bluuebunny/crossref_metadata_2025 huggingface dataset:
Perceived control and the experience of childbirth
Authors: Brewin Chris , Bradley Clare
Published: July 2011

This study investigated the relationship between women's expectations of control during labour and the experience of childbirth. The women's expectations about their personal ability and about the ability of the staff to exercise control over, labour were examined. It was predicted that women who attended childbirth preparation classes would be less anxious about, and anticipate more control over, labour than non‐attenders. Among the attenders, perceived personal control was expected to be related to self‐reports of a more satisfying and less painful birth, while among the non‐attenders beneficial effects were expected to be associated with greater perceived staff control. It was found that class attendance was associated with enhanced perception of personal and staff control but not with decreased anxiety. Class attendance and perceptions of personal and staff control predicted less painful (but not more satisfying) labour. A multiple regression analysis indicated that in the sample as a whole, perception of staff control was the single best predictor of reported discomfort. As expected, this was not equally true of attenders and non‐attenders. Perceived staff control was a better predictor of reported discomfort in non‐attenders while among class attenders perceptions of personal control were closely associated with the later reported experience of discomfort.
Psychological preparation for surgery: A comparison of methods
Authors: Ridgeway Valerie , Mathews Andrew
Published: July 2011

Sixty hysterectomy patients were randomly assigned to one of three types of psychological preparation prior to surgery, while an additional 10 patients declined psychological help. Twenty patients received information about the surgical procedure and its effects, another 20 were instructed in a cognitive coping technique, and the remainder were given general information about the ward. Interventions were shown to have different effects on a number of pre‐ and post‐surgical measures; notably on knowledge about hysterectomy, analgesic usage, reported days of pain after discharge, and belief in the usefulness of intervention methods. Whereas information about surgery enhanced knowledge and usefulness ratings, cognitive coping appeared to have most effect on indices of recovery. Patients declining preparation responded badly immediately after surgery, but made a satisfactory recovery after discharge. Cognitive coping methods seem to be an effective way of managing specific worries about the operation, and it is suggested that this underlies differences in patterns of recovery following surgery.
The McGill Pain Questionnaire: A replication of its construction
Authors: Reading A. E. , Everitt B. S. , Sledmere C. M.
Published: July 2011

The McGill Pain Questionnaire is in widespread use as a means of understanding the pain patient and monitoring treatment response. The current study consists of a replication of the construction of the questionnaire through the use of maximally dissimilar methodology and statistical techniques. The study comprised two stages: (a) an attempt to replicate the grouping of words within the questionnaire; and (b) an investigation of the intensity relationships of words within each subgroup. A direct grouping technique was used for stage (a), whereby 90 subjects sorted the words into semantically similar groups. A similarity matrix was constructed in terms of the number of times each word was associated with each of the other 78 words and subjected to cluster analysis. Inspection of the 20‐group solution revealed considerable similarity with the original questionnaire. The intensity relationships were examined by asking a further group of 20 subjects to rate words on analogue scales. The results suggest a unidimensional solution to be inappropriate for a proportion of the subgroups. While there was a close resemblance with the MPQ, there was evidence for reducing the number of subgroups, as a 16‐group solution offered a sensible and statistically parsimonious amalgamation. The implications of this work for the use of questionnaire methods are discussed.
A new approach to construct elicitation for a grid test
Authors: Karastergiou‐Katsika A. , Watson J. P.
Published: July 2011

This paper reports a new method for identifying a set of constructs which can be applied to intra‐family relationships by members of different families. Two written versions of a story about an imaginary family were prepared in which relationship‐describing words were missing. Missing words were supplied by 54 subjects with each version. Ten positive and 10 negative constructs were used sufficiently frequently to be considered meaningful to members of different families. The missing words technique may also aid the elicitation of constructs for individual grids.
Autonomic reactivity in the premenstrual phase
Authors: Strauss Bernhard , Schultheiss Michael , Cohen Rudolf
Published: July 2011

The aim of the present experiment was to determine the effects of the premenstrual cycle phase on autonomic arousal. In a repeated measurement study 40 female subjects were tested premenstrually and postmenstrually for their autonomic reactivity during stress (cold pressor test, mental arithmetic) and for their acquisition of conditioned electrodermal responses, using a standardized auditory conditioning procedure. None of the differences between the cycle phases were significant. Similar results were obtained in the subjects' answers in a mood adjective list and their stimulus ratings. There was a general decrease in autonomic reactivity from the first to tdhe second recording session, independent of the menstrual cycle periods.
A comparison of objective and subjective measures of alcohol dependence as predictors of relapse following treatment
Authors: Heather Nick , Rollnick Stephen , Winton Maurice
Published: July 2011

