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Biomedical subjects

J J Platt

Publications and source records attributed to J J Platt.

At least 19 recordsLinked to original sources
PubMed1992

Family therapy for Dutch drug users: the relationship between family functioning and success.

This article reports treatment outcome in families with drug problems after a family therapy intervention. An attempt is made to determine what changes occur in family functioning in the course of treatment with family therapy, and how these changes relate to prolonged abstinence and improvement in social functioning in drug misusers. The results indicate that, overall, most families, one year after the start of family therapy, changed in the predicted direction as determined by an observation instrument. Furthermore, success in treatment for the drug misuser was most likely to occur in families in which the parents communicated with each other in a predominantly negative way at the beginning of therapy, and when, in the course of therapy, a significant change occurred toward a more positive supportive manner of communicating.

Adult↗
PubMed1991

Risk factors for needle sharing among methadone-treated patients.

OBJECTIVE: This paper examines the sociodemographic and psychiatric characteristics of patients taking methadone who continue to share needles. METHOD: Three hundred twenty-three patients were recruited from four methadone programs. Data were collected by using questionnaires and interviews. Psychiatric symptoms were measured with the SCL-90, the Beck Depression Inventory, and the Addiction Severity Index. RESULTS: Twenty percent of these subjects reported sharing needles within the previous 6 months. Those who shared reported greater difficulty in acquiring new needles, more legal difficulties, more severe drug problems, and higher levels of psychiatric symptoms. CONCLUSIONS: These data suggest that patients who continue to share needles are a more disturbed subgroup of the methadone maintenance population. Efforts designed to reduce needle sharing may need to be more sharply focused on patients who are at greatest risk of infection, and these patients may require more intensive psychiatric services.

Acquired Immunodeficiency Syndrome↗
PubMed1990

Risk characteristics associated with chronic unemployment in methadone clients.

Relatively few methadone programs emphasize vocational skills training in their service delivery protocols. As a result, this study was conducted to determine the contribution of background demographic, vocational and clinical characteristics in differentiating chronically unemployed methadone clients from those regularly or intermittently employed over a 3-year period of time. Three-hundred eighty heroin addicts, from five urban methadone treatment programs, participated in the study. Using the multiple logistic regression approach, nine variables were found to be significantly related to unemployment risk.

Adult↗
PubMed1990

Psychopathology in Dutch and American heroin addicts.

The Beck Depression Inventory (BDI) and the Symptom Check List-90 (SCL-90) were administered to 47 Dutch and 121 American White male heroin addicts receiving methadone. A one-way MANOVA indicated that the Dutch and American samples displayed comparable SCL-90 profiles, but that the Dutch had more symptom complaints than the Americans. The mean BDI total score of the Dutch was higher than that of the Americans, and this mean difference reflected more severe cognitive and affective symptoms in the Dutch than in the Americans. There was no difference between the samples with respect to somatic and performance symptoms. Furthermore, the mean levels of symptoms distress for the nine SCL-90 subscales reported by both the Dutch and the American heroin addicts were comparable to those of American psychiatric outpatients.

Adult↗
PubMed1990

Family therapy for Dutch drug abusers: replication of an American study.

This paper presents the results of an evaluation study conducted in The Netherlands in which an attempt was made to determine the efficacy of family therapy treatment for drug abusers in that country. The theory underlying the approach, as formulated most prominently by Stanton and Todd, is outlined. This study is an attempt to replicate Stanton and Todd's finding that significantly more drug abusers who underwent family therapy would abstain than would clients who received methadone treatment. Stanton and Todd's findings were partly confirmed. As in their study, nearly two-thirds of the clients abstained from heroin and 75% of the clients abstained from illegal use of nonopiates. No significant differences were found, however, between the experimental and the control group in the Dutch study.

Adult↗
PubMed1989

AIDS in Africa: emerging trends.

This paper reviews the literature on AIDS in Africa. By 29 February, 1988, 9760 cases of AIDS had been reported in Africa. This review addresses the currently accepted belief in the African origin of AIDS, the distribution (cluster) of AIDS in Africa, identified modes of transmission, and changing sexual and drug use behaviors in Africa. There is no conclusive evidence to show that the AIDS virus originated in Africa. Even if the progenitor virus had a habitat in central Africa, certain high-risk sexual behaviors which were introduced in the 60s and 70s may have initiated the infectious process. The distribution pattern does not suggest a transcontinental spread; rather, it suggests a contigual and transatlantic spread. The primary mode of transmission is heterosexual activity. This paper raises a number of questions relating to heterosexual behaviors. Other issues addressed include drug use behavior, homosexuality, and high-risk sexual activities of Africans and foreigners in Africa. Other modes of transmission are transfusion of contaminated blood and blood products, use of nonsterile needles, and perinatal transmission. It is not likely that traditional (folk) medicine will contribute to the spread of AIDS. Traditional doctors use fresh razor blades for cuts and not hollow instruments such as needles. The impact of the political and socioeconomic climate in most of Africa during the 60s and early 70s is evaluated. Finally, we make suggestions for future direction, which include confirmatory testing of HIV Positive samples, conducting clinical epidemiology and social science-based research, and developing innovative education programs that are culturally relevant.

