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At least 721 records · Page 40Linked to original sources
PubMed1995

Clinical characteristics of auditory hallucinations.

We studied 25 clinical characteristics of auditory hallucinations by means of 3-point observer-rated scales in a sample of 60 inpatients with mainly schizophrenic or schizophreniform disorders. The interrater reliability of the scales was found to be satisfactory. High levels of conviction about the reality of the sensory stimuli, clarity of content, location of their source of origin and lack of volitional control were found to be the hallmarks of verbal hallucinations. This finding supports the hypothesis that the concept of auditory hallucinations represents many aspects of patients' hallucinatory experiences, which are relatively independent of one another.

Adolescent↗
PubMed1996

The content and characteristics of auditory hallucinations in Saudi Arabia and the UK: a cross-cultural comparison.

This study investigated the content and characteristics of auditory hallucinations reported by 75 patients in Saudi Arabia (SA) and the UK. Each patient was asked to report on the content and characteristics of their hallucinations with regard to several dimensions, including loudness, frequency, clarity and perceived validity. In general, the characteristics of the voices did not vary between the SA and UK patients, but the content differed between cultures. Much of the content of the hallucinations of SA patients was religious and superstitious in nature, whereas instructional themes and running commentary were common in the UK patients. The results suggest that cultural differences need to be taken into account when applying psychological methods to this group of patients.

Adult↗
PubMed1997

Psychopathological and SPECT findings in never-treated schizophrenia.

A total of 24 never-treated (i.e. drug-naive) actively psychotic schizophrenic patients, operationalized according to DSM-III-R, were examined in a pre-post-treatment design using the Positive and Negative Syndrome Scale for Schizophrenia (PANSS) and 99mTc-HMPAO-single photon emission computed tomography (SPECT) to assess regional cerebral blood flow (rCBF). The control subjects were 20 patients free of neurological and psychiatric symptoms. Before treatment there was only a slight hypofrontality, and hypoperfusion was observed in the left temporal superior region. After treatment, hypofrontality was reduced to one region and temporal hypoperfusion disappeared. Formal thought disorders were accompanied by increased rCBF in the bilateral frontal interior and left temporal superior regions. Delusions were associated with hypoperfusion in the anterior cingulate cortex. Negative symptoms showed no linkage to hypofrontality, either before or after treatment. Factor analysis showed delusions and hallucinations loading on different dimensions. The disorganized dimension correlated positively with all regions of interest, whereas these were negatively correlated with reality distortion.

Adult↗
PubMed1999

Morbid objectivization in psychopathology.

The fundamental problems of schizophrenia are wrongly formulated unless one takes heed of the major philosophical revolution which Kant initiated with the publication of the Critique of Pure Reason in 1781. Virtually all major philosophers since then have adhered to the view that the mind objectifies whatever energy fields/atoms, etc., are 'out there'. The thesis put forward in this lecture will be that schizophrenia is a condition in which this process proceeds too far. Evidence from the psychopathology of body, time and world is offered in support of such morbid objectivization.

Body Image↗
PubMed1999

Auditory hallucinations: phenomenology, neuropsychology and neuroimaging update.

Auditory verbal hallucinations (AVHs) are a cardinal feature of psychosis. Recent research is reviewed which has attempted to advance our knowledge of the mechanisms underlying this symptom. Phenomenological surveys have confirmed the importance of the content of such hallucinations and their meaning to the voice-hearer. Psychological and neuroimaging studies of inner speech and source monitoring have provided a neuropsychological framework for AVHs as well as some novel therapeutic strategies. There have also been successful attempts to 'capture' neural activity coincident with the experience of hallucinations using PET, SPECT and functional magnetic resonance imaging (MRI). This body of knowledge in combination with work on in-vivo receptor binding (dopamine and GABA) provides the beginnings of a cognitive and neurophysiological understanding of this complex and intriguing phenomenon.

