摘要:

Latah is a culture-bound syndrome from Malaysia and Indonesia. Persons exhibiting the Latah syndrome respond to minimal stimuli with exaggerated startles, often exclaimning normally inhibited sexually denotative words. Sometimes Latahs after being startled obey the commands or imitate the actions of persons about them. Most episodes of Latah are intentionally provoked for the amusement of onlookers.Similar sets of interactive behaviors have been reported from genetically and culturally unrelated populations (e.g., Bantu, Ainu, and French Canadians). Since competent anthropological investigators have shown Latah to be intimately tied to specific factors in the cultural systems of the Southeast Asian societies in which it is found, its occurrence elsewhere has been considered paradoxical.New data, including films and videotapes of hyperstartling persons from Malaysia, the Philippines, Japan, and the United States, suggest a model capable of resolving the apparent paradox by showing how the various forms of latah are culture-specific exploitations of a neurophysiological potential shared by humans and other mammals. Latah provides an especially revealing example of the complex ways in which neurophysiological, experiential, and cultural variables interact to produce a strongly marked social phenomenon.

ISSN:0022-3018    

出版商:OVID    

年代:1980

数据来源: OVID

ISSN:0022-3018    

出版商:OVID    

年代:1980

数据来源: OVID

摘要:

Huntington's chorea imposes a direct imprint on the life of the spouse of the affected patient. Interviews with 15 wives of patients with Huntington's chorea revealed that none of them knew prior to marriage of the presence of a heritable disease within the husband's family. When informed of the diagnosis, the wife reacted with disbelief and denial. As she became aware of the steady progression of the disease and the threat of transmission to her children, her response changed to resentment and hostility. The disease permeated the entire life of the unaffected spouse: her life style, family responsibility, goals, and marital relationship. In essence, the wife became inextricably involved in the disease and suffered continuous trauma from it.

ISSN:0022-3018    

出版商:OVID    

年代:1980

数据来源: OVID

摘要:

Two hundred ninety-three schizophrenic inpatients were rated for dyskinetic movements on the Abnormal Involuntary Movement Scale (AIMS). Two years later, discharge status on 265 of these patients was related to the AIMS ratings. Results indicated that the discharge group had significantly lower AIMS ratings than the nondischarged group. This effect was not an artifact of age but was evident across nearly all age groups. The groups were also different on length of current hospitalization, age at time of first psychiatric hospitalization, and time since first psychiatric hospitalization. Possible reasons for the results are discussed, including the development of functional deficits, stigmatization, and tardive psychosis, as well as the possible association between tardive dyskinesia, discharge, and treatment refractoriness.

ISSN:0022-3018    

出版商:OVID    

年代:1980

数据来源: OVID

摘要:

This study was a preliminary attempt to explore the likelihood that, for psychiatric patients, amount of vocal activity (relative to silence) reflects degree of psychopathology and change with treatment. Five acute schizophrenic patients (two men and three women) were each seen in three interviews by one of two interviewers. After each interview, the interviewer evaluated the extent of his patient's pathology in terms of the Brief Psychiatric Rating Scale, and he and the patient separately completed a questionnaire designed to elicit their perceptions of the interview. The results reveal that the relative amounts of the patients' vocal activity were negatively related to the interviewers' ratings of their general level of psychopathology and were also related to several aspects of their perceptions and the interviewers' perceptions of the interview. However, the number of interviews per patient was too few to permit an evaluation of treatment effects.

ISSN:0022-3018    

出版商:OVID    

年代:1980

数据来源: OVID

摘要:

The literature concerning the effects of electroconvulsive therapy (ECT) upon the EEG is reviewed with respect to the degree and persistence of abnormalities. The most common electrophysiological dysfunction consists of generalized regular and irregular slow wave activity. This slowing typically disappears by a few weeks to a few months following completion of the ECT course but in rare cases may persist for longer periods. Patients given large numbers of ECT treatments tend to show more prolonged alterations. Possible correlations of these EEG changes with a variety of parameters are discussed.

ISSN:0022-3018    

出版商:OVID    

年代:1980

数据来源: OVID

摘要:

Further information concerning the nature of selective attention processes in schizophrenia was sought by examining selectivity in the region corresponding to the normal stationary visual field. Acute schizophrenic, chronic schizophrenic, and neurotic subjects were required to discriminate pairs of vertical columns of dots that varied in confusion value and in display angle. The results indicated that chronic subjects were only able to process low confusion peripheral stimuli within a narrow display angle of 12°. Accurate discrimination of high confusion stimuli was limited among chronics to a display angle of 2°. Acute schizophrenics were able to discriminate peripheral stimuli to 25°. Although the performance of neurotic subjects was significantly better than that of chronic subjects, accurate discrimination of high confusion stimuli for neurotic subjects was limited to a display angle of 12°. Differences in performance topography were attributed to the use of different selective strategies. The spatial extensity within which more efficient grouping strategies were used was apparently constricted for chronic schizophrenics and extended for acute schizophrenics relative to neurotic controls.

ISSN:0022-3018    

出版商:OVID    

年代:1980

数据来源: OVID

摘要:

The relationship between neuropsychological abilities and employment and occupational status was examined in 108 epilepsy patients. The performances of each subject on a wide range of neuropsychological measures were grouped into six conceptually meaningful ability categories. Highly significant differences were obtained between groups of patients with epilepsy differing in employment status and occupational status across both the range of individual measures and the composite neuropsychological ability areas utilized. The relative importance of the six ability scores was then examined with respect to employment status and occupational status. The results suggest that generalized neuropsychological dysfunction characterizes groups of persons who are unemployed and/or who have held low occupational level jobs. Within this context of general impairment, however, memory and alertness and flexibility in thinking appear to be relatively important abilities with respect to these general employment variables. Implications of the results for vocational and rehabilitation efforts were discussed.

ISSN:0022-3018    

出版商:OVID    

年代:1980

数据来源: OVID

摘要:

Reinterpretation of old data (J. Nerv. Ment. Dis.,164: 247–252, 1977), which showed greater right ear superiority effects for schizophrenic patients than for normal controls in dichotic listening, lends support to the assumption of left hemisphere overactivation among schizophrenics. This overactivation seems to be more pronounced among paranoid than among nonparanoid schizophrenics.

ISSN:0022-3018    

出版商:OVID    

年代:1980

数据来源: OVID

摘要:

Thirty-one psychiatric residents at Los Angeles County-University of Southern California Medical Center were interviewed to ascertain whether they had been attacked by patients, and if so, under what conditions. Forty-eight per cent reported having been attacked, and most believed an incident frustrating to the patient triggered the attack. Personality characteristics of the residents were related to their being attacked, in that residents who scored high on an interview scale that measured a resident's level of irritability were more likely to be attacked. Implications of the findings are briefly discussed.

ISSN:0022-3018    

出版商:OVID    

年代:1980

数据来源: OVID