The relationship between type A behavior pattern (TABP) and coronary heart disease (CHD) is well established although it is not clear how TABP causes CHD. This study was designed to test the hypothesis that TABP causes CHD by decreasing parasympathetic function. Subjects were taught to increase the length of their expiration in order to improve parasympathetic function. The Kraepelin test indicated significant improvements in parasympathetic function, as well as a decrease in type-A behavior and attitudes in twelve type-A-prone subjects who were treated, in comparison to 11 subjects who were not treated. No differences were found in the achievement on the Kraepelin test. The breathing exercises that were used in this study have a number of advantages over cognitive behavior therapy, kinetic therapy and drug therapy. These include lower cost and lower risk. It is expected that practicing this breathing technique regularly will lead to health promotion in daily life. In the long term, it is expected to result in the modification of TABP, prevention of CHD, as well as reducing relapses of CHD.

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It has been documented that characteristics of personality influence estimation of subjective sleep feeling in the morning. This study examines the relationship between Neuroticism (N score) and Extraversion-Introversion (E score) on the Maudsley Personality Inventory (MPI) and subjective sleep feeling measured by the MA version of the OSA sleep inventory (OSA-MA), which consists of 20 items and 5 factors.
Subjects aged 25--59 were instructed to complete the OSA-MA on a weekday morning. One hundred and ten (53 male) healthy day- workers were selected for further analysis. They were divided into 2 groups (high and low) on the basis of N and E scores on the MPI. Factor scores of OSA-MA were compared between these groups. Subjects with high N scores had low evaluation of factors such as sleepiness at rising, sleep onset-sleep maintenance and fatigue recovery. There were no differences in any of the OSA-MA factors between high and low group of E scores. These results suggest that neuroticism influence the estimation of sleep quality and mood at rising.

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The purpose of this study was to develop an "Irrational Belief" scale for junior high-school teachers, to determine its structure, and to establish the clinical applicability of such a scale. Factor analysis of responses gathered from 300 junior high-school teachers who participated in the study established the following 5 categories. (1) Sense of incompetence, (2) Fear of failure, (3) Unconditional obedience, (3) Negative ideas about others, and (4) Ideal expectations. Factors 1, 2 and 3 showed gender differences in scaled total scores, indicating the need for gender specific analysis. The results indicated that irrational beliefs were correlated with anxiety-insomnia and depression. Furthermore, there were relative correlation between (1) sense of incompetence and negative ideas about others, (2) depression and sense of failure and (3) fear of failure and anxiety-insomnia. It is expected that the findings of this study will lead to a better understanding of teachers' irrational beliefs, resulting in better mental and physical health of teachers.

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This study was conducted to determine the expectation of nurses concerning the need and availability of psychological support in the work place. Our results indicated that more than half of the nurses investigated desired psychological support related to their work or personal relationships. Those nurses who experienced burnout most frequently desired even more support. The most often cited support resource was nursing colleagues. Friends, spouses and psychologists were ranked equally in second place. Urgent support needs were expressed for human relations problems, such as the assumption of leadership and evolving relationships with colleagues and supervisors. Psychological support was also considered necessary to better understand effective nursing methods and as an enhancement to nursing studies. In addition, many nurses desired psychological support resources in order to understand the benefits of psychological counseling, to learn stress coping techniques, to learn interview skills and to help in discussing issues related to life and death.

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