bluuebunny/crossref_metadata_2025 huggingface dataset:
Depression in medical in‐patients
Authors: Rosenberg Samuel J. , Peterson Rolf A. , Hayes John R. , Hatcher Joseph , Headen Sandra
Published: July 2011

Between one‐fifth and one‐third of patients hospitalized on general medicine wards experience significant depressive symptoms during their hospitalization. This study employed 71 general medical in‐patients and examined the relative association of illness/hospitalization characteristics, patient characteristics and environmental characteristics with in‐patient medical depression. Multiple regression results indicated that in‐patient medical depression was related to pre‐hospitalization depression and social functioning, patient perception of physician supportiveness and patient perception of illness‐related life‐disruption. None of the objective illness/hospitalization variables related to depression while in the hospital. These results are interpreted with regard to several current theories in medical psychology including a life‐stress model emphasizing the ability of prior disorder to predict subsequent disorder, a social interaction model focusing on the effects of physicians's supportive behaviour on patients' emotional adjustment in the hospital, and models of illness that stress cognitive appraisal in determining illness‐related mood and behaviour.
Type A behaviour and life‐events
Authors: Järvikoski Aila , Härkäpää Kristiina
Published: July 2011

Our aim was to study the relationship between Type A behaviour and the occurrence of life‐events in a large sample (n = 1003) of men aged 35–54. Over the whole sample, Type As reported more events during the past 12 months than Type Bs. This difference was found in the total score and in self‐initiated life‐events, but not in other‐initiated ones. The results were similar even if those who reported chronic illness or a severe attack of chest pain were excluded. The relationship varied, however, by age as well as by marital and occupational status.
Control theory and Type A behaviour*
Authors: Perloff Linda S. , Yarnold Paul R. , Fetzer Barbara K.
Published: July 2011

As a test of ‘control theory’, 75 Type A/B undergraduates completed a multidimensional health locus‐of‐control measure. Type A behaviour correlated significantly with beliefs regarding personal control over health, but not with beliefs regarding chance or powerful others. These findings suggest Type As' desire for control is multidimensional.
Longitudinal evaluation of psychological distress in medical geriatric in‐patients
Authors: Magni Guido , Schifano Fabrizio , Baiocchi Antonella , Renesto Valeria
Published: July 2011

A longitudinal evaluation of the degree and type of psychological distress was carried out in 50 geriatric medical in‐patients, using the Symptom Distress Checklist. They were tested within three days of admission, after 12–15 days of hospital stay, and 20–30 days after discharge. The first two evaluations showed significantly higher distress than the third for almost all the subscales. Scores indicating a significant depressive distress decreased from 70 per cent (first evaluation) and 76 per cent (second evaluation) to 34 per cent at the third one. The number of patients with significant distress for the other SCL‐90 subscales was, at the third evaluation, rather low. Our data hence seem to show that the phenomenon of psychological distress in the hospital setting is transitory, and mainly arises from the factors of ‘disease’ and ‘hospitalization’. However, in the case of some particular aspects of psychological distress, such as depression, whilst most patients overcome it, one out of three still presents a significant degree of suffering after returning home.
Grief and rehousing
Authors: Archer John , Hawes Judith
Published: July 2011

The occurrence and extent of grief‐like features were assessed in a sample of people who had been rehoused involuntarily. Answers indicating the following responses were reported by a proportion of those interviewed: intrusive thoughts (29 per cent), searching (22 per cent), anger (24 per cent), loss of self (56 per cent) and identification (38 per cent).
The scientific status of the Defence Mechanism Test: A response to Cooper
Authors: Kline Paul
Published: July 2011

Cooper attempts to refute my argument that the DMT may not measure defences but rather responses to it may reflect visual distortions. His arguments appear convincing but contain a logical flaw that runs through the literature on the DMT. This is that even if the DMT elicits defences, it does not mean that it elicits only defences. Nor does it mean that it always elicits defences.
The will in psychoanalytic theory and practice
Authors: Gill Harwant S.
Published: July 2011

In psychoanalytic treatment insight does not necessarily lead to change, because psychoanalysis has not yet integrated into its theory and technique the full significance of two determinants: (1) the resistances arising from the patient's environment, and (2) the role played by the patient's will in his/her analysis. This paper is focused on the second determinant.

Freud's elucidation of repression and other defences challenged the assumption that the will operated in an uncomplicated, straightforward manner. When, however, neurotic fears, secondary gain, or guilt underlying the inhibited or misdirected will are thoroughly analysed, patients are enabled to strive for their long‐range aims, as clarified during the course of their analysis.

