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C Tilleskjor

Publications and source records attributed to C Tilleskjor.

8 recordsLinked to original sources

The construct validity of an aftereffect-based subtyping system for alcoholics.

In an earlier project, we identified five alcohol-consumption aftereffect factors, which were named Hangover, Euphoria, Flushing, Seizures, and Sleepiness. In this study (N = 100) we assessed the construct validities of the five, using 47 MMPI, self-report, and recidivism criteria. The number of significant relationships between the factors and the criteria substantially exceeded chance. The Hangover factor related to social maladjustment and to the MMPI Psychopathic Deviate, Paranoia, Psychasthenia, Hypomania, and Masculinity-Femininity scales. The Euphoria factor was associated with a high number of job losses, but a low incidence of certain physical sequelae. The Flushing factor was associated with high consumption, late development of alcoholism, many physical complaints, and older age. The Seizure factor correlated with high consumption, facial puffiness, tremors, and lack of defensiveness on the MMPI. The Sleepiness factor was associated with a good prognosis and several mild MMPI elevations. These findings suggest that the factors may provide the basis for a useful alcoholism subtyping system and that additional research on them should prove fruitful.

Adult↗

The comparative recidivism rates of voluntary- and coerced-admission male alcoholics.

The outcomes of inpatient alcoholics who reported that they had been coerced into treatment by commitment or pressure from others were compared in a follow-up study to those of alcoholics who described themselves as voluntary admissions. Ten assessments of control over drinking, number of drinking days in the past week, and intoxication since previous appraisal were made by collaterals between 2 weeks and 18 months after treatment. Even though the data were analyzed in several ways, the number of significant differences did not exceed chance expectations. This suggests that the prognoses of alcoholics who present for treatment under court order or interpersonal pressure were not substantially different from those of men who claim to have entered without coercion. However, the differences between the groups' Control over Drinking ratings, even though not statistically significant, consistently favored the coerced admissions, which raises the possibility that their outcomes may have been slightly better than those of the voluntary admissions.

Adult↗

The definition of posttraumatic stress disorder in alcoholic Vietnam veterans. Are the DSM-III criteria necessary and sufficient?

The authors evaluated the validities of the DSM-III elements defining posttraumatic stress disorder (PTSD) in alcoholic Vietnam veterans by studying the relationships of each to qualification for a PTSD diagnosis under DSM-III standards, the history of a major stressor (3 or more months of combat), and the presence/absence of enough other problems to meet the symptomatic DSM-III requirements for this diagnosis. Elements dealing with the reexperiencing of traumas, diminished pleasure, detachment from others, hyperalertness, sleep disturbance, guilt over behaviors required for survival, and avoidance of stimuli reminiscent of traumas showed substantial correlations with eligibility for a PTSD diagnosis. However, items dealing with emotional expressiveness, response to intimacy, survival guilt, impaired memory, and trouble concentrating either failed to correlate with qualification for a PTSD diagnosis or yielded marginal results. One ("lacking direction") of 10 additional symptoms sometimes termed as "post-Vietnam syndrome" behaviors correlated with eligibility for a PTSD diagnosis as well. The present results and those described in earlier studies suggest that several modifications in the DSM-III definition of PTSD are desirable.

Adult↗

Schizophrenic birth seasonality in relation to the incidence of infectious diseases and temperature extremes.

Previous research has indicated that schizophrenics are particularly likely to have been born during the winter months. In the present investigation, we studied the relationships of this birth-seasonality effect to year-to-year variations in the incidences of eight seasonal diseases and climatological temperature extremes in 3,246 schizophrenics. The winter birth-seasonality effect was greater in the years directly following those marked by high levels of infectious disorders than in years directly following those with low incidences of these diseases. Winter diseases (particularly diphtheria, pneumonia, and influenza) appeared to be more involved than others. These effects appeared among unmarried (presumably severe) schizophrenics but not among married patients, suggesting that the relationship is specific to process schizophrenia. The fact that most of the significant and near-significant relationships paired strength of birth seasonality to previous-year disease incidences suggested a prenatal rather than postnatal effect. Birth seasonality did not vary with winter or summer temperature extremes.

Adult↗

The birth seasonality effect in nonschizophrenic psychiatric patients.

Several studies have suggested that patients with affective, neurotic, and personality disorders are particularly likely to have been born during the early months of the year. They suggest that seasonal factors may play a role in the etiologies of these disorders. However, Lewis and Griffin (1981) have suggested that the reported seasonal exaggerations in psychiatric patients' birthrates simply may reflect artifacts. We searched for seasonal trends in the birth patterns of neurotics (N = 989), alcoholics (N = 2,870), affective disorders (N = 320) and personality disorders (N = 713), both before and after controlling for these artifacts. No significant effect appeared.

Adult↗

The relationship of beliefs about controlled drinking to recidivism in alcoholic men.

A total of 100 men were studied to determine the relationship between belief in the abstinence theory and outcome after treatment of alcoholism. Twenty-seven subjects reported believing that at least some alcoholics can tolerate a single drink without losing control or can learn to drink in moderation and the remaining 73 rejected both contentions. The mean alcohol-consumption ratings of the two groups over 10 evaluations covering the first 18 months after treatment did not differ. The Groups X Time interaction effect, which would have indicated a difference in the rates at which recidivism developed in the two groups, was also nonsignificant. Finally, the percentages of the two groups who were rated as abstinent, in complete control of their drinking or in control most of the time were compared at each of 10 follow-up points. Only a chance number of these differences were significant. The results suggest that there is little relationship between belief in or rejection of the abstinence theory and recidivism.

Adult↗

Do alcoholics give valid self-reports?

Self-reports on drinking among alcoholics (100 men inpatients) were compared with descriptions of their consumption given by collaterals (one friend or relative each) at 10 points during an 18-month follow-up study. The correlations between the two were only moderate; barely one-half of the variance in the alcoholics' self-reports corresponded to the collaterals' assessments. Patients underestimated collaterals' descriptions about three times as often as they overestimated them, but their over- and underestimations appeared to be of roughly equal size. The relationships between alcoholics' and collaterals' reports tended to be curvilinear. Among subjects whom the collaterals had described as abstinent or controlled drinkers, patients' and collaterals' assessments were similar but patients' descriptions grossly underestimated collaterals' reports when uncontrolled consumption was reported by the latter. The results support a moratorium on the use of patients' self-reports in follow-up studies on alcohol consumption.

Adult↗