Objectives: Hallucinations can be traumatic. However, research into ‘post-traumatic growth’ in relation to hallucinations is scarce. This study aims to further our understanding of personal growth in the context of hallucinations. Design: A phenomenological qualitative approach was used to explore experiences of personal growth with hallucinations, adopting Interpretative Phenomenological Analysis (IPA) methodology. Methods: Semi-structured interviews were conducted with seven people who experience hallucinations. Participants were asked about experiences of personal growth, their expectations of individual transformation, and facilitating and hindering factors in the attainment of personal growth. Transcripts were analysed ensuring suitable saturation and representation of the data was achieved. Results: One overall theme (A journey towards personal growth) and five subthemes were identified: A difficult journey taken day by day, Stigma, Acceptance, Finding the right support, and Personal growth. Conclusions: Findings supported personal growth in the context of hallucinations and highlighted facilitators and barriers.

Several neurological patient populations, including traumatic brain injury (TBI), appear to produce an abnormally utilitarian' pattern of judgements to moral dilemmas; they tend to make judgements that maximize the welfare of the majority, rather than deontological judgements based on the following of moral rules (e.g., do not harm others). However, this patient research has always used extreme dilemmas with highly valued moral rules (e.g., do not kill). Data from healthy participants, however, suggest that when a wider range of dilemmas are employed, involving less valued moral rules (e.g., do not lie), moral judgements demonstrate sensitivity to the psychological intuitiveness of the judgements, rather than their deontological or utilitarian content (Kahane etal., Social Cognitive and Affective Neuroscience, 7, 2011, 393). We sought the moral judgements of 30 TBI participants and 30 controls on moral dilemmas where content (utilitarian/deontological) and intuition (intuitive/counter-intuitive) were measured concurrently. Overall TBI participants made utilitarian judgements in equal proportions to controls; disproportionately favouring utilitarian judgements only when they were counter-intuitive, and deontological judgements only when they were counter-intuitive. These results speak against the view that TBI causes a specific utilitarian bias, suggesting instead that moral intuition is broadly disrupted following TBI.

Effective pragmatic comprehension of language is critical for successful communication and interaction, but this ability is routinely impaired following Traumatic Brain Injury (TBI) (1,2). Individual studies have investigated the cognitive domains associated with impaired pragmatic comprehension, but there remains little understanding of the relative importance of these domains in contributing to pragmatic comprehension impairment following TBI. This paper presents a systematic meta-analytic review of the observed correlations between pragmatic comprehension and cognitive processes following TBI. Five meta-analyses were computed, which quantified the relationship between pragmatic comprehension and five key cognitive constructs (declarative memory; working memory; attention; executive functions; social cognition). Significant moderate-to-strong correlations were found between all cognitive measures and pragmatic comprehension, where declarative memory was the strongest correlate. Thus, our findings indicate that pragmatic comprehension in TBI is associated with an array of domain general cognitive processes, and as such deficits in these cognitive domains may underlie pragmatic comprehension difficulties following TBI. The clinical implications of these findings are discussed.

Overactive bladder (OAB) has been found to have a number of psychological consequences, including anxiety, depression and shame. However, there is little research on how drug treatment, which has been found to be effective at reducing physical symptoms, impacts on these psychological effects. This study aimed to examine patients' experiences of anticholinergic treatment for OAB, and the impact of both OAB and its treatment on psychological well-being. A cross-sectional, qualitative interview design with a secondary care outpatient sample was used. The approach was idiographic and sought to understand the detailed complexities and nuances of patient experiences. This small-scale qualitative study found that, even where there had been symptom reduction, patients did not feel ‘better’, and found it difficult to let go of worries and fears around OAB. These findings suggest that a person with OAB may need support even after a ‘successful’ treatment, as OAB continues to be at the centre of patients' lives.

The National Health Service (NHS) is known to be a challenging place to work, with financial and performance targets placing increasing pressure on the organisation. This study aimed to investigate whether these pressures and threats might be detrimental to the quality of care and the compassion that the NHS strives to deliver. Quantitative data were collected via self-report questionnaires from healthcare professionals across 3 NHS trusts in England in order to measure Self-compassion; Compassion for Others; Perceived Organisational Threat; and Perceived Organisational Compassion. Qualitative data were also collected to explore the threats considered most pertinent to healthcare professionals at present. The key findings suggest that an increase in Perceived Organisational Threat may reduce an individual's ability to give compassion to others; however, Self-compassion and Perceived Organisational Compassion were better predictors of Compassion for Others. This highlights the need to consider compassion at a systemic level, providing interventions and training not only to cultivate self-compassion in healthcare professionals, but also to encourage compassion across the NHS more generally. In promoting self-compassion and increasing the level of compassion that employees feel they receive at work, healthcare professionals may be better able to maintain or improve their level of compassion for service users and colleagues.

