摘要:

Various theories of personality and psychopathology hypothesize that there should be a relationship between parental perceptions and level of psychopathology. However, there has been relatively little research investigating the parental perceptions-psychopathology relationship, and much of the research in this area has been methodologically flawed. The present study tested four hypotheses regarding the parental perceptions-psychopathology relationship, using a parental representations measure that circumvents many of the problems that have characterized previous research on this topic. Results indicated that psychiatric patients (N= 66): a) viewed both parents more negatively than did members of a matched sample of 66 normal subjects; b) expressed significantly greater ambivalence regarding both parents than did normal subjects; and c) described both parents at a more primitive conceptual level than did normal subjects. As predicted, there was a parallel relationship between perceptions of the parents and overall level of psychopathology within the inpatient sample. The findings are discussed in the context of traditional trait-oriented personality theories as well as more recent social learning theories of personality.

ISSN:0022-3018    

出版商:OVID    

年代:1992

数据来源: OVID

摘要:

Dependency and fear of abandonment by significant others have been theoretically linked to eating disorders, particularly bulimia. This research investigates the hypothesis that unconscious fear of abandonment is one variable underlying binge eating episodes in bulimia. An analogue population of 40 “high eating disorder” undergraduate women and 40 undergraduate women with normal eating patterns viewed either an abandonment or a control stimulus presented at either subliminal (4 msec) or supraliminal (200 msec) exposure durations. Following exposure to an abandonment stimulus, the high eating disorder group ate significantly more crackers in a bogus cracker rating task (p< .001) than did subjects in any other condition. Contrary to predictions, a subliminal stimulus did not lead to a significant change in self-reported mood. Results provide preliminary support for the psychoanalytic hypothesis that binge eating is a defense against unconscious fear of abandonment.

ISSN:0022-3018    

出版商:OVID    

年代:1992

数据来源: OVID

摘要:

We evaluated the relationship between life events, social support, coping, and depression in 27 male inpatients meeting the requirements for Research Diagnostic Criteria major depressive disorder and in 35 age- and sex-matched nonpatients. Overall, the hospitalized depressed patients reported significantly more events and difficulties than did the controls, but this difference in statistical significance disappeared after excluding from analysis “non-independent” happenings which could have been brought on by depression. More hospitalized depressed patients (23 of 27, or 85%) than controls (8 of 35, or 22.9%) experienced markedly threatening events and difficulties (“marked adversities”) in the 6 months before their interview. The depressed group also reported having significantly fewer social supports, being less satisfied with the emotional component of this support, and using more emotion-focused coping than the controls. A discriminant analysis predicted depressive status from a combination of marked adversities, reduced number of social supports, and greater use of emotion- focused coping. The results indicate that the relationship of life events to depression is complex. The excess number of events might be partly a product of dysfunctional behavior that “produces” depression-related events which might, in turn, exacerbate depression; simultaneously, patients are more likely to experience highly adverse events which might precipitate the depression in the first place. Reduced social supports and the use of emotion-focused coping appear to also be associated with hospitalization for major depression.

ISSN:0022-3018    

出版商:OVID    

年代:1992

数据来源: OVID

摘要:

A population of the fire fighters who had been exposed to a natural disaster were screened using the General Health Questionnaire 4, 11, and 29 months after a natural disaster. On the basis of these data, a high-risk group of subjects who had scored as cases and probable cases and a symptom-free comparison group were interviewed using the Diagnostic Interview Schedule 42 months after the disaster. The prevalence of posttraumatic stress disorder (PTSD), affective disorders, and anxiety disorders was examined. Only 23% of the 70 subjects who had developed a PTSD did not attract a further diagnosis, with major depression being the most common concurrent disorder. Comorbidity appeared to be an important predictor of chronic PTSD, especially with panic disorder and phobic disorders. The subjects who had only a PTSD appeared to have had the highest exposure to the disaster. Adversity experienced both before and after the disaster influenced the onset of both anxiety and affective disorders.

ISSN:0022-3018    

出版商:OVID    

年代:1992

数据来源: OVID

摘要:

Fifteen injured survivors of a terrorist attack on a civilian bus were followed during their admission, and 12 of the 14 living survivors were examined 10 months later. A substantial amount of distress was found, in the entire group, across the study. Four patients (33%) suffered from diagnosable PTSD on follow-up. Symptoms of intrusion and denial, recorded during admission, failed to predict PTSD, and were not significantly correlated with psychiatric symptoms on follow-up. This paper discusses the finding of low predictive validity of early PTSD symptoms, and suggests that measures of arousal should be added to those of cognitive symptoms in future prospective studies of traumatic stress.

