Rogers et al. invented the Empowerment Scale, and conducted a factor analysis, which found five factors: self-esteem, power, activism, righteous anger and optimism. Hata et al. translated this scale into Japanese and named it Empowerment Scale-J.They found that the score of the righteous anger factor does not have a significant correlation with the overall score of the Empowerment Score-J.With the aim of clarifying the characteristics of the Empowerment Scale-J, the purpose of the present study was to assess the levels of empowerment in 72 Japanese patients with chronic schizophrenia using the scale, and examine the relationship between the results of the scale and the results of the following two batteries: Social Adjustment Scale II (SAS II), and Expanded Attributional Style Questionnaire (EASQ; a questionnaire to assess some aspects of attitude toward negative circumstances). Four results were obtained as follows. No significant correlation was found between the score of righteous anger factor and overall score. No significant correlation was found between the Empowerment Scale-J score and the degree of social adjustment. Significant correlations were found between some subscales of Empowerment Scale-J and the degree of social adjustments: self-esteem and optimism, but inverse correlations were obtained between the power factor and the righteous anger factor and the degree of social adjustment. Results for the EASQ showed that subjects with a higher righteous anger score have a tendency opposite to that of subjects with higher social adjustment. On the basis of these results it is suggested that behavior related to the righteous anger among Japanese persons with schizophrenia may have some negative influence on their social adaptation and that in applying Empowerment scale-J attention should be paid to the significance of the righteous anger factor.

Occupational therapy often uses craft activities as therapeutic tools, but their therapeutic effectiveness has not yet been adequately demonstrated. The aim of this study was to examine changes in frontal midline theta rhythm (Fmθ) and autonomic nervous responses during craft activities, and to explore the physiological mechanisms underlying the therapeutic effectiveness of occupational therapy. To achieve this, we employed a simple craft activity as a task to induce Fmθ and performed simultaneous EEG and ECG recordings. For participants in which Fmθ activities were provoked, parasympathetic and sympathetic activities were evaluated during the appearance of Fmθ and rest periods using the Lorenz plot analysis. Both parasympathetic and sympathetic indices increased with the appearance of Fmθ compared to during resting periods. This suggests that a relaxed-concentration state is achieved by concentrating on craft activities. Furthermore, the appearance of Fmθ positively correlated with parasympathetic activity, and theta band activity in the frontal area were associated with sympathetic activity. This suggests that there is a close relationship between cardiac autonomic function and Fmθ activity.

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Anxiety increases self-focused attention and rumination. Individuals with anxiety are sensitive to being watched by others, as being watched provokes self-referential processing and induces thoughts regarding others perceptions of oneself. However, whether the neural sensitivity to being watched depends on the level of anxiety remains unclear.We investigated the relationship between anxiety and the neural sensitivity to being watched by others.The anxiety of 25 healthy participants (mean age standard deviation, 23.08 1.71 years; 12 men and 13 women) was evaluated using the Spielberger StateTrait Anxiety Inventory. Resting state electroencephalography data was collected under the alone condition and the condition of being watched by another person. By subtracting the phase lag value between the two conditions, we determined the alterations in participants functional networks when they were being watched. We then found the correlation between the Spielberger StateTrait Anxiety Inventory scores and reactivity of functional connectivity when being watched.The score of state anxiety was significantly correlated with increased phase lag values in the left precuneus, bilateral caudal anterior cingulate cortex, and right rostral middle frontal cortex in the beta band (p< 0.05). We found no significant correlation between the trait anxiety scores and altered phase lag values.Functional connectivity may be involved in the default mode network relevant to self-referential processing and the dorsal attentional network. Our results suggest that self-focused mental processing and sensitivity to being watched by others could be common in people with anxiety, thus expanding the current understanding of the cognitive mechanisms behind anxiety.

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