American Journal of Psychiatry

Volume 141, Issue 4

April 1984

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April 1984

Social skills training for psychiatric patients, II: Clinical outcome studies

Pages:491–498
Published Online:1 April 2006

https://doi.org/10.1176/ajp.141.4.491

Preview Abstract

In this second paper on social skills training for psychiatric patients the author critically reviews the controlled clinical outcome studies of social skills training in a number of psychiatric populations: mentally retarded persons, depressed patients, ...

April 1984

The physiognomic basis of sexual stereotyping

Pages:499–503
Published Online:1 April 2006

https://doi.org/10.1176/ajp.141.4.499

Preview Abstract

Although it is routine for mental status reports to comment on appearance and attractiveness, there is no prevailing theory to explain the psychological impact of physical features. Two perceptual processes are proposed: nonverbal quasi-communication (...

April 1984

Arson: an unforeseen sequela of deinstitutionalization

Pages:504–508
Published Online:1 April 2006

https://doi.org/10.1176/ajp.141.4.504

Preview Abstract

Did the shift from institutional to community-based services brought about by deinstitutionalization affect the nature or function of pathological fire setting? The author studied admissions to a state hospital that were precipitated by arson. During a ...

April 1984

The pattern of illness in pairs of psychotic siblings

Pages:509–513
Published Online:1 April 2006

https://doi.org/10.1176/ajp.141.4.509

Preview Abstract

The authors describe the results of a blind rediagnosis, with DSM-III criteria, of psychotic siblings who were originally diagnosed as schizophrenic when reported by Zehnder in 1940. The distribution in sibling pairs of patients meeting criteria for ...

April 1984

Conduct disorder and its synonyms: diagnoses of dubious validity and usefulness

Pages:514–519
Published Online:1 April 2006

https://doi.org/10.1176/ajp.141.4.514

Preview Abstract

Psychiatrically hospitalized adolescents from city and voluntary services who had been diagnosed as having conduct disorder were compared with psychiatrically hospitalized adolescents who had never been so diagnosed. There were no significant symptomatic ...

April 1984

Suicidal behavior by preschool children

Pages:520–525
Published Online:1 April 2006

https://doi.org/10.1176/ajp.141.4.520

Preview Abstract

Sixteen suicidal preschoolers age 21/2 to 5 years who were referred to a university child psychiatry outpatient clinic were compared with 16 behaviorally disordered preschoolers matched by age, sex, race, and parental marital and socioeconomic status. The ...

April 1984

A double-blind study of bupropion and placebo in depression

Pages:525–529
Published Online:1 April 2006

https://doi.org/10.1176/ajp.141.4.525

Preview Abstract

Bupropion HCl, a new nontricyclic antidepressant, produced marked improvement in 49 hospitalized patients with primary depression at doses of 300-600 mg/day. Bupropion resulted in statistically significant differences from placebo as early as day 5, and ...

April 1984

Distancing for intimacy in lesbian relationships

Pages:530–533
Published Online:1 April 2006

https://doi.org/10.1176/ajp.141.4.530

Preview Abstract

The authors present a collaborative treatment model designed to help the closely merged, troubled lesbian relationship. Therapeutic techniques focus on change in territorial, temporal, monetary, cognitive, emotional, and environmental space. A case ...

April 1984

Electroconvulsive therapy in Massachusetts

Pages:534–538
Published Online:1 April 2006

https://doi.org/10.1176/ajp.141.4.534

Preview Abstract

A study of the use of electroconvulsive therapy in Massachusetts shows that between 1974 and 1980 ECT use decreased significantly in both public- and private-sector hospitals. This decline was particularly pronounced in public-sector hospitals. The ...

April 1984

A debate on DSM-III

Pages:539–553
Published Online:1 April 2006

https://doi.org/10.1176/ajp.141.4.539

Article

April 1984

The Disadvantages ofDSM-III Outweigh Its Advantages

George E. Vaillant

Pages:542–545
Published Online:1 April 2006

https://doi.org/10.1176/ajp.141.4.542

April 1984

First Rebuttal

Robert L. Spitzer

Pages:546–547
Published Online:1 April 2006

https://doi.org/10.1176/ajp.141.4.546

April 1984

First Rebuttal

Robert Michels

Pages:548–551
Published Online:1 April 2006

https://doi.org/10.1176/ajp.141.4.548

April 1984

Second Rebuttal

Robert L. Spitzer

Pages:551–553
Published Online:1 April 2006

https://doi.org/10.1176/ajp.141.4.551

April 1984

Second Rebuttal

Robert Michels

Page:553
Published Online:1 April 2006

https://doi.org/10.1176/ajp.141.4.553

April 1984

Psychiatry"s mind-brain dialectic, or the Mona Lisa has no eyebrows.

Pages:554–558
Published Online:1 April 2006

https://doi.org/10.1176/ajp.141.4.554

April 1984

The uses of hopelessness

Pages:559–562
Published Online:1 April 2006

https://doi.org/10.1176/ajp.141.4.559

Preview Abstract

If most emotional problems, like most medical problems, are caused by bad luck as well as by factors over which man has control, then those who suffer from such problems must accept a burden of helplessness. When patients and their families overuse ...

April 1984

Physicians' self-reports of reactions to malpractice litigation

Pages:563–565
Published Online:1 April 2006

https://doi.org/10.1176/ajp.141.4.563

Preview Abstract

The authors devised a survey as a first step in assessing physicians' perceptions of the impact of medical malpractice litigation on their professional practice and personal lives. Subjects were a sample of physicians in Cook County, Ill., who had been ...

