Change in obsessive-compulsive and avoidant personality disorders following time-limited supportive-expressive therapy.

24 patients with avoidant personality disorder (AVPD) and 14 patients with obsessive-compulsive personality disorder (OCPD; all Ss 20–65 yrs old) were assigned to 52 sessions of time-limited Supportive-Expressive dynamic psychotherapy. At intake, most Ss had least 1 concurrent depressive and/or anxiety disorder. OCPD Ss lost their personality disorder diagnoses significantly faster than did AVPD Ss. By the end of treatment, 39% of AVPD Ss still retained their diagnosis while only 15% of OCPD did so. Using hierarchical linear modeling, both patient groups improved significantly across time on measures of personality disorders, depression, anxiety, general functioning, and interpersonal problems. OCPD Ss remained in treatment significantly longer and tended to improve more than did AVPD Ss. Alliance ratings from both Ss and therapists increased significantly over time, expect for those OCPD Ss who remained constant. (PsycINFO Database Record (c) 2010 APA, all rights reserved)     

Negative and positive cognition in depressed and nondepressed chronic-pain patients.

Examined negative and positive automatic thoughts and attributional style in 60 men (aged 21–64 yrs) who were depressed chronic-low-back-pain (CLBP) patients, nondepressed CLBP patients, or healthy controls. Ss completed measures that included the Attribution Style Questionnaire and the Automatic Thoughts Questionnaire (S. D. Hollon and P. C. Kendall; see record 1981-20180-001). Depressed Ss exhibited significantly more negative automatic thoughts than nondepressed Ss and controls. Nondepressed Ss reported significantly more positive automatic thoughts than did depressed Ss and controls. No significant differences were found for attributional style. Different cognitive-behavioral interventions might be considered for depressed and nondepressed CLBP Ss. (PsycINFO Database Record (c) 2010 APA, all rights reserved)     

Visual motor performance of psychotic children.

Explored visual motor deviations by means of a Childhood Psychosis Scale applied to the Primary Visual-Motor Test protocols of 130 psychotic children (6–12 yrs), and 507 normal and retarded (IQ range 35–79) controls. 45.4% of the psychotic sample achieved critical scores on the scale as compared to 1.7% of the normal Ss and 12.9% of the retarded Ss. It was possible to match 94 of the psychotic children with nonpsychotic controls on the basis of CA and MA. Significantly more psychotics than matched controls were high scorers. Correlations with MA were moderately significant for each group. In IQ comparisons, significantly more psychotics who were retarded had critical scores than did normal-IQ psychotics. Age at diagnosis, type and length of treatment, recency of diagnosis, and degree of organicity did not discriminate between high- and low-responding psychotics. Base rate problems and theoretical aspects of the scale items are discussed. The scale appears useful as a screening device for normal and retarded children under the age of 13 yrs, with particular utility in detecting psychotic aspects of functioning among the retarded. (31 ref) (PsycINFO Database Record (c) 2010 APA, all rights reserved)     

Age differences in self-perceptions of Type A traits.

Examined whether self-perceptions of Type A (coronary prone) behavior changed during adulthood in 211 Ss from 4 age groups (30–39, 40–49, 50–59, and 60–69 yrs) who completed a Type A scale derived from the Adjective Checklist. Ss were asked to provide both concurrent and retrospective self-assessments of Type A behaviors. It was found that age and self-rated Type A traits were not significantly related. However, changes in self-perceptions of Type A traits did appear to be age-related: Ss aged 30–39 yrs perceived themselves as becoming more Type A, while Ss aged 40+ yrs perceived themselves as becoming less Type A. This shift in Type A self-perception was most prominent in Ss aged 60+ yrs. (12 ref) (PsycINFO Database Record (c) 2010 APA, all rights reserved)     

Coping with a diagnosis of multiple sclerosis.

Examined the relation between coping and depression in 38 women and 12 men (aged 21–58 yrs) recently diagnosed with multiple sclerosis (MS). A semistructured interview was used to assess how Ss coped with the onset of disabling illness, and to assess depressive symptomatology. According to Diagnostic and Statistical Manual of Mental Disorders-III-Revised (DSM-III-R) criteria, 18 Ss were diagnosed with major depression, 11 Ss were diagnosed with adjustment disorder with depressed mood, and 21 Ss did not satisfy the criteria for any affective disorder. Interview results indicate that nondepressed Ss were more likely to use present focus and avoidance/denial strategies to deal with illness onset than Ss with major depression or adjustment disorder. Discussion addresses why these strategies may be an adaptive means of dealing with the onset of MS. (PsycINFO Database Record (c) 2010 APA, all rights reserved)     

A survey of therapists' personal problems and treatment.

