bluuebunny/crossref_metadata_2025 huggingface dataset:
The psychological gains and losses of religious conversion
Authors: Bragan K.
Published: July 2011

A presentation of case material demonstrating productive identity formation and conflict resolution resulting from religious conversion with at the same time significant repression that so affected personal relatedness as to eventually lead to breakdown of adjustment.
Self‐esteem and psychiatric syndromes
Authors: Foulds G. A. , Bedford A.
Published: July 2011

The purposes of the study were (1) to dichotomize each of the personal illness classes into those expected and those not expected to retain a relatively high degree of anxiety‐depression; (2) to seek confirmation of this division by means of the combined DSSI sets of Anxiety and Depression; (3) to examine their respective scores on the Personality Deviance Scales; and (4) to examine the relationship between Anxiety‐Depression and intropunitiveness.

It was found that within each of the four classes the predicted ‘affective’ group scored significantly higher on DSSI Anxiety‐Depression than did the ‘non‐affective’ group. On intropunitiveness, the ‘affective’ group scored significantly higher within three classes and almost so in the fourth.

Although anxiety‐depression and intropunitiveness both discriminate between the ‘affective’ and ‘non‐affective’ groups their conceptual distinction is empirically based.
Personality correlates of study difficulty and academic performance in university students. I. The Middlesex Hospital Questionnaire and Dynamic Personality Inventory
Authors: Stringer Peter , Crown Sidney , Lucas C. J. , Supramanium S.
Published: July 2011

The personality correlates of study difficulty and academic performance in university students have been measured in terms of psychiatric symptomatology and premorbid characteristics. The UCLSQ, MHQ and DPI were administered to two groups of male and female students presenting at an health centre: one (n = 72) of patients seeking psychological help, the other (n = 73) a control group. Significant differences between the two groups were found on the MHQ, confirming previous results; and these were supplemented by differences on the DPI. Motivational and psychoneurotic components of study difficulty were significantly related to MHQ scores in both groups. DPI scores were more closely related to study difficulty in the patients than controls; and served particularly to characterize their sylbism and work satisfaction. The DPI added to the picture of a subgroup of students observed both in an earlier and the present study: academically successful patients scoring high on phobic anxiety.
Inconsistency and change in conceptual organization
Authors: Cochran L. R.
Published: July 2011

The effects of inconsistent attributions on the way judges organized their concepts of other people were studied. Using a variant of Kelly' (1955) grid methodology, measures of construct organization were taken before, after and during an impression formation task which stressed either consistent or inconsistent attributions. Before treatment, judges rated adjectives (e.g. warm) on a list of personality characteristics. After treatment, judges rated the contrasts (e.g. cold). During treatment, judges rated consistent or inconsistent combinations of these adjectives. The results indicated that judges managed inconsistency by weakening the relations among their dimensions of judgement, and by alternately disrupting and recovering their usual or normal way of structuring judgements of others. Subjects with strong conceptual relations tended to use central (defined by principal components analysis) patterns for organizing their judgements of inconsistent people while subjects with weaker conceptual relations tended to make more frequent use of peripheral ways of construing people. Following inconsistency, subjects with strong relations modestly loosened their organizations of constructs while subjects with weaker relations greatly tightened their organizations. Implications for the genesis of thought disorder and the relationship between construct organization and understanding were discussed.
A first Volunteer Case Aid programme in a mental hospital.
Authors: Lear Terence , Lewington Jeanne
Published: July 2011

A pilot Voluntary Case Aid programme in an English Mental Hospital using National Health Service resources is described. The selection of ten volunteers and ten patients and the preparation of all personnel was followed by regular contacts for at least a year. Subsequent evaluation suggested high motivation with both Case Aids and patients. Changes towards improved social functioning were evident in most cases by the end of the project. A relationship starting, continuing and finishing is reported in detail and from this study it is clear that the volunteer was a reality tester for staff and patient alike, constructively disturbing and modifying their mutual projections. This was true of most of the Case Aid interventions and the implications are discussed. A method of group supervision for Case Aids is reported.
New developments in panic‐fear research in asthma: Validity and stability of the MMPI panic‐fear scale
Authors: Dirks Jerald F. , Kinsman Robert A. , Jones Nelson F. , Fross Kenneth H.
Published: July 2011

An earlier study (Dirks et al. 1977) described the development of a 15‐item Minnesota Multiphasic Personality Inventory (MMPI) panic‐fear scale relating to the reported frequency of panic‐fear symptoms on the Asthma Symptom Checklist (ASC). High MMPI panic‐fear scale scores describe fearful, highly emotional individuals who profess to have their feelings hurt more easily than others, to feel helpless and to give up easily in the face of difficulty. High scoring asthmatic patients were prescribed more intensive steroid regimens at discharge from a residential treatment facility months after psychological testing (Dirks et al. 1977) and required longer periods of hospitalization while in residential treatment (Dirks et al. 1976). These relationships were not attributable to differences in longitudinal pulmonary function measures during hospitalization.