Shortly before discharge, 50 alcoholic inpatients completed an ‘objective’ measure of alcohol dependence, the Severity of Alcohol Dependence Questionnaire, and a ‘subjective’ measure, taken largely from questions previously used by Schaefer (1971). At six‐month follow‐up, there was a significant difference in the subjective measure between patients who had maintained harm‐free drinking and those who had returned to some form of harmful drinking, but no significant relationship was observed for the SADQ. It is concluded that relapse following treatment is better predicted by the subjective measure than by the objective measure of dependence and the implications of this for theories of relapse are noted.
Studies of individual subjects: Logic and methods of analysis
Authors: Nunnally Jum C. , Kotsch William E.
Published: July 2011

A statistical logic was developed by Payne & Jones (1957) and elaborated by Knight & Shelton (1983) for investigating the statistical significance or score changes for individual subjects. We decided that the particular approach advocated by Knight & Shelton would not be useful to researchers. These shortcomings are discussed and illustrated. More importantly, we took this as an occasion to discuss, in a general way, the available research designs and methods of analysis applicable to the study of individual subjects.
Behaviour therapy and psychodynamic psychotherapy: Basic conflict or reconciliation and integration?*
Authors: Yates Aubrey J.
Published: July 2011

As recently as 1970 the approaches of behaviour therapy and psychodynamic psychotherapy (especially in the form of psychoanalysis) to the explanation and treatment of disorders of behaviour were acknowledged by most psychologists to be fundamentally different and irreconcilable. Sporadic earlier suggestions that reconciliation between and even integration of the two approaches might be possible have received strong support in the last decade from a number of sources. The literature relating to these developments is reviewed and it is concluded that a strong case appears to have been made out for reconciliation and integration. These ‘paths of convergence’ have been produced by both general and specific forces. However, critical voices (mainly from sympathetic but unconvinced psychoanalytically oriented therapists) have not been wanting. Their criticisms are reviewed as well as the fundamental issue of the relationship between theory and therapy in the two approaches. It is concluded that the case for the reconciliation and integration of behaviour therapy and psychodynamic psychotherapy has not been satisfactorily established on empirical grounds and is very difficult, if not impossible, to establish on theoretical grounds.
Beyond behavioural and dynamic therapy
Authors: Murray Edward J.
Published: July 2011

While historically major philosophical differences between the behavioural and dynamic approaches to therapy have existed, there is no necessary connection between metabeliefs and specific intervention techniques. Behavioural techniques can be used within a tragic vision of life and some psychoanalysts have a comic vision. Both camps want to achieve both objective and subjective changes but differ on how to achieve this. What is needed is a new, higher order theory that goes beyond both camps to help us understand the connections between cognitive, affective, and behavioural systems.
The quality of social support: Measures of family and work relationships
Authors: Holahan Charles J. , Moos Rudolf H.
Published: July 2011

This paper describes the development of indices of the quality of social support in the family (FRI) and work (WRI) environments. Respondents were a randomly selected community sample of 267 men and 267 women adult family members. The FRI and WRI were found to have high reliability and good concurrent and construct validity. The FRI and WRI (for male respondents) were negatively related to physical and psychological symptoms, and both indices showed moderate positive relationships to a traditional measure of social support.
Negative self‐schemata in clinical depression
Authors: Bradley Brendan , Mathews Andrew
Published: July 2011

Predictions from a negative self‐schema model of depression were tested using decision speed and recall measures for self and other person‐referent positive and negative adjectives. Clinical depressives, compared to non‐psychiatric controls, recalled more negative than positive self‐referent adjectives, although there were no differences between groups in decision speed. Depressives' negative bias in recall applied only to the self‐referent conditions; in the other referent conditions they exhibited the normal tendency towards positive recall bias. The self‐referent recall bias in depressives did not relate significantly to either duration or intensity of depression. The results appear to be consistent with expectations derived from a negative self‐schema model of depression, but alternative explanations remain to be investigated.
Some norms and reliability data for the State‐Trait Anxiety Inventory and the Zung Self‐Rating Depression scale
Authors: Knight R. G. , Waal‐Manning Hendrika J. , Spears G. F.
Published: July 2011

Means and standard deviations are reported for the State‐Trait Anxiety Inventory and the Zung Self‐Rating Depression scale, collected during the course of a general health survey. Data for different age samples and for both sexes are presented for use in the evaluation of the significance of anxiety and depression levels in patients presenting with these symptoms. High estimates of reliability based on internal consistency statistics were found for all scales. Females scored more highly on both the measures and scores were inversely correlated with age, indicating the importance of specific and appropriate norms in assessing affective states.
Characteristics of expressed emotion: Its relationship to speech and looking in schizophrenic patients and their relatives
Authors: Kuipers Liz , Sturgeon David , Berkowitz Ruth , Leff Julian
Published: July 2011

