Biomedical subjects

E Sundbom

Publications and source records attributed to E Sundbom.

18 recordsLinked to original sources

PubMed2002

The relationship between post-traumatic symptoms and life in exile in a clinical group of refugees from the former Yugoslavia.

OBJECTIVE: To investigate the association between life situation factors and post-traumatic symptoms among refugees from the former Yugoslavia. METHOD: Twenty-six refugees from the former Yugoslavia were examined by the Harvard Trauma Questionnaire during psychiatric treatment, and 3 years later. At follow-up they also answered a questionnaire regarding their life situations. RESULT: A higher post-traumatic symptom level at follow-up was associated with a pattern of negative living conditions such as open unemployment, social isolation, and a high dependence on social welfare. Gender differences were found regarding the factors most related to symptom severity. CONCLUSION: The results indicate that a main problem in this patient group may be how to break vicious circles of high symptom levels and a poor life situation which suggests a need for integrated rehabilitation efforts.

Female↗

PubMed2001

Life situation and posttraumatic symptoms: a follow-up study of refugees from the former Yugoslavia living in Sweden.

Posttraumatic symptoms were assessed by means of the Harvard Trauma Questionnaire among 27 severely traumatized refugees from the former Yugoslavia in psychiatric treatment and then 3 years later, after an average of 5.5 years in Sweden. At follow-up the subjects also answered a questionnaire about their life situations. No significant change in average symptom level had taken place at follow-up. Seventeen subjects met the DSM IV criteria for posttraumatic stress disorder (PTSD) at both times. However, five subjects who met the PTSD criteria in the first study did not at follow-up, and the opposite was true for another five subjects. Fifteen subjects reported contact with psychiatric care during the past year. Unemployment and dependence on social welfare were high at follow-up. The unemployment rate of 32% was almost six times greater than that for the regular Swedish labor force but comparable to that of the whole Bosnian labor force in Sweden. Social contacts with the majority population were as common as with compatriots, but two-thirds of the subjects expressed a wish for more social contacts outside the family. Positive factors in the subjects' life situations were the housing situation and the fact that most subjects had at least reasonable knowledge of the majority language. However, a minority of the group still had no formal competence in Swedish, with negative consequences for labor market integration and social contact with Swedes. Two-thirds of the group had made no definite decision to stay in Sweden.

Adult↗

PubMed2001

PLS model building: a multivariate approach to personality test data.

The aim of this study was to demonstrate how personality test data can be plotted with a multivariate method known as Partial Least Squares of Latent Structures (PLS). The basic methodology behind PLS modeling is presented and the example demonstrates how a PLS model of personality test data can be used for diagnostic prediction. Principles for validating the models are also presented. The conclusion is that PLS modeling appears to be a powerful method for extracting clinically relevant information from complex personality test data matrixes. It could be used as a complement to more hard modeling methods in the process of examining a new area of interest.

Humans↗

PubMed2000

Conversion disorder and multiple chemical sensitivity: a comparative study of psychological defense strategies.

This study compared psychological defensive strategies in two groups of patients with multiple chemical sensitivity (n = 10) and conversion disorder (n = 10) by means of the projective perceptual Defense Mechanism Test. We attempted to create a model for personality assessment based on the test data of prior patients, in which new patients could successively be tested. The overall results indicated that it was possible to separate the clinical groups significantly from a control group and from each other. In comparison to the controls, the clinical groups were characterized by patterns that were more nonemotionally adapted as well by a lateness of perception, but the ways in which the clinical groups maintained this difference were not the same. The multiple chemical sensitivity group was characterized above all by blocking maneuvers, while the main defensive strategy of the conversion disorder group was distortion of content.

Adult↗

PubMed2000

Interrater reliability among three judges on 130 defense mechanism test variables: a multivariate approach.

The aim of this study was to examine the interrater reliability in the coding of the Defense Mechanism Test for 130 variables on both a variable and a subject level. Parallel with a traditional variable analysis, a multivariate strategy for measurement of interrater reliability, built upon principal component analysis, is presented. The results showed high agreement between judges with an overall interrater reliability coefficient of .98 but indicates the need for elucidation in the coding instructions for nine single variables. It also showed that multivariate modeling methods for handling personality test data are highly resistant to occasional differences on single variables but sensitive to major differences.

Adult↗

PubMed1999

Prediction of outcome in transsexualism by means of the Defense Mechanism Test and multivariate modeling: a pilot study.

