Relaxation therapy for tension headache in the elderly: a prospective study

We evaluated the effects of an 8-week progressive muscle-relaxation therapy regimen on the headache activity of 10 elderly tension-headache subjects. Posttreatment assessment at 3 months revealed significant decreases in overall headache activity (50% or greater) in 7 subjects. Significant clinical or statistical prepost differences, or both, were also found for the number of headache-free days, peak headache activity, and medication index. This is the first prospective study of tension headache in an elderly population, and, unlike previous retrospective studies, it suggests that relaxation therapy may be an effective intervention in the treatment of such headaches.     

Daily stress and anxiety and their relation to daily fluctuations of symptoms in asthma and chronic obstructive pulmonary disease (COPD) patients

Although stress and anxiety have long been assumed to play an exacerbatory role in asthma, no study has systematically documented that daily exacerbations of asthma symptoms are related to stress and/or anxiety. In this study, 24 airways obstruction patients (12 asthmatics and 12 chronic obstructive pulmonary disease patients) were instructed to monitor the severity of daily respiratory symptoms. In addition, subjects recorded their daily anxiety level and the number and perceived impact of daily stressors. The results showed that although there were differences between high- and low-stress days for both groups, there were no differences between groups on symptom severity or between high- and low-anxiety days, as measured by the State-Trait Anxiety Inventory (STAI). Thus, although the number and impact of daily stressors were found to be directly associated with the severity of asthma symptoms, anxiety does not appear to have a direct role in the exacerbation of asthma. The findings failed to support the anxiety theory of asthma but provided an explanation for the poor results obtained in previous treatment studies which employed anxiety management with asthmatics.     

Leadership behavior,group climate and outcome in group psychotherapy: A study of outpatient psychotherapy groups

A recent clinical study of outpatient psychotherapy groups in a community mental health center explored the linkage between group leadership variables, group climate, and outcome. The study involved nine outpatient therapy groups, over 50 group clients, and several group therapists. A repeated measures design involving assessment of clients' outcome and level of functioning, group leadership style, and group climate was used to assess changes over a 6-month period. The findings suggest: 1) a reduction in symptoms and improved functioning for clients; 2) a similarity of perceptions by members and leaders of perceived leadership behaviors and group climate; 3) the presence of direct and indirect influences of group climate and leadership behavior on clients' outcome; and 4) a linkage between leadership behavior and group climate with the theoretical orientation of the group. The findings of the research are discussed in relation to the understanding of specific effects in group psychotherapy and the implications for construction of group psychotherapy theory.The authors would like to thank Robert Dies, Ph.D., for his helpful suggestions in the early phase of this study; Roy MacKenzie, M.D., for permission to use the Group Climate Questionnaire; Diane DePalma, Ph.D., for permission to use the Global Leadership Behavior Index; Chris Boltwood, B.A., for her untiring efforts in administering the instruments and coding and entering the data; and most importantly, the psychotherapy group members and the group therapists for their cooperation in this endeavor—without their help, this clinical study would not have been possible.A version of this paper was presented at the Annual Meeting of the American Group Psychotherapy Association, 1987, New Orleans, Louisiana. Lenore Phipps, R.N., M.S., C.S., was formerly Director, Group Psychotherapy Program at Park Ridge Mental Health Center, Rochester, now in private practice at Guild Medical Center, Norwood, MA 02062.     

The Multilevel Conception of Intentionality: Implications for counselor training

Counseling training programs have failed to differentiate between and among behavioral, cognitive, and unconsciousness dimesnsions. This omission has resulted in confusion and competition in many counseling curricula in that valuable programs are competing for space rather than being integrated systematically. This article proposes a multilevel model of intentionality which integrates the several aspects of the counselor-client relationship. In turn, this integration of behavioral, cognitive, and unconscious dimensions will have important applications in counselor daily practice.     

Knowledge in society: anatomy of an emergent field

An emergent social science of knowledge applications, drawing on a substantial multidisciplinary literature published over the past twenty-five years, signals an inversion of typical scholarly reasoning about the knowledge-society nexus. Whereas most scholarly research thus far has concentrated on conditions believed to affect the production of scientific and professional knowledge, we pose a new problematic: What must we examine in order to comprehend and consciously shape applications of scientific and professional knowledge to the manifold problems facing contemporary societies? To date, approaches to this problematic have proceeded on the basis of four broadly accepted if abstract theses about the nature of contemporary knowledge systems: subjectivity, corrigibility, sociality, and complexity. Within the boundaries supplied by these commonly accepted theses are unresolved controversies expressed in competing visions of complexity, alternative perspectives of causation, rival images of progress, and conflicting criteria of application.     

Burden of proof

This paper presents an analysis of the concept of burden of proof in argument. Relationship of burden of proof to three traditional informal fallacies is considered: (i) argumentum ad hominem, (ii) petitio principii, and (iii) argumentum ad ignorantiam. Other topics discussed include persuasive dialoque, pragmatic reasoning, legal burden of proof, plausible reasoning in regulated disputes, rules of dialogue, and the value of reasoned dialogue.     

A high-gain,low-noise amplifier for EEG

This paper describes an amplifier for an electroencephalograph with gain of 1×10⁴ to 1×10⁶ and made entirely of commercially available IC components. The two-stage amplifier has a preamplifier stage with fixed gain of 1000, and a second stage with variable gain from 1 to 100. The final stage, an anti-aliasing filter, adds a gain of 10 to the signal. The circuit has high common mode rejection, low input bias current, very low noise characteristics, low offset voltages, and offset nulling capability built into the circuit.