Biomedical subjects
Publications and source records attributed to H Spohn.
We develop a scaling theory for Kardar-Parisi-Zhang growth in one dimension by a detailed study of the polynuclear growth model. In particular, we identify three universal distributions for shape fluctuations and their dependence on the macroscopic shape. These distribution functions are computed using the partition function of Gaussian random matrices in a cosine potential.
OBJECTIVE: The purpose of this study was to determine whether severe personality disorders improve or deteriorate with intensive inpatient treatment. METHODS: Overall 216 patients diagnosed as having personality disorders by DSM-III-R criteria were prospectively monitored at two private psychiatric hospitals from admission through discharge to one-year follow-up. RESULTS: Substantial positive change in the sample was recorded at discharge, and the improvements held up at one-year follow-up. The proportion of patients with scores of 50 or more on the Global Assessment Scale was 3.7 percent at the time of admission. By discharge the proportion had increased to 55.1 percent, and by one-year follow-up it had risen to 66.3 percent. CONCLUSIONS: These results suggest that patients with severe personality disorders benefit from intensive inpatient treatment. We found no evidence that hospitalization of such patients is associated with regression or deterioration of function.
Explore the source record for details and available documents.
Explore the source record for details and available documents.
Explore the source record for details and available documents.
Explore the source record for details and available documents.
Explore the source record for details and available documents.
Explore the source record for details and available documents.
Explore the source record for details and available documents.
Explore the source record for details and available documents.
Explore the source record for details and available documents.
Explore the source record for details and available documents.
Explore the source record for details and available documents.
Explore the source record for details and available documents.
Explore the source record for details and available documents.
Headache variables were examined for 136 subjects who participated for 36 weeks in one of four groups--No Treatment, Autogenic Phrases, Electromyographic (EMG) Biofeedback, and Thermal Biofeedback. All subjects kept daily records of headache activity and medication usage and participated in 22 laboratory sessions during which frontalis electromyographic and hand-temperature measurements were taken; those in the three treatment groups practiced at home. There was a substantial reduction in headache variables in all groups. The No-Treatment Group differed significantly from the treatment groups combined, with the least reduction in headache variables. The Thermal Biofeedback Group vs. EMG Biofeedback and Autogenic Phrases Groups showed a suggestive trend toward improvement in the frequency and intensity of total headache.
In a study of 127 long-term psychiatric hospital patients perceived as difficult to treat, investigators used hierarchical grouping analysis to differentiate ten profile groups of patients. The groups are based on four dimensions or clusters of characteristics previously derived by factor analysis: withdrawn psychoticism, severe character pathology, suicidal-depressed behavior, and violence-agitation. The ten profile groups are described and are related to staff ratings of overall treatment difficulty, prognosis, sex, diagnosis, and other variables. The main conclusion is that treatment difficulty stems in large part from the compounding of different dimensions of severe psychopathology. Thus a pan-symptomatic group, with high scores on all four dimensions, ranks highest in overall treatment difficulty.
Countertransference among hospital staff was investigated as part of ongoing research on difficult-to-treat psychiatric hospital patients. Staff's ratings of their emotional reactions to 127 patients on long-term units were analyzed by factor analysis, and the resulting factors were correlated by discipline with patient problem behaviors. Among the conclusions were that different forms of psychopathology elicit characteristic patterns of emotional reaction from staff; that some dimensions of psychopathology, particularly suicidal-depressed behavior and violence-agitation, elicit different emotional reactions among different disciplines, thus laying the groundwork for division among staff; and that the more difficult the process of hospital treatment, the more likely staff will experience a variety of emotions.