PubMed Health⌕ Search

Biomedical subjects

J M Williams

Publications and source records attributed to J M Williams.

At least 19 recordsLinked to original sources
PubMed1992

Autobiographical memory and problem-solving strategies of parasuicide patients.

Recent research has noted the tendency of parasuicide patients to retrieve over-general autobiographical memories. Separate studies suggest problem-solving deficits within this group. The present study was concerned first with replicating these findings and, secondly, with developing a model of the relationship between over-general memory recall and poor problem-solving abilities in parasuicide patients. Anger and hopelessness were measured as markers for mood. In line with the hypotheses, the parasuicide group (N = 12) produced significantly over-general memories in contrast to a matched control group (N = 12). This occurred significantly in relation to positive cues, and latency to first responses was significantly delayed in the parasuicide group. The parasuicide group also provided fewer and less-effective problem-solving strategies than the control group, and a significant association was found between low effectiveness of problem-solving strategies and over-general memory recall in the parasuicide group. Anger and hopelessness levels were significantly higher within the parasuicide group in line with previous findings. The clinical implications of these findings are discussed.

Adaptation, Psychological↗
PubMed1992

Depression and social problem solving.

Twenty depressed patients with major depressive disorder, 20 nondepressed matched control subjects, and 17 patients with anxiety disorders were compared in different measures of social problem solving. Problem solving was assessed with the Means-Ends Problem-Solving Test (Study 1), the solution of personal problems, and a problem-solving questionnaire (Study 2). Results showed that, as predicted, depressed subjects suffered from a deficit in problem solving in all three measures. The majority of these deficits were also displayed by the clinical control group rather than being specific to a diagnosis of depression. However, depressed subjects produced less effective solutions than did normal and clinical control subjects. The results suggest that depressed and anxious patients may have difficulties at different stages of the problem-solving process.

Adult↗
PubMed1992

Autobiographical fluency: a method for the study of personal memory.

Fifty-five subjects recalled autobiographical episodes or personal facts such as names of friends and teachers, from different lifetime periods. In each case, subjects were given 90 sec in which to retrieve as many items as possible. Also tested was subjects' fluency in generating items from semantic categories (animals, vegetables, British prime ministers, and U.S. presidents). Results of cluster analysis on the fluency tasks showed a dissociation between subjects' ability to retrieve personal episodes, personal semantic information, and nonpersonal semantic information. The dissociations observed in the fluency tasks are interpreted in terms of the different retrieval strategies required for the different types of information sought.

Adult↗
PubMed1991

Inhibitor action on placental calcium transport.

Human term placental lobules were dually perfused with Krebs Ringer solution at 37 degrees C under open circuit conditions. Provided that perfusate Ca2+ concentrations were between 2.33 and 2.55 mM, there was a steady release of Ca2+ into the fetal circulation and uptake of Ca2+ from the maternal circulation. There was no significant calcium (Ca) protein binding in the perfusates. Addition of dinitrophenol altered the release of Ca2+ to an uptake on the fetal circuit and enhanced Ca2+ uptake on the maternal circuit. It also produced a release of potassium (K)+ and an uptake of Na+ on both sides of the placenta. Ouabain had no significant effect on Ca movements although it produced a marked release of K+ into the fetal perfusate. The effect of cooling on the fetal circuit was similar to that of dinitrophenol (DNP), although it did not produce significant changes in either Ca2+ or K+ movements on the maternal side of the lobule. Both DNP and cooling reduced the Ca concentration ratio between fetal and maternal outflows to unity. Replacement of Na+ by choline Ringer had only transient effect on the extraction of 45Ca from fetal perfusate. These observations indicate that a Ca2+/Na (sodium)+ exchanger does not make a major contribution to the transplacental movement of Ca2+ from mother to fetus and that this process is more probably associated with membrane-bound ATPases.

Adenosine Triphosphatases↗
PubMed1991

Occurrence of schizotypal and borderline symptoms in parasuicide patients: comparison between subjective and objective indices.

Seventy-six patients were interviewed within a week of admission following a parasuicide episode. Axis II diagnosis on DSM-III was made for schizotypal, borderline, histrionic, and antisocial personality disorder. In addition patients completed a self-rating questionnaire, the Schizotypy Questionnaire of Claridge & Broks (1984), which assesses schizotypal and borderline personality traits. The objective and subjective indices of schizotypal and borderline symptoms correlated significantly but allocation of patients to a diagnosis missed several patients who nevertheless rated themselves as having a high frequency of these symptoms. There was an asymmetry of symptom pattern reminiscent of Foulds & Bedford's (1975) hierarchy model. The presence of schizotypal symptoms appeared to be higher in the hierarchy: they predicted borderline symptoms, but a high frequency of borderline symptoms did not necessarily predict schizotypy. We suggest that the occurrence of schizotypal symptoms should become a more explicit focus of clinical assessment and treatment of these patients, especially those who repeatedly harm themselves and we suggest ways in which cognitive therapies may be adapted to do this.

