bluuebunny/crossref_metadata_2025_split huggingface dataset:
Social interaction and speed of information processing following very severe head-injury
Authors: Godfrey Hamish P. D. , Knight Robert G. , Marsh Nigel V. , Moroney Bernadette , Bishara Samir N. 
Published: July 2009

SynopsisEighteen adults who had suffered a very severe closed head-injury more than 18 months previously and required long-term rehabilitative support were compared with a closely matched control group. Unlike previous studies, which have reported negative personality change involving an increase in aversive behaviour, our behavioural observation data suggest that a global reduction in behavioural productivity, or negative symptomatology, characterizes social interaction by this group. This resulted in their being judged less socially skilled, less likeable and less interesting, and thus less reinforcing to interact with. Speed of information processing was specifically impaired for the closed head-injury group, although this did not correlate with global behavioural ratings of social interaction behaviour. It is suggested that low behavioural productivity may be associated with family burden, and that the low quantity of social interaction experienced by severely head-injured adults may reflect the unreinforcing nature of their interactions.
Seasonal variation in suicide: is there a sex difference?
Authors: Micciolo Rocco , Zimmermann-Tansella Christa , Williams Paul , Tansella Michele 
Published: July 2009

SynopsisSeasonal variation in suicide in Italy for the years 1969–81 has been assessed in males and females by means of harmonic analysis. Cyclical fluctuations in the number of suicides, reasonably consistent over the 13 years of the study, have been observed in both sexes. Seasonal harmonics accounted for 65·3 and 48·4% of the variance in male and female suicides respectively. While in males the only important seasonal harmonic was the first (one cycle per year), in females there was an important first harmonic and a second harmonic (two cycles per year). In both sexes the peak of the first harmonic occurred in May, while in females the subsidiary peak occurred in October–November.
Validation of a computerized assessment (PROQSY) of minor psychological morbidity by Relative Operating Characteristic analysis using a single GP's assessments as criterion measures
Authors: Wilkinson Greg , Markus A. C. 
Published: July 2009

SynopsisThis is a study of the criterion validity of a newly developed computerized assessment (PROQSY) of minor psychological morbidity based on the Clinical Interview Schedule, employing a single GP's assessments as criterion measures of such morbidity and Relative Operating Characteristic (ROC) analysis. Two-stage screening was carried out with a consecutive sample of 256 patients aged 15 69 consulting an experienced GP in a semi-rural setting over a six-week period. The GP made a standardized assessment of the reason for consultation and the degree of psychological disorder present. A 40% random sub-sample was then assessed using PROQSY. The area under the ROC curve using a GP criterion of minor psychological disorder (‘degree of psychological problem - mild or greater’) was 081 (s.D. = 006). However, the kappa coefficient obtained between this criterion assessment and the PROQSY assessment of minor psychological problem at the observed optimal cut-off score was only 0·28 (S.E. = 0–1; z = 2.83). It is concluded that PROQSY may be recommended for further development as a research tool providing a valid measure of minor psychological morbidity as assessed by GPs in primary care settings.
The adolescence of a thirteenth-century visionary nun
Authors: Kroll Jerome , Ganck Roger De 
Published: July 2009

SynopsisAmong the most notable features of the religious revival in western Europe in the early thirteenth century was the development of mysticism among the nuns and religious women of the lowlands. As scholarly attention becomes increasingly focused on this group of remarkable women, the question arises whether a psychiatric viewpoint has something of value to offer to the understanding of such individuals and the culture in which they struggled. The methodological and intellectual problems inherent in examining the life of a thirteenth-century mystic with a twentieth-century empirical frame of reference are illustrated in this study of the adolescence of Beatrice of Nazareth. Beatrice's stormy asceticism, ecstatic states and mood swings lend themselves to potentially competing hypotheses regarding the spiritual and psychopathological significance of her adolescent development and eventual life-course. Common grounds for reconciling these alternative models are discussed.
Memory selectivity and unilateral cerebral dysfunction
Authors: Master D. R. , Thompson C. , Dunn G. , Lishman W. A. 
Published: July 2009

