bluuebunny/crossref_metadata_2025_split huggingface dataset:
Mental health effects of job loss in women
Authors: Dew Mary Amanda , Bromet Evelyn J. , Penkower Lili 
Published: July 2009

SynopsisThis paper reviews literature on the mental health effects of involuntary job loss among women. In addition, a prospective study of the effects of job loss on psychological distress in a cohort of blue-collar women is described. A total of 141 women, of whom 73 were laid off during the 12-month study period, were examined. The occurrence and duration of lay-off was significantly associated with increased depressive symptoms, but not anxiety-related symptoms, even after effects of pre-lay-off psychological symptoms, social supports and occupational stress were considered. There was no evidence that these effects of lay-off were moderated by other characteristics measured prior to lay-off. Among women who were laid off, those who reported poor levels of support from their husband or partner in the immediate aftermath of lay-off and those experiencing more financial difficulties during the lay-off had higher depression levels at follow-up. The nature of the lay-off as a chronic psychosocial stressor is discussed.
‘Mentally disordered persons found in public places’ Diagnostic and social aspects of police referrals (Section 136)
Authors: Turner T. H. , Ness M. N. , Imison C. T. 
Published: July 2009

SynopsisA survey over 2 years of all Police Referrals (Section 136 of the Mental Health Act 1983) in an inner-city health district identified 163 cases, with a core group of repeat referrals. Previous psychiatric admissions, a diagnosis of schizophrenia, social deprivation, and a bias towards young men of Afro-Caribbean ethnicity were key features. The difficulty of obtaining clear data and uncertainties within the law rebound unfairly on patients, police and psychiatrists. Section 136, while not inappropriate diagnostically, can be seen as highlighting unmet social and medical needs in the context of community care. The requirement for coordinated resources, including acute in-patient services sufficient for deprived populations and legal provision for treatment beyond a hospital's boundaries, seems paramount.
Cotard delusion after brain injury
Authors: Young A. W. , Robertson I. H. , Hellawell D. J. , De Pauw K. W. , Pentland B. 
Published: July 2009

SynopsisA right-handed young man with contusions affecting temporo-parietal areas of the right cerebral hemisphere and some bilateral frontal lobe damage became convinced that he was dead (the Cotard delusion), and experienced difficulties in recognizing familiar faces, buildings and places, as well as feelings of derealization. Neuropsychological investigation while these symptoms were resolving revealed impairment on face processing tests. We suggest that these impairments contributed to his Cotard delusion by heightening feelings of unreality, and that the underlying pathophysiology and neuropsychology of the Cotard delusion may be related to other problems involving delusional misidentification.
The Gulf War and its impact on burnout and well-being of working civilians
Authors: Kushnir Talma , Melamed Samuel 
Published: July 2009

SynopsisBurnout signifies the chronic depletion of coping resources following prolonged exposure to emotionally charged demands. It is manifested by symptoms of emotional, physical and cognitive exhaustion, and is usually studied in relation to occupational stressors. We hypothesized that the major life crisis engendered by missile attacks would give rise to burnout or exacerbate preexisting burnout symptoms. We also hypothesized that individuals suffering from prewar burnout would appraise the war as being more threatening and would be more vulnerable to upper respiratory infections (URI). Wartime and pre-war (baseline) levels of burnout and related symptomatology (cognitive weariness, listlessness, tension and somatic complaints) were compared among 162 Israeli civilians who carried on with their employment duties throughout the Gulf War. We found that the war impacted primarily on younger individuals (age < 45). All the pre-war levels of the above measures increased significantly (except for a marginal increase in tension). The impact of the war was mediated by threat appraisal, as indicated by worry and apprehension. Worry was positively associated with pre-war burnout, and negatively with age and education. Pre-war burnout was associated positively with wartime URIs. It was concluded that the war accelerated the depletion of coping resources and that burnout may be affected by factors other than occupational stress.
Mental health in the oil industry: a comparative study of onshore and offshore employees
Authors: Parkes Katharine R. 
Published: July 2009

