Electrodermal nonresponding, premorbid adjustment, and symptomatology as predictors of long-term social functioning in schizophrenics

The hypothesis that electrodermal nonresponsiveness to orienting stimuli delineates a core group of "Kraepelinian" type schizophrenics was tested by following up social functioning outcome over a 2-year period in 37 schizophrenics. Good social functioning outcome required both some self-supporting ability in the job market and a minimal social life. The prior assessments included monitoring of electrodermal responses to a series of moderately intense tones, ratings of reported and observed symptoms during an interview, and ratings of premorbid adjustment on the basis of an interview with a close relative. Electrodermal nonresponding, poor premorbid adjustment, and negative symptomatology predicted poor social functioning during the second follow-up year, but the relationship to nonresponding pertained exclusively to a group of 15 first-episode patients. Discriminant analysis showed that electrodermal nonresponding and symptoms were the only independent predictors of outcome.     

Results of the use of lithium to prevent recurrence of affective psychosis

The efficacy of lithium treatment in preventing relapse in phasal psychoses was tested by the re-examination of 99 patients at a Dresden clinic whose treatment had on average exceeded ten years. Results and progress were compared with those of patients starting treatment since the introduction of the lithium treatment in the year 1979. Phase or subphase frequency and duration, conditions of treatment, suicide attempts, unfitness for work, and registration as a disabled person were among the aspects considered.     

Propionibacterium granulosum KP-45 in the treatment of subacute sclerosing panencephalitis

3 groups of patients, who suffered on SSPE (without treatment, with isoprinosine therapy, combined treatment with propionibacterium granulosum and isoprinosine) are compared. The results show a favourable effect of the combined treatment in a part of the patients. They are discussed in detail.     

The management needs of the bereaved following loss of a partner

A case of death results in the formation of a social group, the group consisting of the bereaved, which remains in existence for a brief spell only, but which calls for careful attention. 124 widowed persons were questioned about their reaction to their loss, and changes in their habits after bereavement. Factors of influence are indicated, important among them dependence on the deceased, the age of the bereaved person, and physical and mental health.     

Critique of the "therapeutic ego split"

The technical relevance of the concept of a therapeutic ego split is rigorously examined. In the author's view, the distinction between a neurotic transference and a non-neurotic working alliance serves the therapist as a defense against anxiety rather than as a clarification of his intricate involvement with the patient.     

Observation of an absence status in the EEG without clinically detected psychopathology

It is reported that a patient suffering from generalized idiopathic epilepsy accidentally showed continuous epileptic activity as spike-wave pattern during an electroencephalographic lead without observing any clinical changes to whom. This state having been ended by a grand mal, the patient could give unspecific subjective complaints for the period of the "bioelectrical petit mal state", but he was fully able to remember. It is referred to that the phenomenon of the clinical inconspicuous appearance and the missing amnesia are special features.     

Stimulus and response characteristics as determinants of the electrodermal orienting reaction in the Rorschach trial

The Rorschach test was used as an experiment of perception to analyze (external and internal) stimulus-response and individual response specificity of electrodermal orienting response OR (skin conductance response SCR) to presentations of unstructured material. On a sample of 84 subjects (medical students and colleagues of the medical department) the partial effects of "card" (external stimulus), "affective content of the signification" (internal stimulus), and "subject" on the (range-corrected) electrodermal OR were analyzed. The variance-analytic model was highly significant. The highly significant card effect with a physiological variance component of about 9% was interpreted as a "novelty" component of the electrodermal OR. The examined response characteristic also had a significant effect on the electrodermal OR with a physiological variance component of about 1%. Yet the determining variable was not the affective content of the signification, but rather the complexity of the (affective) signification. This result was discussed in terms of information processing and conflict theory. The important interindividual OR variance of nearly 40% supported the concept of the individual specificity of physiological response.     

Changes in the EEG frequency spectrum in various phases of mental stress

To obtain evidence about the relationship between spontaneous EEG activity and mental activity, an experiment was designed and executed with EEG recordings during a concept-learning task. We varied task performance (self-paced vs. machine-paced) and distinguished different stages of information processing during task performance. Using factor analysis calculated on all spectral coefficients, we found two orthogonal variables in the clinical alpha band. Alpha 2 power (10.5-12 Hz) seems to reflect the overall processing demands imposed on the individuals. Furthermore, there are different EEG frequency patterns during perceptual-central- compared with response-related processing as well as during processing of positive vs. negative feedback. The results suggest using (1) conservative procedures in hypothesis testing and (2) procedures to reduce between subject variability (a posteriori defined frequency variables, relative power values, scaling of reaction values) in further studies relating EEG activity to mental activity during task performance.     

Differentiation of existential guilt and compassion in relation to responsibility induction: a film experiment

Feelings of existential guilt are assumed to depend on the perception of a causal relationship between one's own behavior or (privileged) situation and the disadvantages of others. By contrast, pity should not depend on such perceptions. This hypothesis, which has been supported so far only by correlational studies, was tested experimentally. Eighty students were shown a film about a developing country. The film was provided with four different comments, each representing one experimental condition (between-subjects design). Experimental factors were "amount of misery of the people shown" and "subject's responsibility for these peoples' conditions of life". As expected, subjects in the condition "misery and responsibility" reported higher feelings of guilt, though no more pity than subjects in the remaining three treatment conditions (experiment 1, n = 40). This mean difference, however, was statistically significant for men only. Contrary to our theoretical expectations--and to finding from other experiments on vicarious reparation--the induction of guilt had no effect on willingness to help a third party (experiment 2, n = 40). Possible reasons for this unexpected finding are suggested.