SynopsisThe relative speed of recall of pleasant and unpleasant experiences was investigated in patients with unilateral temporal lobe epilepsy and after unilateral temporal lobectomy. Indications have been obtained that right, but not left, temporal lobe dysfunction may impair hedonic aspects of memory selectivity.
Clinical psychiatric illness in prisoners of war of the Japanese: forty years after release
Authors: Tennant Christopher , Goulston Kerry , Dent Owen 
Published: July 2009

SynopsisClinical psychiatric and medical assessments were carried out on a randomly selected sample of Australian prisoners of war captured by the Japanese in 1942 and a sample of combatants from Pacific theatres of war who were not captured. Prisoners of war had significantly more anxiety and depressive ‘neuroses’ and more major affective illness, although the latter finding was not statistically significant. The two groups did not differ in the risk of alcohol abuse and dependence.
Experiments on clinical observation and judgement in the assessment of depression: profiled videotapes and Judgement Analysis
Authors: Bech P. , Haaber A. , Joyce C. R. B. ,   The Danish University Anti-Depressant Group (DUAG)
Published: July 2009

SynopsisVariations within and between observer-judges reduce the accuracy of clinical research. Judgement Analysis allows strategies to be developed and applied which reduce variation in judgement. The prediction that the removal of important sources of error variance by this means would reduce the likelihood of committing a Type 2 Error was supported by the application of Judgement Analysis to assessments by 15 psychiatrists of 92 patients in a clinical trial of 2 antidepressive treatments. The statistical significance of differences between the effect of the treatments on the severity of depression was increased, and significant differences appeared earlier. Ten stimulated patient profiles were also converted into narrative case histories, enacted by experienced psychiatrists or psychologists and videotaped. The participants' judgements of the overall severity of the depression were in good agreement with those they had made on the original cases. Videotapes so prepared help training to reduce variation in observation, just as Judgement Analysis can lead to reductions in the variation of judgement.
Behaviour problems in severely mentally handicapped children
Authors: Quine Lyn 
Published: July 2009

SynopsisA population study was undertaken in two health districts of children with severe mental handicap. Prevalence figures for behaviour problems are presented. A stratified random sample of 200 families was drawn from the population. Detailed structured interviews were carried out with the children's parents. The children were divided into two groups comprising those with behaviour problems and those with no problems. There was a significant association between behaviour disorder and incontinence, lack of self-help skills, poor reading, writing and counting skills, and poor communication skills. Environmental correlates were few. There were no differences between groups in family size, birth order, age of parents, marital discord, social class or income. However, behaviour problems were more common in one-parent families. An association was found between maternal stress and problem behaviour. The possible mechanisms underlying this association are discussed
Schizophrenia and mental handicap: an historical review, with implications for further research
Authors: Turner T. H. 
Published: July 2009

SynopsisThe relationship between schizophrenia and ‘mental handicap’* has been obscured by historical changes and varying diagnostic criteria. It has been generally accepted that there is an increased incidence of psychotic illness among people with intellectual retardation, but detailed community surveys are limited. Catatonia, severity of illness and research potential are all to be found in this ‘dual diagnosis’ group. The value of an historical analysis is underlined.
Gender differences in schizophrenia: rehospitalization and community survival
Authors: Angermeyer Matthias C. , Goldstein Jill M. , Kuehn Ludwig 
Published: July 2009

SynopsisThis study tested the hypothesis that schizophrenic men experience a poorer course than schizophrenic women. A representative sample from Hannover, FRG, including 278 first admission DSM-III schizophrenics, were followed for three years. Findings demonstrated that schizophrenic women experience fewer rehospitalizations, shorter lengths of stay, and survive longer in the community than schizophrenic men. Implications of the role of gender for schizophrenia are discussed.
Incidence and perception of psychosocial stress: the relationship with breast cancer
Authors: Cooper Cary L. , Cooper Rachel , Faragher E. Brian 
Published: July 2009