OBJECTIVE:Past literature presents contrasting perspectives regarding the potential influence of self-blame on adjustment to illness. This systematic literature review aimed to summarize findings from all investigations to date that have explored the relationship between self-blame for the onset of a chronic physical health condition and emotional distress. METHOD:Between November 2014 and February 2015, electronic databases were searched for relevant literature. Only those studies which assessed self-blame directly and related specifically to illness onset were included within the review. The methodological and reporting quality of all eligible articles was assessed, and themes within the findings were discussed using a narrative synthesis approach. RESULTS:The majority of studies found self-blame to be associated with increased distress. However, several concerns with the quality of the reviewed articles may undermine the validity of their conclusions. CONCLUSIONS:It is important for professionals supporting people with chronic physical health conditions to have an understanding of how of self-critical causal attributions might relate to emotional distress. Further research is required to understand the concept of self-blame, the factors that may encourage this belief and to develop reliable and valid measures of this experience. Copyright © 2016 John Wiley & Sons, Ltd. KEY PRACTITIONER MESSAGE:What does this study add? The review presents an exploration of the role of self-blame in emotional adjustment following the diagnosis of a chronic physical health condition. This is the first review to synthesize findings from studies measuring self-blame beliefs directly and specifically for illness onset and their relationship to indicators of distress and wellbeing. Findings suggest that self-blame for illness onset is often associated with emotional distress for people with cancer, HIV/AIDS and cardiovascular disease. This has implications for how healthcare professionals respond to self-blaming beliefs in the context of illness. Research quality concerns are identified for many of the reviewed studies, highlighting a need for further research on this topic.

Research indicates that deaf children can have marked social difficulties compared with their hearing peers. Factors that influence these social interactions need to be reviewed to inform interventions. A systematic search of 5 key databases and 3 specialized journals identified 14 papers that met the inclusion criteria. Methodological quality of the articles was assessed using an adapted checklist. There was a general lack of consensus across studies. The main factors investigated were the deaf child's communication competency, age, and level of mainstreaming, which overall were positively associated with peer interactions. Some studies also found that females were more likely to have positive social interactions. The majority of studies were cross-sectional. Some studies lacked appropriate control groups and did not recruit an appropriate range of informants. A wide range of factors were associated with social interactions between deaf and hearing children. The role of communication gained the highest consensus across studies. Other factors were involved in more complex interactions.

ABSTRACT Overactive bladder ( OAB ) is condition, characterized by urinary urgency, frequency and incontinence, which has the potential to disrupt everyday life considerably. Although there is evidence that antimuscarinic treatment is effective at treating physical symptoms, there is currently no systematic exploration of psychological factors associated with OAB after treatment. This study aimed to examine the quality of life, relationships, sexual functioning, psychological wellbeing and illness perceptions of individuals with OAB after they have received treatment. And to determine whether an individual's psychological wellbeing is directly related to the severity of their symptoms, or whether their illness perceptions mediate this relationship. This study used a cross‐sectional, questionnaire‐based quantitative design with a secondary care outpatient sample who were diagnosed with OAB and had been either previously or currently prescribed drug treatment. Patients reported moderately severe OAB symptoms, with approximately a third reporting moderate/severe anxiety and 12% reporting severe depression. There was no direct relationship between symptom severity and psychological wellbeing ( β = −0·03, t (31) = −0·96, p = 0·34; β = −0·02, t (31) = −0·41, p = 0·68) – this relationship was mediated by the patient's sense of personal control over their OAB ( β = 0·03 ( SE = 0·02), 95% CI [0·004, 0·09]; β = 0·02 ( SE = 0·02), 95% CI [0·0008, 0·08]). Including interventions to improve personal control alongside drug treatment may improve treatment adherence and outcomes.

This review aimed to provide an overview of the current research on the psychological impact of overactive bladder. A systematic search yielded 32 papers. It was found that people with overactive bladder tended to have greater levels of depression, anxiety and embarrassment/shame; difficulties with social life; impact on sleep and sexual relationships; and a lower quality of life than people without overactive bladder. A psychological impact on family members was also found. Psychological health should be considered an important aspect of managing overactive bladder and further research is required to determine how best to provide psychological care and support in this area.

AIMS AND OBJECTIVES:To explore teenagers' views of the future in relation to their choices to continue or terminate pregnancy. BACKGROUND:Despite recent decreases in the numbers of teenage pregnancies, across the world, the teenage pregnancy rate remains high. Consideration of views of the future (future orientation) appears to play an important part in teenage girls' decisions to continue with pregnancy. To date, no study has explored this in teenage pregnant girls at the time they make their decision to continue with or terminate their pregnancy. DESIGN:Cross-sectional mixed methods design. METHODS:Three groups were included: termination of pregnancy (n = 19), antenatal (n = 9) and never pregnant (n = 23). Participants were 13-18 years old. The termination of pregnancy and antenatal groups were interviewed, and the never pregnant group completed postal questionnaires. RESULTS:Groups differed in individual aspects of future orientation, that is, education, career and family, and reasons for pregnancy resolution choice. The termination group had more clearly developed and longer-term plans for the future with a focus on career. The never pregnant group shared aspects of their future orientation with both the antenatal and termination of pregnancy groups. The impact of negative discourses about teenage pregnancy from others was identified as a significant issue. CONCLUSIONS:How pregnant teenage girls view the future has a relationship with their decision to terminate or continue with their pregnancy. RELEVANCE TO CLINICAL PRACTICE:The findings suggest that working with teenage girls to clarify their views of the future may be useful both in preventing future unwanted pregnancy and in supporting teenagers in making pregnancy decisions. Supporting pregnant teenagers in distancing themselves from negative stereotypes of teenage mothers may also be beneficial.

