Avicenna Journal of Neuro Psycho Physiology
Volume:11 Issue: 2, May 2024

Various psychological, biological and pharmacological interventions are used to treat the attention deficit hyperactivity disorder. Today, Transcranial direct current stimulation (TDCS) is among the biologic therapies that ave attracted the attention of researchers due to its cost-effectiveness and lack of side effects is, which works by stimulating neurons on the surface of the brain. Therefore, the present research aimed to assess the effect of TDCS on improving the clinical symptoms of attention deficit hyperactivity disorder (ADHD).

This quasi-experimental research was performed with a pretest-posttest design with a control group and follow-up. This study was performed on children with ADHD in Rafsanjan City, Iran. Among them, 16 people were selected as a sample using convenience sampling method and were randomly assigned to intervention and control groups in equal numbers. For the intervention group, Transcranial direct current stimulation was performed, while the control group received no intervention. Data was collected through the standard Swanson Attention Deficit Hyperactivity Disorder Questionnaire (1980) and repeated measures analysis of variance was employed for data analysis in Amos-24 software.

Based on the findings, in the intervention group, the clinical symptoms of hyperactivity after receiving the intervention, at the posttest stage, were significantly reduced compared to before receiving the intervention (P<0.01), while this difference in the Control group was not significant. The findings also revealed that the reduction of clinical symptoms of hyperactivity in the experimental group at the follow-up stage was stable (p <0.01).

Based on the results of this study, it can be said that transcranial direct current stimulation is effective in improving the clinical symptoms of ADHD.

Obesity is a complex multifactorial disease in which accumulated excess body fat leads to adverse effects on health. Obesity continues to accelerate, resulting in an unprecedented epidemic that shows no significant signs of slowing down any time soon. Therefore, the present study aimed to compare the effectiveness of acceptance and commitment therapy (ACT) and schema therapy in quality of life and general compliance in obese women.

In this study, we adopted a quasi-experimental pretest-posttest control group with a one-month follow-up. The research population consisted of obese women referring to Ayatollah Rouhani Hospital in Sari. Out of this population, 45 cases were selected by targeted non-random sampling and randomly assigned to two experimental groups (ACT and schema therapy) and a control group. The data collection instruments were the Quality of Life Questionnaire (SF-36) and the General Adherence Scale. The first experimental group underwent intervention in eight 60-90-minute ACT sessions, the second experimental group underwent eight 90-minute schema therapy sessions, and the control group did not receive any intervention. The data were analyzed in SPSS software (version 26) using the repeated measures ANOVA.

The findings demonstrated that ACT and schema therapy were effective in quality of life and overall compliance (P<0.05). Moreover, it was revealed that the schema therapy was more effective than ACT in overall compliance (P<0.05).

As evidenced by the results of this study, ACT and schema therapy are effective in improving quality of life and overall compliance in women with obesity, and schema therapy is more effective in overall compliance. Therefore, these approaches can be used in medical centers alongside medical interventions for treatment and care.

Infertility often emerges as an unexpected crisis for couples, bringing about significant emotional distress and challenges. This experience can affect the mental health and quality of life of individuals, leading to feelings of isolation, anxiety, and depression.  Therefore, the aim of this study was to investigate the effectiveness of Intensive Short-Term Dynamic Psychotherapy (ISTDP) and Existential Therapy (ET) on self-compassion and existential anxiety in infertile women in Yazd city in 2023.

In a quasi-experimental research design of the pretest, posttest, and follow-up type with two experimental groups and one control group, 60 infertile women from the target population were selected using the purposive sampling method and randomly assigned to the ISTDP, ET, and control groups. For the experimental groups, Intensive Short-Term Dynamic Psychotherapy and Existential Therapy programs were implemented in 8 sessions of 45 minutes, but the control group did not receive any intervention. The Self-Compassion Scale (SCS)-Short Form (2011) and the Existential Anxiety Scale (1974) were used to collect data. Data were analyzed using repeated measures analysis of variance (ANOVA) conducted with SPSS software version 27.0.

The results showed a significant difference between the ISTDP and ET groups compared to the control group (P<0.001). The effectiveness of ISTDP and ET on improving self-compassion (F=44.40, P<0.001, η2= 0.43) and reducing existential anxiety (F=46.38, P<0.001, η2= 0.45) in infertile women was significant, and the effects of the treatments remained stable at the follow-up stage. No significant difference was observed between the two ISTDP and ET treatments.

The findings of this study demonstrate that both Intensive ISTDP and ET are effective in significantly enhancing self-compassion and reducing existential anxiety among infertile women compared to a control group. These positive effects were maintained at the follow-up assessment, suggesting the enduring benefits of both therapeutic approaches.

