Biomedical subjects
I H Jones
Publications and source records attributed to I H Jones.
A mother's eyeview of childbirth.
Explore the source record for details and available documents.
Senile dementia; a progressive condition with no known cause.
Explore the source record for details and available documents.
A biological approach to two forms of human self-injury.
One hundred cases of self-injury, comprising 39 self-cutters and 61 self-poisoners, were interviewed when they became able to describe the act: 83 in a casualty department, 17 in a hospital. Standardized recordings were made of their feeling state before and after the act, together with an account of the social circumstances under which it occurred. The information was obtained in a way which allowed comparison with existing animal data on self-injury, although comparisons were made between what is known of animal behavior in this area and human feelings as reported by these subjects. The results indicate similarities between what is known of animal self-injury and self-cutting in man in the form of the injury, in the social situation preceding the act, and in the agitation preceding it. Similarities also exist, but are less close, for the self-poisoners. The most obvious effect of the act is a reduction in tension; this may constitute its physiological value.
Some nonverbal aspects of depression and schizophrenia occurring during the interview.
Using remote control videotape recording of interviews and subsequent analysis of the record, eight measures of nonverbal behavior (principally facial) have been made in 12 schizophrenic and 13 depressive subjects shortly after admission to the hospital and again prior to discharge. They were matched with controls who were interviewed in a similar way. Additional videotape observations were made prior to the interview, when the patient was alone and subsequently when he was shown pictures designed to evoke emotional responses. It appears that some nonverbal behaviors can be used in the interview to differentiate between psychiatric patients and normals. These may also be useful as an index of clinical change since they revert toward the normal with clinical improvement. The nonverbal behaviors studied were more prominent in the interpersonal setting than when alone or when the subject was looking at pictorial stimuli. This implies that they may be elicited in response to another individual, either as a distortion of the ordinary nonverbal signaling system, or as physiological responses to a changed state of arousal induced by the interpersonal setting rather than as static characteristics of the syndrome.
Seasonal births in schizophrenia. A southern hemisphere study using matched pairs.
Season of birth of schizophrenics was investigated by comparing 915 carefully selected schizophrenic patients with controls matched for age and sex. While the winter-spring excess of schizophrenic births was similar to Northern Hemisphere findings, further examination of data revealed a new feature: a striking excess of male schizophrenic births for the decade 1915--24. The hypothesis of differential resistance to infection is discussed as an explanation for these findings.
Exhibitionism - a biological hypothesis.
Twenty-four male genital exhibitionists were interviewed in detail and followed up for periods of from 1 to 5 years. Biographical, attitudinal and behavioural data obtained from them were examined with a view to providing information about the aetiology of this behaviour. The evidence presented and discussed is consistent with the hypothesis that exhibiting represents the expression of an innate disposition. Exhibitionism is found to be widespread and patterned in form, to have a driven quality and to coexist with a variety of personality types. This hypothesis is further developed by discussion of anthropological and ethological data.
Genetics and inherited diseases.
Explore the source record for details and available documents.
Auto-mutilation in animals and its relevance to self-injury in man.
Self-mutilation in non-human mammals is a well-established, although not a widely known phenomenon, which has been reported under zoo and laboratory conditions. In macaque monkeys, laboratory rearing and isolation are important predisposing factors, and the more serious self-injury is initiated by some immediate stimulating event. It is commonly accompanied by behaviour normally shown by the animal in a fighting context. Lower mammals are also known to mutilate themselves under laboratory conditions after administration of drugs wich probably cause increased sympathetic activity. The implications of this behaviour for an understanding of states of self-injury in man are discussed.
Severe illness with anxiety following a reputed magical act on an Australian aboriginal.
A case of extreme anxiety is described in an Aboriginal man who believed he had been subjected to magical influences. It is hypothesized that extreme anxiety accompanied by a refusal to eat or drink (the latter feature being part of the Aboriginal belief system under these conditions) is part, or all, of the mechanism of death from magical influences.
Orientation of student psychiatric nurses.
Explore the source record for details and available documents.
Social unrest in an aboriginal community.
Social unrest among Aboriginals of western Australian deserts, who are now congregated in settlements, is discussed with particular reference to fighting and alcoholism. While recent administrative changes are seen as desirable in the long term, over the short term they appear to increase unrest by bringing out a conflict between the old, traditional, ways and the new. How this happens is discussed in some detail and tentative suggestions aimed at minimizing it are made.
Employment problems among tribal aboriginals.
Despite financial encouragement to desert Aboriginal communities, only a small proportion of persons have been persuaded to adopt a Western work style. Some of the Aboriginal attitudes to work and the differing implications of work for black and white people are described. These differences are particularly marked in the areas of motivation, social implications of work, such as status, acquisition of money, and uses to which money can be put. Higher levels of skill are also affected by differing ideas of group conformity, individual excellence, and, to some extent, traditional philosophical concepts. Some of the defects in higher levels of performance may be developmental rather that attitudinal, arising from a radically different childhood environment. It is maintained that understanding work problems from the Aboriginal's point of view may help to circumvent some of them, but radical change, if it comes at all, must come from within their community by their own modification of traditional attitudes.
Mothers' rights--any midwives' rights?
Explore the source record for details and available documents.
Provoked anxiety as a treatment of exhibitionism.
A treatment for male genital exposure (exhibitionism) has been given successfully to 15 persons who have previously been resistant to change. The procedure involves the subject undressing before a mixed sex audience, followed by video-taping and subsequent replay to the patient. During the period of nakedness the subject describes in detail the events, his expectations and attitudes, and those attributed to his victim during exposure. The success of the treatment appears to depend on the profound anxiety induced. During the phase of greatly increased anxiety, cognitive changes previously resisted seem to be made possible.
Women's attitudes to mastectomy for breast cancer.
One hundred patients who had been subjected to mastectomy for carcinoma were interviewed retrospectively to gauge their attitudes to any physical and/or emotional disabilities relating to their operation or disease. It was found that 40% of the patients had delayed for longer than a month after the onset of symptoms before seeking medical advice, but the reasons for this were not readily forthcoming. However, fear of mastectomy was not a common cause. Anxiety and embarassment due to an absent breast occurred in about one-third of patients, and did not diminish with time. Knowledge and the use of mammary prostheses was far from universal, and disturbingly only two-thirds were counselled in these matters by their medical advisers. Physical complications were common, particularly lymphoedema of the arm, and as expected this was closely related to the type and extent of treatment undertaken.
Contraceptive practice and unplanned pregnancy among single university students.
The sexual behaviour and contraceptive practices of a random sample of unmarried university students were compared with those of a group attending the student health service with an unplanned pregnancy. The immediate cause of most pregnancies in this series was incorrect use of a rhythm method. Irregularity of the menstrual cycle may have been a contributing factor in many cases. Psychological factors influencing the desire for pregnancy, while present, were not major contributing causes in many pregnancies.