SynopsisThis study explored the incidence and perception of psychosocial stress among 1596 patients attending breast screening clinics and 567 controls attending a well women clinic. It was found that some major life events (e.g. death of husband, death of close friend) were significantly related to breast disease and severity. The implications of the results are discussed.
Intelligence and musical improvisation
Authors: Hermelin B. , O'Connor N. , Lee S. , Treffert D. 
Published: July 2009

SynopsisWe investigated whether somebody with a severe mental impairment could not only remember and reproduce music, but was also able to generate it. Musical improvisation requires the ability to recognize constraints and also demands inventiveness.Musical improvisations on a traditional, tonal and also on a whole tone scale composition were produced by a mentally handicapped and by a normal control musician. It was found that not only the control but also the handicapped subject could improvise appropriately within structural constraints, although with the tonal music the idiot-savant showed some stylistic latitude. It is concluded that cognitive processes such as musical input analysis, decision making, and output monitoring are independent of general intellectual status.
Validity of the Japanese version of the GHQ among antenatal clinic attendants
Authors: Kitamura T. , Sugawara M. , Aoki M. , Shima S. 
Published: July 2009

SynopsisThe validity of the Japanese version of the 30-item General Health Questionnaire (GHQ) was examined against the semi-structured interview-based Research Diagnostic Criteria (RDC) as external criteria. The GHQ total score discriminated ‘cases’ and ‘non-cases’ satisfactorily but its recommended cut-off point was higher (7/8) than that of the original English version (4/5). Discriminant function analysis revealed that only 13 items contributed to the discriminatory power and that their discriminant function score was better than a simple summation of the 30 GHQ item scores in terms of validity.
Family management in the prevention of morbidity of schizophrenia: social outcome of a two-year longitudinal study
Authors: Falloon Ian R. H. , McGill Christine W. , Boyd Jeffrey L. , Pederson Jean 
Published: July 2009

SynopsisEffective community treatment of schizophrenia involves not merely the removal of florid symptoms, but restoration of effective social role functioning. The efficacy of a family management approach is compared with an individual approach of similar intensity in terms of its impact on the patient's social adjustment after a florid episode of schizophrenia. Clinical reports, patient self-reports, and interviews with the family members of 36 patients, who were randomly assigned to family or individual management, demonstrated a consistent superiority for family management. The advantages for the family approach were sustained over a two-year period. The potential mechanisms through which the family approach may have achieved its greater efficacy are discussed from a multi-determined perspective.
Which boys respond to stimulant medication? A controlled trial of methylphenidate in boys with disruptive behaviour
Authors: Taylor E. , Schachar R. , Thorley G. , Wieselberg H. M. , Everitt B. , Rutter M. 
Published: July 2009

SynopsisThirty-eight boys, referred for psychiatric treatment because of serious problems of behaviour, underwent a double-blind, placebo-controlled, crossover trial of methylphenidate and placebo. Methylphenidate was an effective treatment over a 3-week period. A good response to methylphenidate was predicted by higher levels of inattentive and restless behaviour, impaired performance on tests of attention, clumsiness, younger age and by the absence of symptoms of overt emotional disorder. DSM-III and ICD-9 diagnoses of ‘hyperactivity’ were not good predictors. The results support the validity of a construct of hyperactivity in describing childhood psychopathology, but emphasize the need for a refinement of diagnostic criteria.
Information processing in depression and anxiety
Authors: Brand Nico , Jolles Jellemer 
Published: July 2009

SynopsisThe memory scanning performance of both unipolar and bipolar depressives and patients with anxiety states was compared with that of control subjects. Four versions of Sternberg's memory comparison task were used. Unipolar depressives showed impaired memory scanning in 3 of the tasks compared with controls, and in one task compared with patients with anxiety states. They were also slower than the other patients and controls in the non-scanning processing stages. They seemed to adopt a less efficient search strategy, and showed more controlled processing as opposed to automatic detection in a paper-and-pencil version of the task.
Neuroticism in familial depression
Authors: Katz Randy , McGuffin Peter 
Published: July 2009

