Mental and Social Health Commons^™

The Differential Effects Of Biobehavioral Feedback On Physiological Reactivity In Type A Coronary-Prone Males, Gary Michael Chavoya

Dissertations

The concept of Type A coronary-prone behavior underscores the unique relationship between a specific constellation of biobehavioral events and the pathogenesis of coronary illness. The principle purpose of the present investigation was to determine whether exaggerated arousal in Type As could be successfully modified as a function of biobehavioral feedback. Twenty-seven males with minimum JAS A-B total scores of 75% were initially exposed to two conditions of behavioral challenge emphasizing time pressure and competition stress. Results indicated that both types of challenge were associated with significant increases in multiple indices of autonomic arousal (multi-site EMG, skin temperature, pulse rate, systolic …

Process Theory: A Reliability And Validity Study, Barbara Pritchard Nash

Dissertations

Process Theory is a new personality/diagnostic system designed by Dr. Taibi Kahler. It is described in detail and compared to other such systems in the psychological literature. A study was conducted to determine the system's interdiagnostician reliability, inter-measure reliability, external validity, and convergent validity with Millon's Clinical Multiaxial Inventory (MCMI). Forty subjects, 20 normal and 20 clinical, were interviewed on tape. The tapes were assessed by three expert diagnosticians. The normal subjects were given the Personality Pattern Inventory (PPI), which is the Process Theory personality test. The clinical subjects were given the MCMI. Interdiagnostician reliability was assessed among the three …

The Therapeutic Use Of Hope, Bonnie Lee Timmer Aardema

Dissertations

Hope is a fundamental element of human behavior which activates, shapes, and sustains psychological development. The literature presents hope as a significant nonspecific factor in psychotherapy; however, the specific use of hope is not examined. There has been little exploration or specification of the characteristics, dynamics, and effects of hoping on individual psychology. The author examines hope as a psychological construct and presents a theory of hope development, loss, and distortion, and a model is presented for the therapeutic use of hope in counseling and psychotherapy.

The author draws from the philosophical, eschatological, and psychological literature concepts regarding the characteristics …

Adolescent Eating Attitudes And Behaviors, Linda Kron Brundage

Dissertations

This study sought to establish a baseline of eating attitudes and behaviors among a non-clinical population of adolescents. Three major questions were addressed: Does a spectrum of weight and diet concern exist among adolescent girls which ranges from dieting for cosmetic reasons to anorexia and bulimia? What is the relationship between attitudes and behaviors at a young age and eating disorders at a later age? What are some of the ways boys and girls differ regarding eating attitudes and behaviors? In addition to these major questions an attempt was made to quantify the incidence anorexia and bulimia.

The Eating Disorder …

Grief Adjustment In The Compulsive Personality, James Lewis Young

Dissertations

Researchers in the field of grief (Parkes 1972, Bowlby 1980) theorized that personality is probably the major factor in determining how well one recovers from grief. Since Lindemann's (1944) study of surviving loved ones who died in a night club fire in Boston, most researchers have worked under the assumption that a survivor must go through the grief process in order to recover adequately, and that those who do not grieve will have poor recovery. Since the compulsive personality style has difficulty expressing emotions, it was hypothesized by this researcher that compulsives would recover more poorly than others in the …

A Study Of Treatment Effects Of Short-Term Hospitalization, Sherwin R. Van Klompenberg

Masters Theses

This research addressed the effects of short-term multifaceted inpatient treatment programs upon the severity of depression as measured by the Beck Depression Inventory.

The study was designed as a pre-post test using the Correlated t Test to analyze the results. The descriptive analysis describes what is presently taking place in a short-term hospital facility. The treatment staff indicated which treatment modalities should impact specific items on the Beck Depression Inventory. The data analysis supports the hypothesis that short-term multifaceted inpatient treatment will have a positive treatment effect upon depression. Statistical analyses were also conducted upon various population subgroups.

The treatment …

Acute Effects Of Phenytoin And Thioridazine, Alone And Combination, Upon Water Intake And Body Weight Changes In Rats, Miriana Witzig-Krstic

Masters Theses

Concommitant medication of anticonvulsants and psychotropics appears to be predominant among mentally retarded, geriatric, and psychiatric in- and out-patient populations. Despite suggested interaction and toxicity resulting from such combination treatment, substantial data remains unavailable. This study was designed to explore effects of dual treatment of thioridazine

A Modification Of The Dry-Bed Training For The Treatment Of Nocturnal Enuresis, Abubaker Muftah Abdurrazek

Masters Theses

The present study explored the effectiveness of the Dry-Bed Training (DBT) method without positive practice (20 trips to the toilet) and urine alarm. It also compares the efficacy of the DBT with and without the urine alarm. Eight nocturnally enuretics, aged 6 to 12 years, were assigned to two groups, experimental and control; each consisted of three boys and one girl. During the first phase of treatment, the experimental group underwent the DBT without positive practice and urine alarm, whereas the control group underwent the DBT with positive practice but no alarm. Subsequently, the urine alarm was introduced to both …

Behavioral Interventions For The Cessation Of Cigarette Smoking Behavior: A Literature Review, Russell David Matthews

Masters Theses

The negative impact of cigarette smoking on health has been medical knowledge for many years. This provides the behavioral investigator with a large population of subjects engaging in a maladaptive behavior which is easily defined and measured and highly resistant to extinction. This study critically reviews published accounts of behavioral interventions for cessation of cigarette smoking, which were listed in the Psychological Abstracts, and other published bibliographies, 1964-1984. Despite the volume of studies reviewed, very few demonstrated effectiveness over time. The author concludes while several techniques proved to be effective initially, their effectiveness diminished within months after application. However, several …

