Journal of clinical psychology
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This study examined predictors and health-related effects of post-traumatic stress among 129 civilian internees of the Japanese during World War II. Post-traumatic stress disorder was noted in 36.7% within the 6 months after their release and in 15.0% within the most recent 6 months. Women were more likely than men to indicate post-traumatic stress disorder within the 6 months after their release. ⋯ After controlling for demographic and internment-related factors, higher levels of post-traumatic stress were associated with poorer physical health. This association was stronger among older internees than among their younger counterparts. Implications of the findings for clinical gerontology are discussed.
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Comparative Study
The effect of domestic and economic stress on suicide rates in Canada and the United States.
The study of the variation in societal suicide rates still is guided primarily by Durkheim's (1897) theory. He proposed primarily a social integration/regulation theory of suicide. One useful way of exploring this theory is from a cross-cultural perspective. ⋯ Divorce rates were associated positively and birth rates associated negatively with suicide in both countries. Unemployment rates added little predictive power to suicide rates. A historical perspective and caution about overgeneralizing the results are presented.
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This study examined the relationship between thought disorder and verbal recall in schizophrenic, manic, and schizoaffective inpatients. Based on previous research, it was predicted that subjects who demonstrated only positive thought-disorder would differ from those with positive and negative thought-disorder in terms of their ability to encode short descriptive passages. ⋯ Both thought-disorder groups remembered more when the material was less organized. These findings raise a number of issues with regard to the interrelationship among thought disorders, psychiatric diagnoses, and information-processing deficits.
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This study (N = 115) compared the abilities of the Faschingbauer Abbreviated Minnesota Multiphasic Personality Inventory (FAM), the Midi-Mult, and the standard MMPI to predict response to conservative medical treatment for low back pain, as assessed by patient ratings of pain intensity 6 to 12 months later. The results indicated that all three inventory formats yielded significant correlations between the Hypochondriasis, Depression, and Hysteria scales and follow-up pain ratings. Less consistent findings were obtained with other scales and indices. The results provide tentative support for the clinical and research utility of these abbreviated MMPIs in substituting for the standard MMPI in outcome studies with back pain patients.
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Comparative Study
Luria Memory Words Test and Wechsler Memory Scale: comparison of utility in discriminating neurologically impaired from controls.
Memory deficits are among the most common initial complaints of patients who are suffering from neurological disorders. The present study compared the relative clinical utility of the Wechsler Memory Scale and the Luria Memory Words Test in differentiating brain-damaged (N = 60) from non-brain-damaged patients (N = 60). Separate stepwise regression analyses selected five variables from each test that accounted for the greatest between-group variance. ⋯ The WMS correctly classified 72% of the subjects, whereas the Luria Words correctly classified 76% of the subjects. A final discriminant function was computed that used all 10 variables and resulted in a classification accuracy of 86%, with 6% false positives and 6% false negatives. Results are discussed relative to the use of each instrument in both a general psychological assessment situation and when specific memory functioning is in question.