Psychoanalytic theory has not recognized the will for two reasons. (1) Its theory is committed to determinism, which does not characterize its practice. Psychoanalysis does not predict outcome as required by philosophical determinism, but traces it backwards to find that it is meaningful, and not arbitrary or purposeless. (2) It attributes ‘willing’ to the ego, along with other multifarious functions, which confounds the development and operation of distinct functions, and distracts attention from the phenomenological investigation of each separate function.
Object relations, Holocaust survival and family therapy
Authors: Müller Uri F. , Yahav Aviva L.
Published: July 2011

The authors focus on a family therapy, construing the process of change within an object‐relations theory integrated with psychodynamic thoughts about Holocaust survivors. Specifically, the authors concentrate on the mutual influence of parents and their children as figures for a two‐way identification, and on the potential constructive role the offspring may have in promoting change, in this case reparative change, in the family. A clinical illustration of such a family treated by one of the authors illustrates this aspect. The disturbed intra‐familial relationships in the history of each parent led to the development of pathological internalized object relations. This was reinforced by traumatic life‐events, especially with the father who was a Holocaust survivor. Serious problems developed in marital life and in relation with the children. Couple therapy alone did not seem successful. The couple who lived in a sado‐masochistic collusion for years could not change. Only after including the children in the therapy did the family's relations improve. Confrontation with some positive aspects of the family which the children represent may have been a factor in this change. The couple were able to resynthesize and integrate positive aspects of themselves as represented and reinforced by their children. It seems that reparation through the children helped modify all relations in the family.
The Type A behaviour pattern and self‐evaluation
Authors: Henley Susan , Furnham Adrian
Published: July 2011

This paper is concerned with how Type A and B subjects perceive themselves. Subjects first completed a unidimensional A type measure, then rated themselves and their ideal selves on various personality traits. As expected, Type A was associated with negative self‐ratings and high actual‐ideal self‐discrepancy scores. However, it is argued that self‐evaluation in negative terms by Type As is not necessarily synonymous with low self‐esteem. Negative self‐ratings may be an important factor in the aetiology and maintenance of the Type A behaviour pattern.
Eating attitudes, sociodemographic factors and body shape evaluation in adolescence
Authors: Toro Josep , Castro Josefina , Garcia Marta , Perez Pau , Cuesta Lidia
Published: July 2011

The Eating Attitudes Test (EAT) and another questionnaire aimed at sociodemographic and body shape information were administered to an adolescent population of 1554 students from Barcelona in the 12–19 age group. The highest scores on EAT were obtained by girls, older adolescents, overweight adolescents, adolescents practising restrictive diets, adolescents considering themselves obese and those wishing to modify their body size. The same characteristics were associated with EAT scores higher than 30 (the cut‐off score, established by the authors of the questionnaire, above which the anorexic population is placed). Results are analysed in terms of sociocultural pressures on adolescents, particularly females, who are subjected to the ‘culture of slenderness’.
The treatment of post‐traumatic stress disorder
Authors: McFarlane A. C.
Published: July 2011

This report reviews treatment studies of post‐traumatic stress disorder (PTSD). Much of the literature is descriptive and concentrates on particular treatment modalities without attempting to integrate these different approaches into the wider body of knowledge about PTSD. No study has randomly assigned patients to experimental and control groups.

The treatment of 56 patients with PTSD is described, highlighting issues which influence the choice of approach and focus of therapy. These issues are seldom mentioned in the PTSD literature and include the unusual difficulties involved in developing a therapeutic alliance, the role of non‐specific elements and the treatment of coexistent psychiatric disorders which are frequently present. The need to consider separately the degree of disturbed attention and arousal, the nature of the traumatic preoccupation and the patient's social and occupational functioning are stressed.

The lack of knowledge about the natural history of PTSD and the different effectiveness of treatments in the acute and chronic stages are other uncertainties about the treatment of PTSD. Consideration of these points has led to a series of recommendations for future studies of the treatment of PTSD.
Anxiety, supervision and a space for thinking: Some narcissistic perils for clinical psychologists in learning psychotherapy*
Authors: Mollon Phil
Published: July 2011

The process of learning psychotherapy involves narcissistic dangers — there may be injuries to self‐esteem and self‐image, especially when working with certain kinds of disturbed and hostile patients. Some patients will unconsciously recreate, in the transference, representations of early damaging experiences with parents, but now reversed with the therapist as the victim. It is vital for the trainee to be helped to understand these powerful interactional pressures. There are aspects of the professional culture and ideals of clinical psychologists (and possibly of some psychiatrists and social workers as well) which may make them particularly vulnerable in work with the hostile patient. It is argued that the function of supervision is not to teach a technique directly, but to create a ‘space for thinking’ — a kind of thinking which is more akin to maternal reverie, as described by Bion, than problem solving.
Samson's complex: The compulsion to re‐enact betrayal and rage
Authors: Kutz Ilan
Published: July 2011

A comparison of the life story of a psychotherapy patient to that of biblical Samson reveals that both men suffer from a behavioural disturbance, manifested in the compulsion to re‐enact the experience of betrayal by women, followed by destructive attacks of rage against others, and ultimately against their own tormented selves. The author tracks the origin of repetition compulsion to its proposed psychobiological foundations of attachment‐formation and its development. Samson's complex is viewed as a deep‐seated, characterological defect, stemming from faulty object relations and leading to existential despair and suicidal longing. The existence of a detailed psychopathological phenomenology embedded in timeless biblical lore denotes once more the alliance between myth and psychology.

