Edition: Second (2nd).

Publisher: Praeger.

Type(s): Paperback and Kindle.

Synopsis:

Say the words “domestic violence,” and images of battered women come to mind.

Yet, the more accurate picture is different, and it crosses genders.

Women strike the first blow in about half of the domestic disputes nationwide, and a National Violence Against Women Survey, funded by the Centres for Disease Control and US Justice Department, found that nearly 40 percent of all domestic violence victims are men.

An award-winning investigative journalist provides a disturbing new look at an under-reported type of domestic violence the abuse of men.

The first edition of Philip W. Cook’s book, Abused Men: The Hidden Side of Domestic Violence (Praeger, 1997), drew attention and praise nationwide from individuals and from media, ranging from CNN and Fox network’s The O’Reilly Factor to scholarly publications such as The Journal of Marriage and Family.

On the 10th anniversary of that groundbreaking book, Cook began revising and expanding his work. The result is this second edition a disturbing look at a trend that continues to increase.

The new edition of Abused Men: The Hidden Side of Domestic Violence offers up-to-date data on the prevalence of intimate partner violence against men, incorporating personal interviews and cases drawn from the media.

It also includes updates on law, legislation, court activity, social responses, police activity, support groups, batterer programmes, and crisis intervention programmes.

Can Internet-based Clinical Practice Guidelines aid in the Management of PTSD?

Published on by Andrew MarshallLeave a comment

Research Paper Title

Randomized Controlled Trial of a Web-Based Intervention to Disseminate Clinical Practice Guidelines for Posttraumatic Stress Disorder: The PTSD Clinicians Exchange.

Background

Delivery of best-practice care for Post-Traumatic Stress Disorder (PTSD) is a priority for clinicians working with active duty military personnel and veterans.

The PTSD Clinicians Exchange, an Internet-based intervention, was designed to assist in disseminating clinically relevant information and resources that support delivery of key practices endorsed in the Veterans Administration (VA)-Department of Defence (DoD) Clinical Practice Guidelines (CPG) for the Management of Posttraumatic Stress.

Methods

The researchers conducted a randomised controlled trial to examine the effectiveness of the Clinicians Exchange intervention in increasing familiarity and perceived benefits of 26 CPG-related and emerging practices.

The intervention consisted of ongoing access to an Internet resource featuring best-in-class resources for practices, self-management of burnout, and biweekly e-mail reminders highlighting selected practices.

Mental health clinicians (N = 605) were recruited from three service sectors (VA, DoD, community); 32.7% of participants assigned to the Internet intervention accessed the site to view resources.

Results

Individuals who were offered the intervention increased their practice familiarity ratings significantly more than those assigned to a newsletter-only control condition, d = 0.27, p = .005.

From baseline to 12-months, mean familiarity ratings of clinicians in the intervention group increased from 3.0 to 3.4 on scale of 1 (not at all) to 5 (extremely); mean ratings for the control group were 3.2 at both assessments.

Clinicians generally viewed the CPG practices favourably, rating them as likely to benefit their clients.

Conclusions

The results suggest that Internet-based resources may aid more comprehensive efforts to disseminate CPGs, but increasing clinician engagement will be important.

Reference

Ruzek, J.I., Wilk, J., Simon, E., Marceau, L., Trachtenberg, F.L., Magnavita, A.M., Coleman, J.L., Ortigo, K., Ambrosoli, J., Zincavage, R., Clarke-Walper, K., Penix, E. & Rosen, R.C. (2020) Randomized Controlled Trial of a Web-Based Intervention to Disseminate Clinical Practice Guidelines for Posttraumatic Stress Disorder: The PTSD Clinicians Exchange. Journal of Traumatic Stress. 33(2), pp.190-196. doi: 10.1002/jts.22483. Epub 2020 Feb 26.

What is the Role of Combat Exposure & Malevolent Environments in Mental Health?

Published on by Andrew MarshallLeave a comment

Research Paper Title

Do different types of war stressors have independent relations with mental health? Findings from the Korean Vietnam Veterans Study.

Background

South Korea had the second largest contingent of soldiers in the Vietnam War, but little is known about their adaptation, especially in later life.