The measure expressed emotion (EE) is an established indicator of characteristics in the relatives of schizophrenic patients which predict relapse. Despite this, little is known of its construct validity except that schizophrenic patients are less calm in the presence of high EE than low EE relatives. There is also tentative evidence that schizophrenic patients show heightened avoidance responses to aversive social stimuli. It was therefore hypothesized that acutely ill schizophrenic patients would show social behaviours characteristic of avoidance in interaction with high but not low EE relatives. This hypothesis was not confirmed as no patient difference was found, but there were differences in the behaviour of high and low EE relatives. High EE relatives spend more interview time talking and less in looking at the patients. Low EE relatives were more prepared to be silent. This is consistent with the general tendency of high EE relatives to be socially intrusive and low EE relatives to be supportive to schizophrenic patients.
Dietary treatment of chronic obsessional ruminations
Authors: Rippere Vicky
Published: July 2011

Chronic obsessional ruminations may prove resistant to psychological treatment because they are not psychological in nature but epiphenomena of brain dysfunction secondary to nutritional factors. The case is described of a chronic, treatment‐resistant ruminator who made a dramatic and lasting recovery when a high protein breakfast was added to his elimination diet regimen, undertaken when years of psychological and pharmacological treatment had failed. Biochemical and clinical evidence supports the hypothesis that hypoglycaemia secondary to inappropriate diet was the cause of his disorder. Dietary contributions to obsessional ruminations should probably be sought early on in the assessment of such patients.
Recognition and identification of facial stimuli by schizophrenics and patients with affective disorders
Authors: Walker Elaine , McGuire Michael , Bettes Barbara
Published: July 2011

Schizophrenics have been shown to manifest a significant deficit in identifying facial expressions of emotion. The present study sought to determine whether this deficit lay at the level of decoding facial cues of emotion, or whether it is specific to the process of labelling emotional faces. The latter specific deficit would be consistent with the hypothesis of left‐hemisphere dysfunction in schizophrenia. Samples of schizophrenics, patients with affective disorders and normal controls were tested on a battery of facial tasks that had previously been shown to be capable of distinguishing between patients with left‐ and right‐hemisphere lesions. The battery was comprised of four tests: facial discrimination, emotion discrimination, emotion labelling, and a multiple choice emotion task. The performance of affective patients fell midway between that of schizophrenics and normals on all the tasks. Schizophrenics performed significantly below normals on all but the facial discrimination task, and below affective patients on the emotion labelling task. There were no other significant group differences in performance. The performance pattern manifested by schizophrenics across the four tasks is not comparable to that shown by patients with unilateral brain damage. These results indicate that previously reported emotion identification deficits in schizophrenia were not solely a function of the labelling requirements of the tasks. Instead it appears that schizophrenics, although capable of deciphering facial cues of identity, are impaired in the ability to extract salient emotional cues from faces.
Women with eating problems: A community survey
Authors: Cooper Peter J. , Waterman George C. , Fairburn Christopher G.
Published: July 2011

A survey was conducted of the eating habits and attitudes of a sample of young adult women. Each woman was asked whether she considered herself to have an eating problem. The sample comprised 369 attenders at a family planning clinic. Self‐report assessment procedures were used, including the Eating Attitudes Test (EAT) and the General Health Questionnaire (GHQ). Eating problems were reported by 20·6 per cent of the sample. Factors which strongly discriminated between those with an eating problem and the remainder were binge eating and a high score on the EAT. Other important factors were laxative use and high levels of psychological morbidity. Self‐induced vomiting was only weakly associated with reporting an eating problem, and past and present weight were unrelated to such reports.
Verbal fluency as a function of a measure of verbal intelligence and in relation to different types of cerebral pathology
Authors: Miller Edgar
Published: July 2011

A measure of verbal fluency was derived from groups of patients with focal lesions and dementia and from normal control subjects. A regression equation was also derived to predict fluency from an index of verbal intelligence. Subjects with right or left frontal lesions and those with dementia had depressed fluency scores. When verbal intelligence was taken into account using the regression equation, fluency still remained depressed in subjects with frontal lesions, but for dements the obtained fluency score was similar to that predicted from the measure of verbal intelligence. The results suggest that impaired fluency is a specific phenomenon following frontal lesions but is merely a consequence of intellectual deterioration in dementia.
Dimensions of psychotherapy session impact across sessions and across clients
Authors: Stiles William B. , Snow James Steven
Published: July 2011

The Session Evaluation Questionnaire measures two dimensions of participants' perceptions of psychotherapy sessions, depth and smoothness, and two dimensions of post‐session mood, positivity and arousal. In ratings by therapists and in ratings by clients, the same dimensions were identified as underlying variation across sessions and variation across clients. Thus these ‘impact’ dimensions can be used for session‐level comparisons with process variables and for client‐level comparisons with outcome variables, possibly permitting two‐stage inferences from process to impact to outcome.
Effects of distraction on thinking and affect in depressed patients
Authors: Fennell Melanie J. V. , Teasdale John D.
Published: July 2011