Consistent with earlier findings, the MMPI panic‐fear scale was again shown to be significantly related to both ASC panic‐fear scores and to recommended discharge steroid regimens for an enlarged sample of patients. Additionally, MMPI panic‐fear scores were shown to be stable from admission to discharge despite two to four months of intervening medical treatment and to be independent both of age of asthma onset and longitudinal pulmonary function measures during treatment. These results suggest that the MMPI panic‐fear scale measures a personality dimension which should be regarded as a stable character trait, unaffected by severity or duration of asthma or by intervening medical treatment for asthma. As such, MMPI panic‐fear is not merely a product of the medical condition. Instead, it appears to be a consistent component of the patient's personality which influences medical intractability in asthma probably via associated behaviours, symptom reports, and attitudes during medical treatment. These considerations invite further inquiry.
Confrontation vs. belief modification in persistently deluded patients
Authors: Milton Frank , Patwa Vinod K. , Hafner R. Julian
Published: July 2011

Psychiatric patients with persistent systematized delusions in the absence of major behavioural abnormalities have been traditionally regarded as largely inaccessible to verbal modes of treatment. This viewpoint is summarized in a standard textbook of psychiatry (Slater & Roth, 1969): ‘… it is a waste of time to argue with a paranoid patient about his delusions…’. Because of such views, and the related emphasis on a pharmacological approach, there is little to guide the clinician in his verbal dealings with patients in whom systematized delusions are the main feature.

In contrast to the traditional view, Watts, Powell & Austin (1973) obtained significant changes in the delusional beliefs of three chronic paranoid schizophrenics after less than six hours of verbal intervention. Their procedure was designed to avoid direction confrontation, since they believed that this would induce ‘psychological reactance’ (Brehm, 1966) and might increase, rather than decrease, the strength of the delusions. They were unable to test this hypothesis.

The present study aims to examine the effects of two contrasting types of verbal intervention in a larger sample of persistently deluded patients. It was predicted that (i) both interventions will reduce the strength of delusions and (ii) confrontation will produce less change in delusions and any associated behavioural abnormalities than belief modification.
Emotional experience and the implication grid
Authors: Kelsall P. N. , Strongman K. T.
Published: July 2011

The research reported here consisted of a series of experiments aimed at developing a technique which could be used in the study of personal emotional experience. Hinkle's development (1965) of Kelly's construct theory (1955) was chosen as the starting point. Hinkle's original technique was applied using emotional rather than interpersonal constructs. This failed to demonstrate the internal consistency of the implication grid methodology shown in Hinkle's work. Modifications were made to the implication grid so as to simplify the subjects' verbal task. Further experimentation demonstrated the validity and reliability of the modified grid. The structural consistency of different areas of individuals' emotional construct systems was investigated, and variations in the level of integration were demonstrated between these different areas.
Deliberate self‐poisoning and self‐injury in the psychiatric hospital
Authors: Hawton Keith
Published: July 2011

Acts of self‐poisoning and self‐injury carried out by in‐patients and day patients while in treatment at two psychiatric hospitals were recorded over a one‐year period. Comparison with results from a survey based on referrals to a general hospital in the same area demonstrated that the rate at which these events occurred was over 50 times greater for patients in psychiatric care than in the general population. A larger proportion of the psychiatric hospital incidents involved self‐injury. Analysis of the records of a consecutive series of all psychiatric hospital patients revealed that at least one‐third had a previous history of self‐poisoning or self‐injury. Of the patients carrying out such acts in one hospital, 77 per cent had a history of this behaviour prior to admission. Clusters of incidents were identified. Possible factors underlying this behaviour in the hospital setting and means of prevention are suggested.
On the validity of the Middlesex Hospital Questionnaire: A comparison of diagnostic self‐ratings in psychiatric out‐patients, general practice patients, and ‘normals’ based on the Hebrew version
Authors: Dasberg Haim , Shalif Ilan
Published: July 2011

The short clinical diagnostic self‐rating scale for psycho‐neurotic patients (The Middlesex Hospital Questionnaire) was translated into everyday Hebrew and tested on 216 subjects for: (1) concurrent validity with clinical diagnoses; (2) discriminatory validity on a psychoneurotic gradient of psychiatric out‐patients, general practice patients, and normal controls; (3) validity of subscales and discrete items using matrices of Spearman rank correlation coefficients; (4) construct validity using Guttman's smallest space analysis based on coefficients of similarity.