Currently it is assumed that cathodal stimulation (in transcranial direct current stimulation, tDCS) degrades the neural firing rate, and thus it is believed to degrade cognitive performance. Here we challenge this assumption by predicting that under high competition the cathodal stimulation might act as a noise filter, leading to an improved performance. We presented auditory targets with different emotional valence using a dichotic listening paradigm. We found that cathodal, but not anodal stimulation of the right IFG generated better prosody comprehension. Cathodal stimulation in competitive situations, such as the dichotic listening paradigm, can act like a noise filter, and may in fact enhance cognitive performance. This study contributes to understanding the way the IFG is engaged with prosody functions, and explains the cathodal effects of tDCS. This might lead to the development of more efficient brain stimulation protocols.

In virtual-environment spatial-learning procedures, Experiment 1 investigated blocking of learning about distal landmarks beyond the walls of an enclosure following preliminary training to find a goal using local landmarks within the enclosure. Separate sets of blocking and control groups searched within enclosures that, in plan view, formed either a square or a circle. Blocking was apparent when training and testing occurred in the circular but not the square enclosure. In Experiment 2, preliminary training to find a goal using local landmarks blocked spatial learning based on a circular enclosure divided into four differently coloured sections. The results are discussed in relation to theories of incidental versus error-correcting learning linked to different types of spatial cue.

Using desktop, computer-simulated virtual environments (VEs), the authors conducted 5 experiments to investigate blocking of learning about a goal location based on Shape B as a consequence of preliminary training to locate that goal using Shape A. The shapes were large 2-dimensional horizontal figures on the ground. Blocking of spatial learning was found when the initially trained Shape A was presented in the context of auxiliary shapes that were anticipated to be irrelevant to goal localization. When Shape A was initially presented in the absence of these auxiliary shapes, no evidence of blocking between shapes was apparent. The results are discussed in terms of the similarity between spatial and other forms of contingency learning, the operation of a specialized geometric module, and changes in attention as a consequence of discrimination learning.

Many visual tasks display a well-documented naso-temporal asymmetry (NTA), where sensitivity is greater to stimuli presented in the temporal hemifield. Four-letter strings were presented at various eccentricities under monocular vision conditions, and observers were asked to classify the stimuli as ‘words’ or ‘non-words’ in a lexical decision task (experiment 1). In experiment 2, the same observers had to classify the stimuli as ‘darker’ or ‘lighter’ (contrast discrimination). Apart from the task, the visual conditions and stimuli were identical in both experiments. The typical temporal hemifield advantage was found for a contrast discrimination task in both English and Hebrew readers, but only for lexical decision judgments in Hebrew readers. The lack of the expected NTA in English readers that was observed only for a reading but not a low-level visual task indicates that language lateralisation and reading-related learning can override fundamental, anatomically based, visual asymmetries.

In a virtual environment, blocking of spatial learning to locate an invisible target was found reciprocally between a distinctively shaped enclosure and a local landmark within its walls. The blocking effect was significantly stronger when the shape of the enclosure rather than the landmark served as the blocking cue. However, the extent to which the landmark blocked enclosure-shape learning was not influenced by increasing the physical salience of the landmark. The outcomes are the first to suggest that cue-interaction effects, commonly found in human and animal contingency learning experiments, are also found in human spatial learning based on landmarks and enclosure walls. The data are discussed in terms of spatial reference frames.

NMR Spectroscopy was utilized to analyze the keto-enol equilibrium positions at varied temperatures for two different liquid solutions: one of acetoacetone in CDCl3 and one of acetoacetone in CCl4. Equilibrium constants, standard free energy, standard enthalpy, and standard entropy were calculated from the NMR data attained. The average equilibrium constants for acetoacetone in deuterated chloroform (utilizing different protons) were determined to be 5.62 and 1.93 respectively. The average equilibrium constants for acetoacetone in carbon tetrachloride were determined to be 16.0 and 6.55. The corresponding average free energies were calculated to be - 3.98±.479 kJ/mol (CDCl3), -1.23±.131 kJ/mol (CDCl3), -6.78±.874 kJ/mol (CCl4), and -3.82±1.31kJ/mol (CCl4). Standard enthalpies and standard entropies are listed in the text.