Auditory Cortex↗
PubMed1986

Frank's "common elements" in psychotherapy: nonspecific factors and placebos.

Implications of Jerome Frank's seminal hypotheses are further considered, specifically that all psychological treatments share common elements that account for the effective treatment of a core problem shared by all patients--demoralization. The stages of psychotherapy and the potential role of suggestion, nonspecific elements, and placebo are highlighted.

Humans↗
PubMed1991

Reality monitoring and psychotic hallucinations.

Hallucinating psychiatric patients, patients with delusions but without a history of hallucinations and normal controls were compared on a reality-monitoring task in which they were first required to generate answers to easy or difficult clues and to listen to low-probability or high-probability paired associates. After an interval of one week, the subjects were presented with a list in which their answers to the clues were mixed with the associates and with words not previously presented, and they were required to identify the source of each item (self-generated, presented by the experimenter or new). The psychiatric patients were generally less accurate in identifying the source of the items in comparison with the normal controls. However, hallucinators more often misattributed high cognitive effort self-generated items (answers to difficult clues) to the experimenter than either the psychiatric or the normal controls. The results are interpreted as consistent with the hypothesis that hallucinations are self-generated events misattributed to an external source.

Adult↗
PubMed1998

Reality negotiation in non-depressed and depressed persons.

OBJECTIVES: Non-depressed and depressed persons were hypothesized to input and recall self-referential information that was consistent with their self theories. DESIGN: Non-depressed and depressed persons were compared. METHODS: Non-depressed (14) and depressed (14) students chose between positive or negative audio statements, and then recalled the statements. RESULTS: Non-depressed relative to depressed participants: (i) listened more to the positive than the negative tapes; and (ii) fabricated (i.e. incorrectly recalled) less negative messages. CONCLUSION: Partial support is given to reality negotiation processes.

Adolescent↗
PubMed1992

A longitudinal study of the effects of television viewing on aggressive and prosocial behaviours.

A longitudinal study investigated the extent to which children's exposure to aggressive and prosocial television models in drama programmes influences their aggressive and prosocial behaviour. In The Netherlands we did not find significant positive correlations between prosocial behaviour and the viewing of prosocial behaviour on television. Positive correlations were found, however, between aggression and television violence viewing. This relationship disappeared almost completely when corrections for the starting level of aggression and intelligence were applied. The hypothesis, formulated on the basis of social learning theory, that television violence viewing leads to aggressive behaviour could not be supported. Our findings are further discussed and compared with the results found in the other countries participating in the international study.

Aggression↗
PubMed1984

Science and psychoanalysis.

A philosophical approach is suggested which regards scientific laws as based upon the structure of the universe but fully open-ended in that the structure does not determine what must occur but only what cannot occur. There are thus infinite future possibilities but nevertheless a firm orderly system which permits reliable expectations within the limits of the system while at the same time there is scope for free will in a real sense. Such a view admits the limitations of a falsification-of-hypotheses approach to research insofar as it depends upon the single-case basis of refutation. However it finds no problems with regard to a multivariate analysis of data assessed in terms of probability theory and considered in relation to its consistency with the total body of scientific theory, which it sees as having its basis in a 'thingness' concept that is both fundamental in our perceptual activity and acceptable as a basis for understanding the systematic orderliness of our mental experiences.

Cognition↗
PubMed1989

Persecutory delusions and attributional style.

Seventeen psychotic patients with persecutory delusions were matched against depressed and normal controls and assessed for magical ideation, locus of control and attributional style. The deluded and depressed patients were found to make global and stable attributions when compared to the normal subjects. However, the deluded patients, in contrast with both control groups, made excessively external attributions for negative events and internal attributions for positive events. Highly significant differences were observed between the deluded group and the two control groups on magical ideation and on the 'powerful others' subscale of the locus of control questionnaire. Both psychiatric groups differed from the normal control group on 'chance' locus of control and a significant difference was observed between the persecuted and normal subjects on the 'internality' subscale of the questionnaire. The implications of these findings for the understanding and treatment of paranoid delusions are discussed.

