A discussion of hospital social atmosphere profiles and their relevance to effectiveness.

Recent data purporting to show that hospital social atmospheres lead to hospital effectiveness were questioned on the basis of sampling, design, and strong indications that an alternative explanation was as reasonable as the one put forward by the authors. (PsycINFO Database Record (c) 2010 APA, all rights reserved)     

Opinions about mental illness in the personnel of two large mental hospitals.

The present research is directed at clarifying the attitudes of the people who work with psychiatric patients. A sample of over 1000 such individuals, ranging from office and kitchen help to psychiatrists in 2 VA hospitals, filled out a specially devised attitude scale. Factor analysis isolated 5 major factors: 2 reflecting negative attitudes (one in which their difference and inferiority to normals was stressed, the other reflecting a desire to place strong social restrictions on them both during and after hospitalization); 2 positive attitude factors (one based on an almost moral sense of obligation to help unfortunates, the other on more professional attitudes towards their treatability). The 5th factor was defined by attitudes towards etiology of psychiatric illness in relation to psychological development. Clear-cut differences of opinion were at the different levels of professional training. (PsycINFO Database Record (c) 2010 APA, all rights reserved)     

Social consequences of mental illness.

The person who is publicly known to have had a hospitalization for "mental illness" was inferred to be vulnerable to a sharp depreciation of social esteem in a wide range of social roles. Cross-validation across samples of Ss and across time indicated that the frame of reference of the normal adult population, as to the role status of ex-mental-hospital patients, is both general (widely consensual) and specific (differentiated from other negative social roles that evoke anxiety and fear and carry a social stigma). 2 broad dimensions were postulated to underlie the evaluative complex for ex-mental-hospital patients—an "anxiety-fear" dimension and a "sympathy-contempt" dimension. (32 ref.) (PsycINFO Database Record (c) 2010 APA, all rights reserved)     

Mental illness and mental retardation: Message from the President of the United States relative to mental illness and mental retardation.

2 health problems of critical size and tragic impact are mental illness and mental retardation. "There are now about 800,000 such patients in this Nation's institutions—600,000 for mental illness and over 200,000 for mental retardation." A 3-fold attack is proposed: (a) Ascertain causes and eradicate them. (b) Strengthen underlying resources of knowledge and of skilled manpower. (c) Strengthen and improve facilities serving the mentally ill and mentally retarded. A national program for mental health is proposed which emphasizes comprehensive community mental health centers, improved care in state mental institutions, and expansion of research activities and increase in professional manpower. A national program to combat mental retardation emphasizing prevention, community services, and research is also proposed. (PsycINFO Database Record (c) 2010 APA, all rights reserved)     

The effects of sound films on opinions about mental illness in community discussion groups.

One or more sound films on mental illness were shown to adult community groups with or without group discussion, and before-and-after attitude tests were administered to evaluate opinion changes. "… a single mental health film did not produce significant changes in opinions toward mental illness in groups," with or without group discussion. "A series of three films, however, induced significant shifts of opinion in the directions intended by the film content. Degree of… change was no greater in groups which had discussed the films than in groups which had not held discussions." (PsycINFO Database Record (c) 2010 APA, all rights reserved)     

The state mental hospital in mid-nineteenth century America: A social analysis.

To determine the identity of a mental hospital, a case study of the development of a state hospital during its 1st 25 yr. is presented. The initial success of the hospital was due largely to the efforts of its leader who rejected supernatural interpretations of mental illness, and, while holding to a somatic pathology, accepted modifications that permitted a psychologically oriented therapy. (PsycINFO Database Record (c) 2010 APA, all rights reserved)     

Statement on mental illness and mental retardation.

The statement made on behalf of the American Psychological Association is in support of Senate Bills 755 and 756 developed by Congress in response to President Kennedy's message on mental illness and mental retardation. "The psychologist is vitually concerned with the problems of mental disorders and of mental retardation. He is especially interested in research, and in the provision of services to people through the organized agencies of society, such as the public schools, community mental health centers, hospitals, institutions for the retarded, and rehabilitation agencies of many kinds." (PsycINFO Database Record (c) 2010 APA, all rights reserved)     

Introduction to special section: Mental retardation and mental illness.

