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Biomedical subjects

G Parker

Publications and source records attributed to G Parker.

At least 361 records · Page 20Linked to original sources
PubMed1979

Parental characteristics of Jews and Greeks in Australia.

A controlled study was conducted in Sydney to assess the reported characteristics of Jewish and Greek parents. Using a measure of fundamental parental characteristics the 81 Jewish subjects differed from controls only in scoring their mothers as less caring. The 125 Greek subjects scored both parents as more overprotective; further investigation revealed that the Greek parents were overprotective of their daughters only. Findings in the latter study suggest that overprotection by Greek parents may be influenced slightly by the age of the child when migrating, and that such a cultural pattern is resistant to acculturation effects.

Adult↗
PubMed1979

Reported parental characteristics in relation to trait depression and anxiety levels in a non-clinical group.

Care and overprotection appear to reflect the principal dimensions underlying parental behaviours and attitudes. In previous studies of neurotically depressed patients and of a non-clinical group, subjects who scored their parents as lacking in care and/or overprotective had the greater depressive experience. The present study of another non-clinical group (289 psychology students) replicated those findings in regard to trait depression levels. In addition, associations between those parental dimensions and trait anxiety scores were demonstrated. Multiple regression analyses established that 9-10% of the variance in mood scores was accounted for by scores on those parental dimensions. Low maternal care scores predicted higher levels of both anxiety and depression, while high maternal overprotection scores predicted higher levels of anxiety but not levels of depression. Maternal influences were clearly of greater relevance than paternal influences.

Anxiety↗
PubMed1979

Repertoires of response to potential precipitants of depression.

A study that would appear to overcome two weaknesses in previous investigations of what have been termed 'antidepressive behaviours' is reported, from patients routinely attending two general practices. Questionnaires were designed to measure such behaviours and their reported effectiveness in response to potential precipitants of depression. While the subjects revealed no sex differences on a trait depression measure, in previous recourse to professional help for depression, or in their appraisal of two given situations, a number of sex differences in their reported antidepressive responses were found. Females scored as less reckless, and they scored higher on help-seeking and self-consolation dimensions ; they were also less likely to regard reckless behaviours as being effective. Higher social class was associated with higher scores on the self-consolation behavioural dimension and in higher scores on socializing. Younger subjects scored higher on socializing and found reckless behaviours more effective than did the older subjects.

Adaptation, Psychological↗
PubMed1978

Schizophrenia and season of birth: further southern hemisphere studies.

Studies in the northern hemisphere and an equatorial region have suggested that schizophrenics have a greater likelihood of being born in the coldest three months of the year. Two further southern hemisphere studies, performed in New Zealand and Tasmania, are reported in this paper. Results from these and other studies suggest that support for a link between schizophrenia and winter birth in the southern hemisphere is slight and inconsistent.

Australia↗
PubMed1978

The season of birth of anxiety neurotics.

An association between spring birth and anxiety neurosis in New South Wales is confirmed. Two possible explanations, that the association might reflect a seasonal variation in conceiving or in giving birth among mothers of those with significant anxiety, or that spring birth selectively disposes to anxiety, were examined. Findings suggest that both effects may be operating.

Anxiety Disorders↗
PubMed1977

Consumer evaluation of natural therapists and general practitioners.

In recent years orthodox medicine has been extensively criticized while alternative therapies have increasingly attracted the interest of patients. A consumer evaluation of alternative therapists and general practitioners is reported and implications are discussed. The study determined also that a significant number of the natural therapy patients felt their therapist provided a primary health care service. The characteristics of this group and reasons for their affiliation are considered.

Acupuncture Therapy↗
PubMed1977

Season of birth and schizophrenia - an equatorial study.

Studies in the northern and southern hemispheres have generally demonstrated an association between shcizophrenia and winter birth. No previous study has been performed in an equatorial region. The present study investigated the distribution of births of 3,508 schizophrenic patients born in the Philippines. A 15% excess above expectation was found for patients born in the coldest 3-month period of the year (December-February). An excess of births in that period was found in both sexes and in each decade of birth examined. The hypothesis that schizophrenics have a greater sensitivity to those physiological factors which determine conception in the general population is not supported.

Female↗
PubMed1977

Cyclone Tracy and Darwin evacuees: on the restoration of the species.

A validated objective measure of the state of psychological function was used to determine the incidence and course of psychological dysfunction in a group of evacuees from Darwin following disaster caused by a cyclone (Cyclone Tracy). While psychological dysfunction was increased initially (58 per cent) and at ten weeks (41 per cent), it had returned to an Australian general population control level (22 per cent) at 14 months. Factors influencing psychological dysfunction were examined, and it is suggested that the sample faced two different stressors at differing times. Initial psychiatric morbidity was most clearly associated with the experience of thinking that one might die or be seriously injured and therefore conceptualized as a 'mortality stressor'. Psychiatric morbidity at ten weeks appeared to be most closely associated with what has been conceptualized as a 'relocation stressor'. Reasons why psychiatric morbidity decreased to a general population control level are discussed.

Adaptation, Psychological↗
PubMed1977

Psychological disturbance in a general practice setting.