Previous work in a different sample found very high rates of post-traumatic stress disorder (PTSD; 41%) among Korean Vietnam veterans (KVVs; Kang, Kim, & Lee, 2014), compared to 19-31% for American Vietnam veterans.

The researchers explored possible reasons for this high rate of PTSD, as well as anxiety and depressive symptoms, utilising both vulnerability factors (e.g., war stressors) and protective factors (optimism, unit cohesion, and homecoming experiences).

Method

The sample included 367 male KVVs surveyed by mail (M age = 72, SD = 2.66).

Using hierarchical regressions controlling for demographics, the researchers examined the relative contributions of different types of war stressors and then the protective factors.

Results

Combat exposure was significantly associated with the three types of negative psychological symptoms, but their associations became non-significant when “subjective” war stressors (malevolent environments, perceived threat, and moral injury) were added.

In the final models, malevolent environments were the strongest predictor for all three outcomes.

In addition, moral injury was independently associated with PTSD symptoms, while perceived threat was marginally associated with depressive and anxiety symptoms.

Among psychosocial factors, only optimism was negatively associated with the mental health outcomes.

Conclusions

KVVs had very high rates of combat exposure, but malevolent environments played a more important role in their mental health in later life.

These findings suggest the importance of considering adverse environmental factors in understanding PTSD in future studies.

Reference

Lee, H., Aldwin, C.M. & Kang, S. (2020) Do different types of war stressors have independent relations with mental health? Findings from the Korean Vietnam Veterans Study. Psychological Trauma: Theory, Research, Practice, and Policy. doi: 10.1037/tra0000557. [Epub ahead of print].

Can Adverse Childhood Experiences have an Affect on Mental Health Outcomes through Disrupted Sleep?

Published on by Andrew MarshallLeave a comment

Research Paper Title

Sleep disturbance mediates the association of adverse childhood experiences with mental health symptoms and functional impairment in US soldiers.

Background

Adverse childhood experiences (ACEs) can have long-term impacts on a person’s mental health, which extend into adulthood.

There is a high prevalence of ACEs among service members.

Further, service members also report frequently experiencing disrupted sleep.

Methods

The researchers hypothesised that disrupted sleep may serve a mechanistic function connecting ACEs to functional impairment and poorer mental health.

Results

In a cross-sectional sample (n = 759), the researchers found evidence for an indirect effect of ACEs on mental health outcomes through disrupted sleep.

In a different sample using two time-points (n = 410), they found evidence for an indirect effect of ACEs on changes in mental health outcomes and functional impairment during a reset period, through changes in disrupted sleep during the same period.

Conclusions

Implications, limitations and future research directions are discussed.

Reference

Conway, M.A., Cabrera, O.A., Clarke-Walper, K., Dretsch, M.N., Holzinger, J.B., Riviere, L.A. & Quartana, P.J. (2020) Sleep disturbance mediates the association of adverse childhood experiences with mental health symptoms and functional impairment in US soldiers. Journal of Sleep Research. e13026. doi: 10.1111/jsr.13026. [Epub ahead of print].

Is there a Link between Sleeplessness and Alzheimer’s?

Published on by Andrew MarshallLeave a comment

Just one sleepless night raises levels of a protein linked to Alzheimer’s disease in the blood of young men (Benedict et al., 2020).

This suggests getting into good sleep habits at an early age may help ward off the illness.

People with Alzheimer’s have clumps of two sticky proteins –
beta-amyloid and tau – in their brains. Previous work has found that one night of sleep deprivation raises beta-amyloid levels in our brains, but less is known about tau.

Jonathan Cedernaes at Uppsala University in Sweden and his team
recruited 15 healthy young men. They measured tau levels in the
men’s blood after a full night’s sleep and after a night of no sleep.

After the sleepless night, tau levels in blood rose by 17%. After
the good night, the rise was 2%.

While it is a small study that looked only at men, the finding adds to growing evidence that people with poor sleep are more likely to develop Alzheimer’s decades later, says Cedernaes.

More research is needed to confirm that sleep deprivation increases tau in the brain, since blood levels are not necessarily indicative of amounts in the brain, says Cedernaes. And higher blood levels of tau after sleep deprivation could be a sign that the brain is clearing out the protein rather than accumulating it, he says.