Beck's cognitive model of depression suggests that negative cognitions can maintain depression. Thus reducing the frequency of negative cognitions should reduce depression. Consistent with this proposition, in low endogenous patients with primary major depressive disorder, distraction produced fewer depressing thoughts than the control procedure, with corresponding differences in self‐report and psychomotor measures.
Unemployment and cognitive difficulties
Authors: Fryer David , Warr Peter
Published: July 2011

Reported cognitive difficulties in a sample of unemployed men are described. Problems of slowing down and concentration were the most common. Longer duration since job loss was found to be associated with greater cognitive difficulties, and middle‐aged unemployed men were particularly likely to report problems.
The Cognitions Questionnaire: Specific thinking errors in depression
Authors: Fennell Melanie J. V. , Campbell Elizabeth A.
Published: July 2011

With the development of cognitive models of depression, interest in identifying an enduring cognitive style characteristic of depression‐prone individuals has increased. However, empirical evidence for cognitive vulnerability of this kind is as yet sparse. The paper describes the development of a Cognitions Questionnaire (CQ), designed not only to provide an overall measure of depressive cognitive style, but also to assess specific dimensions of negative thinking in relation to different types of hypothetical events. Results of a study investigating the CQ's association with depression and its capacity to detect residual cognitive vulnerability following an episode of depression are reported.
Social problem solving and social skills training
Authors: Kagan Carolyn
Published: July 2011

Community residents who reported extensive social difficulties and who were undergoing social skills training (SST) were found to be less accurate in their perception of simple and complex social goals and in the number of alternative behaviours they were able to generate in pursuit of these goals than a validation group of people who regarded themselves as socially adept. Following SST, goal perception was more accurate, with greater change occurring regarding the complex scene: the number of alternative behaviours available also increased, particularly with regard to the simple scene. It was felt that training facilitated accuracy of goal perception, and that prior inaccuracy led to a distorted number of alternative behaviours produced. The study was repeated with different though comparable groups. This time, subjects were told what the social goals were, and were asked only to generate alternative behaviours. Following SST, training subjects were able to generate more alternative behaviours for both simple and complex scenes, although there were still fewer than the number generated by the validation group. The relative difficulty in generating alternative behaviours in a complex situation remained.

The results are discussed with reference to incidental benefits of SST.
The operationalizing of ‘underachievement’— doubts dispelled
Authors: Yule William
Published: July 2011

The arguments for the use of regression equations are presented and reinforced with the results from extensive empirical studies. Potential difficulties in applying prediction equations are discussed. It is argued that these techniques have important educational policy implications, not the least being that they do not discriminate against less able children receiving remedial help.
Weight loss maintenance as an aspect of family emotion and process
Authors: Fischmann‐Havstad Laura , Marston Albert R.
Published: July 2011

The Expressed Emotion Index (EE) has been used with a high degree of success in predicting relapse of psychiatric patients in Great Britain. The present study examined the usefulness of EE as a predictor of weight loss maintenance in women in the United States. In a sample of 28, with a relapse rate of 50 per cent, EE correctly predicted maintenance for 78·5 per cent of the cases. A more economical, paper‐and‐pencil test of marital relationship (Relationship Style Inventory) correlated significantly with EE (r = 0·64) but did not successfully predict weight maintenance (r = 0·29).
Dual perspectives: Clients' and therapists' perceptions of therapist responses*
Authors: Caskey Nicholas H. , Barker Chris , Elliott Robert
Published: July 2011

This study compares clients' and therapists' perceptions of individual therapist responses. Three segments of four responses each were sampled from early, middle, and late in actual therapy sessions with 16 client‐therapist pairs. Using interpersonal process recall, both therapists and clients independently described their perceptions of the therapist's response intentions in their own session. They also rated the impact of therapist responses according to four variables, including response helpfulness and therapist empathy. Client‐therapist agreements on intentions and impacts were computed using indices of both covariation and mean difference. Clients' and therapists' response‐by‐response reports of therapist intention were positively associated, but their average ratings for the session were not. On the other hand, their response‐by‐response ratings of impact were not associated, but their average ratings of helpfulness and affective impact were. Correlates of agreement were also studied. Contrary to expectations, length of therapeutic relationship was not correlated with client‐therapist agreement: in fact, there was a trend toward lower agreement for client‐therapist pairs of longer duration. Therapist experience also did not predict client‐therapist agreement.
A controlled study of the effects of applied relaxation and applied relaxation plus operant procedures in the regulation of chronic pain
Authors: Linton Steven J. , Götestam K. Gunnar
Published: July 2011

