Rejoinder to Robert F. Morgan's review of psychobattery.

The present author applauds Robert F. Morgan's stated efforts in his review (see record 2007-04428-001) of the author's book, Psychobattery, (1981) to form "an ombudsman group to improve professional practice and protect the consumer." However, the present author does not approve of Morgan's inability to interpret straightforward statements in Psychobattery. He first seems to have completely missed the point that the book is about serious mental illness; essentially schizophrenia and bipolar and unipolar affective diseases. If Morgan were more interested in reviewing Psychobattery, instead of ventilating his prejudices in favour of unproved treatments by unqualified personnel, perhaps he would have mentioned the chapter of "The Biological Basis of Mental Illness." (PsycINFO Database Record (c) 2010 APA, all rights reserved)     

Evidence-based treatments and delivery of psychological services: Shifting our emphases to increase impact.

Evidence-based psychological treatments (EBTs) have made enormous gains in the range of techniques that are available and the scope of problems to which they can be applied. Debates about the advances focus on issues related to applicability of the evidence to clinical work, limits of highly controlled studies, and decision making in clinical practice. Less often discussed is arguably the more salient issue, namely, that most people in need of psychological treatment do not receive services, whether evidence based or not. This article discusses EBTs as currently studied in relation to an overarching goal of our interventions, namely, to reduce the burden of mental illness and the full range of social, emotional, and behavioral problems leading to impairment. The diversity of clients, the range of settings in which treatments must be delivered, and the models of delivery ought to receive greater attention in developing evidence-based interventions. In the context of treatment of children and adolescents, this article discusses service needs and how EBTs can better align with these needs to exert broad impact. (PsycINFO Database Record (c) 2010 APA, all rights reserved)     

Religious experience and psychological conflict.

"I shall center my attention upon the constructive aspects of the profounder variety of psychological conflict to which we give the name of 'schizophrenia.' I shall submit and defend the position that psychological conflict, even in its schizophrenic manifestations, has religious significance." There are "forms of mental illness which are manifestations of healing power analogous to fever or inflammation of the body." An illustrative case history is presented. "Fundamental mental disorder is best understood as an attempt to deal with an intolerable sense of personal failure and guilt… . Other things being equal, the outcome of an acute schizophrenic episode is likely to be constructive insofar as it represents an honest attempt on the part of the patient to grapple with his real difficulties… . In order to understand either mental disorder or religious experience, the one should be studied in the light of the other." (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)     

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)     

Mental illness, predictability, and affective consequences as stimulus factors in person perception.

Before and after attempting to predict the behavior of a stimulus person (SP) in a choice situation, 64 Ss were asked to record their impressions of him on a trait rating scale. By design (a) the SP was presented as normal or mentally ill, (b) his behavior was predictable or unpredictable, and (c) errors of prediction were or were not signaled by a noxious buzzer. As predicted, evaluative judgments of the mentally ill SP did not vary as a function of predictability unless predictive failures were accompanied by unpleasant consequences, and unless the SP himself had control over the delivery of these consequences. Judgments of the normal SP were solely a function of his predictability, regardless of the consequences of predictive failure. (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 Mental Health Concept.

In its recent report (Amer. Psychologist, 1959, 14, 820-825, see record 1961-00974-001) the Ad Hoc Planning Group on the Role of the APA in Mental Health Programs and Research makes several critical comments on the concepts of mental health and mental illness. These are listed in this article. (PsycINFO Database Record (c) 2010 APA, all rights reserved)     

The homeless assessment program: A service-training model for providing disability evaluations for homeless, mentally ill individuals.

Many of the nation's homeless people suffer from unrecognized mental illnesses and do not have access to the kind of disability benefits they would be entitled to when properly assessed. The current system of disability evaluations for Social Security income claims is frequently inadequate and leaves these individuals without any source of income, health insurance, and mental health treatment. This article introduces a model of providing psychological assessments for homeless, mentally ill individuals by supervised student examiners, a model that could be replicated by other psychologists and training institutions. The authors argue that there may be a large number of homeless adults who suffer from disabling mental conditions but who are not properly diagnosed and, therefore, do not qualify for benefits. The authors propose that the model presented can help to fill a gap in services and may serve as a model of socially relevant clinical training. (PsycINFO Database Record (c) 2010 APA, all rights reserved)     

Do-It-Yourself Testing for Mental Illness: Ethical Issues, Concerns, and Recommendations.

Do-it-yourself (DIY) testing for various medical problems has existed for some time and is likely here to stay. However, only relatively recently have such tests been targeted toward mental illness. From the point of view of professional psychology, the development and use of DIY tests for psychological disorders raises numerous ethical issues, including lack of in-person counseling, potential for misuseabuse, and lack of informed consent. In addition, there is currently little government regulation or professional oversight of DIY tests, possibly increasing the chances for unethical practices. This article reviews some currently available DIY tests for mental illness, examining the ethical issues surrounding such tests and making recommendations for the crafting of ethical guidelines for their development and use. (PsycINFO Database Record (c) 2010 APA, all rights reserved)     

"Mental illness" or interpersonal behavior?

"There is no such thing as a 'mental illness' in any significantly meaningful sense. The plain fact is that the term 'mental illness' is applied in an indiscriminate way to a motley collection of interpersonal behavior patterns. Mental illness is a phenomenon involving interpersonal behavior, not a health or medical problem. Programs of alleviation and prevention must therefore rest upon a systematic understanding of interpersonal conduct. Suitable psychological terminology is badly needed to clarify numerous vaguely worded, inappropriately phrased and poorly understood questions in psychology today." (PsycINFO Database Record (c) 2010 APA, all rights reserved)     

Reducing Reductionism.

