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Biomedical subjects

M L Silverstein

Publications and source records attributed to M L Silverstein.

42 records · Page 3Linked to original sources
PubMed1980

Auditory misperceptions of word-association stimuli in schizophrenia.

This study examined whether auditory misperception of stimulus words on a word-association test can account for idiosyncratic responses of 37 schizophrenics. Results indicated performance comparable to 19 nonschizophrenics' under conditions of auditory and visual presentation, and thus did not support the position that mishearing of stimuli artifactually increased associative thought disturbance.

Auditory Perceptual Disorders↗
PubMed1979

Decay and interference processes in short-term retention of normal and brain-damaged patients.

The present study examined decay and interference mechanisms in short-term verbal retention in brain damaged patients with and without clinical memory impairment. Petersons' distractor technique was modified for this purpose. Results indicated that decay and impaired consolidation of memory traces was greater in organic amnesics, accounting for a greater degree of forgetting than proactive interference. Absence of an interference function is discussed in terms of the modified technique utilizing repeated trials to recall and more rigorously eliminating covert rehearsal, in addition to employing a more representative sample of organic amnesics than in provious studies.

Adult↗
PubMed1978

Is modern-day schizophrenic outcome still negative?

To evaluate formulations about more positive outcome in modern-day schizophrenic patients, the authors assessed 132 young patients 2.7 years after hospital discharge. Despite modern treatment techniques, only 14%-17% of the 79 schizophrenic patients in the study group were functioning effectively without relapses; 50% had adjusted very poorly. The schizophrenic patients were functioning significantly more poorly than the nonschizophrenic patients in all areas (p less than .01), showing poor adjustment, high symptom levels, and high rehospitalization rates. The two major acute subgroups (schizo-affective and acute schizophrenic patients) were functioning better than those with paranoid and chronic schizophrenia. Overall, the authors conclude, diagnosis carries prognostic implications. Schizophrenic outcome is more favorable today than it was in Bleuler and Kraepelin's era, but it is still relatively negative.

Acute Disease↗
PubMed1978

First-rank symptoms in the postacute schizophrenic: a follow-up study.

Schneider's diagnostic system of first-rank symptoms (FRS) is acknowledged by psychiatrists throughout the world as a decisive basis for the diagnosis of schizophrenia. Recently, the author's and others' works have challenged this view. This report examines the relationship between FRS, psychotic symptoms, prognosis, and outcome at the postacute stage. The assessment of FRS was made from an interview schedule (a modification of the Wing Present State Examination) developed for the systematic assessment of psychotic symptoms. The results question the utility of FRS as a primary diagnostic approach to schizophrenia, suggesting that Schneider's system may not be superior to other diagnostic approaches.

Acute Disease↗
PubMed1977

Psychotic symptoms in schizophrenia after the acute phase.

Sixty schizophrenic and 34 nonschizophrenic patients were assessed 3 years after discharge on 17 types of psychotic symptoms. Schizophrenics were significantly higher than nonschizophrenic patients on the overall index of psychotic features (p less than .01) and on the index of delusions (p less than .01). Using a weighted estimate, 38.5 percent of the nonparanoid schiziphrenics showed clear evidence of psychotic features, and another 20.5 percent showed some evidence of psychotic features which were weak or sporadic or which the patients seemed able to bring into perspective. Schizophrenic subdiagnosis did not predict later psychotic sysmptoms, although there was a trend for more psychotic features in paranoid and in chronic schizophrenics. The belief that psychotic symptoms in schiziphrenia are not just temporary states was supported. However, conceptions about psychotic symptoms persisting in all schizophrenics were not affirmed.

Acute Disease↗