Providentia

What is the Return-Trip Effect?

Research has documented the psychological phenomenon in which the trip back from a destination is experienced as shorter than the trip to the destination. Deemed the “return trip effect” (RTE), prior work explained this phenomenon in terms of differential familiarity between home and outbound destination or an underestimation of initial travel time. A new article published in the journal Social Psychological and Personality Science posits an anticipation account for the RTE: Outbound trips to a destination tend to foster higher levels of anticipation than return trips. Due to greater anticipation, people’s perception of time elongates. Importantly, the anticipation account makes novel predictions with regard to the occurrence of the RTE that cannot be accounted for by prior explanations. Multiple studies, with diverse methodologies, test and offer evidence in support of an anticipation account of the RTE. (PsycInfo Database Record (c) 2021 APA, all rights reserved)

For the abstract

Afraid to travel after COVID-19? Dealing with pandemic ‘travel fear’.

COVID-19 has generated an unprecedented level of public fear, likely impeding tourism industry recovery after the pandemic is over. This study explores what trigger the public's pandemic ‘travel fear’ and how people impose self-protection, coping and resilience related to travel. A new study published in the journal Tourism Management integrates theories including protection motivation theory, coping and resilience theories to address the research aim. Using a quota sampling, an online survey of 1208 respondents across mainland China was conducted. Results found that threat severity and susceptibility can cause ‘travel fear’, which leads to protection motivation and protective travel behaviors after the pandemic outbreak. Findings also revealed that ‘travel fear’ can evoke different coping strategies, which increases people's psychological resilience and adoption of cautious travel behaviors. Several strategies are provided on how to mitigate people's ‘travel fear’ and encourage travel in a post-COVID-19 world. (PsycInfo Database Record (c) 2020 APA, all rights reserved)

For the abstract

Coroner Rules That "Psychotic Reaction" From Anti-Malarial Drug Caused Cambridge Student To Throw Herself From Plane

A U.K. coroner has ruled that an anti-malarial drug taken by a Cambridge University student led to the "psychotic reaction" which caused her to jump from a plane in Madagascar last year.   Alana Cutland, 19, was a natural sciences student at Cambridge University's Robinson College who had taken doxycycline, a tetracycline antibiotic used to prevent malaria, while staying in a remote lodge in Madagascar in July, 2019.  She had been part of a conservation project studying crabs, and, according to the manager at the lodge where she had been staying, began showing health problems soon after her arrival.   

This included  developing a series of "paranoia attacks" that began after she took the medication.   As a result of these attacks, she became fearful that she would be arrested if she failed to complete her research.    She also began refusing meals and was often seen "staring into space".  As a result of her health issues, she was forced to cut her participation in the project short.

On July 25, 2019, she boarded a Cessna C168 aircraft to travel to Antananarivo, Madagascar accompanied by a fellow volunteer, Ruth Johnson, and the pilot.  After ten minutes of flight, she undid her seatbelt and attempted to exit the plane by unfastening the door (the plane was at 1130 meters above sea level at the time).   Though Ruth Johnson attempted to restrain her, Alana Cutland managed to get free before falling to her death.    In the inquest which ended recently, Milton Keynes coroner Tom Osbourne told government regulators that there was a "direct link between doxycycline and Alana's death".  

It was quite apparent from the evidence that she had a psychotic reaction as a result of taking the drug and yet there is nothing on the drug information leaflet that either highlights or mentions this possibility,"  Osbourne says in a letter to the Medicines and Healthcare Products Regulatory Agency.  He also maintains that the death might have been avoidable if Alana or her parents had been aware of the possible side effects associated with the drug.   Alana's parents described her as a a "a bright, independent young woman, who was loved and admired by all those that knew her" and were devastated by the circumstances of her death.  

While many of the side effects associated with doxycycline use are well-documented, it has also been associated with psychiatric side effects, primarily anxiety, though confusion, depression, and hallucinations have also been reported.  The UK medicines regulator has announced a review of the suspected association between the drug and psychotic reactions which is still ongoing.

Is Thailand Becoming the New International Hub For Dementia Care?

Facing concerns about the spiralling cost of full-time care for patients with dementia, many families in the United Kingdom are sending them to Thailand, instead.   

In what has become a small, but growing trend,  Thailand, which already has a booming medical tourism industry, is accepting increasing numbers of international patients with dementia in their full-time care centres.  According to a recent news story,  many of the new dementia care facilities now open in Thailand are either British- or Swiss-run, or else run by Thai companies with significant British investment.   All of the centres have been approved by the Thai government and provide one-to-one round-the-clock residential care with fully trained and qualified staff.   Some of these centres have even won international awards due to the quality of service offered, all for around £750 a week.