Chronic back/joint pain patients participated in a comparative study of relaxation and operant therapies for chronic pain. Patients were randomly assigned to: (1) a waiting‐list control, or to either (2) an applied relaxation, or (3) an applied relaxation plus operant conditioning treatment programme. Waiting patients were subsequently randomly assigned to active treatment. The results indicated that the treatment groups tended to do significantly better than the waiting‐list control group for pain, medicine use, activity, and depression, but there were few clear differences between the treatment groups. Applied relaxation plus the operant programme was significantly better than relaxation for medicine reduction, and applied relaxation was better than relaxation and operant conditioning for a patient evaluation of reaching treatment goals. Within‐group and single‐subject analyses indicated that there were significant improvements between pre‐ and post‐tests for the treatment groups, but not for the waiting‐list control group. Follow‐up data indicated maintenance, and that applied relaxation had significantly lower pain ratings than applied relaxation plus operant conditioning. Taken as a whole, the results show that applied relaxation can produce significant decreases in pain, and that the addition of an operant programme does not improve pain reductions, but does tend to improve results with activity and especially medicine intake variables.
Relaxation and assertive training as automated adjunct behaviour therapy administered in a self‐control orientation with psychiatric patients
Authors: Gaber L. B. , Arieli O. , Merbaum M.
Published: July 2011

The present study evaluated the efficacy of two automated behavioural treatment modalities used as a self‐control strategy (deep muscle relaxation and assertive training) as compared to two control groups (attention/placebo and no behavioural treatment) in a psychiatric out‐patient population. Results indicate that, as compared to the other groups, the relaxation group achieved a clinically substantial and statistically significant change. Furthermore, the efficacy of automated relaxation used as a self‐control strategy is sufficient to warrant its introduction as an adjunct psychiatric therapy in out‐patient psychiatric settings. More research is needed before automated assertive training as a self‐control strategy can be introduced to the clinic as an adjunct therapy.
Gender differences in the functions and effects of moderate and excessive drinking
Authors: Orford Jim , Keddie Alistair
Published: July 2011

In a study comparing abstinence and controlled drinking treatments, differences were found between men (n = 30) and women (n = 16) which confirmed some previous views on sex differences and problem drinking, and which have implications for choice of drinking treatment goal. On average women had problems of shorter duration, were less likely to have previously received out‐patient specialist treatment only, reported consuming smaller quantities of alcohol, and reported a more regular recent pattern of consumption. Mean SADQ scores, and numbers ‘ definitely alcoholic’ by Rand criteria, were similar, as were the numbers reporting a positive family history of drinking problems. Contrary to expectations, women were no more likely than men to report interpersonal functions and effects of drinking. Men were more likely than women to report drinking for positive emotional or social reasons or because of social pressure, were more likely to report positive effects of drinking, and among negative effects were more likely than women to report effects on work, finances, leisure, and fitness. Levels of self‐esteem were very similar, but men described more positive effects of moderate drinking upon self‐esteem than women.
Dealing with embarrassing events: Socially anxious and non‐socially anxious groups compared
Authors: Edelmann Robert J.
Published: July 2011

This study examined potential differences between a clinically socially anxious group and a non‐socially anxious control group in dealing with embarrassing events. Six scenarios of embarrassing events each paired with a method of coping with that event were presented to the two groups of subjects. Both groups evaluated their confidence in their ability to deal with each situation, described how they might actually deal with them (prior to reading the given method) and rated how well others might deal with each episode. There was little difference between the two groups in self‐reported techniques for dealing with each episode, but clinically socially anxious patients, when compared to non‐socially anxious controls, underestimated parameters of their own performance and overestimated the ability of others to deal with embarrassment. The implications of these results for clinical intervention are discussed.
Self‐report measures of depression: Some psychometric considerations
Authors: Boyle Gregory J.
Published: July 2011

This paper examines some aspects of the psychometric adequacy of existing self‐report depression measures, so that clinicians might better appreciate their reliability and validity. Issues addressed include the desirability of moderate rather than maximum test‐retest and item homogeneity/internal consistency estimates; the distinction between measurement at the surface syndrome level vs. that at the fundamental source state/trait level; the importance of appropriate rather than arbitrary factor analytic procedures; and the need for multivariate measures instead of the single‐scale instruments so often employed to measure depression in isolation from interacting emotions such as anxiety or stress. Apart from these more general issues, a number of specific criticisms is considered, along with recommendations for better self‐report measures of depression.
The Golombok‐Rust Inventory of Sexual Satisfaction (GRISS)
Authors: Rust John , Golombok Susan
Published: July 2011

The Golombok‐Rust Inventory of Sexual Satisfaction (GRISS) is a short 28‐item questionnaire for assessing the existence and severity of sexual problems. The design, construction and item analysis of the GRISS are described. It is shown to have high reliability and good validity for both the overall scales and the subscales.
The concurrent validity of the survey version of the Clifton Assessment Procedures for the Elderly (CAPE)
Authors: McPherson F. M. , Gamsu C. V. , Kiemle G. , Ritchie S. M. , Stanley A. M. , Tregaskis D.
Published: July 2011

