Topographic electroencephalographic alpha in recovered depressed elderly

Late-middle-aged and elderly normal volunteers with past histories of Major Depression according to the Diagnostic and Statistical Manual of Mental Disorders (third edition-revised) criteria were compared with sex- and age-matched control subjects using topographic electroencephalographic (EEG) indices. Healthy, euthymic recovered depressed subjects showed greater alpha amplitudes than controls. Delta, theta, and beta amplitudes did not reliably distinguish the groups. Considered in the context of previous research indicating that actively depressed subjects exhibit elevated EEG alpha compared to controls, these findings raise questions concerning state and trait conceptualizations of depression and EEG alpha.     

A TEST OF SHAVELSON'S HIERARCHICAL MULTIFACETED SELF-CONCEPT MODEL IN A FILIPINO COLLEGE SAMPLE

Shavelson's hierarchical, multifaceted self-concept model (HMFM) has proven useful to educational and psychological researchers. The reliability and factorial validity of a well-known HMFM instrument - the Fleming-Courtney Self-Rating Scales (SRS) - were examined for a sample of 198 Filipino college students. Confirmatory factor analysis compared six structural models. A six-factor, oblique model that included two social factors (Social Acceptance and Social Anxiety) fit the data best, and a second-order factor analysis supported the hierarchical structure of the SRS. The men were significantly higher than the women on three self-concept scales, but the only large effect was for Physical Abilities, consistent with findings in a U.S. college sample. Results provided some support for the utility of both the SRS and HMFM for Filipinos.     

ASKING AND INSISTING AFTER A REFUSAL: HOW DO 6- TO 7-YEAR-OLDS PROCEED?*

What changes take place in request production between the ages of 6 and 7? In other words, what do children ask for, whom do they ask, and how do they formulate their requests? Twenty children, native French-speaking children divided into 2 age groups (6 and 7 year old) were asked to complete 2-character comic-strip stories where the hero either made a request to a friend or an enemy. Requests were for action or for information. In both age groups, children tend to use the direct form and embedded imperatives more often when the hero addressed a friend. Hints were employed more frequently when addressing an enemy. Requests for action were expressed primarily in both groups through direct requests, embedded imperatives and hints, whereas requests for information tended to take form of question directives. Surprisingly, 6-year-olds produced more indirect requests than the 7-year-olds, and particularly produced more question directives and hints. Reformulations in the 6-year-old group consisted of repeating the first request, whereas the 7-year-old group evidenced clear ability to produce a variety of reformulations. These results form the basis for a psychological interpretation of earlier findings. Discussion enters on children's ability to link linguistic form of request to the social features of production situation.     

The Perversions in Analysis

The perversions are initially defined as sexual behaviours which in our culture are generally regarded as corrupt, fearful, and forbidden. The effect of this attitude upon the way they are handled in analysis is considered, and the work of the late German psychoanalyst, Fritz Morgenthaler, is cited as presenting a way of integrating the perversions into analytic treatment. Two cases are cited from the literature which demonstrate both the validity of Morgenthaler's approach and the necessity of moving beyond it. Jungian psychological concepts provide the machinery for doing this. The combination of Morgenthaler's and Jung's ideas suggests a way of dealing with perversions in analysis, of which the author is currently making use in several cases, which are then summarised.     

The 20 questions task with families of schizophrenics: divergent findings

The study attempted to replicate and extend the results of an earlier study by Wild and Shapiro (16), establishing the utility of Mosher and Hornsby's (8) 20 Questions Task as a means of differentiating families with schizophrenic patients from those of psychiatrically hospitalized but nonschizophrenic individuals. In the current study, Wild and Shapiro's original design was expanded and revised by (a) diagnosing patients using Research Diagnostic Criteria rather than hospital diagnoses and (b) including families with schizophrenic daughters and/or one-parent families, in addition to intact families with schizophrenic sons. Families were comparable on age, intelligence, and socioeconomic variables. The results failed to replicate those reported by Wild and Shapiro, and indicated that the 20 Questions Task was sensitive to differences in family constellation and offspring gender as well as offspring diagnosis. The findings suggest that forms of familial communication deviance detected with the 20 Questions Task may not be unique to families of schizophrenics, thus highlighting the need to expand research on family communication deviance in families with schizophrenic offspring to families with varied family constellations and characteristics.     