SynopsisFew empirical studies have examined the mental health of workers on North Sea oil and gas installations, and it is unclear from the available literature whether offshore employees show impaired mental health relative to their onshore counterparts. The present study was intended to clarify this issue by direct comparison of the General Health Questionnaire (GHQ) scores of onshore and offshore personnel engaged in similar work. As compared with published data, only the onshore group showed low GHQ-12 scores, although both groups were low in neuroticism. Analysis of GHQ subscale scores demonstrated that anxiety was significantly higher among offshore workers than among those working onshore, but there were no significant differences in somatic symptoms or social dysfunction. Regression analyses showed that this result was not affected by control for age, job level, and neuroticism, although there was a significant interaction between job level and neuroticism in predicting anxiety. The nature of the offshore environment, and the factors which may play a causal role in elevated anxiety among offshore workers, are discussed.
Depression and reduced natural killer cytotoxicity: a longitudinal study of depressed patients and control subjects
Authors: Irwin Michael , Lacher Ute , Caldwell Cindy 
Published: July 2009

SynopsisCross-sectional studies have demonstrated that natural killer (NK) cell activity is reduced in depression. To extend these observations and examine further the association between severity of depressive symptoms and values of NK activity, this study used a longitudinal case control design and assessed NK cytotoxicity at intake and at follow-up 6 months after discharge from the hospital in depressed patients and control subjects. From acute hospitalization to follow-up, depression scores significantly (P< 0·01) decreased following treatment in the depressed patients but did not change in the control subjects. NK activity significantly (P< 0·05) increased from intake to follow-up in the depressives while lytic activity did not change in the controls. At intake NK activity was significantly (P< 0·01) reduced in the depressed patients as compared to values in the controls, while at follow-up cytotoxicity was similar between the two groups. These longitudinal data suggest that a reduction of NK cytotoxicity is temporally associated with the state of acute depression.
Neuropsychological evidence of reductions on left frontal tests with hypnosis
Authors: Gruzelier John , Warren Kristen 
Published: July 2009

SynopsisIndividuals with high and low susceptibility to hypnosis were compared in a baseline condition and after instructions of hypnosis on tests of anterior left and right hemispheric functions – word fluency to letter categories, word fluency to semantic categories, design fluency and bilateral finger tapping dexterity. With hypnosis high susceptibles showed a reduction in word generation to letter categories, no significant change in word generation to semantic categories, an improvement in design fluency, and bilateral reductions in finger tapping dexterity. Low susceptibles showed the opposite changes except for the improvement in design fluency. These results, together with correlational results, were interpreted as evidence of central inhibitory processes, particularly of the left hemisphere, in response to instructions of hypnosis in high susceptibles.
Parental ‘affectionless control’ as an antecedent to adult depression: a risk factor refined
Authors: Mackinnon Andrew , Henderson A. S. , Andrews Gavin 
Published: July 2009

SynopsisIt has been well established that individuals with a history of depression report their parents as being less caring and more overprotective of them than do controls. ‘Affectionless control’ in childhood has thus been proposed as a risk factor for depression. Evidence is presented from a logistic regression analysis of data from a volunteer community sample that lack of care rather than over-protection is the primary risk factor. No evidence for an interaction effect of low care and over-protection was found.
Psychiatric disorders in relation to medical illness among patients of a general medical out-patient clinic
Authors: Van Hemert Albert M. , Hengeveld Michiel W. , Bolk Jan H. , Rooijmans Harry G. M. , Vandenbroucke Jan P. 
Published: July 2009