The concurrent validity of the survey version of the Clifton Assessment Procedures for the Elderly (CAPE) was assessed by comparing the performance of four groups of elderly women selected to represent different levels of impairment and dependency. It was found to discriminate significantly among patients with severe (n = 100), moderate (n = 40), mild (n = 50) and no (n = 20) dementia; it also significantly distinguished between patients with severe and moderate dementia and patients with physical disability (n = 100) and with signs of ‘institutionalization‘ (n = 25). Patients in the severe, moderate, mild and no dementia groups had all been judged clinically to have been placed appropriately as, respectively, geriatric psychiatry in‐patients, geriatric psychiatry day‐patients or local authority home residents, or as being able to live independently in the community. However, although the survey version dependency grade is intended for use in allocating patients to health and social services facilities, overall agreement between grades and clinically determined placement was only 63 per cent. Thus while the survey version may be useful in discriminating among groups of elderly people of different levels of impairment for research or screening purposes, its clinical value with individual patients remains uncertain.
Reactions of primary and secondary psychopaths to anger‐evoking situations
Authors: Blackburn Ronald , Lee‐Evans J. Michael
Published: July 2011

Offender patients at a psychiatric security hospital were classified as primary or secondary psychopaths or as conforming or inhibited non‐psychopaths, and compared on a Situations‐Reactions Inventory of Hostility. Prior factor analysis of this inventory indicated two classes of situation, labelled attack and frustration, and three classes of reaction — aggression, anger, and arousal. Psychopathic subjects generally rated their reactions as more intense but differed significantly from non‐psychopaths only in their response to attack. Secondary psychopaths produced the most intense reactions, but differed from primary psychopaths in reporting greater somatic arousal. The results suggest that psychopaths as a group more readily interpret provocation or threats from others as unwarranted attack. It is proposed that an attributional bias towards perceiving malevolent intent may be central to psychopathy.
Allocation of attention in obsessional disorder
Authors: Gordon P. Kenneth
Published: July 2011

It is suggested that obsessional disorders may be usefully described as a breakdown of cognitive control processes. Groups of obsessional, anxious and normal subjects were therefore tested on a task involving varying levels of attention, performed under normal and stressed conditions. Results provide some support for the hypothesis of attention failure under stress, but do not confirm that this is due to an underlying difference in the way obsessionals allocate attention.
Recall and recognition in depressives: Use of matched tasks
Authors: Calev Avraham , Erwin Philip G.
Published: July 2011

This study uses matched tasks methodology, and shows that unipolar depressives perform better on recognition than on recall. Since they also show a low level of item clustering in free recall, this suggests that the memory deficit of depressives is partly due to an associative disturbance.
Bimodal electrodermal activity in schizophrenia
Authors: Mirkin A. M.
Published: July 2011

Acute schizophrenics were found to be EDA hyper‐responders, while chronics were hypo‐responders. Within groups, acutes with positive symptoms tend to overrespond and chronics with negative symptoms to underrespond. Bimodality is thus most likely to arise when a sample containing both subtypes is tested.
Desensitization treatment of agoraphobia
Authors: James Jack E.
Published: July 2011

Clinical literature on desensitization treatment of agoraphobia is reviewed. The popular belief that in vivo desensitization is generally superior to imaginal exposure is critically examined. Studies which do not support this belief are reviewed, and the implications for clinical practice are considered.
Psychopathy and dangerousness: Comparison, integration and extension of two psychopathic typologies
Authors: Jr Alfred B. Heilbrun , Heilbrun Mark R.
Published: July 2011

Previous research has failed to relate psychopathy to an increased risk for violence, but several proposed psychopathic typologies have suggested the possibility of isolating more dangerous subtypes. One typology, based upon psychopathy and intelligence, has identified the low IQ psychopath as excessively violent judged by his history of violent crime. A second typology involving psychopathy and social withdrawal predicts greater dangerousness for both the outgoing and the withdrawn psychopath depending upon circumstance. The present study confirmed the dangerousness of the low IQ and withdrawn psychopaths in their prison behaviour and the low IQ psychopath on parole. The attempt to develop a more homogeneous type of dangerous psychopath by increasing the number of defining attributes was successful. The highest prison and parole dangerousness scores in the prisoner sample were obtained by those who shared four attributes. They were (1) psychopaths, who (2) had low IQs, (3) were socially withdrawn, and (4) had a history of prior violent crime.
Possible frontal impairments in Parkinson's disease: A test using a measure of verbal fluency
Authors: Miller Edgar
Published: July 2011

