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Biomedical subjects

A Paolella

Publications and source records attributed to A Paolella.

8 recordsLinked to original sources
PubMed1986

The utilization of the Rorschach test in a case-controlled study.

The Rorschach test was administered to 58 children of normal intelligence aged 7-14 years with a history of common migraine of at least 12 months and to a group of controls matched for age, sex, and IQ. The Rorschach test was scored blindly. The migraine group was characterized by marked intellectual inhibition with poor school performance and low response rates; inhibition of psychomotor activity and aggressiveness, shown by content analysis and by the presence of kinesthetic shock; inhibition of affect (ratio M/sum C); ineffective use of mechanisms of defence against anxiety (F-); prevalence of phobic features and massive use of repression, indicated by the high rejection rate and shock at red colour. The differences from the controls were significant at the 0.01 level with regard to all items in the preadolescent age group and with regard to all items except kinesthetic shock in the migraine group as a whole. There was thus a definite difference between the migraine group and the controls, a difference that might depend on impairment of ego function and on recurrent experience of pain.

Adolescent↗
PubMed1983

Psychological peculiarities in children with recurrent primary headache.

Thirty-five children with idiopathic headache (average age 10.2 years) were subjected to various examinations and a series of tests (WISC, Bender, Rorschach, Duss, "tree" and "family" tests) on the nature and characteristics of headache with a view to establishing possible psychological peculiarities. The sample was correlated with a random control group of 20 subjects (average age 10.4 years) undergoing all of the above tests except the Rorschach test. This showed a significant decrease in the "digit span" WISC subtest and in the Bender test with respect to normal population, and a drop in "digit span" and in picture completion subtests and in headache length in months. Feelings of being excluded from the family group, insecurity and repressed hostility towards the important figures, were significantly stronger in the headache patients group.

Adolescent↗
PubMedDate not supplied

Neuropsychological correlates of subclinical paroxysmal EEG activity in children with epilepsy. 1: Qualitative features (generalized and focal abnormalities).

The cognitive deficit often associated with epilepsy is attributable to the presence and interaction of several factors but whether recurrent subclinical spike-wave discharges interfere with cognitive development is not yet clear. In the present study, the presence of subclinical discharges proved to be significantly associated with lower than average Full-Scale Intelligence Quotient (IQ), Verbal IQ and Performance IQ scores (Wechsler Intelligence Scale for Children) in comparison with patients not presenting EEG abnormalities during test. These findings confirm the adverse effect both of generalized and focal EEG epileptiform abnormalities, even if unaccompanied by overt seizures.

Adolescent↗
PubMedDate not supplied

Neuropsychological correlates of subclinical paroxysmal EEG activity in children with epilepsy. 2: Quantitative aspects.

Altered cognitive functioning has often been reported in patients with epilepsy. In our study we looked for quantitative correlation between the recurrence of Subclinical Spike-and-Wave Discharges (SSWD) during EEG recording, the scores on the intelligence test (WISC) and the electro-clinical characteristics of 29 epileptic children with subclinical discharges of generalized spike-and-wave complexes. In our sample we found a below-normal mean IQ, with greater impairment on performance than on verbal tasks. No clear quantitative correlation was found between the weighted scores on the various subtests and the "time density" of the spike-and-wave complexes. These findings suggest that the SSWD interfere with cognitive development (mainly with visuo-spatial and sensorimotor coordination abilities) and selectively impair some of the functions involved in the cognitive processes.

Adolescent↗