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Journal Article 2014; 35(3): 206-212 PubMed PMID: 24977970 Citation  Keywords:  Attitude to Health, Bipolar Disorder:epidemiology, Communication, Community Networks:organization & administration, Humans, Internet, Interpersonal Relations, Self-Help Groups:organization & administration, Social Behavior,.   

OBJECTIVE: The main therapeutic approach in the treatment of bipolar affective disorder is the administration of drugs. The effectiveness of this approach can be increased by specific psychotherapeutic interventions. There is not much knowledge about self-help initiatives in this field. Anonymous internet communication may be beneficial, regardless of the fact that it is non-professional. It offers a chance to confide and share symptoms with other patients, to open up for persons with feelings of shame, and to obtain relevant information without having a direct contact with an expert.

METHODS: Qualitative analysis of web discussions used by patients with bipolar disorder in Czech language was performed. Using key words "diskuze" (discussion), "maniodeprese" (manic depression) and "bipolární porucha" (bipolar disorder), 8 discussions were found, but only 3 of them were anonymous and non-professional. Individual discussion entries were analyzed for basic categories or subcategories, and these were subsequently assessed so that their relationships could be better understood.

RESULTS: A total of 436 entries from 3 discussion web pages were analyzed. Subsequently, six categories were identified (participant, diagnosis, relationships, communication, topic and treatment), each having 5-12 subcategories. These were analyzed in terms of relationships and patterns.

CONCLUSIONS: Czech discussion web pages for people suffering from bipolar disorder are a lively community of users supporting each other, that may be characterized as a compact body open to newcomers. They seem to fulfill patients' needs that are not fully met by health care services. It also has a "self-cleaning" ability, effectively dealing with posts that are inappropriate, provocative, criticizing, aggressive or meaningless....

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Case Reports 2013; 34(6): 514-517 PubMed PMID: 24378448 Citation  Keywords:  Adult, Chronic Pain:psychology, Cognitive Therapy, Fear:psychology, Humans, Male, Musculoskeletal Pain:psychology, Pain Management:methods, Social Behavior, Treatment Outcome,.   

: Pain-related fear may pose a serious barrier in the management of patients with chronic musculoskeletal pain, resulting in severe functional impairment in many cases. The paper describes the cognitive-behavioural therapy of a patient with a specific phobia (fear of pain and movement). The principal objective of the therapy was to educate the patient in strategies and skills to manage his fear and to verify the effect of the therapy. Both group and individual therapy was used. Group multimodal therapy of pain was provided by an interdisciplinary team of health care providers, specialising in pain management (psychotherapist, doctors and physiotherapists). The programme was based on operant therapy principles and included pacing and graded exercising and walking, relaxation, group education about ergonomics, and fear and pain relapse prevention. Reduction in the fear of pain and movement was achieved, and social bonds and physical and social activities improved after the psychotherapy, while the results were stable for two years....

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Journal Article 2012; 33(6): 636-642 PubMed PMID: 23160222 Citation  Keywords:  Adaptation, Psychological:physiology, Adolescent, Biological Evolution, Dominance-Subordination, Female, Hierarchy, Social, Humans, Male, Masochism:physiopathology, Sadism:physiopathology, Sexual Behavior:physiology, Social Behavior, Surveys and Questionn.   

OBJECTIVES: We theorize that sexual arousal by dominance and submission may be connected to a reproduction strategy respecting a reached social dominance rank (a common reproduction strategy in socially living mammals), while the preference for "bondage" may be derived from an opportunistic strategy when being unable to compete for hierarchic rank (an alternative reproductive strategy that co-occurs frequently with the above-named main strategy). The answers to questions dealing with hierarchy in character should correlate exclusively with sexual arousal connected to any kind of expression of a hierarchy, but not with bondage.

DESIGN AND SETTINGS: The data were obtained from young adults (157 males and 183 females aged 18-20, with mean 18.4 years) via questionnaires.

RESULTS: Seven out of eight questions dealing with hierarchy correlated with sexual arousal by dominance and submission in men (Spearman's r=0.169-0.313; p<0.05 - p<0.001), two questions correlated with sexual arousal by dominance and submission in women (Spearman's r=0.32-0.166, p<0.001, p<0.05). THE MAIN FINDINGS: The questions dealing with hierarchy correlated with sexual arousal by dominance and submission while no answers correlated with bondage, neither in men nor in women.

CONCLUSION: The preference for sexual arousal by dominance and submission may be connected to strategy respecting rank, while the preference for "bondage" may be derived from an opportunistic strategy that may be essential for possible partner problems solution. From the evolutionary biology point of view, these patterns of sadomasochistic sex appear as adaptive rather than as pathology....

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Comparative Study 2011; 32(4): 458-463 PubMed PMID: 21876513 Citation  Keywords:  Adult, Female, Happiness, Health Status, Humans, Immune Tolerance:physiology, Inflammation:blood, Interferon-gamma:blood, Japan, Male, Neuroimmunomodulation, Quality of Life, Social Behavior, Touch, Young Adult,.   

OBJECTIVES: The idea that perceived happiness may be associated with health and well-being is a recent topic of focus. However, the neurobiological mechanisms underlying the positive effects of happiness on psychological and physiological wellness remain obscure. In this study, we attempted to clarify the association between systemic inflammation and happiness.

