Dimensions in the perception of psychiatric patients by hospital staff.

Agreement among psychiatric staff and the dimensions underlying such agreement in the perception of psychiatric patients were investigated using 2 Q-sorts, a Behavior (B) deck and an Interpersonal Characteristics (IC) deck. 11 patients were each rated by 5-8 judges. Mean global agreement (r) about patients ranged from .22 to .52 on the B deck, from .20 to .43 on the IC deck; there were significant differences (p     

Physical illness and the psychiatric patient

The significance and seriousness of physical illness in mentally ill patients are often not appreciated by those responsible for the immediate care of these patients. This study highlights the nature and prevalence of physical illnesses in a large group of psychiatrically ill patients.     

Self-concept conflict indicators and learning.

"The present study tests the hypothesis that it will be more difficult to learn syllables associated with conflictual adjectives than it will be to learn syllables associated with neutral ones." On the basis of the results of the Bills-Vance-McLean Index of Adjustment and Values, six conflict and six neutral words, each paired with a nonsense syllable, are presented to 94 college freshman Ss and required to be learned by the anticipation method. The syllables paired with the conflict words require a significantly greater number of trials to learn, supporting the hypothesis of defensive behavior, in terms of elevated learning thresholds, for material associated with words identified as conflictual. 24 references. (PsycINFO Database Record (c) 2010 APA, all rights reserved)     

Establishment of compulsory confidentiality in psychiatric practice. II. Establishment of compulsory confidentiality from the viewpoint of the psychiatric patient

The article deals with experience assembled during prestructured interviews with a sample of ambulatory psychiatric patients. The author draws attention to the fact that the sample of patients was little aware of the fact of mandatory medical secret and thus unable to make use of advantages that a significant source of escape of information is medical documentation in the widest sense of the word. Conversely, the trend of social changes will, no doubt, lead to extension and more detailed information of the patient on the nature and prognosis of his disease, as it is the case in advanced countries, whereby the patient will be entitled to decide to whom and to what extent these data on his person will be provided. In future it will be necessary, by developing the legal consciousness of the public, to make people aware of the fact that secrecy on revealed facts is one of the basic legal prerequisites of work in the health services and that the provision of any information to subjects, authorities or institutions without the patient's consent or without restrictions defined by law is not permissible.     

The dental care of the psychiatric patient

The dental care of the psychiatric patient requies careful observatio and history taking. Medications used in the treatment of psychiatric illnesses demand care in treatment planning and prescibing. The nature and sequellae of many psychiatric conditions have a direct bearing on the clinical picture presented by the patient and the success of dental care. Implementation of care must have a significant component of flexibility in terms of treatment outcomes and the time and method of providing treatment. Particular emphasis must be placed uppon the establishment of effective oral hygiene programmes. The psychiatric patient suffers not only from a socially debilitating disease but also from society's opprobrium. With a modicum of effort, the dental profession can rise above that.     

Self-concept in obese and normal-weight children.

Compared self-concept (as measured by the Piers-Harris Children's Self-Concept Scale) for 716 White children in Grades 3–8, who were classified as obese or normal-weight after their ideal weight was calculated accounting for age, sex, and height. Ss 20% or more over ideal weight were characterized as obese. No significant differences were found in self-concept in the 2 groups. (5 ref) (PsycINFO Database Record (c) 2010 APA, all rights reserved)     

Mutator genes of the yeast Saccharomyces cerevisiae. Interaction of mutations him and his with mutations blocking three principal pathways of repair of induced DNA damage

During recent years, genes controlling mutation in higher eukaryotes have been found to be involved actively in carcinoma regeneration in cells. In this respect, studying the genetic control of mutagenesis becomes a key direction of research into mechanisms responsible for cancer generation. The results of studying interaction of mutations in the HIM and HSM genes, controlling spontaneous and induced mutagenesis in yeasts, and mutations impairing three known pathways of DNA damage repair in this microorganism, are described in this work. It was shown that mutation rev3 completely blocks UV-induced mutagenesis in all mutants studied. On the other hand, mutation rad2 synergistically interacts with mutations him1, hsm1, hsm3, hsm6, and hsm2, thus enhancing the frequency of UV-induced mutagenesis in double mutants multiple times. Mutations him2 and him3 manifested epistatic interaction with mutation rad2. With mutation rad54, the interaction was epistatic for mutations him1 and hsm2 and was additive for mutations hsm1, him2, and him3. On the basis of the data obtained, we developed a scheme for the appearance of mismatch bases in the process of repair of UV-induced DNA damage.     

Some effects of reward upon the social perception and motivation of psychiatric patients varying in depression.

This study is concerned with the effects of task performance upon the affective state and social judgments of depressed individuals. Nondepressed and depressed male psychiatric patients were randomly assigned to an experimentally-induced superior- and inferior-performance condition. Prior to and immediately following the experimental task, Ss rated their own mood and judged photographs of male and female adults on a happiness-sadness continuum. Indices of self-confidence were also obtained. Ss in the superior-performance group in comparison to inferior-performance Ss were more self-confident, rated themselves as happier, and perceived others as happier. Depressive Ss tended to be more affected than nondepressed Ss by task performance when estimating how they would do in a future task; the groups did not differ, however, in performance effects on self-ratings or on judgments of photographs. (18 ref.) (PsycINFO Database Record (c) 2010 APA, all rights reserved)     

Self-concept differentiation across the adult life span.

