Testosterone in human studies : Modest associations between plasma and salivary measurements

Summary

Testosterone is involved in many processes like aggression and mood disorders. As it may easily diffuse from blood into saliva, salivary testosterone is thought to reflect plasma free testosterone level. If so, it would provide a welcome noninvasive and less stressful alternative to blood sampling. Past research did not reveal consensus regarding the strength of the association, but sample sizes were small. This study aimed to analyse the association in a large cohort.

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Prolonged grief symptomatology following violent loss : the mediating role of meaning

Background: Prolonged Grief Disorder (PGD) is over-represented among those who have lost loved ones to violent causes. To tailor PGD interventions for this vulnerable population it is critical to examine the aetiology of PGD specifically in the context of violent death bereavement. Previous studies have suggested that violent loss increases symptoms of PGD by hindering the mourner’s ability to make meaning of the death or its aftermath.

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Chapter 13 - Posttraumatic Stress Disorder

Abstract

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The Dissociative Subtype of Post-traumatic Stress Disorder : Research Update on Clinical and Neurobiological Features

Recently, a dissociative subtype of post-traumatic stress disorder (PTSD) has been included in the DSM-5. This review focuses on the clinical and neurobiological features that distinguish the dissociative subtype of PTSD from non-dissociative PTSD. Clinically, the dissociative subtype of PTSD is associated with high PTSD severity, predominance of derealization and depersonalization symptoms, a more significant history of early life trauma, and higher levels of comorbid psychiatric disorders.

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Bayes factors for research workers

Abstract

The goal of this project was to develop and promote Bayesian hypothesis tests for social scientists. By and large, social scientists have ignored the Bayesian revolution in statistics, and, consequently, most social scientists still assess the veracity of experimental effects using the same methodology that was used by their advisors and the advisors before them. This state of affairs is undesirable: social scientists conduct groundbreaking, innovative research only to analyse their results using methods that are old-fashioned or even inappropriate.

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Posttraumatic Stress Disorder and Somatic Complaints in a Deployed Cohort of Georgian Military Personnel : Mediating Effect of Depression and Anxiety

Abstract

Several studies have shown the relationship between symptoms of posttraumatic stress disorder (PTSD), somatic symptoms, and the mediating effect of depression and anxiety. The following study was conducted to investigate the relationship between PTSD symptoms and somatic complaints through underlying symptoms of depression and anxiety.

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PTSD symptomics : network analyses in the field of psychotraumatology

Recent years have seen increasing attention on posttraumatic stress disorder (PTSD) research.

While research has largely focused on the dichotomy between patients diagnosed with mental disorders and healthy controls — in other words, investigations at the level of diagnoses — recent work has focused on psychopathology symptoms.

Symptomics research in the area of PTSD has been scarce so far, although several studies have focused on investigating the network structures of PTSD symptoms.

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Systematic search of Bayesian statistics in the field of psychotraumatology

In recent years there has been increased interest in Bayesian analysis in many disciplines  Bayesianmethods implement Bayes’ theorem, which states that prior beliefs are updated with data, and this process produces updated beliefs about model parameters.

The prior is based on how much information we believe we have preceding data collection, as well as how accurate we believe that information to be. Within Bayesian statistics, priors can come fromany source; for example, a meta-analysis, a previous study or, even, expert consensus.

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Aberrant brain response after auditory deviance in PTSD compared to trauma controls : An EEG study.

Part of the symptomatology of post-traumatic stress disorder (PTSD) are alterations in arousal and reactivity which could be related to a maladaptive increase in the automated sensory change detection system of the brain. In the current EEG study we investigated whether the brain’s response to a simple auditory sensory change was altered in patients with PTSD relative to trauma-exposed matched controls who did not develop the disorder.

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The role of clinical experience, diagnosis, and theoreticalorientation in the treatment of posttraumatic anddissociative disorders : A vignette and survey investigation

Controversy exists regarding the merits of exposure-based treatments for posttraumatic stress disorder (PTSD) versus a phased approach when prominent dissociative symptoms are present.

The first aim of this study was to examine the degree to which diagnosing dissociation in two traumatized patients' vignettes influenced clinicians' preference for phase-oriented treatment and whether clinicians' treatment experience contributed to their treatment preference.

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