Mental Health Status Of Malay Students At U.S. Colleges And Universities, Md. Shuaib Che Din

Dissertations

The basic premise of this study was that foreign students are faced with problems during much of their stay in the United States. It was the purpose of this study to determine the effects of everyday life strains on the mental health status of Malay students at U.S. colleges and universities. Specifically, this study looked at the relationships between the symptoms of psychiatric disorders of depression, psychological coping resources of self-esteem and self-mastery, and the background variables. Also this study attempted to determine the levels of depression, self-esteem, and self-mastery; the manifestation of the depressive symptoms according to the domains …

Wechsler Adult Intelligence Scale/Wechsler Memory Scale Difference Scores: Their Relationship To Brain Dysfunction And Closed Head Injury, Don A. Boyd

Dissertations

Performance differences between the Wechsler Adult Intelligence Scale (WAIS) and the Wechsler Memory Scale (WMS) were studied. Differences in performance between the WAIS Full Scale IQ Score and the WMS Memory Quotient (WMS discrepancy score) were compared across three groups consisting of a closed head injury group (N = 45), a localized lesion group (N = 25), and a psychiatric group (N = 45) who were unimpaired on the Halstead-Reitan Neuropsychological Battery. Also, WMS discrepancy scores were compared across a long-coma group and a short-coma group and the correlation coefficient between the WMS discrepancy score and neuropsychological impairment rating was …

Community Mental Health Attitudes, Fenimore William Johnson

Dissertations

The purpose of this study was to compare community mental health attitudes of the past and the present, and between mental health workers and the public. The results indicate that the public is better informed and more favorably disposed toward the mentally ill today than was true several decades ago. Some stereotypes persist, however, and the mentally ill are still regarded less favorably than are other disability groups. Mental health workers and the public appear to be similar in their endorsement of a medical approach to treatment, although the former endorse more strongly a community-based treatment orientation. There was no …

The Relationship Between Thought Disorder And The Diagnosis Of Schizophrenia, David Frank Fatzinger

Dissertations

The diagnosis of schizophrenia has been considered unreliable, especially when derived by psychiatric interview. Thought disorder is one symptom that has been accepted by most clinicians as a major indicator of schizophrenia. The purpose of this study was to examine the relationship between thought disorder and the diagnosis of schizophrenia in a state hospital setting.

The sample consisted of 88 patients, 58 males (mean age = 32.0) and 30 females (mean age = 38.6) and was gathered from newly admitted patients in a large state hospital. Thought disorder was measured by the Whitaker Index of Schizophrenic Thinking (WIST) Form A, …

A Comparison Of The Effects Of Student-Generated Versus Instructor-Generated Questions On The Comprehension Of Written Material, Helen Diann Pratt

Masters Theses

Twelve college students volunteered to participate in a special section of an introductory psychology course at Western Michigan University. A multiple baseline design across groups was used to assess differences in reading comprehension between students who received study objectives written by the instructor and students trained to write their own study objectives. Quizzes and examinations were used to assess students' reading comprehension of course materials. A comparison of pre- and post-test scores on the Nelson-Denny Reading Comprehension Test was used to determine whether students had acquired skills which aided their comprehension of other materials. Results indicated no statistically significant differences …

The Use Of Alternative Behaviors, Covert Sensitization And A Package Intervention In Treatment Of Bulimia, Janice Marie Arone

Masters Theses

Bulimia is a complex eating disorder that involves bouts of binge eating which are usually followed by a purge to rid the individual of the unwanted food. This disorder occurs primarily in females and may lead to several medical and psychological complications. The efficacy of two single component treatments and a package intervention designed to decrease variables related to binge eating were investigated with three bulimic females. The results of the research indicated that individuals who were exposed to the package intervention experienced the largest decrements in the binge eating when compared to the single component procedures.

Improving Interpersonal Perceptual Accuracy And Psychological Adjustment Through Brief Perception Therapy With A Substance Abuse Population, B. Gerald Hartman

Dissertations

This study's purpose was to determine if a type of cognitive therapy, Brief Perception Therapy, (Bullmer, 1980) could improve interpersonal perceptual accuracy and psychological adjustment in a substance abuse population. Thirty-five patients seeking inpatient treatment were randomly assigned to a treatment and a comparison group. Twenty-five patients completed the three week program, 13 in the treatment group and 12 in the comparison group. The treatment group received Group Brief Perception Therapy (GBPT) and the comparison group received Regular Group Therapy (RP). Therapists were experienced master's level psychologists and social workers trained in group treatment. GBPT groups used a programmed text, …

The Psychological Intervention Of Group Therapy For Women Coping With Genital Herpes, Susan D. Ferguson

Dissertations and Theses

Three groups of women who had been diagnosed as having genital herpes completed a series of psychological assessments over the course of the four-month research period. One group received two-hour weekly group psychotherapy sessions for eight consecutive weeks as a mode of treatment intervention. Two control groups were used for efficacy of treatment comparison. One control group consisted of regular members of a local self-help chapter for herpes victims. The second control group was formed from those volunteers willing to participate, but who did not choose, or desire, any form of treatment, Outcome measures reflected a greater improvement in psychological …