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Biomedical subjects

G Andrews

Publications and source records attributed to G Andrews.

At least 163 records · Page 9Linked to original sources
PubMed1983

Brief psychotherapy in family practice. A controlled prospective intervention trial.

In a prospective (controlled) trial, the result in 18 patients receiving eight, weekly half-hour sessions of brief problem-oriented dynamic psychotherapy was compared with the result in an equal number receiving eight, weekly half-hour sessions of family practitioner therapy and in another 20 receiving no additional therapy. The subjects were drawn from patients at ten suburban family practices in Sydney. They had had psychological complaints for at least six months. No differences between the three treatment groups were found in the final outcome, either in a symptom severity and social dysfunction factor or in a physical disability and medication factor.

Adolescent↗
PubMed1983

Psychotherapy and health insurance.

The Australian health insurance industry has been critical of psychiatry. The data on patterns of claims which have been the focus for some of their concerns are reviewed. The evidence on the efficacy of psychotherapy is also reviewed. Psychotherapy has been shown to be an effective treatment for persons with incapacitating neurotic and personality disorders, a treatment too important to be endangered by dissent over health insurance payments. Proposals for a peer review process for long term psychotherapy are mooted in the expectation that agreement between the health insurance industry and psychiatry would benefit those patients in need of psychotherapy.

Australia↗
PubMed1983

Doctors, disease and demography--changing patterns.

Over the past century major shifts have occurred in causes of morbidity and mortality in the population. Improved environmental conditions and control of infectious diseases have led to the emergence of the "new epidemics" of the so-called societal diseases. At the same time, the population has aged significantly in demographic terms. The major challenges facing health care services now require significant reorientation in thinking, especially in terms of objectives, definition of roles, allocation of resources and planning for the future. This paper explores some of the challenges, the competing interests involved, and the economic, social and political context in which these issues have emerged proposes a model for seeking resolution.

Australia↗
PubMed1982

Hypertension: comparison of drug and non-drug treatments.

Thirty-seven reports of the treatment of hypertension by non-pharmacological means were compared with the results of treatment by standard drug regimens. Treatment by drugs produced the greatest lowering of blood pressure. Treatment by weight reduction, yoga, and muscle relaxation each produced smaller, but appreciable, changes in blood pressure biofeedback, and salt restriction were inferior to those of the other regimens and were not significantly different to the effects of placebo treatment. Large comparative trials of pharmacological and non-pharmacological treatments are needed before definite conclusions can be made.

Biofeedback, Psychology↗
PubMed1982

Stuttering: overt and covert measurement of the speech of treated subjects.

Fifty-six stutterers, four to 34 months after treatment, received an unexpected telephone call from the clinic announcing that their speech was being assessed. At random times before or after that call, they received an unexpected telephone call from a stranger and, unknown to them, stating their speech was recorded and assessed. Two months after these calls, a subgroup (N = 20) was included in an apparent telephone public opinion survey during which their speech was recorded and assessed. There were no significant differences between the mean frequency of stuttering across the three measurement occasions. Covert assessment of speech appears to offer no methodological advantages when assessing the progress of groups.

Adult↗
PubMed1982

Relationship between covert and overt speech measures immediately before and immediately after stuttering treatment.

Overt and covert assessments of monologue and conversational speech were compared in 22 male adult stutterers immediately prior to the commencement of intensive treatment, and in 15 male adult stutterers immediately after completion of intensive treatment. There were no overall differences between covert and overt speech measures taken immediately before treatment. Immediately after intensive treatment, stuttering frequency (%SS) was significantly higher in covert evaluation than in overt evaluation, though the magnitude of the difference was small. There were no consistent covert-overt differences in speech rate (SPM). These results suggest that overt speech samples constitute a valid source of information about stutterers' 'real life' speech immediately before treatment but are less valid immediately after treatment.

Adult↗
PubMed1982

Stuttering: the results of 5 days treatment with an airflow technique.

Brief treatments for stuttering would be available if they could produce long term benefits. Six clients were given training in a variant of an airflow technique. Treatment required eight hours of clinician time per client. Significant improvement occurred after four days of treatment, but relapse was considerable and by the end of the year speech was unimproved in respect to pretreatment scores. Presently, proven effective treatments require 30 hours of clinician time per client and shorter treatments do not appear to produce comparable results.

Adult↗
PubMed1982

An attempt to predict who will benefit from brief psychotherapy in a general practice setting.