SynopsisIn many patients clinical care in general medical settings is complicated by the presence of psychiatric disorders in addition to the presenting physical symptoms. In the present study the prevalence and type of psychiatric disorders was assessed in relation to the medical diagnostic findings in a general internal medicine out-patient clinic. The Present State Examination, a standardized psychiatric interview, was used to detect psychiatric disorders in 191 newly referred patients. Psychiatric disorders were found to be particularly prevalent among patients with medically ill-explained or unexplained symptoms. The prevalence of psychiatric disorders was 15% for patients with a medical explanation for their presenting symptom, 45% for patients with ill-explained and 38% for those with unexplained symptoms. Approximately 40% of the patients with psychiatric disorders met DSM-III-R criteria for somatization disorder or hypochondriasis, suggesting that these disorders contributed in particular to general medical out-patient referrals.
Influences upon attendance at out-patient facilities – the contribution of linear-logistic modelling
Authors: Dowdney Linda , Rogers Christina , Dunn Graham 
Published: July 2009

SynopsisThe research on attendance at out-patient psychiatric facilities has produced conflicting evidence that provides little guidance for the practitioner. It is suggested that inadequate data exploration could explain some of the discrepant findings. Analyses of multi-way tables using linear–logistic models were undertaken to demonstrate patterns of association that cannot be revealed through the use of simple chi-square tests on two-way contingency tables. The variables chosen for these analyses were those that have produced conflicting findings in the literature on children's attendance at child guidance facilities.
Some psychometric properties of the CAMCOG
Authors: Lindeboom J. , Ter Horst R. , Hooyer C. , Dinkgreve M. , Jonker C. 
Published: July 2009

SynopsisThe CAMCOG, the cognitive section of the Cambridge Examination for Mental Disorders of the Elderly (CAMDEX), was administered twice to 53 patients with a clinical diagnosis ranging from no dementia to severe dementia. The stability of the total CAMCOG score was high (0·97). Patients with less than moderate dementia were differentiated well by the total score and by subscales with a range of more than 8 points, except when education was low or age was higher than 78. Because performance on most (sub)scales is modified by age and education level, stratified norms are desirable. Only the Praxis subscale, and specifically performance on drawing tasks, appeared to be influenced by depression.
The Research Unit of the Servizio di Psicologia Medica at the Institute of Psychiatry of the University of Verona, 1980–1991
Authors: Tansella M. 
Published: July 2009

SynopsisThere has been an adult psychiatry research group within the Institute of Psychiatry of the University of Verona since 1970. However, in 1980, the University of Verona established a Chair in Medical Psychology and since that time a separate department gradually developed. This department, primarily devoted to epidemiological studies in mental health and to teaching activities, was later involved also in clinical work and was officially recognized by the Regional Health Department and by the Local Socio Health authorities (ULSS No. 25, Verona), asServizio di Psicologia Medica. They provided additional financial support and new infrastructures not only for its clinical activities but also for research carried out in its Research Unit.
The pathophysiology of extrapyramidal side-effects of neuroleptic drugs
Authors: Marsden C. D. , Jenner P. 
Published: July 2009

SYNOPSISThe mechanisms responsible for the production of major extrapyramidal side-effects (parkinsonism, akathisia, acute dystonic reactions, chronic tardive dyskinesias) are reviewed in the light of the complex effects of these drugs on cerebral dopamine systems.
A comparative evaluation of the Symptom Rating Test and the Langner 22-item Index for use in epidemiological surveys
Authors: Cochrane Raymond 
Published: July 2009

SYNOPSISA systematic evaluation was made of the reliability, validity and psychometric properties of the Symptom Rating Test Langner 22-Item Scale in the order to determine whether they are suitable for use in community surveys of psychiatric epidemiology. On the basis of studies on several samples (total N = 846), both scales were shown to be suitable for this purpose. Although the subscale structure of the Symptom Rating Test was not confirmed, it appeared superior in most respects to the Langner Scale
Auditory hallucinations and the Verbal Transformation Effect
Authors: Catts S. V. , Armstrong M. S. , Norcross K. , McConaghy N. 
Published: July 2009

