Search

Patients with irritable bowel syndrome (IBS) (n = 121) were compared to 46 patients with inflammatory bowel disease (IBD), and to 45 nonpatient controls on a variety of psychological tests and on symptomatology. The most consistent finding was the ordering of group psychological test means such that, on 11 or 14 measures, IBS patients scored higher than IBD patients, who in turn scored higher than the nonpatient controls. The two patient groups differed significantly only on measures of anxiety with the IBS patients scoring significantly higher on all three measures. IBS patients also reported significantly more severity of abdominal pain than the IBD patients; while IBD patients reported more episodes of diarrhea, they did not rate them as significantly more severe than did the IBS patients. Various other parameters of the IBS population are also explored and implications for treatment and future study are discussed.

Summary - The presence of a diagnosable Axis I psychiatric disorder predicted significantly (P < 0.001) lower likelihood of significant improvement among 90 irritable bowel syndrome patients given cognitive and behavioral treatments to help the disorder. Other psychological tests, including the MMPI, BDI, STAI, as well as demographic variables, failed to yield significant prediction.

We report two controlled comparisons of a previously validated multicomponent (relaxation, thermal biofeedback, and cognitive therapy) treatment for irritable bowel syndrome (IBS) to an ostensible attention-placebo control (pseudo-meditation and EEG alpha suppression biofeedback) and to a symptom-monitoring control. In Study 1 (n = 10 per condition) there were nonsignificant trends for the multicomponent treatment to be superior to the attention-placebo condition. In study 2 (n = 30 per condition), we found no advantage for the multicomponent treatment over the attention-placebo condition. Subjects in both treatment conditions showed significant reductions in GI symptoms, as measured by daily symptom diaries, and significant reductions in trait anxiety and depression. The GI symptom reductions held up over a 6 month follow-up. Possible explanations for the results are explored.

Using a reliable and valid structured diagnostic interview scale (ADIS-R), and patients with careful medical characterization, we found significantly more diagnosable psychopathology, particularly anxiety disorders, among treatment seeking patients with irritable bowel syndrome than among comparable age and sex samples of treatment seeking patients with Inflammatory Bowel Disease. Significant differences were also found on the Hamilton Anxiety Rating Scale and Hamilton Rating Scale for Depression between IBS patients and the IBD patients and controls, who did not differ. Comparable levels of psychiatric disorder among parents of probands were found in all three groups. The results are consistent with Latimer's (1983) notion of IBS patients being a subclass of 'neurotics.'

The present study examined the circumstances under which observers make attributional judgments about an actor on the basis of his humor. Subjects read a description of a group disucssion in which a nan told an anti-wonen's liberation Joke to a group of women. The variables nanipulated were the audience's anticipated reaction (approval or disapproval) and the audience's actual reaction (approval or disapproval). The resluts indicated that the actor was seen as least chauvinistic when disapnroval was anticipated but approval was received. The actor was seen as most chauvinistic when disanproval was both anticipated and received. [ABSTRACT FROM PUBLISHER]

The article examines how actors' expectations about the outcome of their actions and the actual outcome received affect children's impressions of them. In regard to expectations, attribution theory proposes that actors who expect punishment will be seen as intrinsically motivated since they are willing to incur punishment, while actors who anticipate reward are seen as less intrinsically motivated individuals who anticipate either reward or punishment. It examines the effects of an actor's expectations on children's perception of the actor's likeability. It suggests several hypotheses. It is hypothesized that actors who expect punishment for their behavior will be perceived as more likeable than actors who expect reward. Other being that this tendency will be more strongly indicated in the judgments of older children than in the judgments of younger children. It was also suggested concerning the effects of the consequences actually received by the actor on children's evaluations. One more hypothesis predicts that the just world tendency will be more strongly indicated in the evaluations of the younger children than in the evaluations of the older children.

The present paper reports the results of two experiments which examined how subjects choose partners for work interactions. In both experiments subjects were given feedback ("very good," "good," "average," "poor") about their previous level of performance and about the performance of others who could be chosen as partners for an evaluated or nonevaluated work interaction. The results of Experiment 1 indicated that there was an overall tendency for subjects to choose "very good" or "good" partners scoring in the upper quartiles. Further, "very good" and "good" subjects tended to select similar ability partners whether the interaction was expected to be evaluated or not. "Average"subjects tended to pick "good"partners for the evaluated interaction and "very good" partners for the nonevaluated interaction. "Poor" subjects showed the opposite trend. In Experiment 2 subjects received performance feedback and indicated their partner chokes for evaluated or nonevaluated interactions consisting of either two or 10 members. The same trends were shown as in Experiment 1. It was also found that when expecting to work in a 10-person group subjects of all performance categories tended to choose "very good" partners. The results suggest that ability feedback, evaluation, and group size are important factors in partner selection for work interactions. The effects of these factors are presumed to reflect the conflict between the desire for a superior partner who may improve the work effort and serve as a model vs. the threat to self-esteem that may result from ability comparison. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]