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Background: Breast cancer survivors (BCS) may experience cardiotoxicities from chemotherapy and oral endocrine therapy. Although a few studies have documented that palpitations are prevalent and associated with poorer outcomes, there is limited to no information on BCS' reporting of palpitations to healthcare providers. Objectives: To compare BCS who did and did not report their palpitations to a healthcare provider and describe how those who did report palpitations recalled their provider responding. Design: This was a cross-sectional, national, electronic, pilot survey of BCS enrolled in the Love Army of Women registry. Methods: Participants (n = 52 with palpitations) completed standardized and investigator-designed questionnaires. Data were analyzed using frequency and descriptive statistics, chi-square tests, and Mann–Whitney tests. Responses to one open-ended question were analyzed using frequency counts and standard content analysis. Results: Compared to BCS who reported palpitations to a provider (n = 34), BCS who did not report their palpitations (n = 18) were significantly more anxious (p = 0.002) and more likely to feel palpitations as an irregular heartbeat (70.6% versus 38.9%, p = 0.027). Among the 34 BCS who reported palpitations to a provider, 32 completed the open-ended question. Of these 32 BCS, a majority (n = 27, 84%) indicated their provider recommended cardiac testing and/or referral to a cardiologist. Most (n = 24) reported completing testing. Test results included diagnosis of a new arrhythmia or other cardiac abnormality (n = 11, 46%), receipt of a new prescription (n = 5, 21%), or normal results (n = 5, 21%). Five (16%) of the 32 BCS did not receive recommendations for testing or referral and felt their provider normalized or dismissed their symptoms. Conclusion: Palpitations are a salient topic for further research and clinical practice recommendations to address cardiac health in BCS. Plain language summary: What do breast cancer survivors tell health care providers abut heart symptoms and how do providers respond? Women who survive breast cancer can develop heart problems as a result of treatment. A common report of these women is feeling like the heart is beating faster, pounding, or beating irregularly. There is little research on what happens when breast cancer survivors have palpitations. Do they report them to a healthcare professional? If so, how does the healthcare professional respond? There were 52 survivors with palpitations who filled out an electronic survey; 34 reported their palpitations to a provider and 18 did not. Those who did not report palpitations were more anxious and more likely to feel their palpitations as an irregular heartbeat. Most of the women who reported palpitations to a provider received a recommendation for tests or referral to a heart specialist. Most completed the testing which resulted in finding a heart rhythm disturbance or other heart abnormality, getting a new prescription, or reassurance that things were normal. There were five women who did not get any recommendations for testing or referral. These women felt like their healthcare provider dismissed their symptoms as unimportant. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

Introduction: Hypnosis-based apps geared toward smoking cessation are among the most downloaded by individuals wanting to reduce or stop smoking. However, to date, there are few evaluations regarding the use or efficacy of hypnosis apps for smoking cessation. Finito is an empirically-based mHealth app developed by Mindset Health designed to provide users with a three-week hypnotherapy program to quit smoking. This study aimed to examine demographic and clinical characteristics of Finito app users and conduct a preliminary analysis of survey data from participants of the program. Method: Finito app users were asked to voluntarily complete an online survey regarding their experience with the program, current smoking habits, app usability, relevant improvement, and demographic information. Retrospective data analyses were conducted to provide descriptive and inferential findings from the responses. Results: A total of 120 individuals responded to the survey. Respondents originated from over five different countries and approximately 72.5% reported completing the full Finito program. Approximately 58.3% of participants reported that they accomplished their goal with Finito with 50.8% of all respondents reporting that they quit smoking and an additional 25.8% reporting that their smoking was reduced. Among a variety of secondary outcomes, saving money was the most frequently reported secondary benefit with 46.7% of respondents endorsing that item. Conclusion: Our preliminary survey results suggest that Finito may be a useful, pleasant, and cost-effective tool in a patient's journey to quit smoking. The majority of app users reported that they achieved their goal with Finito and completion of the program was associated with goal achievement. The Finito app may be effective in the dissemination and delivery of a helpful hypnotherapy intervention across a diverse population. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

Copyright of International Journal of Clinical & Experimental Hypnosis is the property of Routledge and its content may not be copied or emailed to multiple sites or posted to a listserv without the copyright holder's express written permission. However, users may print, download, or email articles for individual use. This abstract may be abridged. No warranty is given about the accuracy of the copy. Users should refer to the original published version of the material for the full abstract. (Copyright applies to all Abstracts.)

Copyright of International Journal of Clinical & Experimental Hypnosis is the property of Routledge and its content may not be copied or emailed to multiple sites or posted to a listserv without the copyright holder's express written permission. However, users may print, download, or email articles for individual use. This abstract may be abridged. No warranty is given about the accuracy of the copy. Users should refer to the original published version of the material for the full abstract. (Copyright applies to all Abstracts.)