The Hebrew MHQ was found to retain its validity and to be easily applicable in waiting‐room situations. It is a useful method for generating and substantiating hypotheses on psychosomatic and psychosocial interrelationships. The MHQ seems to enable the expression of the ‘neurotic load’ of a general practice subpopulation as a centile on a scale, thereby corroborating previous epidemiological findings on the high prevalence of neurotic illness in general practice. There is reason to believe that the MHQ is a valid instrument for the analysis of symptom profiles of subjects involved in future drug trials.
The reconstruction of childhood in psychoanalysis
Authors: Gill Harwant
Published: July 2011

Reconstructions are defined as genetic propositions showing not only what happened to the individual in childhood, but also how he adopted his particular solutions to conflict situations in the past and how he continues to be guided today by that experience of the past. The relative neglect of environmental failures in psychoanalysis is traced to Freud's shift from physical to psychic reality, although the gains from this shift are acknowledged. The discussion of fantasy and historical fact proceeds to an examination of the case for and the case against the use of reconstructions, and the nature of memory in psychoanalysis. A clinical illustration leads to a synthesis of the conflicting views, emphasizing that both the analyst and the patient need to remain in touch with the past, the current life, and the transference relationship. The paper is concluded with the views of modern historians.
On depersonalization in adolescence: A consideration from the viewpoints of habituation and ‘identity’
Authors: Meares Russell , Grose Dianne
Published: July 2011

Depersonalization occurs in many psychiatric states but its origins are unknown. It is suggested that feelings of unreality may be unusually common in adolescents.

Certain speculations are offered concerning the genesis of a sense of unreality. The neurophysiological mechanisms governing the perception of ‘familiar’ or ‘strange’ are seen to be the key to this experience. They involve the matching of events in the outer world against inner organizations of previous experience. These mechanisms are likely to be disturbed through epilepsy or other disorders of the temporal lobe, in which abnormal perceptions of strangeness and familiarity are frequently found. It is suggested that the matching process extends to include social situations, and that where an individual's identity is undeveloped or fragmented a sense of strangeness may result. The concept of identity is briefly discussed in order to distinguish it from ‘self’ and ‘ego’, and to intimate its possible fragmentation in adolescence. Finally, some reference is made to management and, in particular, to the use of the peer group.
The hysterical personality ‐ I. The healthy hysteric
Authors: Zisook S. , DeVaul R. A.
Published: July 2011

This paper examines the meaning and validity of ‘hysterical personality disorders’. Theories and descriptions of hysterical personalities have been conflicting and often mutually incompatible, leading to a vague and imprecise nosology. No generally accepted specific inclusion criteria or follow‐up studies are available; consequently, the diagnosis of ‘hysterical personality disorder’ has reflected adaptive as well as maladaptive traits.

This paper critically examines the healthy dimension of Lazare's continuum of personality pathologies exhibiting hysterical traits. The continuum, in an attempt to reconcile the inconsistencies of this diagnosis, ranges from the relatively healthy (good, genital, true) hysteric, to the sick (bad, oral, ‘so‐called good’) hysteric. But this paper concludes that here, too, evidence for diagnostic legitimacy is lacking. Women at the healthy end of the hysterical personality spectrum are best regarded as healthy and do not meet criteria for the diagnosis of a personality disorder.
Superstitious compulsions
Authors: Liddell Andrée , Morgan Georgina
Published: July 2011

The degree of superstitious compulsion present in a sample of undergraduate students at North East London Polytechnic was measured in a two‐part study. Initially measurement was carried out using a questionnaire designed to investigate the effects of age, sex and home area (rural or urban) on the level of compulsion to indulge in superstitious behaviour. The subjects, 86 volunteer students, were asked to rate levels of superstitious compulsion retrospectively, and a highly significant difference was noted between three age ranges. The difference between sexes also showed similarly high significance with female students indicating a higher level of compulsion at all age levels. However, the home area differences failed to reach significance at any level. This parameter was, therefore, eliminated from the second study and replaced by a request for information about parent's or guardian's occupation for analysis of socio‐economic status. This second study was carried out on 96 volunteer undergraduate students who had not taken part in the first study. A questionnaire modified from that used in the first study was employed in combination with the Eysenck Personality Inventory Form A (Eysenck & Eysenck, 1964) and the Sandler & Hazari scales (Sandler & Hazari, 1960), in order to investigate a relationship between the degree of neuroticism, obsessionality and superstitious compulsions. The 20 items on the modified questionnaire were evenly divided between those requiring active avoidance (ritualistic) and those necessitating passive avoidance (phobic). The data received indicated that age, type of superstition (phobic or ritualistic) and personality factors were important variables.

