Journal
PSYCHOTHERAPY AND PSYCHOSOMATICS
Volume 75, Issue 2, Pages 85-95Publisher
KARGER
DOI: 10.1159/000090892
Keywords
well-being; III-being; neuroendocrine; cardiovascular; distinct; mirrored
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Funding
- NATIONAL CENTER FOR RESEARCH RESOURCES [M01RR003186] Funding Source: NIH RePORTER
- NATIONAL INSTITUTE OF MENTAL HEALTH [P50MH061083] Funding Source: NIH RePORTER
- NATIONAL INSTITUTE ON AGING [P01AG020166] Funding Source: NIH RePORTER
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Background: Increasingly, researchers attend to both positive and negative aspects of mental health. Such distinctions call for clarification of whether psychological well-being and ill-being comprise opposite ends of a bipolar continuum, or are best construed as separate, independent dimensions of mental health. Biology can help resolve this query-bipolarity predicts 'mirrored' biological correlates (i.e. well-being and ill-being correlate similarly with biomarkers, but show opposite directional signs), whereas independence predicts 'distinct' biological correlates (i.e. well-being and ill-being have different biological signatures). Methods: Multiple aspects of psychological well-being (eudaimonic, hedonic) and ill-being (depression, anxiety, anger) were assessed in a sample of aging women (n = 135, mean age = 74) on whom diverse neuroendocrine (salivary cortisol, epinephrine, norepinephrine, DHEA-S) and cardiovascular factors (weight, waist-hip ratio, systolic and diastolic blood pressure, HDL cholesterol, total/HDL cholesterol, glycosylated hemoglobin) were also measured. Results: Measures of psychological well-being and ill-being were significantly linked with numerous biomarkers, with some associations being more strongly evident for respondents aged 75+. Outcomes for seven biomarkers supported the distinct hypothesis, while findings for only two biomarkers supported the mirrored hypothesis. Conclusion : This research adds to the growing literature on how psychological well-being and mental maladjustment are instantiated in biology. Population-based inquiries and challenge studies constitute important future directions. Copyright (c) 2006 S. Karger AG, Basel.
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