It has been suggested that patients with Parkinson's disease might show the same kinds of behavioural impairments as those exhibited by subjects with frontal lesions. Previous tests of this hypothesis have given, at best, equivocal results. Verbal fluency is a measure sensitive to frontal lesions, and data are presented showing that Parkinsonian subjects produce fluency scores similar to those of normal controls and not at all like subjects with left or right frontal lesions.
A comparison of psychological and medical treatment of the Irritable Bowel Syndrome
Authors: Bennett Paul , Wilkinson Stephen
Published: July 2011

Twenty‐four subjects completed a study comparing the efficacy of a psychological treatment package suggested by Latimer (1983) and the best medical regime available in the treatment of the Irritable Bowel Syndrome (IBS). Initial anxiety levels were high in both groups and were reduced in the psychological, but not medical, condition. IBS symptoms and associated behaviours were reduced equally in both conditions.
Evaluation of a self‐help manual for media‐recruited problem drinkers: Six‐month follow‐up results
Authors: Heather Nick , Whitton Barbara , Robertson Ian
Published: July 2011

A total of 785 individuals responded to a newspaper advertisement offering free help to cut down drinking and were sent alternately either a self‐help manual based on behavioural principles or a general information and advice booklet. Of these, 247 (31.3 per cent) returned assessment questionnaires or agreed to be interviewed by telephone and 132 of these respondents (53.4 per cent) were successfully contacted at six‐month follow‐up. Those lost to follow‐up were more ‘ socially stable’ on initial measures than those successfully contacted. Results showed a greater reduction in previous week's consumption in the group receiving the manual than in the control group. In addition, respondents interviewed by telephone showed a greater reduction on a measure of alcohol‐related problems and a higher proportion reducing drinking than those contacted only by post. There was no evidence that reductions in consumption were confined to relatively low consumers or to those showing only early signs of dependence on alcohol, irrespective of which type of material was received.
Patients' conceptions of psychological adjustment in the normal population
Authors: MacCarthy Brigid , Furnham Adrian
Published: July 2011

This study concerned patients' ability to predict a ‘ normal’ response on two self‐report inventories. There has been a great deal of research on normal subjects' ability to ‘ fake good, bad, mad’ but very little study of psychiatric patients' conceptions of normality. Two groups of psychiatric patients – anxiety state or depressed – and a normal control group filled in two questionnaires twice: first responding honestly and then as they believed a normal person might. The results showed that whereas ‘ normal’ people tend to see other normals as much the same if not slightly less well adjusted than themselves, patients see themselves as less well adjusted than the ordinary person. The controls were not significantly more able to predict the normal response to these measures than the patient groups were. However, the depressed and anxious groups differed in the accuracy of their estimates and in their conceptions of normal functioning.
Chord perception in schizophrenia*
Authors: Green Elizabeth J.
Published: July 2011

Groups of acute schizophrenics and normal controls were presented with two tasks involving the perception of musical chords. There were no significant differences in performance due to ear of presentation (left, right or both). Taking performance over all conditions, the schizophrenic group was not significantly different from the controls on one of the two tasks although it was significantly worse on the other.

These findings contrast with earlier results using a story comprehension task which suggests that the schizophrenic deficit in performance found in those studies may be specific to the processing of verbal information.
Principal components of the WAIS–R
Authors: Canavan A. G. M. , Dunn G. , McMillan T. M.
Published: July 2011

A principal components analysis of the WAIS–R is reported, the results of which resemble closely those of previous analyses of the WAIS. A single component, labelled ‘general ability’, accounted for most of the variance in the subtests. It is argued that the second component (‘verbal‐spatial contrast’) should also be retained on both statistical and neuropsychological grounds. Varimax rotation yielded two orthogonal components, labelled ‘verbal–general: vg’ and ‘spatial–performance: sp’, respectively. Short forms of the WAIS–R are considered, and an example is given.
Judgement of facial affect among depressives and schizophrenics
Authors: Mandal M. K.
Published: July 2011

Forty depressives, 48 schizophrenics and 105 non‐patient controls were asked to judge the mutual similarities amongst six different facial affects depicted in photographs. Inter‐stimulus distances suggest two dimensions of affect operative in controls: pleasantness‐unpleasantness and arousal‐non‐arousal. Depressives' judgements correspond to the former dimension whilst schizophrenics' judgements correspond to the latter.
Assessing intellectual deterioration
Authors: Hart Siobhan , Smith Christine M. , Swash Michael
Published: July 2011