It did not confirm the results of the first study that women are, in general, more superstitious than men. However, there would appear to be some evidence that ritualistic compulsions in the early teens could predict later levels of neuroticism and that there may also be an association between obsessionality and phobic superstitions in young adults.
Self‐reported feelings in clinical depression: An analysis of published data
Authors: Shapiro M. B.
Published: July 2011

A consideration of about 270 published papers concerned with psychological correlates of clinical depression produced five sets of data which satisfied the following criteria: (i) they were based upon responses to individual self‐report items, expressed in terms of patients' questionnaire self‐ratings or researchers' ratings of interview responses, and (ii) they involved both depressed and non‐depressed psychiatric patients. Replicated findings were: (i) both neurotic and non‐neurotic depressives were characterized by sadness‐related feelings and reduced pleasure, (ii) non‐neurotic depressives were characterized by a willingness to contemplate dying, and (iii) some dysfunctions were prominent in both depressed and non‐depressed psychiatric patients; these were mental slowness, tension‐nervousness, concentration difficulties and irritability. Findings based on only one study each were: (i) sadness‐related feelings were relatively persistent in depressives, and (ii) non‐neurotic depressives were characterized by feelings of unworthiness, reduced appetite, weight loss and unwarranted fatigue. The differentiating power of items seemed to be related to their simplicity, generality, severity and indications of frequency. These conclusions, although largely post hoc, are precise enough to provide hypotheses which could be tested in prospective empirical studies.
Selection and outcome in in‐patient psychotherapy
Authors: Denford J. , Schachter J. , Temple N. , Kind P. , Rosser R.
Published: July 2011

In a retrospective study of 28 successive admissions for in‐patient psychotherapy, the following characteristics have been identified as predictors of favourable outcome: a diagnosis of neurotic psychopathology; superior intelligence; considerable depression; and minimal previous out‐patient treatment. Two alternative sets of decision rules are presented which might be used as a guide in deciding whether to admit patients. More rigorous selection criteria are suggested in the common situation where the demand for treatment greatly exceeds the supply of facilities, but such criteria would result in the exclusion of a small proportion of borderline patients who might respond to in‐patient psychotherapy and might otherwise prove untreatable.
Personal construct theory and psychological well‐being*
Authors: Button Eric
Published: July 2011

The concept of ‘psychological well‐being’ (as opposed to ‘psychological disorder’) is considered from the standpoint of George Kelly's personal construct theory (Kelly, 1955). It is argued that the origin of psychological disorder lies in a difficulty in ‘person construing’, with particular reference to ‘self‐construing’. For some (like schizophrenics) this may be a relatively permanent state of affairs, whereas for others it may reflect a temporary crisis or transition. It seems that the ability to maintain a relatively stable, yet flexible, self‐construction may be crucial. Social relationships, however, although potentially validating, also carry the risk of invalidating our self‐construction. An individual's particular response to ‘invalidation’ may be substantially determined by commonality of construing in his particular context, e.g. an adolescent female may turn to slimming whereas a young male may turn to alcohol.

Although the theory has proved to be most useful at an explanatory level, it has been applied therapeutically only to a limited extent. It is argued that psychologists may make a greater contribution to the enhancement of psychological well‐being by applying constructive alternativism within a learning or educational context rather than the clinical setting.
The relationship of depression and thought disorder in pain patients
Authors: Braff David L. , Saccuzzo Dennis P. , Atkinson J. Hampton , Sprock June
Published: July 2011

In the recent literature, the presence of thought disorder occurring with depression has been both supported and contradicted. In order to clarify the relationship of thought disorder and depression this study examined three areas of cognitive function in depressed and non‐depressed groups drawn from pain patients and normals. Subjectively, depressed subjects had significant deficits in abstraction, associative tightness, and speed of information processing. Across all subjects, increasing cognitive impairment in all three dimensions correlated significantly with increasing severity of depression. Pain per se and analgesics did not account for the results. There were several significant correlations between the cognitive measures, suggesting a general process mediating the thought disorder associated with increasing levels of depression. The results support and extend the known relationship of thought disorder and depression.
Science and psychoanalysis*
Authors: Adcock C. J.
Published: July 2011

A philosophical approach is suggested which regards scientific laws as based upon the structure of the universe but fully open‐ended in that the structure does not determine what must occur but only what cannot occur. There are thus infinite future possibilities but nevertheless a firm orderly system which permits reliable expectations within the limits of the system while at the same time there is scope for free will in a real sense. Such a view admits the limitations of a falsification‐of‐hypotheses approach to research insofar as it depends upon the single‐case basis of refutation. However it finds no problems with regard to a multivariate analysis of data assessed in terms of probability theory and considered in relation to its consistency with the total body of scientific theory, which it sees as having its basis in a 'thingness' concept that is both fundamental in our perceptual activity and acceptable as a basis for understanding the systematic orderliness of our mental experiences.
Crisis intervention in theory and practice: A selective review
Authors: Hobbs Michael
Published: July 2011

