The role of emotion control and emotional rumination in stress management training

The present paper reports on three outcome studies evaluating the effectiveness of a new stress management training program. In contrast to conventional stress management, which tends to emphasize life-events, the symptoms of stress and relaxation, the new program is based on emotional rumination, emotion control, and attention control. The training developed from a series of experimental studies on the role of emotional inhibition and rumination in prolonging physiological recovery from stress, and the findings reported here were obtained from a series of applied studies involving police officers from a police force in the North of England. The first two studies employed both self-reported and objective measures of change to demonstrate that the training produced significant increases in job satisfaction and reduced absenteeism, while the results of the final study showed that the benefits of the program were enhanced by follow-up training.     

Psychopharmacological treatment of unipolar depression within the elderly: A discussion paper

Depressive disorders are known to affect all aspects of a person's functioning and are often associated with significant psychosocial impairment. What is unclear is whether these psychosocial issues are consequences or causes of depression; what is known is that these problems do not disappear when the biological symptoms resolve. Existing data on the treatment course and outcome of depression are not generally considered as representative of the older depressed person. Discussion will take place as to whether later life depression should be conceptualized not as a categorical disorder, but as a geriatric syndrome, with multiple aetiologies requiring a combination of treatment interventions. There is general consensus that when intensive psychotherapy is directed towards appropriate patients, geriatric clientele are as able to deal with the viscitudes of intensive therapy as well as any age group. An examination will be undertaken regarding the utilization of psychotherapeutic interventions, namely psychodynamic, interpersonal and cognitive behavioural. Comparative studies have demonstrated all three to be effective, particularly in the treatment of depression. There is a great need for further understanding and research into the appropriateness and efficacy of an integration of psychotherapeutic and pharmacotherapeutic intervention in the treatment of depression, particularly within the elderly. A tantalizing array of research possibilities emerge. If we accept that unipolar depression is a bio-psychosocial phenomena, then we need to understand more about which psychopharmacological treatment paradigms need to be employed, and that perhaps the way forward inclines towards pragmatic integrationism rather than puritanist intervention.     

Neuroleptic modification of basic schizophrenic disorders

After a short review of the German literature dealing with basal schizophrenic disturbances, the authors present the results of their own studies involving 135 schizophrenics. A large inventory of statistical methods is used to present the findings gained during differential neuroleptic therapy by means of the Frankfurt complaints questionnaire and the structured psychopathic assessment system (SPES-A). The studies indicate that basal schizophrenic disturbances are accessible to (differential) neuroleptic influence.     

Book review

EVANS, R. M. The Perception of Color. New York: Wiley and Sons. 1974. Pp. xii + 248. £ 8.10.

ROSS, H. E. Behaviour and Perception in Strnge Enviroment. London: George Allen and Unwin. 1974. Pp. 171. £ 3.95. (Hardback), £ 1.95. (Peperback).

COOPER, J. R. BLOOM, F. E. and ROTH, R. H. The Biochemical Basis of Neuropharmacology. 2nd Ed. New York and London: Oxford University Press. 1974. Pp. 272. £ 2.50.

JOHNSON, F. N. (Ed.) Lithium Research and Teerapy. London: Acakemic Press. 1974. Pp. 570. £ 13.50.

GERGG, L. W. (Ed.) Cognition in Lerning and Memory. New York: Wiley. 1972. Pp. vii + 263. £ 5.85.

SCHIEFELBUSCH, R. L. and LLOYD, L. L. Language Perspectives-Acquisition, Retardation and Intervention. Macmillan: Baltimore, 1974. Pp 670. £ 7.95.

CHOMSKY, C. The Acquisition of Syntax of Syntax in Children form 5 to 10. Cambridge, Massa-chusetts: M. I. T. Press. 1969. Pp. 126.

Annual Review of Psychology. Vol. 25. Palo Alto, California: Annual Reviews Inc. 544 PP. $ 12.50.

HARRISON, B. Meaning and Structure: An Essay in the Philosophy of Language. New York: Harper and Row. 1972. Pp. 318. £4.65.

MACKINTOSH, N. J. The Psychology of Animal Learning. Academic Press. 1974. Pp. 730. £ 8.00.

BURES, J., BURESOVA, O. and KRIVANEK, J. The Mechanism and Application of Leao's Spreading Depression of Electroephalagraphic Activity. New York: Academic Press. 1974. Pp. 410. £ 14.15.

SOLSO, R.L. (ED.). Theories in Cognitive Psychology: The LOyola Symposium. Potomac, Maryland: Lawrence Erlbaum associates. 1974. £ 7.95.

MURDOCK, B. B. Jr. Human Memory: Theory and Data. Potomac: Erlbaum (distributed by Wiley). 1974. Pp. 362. £ 6.85.

REED, S. K. Psychological Process in Pattern Recogntion. New York: Academic Press. 1973. $ 13.95.

RABBIT, P. M. A. and DORNIC, D. (Eds). Attention and Performance V. London: Academic Press. 1975. Pp. 732. £ 16.00.     

Handedness and cognitive bias

2165 Subjects, ranging from nine-year-old schoolchildren to adult students, took Test AH 2/3 which yields subscores on Verbal, Numerical and Perceptual reasoning. The left-handers are compared with the right-handers, differences being found with respect to cognitive bias, sex, age and nationality.     

Diagnostic change in schizophrenic diseases--a case register study of 10 years

This study is an investigation covering all schizophrenic patient discharged between 1976 and 1986, a total of 2561 patients, for evidence of any shift in diagnosis and/or syndromes during this time. During the period 1454 schizophrenic patients were hospitalised more than once. Of these, 135 patients (9.3%) exhibited a syndrome shift. These patients can be classified as 8 distinct types.     

Locus of control and socialization

On the basis of classical association theory, it was predicted that an external locus of control would characterize undersocialization. This hypothesis was tested on a random sample of secondary school children, using a battery of self-report “socialization-delinquent personality” measures to assess degree of socialization. Factorial validity for the use of these measures was obtained from a factor analysis which uncovered a general factor of socialization, while evidence for convergent validity was derived from the relationship between these scales and teacher ratings of refractory behavior. Scores from the Child Nowicki-Strickland Internal-External Scale were found to predict undersocialization in the expected direction. Several possible interpretations of this relationship were suggested and a biosocial explanation was advanced to account for the possible simultaneous development of both externality and undersocialization.