And if I ever lose my eyes

I won't have to cry no more.

Cat Stevens, from the song ‘ Moon Shadow ’
The emotional reactions of HIV antibody positive men
Authors: Viney Linda L. , Henry Rachael , Walker Beverly M. , Crooks Levinia
Published: July 2011

This study was concerned with the emotional reaction of men who are HIV antibody positive, and with whether their expression of enjoyment is better viewed as the result of rigid defending or flexible coping. A sample of these men was matched with samples of patients with other major illnesses and well controls. Enjoyment was found to be more frequently expressed in the two ill samples, as were anxiety, depression and helplessness. The HIV antibody positive patients expressed more anger, and yet more competence, than the other patients. These patterns of emotional reaction proved to be modified by different levels of enjoyment in a manner more indicative of coping than defending, because depressive emotions appeared to be reduced when some enjoyment of life was apparent. The implications of these findings for health professionals working with people who are HIV antibody positive are discussed.
A preliminary study of psychological therapy in the management of atopic eczema
Authors: Horne David J. de L. , White Angela E. , Varigos George A.
Published: July 2011

This paper presents a pilot study of the treatment of atopic eczema using a cognitive‐behavioural approach involving self‐monitoring of eczema severity, recording both internal (cognitive) and environmental antecedent trigger stimuli to flare‐ups, and relaxation using imagery and habit reversal. Three patients are presented suffering from chronic atopic eczema. Although each differed in personality, complexity and severity of atopic eczema, all three showed a post‐treatment reduction in symptom severity, an increase in their ability to control the disorder and a decrease in their reliance on medication. It is argued that although the cognitive–behavioural approach used did provide a useful conceptual framework for implementing the treatments described, certain aspects of these cases could also usefully be understood in more psychodynamic terms. A controlled trial is necessary to evaluate the relative importance of the different components of treatment reported in this pilot study.
Hypochondriasis, acting out and counteracting out
Authors: Granek Michel
Published: July 2011

The clinical picture of hypochondriasis is clear, the psychopathological structure less so. Hypochondriasis is characterized by a particular kind of acting out, basically medical, which in turn is likely to evoke medical counter‐acting out on the part of the therapist. Acting out may be ‘broad', as a character trait, and ‘narrow', in close connection with the psychotherapeutic process. The medical acting out of the hypochondriac, ‘broad’ prior to therapy and occurring outside of the therapy situation, in the course of therapy becomes ‘narrow’ and contained within the boundaries of therapy.
Expressed emotion in caregivers of the dementing elderly
Authors: Gilhooly Mary L. M. , Whittick Janice E.
Published: July 2011

This paper presents findings on the association between ‘expressed emotion’ (EE) and a number of factors previously investigated in relationship to caregivers of the dementing elderly. Frequency of critical comments (expressed emotion) was correlated with a number of supporter and dependant characteristics, variables within the relationship between caregivers and their dementing relatives, and help from professionals. The analysis revealed significant correlations between EE and sex of caregiver, caregivers' psychological well‐being, contact with friends and the quality of the relationship between the caregiver and dementing relative. The dementing relatives' level of impairment, age and sex were not significantly correlated with EE, nor was help from the services. Also, those most critical of their dementing relatives were not more likely to express a preference for institutional care.
Contrasting patterns in the relationship between hypochondriasis and narcissism
Authors: Starčevič Vladan
Published: July 2011

This paper investigates the relationship of hypochondriasis to narcissism, starting from the theoretical exposition of hypochondriasis as a disorder, which mainly results from a pervasive sense of ‘inner badness’ and the associated mistrust in one's own worth, and in bodily worth in particular. Narcissistic personality organization is regarded as one of the modes of adjustment to the primary and ‘undifferentiated’ hypochondriacal experiences, and aspects of narcissistic development are described along the contrasting patterns that lead to clinical hypochondriasis. The main differences between the patterns can be found in the features and the outcome of the premorbid (pre‐hypochondriacal) narcissistic functioning, presence of the accompanying emotional disturbances (anxiety, dysphoria, anger), and the ‘purposive background’ of hypochondriasis in relation to the narcissistic personality organization.
Supernatural impotence: Historical review with anthropological and clinical implications
Authors: Margolin Jacob , Witztum Eliezer
Published: July 2011

The historical and cultural background of the belief in supernatural impotence is presented, emphasizing its possible implications for clinical practice. A brief historical survey of the concept in Judaism and Christianity is followed by a short anthropological survey of supernatural impotence in different ethnic subcultures in Israel. A case demonstration exemplifies the connection between understanding the patient's cultural background and beliefs and the clinical competence of the therapist. The relationship between the clinical‐therapeutic process in psychiatric practice and knowledge of the patient's cultural background and beliefs is stressed.
Strategies for coping with infertility
Authors: Callan Victor J. , Hennessey John F.
Published: July 2011

