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Biomedical subjects

A Holte

Publications and source records attributed to A Holte.

16 recordsLinked to original sources
PubMed1992

Influences of natural menopause on health complaints: a prospective study of healthy Norwegian women.

As a continuation of a cross-sectional study in 1981 involving a representative sample of 1886 women between 45 and 55 years of age, 200 pre-menopausal subjects were selected randomly to take part in a follow-up study. Eighty-seven single measures covering 26 areas of health complaints which have been associated with the menopause in medical textbooks were investigated. A tentative method for relating health complaints at several time points to menopausal status is proposed. A significant number of women reported an increase in vasomotor complaints, vaginal dryness, heart palpitations and social dysfunction following the menopause, although many reported no change or even a reduction in these complaints. On the other hand, a decrease in headache and breast tenderness was noted. No significant differences were observed between the numbers of women reporting an increase or a decrease respectively on any of the other 69 measures (20 complaints), which included anxiety, depression and irritability. Further analyses indicated that the increase in social dysfunction was caused by hot flushes and sweating. This paper raises a number of issues regarding the methodology of longitudinal studies.

Age Factors↗
PubMed1992

Reciprocated self-disqualification among parents of schizophrenics.

Is deviant parental communication an interactional phenomenon? If it is, is this interaction stronger or weaker among parents of schizophrenics (S) than among parents of non-schizophrenic psychiatric controls (NS) and normals (N)? These two questions were investigated by using sequential analysis of parental interaction during Spouse Rorschach. Parents' deviant communication was measured by the self-disqualification (SD) category in the Relationship Control Coding System. Results showed that self-disqualification clearly depended on the quality of the previous parental communication: an SD utterance greatly increased the probability of an SD response from the spouse among S (n = 17), NS (n = 15) and N (n = 14). However, this increased probability was significantly higher among S parents. Furthermore, S parents' communication was significantly less dependent on their own previous communication than NS and N parents' communication was. However, the sheer magnitude of parental SD communication was a significant predictor of offspring diagnosis even when the interaction between the spouses was controlled for. Thus, the results indicate that the high rate of deviant communication among S parents is partly due to individual characteristics of the parents and partly due to reciprocation of the other spouse's deviant communication. The results are discussed with reference to possible gene-environment interaction in both schizophrenia and deviant communication.

Bipolar Disorder↗
PubMed1991

The menopausal syndrome: a factor analytic replication.

The authors contend that conclusions regarding the existence of a menopausal syndrome based on clinical trials with oestrogen therapy cannot be generalized to the general population. As an alternative strategy for investigating the nature of the menopausal syndrome the authors performed a factor analysis of the results from a symptom checklist. The list was included in a postal questionnaire sent to a representative sample of 2349 women aged between 45 and 55 years residing in the city of Oslo, Norway. A varimax, rotated five-factor solution yielded the best result both theoretically and empirically. The five factors were labelled as vague somatic complaints, nervousness, mood lability, vasomotor complaints and urogenital complaints. Five variables were constructed on the basis of the factor scores. One-way analysis of variance showed that vasomotor complaints associated with excessive sweating, hot flushes and vaginal dryness, constituted the only variable significantly related to menopausal development. The latter was measured according to time elapsed since the last menstrual period.

Climacteric↗
PubMed1991

Psychosocial determinants of climacteric complaints.

A total of 2349 Norwegian women aged 45-55 years, were investigated using postal questionnaires. Associations between menopausal development, psychosocial factors and climacteric complaints were analyzed. Factor analysis of 24 climacteric complaints identified five factors (vague somatic complaints, nervous complaints, mood lability, vasomotor and urogenital complaints) which were analyzed in relation to stage of menopausal development and a number of psychosocial variables. Five types of variable contributed to the variance in the five previously identified factors, viz. style of reacting to menstruation earlier in life, mother's climacteric complaints, negative expectations regarding the menopause, social network, sociodemographic factors, and chronological age. Menopausal development played a modest role in explaining the variance in all except vasomotor complaints, the latter being associated with current cigarette smoking. Traditional sex-role identification was associated with nervous complaints. The authors conclude that hot flushes, excessive sweating and vaginal dryness are the only complaints clearly attributable to menopausal development.

Affect↗
PubMed1991

Maturity of personality and family communication.

The psychodynamic and the communication/systemic perspectives are commonly considered as two entirely different approaches to psychopathology. The current study is an effort to bridge these opposing perspectives empirically. Maturity of personality, measured according to psychoanalytic principles by the Consensus Couples Rorschach, and relationship control in family communication, as measured by a new coding system (RCC) in an observational study, were related. The results indicate that low level of maturity is associated with egocentric and self-disqualifying communication in situations of conflict, but not in situations involving no or moderate conflict. Additionally, mature wives were prone to react to situations involving perceptual conflict by communicating dominantly, whereas immature wives communicated in more submissive ways. Reversely, the more mature the husbands were, the more they displayed a submissive style of communicating when in conflict.

Adolescent↗
PubMed1991

Relationships between personality development, interpersonal perception and communication in parents of schizophrenics, psychiatric controls and normal subjects.

Employing a family interaction paradigm, the psychodynamic development of personality (Consensus Spouse-Rorschach, CSR), mutuality in interpersonal perception (Interpersonal Perception Method), and feedback mechanisms in communication (the Confirmation-Disconfirmation Coding System) were investigated. The subjects were 66 parents (33 couples) whose offspring were as follows: 12 schizophrenics (RDC, DSM-III, DSM-III-R), 12 with other mental disorders, and 9 subjects with no mental disorder. Communication was observed in 2 situations, using CSR and the Colour Conflict Method. Feedback mechanisms in parent communication, previously found to be associated with offspring mental disorder, were associated both with lack of mutuality in interpersonal perception and low personality development. Lack of mutuality was associated with low parent personality development. The results emphasize the usefulness of monitoring both parent personality development (family structure), mutuality in interpersonal perception (family phenomenology), and communication (family behaviour) when assessing interaction in families of patients with severe mental disorder. They also point to a need for theoretical integration between the different concepts of family interaction of different clinical and theoretical traditions.

