New research shows that age need not be a limiting factor in improving cardiovascular fitness. You can cheat Father Time if you work out regularly and with high intensity intervals -- and in so doing, improve your overall health. Photo credit: NTNU Info/Tor Monsen

Who is likely to be fitter: a lazy 20-year-old or an active 50-year-old? New research from the Norwegian University of Science and Technology’s K.G. Jebsen Center of Exercise in Medicine provides statistical evidence that the 50-year-old can be every bit as fit as someone 30 years younger. But exercise – how much, and how intense – is the key, say K.G. Jebsen Center researchers.

Middle-aged exercise buffs who might be discouraged by the effects of ageing on their overall fitness can take heart in research from the Norwegian University of Science and Technology’s (NTNU) K.G. Jebsen Center of Exercise in Medicine. Activity is far more important than age in determining fitness levels – and an active 50-year-old can be every bit as fit as a sedentary 20-year-old, says Ulrik Wisloff, Jebsen Center director and principle investigator of the study.

The study shows that by increasing the intensity of your exercise, you can beat back the risk of metabolic syndrome, the troublesome set of risk factors that can predispose people to type 2 diabetes, stroke and cardiovascular problems. [continue reading…]

Your friend debuts a questionable haircut and asks what you think of it. Brutal honesty would definitely hurt his feelings, so what do you say? Most people in this situation would probably opt for a vague or evasive response, along the lines of “It’s really unique!” or “It’s so you!” Politeness helps us get through awkward social situations like these and makes it easier for us to maintain our relationships. But a new article published in the October issue of Current Directions in Psychological Science, a journal of the Association for Psychological Science, suggests that this kind of politeness can have disastrous consequences, especially in high-stakes situations.

According to authors Jean-François Bonnefon and Wim de Neys of CNRS and Université de Toulouse and Aidan Feeney of Queen’s University, we resort to politeness strategies when we have to share information that might offend or embarrass someone or information that suggests someone has made a mistake or a bad choice. The more sensitive an issue is, the more likely we are to use these kinds of politeness strategies.

Politeness can become problematic, however, when it causes us to sacrifice clarity. Existing research suggests that politeness strategies can lead to confusion about the meaning of statements that, under other circumstances, would be clear. And this confusion is especially likely to occur in high-stakes situations, the very situations in which we are most likely to use politeness strategies. [continue reading…]

Borderline personality disorder expert John Gunderson, M.D., says that psychiatrists should expect more from and provide more to their patients when it comes to social and functional rehabilitiation.

Symptoms of borderline personality disorder (BPD) often remit over a 10-year period, but patients continue to experience severe and persistent impairment in social functioning.

That was the finding from a follow-up of patients with BPD in the Collaborative Longitudinal Personality Disorders Study, a report of which appears in the August Archives of General Psychiatry. The analysis found that the 10-year course of BPD is characterized by high rates of remission, low rates of relapse, but severe impairment in social functioning (see Key Findings From BPD Study).

The report extends and confirms previous reports about the long-term course of BPD, which have suggested that therapies for the disorder tend to work well for the most acute symptoms—such as self-harm and emotional dysregulation—but do little to address impairments in social functioning.

“What this shows is that over time, patients are more quietly dysfunctional than they were likely to have been when originally treated,” lead author John Gunderson, M.D., told Psychiatric News. “A minority of patients go on to a reasonably good functional level with a job and a family life, and then another minority remain both functionally and symptomatically ill. But the largest group of patients are not symptomatic but don’t have friends or stable relationships.”

Gunderson is a professor of psychiatry at Harvard Medical School and director of psychosocial and personality research at McLean Hospital in Belmont, Mass.

In the study, 75 patients with BPD, 312 with cluster C personality disorder, and 95 with major depressive disorder (MDD) but no personality disorder were followed for a decade. Subjects were drawn from 19 clinical settings (hospital and outpatient) in four northeastern U.S. cities.

The Diagnostic Interview for DSM-IV Personality Disorders and its follow-along version were used to diagnose personality disorders and assess changes in the symptoms over time. The Structured Clinical Interview for DSM-IV Axis I Disorders and the Longitudinal Interval Follow-Up Evaluation were used to diagnose MDD and assess changes in MDD and in social function.

Eighty-five percent of patients with BPD remitted, but remission was slower than for patients with MDD and minimally slower than for those with other personality disorders. [continue reading…]