One hundred consecutive patients who consulted a general practitioner in Sydney with a new complaint completed the General Health Questionnaire (GHQ), a self-administered instrument designed to assess psychological dysfunction. Although all patients presented somatic symptoms as their principal complaint, 39 per cent scored positively on the GHQ. A direct relationship between severity of psychological disturbance as clinically assessed and GHQ score was observed, while the relationship between the clinically assessed severity of physical dysfunction and GHQ score was an inverse one. At the 10 week follow-up, psychological morbidity had fallen to 23 per cent, a figure akin to a Sydney general population norm. Some implications of these findings are discussed.

Adolescent↗
PubMed1976

The chiropractic patient: psychosocial aspects.

A study of 84 patients attending for the first time an Australian-trained chiropractor is reported. The patients could not be distinguished from the general population on several demographic and trait psychological measures. Before treatment the patients regarded chiropractors as technically competent as general practitioners, but somewhat superior in interpersonal skills. Eighty-two per cent had received and failed to respond to previous treatment, nearly 60% gave a desire for pain relief as their sole reason for attendance, and two-thirds affirmed that they visited the chiropractor as a last resort. At a 10-week follow-up, all but 11% reported some improvement and 74% were sufficiently satisfied with their treatment to affirm that they would return to a chiropractor if their condition recurred. Factors that might have influenced outcome were studied and are discussed.

Adolescent↗
PubMed1976

The doctor's wife.

A sociological survey of 52 doctors' wives was performed. The majority had attended private school, 19% had reached a tertiary level of education and 58% had been employed in the health profession before marriage, 42% in the nursing profession. At the time of the survey only 10% were in full-time external employment, but the majority assisted their husbands in their professional work. A minority acknowledged some loss of personal identity in being a doctor's wife.

Adult↗
PubMed1976

Mental disorder and season of birth--a southern hemisphere study.

Studies on the relationship between season of birth and mental disorder have been substantially confined to northern hemisphere regions. Such studies have generally found an excess of winter births of schizophrenics, and variably an excess of winter births of manic-depressive and mentally retarded patients. In the present study information on sex, diagnosis and date of birth was obtained on all 20,358 patients first admitted to psychiatric facilities in New South Wales between July 1970 and June 1974 and born in New South Wales. The collective 1962-71 monthly live-births for New South Wales were used as a control. A significant winter excess was found for the female schizophrenic group, while a significant spring excess was found for neurotic patients, most marked in those with anxiety neurosis. It is hypothesized that the relationship between schizophrenia and winter birth is consequent upon a greater sensitivity of schizophrenics to those physiological factors which determine conception in the general population.

Adjustment Disorders↗
PubMed1976

The Little Nell Complex--an Oedipal variant.

An oedipal relationship between a girl and her grandfather might be named the "Little Nell Complex" after Dickens' description of the close relationship between thirteen year old Little Nell and her grandfather in "The Old Curiosity Shop". A clinical illustration of a Little Nell Complex is described in a seventeen year old girl who presented with depression following the death of her grandmother. Oedipal complexes existing between the patient and her parents, the patient and her grandparents, and between the patient's mother and her parents, are described. In offering notations the "erotic" component of the Oedipus complex has usually received more attention than the "attachment" component. It is felt that Bowlby's concepts of attachment behaviour may be useful in the consideration of oedipal behaviour and in the structuring of therapy.

Adjustment Disorders↗
PubMed1975

The exodus of long-stay psychiatric patients.

Increasing criticism is being made of the policy of discharging long-stay psychiatric patients to the community. A study of such ex-patients who had left Callan Park Hospital was undertaken to assess this policy in New South Wales. The majority were unemployed pensioners, living in convalescent homes and boarding houses, who stated that they were happier than when living in Callan Park Hospital. It would appear that one type of institution has been substituted for another, and that greater responsibility for the care and rehabilitation of such ex-patients needs to be offered.

Age Factors↗
PubMed1975

Psychological disturbance in Darwin evacuees following cyclone Tracy.

The incidence and course of psychological reactions following natural disasters has been based on clinical impressions in the past. In the present study, 67 survivors of cyclone Tracy who had been evacuated to Sydney were studied by an objective test, the General Health Questionnaire, which has been found to be a reliable and valid instrument in determining non-psychotic psychological disturbance. Fifty-eight per cent of these Darwin evacuees scored as "probable psychiatric cases" when tested five to eight days after the cyclone. Psychological disturbance increased with age and was more pronounced in females.

Adolescent↗
PubMed1975

Psychiatric diagnosis in New South Wales compared to England and Wales.

Comparative studies of first admission rates to psychiatric hospitals have revealed significant differences in the rates of diagnoses of functional psychoses between the United Kingdom and the United States of America. The present study examined the diagnoses of indigenous patients born between 1921 and 1955 and first admitted to hospitals in New South Wales, Australia, and England and Wales. Admission rates for mania were in striking agreement. The rate in New South Wales for schizophrenia was slightly higher and for psychotic depression considerably less than in England and Wales. A similar trend in diagnostic dissonance would appear to exist between England and Wales and New South Wales as between England and Wales and the United States for schizophrenia and psychotic depression, but this is considerably less in degree.

Adjustment Disorders↗