Acquired Immunodeficiency Syndrome↗
PubMed1989

Types of self-reported psychopathology in Dutch and American heroin addicts.

One-hundred Dutch and 100 American heroin addicts receiving methadone were administered the Symptom Check List-90 (SCL-90), and a Modal Profile Analysis was performed to determine whether or not the mean profiles of the nine SCL-90 subscales were comparable for these two White male samples. Three profile-shape components correctly classified over 85% of both groups and reflected (1) Anxious-depressed, (2) Hostile and (3) Paranoid syndromes. The relationships of the SCL-90 profiles to selected psychosocial characteristics were also studied. For example, marijuana use was associated with the Paranoid shape component in both samples. The implications of these SCL-90 profiles for identifying common aspects of self-reported psychopathology in both Dutch and American heroin addicts were discussed.

Adult↗
PubMed1989

Differences in the Symptom Check List-90 profiles of black and white methadone patients.

The Sympton Check List-90 (SCL-90) scores of 900 methadone patients were compared by sex and race using a two-way multivariate analysis of variance. The mean profiles did not differ with respect to sex, but did for race. White methadone patients were more obsessive-compulsive and depressed than the Black patients. However, the magnitudes of the mean differences were less than 2.5, and such small mean differences indicate that the employment of separate sex- or race-based normative values for the interpretation of the SCL-90 is unnecessary with methadone patients.

Adult↗
PubMed1987

Problem drinker drivers: client and service involvement correlates of treatment outcome.

Data collected on drinking drivers referred to the Philadelphia Alcohol Highway Safety Program are reported. The data suggest those referred to be older, male, and to demonstrate an unusually high degree of familial and social disruption. Impairment of functioning at the time of arrest, prior arrest histories for similar offenses, and other indicators similarly describe a population of serious problem drinkers. Data are also presented regarding correlates of successful treatment outcome. The data presented here underscore the need for further attention to appropriate interventions for this population.

Adult↗
PubMed1987

Methadone dose levels and client characteristics in heroin addicts.

Methadone dosage levels have typically been examined with regard to patient symptomatology, treatment retention, and continued narcotic use. The results of these studies have generally supported the conclusion that daily dosages of 40-60 mg per day are both safe and maximally effective for the majority of methadone clients. Yet, in practice, dosage levels for maintenance clients continue to vary a great deal both within and across clinics. The data presented here suggest that one source of this variation may be the social and cognitive skills of clients.

Adult↗
PubMed1976

Emotional and social real-life problem-solving thinking in adolescent and adult psychiatric patients.

The ability of adult and adolescent psychiatric patients to solve emotional problems such as anxiety and depression as well as problems that arise within the social sphere was examined, as was the question of whether the abilities to solve problems in the emotional and social spheres are related. With IQ partialled out, patients and controls did not differ on emotional problem-solving ability, but did differ on social problem-solving ability. Emotional problem-solving ability was found to be related to intelligence, while social problem-solving ability was not. Emotional problem-solving may require more abstract ability than social problem-solving, and normals may need only social problem-solving for adjustment.

Adolescent↗
PubMed1976

MMPI characteristics of good and poor social problem-solvers among psychiatric patients.

In an attempt to delineate more precisely the relationship between problem-solving cognition in the social sphere and psychopathology, male (N = 83) and female (N = 107) psychiatric patients were divided into groups of good and poor problem-solvers on the Means-Ends Problem-Solving (MEPS) Procedure and contrasted on MMPI scales and indices of psychopathology. Poor problem-solvers among males, but not among females, were found to be (a) more clearly schizophrenic and socially inadequate, with significantly higher scores on the Pd, Sc, and Si scales; (b) more clearly psychotic on the Goldberg Index; and (c) more likely to have elevated F scale raw scores. The present findings explicate those of earlier studies in suggesting that male patients higher in social problem-solving ability are not only likely to be more socially competent, but also are more likely to be less severely impaired in terms of psychopathology. A possible explanation for the sex difference is that problem-solving cognition and psychopathology are not so directly related in females as in males.

Educational Status↗