Comments that in view of reductionism's accomplishments, such as Wagner-Jauregg's (1918) breakthrough in the treatment of a mental illness, the present enthusiasm over reductionism seems quite understandable. (PsycINFO Database Record (c) 2010 APA, all rights reserved)     

Review of Being mentally ill (2nd ed.).

Reviews the book, Being mentally ill (2nd ed.) by Thomas J. Scheff (1984). In this 2nd edition, Scheff uses sociological theory to examine the stigma of mental illnesses in some very original ways. It is certainly an important reading for all those interested in understanding better the social reality of severe mental illnesses—or, indeed, of any type of severe disability. It can be best used to stimulate much-needed thinking about the context of living for mentally ill people. (PsycINFO Database Record (c) 2010 APA, all rights reserved)     

Affective response to psychoanalytic death symbols.

The possible relation between the death concept (in which the person dreads the dissolution of his own personality by death) and emotional response (as measured by the GSR) forms the basis for this study. Ss were 40 Roman Catholic seminarians with a median age of 28. 20 death symbol words and 30 control words were used. Significant differences in the mean responses between death words and nondeath words indicate that the presence of death symbol words elicited an unconscious affective reaction consistent with psychoanalytic theory concerning death symbols. 19 references. (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 stigma as a mediator of differences in Caucasian and South Asian college students' attitudes toward psychological counseling.

Previous research has established that Asian Americans use mental health services less frequently and hold poorer attitudes toward psychological counseling than Caucasians. The authors directly tested whether stigmatizing beliefs regarding mental illness might explain such differential attitudes toward counseling in a South Asian and Caucasian student sample. Using mediation analyses, the authors examined 2 aspects of stigma posited to affect help-seeking attitudes: personal stigmatizing views and perceptions of the public's stigmatizing views directed toward persons with mental illness. First, the authors found that Caucasian (n = 74) college students revealed more positive attitudes toward counseling than did South Asian (n = 54) students. Second, in terms of mediation, increased personal stigma, but not perceived stigma, expressed by South Asians partially mediated and accounted for 32% of the observed difference in attitudes toward counseling services. These findings support a long-standing conjecture in the literature regarding the increased significance of stigma processes on disparities in majority-minority help-seeking attitudes. They also suggest that efforts to reduce disparities in attitudes toward counseling for South Asian students specifically should incorporate interventions to reduce the increased stigma expressed by this community, particularly related to a desire for social distance from persons with a mental illness. (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)     

Review of Madhouse and The Lobotomist.

Reviews the books, Madhouse: A Tragic Tale of Megalomania and Modern Medicine by Andrew Scull (see record 2005-06776-000); and The Lobotomist: A Maverick Medical Genius and His Tragic Quest to Rid the World of Mental Illness by Jack El-Hai (see record 2005-02343-000). In both books, the history of experimental clinical psychiatry is laid bare with devastating accounts of the efforts to conquer mental illness by any means necessary. Both books are fascinating reading and may illuminate our current context in which the biological avenues for treating mental disorders continue to traffic in hopes of a one-size-fits-all cure, while psychoanalysis ambivalently struggles with how to conduct rigorous research to demonstrate the efficacy of our treatment. Andrew Scull's book Madhouse offers a well-documented historical account of a bizarre episode in American psychiatric history. The centerpiece of Scull's investigative work is Henry Cotton, MD, the superintendent of the Trenton State Hospital in Trenton, New Jersey, from 1907-1930. Once Cotton arrived at Trenton, he was appalled by the conditions he found and instituted reforms such as eliminating the culture of violence by attendants, removing over 700 pieces of restraining equipment from the hospital, and introducing occupational therapy. Jack El-Hai gives us the next segment of psychiatric surgery in his book The Lobotomist, a biography of the neurologist, turned surgical outlaw, Walter Freeman, MD. Walter Freeman was a neurologist fascinated with science and experimentation. Settling into work at St. Elizabeth's hospital in Washington, DC, in 1924, Freeman eventually joined the faculty of George Washington University where he remained until 1954. At that time neurosyphilis was the scourge of mental hospitals producing thousands of victims who were totally disabled by the neurological sequellae of tertiary illness. Thus lobotomy became an efficient outpatient procedure that could be applied to a larger patient population. Both of these books are important reading. Of all the great medical advances of the last century, surely the one that stands out as perhaps the greatest is the Nuremberg Code of 1947, which requires a competent patient giving informed consent to treatment and to research efforts. (PsycINFO Database Record (c) 2010 APA, all rights reserved)     

Review of The Psychopathology of Women.

Reviews the book, The Psychopathology of Women by Ihsan Al-Issa (1980). The Psychopathology of Women, is a comprehensive examination of how Western culture influences the experience, expression and treatment of psychopathology in men and women. The chapters examine the major DSM - III categories in light of Dr. Al-Issa's premise that the diagnosis, experience and treatment of mental illness are related to sex roles. (PsycINFO Database Record (c) 2010 APA, all rights reserved)     

John F. Chaves (1941-2008).

John F. Chaves is best known for championing a scientific approach to hypnosis. Through his 75 publications, he also made important contributions to the psychological treatment of pain, education in dentistry, and psychological aspects of illness. Sadly, John died in his home, in Tucson, Arizona, on February 2, 2008, after a two-year battle with stomach cancer. He was 66 years old. (PsycINFO Database Record (c) 2010 APA, all rights reserved)