SYNOPSISIn an attempt to replicate findings reported by Slade (1976), 12 hallucinating and 12 non-hallucinating schizophrenic subjects were compared on tests of verbal ability, personality and mental imagery variables and the Verbal Transformation Effect. No significant difference between the groups was demonstrated. When the data from both groups of schizophrenics were combined, a significant correlation was found between 2 measures of the Verbal Transformation Effect and the P-score of the Eysenck Personality Questionnaire.
A comparison of written and postbox forms of the Leyton Obsessional Inventory
Authors: Snowdon John 
Published: July 2009

SYNOPSISTwo groups of medical students answered a modified version of the Leyton Obsessional Inventory twice, with 8 weeks between tests. On one occasion it was administered in its original card-sorting (postbox) form; on the other, it was given as a written questionnaire. Fifty students answered the postbox form first, 50 the questionnaire first. Correlation between the 2 tests was reasonably good (r = 0·73–0·77). Scores on the first occasion of testing were significantly higher than on the second, but differences between scores on the 2 forms were not significant. Mean scores of male and female students were similar.
Consultant psychiatrists and abortion
Authors: Waite Marjorie 
Published: July 2009

SYNOPSISIn 1971 a national random sample of 388 consultant psychiatrists answered questions about their views and practices in relation to abortion. Ten per cent of the consultants who saw relevant age groups had no patients for abortion assessment in 1970, while 5% had 100 or more (mean estimated number = 26). The process of referral, consultation, decision-making, and follow-up is looked at, as are the psychiatrists' views on abortion. Their views and practices are seen to vary with their religion and with their links with teaching hospitals, although not with their age, sex, or marital status.
Acute effects of diphenylhydantoin in relation to plasma levels: Behavioural and psychophysiological studies
Authors: Ideström C.-M. , Schalling D. , Carlquist U. , Sjöqvist F. 
Published: July 2009

SynopsisTwo double-blind experiments are reported in which different doses of diphenylhydantoin were compared with placebo. Drug effects on tests, psychophysiological measures, and self-ratings of mood were studied in normal subjects and related to plasma levels of the drug and psychasthenic personality traits. Significant sedative effects were obtained in some self-rating variables. The combined effect in the objective psychological tests was significantly correlated (rank) to the plasma level in the higher dose experiment.
The interrelationship between social class, early parent death, and mental illness
Authors: Birtchnell John 
Published: July 2009

SynopsisThe study aims to determine (1) the extent to which parental social class influences the incidence of early parent death; (2) the effect of parental social class on the outcome of early parent death, in terms of vulnerability to adult mental illness; (3) whether early parent death affects the age of terminating full-time education; and (4) whether early bereaved subjects lag behind their non-bereaved contemporaries in social class status. The study shows that parental social class does influence the outcome of early parent death and that early bereaved subjects do lag behind in social class status.
The Schreber case and affective illness: a research diagnostic re-assessment
Authors: Koehler Karl G. 
Published: July 2009

SynopsisA significant part of Schreber's illness up to the time of his dramatic ‘schizophrenic switch’ in February 1894 has been systematically re-evaluated in terms of the Research Diagnostic Criteria (RDC) and of certain additional phenomenological characteristics. On this basis it seems that Schreber suffered from a severe major psychotic depressive disorder with tendencies towards bipolarity for the period in question. A more global, non-systematic RDC-oriented interpretation is then offered for the remaining course of the illness until Schreber's death in 1911.
Suicide by burning as an epidemic phenomenon: an analysis of 82 deaths and inquests in England and Wales in 1978–9
Authors: Ashton John R. , Donnan Stuart 
Published: July 2009

SynopsisAn epidemic of suicide by burning in England and Wales occurred during the one-year period October 1978 to October 1979, following a widely publicized political suicide. For the 82 cases, death certificates were obtained and coroners' inquest reports sought. The victims were predominantly young single men or older married women; both groups had strong psychiatric histories; and there were no suicides which had political overtones, apart from the index case. Compared with suicides by this method in the past, a higher proportion of victims were born in the UK. It is proposed that a code of practice for the reporting of suicides by the media is required.
Types of stressful life event and the onset of anxiety and depressive disorders
Authors: Finlay-Jones Robert , Brown George W. 
Published: July 2009

