Dyadic crisis suicides in mental hospital patients.

Studied 70 cases of completed suicide among male veterans: 50 "dyadic" (precipitated by disruption of interpersonal relations), and 20 controls (precipitated by nondyadic events). Case history and hospitalization factors, personality characteristics of both members of the dyad, characteristics of their interpersonal relationships, stresses immediately prior to the suicide, and patterns of dependency were related. The dyadic suicide group showed more (a) disordered social relationships, (b) suppression or rejection of significant others when young, (c) open dependence in varied areas, and (d) diagnoses of depression. Distinguishable, although overlapping, personality configurations emerged when the dyadic group was broken down into subgroups of strained, broken, and terminated relationships. It is concluded that the dyadic partner should be included in the treatment program of suicidal patients when the main problem is the relationship. (21 ref.) (PsycINFO Database Record (c) 2010 APA, all rights reserved)     

An outcome index for mental hospital patients.

"An Outcome Index for mental hospital patients is described. The index relates time out of hospital to follow-up period since first admission and weights their ratio differentially by number of readmission and releases. This index becomes relatively stable on a 2-year follow-up. It can be used as a criterion for prognostic efficiency, for efficacy of treatment, and for characterizing institutional policy." (PsycINFO Database Record (c) 2010 APA, all rights reserved)     

College students as companions to long-term mental hospital patients: Some considerations.

51 student volunteers for a companionship program each visited a mental hospital patient 1 hr/wk, for an average of 18 wk. Ss' ratings of certain aspects of patients' appearance and behavior correlated with psychiatric aides' ratings of patients' contact. But only the behavior ratings (rather than appearance ratings) correlated significantly with Ss' liking for the relationship. Patients' sex, education, years of hospitalization, and age were the best predictors of Ss' interest in future companionship. Some implications are that the Ss' apparent discouragement in relating to chronic patients might be lessened if experienced students were assigned to long-term patients and if the period of companionship were shortened. (PsycINFO Database Record (c) 2010 APA, all rights reserved)     

Changes in mental status of elderly patients in age-integrated and age-segregated hospital milieus.

Studied the effects of age-segregated hospital environments on cognitive functioning of 55 aged, male psychiatric patients. Changes in performance on mental status and responsiveness measures during the 1st 3 wk. after admission were compared for patients randomly assigned to an age-segregated custodial, age-integrated custodial, and a therapy ward. Ss placed in the age-integrated custodial ward and in the therapy ward showed significantly greater improvement in responsiveness and mental status than Ss placed in the age-segragated custodial ward. Effects of ward placement cut across all diagnostic groups. The therapeutic potential of age-integrated patient environments is discussed. (PsycINFO Database Record (c) 2010 APA, all rights reserved)     

Self-acceptance, acceptance-of-others, and verbal conditioning with mental hospital patients.

A previous study by the authors with military personnel demonstrated that (a) the frequency of endorsement of self-accepting questionnaire items can be increased by standard verbal conditioning techniques, and (b) this increase generalizes to similar but novel items as well as to items indicative of more positive attitudes towards others. The present study attempted to extend these findings to 60 male hospitalized psychiatric patients who scored low on a selected portion of a self-acceptance questionnaire. Experimental Ss were reinforced for accepting responses to 18 self-acceptance items on 3 successive days, while controls received no reinforcement. A postexperimental scale, comprising the original 18 self-acceptance items and an additional 32 novel items, was administered to all Ss. Results support the previous findings, showing that attitudes, which are theoretically relevant to social interaction, can be modified by means of verbal conditioning techniques. (French summary) (PsycINFO Database Record (c) 2010 APA, all rights reserved)     

Some problems in the hospital management of criminal mental patients

In view of impending new legislation in Rhodesia, a survey of 256 criminal mental patients admitted to Ingutsheni Hospital was undertaken. These patients were all treated by the author and were admitted during the 5-year period 1 January 1970-31 December 1974. Among these patients there were 113 schizophrenics (44%) and 57 epileptics (22%); these proportions are not significantly different from those previously found among civil patients. The outcome was that 86 patients (33, 6%) were discharged to stand trial, 107 (41, 8%) were discharged in terms of a recommendation by the Mental Hospital Board and 57 (22, 3%) were returned to prison. Recommendations are made for the provision of a new forensic psychiatric unit, and some of its functions are discussed.     

