Biomedical subjects
M J Horowitz
Publications and source records attributed to M J Horowitz.
Pathological grief: diagnosis and explanation.
Pathological grief deserves a place in the diagnostic nomenclature. Because posttraumatic stress disorder requires an event beyond the range of usual experience and bereavement is virtually a universal experience, a new diagnosis of signs and symptoms precipitated by a loss event is needed. Many varieties of pathological grief have been noted in clinical research studies, and multiple diagnoses of pathological grief would make research difficult. The authors advance a solution in a personality-based explanation of abnormal responses to loss events; this allows for a single diagnosis of pathological grief. The authors also present a predictive model to partially explain pathological grief by antecedent trait combinations. The hypothesis is that persons with a preloss combination of both contradictions in relational schemas about the deceased and tendencies toward excessive control to stifle unwanted affect will tend to have unsuccessful processes of mourning. Types of contradictions and overcontrol may vary, yielding personality-based varieties of response within a single diagnostic category.
Benign paroxysmal positonal vertigo: A clinical study.
Summary--Ru-Vert, a combination product, containing in each tablet, 25 mg of pentylenetetrazol, 12.5 mg of pheniramine maleate, and 50 mg of nictonic acid, was evaluated in the treatment of seventeen patients with benign paroxysmal positional vertigo. The study was double-blind with crossover. Ru-Vert at a dosage of two tablets t.i.d. was found to reduce significantly the nystagmus and the vertigo induced by Hallpike maneuvers in these patients.
Self-naming.
A discussion of "On Speaking of Oneself by Name," by Dennis Farrell, M.D. and Michael Hoyt, Ph.D. Drs. Farrell and Hoyt are to be complimented for a careful effort at intensive case study. Their paper indicates that a semi-quantitative approach can be used to check out the prevalence of an apparent pattern. Their counting approach provides a useful buttress to their clinical impressions. They have taken on a difficult topic and illuminated it. Two salient questions to such self-naming are addressed: (1) In what context is this phenomenon most frequent? (2) In which people is this phenomenon most likely to occur?