To elaborate the predictive value of the projective method using the Defense Mechanism Test in a 5-yr. follow-up study of 16 transsexuals, all subjects were approved for sex reassignment surgery and had completed the baseline assessments and the 5-yr. follow-up evaluation. Furthermore, we intended to create an outcome model based on the test data for prior patients wherein new consecutive applicants for sex change could be tested to predict the outcome in individual cases. Outcomes after five years showed that 62% of the transsexuals were judged as improved in a variety of areas of psychosocial functioning, 19% were unchanged, and 19% were worsened. Firstly, the analysis of the test data confirmed differences between the improved transsexuals and those who were not. Secondly, sex differences were found, with female-to-male transsexuals having a better outcome and being more homogeneous than their male counterparts. Thirdly, there was good correspondence in prediction of outcome between the model based on the Defense Mechanism Test and a clinical judgment made by a psychiatrist for two new applicants for sex reassignment surgery. It appears the Defense Mechanism Test has a predictive ability for patients with gender-identity disorder.

Adaptation, Psychological↗

PubMed1998

Suicidal behavior after severe trauma. Part 1: PTSD diagnoses, psychiatric comorbidity, and assessments of suicidal behavior.

The study comprises 149 refugees from various countries, reporting exposure to severe traumata, who were referred for psychiatric diagnosis and assessment of suicide risk. The stressors reported comprised both personal experience of and/or forced witnessing of combat atrocities (including explosions or missile impacts in urban areas), imprisonment (including isolation), torture and inflicted pain, sexual violence, witnessing others' suicide, and of summary and/or mock executions. Posttraumatic stress disorder (PTSD) was diagnosed in 79% of all cases, other psychiatric illness in 16% and no mental pathology in 5%. The prevalence of suicidal behavior was significantly greater among refugees with principal PTSD diagnoses than among the remainder. PTSD patients with depression comorbidity reported higher frequency of suicidal thoughts; PTSD nondepressive patients manifested increased frequency of suicide attempts.

Africa↗

PubMed1998

Gender differences and the Defense Mechanism Test: a comparative study of adolescents in psychiatric care and healthy controls.

The aim of this paper was to study gender differences in the percept-genetic method Defense Mechanism Test (DMT) among a group of 60 adolescent subjects. Three subgroups were used: patients with psychotic disorders (Axis 1); borderline personality disorder (Axis 2) according to the DSM-IV classification system, and a non-patient group. The test protocols were scored with respect to 124 DMT variables and analyzed by means of the multivariate projection method Partial Least Squares (PLS) in latent structures. The overall results showed considerable gender differences in the whole group as well as in the subgroups. The most striking finding was that girls compared to boys were characterized by the perceptual defense identification with the opposite sex, which means that they perceived male gestalts instead of females in the stimulus picture. When both gender and diagnostic group membership were considered simultaneously, the influence of diagnostic group membership seemed to be stronger than gender even if there was an interaction between diagnoses and gender. It was concluded that gender must be considered when the DMT is used on adolescent populations.

Adolescent↗

PubMed1998

Personality and defenses: a cross-cultural study of psychiatric patients and healthy individuals in Nicaragua and Sweden.

This study examined cross-cultural variability in personality and defenses among Nicaraguan and Swedish healthy individuals, patients with borderline personality disorder and schizophrenic disorders by means of the projective perceptual Defense Mechanism Test. The over-all aim was to test the hypothesis proposed by Anthony Marsella of 'severity related cross-cultural variability' suggesting that differences in symptom profile or personality patterns between cultures are most pronounced among healthy individuals and less so among individuals with severe mental disorders as they are perceived as more universal and less culturally determined. The over-all results showed that cross-cultural differences were in accordance with the proposed hypothesis. In addition, there were significant intracultural differences between the different diagnostic groups in both countries. The conclusion is that the Defense Mechanism Test and Partial Least Squares analysis seem to be powerful methods for personality assessment and potentially for cross-cultural research, and culture-specific norms in the Defense Mechanism Test must be employed.

Adult↗

PubMed1997

Defense Mechanism Test (DMT) and Kernberg's theory of personality organization related to adolescents in psychiatric care.