“Thailand already has a long history of medical tourism and it’s now setting itself up as an international hub for dementia care,” said Dr Caleb Johnston, a senior lecturer in human geography at Newcastle University.   Johnson and his colleague, Prof Geraldine Pratt, head of of the University of British Columbia, have spent nine weeks in Thailand interviewing families and staff in residential care homes.  Their impressions are uniformly positive.    “There aren’t yet any official numbers as to how many people are moving out to Thailand to receive care,” said Johnston. “Relative to the total number of people living with dementia, it is a low number. But with the number of people with dementia set to increase, and the cost of looking after them also getting higher, it is likely to be an option that more and more people consider.”

Though Thailand is thousands of miles away from the U.K.,  families dealing with dementia patients often have to pay exorbitant fees to arrange full-time care.   And, given the lengthy waiting lists in place in many parts of the country, getting that care is becoming more difficult than ever.   This often means that family members are forced to stop working and provide that care themselves, something that few people have the financial resources or patience to handle for long.  

There are already 850,000 people with Dementia in the U.K., and that number will certainly be growing over the next two decades.   Though local authority residential care costs up to £700 a week, staff turnover is high and the usual  staff to patient ratio is one caregiver for six patients.   Private care facilities can cost £1000 a week or more and many families are hard-pressed to meet this cost.  

While family members often describe their distress at having to send their loved ones so far away, the emotional and financial hardship involved in keeping them at home often makes this necessary.  While   recent changes in Thai immigration rules have resulted in some patients being sent to care facilities in the Philippines, most families with relatives in Thai facilities describe their experiences very positively. 

“I’m so impressed. My wife needs someone with her 24/7," said one U.K. man.  "When I get overwhelmed and my daughter takes me away for a break, a carer doesn’t just care for my wife but shares the bed with her [because she tends to get up and walk around].  If I was in the UK, we might get a carer for 15 minutes in the morning and 15 minutes in the evening, or some ridiculous thing...I despair about the care in the UK.”

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Can Sleep Deprivation Cause Psychotic Behaviour?

It should have been a routine New York-Las Vegas flight last March 27.

The passengers of the Jet Blue flight (most of whom were traveling to the 2012 International Security Conference, ironically enough) were startled to see pilot Clayton Osbon running through the aisle screaming "say your prayers" as well as various threats relating to 9/11, al Qaeda, Iraq and Afghanistan.  After having been locked out of the cabin cockpit due to his attempting to interfere with the plane's controls,  the pilot was eventually wrestled to the ground and forcibly restrained by several of the passengers.   The plane then made an emergency landing in Amarillo,   Texas.  Although one flight attendant's ribs were bruised, no one on board the plane was seriously injured.

Following the incident, Jet Blue Airlines representatives were at a loss to explain the 49-year old pilot's behaviour.  Captain Osbon, a veteran pilot with no history of psychiatric problems was later charged with interference with a flight crew.    During the course of his competency hearing, the court heard from testimony provided by fellow crew members who said that the pilot showed up at the airport unusually late for the flight.  They also added that his bizarre behaviour did not begin until the plane was in midflight.   The first officer became alarmed when Captain Osbon began rambling about sins in Las Vegas and that the plane would not reach its destination.   The situation escalated after he was locked out of the cockpit and "aggressively" confronted crew members who attempted to restrain him.  The court also heard testimony from a psychologist, Robert E.H. Johnson who determined that the defendant's actions on board the Jet Blue flight was due to a "brief psychotic disorder" resulting from sleep deprivation.    Dr. Johnson added in his report that the defendant's psychotic behaviour lasted about a week following the March 27 incident.   The  U.S. Attorney's office did not dispute the psychological assessment report although a Jet Blue spokesperson argued that the pilot had sufficient off-time and that their scheduling did not cause the incident.  

Despite the not guilty verdict, Jet Blue underwent a format review  by the Federal Aviation Authority to determine whether current guidelines concerning the amount of rest that a pilot should have between flights is enough to prevent problems.  While new guidelines soon went into effect requiring a minimum 10-hour rest period for pilots (up from theprevious eight to nine hours required at present),  questions about what happened aboard that flight still remain.