Cognitive models of coping point to the use by individuals of appraisal‐focused, problem‐focused and emotion‐focused coping, as well as the need to consider an individual's coping response in terms of their intrapersonal and interpersonal resources. This cognitive approach was applied to organizing findings from research into the experience of infertility. At least nine coping strategies are identified that can be employed by couples. Discussion also raises several research questions about the personal crisis of infertility that need to be further investigated.
Gaze and eye‐contact with anorexic adolescents
Authors: Cipolli Carlo , Sancini Marco , Tuozzi Giovanni , Bolzani Roberto , Mutinelli Paola , Flamigni Carlo , Porcu Eleonora
Published: July 2011

Interviews with seven anorexic female adolescents and 12 control subjects were videotaped for analysis of visual behaviour. Individual looking and mutual gaze of subject and interviewer were coded by two judges and recorded through a two‐channel push‐button system of time recording for 10 min of interview segments. The results indicated that anorexics looked toward the eyes of the interviewer less frequently and more briefly than controls, and that mutual gazing was less common.
Repressive coping style and anxiety in stressful dental surgery
Authors: Fox Elaine , O'Boyle Ciaran , Barry Hugh , McCreary Chris
Published: July 2011

Elevated state‐anxiety prior to oral surgery is common and is associated with increased post‐operative pain. This paper presents a psychological model of predicting elevated anxiety prior to dental surgery. Elevated anxiety and intraoperative stress can be predicted by measuring trait‐anxiety. However, prediction may be improved by using a situationally specific measure of trait‐anxiety, and by taking the patient's coping style into account. Thirty‐nine patients undergoing wisdom‐tooth extraction took part in the study. The Corah Dental Anxiety Scale was a better predictor of pre‐operative anxiety than the STAI trait‐anxiety scale. Coping style was measured by means of the Marlowe‐Crowne Social Desirability Scale in conjunction with scores on trait‐anxiety to define three coping style groups: sensitizers (high‐anxious), truly low‐anxious, and repressors who verbally deny anxiety. Two oral surgeons rated patient intra‐operative state on 100 mm visual analogue scales. These ratings indicate that ‘repressors’ exhibit significantly more stress responses than the truly low‐anxious group, in spite of similar (low) trait‐anxiety scores. It is concluded that a situationally specific measure of trait‐anxiety is the most appropriate predictor of differential state‐anxiety elevations prior to oral surgery. Repressive coping style may be a confounding factor, in terms of predicting elevated anxiety, since some people verbally deny being anxious but express it behaviourally.
Guided imagery in brief psychodynamic therapy: Outcome and process
Authors: Feinberg‐Moss Beverly Besmer , Oatley Keith
Published: July 2011

Twenty‐one clients were assigned to three conditions in a four‐month trial of once per week psychodynamic therapy. Clients in an imagery condition worked with subpersonalities elicited by psychosynthesis guided visual imagery. Clients in a non‐imagery condition worked in a similar way, but without guided imagery. The third condition was a minimal contact control group in which clients had all assessments (at baseline, mid‐point, outcome and follow‐up) but no active therapy. Mean outcomes in imagery and non‐imagery groups were significantly better than for the minimal contact group on target aims of therapy, and on self‐acceptance, but there were no significant differences between the imagery and non‐imagery groups. Repertory grids enabled the trajectory of each individual in therapy to be tracked in a conceptual space in which subpersonalities were related to people in the subjects' real lives. A case history of an imagery client who improved during the course of therapy is discussed to show these relationships and the utility of a combined nomothetic and idiographic research design.
Coping resources and depression in the caregiving spouses of Alzheimer patients
Authors: Morrissey Elizabeth , Becker Joseph , Rubert Mark P.
Published: July 2011

This study deals with the self‐rated impact of caring for a spouse with Alzheimer's disease at home. Impacts on the caregiver's marriage, work, recreation and mood were investigated as a function of the patient's disability level and of the coping resources which caregivers reported were available to and/or used by them.

The patient's disability level had a more negative impact on the caregiver's marriage and recreation than did the coping resource variables whereas the reverse was true for work. The caregiver's work was the only life area in which the availability and mobilization of coping resources influenced the caregiver's level of depression. To clarify these results, additional regression analyses were conducted separately for homemakers and employed subjects. While mobilized coping resources (social activity level and homemaking activity level) were correlated with depression among homemakers, none of the indicators of mobilized coping resources was correlated with depression among workers. These findings suggest that the role in which stress occurs is an important factor in understanding stress and the coping process.
Psychosocial problems in families of disabled children
Authors: Singhi Pratibha D. , Goyal Lokender , Pershad Dwarka , Singhi Sunit , Walia B. N. S.
Published: July 2011

Psychosocial problems faced by parents and other family members were studied in 50 families with a physically disabled child (PD group), 50 with a mentally retarded child (MR group) and 50 with a healthy child (control group). A semi‐structured questionnaire assisted interview and standardized scales were used to measure social burden, marital adjustment and maternal neuroticism.