Adult↗
PubMed1992

The concept of sign in the work of Vygotsky, Winnicott and Bakhtin: further integration of object relations theory and activity theory.

In a recent paper Ryle introduced the idea of integrating object relations theory and activity theory, a conceptual tradition originated by Vygotsky and developed by a number of Soviet psychologists during the previous decades. A specific aspect of this integrative perspective will be examined, implied in Ryle's paper but not elaborated by him. It is the issue of sign mediation which was Vygotsky's primary contribution to the methodological problems of modern psychology. The aim is to show that object relations theory, especially the work of Winnicott, may bring fresh understanding into Vygotsky's early notions. It is further claimed that, by introducing the contribution of Mikhail Bakhtin and his circle to the notion of sign mediation, the profundity in Winnicott's understanding of the transitional object and of the potential space may be more fully appreciated. At the same time the ideas of Winnicott and Bakhtin will jointly clarify the limitations in Vygotsky's sign conception.

Adult↗
PubMed1996

Overconfidence and personal evaluations of social rank.

Research on confidence judgements suggests that people are often overconfident. However, some studies have found that depressed mood reduces this positive bias. To date this has been explained as a mood phenomenon. In this study we explore an alternative theory which suggests that confidence is related to internal judgements of social rank and status. This theory suggests that the lower one perceives oneself to be in status and rank the less one can afford to be overconfident. Data from a student population suggests that confidence judgements are associated with internal judgements of status.

Adolescent↗
PubMed1998

Students' misconceptions about perceived physiological responses.

Students' misconceptions about scientific phenomena can arise from at least two possible sources, the students' personal experience with those phenomena and things learned in the classroom. Misconceptions have been studied in a variety of science disciplines, but little attention has been given to the faulty models that students have for physiological processes. In this study 393 undergraduates in three different research universities were asked to predict the changes in heart rate and strength of cardiac contraction and breathing frequency and depth of breathing (physiological parameters that can be directly and personally perceived) under conditions that result in predicted that heart rate would increase but that the strength of contraction would decrease or stay unchanged. Approximately one-half of the students predicted that breathing frequency would increase but depth of breathing would decrease (also erroneous). Explanations for these erroneous predictions were elicited, and the reasons offered revealed significant misconceptions about cardiac and respiratory mechanics. The persistence of such misconceptions was demonstrated in a small group of first-year medical students. A general approach to detecting and remediating misconceptions is discussed.

Adult↗
PubMed2002

Phantasy therapy in psychiatry: rediscovering reality in phantasy. A special treatment for in- and outpatients in general psychiatry.

Phantasy Therapy is an interdisciplinary depth-psychologically oriented group therapy form with focus on the treatment of psychoses in acute and remission phases. A different theme is presented to the patients every week on two consecutive days (90 min per session), coherently, via various sensory channels. On the first day, the theme is concretely and operationally introduced by means of an object, transformed into movement in the broadest sense of the word, and experienced directly with the body. The first session ends with a story, usually a fairy tale or parable, so that the body experiences can be further realized symbolically at the cognitive-emotional level. The second session treats the same theme via repetition of the chosen story with the deeper transformation of symbols into color and form. The first day is jointly led by a psychotherapist and a movement/ dance therapist, the second day by a psychotherapist and an art therapist. Our approach understands therapy as a somatesthetic experience- and synthetic expression-oriented encounter with the patient via the therapist's empathic imaginative identification with the patient by means of a progressively orchestrated, positivizing, cognitive-emotional, theme-centered rapport. In this connection six therapeutic elements are of importance: theme, object, movement, fairy tale, artwork, symbol. Phantasy Therapy offers the patient creative freedom in a humorous and playful way within a certain therapeutic security (Amae principle) and contradicts several classical prejudices concerning the treatment of psychotic patients.

Fantasy↗