Crisis intervention is a model for the treatment of acute states of psychological decompensation, including some formal psychiatric disorders. In addition to crisis resolution the intervention maximizes the related potential for psychic growth and maturation, and so represents an important tool in preventive psychiatry. Crisis intervention provides the conceptual framework for an increasing number of community‐based multidisciplinary psychiatric services. In this paper, a selective review of the literature is presented in order to outline crisis theory and the practice of crisis intervention.
Psychoendocrine interaction in anorexia nervosa, and the retreat from puberty: A study of attitudes to adolescent conflict, and luteinizing hormone response to luteinizing hormone releasing factor, in refed anorexia nervosa subjects
Authors: Miles S. W. , Wright J. J.
Published: July 2011

Seventeen young women suffering from anorexia nervosa underwent LHRF infusion, and repertory grid psychometric measures, soon after they had regained ideal body weight. Those who had regained normal LH responsiveness showed repertory grid evidence of increased adolescent conflict compared to those who failed to respond to LHRF. Certain other clinical variables which might account for this finding were excluded, and the hypothesis that amenorrhoea in anorexia nervosa is partly explicable as a psychobiological defence against adolescent conflict is supported.
The relationship of panic‐fear to anxiety and tension in jaw wiring for obesity
Authors: Ross Michael W. , Goss Alastair N. , Kalucy Ross S.
Published: July 2011

Sixty patients being jaw‐wired for massive obesity were administered the MMPI Panic‐Fear scale as well as self‐ and clinician's ratings of pre‐ and post‐wiring tension and anxiety. Results confirmed the hypotheses that the scale would correlate significantly with patients' subjective feelings of tension and anxiety regarding the procedure, and that defaulters who were unwired or who unwired themselves had higher scale scores. The findings suggest that panic‐fear is involved in defaulting from jaw wiring, and that panic‐fear may have some utility in determining risk factors in jaw wiring as a treatment for massive obesity.
Medication compliance in a Chinese psychiatric out‐patient setting
Authors: Chan David W.
Published: July 2011

The knowledge and attitudes of 36 psychiatric out‐patients regarding medication were investigated by personal interview. Over 80 per cent of the variance of self‐report medication compliance was predictable from an array of socio‐economic variables and cognitive variables. Compliers and non‐compliers differed in their expectancy and prior experience of beneficial effects of the medication, and in their fear of undesirable side‐effects and the problem of addiction. Using causal modelling procedures, self‐report compliant behaviour was causally linked to favourable attitudes and fear, which in turn were linked to knowledge of name, dose, purpose, and side‐effects of the medication and the perceived stigma of the illness. Implications for patient education aimed at improving patient compliance are discussed.
Nausea and vomiting in pregnancy
Authors: FitzGerald Catherine M.
Published: July 2011

Prospective data on 86 pregnant women were analysed to investigate the relationship between the pregnancy symptoms of nausea and vomiting and various demographic, social and psychological factors. In contrast to previous research findings no significant differences were discovered along demographic or social dimensions between women reporting no nausea, mild nausea and severe nausea during the first trimester of pregnancy. Not surprisingly, those women experiencing severe nausea reported significantly more sleep disturbances, fatigue and irritability. Women having both nausea and vomiting during the first trimester, reported significantly more unplanned, undesired pregnancies and negative relationships with their own mothers, than first trimester groups experiencing nausea only or no symptoms. Finally, those with continuing nausea and vomiting in the third trimester, when compared with those having no symptoms, tended to have reported significantly more psychological/psychiatric problems in the first trimester and were significantly more negative in their assessment of their own maternal relationship.
Bion's ‘protomental system’ and psychosomatic illness in general practice*
Authors: Sanders K.
Published: July 2011

The work of Wilfred Bion, developing the psychoanalytic theories of Freud and Klein on the origins of anxiety in childhood, includes the hypothesis of a protomental system. This he defined as a matrix in the human organism in which physical and mental are at first undifferentiated. His postulate is that this system which equips human beings for life in a group is in conflict with their needs as individuals. The view of the world mediated by basic assumptions, relatively mindless, functioning by unconscious common consent, has a close association with psychosomatic illness. But individuals feel the need for a working relationship with others, where thought can be applied to problems before taking action. Within the family ‐ a special case of a work group ‐ the continuing experience by the infant of parental containment of its anxieties, through a process of projection and introjection, develops its capacity for thinking about frustration rather than evading it.

The hypothesis is, that without this experience, frustration may lead to basic assumption mentality and psychosomatic illness rather than emotionality and thought. These ideas have been found useful in general practice as in the five cases described.
The relationship between curative factors perceived by patients in their psychotherapy and treatment outcome: An exploratory study
Authors: Murphy Philip M. , Cramer Duncan , Lillie Francis J.
Published: July 2011

Researchers are becoming increasingly interested in those aspects of the curative process that are not specific to any treatment approach. Two hypotheses were tested in this study: (1) that patients would, among those factors they suggest as helpful in their treatment, develop a list of consistently suggested curative factors; (2) that some of the consistently suggested factors will have a direct positive relationship to outcome. Twenty‐four out‐patients were interviewed. Both hypotheses were supported. Two factors emerged as having a significant influence on outcome: they were advice and the understanding of the therapist.
Consensus grids: What about the variance?
Authors: Beail Nigel
Published: July 2011