Communication↗
PubMed1991

Confirmatory and disconfirmatory feedback in families of schizophrenics, pathological controls and normals: replication and expansion.

The question of whether or not there are types of family communication specific to schizophrenia was addressed by a replication of a previous study and expanding the material. The interaction between parents of schizophrenics (S) (n = 17), non-schizophrenic pathological controls (NS) (n = 15) and normals (N) (n = 14) was observed during consensus couple Rorschach. Their communication was analyzed by a newly developed revised edition of the Confirmation and Disconfirmation Coding System, CONDIS-R. Studies of intrarater agreement and split-half estimates supported the reliability of CONDIS-R. The results showed that S had more egocentric communication and active disqualifications than NS and N. S were also less likely to communicate that they kept track of and understood the other spouse's communication.

Adult↗
PubMed1990

Disconfirmatory feedback in families of schizophrenics.

A new approach to the study of family communication and psychopathology, in particular schizophrenia, using Saugstad's theory about use of language as its point of departure is presented. Conflicts between family members were observed and measured using a new unrevealed difference technique, the Colour Conflict Method (CCM). Communication was analysed in terms of continuous feedback processes, using the new computerized method, Confirmation-Disconfirmation Coding System (CONDIS). Feedback mechanisms in the internal communication of families of schizophrenics, normals, and non-schizophrenic pathological controls (n = 21) are described. The findings show that families of schizophrenics lack the ability to adapt their communication to changing situational requirements. When conflicts were introduced, families of schizophrenics-in contrast to non-schizophrenics within the extended schizophrenia spectrum and normals-increased their frequency of disconfirmatory feedback reactions instead of expressing disagreements openly. This was due to active disqualifications occurring between the parents and from the parents towards their schizophrenic offspring, who reacted with incomprehensible egocentric communication acts.

Adult↗
PubMed1990

Simultaneous depression.

Five different strategies were used to detect cases in which depressed behaviour occurred in both spouses within the same time period (simultaneous depression). Among 7068 references on depression in the literature, only one referred to a case of simultaneous depression. Of 8008 registered individuals hospitalized in Norway from 1961-1971, none had simultaneous depression. A search of the total Scandinavian population (17.5 million) revealed only one case. The authors suggest that the result is caused by specific communication values attached to depressed behaviour and compensatory mechanisms in depressed couple relationships. The need for assessments that include the identified patient's family system in the planning of treatment for depression is discussed, with the aim to prevent cases of successful mistreatment in which the identified patient is cured while the spouse becomes depressed or commits suicide.

Communication↗
PubMed1990

Confirmatory and disconfirmatory feedback in families of schizophrenics, pathological controls and normals.

Two studies are reported measuring feedback mechanism in 10,771 communication acts in families of schizophrenics, nonschizophrenics within the range of schizophrenia spectrum disorders, and healthy offspring, using the Confirmation-Disconfirmation Coding System (CONDIS). Couples were observed in interaction with their offspring in situations provoking disagreement using the Colour Conflict Method (CCM) (n = 21), and alone during collaboration (n = 21) using the Consensus Spouse-Rorschach Method, respectively. The main categories of confirmatory and disconfirmatory feedback showed cross-situational stability, whereas subcategories such as egocentric utterances and active disqualification of others varied across situations and gave predicted differential deficits in S-parents. In 8 of 14 analyses, parents of pathological controls came out similar to normals or between normals and schizophrenics. The results supported the construct validity of CONDIS. Feedback mechanisms in parental communication were associated with schizophrenic traits in the offspring, incomprehensible egocentric utterances and active disqualification of others with schizophrenia.

Adult↗
PubMed1989

The Holte Sleeping Technique: an experimental study.

The Holte Sleeping Technique is an alternative to medication to facilitate sleep onset in situations of normal stress. The technique is based on a combination of conditioning within the theory of learning, simulation of natural bodily processes, and manipulation of naturally available sleep-releasing stimuli. The author describes the technique and reports on experimental testing of its efficacy. Fifty-six female subjects were selected according to criteria based on questionnaires and sleep logs. The subjects were randomly assigned to a treatment group, a placebo group, and a no-treatment group. A pre-test-post-test design was used. The author questions the generalizability of findings from modern electronic sleep laboratories to the bedrooms of everyday life. In order to optimize the combination of normal stress, objective criteria and generalizability, sleep onset was measured by behavioural criteria based on the "fog-horn procedure" developed by the author. At post-test 67% of the treatment group fell asleep, while only 17% of the placebo group and 25% of the no-treatment group fell asleep. The differences were significant. It is concluded that the Holte Sleeping Technique is highly effective. In a discussion of placebo trials the author argues that traditional medical trials do not take into consideration the differentiating psychological attribution effects occurring by giving the same experimental instruction under different experimental conditions. As a consequence the active treatment is given better conditions than the placebo in traditional clinical trials.

Adult↗
PubMed1986

Menopause research: the Korpilampi workshop.

A workshop on menopause research focused on three topics: (1) problems and issues in the definition of menopausal status: (2) problems and issues in cross-cultural research: (3) the contributions which research in the behavioural sciences can make to clinical research and practice. Among the conclusions reached by the workshop was the recommendation that researchers should adopt a standard definition of menopause based on the cessation on menses. Yet, while standard definitions are essential to scientific comparison, it is also important to determine how women decide on their own status, particularly when working cross-culturally.

Adult↗