Historically, the perceived relation between mental illness and mental retardation has undergone substantial changes. During the past 2 centuries, clinical observations and systematic research addressing these 2 constructs have developed along separate lines. Consequently, the pathogenesis and treatment of psychopathology, emotional disorders, and behavior problems experienced by individuals with mental retardation have not been the purview of mainstream clinical psychology. This article initiates a special section on mental retardation and mental illness to provide up-to-date summaries of various key clinical and research issues regarding this population (i.e., individuals with "dual diagnoses"). (PsycINFO Database Record (c) 2010 APA, all rights reserved)     

Research definitions of mental health and mental illness.

The conceptual and methodological difficulties involved in each of the various categories of definitions of mental health outlined in this review are discussed. Suggestions for further research are presented. (PsycINFO Database Record (c) 2010 APA, all rights reserved)     

Randomized trial of social rehabilitation and integrated health care for older people with severe mental illness.

Objective: The Helping Older People Experience Success (HOPES) program was developed to improve psychosocial functioning and reduce long-term medical burden in older people with severe mental illness (SMI) living in the community. HOPES includes 1 year of intensive skills training and health management, followed by a 1-year maintenance phase. Method: To evaluate effects of HOPES on social skills and psychosocial functioning, we conducted a randomized controlled trial with 183 older adults with SMI (58% schizophrenia spectrum) age 50 and older at 3 sites who were assigned to HOPES or treatment as usual with blinded follow-up assessments at baseline and 1- and 2-year follow-up. Results: Retention in the HOPES program was high (80%). Intent-to-treat analyses showed significant improvements for older adults assigned to HOPES compared to treatment as usual in performance measures of social skill, psychosocial and community functioning, negative symptoms, and self-efficacy, with effect sizes in the moderate (.37–.63) range. Exploratory analyses indicated that men improved more than women in the HOPES program, whereas benefit from the program was not related to psychiatric diagnosis, age, or baseline levels of cognitive functioning, psychosocial functioning, or social skill. Conclusions: The results support the feasibility of engaging older adults with SMI in the HOPES program, an intensive psychiatric rehabilitation intervention that incorporates skills training and medical case management, and improves psychosocial functioning in this population. Further research is needed to better understand gender differences in benefit from the HOPES program. (PsycINFO Database Record (c) 2010 APA, all rights reserved)     

Social psychological correlates of mental illness and mental health.

If there is ever to be a single comprehensive theory and/or research program concerned with the etiology of mental illness, the widely diversified empirical and theoretical findings will have to be meaningfully integrated. The present paper critically reviews theories and research from the environmental-demographic level and the interpersonal level. The large number of phenotypical relationships reported have led only to vaguely formulated and speculative interpretations suggesting the need for a reformulation which will suggest genotypes. (PsycINFO Database Record (c) 2010 APA, all rights reserved)     

Review of The mental hospital. A study of institutional participation in psychiatric illness and treatment.

Reviews the book, The mental hospital. A study of institutional participation in psychiatric illness and treatment by Alfred H. Stanton and Morris S. Schwartz (see record 2005-02933-000). This is a rich and rewarding book. It is a report of research, conducted in collaboration by a psychiatrist and a sociologist, into the social organization of a psychiatric hospital and into the effects of this social organization on the behavior of patients. Although it is primarily intended as a contribution to administrative psychiatry, it is also a major contribution to the general literature of social science and, in particular, to the broad area of personality and social structure. (PsycINFO Database Record (c) 2010 APA, all rights reserved)     

Mental illness, milieu therapy, and social organization in ward groups.

"It was concluded that as degree of mental illness increases, there is a decrease in social organization and social relationship involving positive or negative feelings. This process appears to be reversed by milieu therapy." (PsycINFO Database Record (c) 2010 APA, all rights reserved)     

The myth of mental illness.

"My aim in this essay is to raise the question 'Is there such a thing as mental illness?' and to argue that there is not." Major sections are: Mental Illness as a Sign of Brain Disease; Mental Illness as a Name for Problems in Living; The Role of Ethics in Psychiatry; Choice, Responsibility, and Psychiatry; and Conclusions. Mental illness "is a myth, whose function it is to disguise and thus render more palatable the bitter pill of moral conflicts in human relations." (PsycINFO Database Record (c) 2010 APA, all rights reserved)     

Beliefs about mental illness as a functon of psychiatric status and psychiatric hospitalization.