Copyright of International Journal of Clinical & Experimental Hypnosis is the property of Routledge and its content may not be copied or emailed to multiple sites or posted to a listserv without the copyright holder's express written permission. However, users may print, download, or email articles for individual use. This abstract may be abridged. No warranty is given about the accuracy of the copy. Users should refer to the original published version of the material for the full abstract. (Copyright applies to all Abstracts.)

Hypnotherapy is used in clinical settings to treat mental and physical health-related conditions. Hypnotic response can be measured through hypnotizability scales to help interventionists personalize treatment plans to suit the patients' individualized hypnotic abilities. Examples of these scales are the Elkins Hypnotizability Scale (EHS) and the Stanford Hypnotic Susceptibility Scale, Form C (SHSS:C). According to the previous literature, these scales have good discriminating ability and internal consistency (α = 0.85) in collegiate samples, but the psychometric properties of the EHS for a targeted clinical population have not been determined yet. This study assessed said properties, and results showed adequate reliability of the EHS in a targeted clinical sample and strong convergent validity of the EHS to the SHSS:C. The authors conclude that the EHS is a strong and useful measure of hypnotizability that is pleasant, safe, brief, and sensible to individualities in hypnotic ability found in diverse clinical samples. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

Inadequate sleep among adolescents frequently contributes to obesity and reduced academic performance, along with symptoms of anxiety, depression, fatigue, and attention deficits. The etiological bases of sleep quality has been associated with both stress and sleep habits. These problems tend to be especially important for adolescents with diabetes as the effects of poor sleep complicate health outcomes. This case example concerns a 14-year-old adolescent girl with a history of type I diabetes and stress-related sleep difficulties. Treatment included cognitive--behavioral methods and hypnotic relaxation therapy. Results of this case example and other controlled research suggest that hypnotic relaxation therapy is well accepted, results in good compliance, and serves as a useful adjunctive to cognitive--behavioral intervention for sleep problems. [c] 2010 Wiley Periodicals, Inc. J Clin Psychol: In Session 66:1205-1215, 2010. Keywords: diabetes; sleep disorders; hypnosis; cognitive-behavior therapy; eating DOI: 10.1002/jclp.20732

Abstract Background Hot flashes are a highly prevalent problem associated with menopause and breast cancer treatments. The recent findings from the Women's Health Initiative have important implications for the significance of a non-hormonal, mind-body intervention for hot flashes in breast cancer survivors. Women who take hormone therapy long-term may have a 1.2 to 2.0 fold increased risk of developing breast cancer. In addition, it is now known that hormone therapy with estrogen and progestin is associated with increased risk of cardiovascular disease and stroke. Currently there are limited options to hormone replacement therapy as non-hormonal pharmacological agents are associated with only modest activity and many adverse side effects. Because of this there is a need for more alternative, non-hormonal therapies. Hypnosis is a mind-body intervention that has been shown to reduce self-reported hot flashes by up to 68% among breast cancer survivors, however, the use of hypnosis for hot flashes among post-menopausal women has not been adequately explored and the efficacy of hypnosis in reducing physiologically measured hot flashes has not yet been determined. Methods/design A sample of 180 post-menopausal women will be randomly assigned to either a 5-session Hypnosis Intervention or 5-session structured-attention control with 12 week follow-up. The present study will compare hypnosis to a structured-attention control in reducing hot flashes (perceived and physiologically monitored) in post-menopausal women in a randomized clinical trial. Outcomes will be hot flashes (self-report daily diaries; physiological monitoring; Hot Flash Related Daily Interference Scale), anxiety (State-Trait Anxiety Inventory; Hospital Anxiety and Depression Scale (HADS); anxiety visual analog scale (VAS rating); depression (Center for Epidemiologic Studies Depression Scale), sexual functioning (Sexual Activity Questionnaire), sleep quality (Pittsburgh Sleep Quality Index) and cortisol. Discussion This study will be the first full scale test of hypnosis for hot flashes; one of the first studies to examine both perceived impact and physiologically measured impact of a mind-body intervention for hot flashes using state-of-the-art 24 hour ambulatory physiological monitoring; the first study to examine the effect of hypnosis for hot flashes on cortisol; and the first investigation of the role of cognitive expectancies in treatment of hot flashes in comparison to a Structured-Attention Control. Trial Registration This clinical trial has been registered with ClinicalTrials.gov, a service of the U.S. National Institutes of Health, ClinicalTrials.gov Identifier: NCT01293695.

The silence surrounding the psychological investigation of love has been broken. Not only is love being examined from a theoretical framework but better empirical tools are being developed and used. There is a lack of agreement among professionals about the meaning of love. Compares the humanists' and behaviorists' concepts of love. (Author)

The hypothesis that college students differentially perceive the terms "counseling" and "psychotherapy" was evaluated using a semantic differential scale. Results revealed that college students have significantly different perceptions of terms in reference to selected adjective pairs. Implications for future research were explored for client expectancies and behavior. (Author)