The possibility of predicting success in patients receiving brief problem orientated psychotherapy was tested in 18 adult patients selected from 10 Sydney general practices. Ratings were made of six clinical prediction criteria at the beginning of therapy and outcome was assessed directly after therapy and 12 months later. There were modest but significant correlations, particularly among the women, between the sum of the prediction ratings and the outcome 12 months after therapy.

Adult↗
PubMed1982

A survey of practising psychiatrists' views on the treatment of agoraphobia.

The views of practising psychiatrists on the treatment of agoraphobia were investigated as part of a Quality Assurance Project. A one in six random sample of psychiatrists was mailed a questionnaire. This asked for treatment recommendations for each of three case descriptions of patients with agoraphobia and respondents were asked to choose three treatments from a predetermined list of treatments. Eighty-six percent of the sample responded. Behavioural psychotherapy was recommended most often, usually in conjunction with psychodynamic psychotherapy. Recommendations varied across the three cases and were also marginally affected by the format of the question used to elicit them.

Adult↗
PubMed1982

Stuttering: speech pattern characteristics under fluency-inducing conditions.

Speech samples were collected from three adult male stutterers under six baseline conditions and 15 conditions believed to increase fluency. After moments of stuttering and filled pauses had been deleted from the samples, a speech pause analysis technique developed by Goldman-Eisler was used to measure the following speech pattern characteristics: mean phonation duration (i.e., the duration between pauses), pause proportion, articulation rate, fluent speech rate, mean sentence length, and percentage of syllables stuttered. Greater than 50% reduction in stuttering occurred in all but three conditions (Speak and Write, Relaxed, Alone with cards). Greater than 90% reduction occurred under Prolonged/DAF speech, Singing, Chorus reading, Shadowing, Slowing, Syllable-timed speech, and Response contingent stimulation. The data were examined for evidence of speech pattern characteristic changes which were associated with reduced stuttering. Lengthened mean phonation duration occurred consistently under four conditions: Chorus reading, Shadowing, Singing, and Prolonged/DAF. Slowed speech (lower overall rate, lower articulation rate, or increased pause proportion) occurred consistently in seven conditions: Prolonged/DAF, Slowing, Syllable-timed speech, Arm swing, Speak and write, Relaxed, and Singing. Only in Prolonged/DAF speech did lengthened phonation duration occur in conjunction with slowed speech. The results of this exploratory study suggest that stuttering may be reduced under different conditions by means of different strategies. Lengthened phonation and slowing were the predominant strategies used in those conditions investigated in this study. The results are consistent with those of effective treatment techniques. Theoretical accounts of the association between change in fluency and change speech pattern characteristics are discussed.

Humans↗
PubMed1981

Does psychotherapy benefit neurotic patients.

Smith, Glass, and Miller examined the benefits of psychotherapy in 475 controlled studies. Their data were reexamined, and only studies of patients coded as having neuroses, true phobias, and emotional-somatic complaints and who had sought treatment were included in the present analysis. The results of 81 controlled trials were integrated statistically using the metaanalytic technique. The findings provide further evidence on the efficacy of psychotherapy. The condition of the typical patient after treatment was better than that of 77% of untreated controls measured at the same time. The rate of relapse in the first two years was small. The behavior and psychodynamic verbal therapies appeared to be superior to other therapies. The relation between severity of illness and choice of therapy is unknown. This factor could account for some of the differential effects but does not vitiate the main finding.

Adolescent↗
PubMed1981

A prospective study of life events and psychological symptoms.

Subjects who were initially free of psychological symptoms completed life event and symptom measures on 3 subsequent occasions 4 months apart. As expected, an association was found between symptoms and life events reported as occurring in the previous 4 months. A path analysis model was then constructed. The association between symptoms and events of the previous 4 months remained, but in neither panel did events reported as occurring more than 4 months previously predict symptoms.

Adolescent↗
PubMed1981

Short- and long-term outcome in an intensive treatment program for adult stutterers.

A three week intensive treatment program for adult stutterers is described. This treatment has evolved from an original program developed by Ingham and Andrews (1973) using speech prolongation techniques, gradual shaping of speech rate to normal, and systematic transfer of skills acquired in the clinic to real life situations. Immediately after intensive treatment, stuttering was virtually eliminated and speech rate and attitudes toward communication were normalized. There was no substantial deterioration in these treatment effects when clients were evaluated in the clinic after two months in the Maintenance Phase of treatment. Speech and attitude measures collected outside the clinic 12--18 months after intensive treatment showed lasting overall improvement in most clients, although some deterioration in fluency from immediate post-intensive treatment levels had occurred in 40% of clients. Covertly collected data supported this finding. Possible causes of relapse and likely solutions are discussed.

Adult↗