METHODS: We recruited 160 healthy volunteers for experiment 1 and compared peripheral inflammatory markers, namely the concentrations of pro-inflammatory cytokines in the serum, between perceived high-happiness and low-happiness groups. Subsequently, we recruited 7 romantic couples for experiment 2 and investigated changes in peripheral pro-inflammatory cytokine levels after the evocation of happiness, which was induced by warm physical contact with the partner.

RESULTS: We found that circulating levels of interferon-γ (IFN-γ), which can affect brain functions and induce depressive symptoms, were lower in the high-happiness group than in the low-happiness group. A negative correlation between the levels of perceived happiness and IFN-γ concentrations was also observed. Furthermore, we also found that experimentally induced happiness could reduce peripheral IFN-γ levels.

CONCLUSIONS: These results revealed an association between the perception of happiness and systemic inflammation. Increased happiness may suppress the peripheral circulation of pro-inflammatory cytokines....

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Journal Article 2009; 30(4): 496-500 PubMed PMID: 20010492 Citation  Keywords:  Cerebral Cortex:physiology, Decision Making:physiology, Emotions:physiology, Female, Game Theory, Games, Experimental, Gyrus Cinguli:physiology, Humans, Magnetic Resonance Imaging, Male, Social Behavior, Young Adult,.   

OBJECTIVES: This study examined the roles of the insula and the anterior cingulate activations in the rejection of unfair offers in the impunity game.

METHODS: Fifteen participants played the impunity game in ten trials as responders during neuroimaging.

RESULTS: About 45% of the unfair offers were rejected by the responders even when responders could not restore a fair outcome, which cannot be accounted for by social preference of inequity aversion. Imaging data showed that the right anterior insula was activated when participants faced and rejected unfair offers.

CONCLUSIONS: The insula activation during a rejection of the unfair offers is the reflection of an emotional response, rather than social preference of inequity aversion. The role of emotion in the neuroeconomics of fairness was demonstrated....

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Clinical Trial 2005; 26(6): 771-774 PubMed PMID: 16380685 Citation  Keywords:  Adaptation, Psychological, Adolescent, Adult, Analysis of Variance, Cultural Evolution, Female, Hierarchy, Social, Homosexuality, Humans, Male, Psychological Theory, Reproduction, Sex Factors, Sexual Behavior:psychology, Social Behavior,.   

OBJECTIVES: The alliance theory holds that homosexual behavior in humans may have evolved because it reinforced same-sex alliances which contributed to survival and reproduction. The present study was designed to test this evolutionary hypothesis in view of the strongly negative perception of homosexual behavior. It was predicted that targets who engaged in homosexual behavior would be perceived as likely to achieve greater social status and reproductive opportunities when the behavior reinforced an alliance that led to increased social opportunities.

METHODS: Three hundred sixteen men and women read scenarios in which a target engaged in homosexual behavior and then answered questions about the target's future social status and reproductive opportunities as measured by number of sexual partners. The data were analyzed in two 3 (social outcome: positive vs. neutral vs. negative) x 2 (gender of target) x 2 (gender of participant) analyses of variance.

RESULTS: The results supported the predictions and demonstrated that targets were perceived as likely to have the greatest social status and reproductive opportunities in the positive outcome condition.

CONCLUSION: The alliance theory of homosexual behavior may have heuristic value for the evolutionary study of homosexual behavior and its perception....

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Journal Article 2005; 26(4): 351-354 PubMed PMID: 16136010 Citation  Keywords:  Acute Disease, Adult, Anxiety:blood, Humans, Hydrocortisone:blood, Male, Personality:physiology, Social Behavior, Stress, Psychological:blood,.   

OBJECTIVES: Traditionally, it has been hypothesized that highly anxious/emotionally reactive subjects may have exaggerated social stress response. We examined the relationship between self-reported anxiety, emotional reactivity, and social stress response.

METHODS: We investigated the relationship between personality scales of trait-state anxiety, subjective autonomic reactivity, and salivary cortisol levels before and after social stress exposure (Trier Social Stress Test) in 20 men.

RESULTS: Significant positive correlations between anxiety, subjective autonomic reactivity, and basal cortisol levels were observed, while neither anxiety nor subjective autonomic reactivity was correlated with social stress-induced cortisol elevation.

CONCLUSIONS: The present results indicate (i) subjects with higher degrees of trait anxiety/subjective autonomic reactivity have higher basal cortisol levels, and (ii) in contrast to the traditional view, anxious personality is not strongly associated with exaggerated cortisol response to social stress....

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Journal Article 2002; 23(Suppl 4): 55-65 PubMed PMID: 12496736 Citation  Keywords:  Biological Evolution, Cultural Evolution, Ethnology, Humans, Selection, Genetic, Sex Characteristics, Social Behavior, Warfare,.   

: I present an inventory of theories of war causation (and on the origin of war) in preindustrial (traditional, foraging, 'primitive', hunter-gatherer, band- and tribe-level) societies, with emphasis on the roles of natural selection, sexual selection and kin selection. Also the school of sociocultural evolution is briefly discussed....

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