But can sleep deprivation cause a psychotic breakdown?   Along with documented cases of extreme manic behaviour and delirious psychosis resulting from sleep loss,  research studies have shown a consistent link between sleep deprivation and impaired cognitive and emotional functioning.    A 2007 study by a team of Princeton researchers has indicated that lack of sleep can impact the limbic system of the brain and interfere with the body's ability to form new memories.    The researchers also found that sleep-deprived animals had higher levels of stress-related hormones and significantly fewer new brain cells in the hypothalamus.   Research has also found that the effects of sleep deprivation are typically cumulative, i.e., one night of lost sleep is harmless but two or more nights of lost sleep can have a dramatic impact on cognitive functioning and response inhibition.   While the effects of sleep deprivation are usually temporary, long-term sleep deprivation has been linked to chronic mental illnesses such as schizophrenia, mood disorders, and manic episodes.   Considering the devastating impact that lack of sleep can have, it's probably not surprising that sleep deprivation is an effective interrogation method (with numerous court trials held to determine whether it can be considered a form of torture). 

As for Captain Clayton Osbon, he was eventually found not guilty by reasoning of insanity in a Texas court on July 3, 2012.  After being remanded to a psychiatric hospital, he was eventually released into the care of his family on the condition that he continue treatment.  "This is a bad situation for you and your family, but you are very fortunate to have the type of immediate support you have," said Judge Mary Lou Robinson.   He remains on probation and will likely remain so for the immediate future.   In 2015, shortly after the deadly Germanwings Flight 9525 crash in which a co-pilot deliberately crashed the plane killing all the people aboard,  passengers filed a class-action lawsuit against JetBlue.   Though a settlement was reached, no details have been released to the public.   

As for the  question of how similar aviation incidents can be prevented in future,  that is still very much up in the air.

 

 

Off To Lisbon

I'll be in Lisbon for a few days at the annual meeting of the European Academy of Occupational Health Psychology.   It will be my first time in Portugal so I'll be playing tourist while I'm there and won't have much time for writing.   In the meantime, I'll be re-running some old posts to keep you amused until I get back.   

Back From Cambodia

Just got back from 10 days in Cambodia as a volunteer on an Earthwatch archaeological dig there.   A great experience topped off by a visit to Angkor Wat and nearby temples.   I'll have the pictures up in the gallery on my blog soon for those of you who are interested.   In the meantime, I'll try to get back to work and come up with new blog posts as I slowly return to my old schedule.  

 

Off To Cambodia

Regular blog posts will be disrupted for a little while while I am off in Cambodia for ten days.   I am looking forward to the trip and hope to come back with some new stories and other details to share.   See you soon.

Bangkok Cafe Offers Coffee and Coffins For Discerning Customers

In many parts of Thailand, it is considered good luck to lie in a coffin.   And, at a new cafe in Bangkok, it can also earn you a discount on your coffee.

Intended as an antidote to the often-hurried routine of life in Thailand's largest city, the Kid Mai Death Awareness Cafe offers a unique opportunity for their customers.    Along with special coffee drinks named "birth", "death", "old age", and "suffering", customers can also try out the white coffin on display.  Surrounded by chairs and floral scepters, the coffin also has a heavy lid that staff can close if the customer wants to have the full coffin experience.   And

Even for those customers who aren't quite brave enough to try the coffin, the cafe also features numerous paintings on the walls, all of which have philosophical questions built into the frames.  As well as contemplating questions such as "Are you happy with what you do?", "Is there someone waiting for you at home?",  and "What is your goal for which you work so hard?", customers also have the opportunity to write down their thoughts on life and death. 

According to Veeranut Rojanaprapa, who opened the cafe in January, the main goal of the cafe is to "convey the Buddha philosophy based on the teaching that having an awareness of death decreases greed and anger."  Customers are free to stay in the coffin for as long as they want so that they can muse on life and death in complete darkness.   The cafe also has a special scrapbook next to the coffin where customers can share their thoughts on what they experienced in the coffin.

And some of these thoughts seem rather profound.  One customer writes that "Death is a wise counsellor, there is only one life and therefore we must overcome our fears and abandon our pettiness... Without awareness of death everything is trivial, ordinary."   Other customers take time from drinking coffee to plan their own funerals, describe their last wish, or else write a letter to themselves that the cafe will pass on to them in ten years time.

While not everyone is enchanted by the presence of a death-oriented cafe in Bangkok (some neighbours have complained), belief in life after death is an intrinsic part of Thai culture.    But everyone who enters the cafe, whether for coffee or coffin time, can appreciate the ultimate theme of the place, formally enshrined in a floral wreath on the coffin :  "Eventually, you can bring nothing".

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Off to Germany

I will be away for a few days while I am in Potsdam, Germany attending the Conference of the European Society for Cognitive Psychology.   It will be a great opportunity to reacquaint myself with Berlin and Potsdam as well as attending some great lectures.   In the meantime, I will try to keep up with both my blogs and gain some more material for the future.