ISSN:0022-3018    

出版商:OVID    

年代:1992

数据来源: OVID

摘要:

This study examines the prevalence of negative symptoms, and assesses the convergence of negative and depressive symptoms in 60 chronically ill schizophrenic outpatients. Negative symptoms were assessed with the Scale for the Assessment of Negative Symptoms and the negative symptom cluster of the Brief Psychiatric Rating Scale (BPRS). Depressive symptoms were assessed with the depression subscale of the Brief Symptom Inventory and the depressive symptom cluster of the BPRS. A majority of patients in this group of relatively stable, schizophrenic outpatients demonstrated mild to moderate degrees of both negative and depressive symptoms. Correlations were not significant between negative symptom and depressive symptom measures, which suggests that the symptom constructs are relatively independent. Comparisons between a subgroup with prominent negative symptoms (N= 18) and a subgroup with minimal negative symptoms (N= 32) also revealed no significant group differences in variables that characterize clinical course (i.e., age of onset and frequency and duration of hospitalization) or in the severity of depressive symptoms. This lack of any significant differences on the clinical course variables may be partially explained by the heterogeneity of negative symptoms. The constellation of negative symptoms may differ not only in etiology but also in their temporal relationships to other aspects of the patient's clinical course. Longitudinal studies will be needed to track the long-term outcome of negative and depressive symptoms.

ISSN:0022-3018    

出版商:OVID    

年代:1992

数据来源: OVID

摘要:

Dream reports of patients with Parkinson's disease (PD) were analyzed to ascertain whether cognitive deficits associated with this nonfocal brain pathology influence dream structure or dream recall. Fifteen outpatients with idiopathic PD were sampled (diagnosed from 1 to 10 years and currently in stage II or III of Hoehn and Yarh's scale); all were without psychiatric symptoms or major medical illnesses and were currently being treated with L-dopa. After an adaptation night in the sleep laboratory, each patient spent a night in which he/she was awakened at least twice in rapid eye movement sleep and asked to report dream experience. Thirteen patients were able to report at least one dream. Overall frequency of dream recall (71.4%) was fully compatible with normative data for the elderly. Multiple regression analyses showed that both the length of the dream report as story and the organization of contents into coherent episodes (analyzed using Mandler and Johnson's story grammar) varied significantly in relation to level of cognitive functioning and, in part, of language comprehension, but not in relation to age, illness duration, and dose of L-dopa.

ISSN:0022-3018    

出版商:OVID    

年代:1992

数据来源: OVID

摘要:

The psychiatric literature generally discourages the use of electroconvulsive therapy (ECT) to treat depression in dissociative disorder patients, but contains little data on outcome. This prospective study of ECT in three dissociative disorder patients demonstrates that ECT is indicated for severe treatment-resistant depression in such patients. Their Hamilton Depression Scale scores fell by 50%, they were remarkably clinically improved, and they maintained their gains for at least 4 months. The ECT proved helpful when depression was felt by most of the active alters rather than just by one depressed personality. Mini-Mental State Examination scores and clinical observation revealed no unusual confusion or side effects from ECT. These patients' dissociated condition was not altered by ECT, which indicates that ECT neither treats nor impairs treatment of dissociation. Electroconvulsive therapy can be helpful in the overall treatment of dissociative disorders by alleviating severe depressions which block utilization of psychotherapy.

ISSN:0022-3018    

出版商:OVID    

年代:1992

数据来源: OVID

摘要:

The Separation Individuation Inventory (SII; Christenson and Wilson,J. Nerv. Ment. Dis., 173:561–565, 1985) was designed to assess adult psychopathology construed in terms of the concepts of separation and individuation (Mahler, Pine, and Bergman,The Psychological Birth of the Human Infant: Symbiosis and Individuation, 1975). Its reported use is confined to the original authors' paper, which compared scores of 20 subjects with borderline personality disorder with the scores of staff control subjects. We report the association of the SII with two self-report measures of borderline personality diagnosis and phenomenology. Our British samples, from the staff and residents in a therapeutic community for severely personality-disordered clients, thus complement the original American work. The SII was found to have good internal consistency, respectable screening parameters, and high correlations with indications of trait psychopathology. We suggest a slight modification to the scoring of the inventory and two main areas for additional research.

ISSN:0022-3018    

出版商:OVID    

年代:1992

数据来源: OVID

ISSN:0022-3018    

出版商:OVID    

年代:1992

数据来源: OVID