This paper examines the extent to which a consensus grid represents the individual repertory grids which comprise it. The results of a repertory grid study are reported to demonstrate that generalizations about certain groups made on the basis of a consensus grid can misrepresent or miss important aspects of the data, because the method does not take into account variation in response.
Shame in relation to narcissistic disturbance
Authors: Mollon Phil
Published: July 2011

For some patients, whose sense of self is fragile, shame may be a more important affect than guilt. It is suggested here that shame functions to enhance and preserve the sense of self, and that shame arises particularly in people whose early environment has impeded the emergence of a cohesive sense of self. Using a clinical illustration several features of shame are described, including its association with vision and with sexuality, and its role in certain kinds of depression; the early infantile precursors of shame are also discussed. The clinical implications are outlined.
Some implications for psychology of formulating all illness as deviancy
Authors: Pilgrim David
Published: July 2011

Formulating all illness as deviancy can be offered as a basis for reconciling the psychological characteristics of physical and mental illness. This paper considers the epistemological background to this reconciliation and discusses some of the theoretical, practical and methodological implications for clinical psychology. Particular attention is given to the role of values in psychological activity and the need to recognize the central legitimacy of subjectivity in research and applied psychology.
Prediction versus reflection in therapist demonstrations of understanding: Three analogue experiments
Authors: Turkat Ira Daniel , Alpher Victor S.
Published: July 2011

Many forms of therapy deem it important for therapists to demonstrate to their clients that they understand the particular client's dilemma. The most common approach to therapists’ demonstrations of understanding is the Rogerian method of reflection. Another approach to demonstrating understanding is to make accurate predictions of the client's behaviour. The purpose of the present experiments was to test the hypothesis that therapist predictions (predictive interactions) would be viewed by observers as more demonstrative of understanding the client than therapist reflections (reflective interactions) and therapist admissions of not understanding the client's problem (naive interactions). In each experiment, subjects were randomly assigned to conditions, read excerpts from an interview transcript, and then rated therapist understanding of the client's problems and therapist demonstrations of understanding. The results of all three experiments were consistent and indicated that: (1) predictive interactions were judged as superior to reflective interactions and naive interactions on ratings of demonstrated understanding; (2) reflective and naive interactions did not differ on any measure. These results question the utility of reflective interactions in clinical practice for communicating understanding to clients and support the notion that accurate therapist predictions of client behaviour may be more useful in demonstrating understanding. The results also indicate the need to study these phenomena more thoroughly in clinical settings.
Relationship between health beliefs and psychological variables in diabetic patients
Authors: Harris Rachel , Linn Margaret W. , Pollack Linda
Published: July 2011

The present paper is focused on the relationship between psychological variables and health beliefs in 93 diabetic men. A Diabetes Health Belief Scale was used to assess general health motivation, treatment beneficial, severity, susceptibility, psychological barriers, cues to action, and structural elements. The psychological variables included two measures of locus of control, depression, somatization, interpersonal sensitivity, obsessive—compulsiveness, anxiety, self‐esteem, and attitudes toward diabetes, doctor, and medical care. Ten of the 11 psychological variables were correlated with various aspects of health beliefs. This indicates the extent to which the health beliefs are enmeshed with the psychological dynamics of the person. It would seem important to take such a psychological profile into consideration when attempting to understand and even alter the health beliefs.
Existential‐behaviour therapy: A possible paradigm?
Authors: Butcher Peter
Published: July 2011

A comparative discussion is presented of existential and behavioural psychotherapy, indicating where behavioural theory, empirical research and single case studies can be related to the existential emphasis on phenomenology and personal confrontation with death, freedom, isolation and meaninglessness. The conclusions are that: more recent emphasis on cognitive variables in behaviour therapy has brought the two conceptual systems closer together; and there is improvement in the understanding of aetiology and clinical effectiveness when the therapist incorporates existential—behavioural constructs and methods of working.
Short‐term group therapy for stroke patients in a rehabilitation centre
Authors: Bucher Janet , Smith Eva , Gillespie Christopher
Published: July 2011

Three groups of eight patients who had suffered strokes participated in short‐term group therapy run by a psychiatrist and a social worker. A simple assessment was made by patients and therapists, further information being obtained by means of a follow‐up questionnaire. The feasibility of this approach, and the indications that such groups might be beneficial, are discussed. Certain common themes emerged from all three groups, but it was interesting to note a different reaction was shown by men and women in response to their strokes. The provision of such groups for patients suffering from different illnesses and alternative ways of running these groups are suggested.
Emotional distress in nurses at work
Authors: Livingston Martin , Livingston Hilary
Published: July 2011

