Search

Two similar groups of adult psychiatric patients carrying the diagnosis of anxiety neurosis were compared in their response to different methods of training in deep muscle relaxation. One group received EMG feedback and the other a modification of the Jacobson Progressive Relaxation method. The frontalis muscle was chosen as the target for feedback training and for the measurement of tension reduction in both groups, for the reason that this muscle has been shown to reflect the general muscle tension level in anxious patients. Training was carried out under controlled laboratory conditions, and objective muscle tension levels were obtained. Overall changes in the status of the anxiety symptoms, as determined by global ratings from patients and from primary therapists, were also compared in the two groups at the end of training. The results of the study indicated that both EMG feedback and the progressive muscle relaxation training produced significant reductions in frontalis tension levels. However, EMG feedback was found to be generally superior in producing larger reductions in muscle activity, with a concomitant relief in anxiety symptoms, for a greater number of the patients. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

The article provides information about the administration of the Columbia Mental Maturity Scale (CMMS) to children suffering from various types and degrees of cerebral palsy in the U.S. The results indicated that 50 percent of the group would be considered mentally retarded if the intelligent quotient 70 on the CMMS were used as the dividing line.

Performance on the Canter Background interference Procedure (BIP) of 40 hyperkinetic boys was compared with that of 38 male control subjects. While the groups did not differ on the Bender-Gestalt Test (with IQ partialled out), the hyperkinetic group showed a significantly greater decrement in performance under Canter-BIP conditions. However, the magnitude of the differences found was too small to yield reliable classification of the individual child. The results indicate the necessity of caution in clinical use of the technique with children. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

The article reports that despite some recent Minnesota Multiphasic Personality Inventory (MMPI) normative studies, there remains a paucity of reports of MMPI score differences that could be ascribed to age differences in a normal non-hospitalized population. One such study reporting increases in several MMPI scales as a function of increasing age was based on groups of hospitalized tubercular patients. In light of the nature of the disease it is not surprising that D and Hs would be higher in the older patient.

The article presents a study, which examines the nature of the Background Interference Procedure (BIP) effect shown by schizophrenic patients with relatively short and long-term periods of hospitalization and compared this with the effect shown by nonschizophrenic and organic patients. The results indicate that both short- and long-term hospitalized schizophrenics, in contrast to organic patients, generally did not show a significant decremental BIP effects On the contrary, from 30 to 50% of the schizophrenics tended to show improved psychomotor integration under BIP conditions, which suggests a favorable response to mild arousal conditions.

The article presents information on the Barron Ego Strength of the Minnesota Multiphasic Personality Inventory (MMPI) which recently has been used as a measure of general psychological health as well as a predictor of response to psychotherapy. It is not an uncommon practice to reduce the time necessary for administering the MMPI by limiting it to some point shortly after the first 366 items in the standard test booklet, as it is possible to score all nine clinical scales and the F and L scales from these items.