The role tau plays in Alzheimer’s is unclear – it may be a side effect, not a cause. Similarly, while lack of sleep has been linked to Alzheimer’s disease, it is possible that this is an early sign of
the condition, rather than a contributing factor.

References

Benedict, C., Blennow, K., Zetterberg, H. & Cedarnaes, J. (2020) Effects of acute sleep loss on diurnal plasma dynamics of CNS health biomarkers in young men. Neurology. 94(11). DOI: https://doi.org/10.1212/WNL.0000000000008866.

Klein, A. (2020) Alzheimer’s Protein Rise Without Sleep. New Scientist. 18 January 2020, pp.17.

Are there Differences in Sources of Help & Barriers to Care in Deployed vs. Post-Deployment Environments?

Published on by Andrew MarshallLeave a comment

Research Paper Title

Mental Health Service Utilization and Perceived Barriers to Receiving Care in Deployed Soldiers.

Background

Scant research has examined mental health treatment utilisation and barriers to care in deployed US soldiers.

This study aims to assess mental health treatment utilisation in deployed soldiers, including providers used and barriers to care.

Methods

US Army soldiers (n = 2,412) in a combat environment were surveyed on psychiatric symptoms, mental health help received, sources of care, and perceived barriers to care by Mental Health Advisory teams from 2009 to 2013.

Results

Of the 25% of soldiers at mental health risk, 37% received mental health help, with 18% receiving help from a provider. Non-provider sources of care were utilised significantly more frequently than providers.

Soldiers at mental health risk reported significantly greater anticipated career-related stigma, organisational barriers to care, self-reliance views, and negative attitudes toward care, yet these constructs did not differ between who did or did not receive help.

Soldiers who received help from providers exclusively reported significantly more anticipated career-related stigma and fewer organisational barriers to care than those that received no help.

Soldiers who spent no time living outside the forward operating base and soldiers with six or more types of combat exposures were more likely to receive help.

Conclusions

Prevalence of common psychopathology and receipt of care in a combat environment was similar to previous reports from post-deployment settings.

Non-provider sources of care were more frequently utilised as compared to an in-Garrison report.

Findings suggest important differences exist in sources of help and barriers to care in deployed vs. post-deployment environments.

The hypothesised barriers to care did not preclude receiving any help, however, less than one-half of soldiers at mental health risk received help.

Thus, future research should identify factors that have the greatest influence on help seeking behaviour in both deployed and Garrison settings.

Reference

Nugent, K.L., Riviere, L.A., Sipos, M.L. & Wilk, J.E. (2020) Mental Health Service Utilization and Perceived Barriers to Receiving Care in Deployed Soldiers. Military Medicine. pii: usaa019. doi: 10.1093/milmed/usaa019. [Epub ahead of print].

Could Fake Poo & a Rubber Hand Treat OCD?

Published on by Andrew MarshallLeave a comment

An illusion in which fake faeces are put on a rubber hand has been tested on people with obsessive compulsive disorder (OCD) (Jalal et al., 2020).

It may one day become a new treatment.

Therapies based on this illusion, designed to help people get more comfortable with germ exposure, could be less upsetting than existing therapies, says Baland Jalal at the University of Cambridge.

The original rubber hand illusion involves putting one hand out of sight and seeing a fake hand in its place. If someone else strokes both the fake and real hand, most people feel that the fake is their own.

Jalal and his colleagues tried a variant on people with hygiene-related OCD. They are usually treated with exposure therapy, but that would, for example, involve exposure on their actual hands. As a result, a quarter reject such therapy.

In the study, 29 people with OCD had fake faeces, made from foods and a fake odour, dabbed on the rubber hand, while their real, hidden hand was touched with a damp towel. While they knew the faeces were fake, they reported feeling disgusted and contaminated.

Jalal’s team plan to test the technique as a way of treating OCD.

References

Jalal, B., McNally, R.J., Elias, J.A., Potluri, S. & Ramanchandran, V.S. (2020) “Fake it till You Make it”! Contaminating Rubber Hands (“Multisensory Stimulation Therapy”) to Treat Obsessive-Compulsive Disorder. Frontiers in Human Neuroscience. 13:414. https://doi.org/10.3389/fnhum.2019.00414

Wilson, C. (2020) Rubber Hand Illusion and Fake Poo May be the may to Treat OCD. New Scientist. 18 January 2020, pp.17.