Families with disabled children perceived greater financial stress, frequent disruption of family routine and leisure, poor social interaction, and ill effects on their physical and mental health as compared to families of control children. The overall social burden scores were significantly higher in both the groups with disabled children as compared to controls (mean scores PD 17.8, MR 14.6, C 0.72, p <.001), and showed a significant inverse correlation with the socio‐economic and educational status of parents. The neuroticism scores were also significantly higher (PD 23.7, MR 19.0, C 9.6, p <.01), and the marital adjustment scores lower (PD 75, MR 79, C 86, p <.01) in families with disabled children. Appropriate management of these problems should be part of rehabilitation programmes.
Anxiety and defence strategies in mothers of children with different disabilities
Authors: Ryde‐Brandt Brita
Published: July 2011

Anxiety was scored with a questionnaire (HAD) in four groups of women: 18 mothers of psychotic children, 18 mothers of children with various motor handicaps, 13 mothers of children with Down's syndrome and a reference group of 13 women without handicapped children. High scores for anxiety were particularly common in mothers of psychotic children. All subjects were also tested with a percept‐genetic technique aimed at demonstrating anxiety evoked by a threatening stimulus and the defence strategies activated. In the total material, persons characterized by such anxiety signs and few defensive strategies in this test had high anxiety scores on the HAD scale (p = .03). A significant proportion (50 per cent) of mothers of psychotic children with high HAD anxiety scores had this characteristic response pattern. In mothers of children with other handicaps and with high HAD anxiety scores this combination was unusual (8 per cent). Percept‐genetic tests are claimed to be personality tests. The results may therefore indicate personality traits which are especially common among mothers of psychotic children and are associated with a disposition towards anxiety.
Concerning knowledge of mental states
Authors: Hobson R. Peter
Published: July 2011

How does a child acquire knowledge that other people are subjects of experience, and come to differentiate amongst mental states? In this paper I review some philosophical perspectives on these matters. In order to illustrate how the arguments have contemporary relevance, I criticize the 'theory of mind' approach currently favoured by many psychologists and point out certain implications for our view of early childhood autism.
Women's first experiences of childbirth: Two hospital settings compared
Authors: Bradley Benjamin S. , Tashevska Marika , Selby Jane M.
Published: July 2011

This study analyses expectations, experiences and the aftermath of childbirth from interviews conducted with 60 mothers nine months after their first child was born. Half had given birth in a 'family birthing centre' (FBC) and half had used the conventional delivery suite (CDS). Findings showed that the two groups of women had different antenatal orientations to the birth, different experiences of the labour, different experiences of motherhood and different levels of satisfaction with childbirth in retrospect. In particular, women using the FBC wanted to be and were more actively involved in the birth process than women from the CDS, experienced fewer medical interventions during labour and were more satisfied with childbirth afterwards than users of the CDS. FBC mothers reported more breast feeding than bottle feeding at nine months and a greater incidence of self‐attributed 'depression'.
Authoritarianism as a cause of heart disease: Reply to Byrne, Reinhart & Heaven
Authors: Ray J. J.
Published: July 2011

Byrne, Reinhart & Heaven (1989) report a study which replicates many findings of the present author. They interpret their findings, however, to create the impression that they somehow undermine a theory advanced by the present author. Reasons for this are explored and important omissions are noted.
Aversion to personal body hair: A case study in the integration of behavioural and interpretative methods
Authors: Watts Fraser N.
Published: July 2011

A case is described of intense aversion to personal body hair on the chest, legs and arms. Exposure methods of behavioural treatment were used, combined with interpretative ones. Exposure was found to facilitate self‐exploration, which in turn led to the successful completion of exposure treatment. The circumstances under which exposure treatment can benefit from being combined with interpretative work are discussed.
Psychological adjustment, close relationships and personality: A comment on McLennan & Omodei
Authors: Cramer Duncan
Published: July 2011

McLennan & Omodei (1988) suggested that Cramer's (1985) finding of an association between psychological adjustment and the facilitativeness of a close relationship is primarily due to a general affective outlook in females. Their main measures of this outlook were extraversion and neuroticism, the latter of which is itself closely related to psychological adjustment. When their data were reanalysed excluding neuroticism, facilitativeness was found to be substantially correlated with psychological wellbeing in both men and women, indicating that this association cannot be wholly explained in terms of a global evaluative orientation. A reanalysis of similar data from Henderson, Byrne & Duncan‐Jones (1981) showed that psychiatric illness was still associated with the perceived adequacy of close attachments when extraversion was controlled.
On the measurement of delusions
Authors: Walkup James
Published: July 2011

