Self-monitoring, lowered arousal training (i.e., biofeedback and relaxation training) and maintenance follow-up appeared to contribute to effective treatment of hypertension. Cognitive therapy, while effective in treatment of some stress-related disorders, has not been studied as a specific treatment component for hypertension. The present study explored the use of cognitive therapy as a treatment variable to reduce blood pressure in hypertensive persons. The effectiveness of a multi-element treatment including cognitive therapy, blood-pressure biofeedback, and relaxation training was also assessed. Self-monitoring and maintenance training were included as a part of each treatment process.
To aid in understanding headache etiology and symptomatology, psychological and physiological variables were examined in patients with migraine and combination headaches (combined migraine and muscle-contraction headaches). One hundred patients being evaluated for treatment of their headaches at The New England Center for Headache participated in this study. They were assigned to the migraine or combination group, based on diagnoses made by three headache specialists—a psychologist, a psychiatrist, and a nuerologist. Personality data from the MMPI and frontalis electromyographic readings reflecting muscle tensions across three stimulus conditions were compared between the two groups. Subjects were also asked to rate the perceived level of stress elicited by the three conditions.
It was hypothesized that effect size in therapy outcome research would correlate positively with congruence effects. Congruence was defined as the degree to which what had been practiced in treatment was scored as improvement when outcome was measured. Additionally, it was hypothesized that correcting effect sizes for estimated nongeneralizable change attributable to congruence (i.e., representativeness reduction) would significantly reduce the average magnitude of effect.
Contingency management has been utilized to improve treatment compliance and attendance in a medical setting. A related question involves the effect of contingency management on attendance in outpatient psychotherapy. Sixty-nine individuals ranging in age from 8 to 50 years agreed to participate in such a study. These individuals agreed to sign a contract specifying consequation for failure to notify the centers 24 hours in advance of an impending absence. Data on attendance and notification of impending absences were collected weekly for five sessions. After five sessions, dropouts and remainers were interviewed and the course of treatment was discussed. For the purpose of this study, a "dropout" occurred whenever an individual terminated therapy by missing an appointment and not rescheduling, or whenever an individual missed three consecutive appointments.
This study compared biofeedback assisted cue-controlled skin temperature training with skin temperature biofeedback training in subjects attempting to raise the digital skin temperature of their dominant hand. In addition to classification according to training, the subjects were also divided into two diagnostic groups. One group was composed of subjects with cold hands and Raynaud's disease while the other group consisted of nonRaynaud's disease cold handed subjects. The treatment and diagnostic groups were compared along the dimensions of amount of posttreatment digital skin temperature change and degree of generalization of digital skin temperature control to a cold room challenge task.
A literature review indicated that psychopathological symptomology must be considered within the social context of the patient. Recent research has suggested that the psychopathological symptoms of the psychotic patient function on a covert level of communication as a strategy to control the threat of interpersonal intimacy. The present investigation similarly examined the interpersonal function of another class of patient symptomology, somatic symptoms. It was hypothesized that somatic symptom verbalizations of psychiatric outpatients also can serve as covert messages to avoid the risk of interpersonal intimacy. Results indicated that only the high-somatic-symptom patients significantly increased their symptom verbalizations in response to demand. When the interviewer modeled impersonal self-disclosures, both groups showed a low rate of somatic verbalizations. The groups did not differ. When the interviewer modeled personal self-disclosures, both patient groups significantly increased their psychological symptom verbalizations compared to their counterparts in the impersonal condition. In addition, low somatic symptom patients under the demand for personal disclosure showed significantly less avoidance behavior than any other group. No differences were found among the experimental groups in terms of self-disclosure level. The results clearly lend support to Haley's (1963) intimacy-avoidance corollary; that is, symptoms of non-psychotic patients function as covert messages that avoid the formation of intimate interpersonal relationships by redefining the reciprocal role available to participants. In view of these findings, several cross-study comparisons were made. In addition, directions for future research were suggested.
The goal of this experiment was to determine whether group rational emotive therapy would prove superior to usual group therapy in improving the psychological functioning of male alcoholics in an inpatient treatment facility and to determine if memory dysfunction would impede therapeutic progress. Four areas of psychological functioning were discussed for their relevance to etiology, recidivism, and treatment evaluation; they were depression, self-conception, social anxiety, and cognitive functioning. Further, rational emotive therapy as a potentially superior treatment for alcoholism was discussed and outcome research was reviewed.
This study was designed to investigate the inhibiting effect that caffeine may have in inducing deeper states of relaxation. The degree of relaxation was assessed by physiological measures, self-ratings, and behavioral observations of relaxation behavior.
Drug-induced tardive dyskinesia, an irreversible involuntary movement disorder caused by neuroleptic drugs, may reflect cholinergic hypofunction in the corpus striatum. Therapeutic results have been reported in trials of choline and lecithin, nutritional substrates which may enhance cholinergic neurotransmission. Lecithin's effects on dyskinetic symptoms were examined in 50 male patients in a double-blind, placebo-controlled trial. Patients were randomly assigned to treatment or control groups; 31 patients were retained in the analytic cohort. Experimental patients were treated with 60 gm/day lecithin (55% phosphatidyl choline) for 11 days. Symptom frequency was rated from videotapes made at baseline, 3 and 11 days of treatment, and 1 week follow-up.
During the past 80 years, similar descriptions of a hyperactive behavior pattern in children have appeared in medical, educational, and psychological literature. Hyperactivity has been conceptualized as a character disorder, an organic disorder, and, most recently, as a behavior disorder. In this study, hyperactivity was explained in interactional terms, using Rotter's social learning theory of personality. Little consideration has been given in research to the influence of an abnormally high activity level upon personality development during childhood. The purpose of this study was to investigate the general influence of negative interactions associated with hyperactivity upon the organization of four personality constructs: locus of control, self-esteem, trait anxiety, and state anxiety.
The present study translated the major theories of obesity into physiological terms, then tested for the ways these theories might find physiological expression. Theoretical positions included the psychoanalytic perspective, emphasizing intrapsychic processes; psychosomatic perspective, emphasizing food as an anxiolytic agent; and Schachterian perspective, emphasizing heightened sensitivity to external stimuli. Additionally, two classificatory distinctions, age at onset of obesity and extent of dietary restraint, were examined. The later distinction suggested that Schachterian findings on obese behavior were due not to obesity, but to a dieting life style.
The assertive training literature has documented the effectiveness of both behavioral and cognitive methods to increase individual's assertiveness. However, the ability for such methods to enhance the generalization of treatment effects to untrained assertive response classes and the natural environment has been poor. In addition, little notice has been paid to the durability of these changes. Although the past several years have witnessed more intensive efforts by investigators to program generalization as part of their interventions, results have continued to be disappointing. A specific generalization-enhancing treatment strategy, self-directed practice, has been utilized with much success in phobic populations. This strategy, and the theoretical orientation it reflects, has been proposed for use in assertive training. The present study sought to examine the effectiveness of this method as compared to the traditional assertive training procedures and investigate the role of self-efficacy expectations in mediating initial behavior change and its subsequent generalization.
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