Allan Bloom's cytologic epistemology invites further analysis. A scientific article is like a cell that interacts with its neighbors to form an organ-like cluster—a set of articles or a "literature" addressed to a common set of problems and topics. These articles interact by citing one another—by conversing in print. The clusters themselves can be seen as interacting, to varying degrees, with other clusters. This essay will focus on certain failures of intercluster communication.

Migraine and Magnesium: Eleven Neglected Connections

This review begins with a discussion of the nature of stress and then presents the functional model of primary headache as a framework for conceptualizing the complex relationship between stress and headaches. Research is reviewed on stress as a trigger of headaches and how stress can play a role in the developmental and psychosocial context of headaches. Clinical management of headaches from a stress perspective is considered both at the level of trials of behavioral interventions that broadly fit into the stress management category and the additional strategies that might be useful for individual cases based on the research demonstrating associations between stress and headaches. The review concludes by suggesting that although some researchers have questioned whether stress can trigger headaches, overall, the literature is still supportive of such a link. Advances in methodology are discussed, the recent emphasis on protective factors is welcomed, and directions for future research suggested.

/pdf/stress-and-primary-headache-review-of-the-research-and-eyfajml9mj.pdf

Stress and Primary Headache: Review of the Research and Clinical Management

A behavior pattern characterized by excessive competitiveness, impatience, hostility, and time urgency, known as Type A, has typically been investigated as a risk factor for coronary heart disease. The present paper evaluates the Type A pattern as a general risk factorfor a wide variety of physical disorders. Research on Type A as a moderator of the effects of life stress on health is also reviewed. When Type A or physical health is measured with objective indicators, Type A does not emerge as a general risk factor for illness, with the following exceptions: Type A's are more likely to have accidents, to die from accidents or violence, and to incur cerebrovascular and peripheral atherosclerosis. In contrast, research relying on self-report measures of Type A and symptomatology find a consistent link between Type A behavior and a variety of minor illness and symptoms. There is little support for the notion that Type A is a potentiator of the effects of life events stress.

Type A behavior as a general risk factor for physical disorder.

Publisher Summary There is some evidence that Type A behavior may be reinforced by enhanced success in academic and vocational endeavors. With regard to academic success, Type A behavior has been found to emerge in children as early as elementary school age and to be related to higher achievement test scores in this age group. This chapter reviews typical findings related to quality of life in Type A individuals. The costs of being Type A greatly outweigh the benefits, and the Type A pattern can be usefully conceptualized as a maladaptive personality style that has major implications for a reduced quality of life. The chapter highlights contemporary work that has focused on irrational cognitions or beliefs as a core component of the Type A personality style. In presenting the model, two major issues of empirical evidence are considered. First, the evidence of strong empirical links among Type A characteristics, increased endorsements of dysfunctional self-evaluative standards, increased dysphoria, and lower levels of self-esteem. Second, the evidence consistent with the proposal that Type A individuals have a more negative view of self.

Type a behavior : a social cognition motivational perspective

Behavior Patterns, Stress, and Coronary Disease

Individuals who suffer from migraine headaches have been characterized as tense, hard-driving individuals who have difficulty in coping with stress ( 3 ) . These behaviors are similar to those which Friedman and Rosenman (1) used to describe the behavior of the Type A person. This similarity suggested to us that Type A college students might experience headaches more frequently than Type B students. To test this hypothesis, we asked 177 college students to respond to the Glass ( 2 ) version of the Jenkins Activity Survey for college students and to estimate the frequency with which they experienced tension or migraine headaches on a three-point scale, i.e., often, sometimes, never. The Jenkins Survey was scored using the system developed by Glass and, like Glass, we define Type A as Jenkins' score 8 and Type B as Jenkins' score < 8. Using the data in a contingency table, we found chat the relationship between Type A/B behavior and the frequency of headaches was significant, i.e., x2 = 9.26, p < .01, with 4 = .23.

Jill Campbell

Papers

Type a-b behavior and self-estimates of the frequency of headaches in college students