Garety (1985) analysed problems with existing definitions of delusions, focusing on the fixity and intensity of delusional beliefs. A quantitative method was proposed to evaluate with greater sensitivity the intensity of delusional conviction and its fixity over time. In this comment, three related points are raised about Garety's analysis and measure. None of the three challenges the fundamental usefulness or value of the measure, although potential problems are noted in the items used to check test‐retest reliability and in the wording of one of the two forms described.
The influence of parity on the experience of pregnancy: A comparison of first‐ and second‐time expectant couples
Authors: Condon John T. , Esuvaranathan Vijaya
Published: July 2011

There is a belief prevalent in Western society that pregnancy is more stressful for first‐time expectant couples. Few research studies have addressed this issue and the existing findings, on both men and women, are conflicting. The present investigation found higher psychological symptom levels in both members of second‐time expectant couples in the third trimester; however, differences reached statistical significance only for men. Second‐time couples tended to have lower emotional attachment to their unborn baby. The results are discussed in terms of the influence of parity on stresses arising both from the pregnancy experience and the environment.
The effect of a pre‐appointment questionnaire on clinical psychologist attendance rates
Authors: O'Loughlin Simon
Published: July 2011

A 12‐page, psychodynamically‐formulated questionnaire is sent routinely to people referred to a clinical psychology service. This study examines its effect on attendance rates at initial appointments. A group of patients who were sent the questionnaire was compared to two control groups. There were indications that those who were sent the questionnaire were more likely than controls to attend. The result failed to reach statistical significance at the 5 per cent level, but, using a more conservative criterion, those who were sent the questionnaire were significantly more likely than controls to make contact — either by attending or actively cancelling their appointment — rather than simply failing to turn up.
Troubled parents: Vulnerability and stress in childhood cancer
Authors: Hughes Patricia M. , Lieberman Stuart
Published: July 2011

The psychosocial stresses of having a child with cancer were examined in a group of 18 parents using standard psychiatric measurement scales and a lengthy semi‐structured interview. Findings confirmed that staff/parent communication is difficult in a large institution but can be facilitated by staff who are aware of the difficulty. Two kinds of psychopathology were demonstrated in the parents. Thirteen of the 18 suffered symptoms of anxiety outside the normal range: of these 13, six had moderate or severe symptoms which warranted further attention. A group of six parents showed marked communication difficulty with staff, friends and their own spouses. The latter may represent a pre‐existing personality trait but one which makes the experience of having a child with cancer even more distressing.
Type A behaviour and health locus of control: Another view on Perloff et al. (1988)
Authors: Leikin Lewis J.
Published: July 2011

Perloff, Yarnold & Feltzer (1988) recently reported in this journal data suggesting that Type A undergraduates are more internal in their health locus of control than Type Bs, and suggest this may have implications for their health behaviour and self‐care. Data from a non‐college sample of 104 Type A and B adults were examined using the same measures, but could not replicate the findings of Perloff et al. Several reasons for the failure to replicate are discussed, including statistical power, clinical meaningfulness, and current theory on the Type A‐health behaviour relationship.
Life‐events and mood as predictors of the common cold
Authors: Evans Philip D. , Edgerton Nick
Published: July 2011

One hundred subjects volunteered to take part in a ‘diary‐type’ study in which they were to check, at the end of each day, a variety of items dealing with events, mood states and health. A subsample was selected who had both provided several weeks of data and had, during that time, suffered at least one common cold episode. A lagged relationship between events and the onset of cold episodes was found. Desirable events (‘uplifts’) were found to decrease significantly in frequency during a period commencing four days prior to cold onset. There was a less significant tendency for the number of undesirable events (‘hassles’) to rise during this same period. Subjects' ratings also indicated that they had been feeling more angry, tense and sceptical during this period. It is argued that the lagged relationship, the use of subjects as their own controls, and the partly replicatory nature of the study, give strong support to psycho‐immunological hypotheses concerning links between life‐events and illness. Individual item analysis suggests that fluctuations in perceived intimacy, social support and self‐esteem may be important mediators of the effects.
Speech patterns and satisfaction in diagnostic and prescriptive stages of general practice consultations
Authors: Winefield Helen R. , Murrell Timothy G. C.
Published: July 2011

With a general goal of establishing indicators of the quality of the helping relationship within medical consultations, we recorded and analysed verbal interactions in general practice consultations, in two studies. The diagnostic and prescriptive stages of the consultation were analysed separately, first with doctor satisfaction as the outcome and then, with a second sample of doctors, with both doctor and patient satisfaction as outcomes. Patients and doctors were found to have somewhat different views of what made a highly satisfactory consultation. The most satisfying consultations for doctors were those in which the medical problem and its solution seemed clear; patients felt most satisfied with consultations where they had discussed their own experiences and opinions during the second, prescriptive stage of the consultation.
Moderate levels of chronic mood disturbance are associated with increased cognitive complexity about the self
Authors: MacLeod Andrew K. , Williams J. Mark G.
Published: July 2011