642 therapists drawn from mental health centers directories, psychiatric hospital and ward staff rosters, university counseling center staff lists, and telephone directory entries in Iowa were surveyed about their personal problems. 264 of 310 returned questionnaires were used in the analysis. Ss were 25–68 yrs old; their experience was 1–34 yrs; and 195 had master's-level degrees, while 69 were doctoral-level therapists. Results show that half of Ss had experienced relationship difficulties or depression. Master's-level Ss and agency employees were more likely than were other groups to have experienced depression. A substantial proportion of Ss had been in therapy, and female Ss were more likely than males to have sought therapy for depression and relationship concerns. Many Ss, particularly those working in agencies, were reluctant to seek therapy when needed for reasons such as having had prior relationships with nearby therapists and the availability of existing personal support sources. Ss in the group were likely to have been ill during the preceding 6 mo. Agency employees, psychologists, and relatively less experienced Ss missed more work days due to illness than did other groups. (52 ref) (PsycINFO Database Record (c) 2010 APA, all rights reserved)     

Cyclothymia in the adolescent offspring of parents with bipolar affective disorder.

Explored the prevalence and types of psychopathology exhibited by the adolescent and young adult offspring (n?=?37, aged 15–21 yrs) of 24 patients (mean age 48.4 yrs) with bipolar affective disorder and by the age-matched offspring (n?=?22) of 14 patients (mean age 46.7 yrs) with nonaffective psychiatric disorders. It was hypothesized that the offspring of bipolar Ss would be characterized by an increased rate of cyclothymia. Offspring received structured diagnostic interviews conducted by interviewers unaware of parental diagnosis. Anonymous diagnoses were derived based on Research Diagnostic Criteria. It was found that the offspring of bipolar Ss exhibited significantly higher rates of affective disorder in general and cyclothymia in particular than the offspring of the nonaffective controls, a finding concordant with the proposed hypothesis. The offspring groups did not differ on rates of nonaffective disorders. Results support a continuum model of bipolar disorder in which cyclothymia is viewed as a mild form of full syndromal bipolar illness. (84 ref) (PsycINFO Database Record (c) 2010 APA, all rights reserved)     

Increasing the interpersonal problem-solving skills of an alcoholic population.

64 male alcoholics aged 23–66 yrs admitted into an alcoholism treatment program at a VA hospital were assigned to either the control or treatment group. Control Ss participated in all standard treatment aspects of the program. Treatment Ss, however, participated in an additional 10 sessions of group therapy structured specifically to improve interpersonal problem-solving thinking skills. Comparisons conducted at the point of discharge (generally 6 wks after admission) demonstrated that treatment Ss had made significantly greater improvement on a measure of problem-solving thinking (Means–Ends Problem Solving procedure) than had controls. Further, a comparison of Ss' responses in a structured discharge interview demonstrated that treatment Ss were significantly more likely to anticipate and plan ahead for postdischarge problems than were control Ss. Data also reveal that the means–ends problem-solving procedure can reliably discriminate individuals within an adult alcoholic population who differ in their levels of social competence and in the quality of their planning for coping with postdischarge problems. Finally, follow-up at the 1-mo postdischarge point indicated that the majority of treatment Ss contacted had made practical use of the problem-solving principles that were taught in the group sessions. (16 ref) (PsycINFO Database Record (c) 2010 APA, all rights reserved)     

Psychopathology of social phobia and comparison to avoidant personality disorder.

Studied the clinical manifestations of social phobia in a diagnosed sample of 21 social phobics (aged 21–53 yrs). Social phobia was found to be a chronic and pervasive condition affecting a variety of life areas and producing significant emotional distress. In a 2nd study, individuals with a diagnosis of social phobia or avoidant personality disorder were compared using a subsample of 10 socially phobic Ss and a sample of 8 Ss with avoidant personality disorder (aged 30–60 yrs). Although physiological reactivity and cognitive content were essentially the same for both groups in a number of situational tasks, those Ss with a diagnosis of avoidant personality disorder were found to be more sensitive interpersonally, and exhibited significantly poorer social skill than did the social phobic Ss. Results are discussed in relation to Diagnostic and Statistical Manual of Mental Disorders (DSM-III) criteria for social phobia, the significance of social phobia as a clinical syndrome, and the research and treatment implications of the difference found between individuals with a diagnosis of social phobia and those with avoidant personality disorders. (19 ref) (PsycINFO Database Record (c) 2010 APA, all rights reserved)     

Psychopathology of eating disorders: A controlled comparison of bulimic, obese, and normal subjects.