A sample of 173 female nurses was studied to assess the amount of stress they experienced whilst at work. Psychological symptoms were found to be commoner in younger, less experienced nurses spending more time with patients. Suggestions are made to reduce distress in vulnerable nurses.
Anorexia nervosa: Starvation dependence
Authors: Szmukler George I. , Tantam Digby
Published: July 2011

A case is presented, based on clinical observation and a sharing of fundamental features, for viewing anorexia nervosa as a dependence disorder. This view lends a coherence to the clinical picture and generates some new hypotheses for research.
Lay theories of the causes of alcoholism
Authors: Furnham Adrian , Lowick Victoria
Published: July 2011

This paper investigates the range, structure and determinants of lay people's implicit theories of alcoholism. The different explicit medical and psychological theories are reviewed as are studies on lay beliefs about alcoholism and heavy drinking. After a number of interviews in which people were asked to list what they believed to be the major causes of alcoholism, 265 people completed a questionnaire in which they rated 30 explanations for their importance in explaining the causes of alcoholism. Females more than males believed alcoholics to be socially inadequate and anxious and that there was too much social pressure and not enough prohibitions against drinking. Middle‐aged rather than younger or older people tended to explain alcoholism in terms of poor education, social and cultural pressures and biological or genetic mechanisms. However, there were few differences in the ratings of heavy, moderate, light and non‐drinkers. Factor analysis revealed six factors labelled psychological stress, personal and social problems, psychoanalytic theories, sociocultural explanations, biological or genetic explanations and social desirability or pressure. The results are discussed in terms of the research on lay understandings of psychological and medical phenomena, and the relationship between explicit and implicit theories.
The reduction of death anxiety: A comparison of didactic, experiential and non‐conscious treatments
Authors: Vargo Marc E. , Batsel William M.
Published: July 2011

This study investigated the effects of three death anxiety reduction techniques on levels of death anxiety and self‐actualization. The three techniques were didactic, experiential and non‐conscious, with the methods being compared with each other and with a control group. The results indicate that an experiential format is significantly more effective in reducing death‐related fears and enhancing psychological integration than are cognitive or non‐conscious methods. Possible reasons for such differential effects are discussed.
Sexual dysfunction and interpersonal stress: The significance of the presenting complaint in seeking and engaging help
Authors: Clulow Christopher
Published: July 2011

This paper examines the extent to which sexual problems featured in one year's applications to a specialist marital agency and the degree of match between client and agency in the way these problems were understood. Sexual dysfunction is seen as having a functional aspect, capable of drawing attention to sensitive areas in marriage and yet of deflecting away from them when attention begins to constitute a threat. The nature of the threat is examined from a psychodynamic perspective in relation to a case example, and implications are drawn for the therapist in managing both the presenting symptom and the transference.
A—B personality, authoritarianism and coronary heart disease: A correction
Authors: Ray John J.
Published: July 2011

During some recent reanalyses of the data used in Ray & Simons (1982), some minor data‐processing errors in the original analyses were found. The errors do not affect the major conclusions in Ray & Simons (1982). The full, revised correlation matrix is given below.
Awareness of cognitive defences and stress management
Authors: Heilbrun Alfred B. , Pepe Victoria
Published: July 2011

There is considerable disagreement regarding whether defences operate unconsciouly, represent deliberate styles of coping with problems, or fall somewhere between. The present study considered the role of awareness in mediating the relation between defence and stress by establishing whether the conscious or unconscious nature of a given defence was associated with a distinct level of stress. The results for projection and rationalization confirmed the classical Freudian version of defence as an unconscious mechanism that reduces the stress of painful thoughts. Unconscious projectors and rationalizers reported singularly low levels of stress over the previous year. Repression without awareness was associated with a distinctly high level of stress, whereas denial with awareness was related to lower stress. While these results provide some support for the view that defences must be unconscious to work effectively, they also suggest the diversity among defences in the role played by awareness in coping with stress.
A note on explanation and understanding in psychology
Authors: Cooper Zafra , Cooper Peter J.
Published: July 2011

Hetherington has recently argued that psychology's concern with anecdotal evidence, introspective data and rare or one‐off events renders the methodology and explanatory model of the natural sciences inappropriate and inadequate; and as such psychology needs to develop its own methods of inquiry. However, an examination of his arguments reveals that psychological data do not require explanation of a radically different kind from that employed in the natural sciences. Hetherington is correct in emphasizing that what is distinctive about the subject matter of psychology is its concern with intentional content; however, the conclusions he draws about the special nature of psychological explanation are unwarranted.
‘Psychic sensitivity’, mystical experience, head injury and brain pathology
Authors: Fenwick Peter , Galliano Stephen , Coate Mary Anne , Rippere Vicky , Brown Diana
Published: July 2011