Despite its status as a general assumption, the idea that mood disturbance is associated with reduced complexity of cognitive representations has received little in the way of empirical support. It is suggested that this may arise because of a failure to make distinctions concerning the severity and type of mood disturbance, as well as not being specific about what the representations actually refer to. Using repertory grid methodology (Bieri et al., 1966) with a group of moderately mood‐disturbed ‘worriers’, results showed that this group are significantly more complex than matched controls, but only for representations concerned with themselves. Moreover, this was related to chronic rather than current mood disturbance. The results are interpreted as indicating that cognitive complexity may follow an inverted‐U pattern, where the self‐representations of severely mood‐disturbed and control subjects, although differing in valence, are similar in their lack of complexity. On the other hand, those who are chronically but moderately disturbed are, as a result of their ongoing tendency towards introspection, more complex in their self‐representations. Possible implications for vulnerability to emotional disorder are discussed.
The maintenance of psychotherapy skill acquisition: A two‐year follow‐up
Authors: Moss Steve , Margison Frank , Godbert Ken
Published: July 2011

A two‐year follow‐up study investigated changes in interview behaviour of 11 therapists who had previously been trained in the conversational model of psychotherapy by a combined videotaped microteaching and supervision package. Results generally showed the acquired skills had been well maintained. However, there was a large increase in the giving of information and explanation, a behaviour explicitly discouraged within the conversational model. In addition, the response to verbal cues, a positive model behaviour, decreased over the follow‐up period.
Some meanings of body and self in eating‐disordered and comparison subjects
Authors: Ryle A. , Evans C. D. H.
Published: July 2011

A new repertory grid was used to compare a group of 27 eating‐disordered women (EDS) with a group of 20 women of normal weight without eating disorders (NWC) on contrasts from theories which link abnormalities in the perception of body and self to the eating disorders. No evidence was found for greater polarization of either self or body images in the EDS. A negative connotation of the body at normal weight and overweight was specific to EDS, but the underweight body did not have a more positive connotation. Negative connotation of normal weight is shown to be more specific for EDS than is negative connotation of the overweight body. There was no evidence for specific implications of weight for sexuality nor for family pressures against sexuality or femininity in EDS although they did construe themselves as less sexual than the NWC.
The repertory grid as a measure of change and predictor of outcome in the treatment of alcoholism
Authors: Bailey P. E. , Sims A. C. P.
Published: July 2011

Fifty male in‐patients receiving treatment for alcohol dependence were studied on admission using the repertory grid and the grids analysed using the principal component technique (INGRIDA). Three self‐elements were examined: self‐when‐sober, self‐when‐drunk, and ideal self. Sober‐ideal self distance was below average in 90 per cent and drunk‐ideal above average in 83 per cent, suggesting unrealistically favourable perceptions of sobriety and unrealistically unfavourable perceptions of drunkenness. The percentage of total variation accounted for by the first two components (VAR1 + VAR2) was generally high, suggesting tightness of construing. The first grid did not predict treatment completion. Twenty‐eight subjects completed treatment and were given a second grid test on discharge. Consistent changes in grid measures with treatment were not apparent. Forty‐nine subjects were followed up six months after discharge. For the 28 who had completed treatment, tightening of construing during treatment (i.e. a higher value of VAR1 + VAR2 in the second grid than in the first) was associated with drinking at follow‐up. Measures derived from the first grid alone or from the second grid alone were not associated with status at follow‐up.
Attribution and intervention in self‐poisoning
Authors: Jack Raymond L. , Williams J. Mark G.
Published: July 2011

This paper discusses factors which have affected progress in the primary and secondary prevention of suicidal behaviour. An attributional model of helping and coping described by Brickman and his colleagues (1982) is used to suggest that the match or mismatch between attitudes and attributions of helpers and helped is critical in determining (a) whether or not people seek help when in a crisis, and (b) whether or not people respond to help when they receive it. The evidence for the efficacy of cognitive‐behavioural problem‐solving therapies is reviewed in the light of their ability to take account of matches or mismatches in attitudes towards helping and being helped.
Issues of methodology, design and analytic procedure in psychological research on stress
Authors: Schafer John , Fals‐Stewart William
Published: July 2011

The research literature on stress has grown disproportionately to actual advances in the field. The authors review issues that may underlie this lack of progress within four general domains: (1) conceptualization and operationalization; (2) measurement; (3) design; and (4) analysis.
A comparative study of psychotherapy referrals
Authors: Chiesa M.
Published: July 2011

This retrospective study examines the effects of a change in policy in the method of offering appointments for assessment to patients referred to an out‐patient psychotherapy service. It was anticipated that the new system would reduce the frequency of non‐attendance (DNAs) at assessment interviews, increase the proportion of attenders judged suitable for psychotherapy and reduce the proportion of early dropouts amongst those commencing therapy.