Two models of day hospital for elderly mental patients

Sulodexide (Vessel 2F, Italy) was given to 20 patients with diabetes mellitus type I with initial nephropathy. Urine excretion of albumin significantly fell in 18 patients and remained so in 15 patients 6 weeks after the drug discontinuation. Plasma total cholesterol tended to lowering. No changes were registered in hemostasis and carbohydrate metabolism. The authors propose combined administration of sulodexide and inhibitors of angiotensin-converting enzyme for treatment and prevention of diabetic nephropathy progression.     

Employment interviewer reactions to former mental patients.

A job applicant (male undergraduate) obtained an interview at 32 manufacturing concerns and in 16 of these places he indicated he had been traveling the preceding 9 months while in the others he said he had been in a mental hospital for the same period of time. Each interview was surreptitiously sound recorded. The recordings were rated for friendliness of interviewer behavior and probability that a job might be available there. A history of mental illness led to a trend for fewer jobs to be offered (4 in the traveling condition and 2 in the mental illness condition), less friendly behavior, and lowered estimated probability of finding a job. (PsycINFO Database Record (c) 2010 APA, all rights reserved)     

The quantity and quality of aftercare services: Relationship with recidivism in mental hospital patients.

Studied 79 16–88 yr old mental patients who were released to a 3-county area and received aftercare services. Patient information on prehospital, inhospital, and posthospital variables was collected from existing records to determine the relationship between the community support system available to the patient and 3 criteria of subsequent recidivism. Current situational factors were found to be the most important single predictors of recidivism, while the magnitude of aftercare services received was not related to recidivism. However, when variables associated with self-selection into the aftercare program were partialled out, the patient's living situation was the best predictor of recidivism, and greater aftercare costs indicating a greater amount of contact were found to be associated with a higher recidivism rate. Results suggest that aftercare services need to be directed at prevention and skill building and that aftercare should not be relied on as an intervention strategy. (French summary) (12 ref) (PsycINFO Database Record (c) 2010 APA, all rights reserved)     

The psychologist and the small mental hospital.

A brief questionnaire was sent to the directors of the 82 hospitals belonging to the National Association of Private Psychiatric Hospitals. Replies were received from 49 or 60% of the sample of which 47 could be used for tabulation. "Only two hospitals say they do not use psychological tests; four more use them occasionally; one does not say; and the other 40, or 85% of our sample, gives an unqualified 'yes.' All those hospitals giving tests even occasionally, indicate the Rorschach as routine. All but two also list the Wechsler in this way." "Only 14 of the hospitals employ full-time psychologists. 23 more employ part-time psychologists." (PsycINFO Database Record (c) 2010 APA, all rights reserved)     

Action Research: From mental hospital reform in Saskatchewan to community building in California.

Action Research was used at the Saskatchewan Hospital, Weyburn in the 1950s. The research influenced the hospital and the field of psychology. At the heart of the approach was intense collaboration between the researcher and hospital staff who were the end users of the information. Action Research is contrasted with two other models, the Academic and the Applied. Two applications of action research at Weyburn are described, followed by subsequent usage in California with consumer cooperatives and an organization for families of mental health clients. Collaboration with lay individuals changes the research process and requires trade-offs between rigour and relevance. (PsycINFO Database Record (c) 2010 APA, all rights reserved)     

Contingency control and shaping procedures to institute bedmaking behaviors in a state mental hospital.

By making cigarette smoking for the day contingent on bed making, the number of unmade beds on a locked psychiatric ward of a state mental hospital was reduced from 50%-10%. Of Ss who did not make their beds, only 1 found cigarette smoking to be enjoyable. Successive approximations were used to institute bedmaking in that S. (PsycINFO Database Record (c) 2010 APA, all rights reserved)     

Classifications and salaries of psychologists in state mental hospital systems.

Afour-and-a-half page table summarizes job classifications and salaries of psychologists in the state mental hospital systems of 42 states. The data were acquired by means of a 3-page questionnaire directed to the various mental hospital authorities. "Although functions within state systems vary, indications are that the psychologist continues to find his role in this facet of public service administratively defined as one in which psychodiagnostic skills are primary." Noteworthy, however, "was the extent to which active involvement of the psychologist was also anticipated in the treatment process, research, and teaching of other institutional personnel." 2 states "specified that candidates for their top level positions must possess an ABEPP diploma, and two more expressed the desirability for such… . Twenty-five… states evidenced some enhancement of salary in the form of maintenance or residential perquisites." Major headings in the table refer to: state, job title, educational requirement, professional experience, annual salary, and residential perquisites. (PsycINFO Database Record (c) 2010 APA, all rights reserved)     

Designing a mental health center to replace a county hospital

An architectural team worked closely with a county building committee and the administrative staff of a Wisconsin county hospital to design a new active-treatment facility. The goals included changing the hospital's negative image in the community, fostering a close relationship between all programs and all groups of users, and encouraging inpatients to make the best possible use of various treatment areas. Planning was interrupted by a community-wide controversy over the location, and the facility was eventually built on a compromise site. The new facility, a community mental health center serving two counties, has an open, split-level design accommodating six inpatient programs and a day hospital. An informal evaluation of the environment was made a year after the center was occupied.     