75 adolescent psychiatric patients were diagnosed with the perceptual projective test the Defense Mechanism Test (DMT) and also according to Kernberg's theory of personality organization (PO). The test protocols were scored in respect of 130 DMT variables and analyzed by means of partial least squares (PLS) discriminant analysis. The objective was to try to separate the three types of PO, psychotic (PPO), borderline (BPO) and neurotic (NPO) by means of the DMT and also to compare the results with a similar study in adult psychiatric patients. The results showed that it is possible to separate significantly the three groups of PO. The BPO group seemed to be heterogeneous. The results were fairly similar to those obtained with adult psychiatric patients. The overall results supported the concurrent validity of Kernberg's theory of PO and for the DMT as well. The DMT seems to be a useful diagnostic method in respect of adolescent psychiatric patients.

Adolescent↗

PubMed1996

Multivariate modelling and personality organization: a comparative study of the Defense Mechanism Test and linguistic expressions.

The main aim of the study is to establish an empirical connection between perceptual defences as measured by the Defense Mechanism Test (DMT)--a projective percept-genetic method--and manifest linguistic expressions based on word pattern analyses. The subjects were 25 psychiatric patients with the diagnoses neurotic personality organization (NPO), borderline personality organization (BPO) and psychotic personality organization (PPO) in accordance with Kernberg's theory. A set of 130 DMT variables and 40 linguistic variables were analyzed by means of partial least squares (PLS) discriminant analysis separately and then pooled together. The overall hypothesis was that it would be possible to define the personality organization of the patients in terms of an amalgam of perceptual defences and word patterns, and that these two kinds of data would confirm each other. The result of the combined PLS analysis revealed a very good separation between the diagnostic groups as measured by the pooled variable sets. Among other things, it was shown that NPO patients are principally characterized by linguistic variables, whereas BPO and PPO patients are better defined by perceptual defences as measured by the DMT method.

Borderline Personality Disorder↗

PubMed1996

Defensive characteristics in individuals with amalgam illness as measured by the percept-genetic method Defense Mechanism Test.

Twenty patients complaining of symptoms deriving from their amalgam fillings and a non-patient group were assessed by means of the perceptual projective Defense Mechanism Test (DMT). The test protocols were scored for 130 DMT variables and analyzed by means of the multivariate statistical method Partial Least Squares discriminant analysis. The objective was to try to distinguish the group with amalgam illness from the non-patient group by means of the DMT. The results showed that it was possible to distinguish the two groups significantly from each other. The most characteristic traits of the patient group were a general lateness in perception and few emotional responses compared with the non-patient group and, especially, an inability to perceive the aggressive component in the stimulus picture. The DMT seems to be a powerful method in the effort to understand the mechanisms underlying the problems of amalgam illness.

Adult↗

PubMed1993

Personality traits and disorders among transsexuals.

A group of transsexuals, 9 biological men and 10 women, was assessed according to clinical DSM-III-R diagnosis and a self-report instrument for Axis II diagnoses based on the Structured Clinical Interview for DSM-III-R (SCID screen). A control group of 133 individuals was assessed by the same instrument. Combined with a functional criterion according to the Global Assessment of Functioning, the SCID screen showed good agreement with clinical Axis II diagnoses. The overall proportion of Axis II criteria fulfilled, proportion of criteria fulfilled for every single personality disorder and number of personality disorders were calculated from the modified version of the SCID screen. Personality disorders, mainly within cluster B, were identified among 5 of 19 transsexuals, and a majority had multiple personality disorders. Among controls, no personality disorder was identified. Personality traits as measured by the SCID screen revealed significantly more subthreshold pathology among transsexuals than controls in 8 of 12 personality categories. The proportion of overall Axis II criteria fulfilled was 29% among transsexuals versus 17% among controls. Sex differences among transsexuals, the usefulness of the SCID screen and diagnostic problems in DSM-III-R with respect to gender identity disorders are discussed.

Adult↗

PubMed1992

Reactions to DMT as related to psychotic and borderline personality organization.

Thirty-one inpatients in a psychiatric clinic were assessed with DMT and the Structural Interview. In order to assemble every relevant reaction that an individual might have to a percept-genesis, 130 DMT variables were formed. The results were first subjected to a quality control of the DMT-scores and then subjected to partial least squares in latent variables (PLS) discriminant analysis. The analysis showed that it is possible to separate patients with psychotic PO (PPO) from those with borderline PO (BPO) by means of the 130 variables. The BPO group is characterized by aggressive manifestations, sensitivity to threat, identity lability and various transformations of the Hero gestalt. The PPO group, on the other hand, is characterized by high threshold values for perception, lack of identity, denial and repression of the peripheral person at a late-phase level. There are other perceptual reactions that are important predictors of PO than the defence categories of the manual. These perceptual reactions do not correspond to the traditional psychodynamic defence mechanisms. Our conclusion is that principal component analysis (PCA) and PLS are useful methods of finding discriminating patterns of perceptual reactions to the DMT for patients with different PO.

