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Biomedical subjects

P M Coons

Publications and source records attributed to P M Coons.

36 records · Page 2Linked to original sources
PubMed1989

Post-traumatic aspects of the treatment of victims of sexual abuse and incest.

This study assesses the frequency of childhood abuse and adult traumatization and the presence of symptomatology of post-traumatic stress and dissociation across different DSM-III diagnostic categories including affective disorder, schizophrenia, eating disorders, PTSD, borderline personality disorder, and multiple personality disorder. Findings revealed high levels of child abuse among patients with dissociative disorder and borderline personality disorder. The patients with dissociative disorders were found to have an increased incidence of rape and wife battery in adulthood. Patients with dissociative and post-traumatic stress disorders were found to experience similar symptomatology. The findings from this study highlight the need to assess all psychiatric patients for a history of physical and sexual trauma. Major treatment issues in patients who suffer from either type of trauma include the development of trust and the abreaction and working through of traumatic memories. Conjoint sessions with concerned others may be beneficial.

Adolescent↗
PubMed1988

Multiple personality disorder. A clinical investigation of 50 cases.

To study the clinical phenomenology of multiple personality, 50 consecutive patients with DSM-III multiple personality disorder were assessed using clinical history, psychiatric interview, neurological examination, electroencephalogram, MMPI, intelligence testing, and a variety of psychiatric rating scales. Results revealed that patients with multiple personality are usually women who present with depression, suicide attempts, repeated amnesic episodes, and a history of childhood trauma, particularly sexual abuse. Also common were headaches, hysterical conversion, and sexual dysfunction. Intellectual level varied from borderline to superior. The MMPI reflected underlying character pathology in addition to depression and dissociation. Significant neurological or electroencephalographical abnormalities were infrequent. These data suggest that the etiology of multiple personality is strongly related to childhood trauma rather than to an underlying electrophysiological dysfunction.

Adolescent↗
PubMed1987

Religious psychodynamics in multiple personalities: suggestions for treatment.

A study of God images, personality splits, and religious lives of seven women with multiple personality disorder shows different God images in primary and secondary personalities. Splits in God images reflect the dynamics of personality splits and splits in parental images. Suggestions are made for dealing with religious material in therapy.

Adult↗
PubMed1986

Child abuse and multiple personality disorder: review of the literature and suggestions for treatment.

The syndrome of multiple personality is associated with a high incidence of physical and/or sexual abuse in childhood. Occasionally those with multiple personality abuse their own children. Multiple personality is difficult to diagnose both because of the nature of the syndrome and because of professional reluctance. Although multiple personality is most difficult to diagnose during childhood because of the subtlety of the syndrome, the much higher morbidity found in adult cases makes it imperative that it be diagnosed and treated early in order to avoid further abuse and greater morbidity and to shorten treatment time. This review describes the history, clinical features and treatment of multiple personality, particularly in children, in addition to exploring the professional reluctance to make the diagnosis.

Child↗
PubMed1986

Treatment progress in 20 patients with multiple personality disorder.

Attempts to follow the treatment progress of patients with multiple personality have been limited to a few single case studies and, in the only large series, to those most successfully treated. This study followed the treatment progress of 20 patients for a mean of 39 months after intake. The study included a detailed history, neurological examination, and psychological testing on each patient. At follow-up each patient was interviewed and a questionnaire was completed by his or her therapist to assess treatment response. Although nine patients achieved partial or full integration, complete integration was maintained by only five. During therapy the unintegrated patients experienced emotional trauma at approximately twice the rate as did the patients who eventually became integrated. Psychodynamic psychotherapy and hypnosis were the most widely prescribed therapies. The improvement in multiple personality appeared to proceed in a stepwise fashion from acceptance of the diagnosis to integration. The progress of therapy was hindered most commonly by the overuse of the mental mechanisms of repression and denial, the continued utilization of secrecy, which began during child abuse, and the production of numerous crises. The most common countertransferences included anger, exasperation, and emotional exhaustion. Although the psychotherapy of patients with multiple personality is tedious and time consuming, it can be eminently successful if the patient and therapist persevere.

Adolescent↗
PubMed1986

Psychosexual disturbances in multiple personality: characteristics, etiology, and treatment.

In a series of 20 patients with multiple personality, there was a 75% incidence of sexual abuse and a 55% incidence of physical abuse during childhood. Six of the 17 female patients (35%) had been raped in adolescence or adulthood. Patients were matched for age and sex with a nondissociative disorder control group. Although 55% of the multiple personality group had psychosexual disturbances, this was just barely significant when compared with the control group. Multiple personality appears to be an adaptive response to various traumata and enables the individual superficially to function sexually because sexual functioning is often dissociated and managed by an alternate personality.

Adolescent↗
PubMed1985

Group psychotherapy with multiple personality patients.

Group psychotherapy with multiple personality patients is an infrequently utilized technique. In a homogeneous group composed of multiple personality patients, the technique of group psychotherapy is examined in detail. The group setting, selection of patients, and group composition are described. Therapeutic issues involving group process, intrapersonal dynamics, transference, countertransference, co-therapy, and termination are examined. Finally, psychotherapy with the group of multiple personality patients is contrasted with group psychotherapy with borderline patients and incest victims.

Adolescent↗
PubMed1984

The differential diagnosis of multiple personality. A comprehensive review.

This review offers guidelines for the diagnosis of multiple personality disorder and other dissociative disorders and presents diagnostic criteria for psychotic disorders, factitious disorders, affective disorders, anxiety disorders, psychosexual disorders, and others that may or may not coexist with multiple personalities.

Adult↗
PubMed1982

EEG studies of two multiple personalities and a control.

There are few reports of EEG findings in patients with multiple personalities. In our study, EEGs were visually scanned and frequency analyzed in two patients with multiple personalities and one control. Auditory and visual evoked responses were also obtained from one of the patients and the control. The visually scanned EEGs and the evoked responses demonstrated few differences among the various personalities in each patient, whereas the frequency analysis showed the greatest number of significant differences among the "personalities" in the control. These data suggest that EEG differences among personalities in a person with multiple personalities involve intensity of concentration, mood changes, degree of muscle tension, and duration of recording, rather than some inherent difference between the brains of persons with multiple personalities and those of normal persons.

Adult↗
PubMed1980

Multiple personality: diagnostic considerations.

Multiple personality is a syndrome characterized by 2 or more alternating personality states and amnesia. Multiple personality must be differentiated from fugue, possession syndromes, mediumships, hysterical personality, schizophrenia, hypnotic states, organic brain syndrome and simulation. A review of the literature, discussion of diagnosis, and 4 illustrative cases are presented.

Adult↗