Ideology, personality, and institutional policy in the mental hospital.

Individual and collective modes of analysis of ideology in a mental hospital were made. In the individual ideology was assessed by a custodianism-humanism scale. In the collective unit an assessment was made with respect to the degree of custodialism in its policy requirements and in the modal ideology of its personnel. It was found that the individual preferred a custodialistic orientation which was part of a broader pattern of personal authoritarianism. In the collective unit there was found to be considerable congruence between policy, modal ideology, and modal personality. 15 references. (PsycINFO Database Record (c) 2010 APA, all rights reserved)     

The psychologist as front-line mental health consultant in a general hospital.

Describes the experiences and diverse functions of a psychologist who acts as an independent mental health consultant in a general hospital. Particular attention is paid to problems that arise when psyche and soma interface, because these problems require knowledge of biology as well as of psychology. The appropriateness of this role for the psychologist and its acceptability to referring physicians are examined. The particular strengths of the psychologist as a behavioral scientist and the need for continuing education in differential diagnosis when psychological and physiological factors interact are also explored. Professional boundaries and role relations between psychology and related professions are reviewed. (25 ref) (PsycINFO Database Record (c) 2010 APA, all rights reserved)     

Categorizing pain in patients seen in a veterans health administration hospital: Pain as the fifth vital sign.

Previous research has supported the concept of classifying pain intensity into distinct categories (of mild, moderate, and severe) based on the effects of pain on functioning. Such categories, however, have not been studied in samples of veterans. The current study sought to validate the concept of pain intensity classification in a sample of veterans with mixed types of chronic pain. There were 632 veterans referred to a pain program and asked to complete a packet of questionnaires that included a 0 to 10 measure of pain intensity and measures of pain-related interference, depressive symptomatology, and disability. The results indicated that the veterans' ratings of pain at its worst could be classified into the categories of mild, moderate, and severe, with cutpoints of a maximum rating of 3 for mild and 7 for moderate pain. The findings suggest that pain treatment studies of veterans with diverse types of chronic pain should include ratings of pain intensity at its worst that can be reliably classified as mild, moderate, or severe and related to other important outcomes such as daily function and mood. (PsycINFO Database Record (c) 2010 APA, all rights reserved)     

Interpersonal stress and pain behaviors in patients with chronic pain.

Evaluated the role of interpersonal stress in eliciting pain behavior. 34 male patients with chronic back pain and their wives participated in a randomized between-groups study examining the effects of 2 interactional conditions (i.e., maritally focused stress interview and neutral talking control task) on subsequent persistence in a physically demanding task and with self-reports of pain. Results show that a greater proportion of patients in the stress interview group terminated the physical activity task prematurely, compared with controls. (PsycINFO Database Record (c) 2010 APA, all rights reserved)     

Anxiety and pain in surgical patients.

Investigated the effects of surgery on state anxiety (A-state) and perceived pain in 59 white male surgical patients. The Melzack-Torgerson Pain Questionnaire, the State-Trait Anxiety Inventory (STAI), and the Fear of Surgery Scale (FSS) were given the day before the operation and again 10 days after surgery. Results indicate that surgery as a physical threat has an effect on A-state but not on anxiety as a personality disposition (trait anxiety; A-trait). The correlation of A-state and magnitude of reported pain postsurgery, but not presurgery, attributed to the existence of little pain variance before surgery, and to realistic concern over pain following surgery. (19 ref) (PsycINFO Database Record (c) 2010 APA, all rights reserved)     

Characteristics of college students volunteering for service to mental patients.

85 male college students volunteering for service as companions to chronically ill mental patients were compared to a group of 85 control students on a number of psychological tests administered during the students' freshmen years. These tests consisted of the MMPI, EPPS, Allport-Vernon-Lindzey Scale of Values, the Scholastic Aptitude Test, and the Terman Concept Mastery Test. Students taking part in the Companion Program are not differentiated from their control counterparts in any clinical respect. There is evidence that the companions are: (a) slightly more religiously oriented, (b) more morally concerned, (c) more compassionate, and (d) more introverted than the control students. (PsycINFO Database Record (c) 2010 APA, all rights reserved)