Borderline Personality Disorder↗

PubMed1992

Multivariate modelling and the Defence Mechanism Test: a comparative study of defensive structures in borderline, other personality disorders and schizophrenic disorder.

The study aims at discerning discriminating patterns in the perceptual responses according to the projective percept-genetic method Defence Mechanism Test (DMT) among 45 subjects with the diagnoses borderline personality disorder (BPD), other personality disorders (OPD), schizophrenic disorder (SD) and a non-patient group. The overall results show that, by means of partial least squares (PLS) discriminant analysis of 130 DMT variables, it is possible to separate these groups. Patients with a BPD or a SD diagnosis and the non-patient group are clearly separated, whereas the OPD group shows a less homogeneous pattern. The findings support both the validity of the DMT as a method to measure personality features and the psychodynamic validity of BPD. The most characteristic properties of the BPD group are responses of emotional expressions, especially introaggression and frequent distortions of the stimulus picture. Regarding the SD/OPD group, a pattern of high threshold values for perception emerges as a discriminating feature as well as different variants of introjection. The non-patients are characterized by very few DMT distortions and consequently show a good reality orientation. The conclusion is that the DMT and the PLS discriminant analysis are powerful methods in the assessment of personality pathology.

Borderline Personality Disorder↗

PubMed1990

Personality organization defined by DMT and the Structural Interview.

The psychoanalytic concept of Personality Organization (PO) may be operationalized by means of a Structural Interview as well as by means of psychological tests. The present study utilized the Structural Interview and a projective test called the Defence Mechanism Test (DMT) to operationalize the PO concept on a sample of 50 psychiatric inpatients. The reliability of the PO judgements were found to be acceptable for both the Structural Interview and the DMT. The validity, which was estimated as the correlation between the two methods, was also found to be substantial. The conclusion is that the concept of PO may be reliably operationalized for psychiatric patients and seems to have concurrent validity. Both the DMT and the Structural Interview may be used for differential diagnosis of PO.

Adult↗

PubMed1989

Psychodynamic features in borderline personality disorder identified by a subliminal test, the Defense Mechanism Test.

Twenty-seven psychiatric inpatients, diagnosed according to DSM-III and the Diagnostic Interview for Borderline (DIB), and 7 healthy controls were tested with the Defense Mechanism Test (DMT), a test of subliminal perception based on psychoanalytic theory. In the test a specific stimulus is presented subliminally in a tachistoscope and the patient's perceptual distortions are registered. Patients with borderline personality disorder (BPD) were compared with patients with other personality disorders, patients with schizophrenic disorders and healthy controls. Specific perceptual distortions were identified among patients with BPD. Some individual DMT signs correlated with some deviant behaviors as identified by the DIB. The findings supported the psychodynamic validity of the concept of borderline personality disorder. It is concluded that DMT is a promising research instrument that provides an empirical approach to crucial psychodynamic phenomena.

Adult↗

PubMed1982

Temperature-induced fluorescence changes : a screening method for frost tolerance of potato (solanum sp.).

Field-grown tuber-bearing potatoes were screened for frost tolerance in a late stage of development. Three different clones of Solanum tuberosum L. and two interspecific crosses between clones of S. tuberosum and the wild potato species S. demissum Lindl. were studied. Two different methods were used. (a) Temperature-induced fluorescence changes of intact leaves were measured in freeze-thaw cycles between 20 degrees C and -10 degrees C. The variable fluorescence pattern was characterized in relation to frost tolerance. (b) Controlled freezings of plants in a climate chamber with successively increased low temperature stress, of 1 to 2 hours duration during the dark period. Freezing damages were classified visually.The short-term frost during the fluorescence measurement was compared with the long-term frost treatments in the climate chamber. The results of the two were identical to ranking of the different clones for frost tolerance. The temperature-induced fluorescence changes also monitored progressive damages to the chloroplast membranes when plants were exposed to successively lower temperatures in a controlled climate chamber freezing test. It was deduced from the fluorescence measurements that the freezing injury of potato occurs on the water splitting side of photosystem II.

Journal Article↗