The ‘psychic’ experiences of 17 students (sensitives) from the College of Psychic Studies were compared with those of 17 church‐going control subjects, who were matched for age, sex, and approximate intellectual level. At interview, 67 items of information relating to the medical history, family history, ‘psychic gifts’, head injuries, and mystical experiences were obtained. The shortened WAIS, the Benton Visual Retention Test, with tests of both dominant (Wechsler Logical Memory) and non‐dominant temporal lobe function (the Rey—Osterreith Test) were given. The results showed that the sensitive population contained more single or divorced people, and people who had sometime consulted a psychiatrist. They had experienced more head injuries and serious illnesses than the controls. Sixty‐six per cent showed evidence of right hemisphere and right temporal lobe dysfunction and, of these, 35 per cent had poor visual memories. There was evidence to suggest that some ‘sychic’ experiences were associated with brain dysfunction. Despite an increased occurrence of head injury, no clear correlation with the onset of ‘psychic’ sensitivity was found. Mystical experiences showed a trend towards being related to non‐dominant hemisphere dysfunction. Vagueness about the position of the sensitive's ‘psychic helper’ in physical space was also associated with non‐dominant hemisphere dysfunction.
Complaints of patients presenting for psychotherapy in 1938 versus 1978
Authors: Gill Harwant
Published: July 2011

Reported complaints of psychotherapy out‐patients in 1938 are compared with those of patients in 1978. Both men and women complain less of bodily malfunctioning and more of anger, guilt, suicidal thoughts, and of sexual difficulties. Unlike men, women show a significant increase in interpersonal problems, sleep difficulties, depression and feelings of inadequacy or inferiority.
Attitudes and treatment expectancies of patients and general hospital staff in relation to alcoholism
Authors: Potamianos G. , Gorman D. M. , Peters T. J.
Published: July 2011

Attitudes to treatment were investigated in medical and nursing staff and alcoholic patients at a district general hospital. Significant differences were found between the two groups, indicating that patients prefer a strict medical approach to their problems rather than a psychological one. The implications of these findings for the planning of therapeutic strategies for alcoholics are discussed.
Depression in the young unemployed and those on Youth Opportunities Schemes
Authors: Branthwaite Alan , Garcia Sara
Published: July 2011

Using interviews and psychometric measures, this study compared the experiences and opinions of unemployment of four small groups of young people who were: unemployed, on a Youth Opportunities Placement Scheme, on a Youth Opportunities Project Scheme, or employed apprentices.

It was found by means of the Beck Depression Inventory, that there were significant differences between the groups, with the employed being less depressed than the other three groups. The two groups on Youth Opportunities Schemes were intermediate but not significantly different from the unemployed. No significant differences were found using the Neuroticism scale of the EPI.

This measure of depression, and the general attitudes expressed in discussion, support the conclusion that although the Youth Opportunities Scheme tends to reduce depression from being unemployed, it does not provide the psychological benefits of permanent employment, as suggested by previous research. This discrepancy in findings is discussed and the question raised as to whether the positive benefits of training programmes are sustained over time.
Mood and pulmonary function in adult asthmatics: A pilot self‐monitoring study
Authors: Steptoe Andrew , Holmes Rowena
Published: July 2011

The relationship between mood and fluctuations in peak expiratory flow rate (PEF) was studied in seven mildly asthmatic adult men and seven non‐asthmatic controls. Participants completed visual analogue mood scales and measured PEF four times per day for 24 days, and the Profile of Mood States was also filled in at the end of each day. Significant correlations between mood and PEF were found in six of the asthmatics. No specific asthma‐related profile was identified, since each person showed idiosyncratic associations between mood and pulmonary function. The non‐asthmatics did not show consistent correlations above a level expected by chance. Possible explanations of these results and their relevance to the management of asthma are discussed.
Transpersonal processes and the Oedipal phase of development
Authors: Muir Roy C.
Published: July 2011

This paper is an extension of previous theoretical work in which a bimodal theory of the psychology of relationships and personality function was elaborated. The two modes are, essentially, the traditional intrapsychic individual mode derived from dyadic and introspective methods of observation, and a transpersonal mode, derived in the main from family and group process observations. The role of projective identification and other so‐called primitive mechanisms are explored and their defensive and adaptive role in transpersonal transactions in small and large groups examined. The implications for the theory of the mother‐infant relationship, and in particular the separation‐individuation phase, is reviewed and the further development of the transpersonal concept summarized. These ideas are developed in an examination of the influence of these processes on Oedipal phase conflicts in an eight‐year‐old boy, with illustrative case material. The conclusion is drawn that manifest Oedipal phase anxieties and conflicts are frequently, if not always, an expression of transpersonal elaboration in the family group. In these circumstances, the transpersonal processes are defensive rather than adaptive and impair the child's normative individuation and the usual repression and resolution of the Oedipal complex. Freud's study of Little Hans is re‐examined from this viewpoint. The implications for therapy are noted.