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Biomedical subjects

M M Weissman

Publications and source records attributed to M M Weissman.

At least 235 records · Page 13Linked to original sources
PubMed1981

Psychotherapy with depressed outpatients: patient and process variables as predictors of outcome.

This paper evaluates the predictive power of two classes of variables which are thought to be related to psychotherapy outcome: patient characteristics assessed at the start of treatment, and process characteristics of the psychotherapy. The treatment was Short Term Interpersonal Psychotherapy which was performed with ambulatory patients during a major depressive episode as defined by Research Diagnostic Criteria. Univariate correlations indicate that patients with generally healthier functioning on the Prognostic Index received better ratings on measures of psychotherapy process and experienced greater improvement in depressive symptoms and social functioning. However, in a multiple regression analysis, patient characteristics accounted for 64 per cent of the variance in treatment outcome, while psychotherapy process variables were not predictive of outcome.

Adolescent↗
PubMed1980

Research diagnostic criteria subtypes of depression. Their role as predictors of differential response to psychotherapy and drug treatment.

We studied the usefulness of the research diagnostic criteria subtypes in the prediction of response to amitriptyline and short-term interpersonal psychotherapy (IPT) in a 16-week, controlled, randomized clinical trial with 81 ambulatory depressed patients. Both patients with a situational depression and patients with an endogenous depression responded to combined treatment; those with an endogenous depression did not respond to IPT alone, whereas those with a situational depression responded to IPT or tricyclic medication alone. It may not be necessary to offer both treatments to the situationally depressed patients. However, situational and endogenous are not mutally exclusive diagnoses, and it would be of clinical interest to obtain a longer group of patients with both diagnoses for further study.

Acute Disease↗
PubMed1980

Children and depression--the children of depressed parents; the childhood of depressed patients; depression in children.

In order to understand the development of depression in children, three types of data are reviewed: (1) studies of the children of depressed parents; (2) studies of the childhood histories of depressed adults; (3) direct studies of depression in children. These data support an increased frequency of depression and other psychopathology in the children of depressed adults. An examination of the homes of children with a depressed parent reveals a disruptive, hostile, and rejecting environment. This atmosphere is also found in the homes of depressed children and in the homes of children who become depressed as adults. Methodological issues are discussed which will help sort out the relative influences of genes and environment in future studies.

Adolescent↗
PubMed1980

Children's symptom and social functioning self-report scales. Comparison of mothers' and children's reports.

This paper reports on the testing of self-report scales, in a pilot study of 28 children with a psychiatrically ill parent. We examined the relationship between children's responses about themselves and mothers' responses about their children, on symptom and social functioning scales. The self-report scales administered to the children included the Center for Epidemiologic Studies Depression Scale, the Children's Depression Inventory, and the Social Adjustment Scale. The mothers completed the Achenbach Child Behavior Checklist, the Conners Parent Questionnaire, and the Center for Epidemiologic Studies Depression Scale about their children. Agreement between mothers and children on the assessment of the child was poor. Agreement was good across the scales used when the information was derived from the same informant. The implication of these results for epidemiological studies, particularly concerning dual informants, is discussed.

Adolescent↗
PubMed1980

Psychiatric disorders and their treatment: a community survey.

This paper examines relationships between true and treated prevalence of mental illness in a community by examining the use of mental health and other professional services for emotional problems and the relationship of this use to the individual's diagnostic status. The results are based upon a third round of 515 interviews in a longitudinal community study in New Haven, Connecticut, and demonstrate the high use of nonpsychiatric physicians by persons with a psychiatric diagnosis.

Adult↗
PubMed1980

Psychiatric disorders in a U.S. community. The application of research diagnostic criteria to a resurveyed community sample.

Point prevalence rates of psychiatric disorders, risk factors, and treatment sought for the disorders are presented, based on a 1975--1976 follow-up of a community probability sample originally surveyed in 1967. These data, while preliminary because of the limitations of a follow-up study, demonstrate the first application to a community sample of new psychiatric diagnostic techniques (SADS-RDC), which are being used with increasing frequency in the United States. The forthcoming DSM-III will be based on these diagnostic techniques. These results, consistent with other reports, show that depression is the most common psychiatric disorder in the community; that schizophrenia and bipolar disorders both have low frequency; and that psychiatric disorders are heterogeneous by age, sex, race, social class, marital status. While persons with a psychiatric disorder tend to use the health care system in the United States, they do not specifically seek help for emotional problems. Since the majority of psychiatric disorders are untreated in the mental health system, prevalence rates of psychiatric disorders based on cases receiving treatment in psychiatric facilities are a gross underestimate.

Adolescent↗
PubMed1980

A note of suicidal behaviors among intimates.

This paper presents a breif report of four (of 62) cases in which a relative or intimate friend made a suicide attempt within a month of the significant other's suicide, usually using a similar method.

Adolescent↗
PubMed1980

Use of a self-report symptom scale to detect depression in a community sample.

The authors gave the CES-D, a self-report depression symptom scale, to 515 people drawn from a longitudinal community survey. The subjects were also interviewed using the Schedule for Affective Disorders and Schizophrenia (SADS). From the information collected on the SADS, the subjects were given diagnoses based on Research Diagnostic Criteria. The results indicate a modest relationship between self-reported symptoms of depression and the diagnosis of a major or minor depression. However, the groups defined as "cases" by such reports also include many people with other diagnoses or with no diagnoses at all. Thus, symptom scales are useful for the screening of depressed persons in research studies but are only rough indicators of clinical depression in the community.

Adolescent↗