Results confirmed a reduction in DNAs, but suitability for therapy was not enhanced, nor did the rate of early dropouts diminish. With the new system, proportionately fewer referrals were assessed and fewer commenced therapy, suggesting that it has created a barrier to use of the service.
Changes in depression and personal construing following assessment for dynamic psychotherapy
Authors: Tibbies Paul N.
Published: July 2011

This paper reports a study based on a group of 12 out‐patients whose mood and personal construing were monitored before and after assessment of suitability for dynamic psychotherapy. Changes in the construct system were found, but not in the predicted direction. These changes included reduced differentiation, tightening of constructs and a subsequent loss of the ability to cope with contradiction and ambivalence. The self‐concept remained unchanged, but the patients' mood improved. Due to the lack of correspondence between the predicted changes and the actual changes, this paper goes on the examine the various possible factors influencing the relationship between personal construing, depression and the assessment interview.
How dysfunctional are the dysfunctional attitudes in another culture?
Authors: Şahin Nesrin H. , Şahin Nail
Published: July 2011

The Dysfunctional Attitude Scale (DAS‐A) has been used in many studies to measure depressogenic attitudes, vulnerability to depression and to assess the effectiveness of cognitive therapy. Despite its frequent use in research, no data have yet been reported on its item validity. The purpose of the present study was to investigate the item validity and psychometric properties of the DAS‐A in the Turkish cultural context. The subjects were 345 university students. The locally adapted versions of the Beck Depression Inventory and the Automatic Thoughts Questionnaire were also administered. The reliability coefficients and the factor structure of the DAS‐A were found to be similar to those reported in the West. However, the total mean was found to be unusually high. The reason for this elevated mean score was found to reside in the response patterns of the subjects to the reverse items. None of these 10 reverse items discriminated the dysphoric and non‐dysphoric groups. A closer examination revealed these 10 items to reflect autonomous attitudes. It seems that these 10 reverse items do nothing but distort the mean scores and render cross‐cultural comparisons difficult. Recent research on depression shows that, while autonomy may or may not be related to depression, sociotropy has consistent association with it. Researchers in other cultures and those working with minority and immigrant groups are warned against this bias inherent in the DAS‐A.
Possible effects of the popular and medical recognition of bulimia nervosa
Authors: Habermas Tilmann
Published: July 2011

Historical changes in psychological symptoms are analysed not only from a social causation approach but also from a labelling perspective. Modern eating disorders lend themselves to such an analysis because of their historical variability. Effects of the introduction and dispersion of the psychiatric concept of ‘ bulimia nervosa’ at normal body weight and its propagation through the mass media are examined (relying on Devereux's model of ‘ethnic disorders’). Data of an exploratory interview study with 39 bulimic patients evaluated along these lines (a) indicate that the recognition of bulimia has facilitated seeking of professional and non‐professional help, (b) invite categorization of bulimic behaviour implying less self‐blame, (c) render imitation of bulimia more probable, and (d) covary with less secretive illness behaviour indicating a broadening of underlying motivations.
The impact of a death on fellow hospice patients
Authors: Honeybun Jeremy , Johnston Marie , Tookman Adrian
Published: July 2011

The study was designed to examine the impact of a patient's death on other patients in a hospice. Following pilot work, 11 patients who had shared a room with a patient who had died were compared with nine who had been in the hospice for a similar amount of time, but had not witnessed the death of another patient. Those who had witnessed a death were significantly less depressed on a standard measure of emotional distress (the HAD). They also rated the death of another patient as significantly more comforting than distressing. Thus the results point to the benefits rather than disadvantages for patients of witnessing the death of another patient in the hospice.
The effect of pre‐assessment information on clients' satisfaction, expectations and attendance at a mental health day centre
Authors: Webster Adrian
Published: July 2011

An information sheet describing the nature of initial assessment sessions was sent to people referred to a mental health day centre. This study examines the effect of receiving the information on attendance at assessment, expectations of the session and subsequent satisfaction. A group of subjects who were sent the information were compared with a control group who were not. The former group were more likely to attend the initial appointment (82 per cent attended) than those who did not receive the information (57 per cent attended). Of those subjects who attended, the experimental group expressed greater satisfaction overall and with the session itself. There were no differences between the groups on other satisfaction measures, levels of state anxiety and expectations. It is concluded that the effect of the information sheet is most likely to be mediated by changes in satisfaction levels which may be raised by increased levels of personal attention.
A cross‐cultural evaluation of expectations about psychological counselling
Authors: Balabil Suzanne , Dolan Bridget
Published: July 2011

This study investigated differences in British Asian and white people's expectations about psychological counselling. Ninety‐eight general practice subjects not anticipating counselling completed the Expectations About Counselling (EAC) questionnaire. There were significant differences on 10 of 18 EAC subscales relating to client and counsellor attitudes and characteristics, and counselling process and outcome.