This study used 2 measures to examine 158 adults' (80 men, 78 women; ages 20 to 88 years) self-concept differentiation (SCD) across 5 role-specific self-representations. Findings revealed that the 2 measures did not assess SCD in similar ways and that they showed different associations with age. Specifically, the 1st measure was not significantly related to age, whereas the 2nd measure showed a curvilinear, U-shaped association with age. The 2nd SCD index also showed significant associations with several measures of emotional adjustment and 6 dimensions of psychological well-being. Additional analyses showed that age moderated the associations between SCD and positive and negative psychological well-being. A high level of SCD was associated with lower positive and higher negative psychological well-being for both young and older adults. However, this effect was significantly more pronounced in older adults. (PsycINFO Database Record (c) 2010 APA, all rights reserved)     

Effects of information and reinforcement on the conversational behavior of chronic psychiatric patient dyads.

Conducted 2 experiments to determine if the conversational behavior of 3 male and 1 female chronic psychiatric patients could be increased through either reinforcement or the provision of information about potential topics of conversation. Each experiment utilized 1 dyad in a withdrawal design or a combined changing criterion and withdrawal design. For 3 of the 4 Ss a positive reinforcement contingency was used, while for the 4th an avoidance contingency was used. Conversation was defined as talk between the members about a specified topic of general interest with eye contact at least once every 15 sec. Only reinforcement increased conversational behavior. Information about the specified topics was ineffective in spite of the fact that the information was comprehended and was relevant to the topics. Additional results demonstrate the ineffectiveness of instructions and the potential usefulness of the infrequently used changing criterion design. The avoidance of extended conversation effectively reinforced a specified duration of initial conversation. (18 ref) (PsycINFO Database Record (c) 2010 APA, all rights reserved)     

The application of conditioning and learning techniques to the treatment of a psychiatric patient.

"The treatment is described of a psychiatric patient who, in the framework of an emotional disorder, presented a disabling somatic symptom in the form of an abnormal frequency of micturation, especially evident when she was in public places or engaged in her profession of dancing… . After the laboratory treatment, considerable improvement in the patient's general condition was evident in a non-stressful environment, but a graded re-education program was necessary before effective relief from the symptoms in normal life situations was achieved." (PsycINFO Database Record (c) 2010 APA, all rights reserved)     

Self-concept changes of junior high students.

Previous studies have identified a relationship between self-concept and school behavior. The present study investigated whether self-concept (as measured by Bills's Index of Attitudes and Values) and school behavior of problem junior high school students could be changed by participation in a teacher helper program in an elementary school. Ss matched on grade (8th or 9th) sex, and GPA were randomly assigned to an experimental or a control group (n = 12). Self-concept ratings of experimental Ss who participated in the teacher helper program for 8 wks significantly increased during this period, while controls did not change. Neither group changed significantly in attendance or GPA. (PsycINFO Database Record (c) 2010 APA, all rights reserved)     

Self-concept of Jewish and Arab adolescents in Israel.

A 38-item Adolescent Self-Concept Scale was administered in 5 Jewish and 5 Arab schools. Scores were intercorrelated and factor analyzed separately for the Jewish (n?=?740) and the Arab (n?=?750) samples. Factor patterns were similar in item composition but differed in the percentage of variance accounted for by the factors. Specifically, Self-Praise, Life Satisfaction, and Work Outlook made up the leading cluster of factors in the Jewish sample; Self-Criticism, Religion, and Peer Relations were the analogous factors in the Arab sample. Also, Jewish item means indicated a somewhat more positive self-concept than those obtained for Arabs. Differences between factor patterns and item means are explained in terms of the marginal status of Arabs in Israeli society, whereas similarities point to the generality of adolescent experience. (21 ref) (PsycINFO Database Record (c) 2010 APA, all rights reserved)     

Self-concept and self-esteem as moderators of client transference.

Operationalized transference as (a) the similarity of clients' perceptions of their therapist and their perceptions of their parents and (b) therapists' ratings on a transference scale, Therapy Session Check Sheet (TSCS; H. Graff and L. Luborsky, 1977), and examined the moderating role of self-esteem and ego development on client transference. Ss were 62 clients (aged 19–63 yrs) who were already involved in therapy, and 29 therapists (aged 25–61 yrs). The Barrett-Lennard Relationship Inventory (G. T. Barrett Lennard, 1962, 1973) measured the facilitative conditions (regard, empathy, and unconditionality) and therapist–parent similarity and the TSCS measured the therapists' perceptions of transference. Additional measures were the Ego Identity Scale (A. L. Tan, et al, 1977) and the Rosenberg Self-Esteem Scale (M. Rosenberg, 1979). Results support the idea that self-esteem and ego development impact a client's view of the therapist and parental figures and are associated with therapists' views of transference. Persons with low ego identity and low self-esteem tended to see their therapists and parental figures more dissimilarly; and the more transference that a therapist perceived, the greater the tendency for the client to have low ego identity. (PsycINFO Database Record (c) 2010 APA, all rights reserved)