Personality characteristics of partner violent men: a Q-sort approach

Our objective was to develop a personality profile of men who are violent toward their partners. A total of 52 experienced clinicians described either a current male patient who was violent toward his partner (and only toward his partner) or who was maritally distressed but nonviolent using the Shedler-Westen Assessment Procedure-200 (SWAP-200), a Q-sort instrument designed to harness the judgments of clinicians. Partner-violent patients showed significantly higher scores on the SWAP-200 antisocial and borderline personality disorder scales. In contrast, patients who were maritally distressed evidenced higher scores on the SWAP-200 obsessive, avoidant, and high-functioning depressive scales. The men who were violent toward their partners were more antisocial and emotionally dysregulated, which is consistent with theory, and less obsessive, which has not been theoretically explored. The groups did not differ on theoretically important dimensions of personality including paranoid, dependent, and hostile features.     

Core conflictual relationship themes of men and women who are violent toward their partners

The Core Conflictual Relationship Themes of men and women violent toward their partners and entering psychotherapy, students violent toward their partners, and nonviolent students (n = 84; n = 14 in each of the six groups) were compared. Men and women entering psychotherapy more often had negative Wish elements than others. The wish element was "to be loved" for 11 of the 14 student women violent toward their partners and 5 of the 14 nonviolent student women.     

Personality assessment screener in a primary care sample of low-income urban women

The diagnostic efficiency of the Personality Assessment Screener (PAS; Morey, 1997) total score was evaluated using selected scales from the Patient Health Questionnaire (Spitzer, Kroenke, & Williams, 1999), the fourth edition of the Personality Diagnostic Questionnaire (Hyler, 1994), and the Alcohol Use Disorders Identification Test (Saunders, Aasland, Babor, DeLaFuente, & Grant, 1993) as reference standards. Complete data were collected from 110 women seeking treatment at an urban family medicine training clinic. Total PAS scores were effective in identifying patients with mood disorders, cluster B personality disorders, and alcohol use disorders, but the optimum cut scores were higher than the cut score of 19 recommended by Morey (1997). The 10 PAS element scores showed good convergent and discriminant correlations with the reference measures. These findings support the utility of the PAS to screen for major forms of psychopathology in an urban primary care setting.     

The Patient–Doctor Relationship Questionnaire (PDRQ-9) in Primary Care: A Validity Study

This study assessed the validity of the Patient–Doctor Relationship Questionnaire-9 (PDRQ-9) in a primary care sample (N = 180). Convergent validity was assessed through a correlation between the patient-rated PDRQ-9 and the physician-rated Difficult Doctor Patient Relationship Questionnaire-10 (DDPRQ-10). Discriminant validity was assessed through correlations between the PDRQ-9 and patient age, patient- and physician-reported health and psychological distress. To determine if the PDRQ-9 could discriminate between groups, patient PDRQ-9 ratings were compared between patients who were treated by faculty physicians versus those who were treated by residents. An exploratory factor analysis confirmed that the PDRQ-9 was made up of a single factor. The PDRQ-9 scale was internally consistent (α = .96) and significantly and negatively correlated with the DDPRQ-10 (r = ?.22, p = .003) and was not significantly correlated with patient age, health, or psychological distress. PDRQ-9 ratings were statistically greater in patients who were treated by faculty physicians than those who were treated by residents (p = .01). This study provides additional support for the reliability and validity of the PDRQ-9 as a measure of the doctor–patient relationship in a primary care sample.     

Defensive projection, superimposed on simplistic object relations, erodes patient-provider relationships in high-risk pregnancy: an empirical investigation

In an attempt to illustrate the relevance of psychoanalytic theory and research to behavior medicine, an empirical investigation was conducted of females treated at a high-risk pregnancy specialty clinic (N = 58). Drawing from psychoanalytic object relations theory, it was hypothesized and confirmed that use of projection as a defense mechanism during pregnancy, superimposed on simplistic object relations, predicted an erosion of patient-provider relationships during the pregnancy/postdelivery period. Findings are interpreted through the perspective of mentalization, pertaining to individuals' ability to understand the mental states of self and others, specifically under significant stress. Implications for psychoanalytically oriented assessment and treatment, and for the rift between psychoanalysis and research, are discussed.     

The impact of television,print, and audio on children's recall of the news.

Recent research has shown that children remember more from television news than from print news, a finding that has been explained by the extra mnemonic support offered by redundant television pictures (the dual‐coding hypothesis). The present study was designed to examine three alternative explanations, which attribute children's superior recall of television news to (a) underutilization of the print medium, (b) a recall advantage of listening compared with reading, and imperfect reading ability. A sample of 192 fourth and sixth graders was presented with children's news stories, either in (a) their original television form, (b) a bare print version, a print version supplemented with photo material or in (d) an audio version. Results indicated that the television presentation was remembered better than any of the other three versions. The results of the study were consistent with the dual‐coding hypothesis, whereas no support was found for the alternative explanations tested in the study.     

The Use of the Social Cognition and Object Relations Scale in a Primary Care Setting

Research has indicated that as many as 10% to 15% of primary care patients have symptoms that are not well explained medically. These patients could be labeled as “somatizers.” This study assessed the extent to which underlying psychological characteristics contribute to a person's level of somatization and service utilization. The Social Cognition and Object Relations Scale–Global Rating Method (SCORS–G; Stein, Hilsenroth, Slavin-Mulford, & Pinsker, 2011; Westen, 1995) was used to rate early memory narratives of 100 patients in a suburban primary care setting. Using principal axis factoring, the SCORS–G was divided into 2 components and these components (cognitive and affective) were used in subsequent analyses. The affective component was significantly negatively correlated with 2 measures of somatization and positively related to physician ratings of global health. The affective component also showed a trend toward significance on overnight hospital stays and patient-rated health. The cognitive component showed a trend toward significance with both measures of somatization, but it was not correlated with other measures of health. This study demonstrates the value of assessing underlying processes (via SCORS–G ratings of early memory narratives) that contribute to increased rates of somatization and health care utilization. Clinical implications for the relationship between affect and physical health are explored.