Ego Impairment and Ego Adaptation in Schizophrenia

Recent clinical theory and evidence from research converge in describing schizophrenia as a pattern of cognitive defect. In this article the defect was described as an impairment in those psychological processes that integrate and organize mental functioning into a holistic pattern at a given moment, give it continuity over time, and inter-relate the unified complex to external phenomena. Psychological test material (the Rorschachs of two people) was examined to elicit cognitive or perceptual patterns in contradistinction to analyses of conflicts, defenses, or interpersonal vectors. This structural emphasis brings into perspective the fluctuation of mental organization in schizophrenics and relates the fluctuation to degree of impairment, degree of strain imposed by the environment, and capacity for adaptive compensation.     

Differential effects of social support and social network on physiological and social outcomes in men and women with type II diabetes mellitus

Patients with non-insulin-dependent diabetes mellitus (NIDDM) were advised to comply with a complex behavioral regimen of diet and exercise. The relationship between social support satisfaction and social support network size was evaluated using the Social Support Questionnaire for 32 men and 44 women with a confirmed diagnosis of NIDDM. Control of diabetes, as measured by the glycosylated hemoglobin assay, was significantly correlated with social support satisfaction for women but negatively correlated with social support satisfaction for men. Social support network size differentially predicted success in a program for men and women. For women, network size was significantly correlated with failure to attend sessions and with failure to complete a diary. For these women, network size was not significantly correlated with weight loss, which was the goal of the program. For men, network size was correlated with increases in weight, cholesterol, and triglycerides over an 18-month period. We conclude that social support network size and satisfaction have different functions for men and women faced with a serious chronic illness. Network size adversely affects success in a program, whereas social support satisfaction has some benefits for women. The direction of the influence of social network may be determined by the similarity or dissimilarity of network norms to the desired behavior.     

Anabolic-androgenic steroids: effects on social behavior and baseline heart rate

Examined the effects of anabolic-androgenic steroids (AS) on behavior, baseline heart rate (HR), and stress-induced HR responses. Twenty-four cynomolgus monkeys were assigned to four mixed social groups of both AS and sham control animals. For 2 months, AS-treated monkeys received biweekly injections of testosterone, and, on an identical schedule, the control animals were injected with a sham solution. Behavioral data revealed that AS disrupted the social milieu such that all dominant animals exhibited increases in dominant behavior and subordinates manifested increased submission. These changes returned to pretest levels 8 weeks following termination of the drug intervention. Affiliative behaviors decreased on the part of all animals as a function of AS and, with the exception of play behavior, failed to return to pretest levels after the 8-week period of recovery. AS created an increase in baseline HR, particularly among the dominant animals. Interestingly, the subordinate AS animals experienced a decrease in baseline HR response. AS had no apparent influence on stress-induced HR reactivity.     

Avoidant coping in panic disorder: a yohimbine biological challenge study

Abstract

Few studies have addressed whether the use of avoidance-oriented coping strategies is related to the development of panic in patients with panic disorder(PD). Self-report, clinician-rated, and physiological data were collected from 42 individuals who participated in a yohimbine biological challenge study, performed under double-blind, placebo-controlled conditions. Participants included 20 healthy controls and 22 currently symptomatic patients who met DSM-IV-TR diagnostic criteria for PD. Consistent with prediction, patients with PD who had higher perceived efficacy of avoidance-oriented strategies in reducing anxiety-related thoughts reported increased severity in panic symptoms during the yohimbine challenge condition as compared to the placebo. Further, patients with PD who had more fear of cognitive dyscontrol, cardiovascular symptoms, and publicly observable anxiety also reported increased severity in panic symptoms during the challenge. Healthy controls who had more fear of cardiovascular symptoms similarly reported increased severity in panic symptoms during the challenge. No effects were found for heart rate response to the challenge agent. These results provide support for the role of avoidance-oriented coping strategies and fear of anxiety-related symptoms as risk and maintenance factors in the development of panic symptoms, particularly within a biological challenge model.     

The Measurement of Perimenstrual Distress

This study was undertaken to explore whether the implicit requirement of phase comparison in menstrual research influences the data obtained. One hundred fifty Israeli women responded to the Menstrual Distress Questionnaire in an altered procedure. They rated their experience of behaviors and feelings during the nonmenstrual phase. Later, on a separate form, they rated their experience of the same behaviors and feelings during the menstrual and premenstrual phases. With this altered procedure, nonmenstrual distress scores were consistently higher than the perimenstrual scores. This pattern of results is the reverse of what most studies using the questionnaire have shown and does not seem to justify treating the perimenstrual period as especially problematic.     

Bayesian Causal Mediation Analysis for Group Randomized Designs with Homogeneous and Heterogeneous Effects: Simulation and Case Study

A fully Bayesian approach to causal mediation analysis for group-randomized designs is presented. A unique contribution of this article is the combination of Bayesian inferential methods with G-computation to address the problem of heterogeneous treatment or mediator effects. A detailed simulation study shows that this approach has excellent frequentist properties, particularly in the case of small sample sizes with accurate informative priors. The simulation study also demonstrates that the proposed approach can take into account heterogeneous treatment or mediator effects without bias. A case study using data from a school-based randomized intervention designed to increase parent social capital leading to improved behavioral and academic outcomes in children is offered to illustrate the Bayesian approach to causal mediation in group-randomized designs.     

Classification of dog barks: a machine learning approach

In this study we analyzed the possible context-specific and individual-specific features of dog barks using a new machine-learning algorithm. A pool containing more than 6,000 barks, which were recorded in six different communicative situations was used as the sound sample. The algorithm's task was to learn which acoustic features of the barks, which were recorded in different contexts and from different individuals, could be distinguished from another. The program conducted this task by analyzing barks emitted in previously identified contexts by identified dogs. After the best feature set had been obtained (with which the highest identification rate was achieved), the efficiency of the algorithm was tested in a classification task in which unknown barks were analyzed. The recognition rates we found were highly above chance level: the algorithm could categorize the barks according to their recorded situation with an efficiency of 43% and with an efficiency of 52% of the barking individuals. These findings suggest that dog barks have context-specific and individual-specific acoustic features. In our opinion, this machine learning method may provide an efficient tool for analyzing acoustic data in various behavioral studies.     

Emotion and false memory: How goal-irrelevance can be relevant for what people remember

Elaborating on misleading information concerning emotional events can lead people to form false memories. The present experiment compared participants’ susceptibility to false memories when they elaborated on information associated with positive versus negative emotion and pregoal versus postgoal emotion. Pregoal emotion reflects appraisals that goal attainment or failure is anticipated but has not yet occurred (e.g., hope and fear). Postgoal emotion reflects appraisals that goal attainment or failure has already occurred (e.g., happiness and devastation). Participants watched a slideshow depicting an interaction between a couple and were asked to empathise with the protagonist's feelings of hope (positive pregoal), happiness (positive postgoal), fear (negative pregoal), or devastation (negative postgoal); in control conditions, no emotion was mentioned. Participants were then asked to reflect on details of the interaction that had occurred (true) or had not occurred (false), and that were relevant or irrelevant to the protagonist's goal. Irrespective of emotional valence, participants in the pregoal conditions were more susceptible to false memories concerning goal-irrelevant details than were participants in the other conditions. These findings support the view that pregoal emotions narrow attention to information relevant to goal pursuit, increasing susceptibility to false memories for irrelevant information.