Effect of depression on processing interactions in group psychotherapy

Two studies were conducted to investigate the possibility of individual differences in the ability of inpatients to process interactions in group psychotherapy. The first was a pilot study conducted on groups of major depressive patients and matched normal subjects. Subjects were asked to give process comments after viewing simulations of typical group therapy interactions. These comments were later rated on the extent to which they reflected process qualities and accuracy. These data led to a more rigorous and extensive study that included more appropriate control groups as well as measures of potential confounding factors, such as simulation realism, verbal ability, and interaction comprehension. Results indicated that major depressives suffer from deficits in the ability to process group interactions, relative to three types of control groups, including normals. These differences in processing were not significantly positively correlated with any of the potential confounding factors. The implications for understanding interactional processing and group psychotherapy are discussed.     

COGNITIVE EFFECTS OF LOGO AMONG BLACK AND WHITE ZIMBABWEAN GIRLS AND BOYS

The cognitive effects of LOGO were examined among 11–12-year-old black and white Zimbabwean girls and boys. Fifty-two experimental group children were exposed to a BBC LOGO programme with a screen turtle. Forty-one control group children received no exposure to computers at school. Pre-tests on four WISC-R subscales were held in January, 1987 and post-tests on the same four WISC-R subscales were held in November/December, 1987. The data were analyzed with multivariate analysis of covariance, using pre-test scores as the covariate. The results suggested that children in the experimental group did better on the WISC-R Arithmetic scale and that black girls exposed to LOGO showed particular gains in spatial reasoning, as measured by the WISC-R Block Design scale. It is concluded that LOGO appears to facilitate cognitive growth. Methodological limitations of the present study are discussed and suggestions for future research are presented.     

Cerebral laterality and depression: differences in perceptual asymmetry among diagnostic subtypes

Examined the influence of diagnostic subtype of depression on perceptual asymmetry for dichotic listening and visual tachistoscopic tasks. A total of 65 unmedicated patients with major depressive disorders and 30 normal controls were tested on a verbal and nonverbal task in each modality. Patients diagnosed according to the DSM-III with melancholia had abnormal perceptual asymmetry for dichotic nonsense syllable and complex tone tasks. In contrast, patients having a nonmelancholic "atypical depression" (reactivity of mood with preserved pleasure capacity and associated features) did not differ from normal controls on these tasks, but had an increased incidence of left handedness. Bipolar depression (history of hypomania) differed from unipolar depression in showing abnormal perceptual asymmetry for a tachistoscopic dot enumeration task. Alterations of perceptual asymmetry in melancholia and bipolar depression were consistent with hypothesized right hemisphere dysfunction.     

Relations of sociotropic and autonomous personality characteristics to specific symptoms in depressed patients

A number of writers have suggested that two sets of personality characteristics are associated both with vulnerabilities to depression in response to different classes of events and with different clinical presentations of depression. The present study examined the relations between levels of sociotropic and autonomous personality characteristics and specific, theoretically derived clusters of symptoms in 80 unipolar depressed patients. As was predicted, sociotropy was related to the cluster of symptoms associated with the concept of anxious-reactive depression and was unrelated to the autonomous symptoms cluster. In contrast, the predicted relations of autonomous personality characteristics and symptoms were not found. These results support the idea that the symptom picture in depression may be related to personality characteristics, but they also suggest that the measurement of autonomy may require revision.     

Contributions of clinical neuropsychology to the study of schizophrenia

Clinical neuropsychological findings are examined with respect to competing hypotheses about localized neuropathology in schizophrenia. Two general models of structural and functional impairment are described. The first addresses deficits in cortical/subcortical processes concerned with arousal, attention, and higher cortical functions. The second addresses impairments in the balance of lateralized functions consistent with left hemisphere overactivation. Empirical data provide support for both models, and suggest that the explanatory power of these models may vary when they are applied to different subtypes of schizophrenia.