April 1984

CSF 5-hydroxyindoleacetic acid levels in suicidal schizophrenic patients

Pages:566–569
Published Online:1 April 2006

https://doi.org/10.1176/ajp.141.4.566

Preview Abstract

Concentrations of 5-hydroxyindoleacetic acid (5-HIAA) in the lumbar CSF were measured in a group of suicidal schizophrenic patients and in a matched group of nonsuicidal schizophrenic patients. The suicidal group had a significantly lower level. This ...

April 1984

Munchausen syndrome, depression, and the dexamethasone suppression test

Pages:570–572
Published Online:1 April 2006

https://doi.org/10.1176/ajp.141.4.570

Preview Abstract

The authors describe two patients with Munchausen syndrome who met DSM- III criteria for major depression. Both patients exhibited evidence of nonsuppression of serum cortisol by dexamethasone. Although many patients with Munchausen syndrome have been ...

April 1984

A comparison of panic disorder and generalized anxiety disorder

Pages:572–575
Published Online:1 April 2006

https://doi.org/10.1176/ajp.141.4.572

Preview Abstract

Subjects from a family study who had panic disorder and generalized anxiety disorder were compared on the pattern of their symptoms, age and type of onset, personality characteristics, course of illness, and outcome. Subjects with generalized anxiety ...

April 1984

Same-sex rape of nonincarcerated men

Pages:576–579
Published Online:1 April 2006

https://doi.org/10.1176/ajp.141.4.576

Preview Abstract

Psychiatric evaluations of nonincarcerated adult male victims of same- sex rape have been reported infrequently in the literature. In their work with a population of military men, the authors reviewed the psychiatric evaluations of 13 such victims, ages ...

April 1984

Phantom boarders as a symptom of late paraphrenia

Pages:580–581
Published Online:1 April 2006

https://doi.org/10.1176/ajp.141.4.580

Preview Abstract

Three elderly women believed that people were living in their homes. These delusions and congruent hallucinations occurred without other evidence of thought disorder, affective disturbance, or organicity and may be a subset of late paraphrenia, one of the ...

April 1984

Sleep disorders on a psychiatric consultation service

Pages:582–584
Published Online:1 April 2006

https://doi.org/10.1176/ajp.141.4.582

Preview Abstract

Of 100 consecutive patients on a psychiatric consultation service, 80 had sleep disorders; 72 had insomnia. Disturbed sleep was not mentioned in the records of 54% of the 80 patients, indicating a need for more physician education in sleep disorders.

April 1984

Creatine phosphokinase, the MMPI, and psychosis

Pages:584–586
Published Online:1 April 2006

https://doi.org/10.1176/ajp.141.4.584

Preview Abstract

The mean creatine phosphokinase level of 41 psychotic patients was significantly higher than that of 30 nonpsychotic psychiatric patients, as were their MMPI paranoia and schizophrenia scores. Their creatine phosphokinase level was negatively correlated ...

April 1984

Laterality of auditory hallucinations in psychiatric patients

Pages:586–587
Published Online:1 April 2006

https://doi.org/10.1176/ajp.141.4.586

Preview Abstract

Twenty-nine of 54 subjects with auditory hallucinations were able, when asked, to localize the voices to the left or right ear. Subjects who heard voices on the right were found to be significantly more depressed than the others.

April 1984

The syndrome of intermetamorphosis

Pages:588–589
Published Online:1 April 2006

https://doi.org/10.1176/ajp.141.4.588

Preview Abstract

The author presents a case of the intermetamorphosis syndrome, a rare variant of Capgras' syndrome involving a patient's perceiving that an individual has been transformed both psychologically and physically into another person.

April 1984

Rate-sensitive inhibition of ACTH release in depression

Pages:590–592
Published Online:1 April 2006

https://doi.org/10.1176/ajp.141.4.590

Preview Abstract

Rate-sensitive inhibition of ACTH release is abnormal in Cushing's disease but uncharacterized in depression. The authors found that two of 10 depressed patients had paradoxical responses, suggesting the existence of a hypothalamic-pituitary-adrenal axis ...

April 1984

Failed suicide attempt by emission gas poisoning

Pages:592–593
Published Online:1 April 2006

https://doi.org/10.1176/ajp.141.4.592

Preview Abstract

After prolonged exposure to emission gases from his car, a patient survived, probably because of low carbon monoxide levels in the emission gases of his modern car. The authors anticipate a reduction in fatalities when this method of suicide is used.

April 1984

Schizophreniform psychoses in mentally retarded adolescent girls following sexual assault

Pages:593–595
Published Online:1 April 2006

https://doi.org/10.1176/ajp.141.4.593

Preview Abstract

Three mildly retarded adolescent girls developed schizophreniform psychoses following sexual assault. The assault was not identified until the psychoses had cleared. The vulnerability of this population to sexual assault and psychosis is discussed.

April 1984

Successful treatment of obsessive-compulsive disorder with ECT

Pages:596–597
Published Online:1 April 2006

https://doi.org/10.1176/ajp.141.4.596

Preview Abstract

A man with obsessive-compulsive disorder without evidence of depression responded to ECT but not to drug treatments. Further investigation of the utility of ECT in treating drug-refractory obsessive-compulsive disorder is indicated.