Twenty patients fulfilling the clinical criteria of Alzheimer‐type dementia were assessed on the Wechsier Adult Intelligence Scale (WAIS), the Schonell Graded Word Reading Test (SGWRT) and the National Adult Reading Test (NART). Fifteen normal elderly control subjects were administered the WAIS and the NART. The regression equations of Nelson & McKenna (1975) and the tables of Nelson (1982) were used to estimate premorbid Full Scale IQ on the basis of WAIS Vocabulary subtest score and performance on each of the reading tests. The data were analysed in order to assess the relative utility of these methods, and of WAIS Verbal‐Performance IQ discrepancy, in the assessment of intellectual deterioration. The data suggested that performance on the NART was the best indicator of premorbid level of functioning in terms of the size of predicted‐obtained discrepancies.
Positive short‐term effects of activity on behaviour in chronic schizophrenic patients
Authors: Chamove Arnold S.
Published: July 2011

Forty schizophrenic patients were rated both by nurses (using the NOSIE) and by themselves on days soon after they had completed a period of activity. When compared with less active days, significant improvement was seen in most behaviours measured following activity, suggesting that activity is beneficial in the treatment of a population whose level of activity is restricted. Greatest improvement was found in less severely disturbed patients, more overweight individuals, females and those with lower levels of normal activity.
Monitoring and blunting coping styles in women prior to surgery
Authors: Steptoe Andrew , O'Sullivan Jane
Published: July 2011

Monitoring and blunting coping styles as assessed by the Miller Behavioral Style Scale were related to desire for more information, factual knowledge and vigilant health behaviour in women admitted for gynaecological surgery.
Use of the CAPE Pm test with disabled patients
Authors: McPherson F. M. , Gamsu C. V. , Cockram L. L. , Cooke D.
Published: July 2011

The problem of estimating a patient's CAS total score on CAPE when the Pm (maze) test cannot be administered because of sensory or physical – rather than cognitive – disability is considered. Analysis of the scores of 250 elderly subjects who attempted all three CAS tests suggests that ‘ proration’ of total CAS scores from I/O and MA scores, while preferable to alternative methods, results in error in a significant proportion of cases and should be used only with caution.
Intelligence and early academic underachievement
Authors: Kroft Susan B. Wetstein , Ratzlaff Harold C. , Perks Barbara A.
Published: July 2011

This investigation examined the early incidence of underachievement among a sample of intellectually average, bright and superior grade one students (ranging in age from 6:3 to 7:3 years) in order to assess the relative incidence of underachievement among children of differing intellectual levels. Overall, 20 per cent of the students were identified as underachievers. However, underachievers were found to be equally represented among these three groups.
Body size overestimation and depressed mood
Authors: Taylor Melanie J. , Cooper Peter J.
Published: July 2011

An association between depressed mood and body size overestimation has been reported in patients with anorexia nervosa. A study was conducted of body size estimation in a group of young women with no history of disturbed eating. Using a ‘ whole body’ distorting monitor technique to assess size estimation a significant association was found between depressed mood and overestimating body size. The significance of this finding is discussed.
Dysphoric mood and overeating
Authors: Cooper Peter J. , Bowskill Richard
Published: July 2011

Three naturalistic studies were conducted to investigate the disinhibitory effect of dysphoric mood states on eating. A clear association between dysphoric mood and overeating was found in patients with bulimia nervosa and in a group of students who were high restrainers on a weight‐reducing diet. The effect was much weaker in a third group of non‐dieting high restrainers.
Estimation of premorbid intelligence in dementia
Authors: O'Carroll R. E. , Gilleard C. J.
Published: July 2011

Thirty elderly subjects with dementia were assessed using a neuropsychological test battery. Using four cognitive and behavioural measures of severity of dementia, no significant relationships between National Adult Reading Test (NART) or Mill Hill Vocabulary Scale synonym section (MHVS) scores and severity were observed. The NART and MHVS correlated with each other to a highly significant degree. No differences were observed on any of the measures when patients with Alzheimer's disease were compared with those adjudged to have multi‐infarct dementia. These results are discussed in relation to the existing literature on the estimation of premorbid intelligence in dementia.
Locus of control and clients' expectations of psychotherapeutic outcome
Authors: Foon Anne E.
Published: July 2011

The two studies reported in this paper investigated the hypothesis that an important determinant of clients' therapeutic expectations is to be found in the match between therapists' and clients' locus of control. The first study was an analogue study employing role plays, conducted with a sample of 67 clients. The second study investigated 78 clients in real clinical settings. Both studies investigated the effect of matched vs. mismatched cognitive styles on clients' expectations. Results from both studies support the hypothesis that the more similar the control orientations of therapist and client, the more favourable the client's expectations. Limitations of the studies and the possible implications of the research findings are discussed.
Detecting hysterical sensory symptoms: An elaboration of the forced choice technique
Authors: Miller Edgar
Published: July 2011

Patients with hysterical sensory symptoms can often be detected because they give significantly fewer correct responses with forced choice testing than would be expected on a chance basis. It is always possible that such a patient may see through this strategy and respond within the range associated with chance. This report describes one such subject together with an elaboration of the forced choice technique which strongly indicated that his symptoms had no organic basis.