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Objective This study investigated whether a brief psychotherapy for post-trauma nightmares (exposure, relaxation, and rescripting therapy [ERRT]), reduced suicidal ideation (SI). We hypothesized that: (a) nightmare frequency and severity, post-traumatic stress disorder (PTSD), depression, and sleep quality would be related to SI at pretreatment; (b) SI would decrease from pre- to post-treatment; and (c) the decrease in SI would remain after controlling for change in PTSD and depression. Method Seventy-five individuals exposed to a traumatic event and who experienced frequent nightmares (minimum one per week) participated in ERRT. Participants were not required to have a psychological diagnosis. Thirty percent endorsed SI at pretreatment. Results Depression and PTSD were related to SI at pretreatment. SI decreased following treatment; however, the third hypothesis was not supported. Conclusion Results suggest brief psychotherapy targeting post-trauma nightmares may decrease SI. More research is necessary to determine what factors contribute to decreases in SI.

Anger management styles (i.e., anger-in and anger-out) characterize a person's typical response to anger. Anger-in, the suppression of anger, and anger-out, the outward expression of anger, have been associated with increased acute and chronic pain. Previous research suggests that anger-in is related to pain because of its shared variance with negative affect; anger-out is believed to be related to pain because of a disruption of endogenous opioid systems. It is currently unknown whether anger management styles promote pain by facilitating central sensitization or spinal nociception. This study assessed the relationship between anger management styles and markers of central sensitization (i.e., temporal summation of pain [TS-pain] and nociception flexion reflex [TS-NFR]), spinal nociception (nociception flexion reflex [NFR] threshold), and measures of pain experience. One hundred nine healthy pain-free individuals completed the study. A bootstrapped mediation analysis was conducted to test whether negative affect mediated relationships with anger-in. Results suggested that anger-in and anger-out were associated with lower NFR thresholds (facilitated spinal nociception), but no other outcome. Negative affect did not mediate either of these relationships. These results suggest that anger management styles may amplify spinal nociceptive processes in healthy humans without altering central sensitization.

Respiratory sinus arrhythmia (RSA) is the modulation of heart rate along with respiration. Individual differences in RSA reflect parasympathetic cardiac control. Low RSA is linked to emotional dysregulation, perhaps from an inability to modulate the parasympathetic nervous system to emotion. For the current study, pictures of varying emotional contents were presented to participants with low and high RSA. During some pictures, acoustic probes were delivered to elicit startle. Emotional responding was assessed from subjective and physiological reactions to pictures. Results suggested that low RSA participants exhibited attenuated cardiac orienting compared to high RSA participants. Startle, corrugator electromyogram, and subjective responses to pictures were similar across groups. Thus, differences in RSA account for differences in orienting to emotional pictures but not physiological–emotional responding.

Physiological reactions to noxious stimuli are often used to make inferences about pain, but few studies have thoroughly examined the intra- and interindividual relationships between them. In the present study (N=104), multilevel analyses was used to assess relations between physiological (nociceptive flexion reflex magnitude [NFR], blink reflex magnitude, skin conductance response [SCR], heart rate [HR]) and subjective reactions to electrocutaneous stimuli. All physiological reactions were significant predictors of ratings when entered alone, explaining 1% (SCR) to 29% (NFR) of the variance; but only NFR, blink, and HR were significant in a multivariate predictor model. Significant interindividual variability in slopes was found for blink and HR, but not NFR. A final trimmed model that included NFR, blink, and the blink random slope explained 35% of the variance in ratings.

This study tested the prospective effects of hope on depression and anxiety using a longitudinal design. A sample of 522 college students completed self-report measures of hope, depression, and anxiety at three time points, with 1-month delays between administrations. Structural equation modeling was employed to test two cross-lagged panel models of the reciprocal effects of the Agency and Pathways components of hope on depression and anxiety. Results indicated statistically significant negative effects for the Agency component of hope on later depression but no unique effect of the Pathways component of hope on depression. Likewise, Agency showed a statistically significant negative effect on later anxiety, but again Pathways had no significant influence on anxiety. In both cases, neither depression nor anxiety demonstrated any longitudinal effects on either the Agency or Pathways components of hope. Implications of these findings are discussed, along with potential directions for future research.

Objective.—The primary objectives of the present study were to (1) contrast reproductive hormone levels and ratings of menstrual distress of female migraineurs with those of a control group in each menstrual cycle phase, (2) examine correlations between hormone levels and migraine frequency, severity, and migraine-related disability, and (3) examine correlations between menstrual distress and migraine frequency, severity, and migraine-related disability. A secondary objective was to evaluate the validity of a migraine disability measure modified to reflect 7-day recall. Background.—Further controlled, prospective study is needed regarding the temporal relationships between reproductive hormones at each stage of the menstrual cycle and fluctuations in migraine activity across the cycle. Methods.—Twenty-three women (17 with migraine, 6 control participants) completed laboratory hormone assays and measures of menstrual distress and disability at each phase of one menstrual cycle, and monitored their headache activity daily during the same cycle. Results.—The migraine group evidenced lower premenstrual luteinizing hormone and more menstrual distress symptoms at each phase of the menstrual cycle. Hormones were associated with migraine activity and disability within cycle phases, and across phases in a time-lagged manner. Menstrual distress was associated with ovulatory phase migraine activity and with migraine-related disability across the menstrual cycle. A retrospective 7-day migraine disability measure appeared to be a consistently valid index. Conclusions.—Both reproductive hormones and menstrually related distress appear to predict migraine activity and disability. These associations were evident not only for perimenstrual migraine, but also for migraine at each phase of the menstrual cycle. Ke yw ords: hormones, migraine, menstrual cycle, distress, disability Abbreviations: BBT basal body temperature, HDI headache disability inventory, LH luteinizing hormone, MDQ menstrual distress questionnaire, MIDAS migraine disability assessment, d Cohen’s effect size

Cognitive-behavioral treatments (CBTs) that target nightmares are efficacious for ameliorating self-reported sleep problems and psychological distress. However, it is important to determine whether these treatments influence objective markers of nightmare-related fear, because fear and concomitant physiological responses could promote nightmare chronicity and sleep disturbance. This randomized, controlled study (N=40) assessed physiological (skin conductance, heart rate, facial electromyogram) and subjective (displeasure, fear, anger, sadness, arousal) reactions to personally relevant nightmare imagery intended to evoke nightmare-related fear. Physiological assessments were conducted at pretreatment as well as 1-week, 3-months, and 6-months posttreatment. Results of mixed effects analysis of variance models suggested treatment reduced physiological and subjective reactions to nightmare imagery, gains that were generally maintained at the 6-month follow-up. Potential implications are discussed.