A lower level of brain substance P (SP) is detected in Parkinson’s disease; apparently, central SP-ergic deficiency takes place in Parkinsonian patients. The pathogenic relevance of this abnormality is unknown.  Another understudied area is the influence of early-life adversities on Parkinsonism.  Here, we hypothesized that i) simulation of central SP hypoactivity by intracerebral injections of NK1 receptor antagonist can initiate catalepsy, a model of Parkinsonian bradykinesia and rigidity, ii) early-life maternal separation (MS) can influence the SP-dependent catalepsy; and iii) the above catalepsy can be regulated by the blockade of CRF1 receptors. The study was performed on Wistar rats. MS of pups was carried out at postnatal days 2-14 for 3 h per day. In adulthood (16-17 weeks of age), one hundred ninety-two males with MS history (weight 280-310 g) were examined behaviorally; catalepsy was assessed by a bar test. In undisturbed animals, i.c.v. administration of NK1 receptor antagonist L-733,060 at 10.0 ng produced clear catalepsy, the drug at the dose of 1.0 ng was ineffective.  MS  per se failed to exert catalepsy, however, in the MS-exposed rats, L-733,060 at 1.0 ng produced strong cataleptic response.  Thus, the blocker of NK1 receptors and MS supra-additively initiated  the development of catalepsy. This catalepsy was significantly reversed by NBI 35 965, an antagonist of CRF1 receptors.   Our findings show, for the first time, that the blockade of central NK1 receptors can induce catalepsy; this cataleptic response is synergistically potentiated by MS and is mediated by CRF1 receptors. These data suggests that the combination of central NK1 receptor hypofunctioning   and   neonatal stress may dysregulate  the extrapyramidal system. Apparently, the central processes mediated by NK1 and CRF1 receptors might  be potential therapeutic targets for Parkinsonism.

Social interest and emotional self-regulation are important aspects of successful social interactions and psychological well-being. This study aimed to investigate the effectiveness of software cognitive empowerment training and perceptual-motor skills reconstruction program training on social interest and emotional self-regulation, and to compare these two trainings with each other.

The participants of this study included seventh-grade students in Mashhad City studying in the academic year 2022-2023. The number of 45 students was selected by non-random sampling method and randomly included in three groups, namely the software cognitive empowerment group, perceptual-motor skills reconstruction group, and control group. The training programs used in this study were Captain’s Log Mind Power Builder software and Werner-Reini’s training program. Moreover, Garnevski’s (2001) Cognitive Emotion Regulation Questionnaire and Social Interest Scale (2021) were used for evaluation.

The results of this study demonstrated that both educational programs had a positive and significant effect on social interests and emotional self-regulation. Although software cognitive empowerment training was more effective in improving emotional self-regulation, perceptual-motor skill restoration program training showed a greater effect in increasing social interest. The average scores of social interest before and after software cognitive empowerment training were 212.40 and 225.67 and perceptual-motor rehabilitation program training was 212.87 and 226.73. In addition, the average scores of positive emotional self-regulation before and after software cognitive empowerment training were reported as 58.07 and 58.40 and perceptual-motor rehabilitation program training as 56.73 and 58.73. The mean negative emotional self-regulation scores before and after software cognitive empowerment training was 48.67 and 48.13 and perceptual-motor rehabilitation program training was 46.07 and 48.07.

The software cognitive empowerment training and perceptual-motor rehabilitation program training for social interest variables and emotional self-regulation dimensions considering the control group were effective on the subjects. However, the software cognitive empowerment training was found to be more effective in improving emotional self-regulation, while the perceptual-motor skills reconstruction program training was more effective in enhancing social interest.

A codependence is a person who allows others to influence him/her by their mistreatment, and to create an obsessive desire in him/her to control and change them. This study was aimed at predicting the Codependency based on records of sexual, physical, and emotional harassment of parents of female primary school teachers in Ghaemshahr city.

The study plan is casual-comparative and uses the regression method. The statistical population of the present study involved the female primary school teachers in Ghaemshahr city, 150 of whom were selected by using simple random sampling method; then, the teachers filled in the 16-item Codependency Questionnaire (Spin & Fisher, 1990), and the Child Abuse and Trauma Questionnaire (CTQ) (Bernstein & Fink, 1998). Data were analyzed by Pearson correlation and regression by spss. 22.

The results of the present study showed that the records of the emotional harassment are positively and significantly correlated with codependency, and the predictor variable predicted the affliction with the codependency (p<0.01). The findings indicated that the physical, sexual more assaulted the runaway girls and emotional harassment from their family head or members than their peer group in a way that these factors were very influential on the runaway girls (p<0.01). Also, there is a correlation between experiencing physical harassment and codependency but, there was no significant relationship between the records of experiencing the parents’ sexual harassment and the codependency.

It can be concluded that there is a relationship between codependency and emotional harassment and physical harassment.