15 bulimic females (mean age 20.8 yrs), 15 obese females (mean age 21.4 yrs), and 15 normal female controls (mean age 21.6 yrs) were administered the MMPI, the SCL-90, the Beck Depression Inventory, and a body image assessment. Results show that bulimics evidenced significantly more psychopathology than did the normal and obese Ss. In particular, bulimics were found to be more depressed, more anxious, and generally more neurotic and impulsive. Bulimics also evidenced a distorted body image in that they perceived themselves as significantly larger and desired to be significantly smaller than did height- and weight-matched controls. Bulimic and obese Ss showed some similarities in eating habits and psychopathology, especially regarding obsessiveness, impulsivity, guilt, preoccupation, and alienation. (18 ref) (PsycINFO Database Record (c) 2010 APA, all rights reserved)     

Communication skills training for divorcees.

Examined the effects of a weekend training program in communication skills for divorced persons. 13 experimental Ss—5 males, 8 females 24–50 yrs old, separated for 1–24 mo—received 2 days of interpersonal skills training, while 14 control Ss—5 males, 9 females 25–50 yrs old, separated for 1–26 mo—received no training. After training, the experimentals increased their perceived level of social support and their self-disclosure and empathy skills significantly more than the controls. (9 ref) (PsycINFO Database Record (c) 2010 APA, all rights reserved)     

Differential brain activation patterns in adult attention-deficit hyperactivity disorder (ADHD) associated with task switching.

Objective: The main aim of the study was to examine blood oxygen level–dependent response during task switching in adults with attention-deficit/hyperactivity disorder (ADHD). Method: Fifteen male adults with ADHD and 14 controls participated and performed a task-switching paradigm. Results: Behaviorally, no specific executive control problems were observed in the ADHD participants, although they did display more errors in general. The neuroimaging data did show remarkable differences between the ADHD and control adults: Adults with ADHD engaged more strongly the dorsal anterior cingulate cortex, middle temporal gyrus, precuneus, lingual gyrus, precentral gyrus, and insula than did the healthy controls during task switching. Controls displayed more task-related activity in the putamen, posterior cingulate gyrus, medial frontal gyrus, thalamus, orbitofrontal cortex, and postcentral gyrus. Conclusions: ADHD adults did not display specific executive control problems at a behavioral level, but did engage different brain areas during task switching compared with healthy controls. The results are discussed in the framework of the executive frontostriatal circuitry, conflict detection, and attentional networks. (PsycINFO Database Record (c) 2010 APA, all rights reserved)     

The impact of the Occupational Choice Strategy on the career development of rehabilitation clients.

Examination of the impact of an occupational choice strategy (OCS) on the career development of clients in a comprehensive rehabilitation center indicates that the 20 participants (aged 17–53 yrs) in OCS scored consistently higher than did the 20 control Ss on career decidedness, vocational identity, vocational self-awareness, vocational knowledge, and readiness for vocational planning. OCS Ss were also more likely than controls to persist in their rehabilitation programs. (PsycINFO Database Record (c) 2010 APA, all rights reserved)     

Social deficits in hypothetically psychosis-prone college women.

Identified hypothetically psychosis-prone female college students (aged 17–20 yrs) by scales of Physical Anhedonia (n?=?25), Perceptual Aberration (n?=?32), and Nonconformity (n?=?26) and compared them with 27 controls on a role-playing task calling for social skill in interpersonal situations. All 3 groups of experimental Ss exceeded controls on social inappropriateness of response. The anhedonic Ss were significantly more avoidant and more odd than were controls. The perceptual aberration Ss were more odd and more hostile, and the nonconformity Ss were more hostile than were controls. Nevertheless, the experimental Ss were not inferior to controls on overall skill level. (19 ref) (PsycINFO Database Record (c) 2010 APA, all rights reserved)     

Short-term memory processes in children with reading and arithmetic learning disabilities.