SynopsisThis study examined the relationship between personality factors and depression in subjects who may have a familial vulnerability to depression (i.e. first-degree relatives of depressed patients). Four groups comprised our study sample: relatives who had never experienced a psychiatric episode of depression; relatives who had experienced a psychiatric episode of depression but were currently well; relatives who had never experienced a psychiatric episode of depression but were currently depressed; and relatives who had experienced a past history of depression and were currently depressed. Of the four personality characteristics measured (Psychoticism, Extraversion, Neuroticism and Lie), the only significant effects between groups appeared to be attributable to Neuroticism (N).The strongest association was between current illness and N. There was also a tendency for subjects with a past history of depression to have an inflated N score. However, this appeared to be associated with the presence of current depressive symptomatology. Our findings indicate that when current symptomatology is taken into account Neuroticism does not seem to reflect the trait of liability to depression, but is strongly associated with the state of being depressed.
Loss of parent in childhood and adult psychiatric disorder: the role of social class position and premarital pregnancy
Authors: Harris Tirril , Brown George W. , Bifulco Antonia 
Published: July 2009

SynopsisThis paper addresses the critique which maintains that loss of parent in a sample of female adults plays no role in determining current depression over and above that of low social class position with which such loss is associated. It examines a series of variables which combine to determine current social class position and which seem to stem from lack of adequate replacement care following loss of mother. The experience of a premarital pregnancy and the way in which women cope with it emerge as critical in this process. The relationship of low social class to the onset of depression is discussed in the light of better-known vulnerability factors such as low confiding in, and undependability of, marital partner, employment outside the home and number of children. It is concluded that a current low social class position, far from explaining away the association between loss of mother and current depression, may itself be brought about by a chain of circumstances stemming from the loss. Once again, the quality of replacement care is shown to play a critical role.
Depressive symptomatology and treatment in patients with end-stage renal disease
Authors: Hong Barry A. , Smith Marc D. , Robson Alan M. , Wetzel Richard D. 
Published: July 2009

SynopsisA sample of 60 patients selected at random from an adult population of 419 patients with end-stage renal disease was assessed for major depression. Diagnoses were based on a structured interview using DSM-III criteria. Eighteen patients (30%) met criteria for a major depression on a lifetime basis. In addition, depressive symptoms and treatment for each depressed patient are reported.
Life stress and psychosomatic symptoms among 14 to 16-year old Finnish adolescents
Authors: Aro Hillevi 
Published: July 2009

SynopsisSchool children (N = 2013) completed questionnaires in class on three occasions over a period of 17 months. Life stress data for 12 months were gathered retrospectively in the last questionnaire. Life events and interpersonal problems were associated with psychosomatic symptoms. In terms of change in symptoms, the impact of life events and interpersonal problems was demonstrated in boys but not in girls. Though boys with a history of no events or problems had lower symptom scores than girls, boys with a history of many events or problems caught up with the girls by the end of the follow-up period. On the other hand, symptom differences related to life stress scores were already apparent at the beginning of the study, and these differences were greater in girls than in boys.
Sex biases in mental health scales: do women tend to report less serious symptoms and confide more than men?
Authors: Tousignant Michel , Brosseau Roger , Tremblay Lucien 
Published: July 2009