SynopsisThe notions of loss and danger are briefly described. Two groups of raters in London and Canberra were shown to be reliable in rating the degree of loss and the degree of danger associated with a sample of life events previously rated as ‘severe’ on a contextual measure of long-term threat. The life events were reported by 164 young women attending a general practitioner in London. The women were interviewed by a psychiatrist using the Present State Examination. Their psychiatric symptoms were rated by a team of raters who were ignorant of the life events reported by the young women. Three types of cases of psychiatric disorder of recent onset were diagnosed: depression, anxiety, and mixed depression/anxiety. The frequency of life events reported by these three types of cases as occurring in the year before the onset of their disorder was compared with the frequency of events in the same time period reported by a group of women without severe psychiatric disorder. The results were used to argue that severe loss was a causal agent in the onset of depressive disorder and severe danger was a causal agent in the onset of anxiety states in this sample. Cases of mixed depression/anxiety were more likely to report both a severe loss and a severe danger before onset. This supported the argument for recognizing a distinct group of mixed disorders in the classification of depressive illnesses.
Social class, parental social class, and social mobility in psychiatric patients and general population controls
Authors: Birtchnell John 
Published: July 2009

SYNOPSISPrevious studies have suggested that, because of the chronic and disabling nature of mental illness, psychiatric patients do not fare as well in their careers as they should do. In the present study the parental social class, the current social class and the social mobility has been compared in 2,861 male referrals to the psychiatric services in North-Eastern Scotland and 1,487 men randomly selected from the local population. Within the psychiatric sample similar comparisons have been made between diagnostic groups. In all three aspects of social class considered decade of birth was shown to be an important variable.
Grid test for schizophrenic thought disorder in acute and chronic schizophrenia
Authors: Spelman Michael S. , Harrison Arthur W. , Mellsop Graham W. 
Published: July 2009

SYNOPSISOn the Intensity measure of the Grid Test acute and chronic thought disordered schizophrenics were significantly different from controls, and acute non-thought disordered schizophrenics significantly different from acute thought disordered schizophrenics. The difference between chronic thought disordered and non-thought disordered schizophrenics just failed to reach the 10% level of significance. On the Consistency measure results were variable. Only the acute non-thought disordered schizophrenics were significantly different from the acute and chronic thought disordered schizophrenics. The findings are discussed.
Ontogenesis of chronic epileptic psychoses: a reanalysis
Authors: Taylor David C. 
Published: July 2009

SYNOPSISAs part of a study of various aspects of differential development between the sexes, the series of patients with epileptic psychoses published by Slater, Beard, and Glithero (1963) was reanalysed in the light of a hypothesis of differential cerebral maturation. As predicted by the hypothesis, females had an earlier onset of epilepsy and of psychosis than males. Whereas the sex ratio in epilepsy normally shows an excess of males, the sex ratio in epileptic psychoses is almost equal. Unlike most chronic temporal lobe epilepsies, the epilepsies which were later associated with psychosis arose largely within a specific developmental epoch around the pubertal growth spurt. Some of the clinical and biological implications of this finding are discussed.
The EEG in antisocial behaviour: a study of posterior temporal slow activity in Special Hospital patients
Authors: Fenton G. W. , Tennent T. G. , Fenwick P. B. C. , Rattray N. 
Published: July 2009

SYSNOPSISTwo samples of Special Hospital patients who had posterior temporal slow wave foci were selected and matched for age, sex, and duration of stay with patients from the same hospital who had normal EEG records. A high prevalence of between 20 and 31% was found. No significant differences were found between the index and control groups with regard to a number of developmental, forensic, psychiatric, behavioural, and psychometric variables. A striking feature was the high average age of almost 30 years of the posterior temporal slow wave patients. This finding suggests that the current maturation defect hypothesis in relation to cerebral function in psychopaths requires revision. The possible role of early social and environmental factors in the genesis of these EEG anomalies is discussed.