OBJECTIVE The purpose of this study was to test whether psychological factors affect inflammation processes to an extent that increases the risk of coronary heart disease (CHD). METHODS AND RESULTS We used data from 6396 civil servants (4453 men, 1943 women) from the Whitehall II Study, aged 35 to 55 years and free from clinically validated CHD at the start of the follow-up period. Two psycho...

Alexithymia represents a multifaceted personality construct defined by difficulties in recognizing and verbalizing emotions and externally oriented thinking. According to clinical observations, experience of negative affects is exacerbated and experience of positive affects is decreased in alexithymia. Findings from research based on self-report indicate that all alexithymia facets are negative...

Objectives—The purpose of this study was to test whether psychological factors affect inflammation processes to an extent that increases the risk of coronary heart disease (CHD). Methods and Results—We used data from 6396 civil servants (4453 men, 1943 women) from the Whitehall II Study, aged 35 to 55 years and free from clinically validated CHD at the start of the follow-up period. Two psychol...

The hypothesis that symptom-reporting in asthmatics does not necessarily correspond with clinical status, but is related to negative affectivity was investigated. One hundred and sixteen asthmatic patients filled out the Asthma Symptom Checklist (ASC), the Negative Emotionality Scale (NEM), and the McMaster-Asthma Quality-of-Life Questionnaire (AQLQ). The patients were grouped as either hospita...

The implications of the biologically active elements in milk for the mammalian infant are largely unknown. Animal models demonstrate that transmission of glucocorticoids through milk influences behavior and modifies brain development in offspring. The aim of this study was to determine the relation between human milk cortisol levels and temperament of the breastfed infant. Fifty-two mother and ...

The concept of affectivity has assumed central importance in much recent scholarship, and many in the social sciences and humanities now talk of an ‘affective turn’. The concept of affectivity at play in this ‘turn’ remains, however, somewhat vague and slippery. Starting with Silvan Tomkins’ influential theory of affect, this paper will explore the relevance of the general assumptions (or ‘utmo...