Deinstitutionalization reconsidered.
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Biomedical subjects
Publications and source records attributed to M J Mills.
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This study examines the applications of civil commitment criteria for prolonged (14-day) involuntary hospitalization of individuals judged to be dangerous to others by reason of mental illness. The California Civil Commitment Statute (Lanterman-Petris-Short, LPS) provides for such commitment, after a 72-hour period of observations. For a sample of 71 males on an acute inpatient unit, we examined the relationship between 14-day certification by reason of dangerousness to others (DO) under the LPS and measures of prehospitalization dangerousness, prior legal status, assaultive behavior in hospital, and mental status. The 31 per cent of subjects who were certified as DO were found to have been significantly more often held initially for 72-hour observation on the DO grounds than were patients who were certified for other reasons. However, subjects in the DO group were no different from the contrast groups on ratings of assaultiveness of preadmission behavior and of violent acts while in hospital. The implications of these results for the evaluation of civil commitment proceedings are discussed.
After establishing a strong correlation between steady-state thiothixene levels and levels drawn 2.5 hours after a 20-mg test dose, the authors examined the correlation between clinical improvement and serum levels drawn 2.5 hours after a single 20-mg test dose of thiothixene. For 30 male schizophrenic inpatients, improvement on the Brief Psychiatric Rating Scale was significantly correlated with the single test-dose levels. Serum levels were also positively correlated with age, which may explain the tendency of elderly patients to require lower neuroleptic doses and to exhibit a higher incidence of side effects. The results suggest that acute single-dose levels may be useful in predicting clinical response to thiothixene.
To explore the specificity of criteria for civil commitment for dangerousness, the authors examined the relationship between civil commitment for dangerousness to others under the California Civil Commitment Statute (the Lanterman-Petris-Short Act) and violent acts and behavioral ratings made immediately after commitment. Using a prospective design they evaluated 84 subjects. The ratings of violent acts for subjects considered dangerous to others were no different than those of a nondangerous control group. The subjects considered dangerous to others, however, differed on several subscales of the Brief Psychiatric Rating Scale. The authors discuss the implications of these results for civil commitment proceedings.
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We describe three patients who had typical features of hairy cell leukemia (HCL) and multiple myeloma (MM) at the same time. In two, both diagnoses were made within a short period of time, and in the third, HCL had been present for 2 yr before the appearance of a paraprotein, bone lesions, and plasma-cell infiltrates established the diagnosis of MM. Although this association has not been previously reported, cases of HCL with osteolytic lesions or a paraprotein band have been described. The cases described may represent clinical manifestations of closely related disorders arising from divergent differentiation from a common B-cell precursor rather than a chance association.
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Endogenous opiate-like peptides (endorphins) are putative neuroregulators located throughout the mammalian brainstem. There is some evidence for their role in pain, stress, and affect. We report that the opiate antagonist, naloxone, alters some schizophrenic symptoms. In a double-blind, cross-over study, naloxone produced decreases in auditory hallucinations in some schizophrenic patients. This finding supports the hypothesis that the endorphins may play a roll in modulating hallucinations in a highly selected subgroup of chronically hallucinating schizophrenic patients.
The authors interviewed 69 subjects who had had jejuno-ileal bypass surgery for obesity to determine the relationship between weight loss and eating behavior after surgery. All patients had been extremely overweight; at an average of 37 months after surgery, their mean weight was reduced by 39%. There were four significant postoperative changes: voluntary restriction of food intake, "normalization" of eating patterns, resistance to eating during intense emotion, and far less dysphoria during postsurgical weight loss than during previous weight loss efforts. The authors therefore suggest that factors other than impaired intestinal absorption may account for some portion of postsurgical weight loss.
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