SynopsisWomen report more symptoms than men in mental health surveys. The evidence shows that psychometric biases cannot explain this significant difference. This study attempts to explore other factors that could bias the results – for example, that women are likely to report less serious symptoms than men or are less apprehensive in reporting symptoms because they have a higher tendency to report symptoms than men. A random sample of 213 women and 222 men, all married and between the age of 25 and 40, were interviewed at home in two districts of Montreal (Canada) and given the Health Opinion Survey (HOS). As has been usually found, women scored higher than men on the HOS. A variety of scales assessed the seriousness of the symptoms and the results did not indicate any sex difference in this regard. Moreover, there was no correlation between the mental health and the Jourard Self-Confidence Scale. Finally, women did not confide more about their symptoms than men, contrary to the prevalent opinion according to which they are more likely to do so. Sex differences on mental health scales do not, therefore, appear to be related to the type of bias assessed in this survey.
Old wine in new bottles: neurasthenia and ‘ME’
Authors: Wessely Simon 
Published: July 2009

SYNOPSISThe history of neurasthenia is discussed in the light of current interest in chronic fatigue, and in particular the illness called myalgic encephalomyelitis (‘ ME ’). A comparison is made of the symptoms, presumed aetiologies and treatment of both illnesses, as well as their social setting. It is shown that neurasthenia remained popular as long as it was viewed as a non-psychiatric, neurological illness caused by environmental factors which affected successful people and for which the cure was rest. The decline in neurasthenia was related to the changes which occurred in each of these views. It is argued that similar factors are associated with the current interest in myalgic encephalomyelitis. It is further argued that neither neurasthenia nor ‘ ME ’ can be fully understood within a single medical or psychiatric model. Instead both have arisen in the context of contemporary explanations and attitudes involving mental illness. Future understanding, treatment and prevention of these and related illnesses will depend upon both psychosocial and neurobiological explanations of physical and mental fatigability.
Cortical and diencephalic lesions in Korsakoff's syndrome: a clinical and scan study
Authors: Jacobson R. R. , Lishman W. A. 
Published: July 2009

SYNOPSISTwenty-five male alcoholic Korsakoff patients were compared with age and sex-matched non-Korsakoff chronic alcoholics and healthy volunteers on clinical and CT brain scan parameters. The scans were assessed by planimetry, visual grading procedures and computerized analysis. Reliable measures of third ventricular size were developed.The Korsakoff patients had wider third ventricles, larger lateral ventricles and wider interhemispheric fissures than the comparison groups; but sulcal and Sylvian fissure widths were equivalent in Korsakoff and non-Korsakoff alcoholics.The results suggest that, in addition to their well-established diencephalic lesions, many Korsakoff patients have sustained widespread cerebral damage. Shrinkage in the frontal brain regions appears to be especially pronounced. The implications for a dual aetiology of alcoholic Korsakoff's syndrome involving thiamine deficiency and features associated with alcoholism, probably direct alcohol neurotoxicity, are discussed.
The recollection of affect
Authors: Schrader Geoffrey , Davis Anthony , Stefanovic Snezana , Christie Paul 
Published: July 2009

SYNOPSISA group of psychiatric in-patients significantly over-estimated the intensity of their depression when asked to recollect how depressed they had been one week earlier. The initial level of depression affected the accuracy of recall. Unexpectedly, patients who were more depressed initially had more accurate recall, particularly for biological and symptomatically negative items of the Zung Self-Rating Depression Scale.
The efficiency of two-phase designs in prevalence surverys of mental disorders
Authors: Newman Stephen C. , Shrout Patrick E. , Bland Roger C. 
Published: July 2009

SYNOPSISA two-phase survey of mental disorders uses a screening test to identify possible cases, thereby reducing the resources devoted to interviewing those not having the condition of interest. It is demonstrated using a mathematical model that in situations likely to be encountered in practice a two-phase design may lead to an increase in the efficiency of prevalence rate estimation, and also to an improvement in the efficiency of case detection. However, in certain applications the modest gain in efficiency may not warrant the additional complexity of a two-phase approach to data collection. Data from a survey of mental disorders in Edmonton, Canada, which collected informations on 3258 community residents using the Diagnostic Interview Schedule and the General Health Questionnaire, are used to demonstrate how two-phase methods would have changed the efficiency of an actual survey.