Examined the role of phonemic coding in short-term memory in 45 children with a reading disability, 38 children with a specific arithmetic disability, and 89 normal children, as measured by the Wide Range Achievement Test. Ss, aged 7–13 yrs, were administered a series of tasks that involved the visual or auditory presentation of rhyming and nonrhyming letters and either an oral or a written response. Younger Ss (7–8 yrs) with a reading disability did not show any difference between the recall of nonrhyming and rhyming letters, whereas normal Ss of the same age did. Older reading-disabled Ss (aged 9–23 yrs), like their normal counterparts, had significantly poorer recall of rhyming as opposed to nonrhyming letters. However, their overall levels of performance were significantly lower than normals. The same pattern was found with Ss with arithmetic disabilities for the visual presentation of stimuli. For the auditory presentation of stimuli, the performance of Ss with arithmetic disabilities resembled that of normals, except at the youngest ages. Whereas a deficiency in phonological coding may characterize younger children with learning disabilities, older children with learning disabilities appear to use a phonemic code but have a more general deficit in short-term memory. (25 ref) (PsycINFO Database Record (c) 2010 APA, all rights reserved)     

Patients' expectations as predictors of orthognathic surgery outcomes.

109 patients (aged 14–43 yrs) rated their expectations of problems associated with surgery for dentofacial malrelation 6–22 mo before surgery and completed questionnaires 5 more times over the course of 3 yrs, from just before to 2 yrs after surgery. Presurgical expectations of problems were significant predictors of postsurgical reports of experiences, dissatisfaction, and mood disturbances up to 2 yrs after surgery. Contrary to the hypothesis that vigilant copers would have better outcomes than avoidant copers, results suggest that Ss who anticipated few problems with surgery (avoidant copers) reported better psychological outcomes than Ss who expected numerous problems (vigilant copers). (PsycINFO Database Record (c) 2010 APA, all rights reserved)     

Concomitant eyeblink and heart rate classical conditioning in young, middle-aged, and elderly human subjects.

Pavlovian heart rate (HR) and eyeblink (EB) conditioning were assessed in 4 groups of Ss who differed in age: young?=?19–33 yrs, young middle-aged?=?35–48 yrs, old middle-aged?=?50–63 yrs, and old?=?66–78 yrs. A 100-msec corneal airpuff was the unconditioned stimulus/stimuli (UCS) and a 600-msec tone was the CS. A nonassociative control group received explicitly unpaired tone and airpuff presentations. All Ss were studied for 2 100-trial sessions separated by approximately 7 days. An impairment in acquisition of both the EB and HR responses occurred in the old and middle-age Ss, but all age groups showed significantly greater conditioning than did the control group. Slight increases in performance resulted from a 2nd session of training. These findings suggest and age-related impairment in a general associative process. (PsycINFO Database Record (c) 2010 APA, all rights reserved)     

Social and nonsocial behaviors of adult rhesus monkeys after amygdalectomy in infancy or adulthood.

At 6 yrs of age, 6 female rhesus monkeys that had sustained bilateral amygdalectomy in infancy and 5 intact controls were transferred to an observation cage where behaviors were recorded while the Ss were alone, paired with unfamiliar stimulus animals, and paired with familiar Ss from the opposite experimental group. The 5 adult controls then underwent amygdalectomy, and all tests were repeated with the infant- and adult-operated Ss. Infant-operated Ss changed behaviors more rapidly than did intact controls in social and nonsocial situations, and their activity levels were less modified after a 24-hr period in the observation cage. They were subordinate to intact controls but expressed less fear than did controls when briefly placed with an unfamiliar aggressive animal. Adult amygdalectomy produced many changes in behavior, but these were identical to those observed in like-age monkeys that had been amygdalectomized in infancy. Infant-operated monkeys demonstrated more behavioral deficits at 6 yrs than they had earlier in life. (49 ref) (PsycINFO Database Record (c) 2010 APA, all rights reserved)     

Perceived-competence deficit in anorexia nervosa.

Anorexia nervosa patients are portrayed as competent and accomplished, yet they feel ineffective and diffident. The assessment of this aspect of their self-esteem presents methodological problems. The Interests and Abilities Questionnaire was designed to measure interests and perceived abilities in typical adolescent activities. The disparity between interests and perceived abilities, perceived-competence deficit (PCD), was hypothesized to be characteristic of anorexics. Three groups of females (aged 14–24 yrs) were studied: 13 anorexic inpatients, 13 psychiatric inpatients without an eating disorder but of similar severity of illness, and 48 nonclinical Ss. Similar to the nonclinical controls, anorexics were interested in a variety of activities; similar to control patients, anorexics rated their abilities lower than nonclinical Ss. In PCD, anorexics scored significantly higher than both control groups; this difference was not related to level of depression. (PsycINFO Database Record (c) 2010 APA, all rights reserved)