Beliefs about mental illness were assessed among psychiatric inpatients at a VA hospital, the mental health staff responsible for their treatment, and a group of medical and surgical (control) patients. Results indicated that: (a) Psychiatric and nonpsychiatric patients generally hold similar opinions regarding mental illness. Severely disturbed psychiatric patients, however, view mental illness in more moralistic terms than do "normals." (b) Psychiatric hospitalization is generally accompanied by a change in the patient's beliefs concerning mental illness, toward those held by the staff. (c) Psychiatric patients whose beliefs about mental illness are most strikingly influenced by the staff tend to respond most favorably to treatment, as measured by length of hospital stay and gains in self-esteem during the 1st month of treatment. (PsycINFO Database Record (c) 2010 APA, all rights reserved)     

Prediction of mental illness in college students on the basis of "nonpsychiatric" MMPI profiles.

34 clinicians with varying amounts of experience and 7 inexperienced graduate students made predictions of "mental illness" based on MMPI profile data alone. Included were profiles of 70 entering freshmen, some of whom had received psychiatric treatment within approximately 2 yr. following enrollment. Of the 34 "experienced" clinicians, only 4 failed to predict better than chance expectation. Their mean percentage of "hits" (63%) was statistically reliable (p     

The science of infanticide and mental illness.

Women who murder their children have been the subject of intensive media and public scrutiny. Reactions have varied from horror at the cruelty of the act to sympathy for the perpetrator, based on the belief that the mother must have been severely mentally disordered or at least suffering from a diminished mental capacity at the time of the offense. As a result, the English and American legal systems have adopted very different legal responses to this crime. Underlying these legal positions are assumptions about the effect of childbirth on mental status and the relation of mental status to the legal criteria necessary to meet a legal defense (e.g., insanity) or necessary to justify charging the offender with a lesser crime. This article critically considers the scientific knowledge on infanticide and mental illness to determine the appropriateness of these assumptions. (PsycINFO Database Record (c) 2010 APA, all rights reserved)     

Interaction of social skill and general mental ability on job performance and salary.

Job and organizational changes have promoted the importance of social skill at work, yet research in this area has been limited. The authors investigated the interaction between social skill and general mental ability (GMA) in the explanation of job performance and salary, controlling for personality and demographic characteristics. The results indicated that the relationships between social skill and job performance were stronger among workers high than low in GMA. In a similar manner, the relationships between GMA and job performance were stronger among workers high than low in social skill. The interaction on salary indicated that increases in social skill (or GMA) for high-GMA (or social skill) individuals were associated with higher salary levels. It is interesting, however, that increases in social skill (or GMA) for those low in GMA (or social skill) contributed to lower salaries. Implications of these results and directions for future research are discussed. (PsycINFO Database Record (c) 2010 APA, all rights reserved)     

Opinions about mental illness: A review of the literature.

Describes the major measures and studies of attitudes about mental illness, mental hospitals, and mental patients. Historical trends in such attitudes are delineated, and studies of attitudes of different groups are summarized, including those of the general public, mental health professionals, college students, and mental patients. Analysis of the susceptibility of such attitudes to modification through academic or practical experience is followed by observations regarding the relation between attitudes and behavior toward mental patients. Implications for future work in this field are considered. (78 ref.) (PsycINFO Database Record (c) 2010 APA, all rights reserved)     

A social marketing approach to challenging stigma.

Providing psychological support to people with mental illness continues to be hampered by negative stigma. This article presents tools that help psychologists form partnerships with consumers to address the deleterious practice implications of stigma. This article describes a 3-stage persuasive method for attitude change regarding people with mental illness, developed and piloted in 2 antistigma social marketing campaigns by Idaho State University's Institute of Rural Health and the state of Idaho. The approach incorporates (a) methods to empower people with mental illness through a unique interactive process, (b) campaign design and distribution, and (c) methodology for evaluating effectiveness in the context of stigma. The model was applied to 2 Idaho projects, a multifaceted antistigma campaign pertaining to adult and child consumers and another regarding people of all ages with all disabilities, including mental illness. Participating in social marketing campaign development and evaluation provides new options for psychologists' practice. (PsycINFO Database Record (c) 2010 APA, all rights reserved)