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Biomedical subjects

F T Melges

Publications and source records attributed to F T Melges.

At least 19 recordsLinked to original sources
PubMed1989

Oscillations of attachment in borderline personality disorder.

The authors propose that oscillations of attachment in borderline personality disorder stem from a central problem with regulation of interpersonal distance. This problem derives from borderline patients' conflicts between fears of abandonment and domination. When they move closer to others, they fear that they will be dominated; when they move away, they fear that they will be abandoned. Whichever direction they move, they experience negative feedback. This gives rise to recurrent oscillations between attachment to and detachment from others. Because the oscillations are reinforced by the ambivalent reactions of significant others and the involvement of third parties, family therapy is often indicated.

Borderline Personality Disorder↗
PubMed1986

Julia Rush's diary: coping with loss in the early nineteenth century.

Julia Rush (1759-1848), wife of Benjamin Rush (1745-1813), recorded her thoughts over a 33-year period in an unpublished devotional journal. Many of the entries relate to her experience of the loss of Benjamin Rush. Although the diary is inadequate as a source of understanding psychodynamic processes at work, it provides considerable information about Julia Rush's coping behavior. An analysis of this journal reveals that she used three major coping strategies to deal with the loss of her husband: ritualized language, time marking, and cognitive reframing. These devotional meditations also illuminate the way early nineteenth-century religious views shaped Julia Rush's response to loss.

Adaptation, Psychological↗
PubMed1977

Depersonalization and temporal disintegration in acute mental illness.

The authors assessed the relationship between depersonalization (defined by self-estrangement and body image diffusion) and temporal disintegration (impaired goal-directedness and temporal indistinction) in 37 acutely ill hospitalized psychiatric patients. Substantial correlations were found between these two phenomena, confirming previous work. The finding that body image diffusion is positively correlated with temporal disintegration suggests that distortions of personal space accompany distortions of personal time.

Acute Disease↗
PubMed1977

Temporal disorganization and inner-outer confusion in acute mental illness.

The authors found that changes in temporal disorganization covaried substantially and significantly with changes in Schneider's first-rank symptoms in 58 acutely ill psychiatric patients. Schneiderian symptoms reflect a confusion of inner and outer events; therefore, the findings suggest that difficulties in indexing events in time are closely related to problems in distinguishing experiences that arise within the self from outer experiences.

Acute Disease↗
PubMed1976

Tracking difficulties and paranoid ideation during hashish and alcohol intoxication.

In a double-blind study using each subject as his own control, 6 normal subjects smoked 20 mg of THC within 10- and 45-minute periods ("fast" and "slow" conditions, respectively). Each subject also received placebo and doses of alcohol calculated to be as intoxicating as the THC doses. In fast conditions, THC induced greater difficulties with tracking information over time, greater disruptions of self-other interpersonal perceptions, and more persecutory ideation that did alcohol or placebo. Similar but less marked differences were found in the slow conditions. As hypothesized, changes in tracking difficulties, self-other metaperspectives, and persecutory ideation were substantially and significantly correlated.

Adult↗
PubMed1975

Persecutory delusions: a cybernetic model.

The authors propose a cybernetic model for the formation and maintenance of persecutory delusions. During the formation of persecutory ideation, the threat of loss of control over the self or others interacts with predictions of control from others. This interaction may result in feelings of alien control followed by persecutory explanations. Since the persecutory explanations provide the individual with a new goal of resisting others' influence in order to prevent being controlled, they reduce the threat of loss of self-control. This is how persecutory delusions are maintained.

Cybernetics↗
PubMed1970

Marihuana and temporal disintegration.

High oral doses of marihuana extract, calibrated for content of 1 (-)-Delta(1)-tetrahydrocannabinol, significantly impaired the serial coordination of cognitive operations during a task that required sequential adjustments in reaching a goal. This disintegration of sequential thought is related to impaired immediate memory.

Adult↗