Adolescent↗
PubMed1991

Worry is reasonable: the role of explanations in pessimism about future personal events.

This experiment examines one component of worry, elevated subjective probabilities of negative events, and attempts to elucidate the cognitive processes on which this is based. The results suggest that the pessimistic subjective probabilities shown by chronic worriers can be understood using general theories of judgment, specifically, by the use of the availability heuristic (Tversky & Kahneman, 1973). However, it is the availability of a particular pattern of cognitions--an increased accessibility of explanations for why a negative event would occur, combined with a reduced accessibility of explanations for why it would not--that is important. The results are integrated within a description of the worry process, and possible clinical applications through the use of reason-generation techniques are discussed.

Adult↗
PubMed1991

Parental report of everyday cognitive abilities among children treated for acute lymphoblastic leukemia.

Compared ratings of everyday cognitive functioning made by parents of leukemic children to ratings made by parents of normal control and learning disabled (LD) children. The leukemic children had been randomly assigned to one of two CNS prophylaxis treatments, one including cranial irradiation and intrathecal methotrexate and another including only intrathecal methotrexate and intermediate dose infusions of methotrexate. Leukemic children were rated significantly worse than controls in areas related to schooling and academic skills. The type of CNS prophylaxis was not discriminated by parent ratings. LD children were rated as significantly worse than either of the two groups in all areas of cognitive functioning. Leukemic and LD children were both rated as having poor academic skills. Leukemic children missed significantly more school than control and LD children, and their poor ratings on academic skills were partially attributed to academic deprivation. These results suggest that studies should control for academic deprivation when evaluating the neuropsychological outcome of CNS prophylactic treatment and that reintegration and normalization programs should be designed to address the intellectual problems resulting from missed academic experiences.

Adolescent↗
PubMed1991

The role of attributions in self-poisoning.

Sixty patients who had taken an overdose of drugs within the previous 24 hours completed the Attributional Style Questionnaire and the Profile of Mood States scale. Their scores were compared with two age-matched samples: 31 medical patients and 71 non-patient controls. Overdose patients had significantly higher stable and global attributions for negative events than controls, but were no different in attribution for positive events. They were also more disturbed in their mood, but their level of mood disturbance did not correlate with levels of attribution. Thirty-two of the overdose group were followed up one week later, by which time there had been a reliable downward shift in mood. However, there was no corresponding reliable shift in attributions, which remained significantly higher than normal. These results suggest that attributions may be important in determining how self-poisoners cope with life-events, but the relationship with mood is complex; attributions are not simply mood-dependent, nor is mood level or recovery simply attribution-dependent.

Adult↗
PubMed1991

Moderate levels of chronic mood disturbance are associated with increased cognitive complexity about the self.

Despite its status as a general assumption, the idea that mood disturbance is associated with reduced complexity of cognitive representations has received little in the way of empirical support. It is suggested that this may arise because of a failure to make distinctions concerning the severity and type of mood disturbance, as well as not being specific about what the representations actually refer to. Using repertory grid methodology (Bieri et al., 1966) with a group of moderately mood-disturbed 'worriers', results showed that this group are significantly more complex than matched controls, but only for representations concerned with themselves. Moreover, this was related to chronic rather than current mood disturbance. The results are interpreted as indicating that cognitive complexity may follow an inverted-U pattern, where the self-representations of severely mood-disturbed and control subjects, although differing in valence, are similar in their lack of complexity. On the other hand, those who are chronically but moderately disturbed are, as a result of their ongoing tendency towards introspection, more complex in their self-representations. Possible implications for vulnerability to emotional disorder are discussed.

Adaptation, Psychological↗
PubMed1991

Attribution and intervention in self-poisoning.

This paper discusses factors which have affected progress in the primary and secondary prevention of suicidal behaviour. An attributional model of helping and coping described by Brickman and his colleagues (1982) is used to suggest that the match or mismatch between attitudes and attributions of helpers and helped is critical in determining (a) whether or not people seek help when in a crisis, and (b) whether or not people respond to help when they receive it. The evidence for the efficacy of cognitive-behavioural problem-solving therapies is reviewed in the light of their ability to take account of matches or mismatches in attitudes towards helping and being helped.

Adaptation, Psychological↗
PubMed1991

Parathyroid hormone-(1-34) peptide activates cyclic adenosine 3',5'-monophosphate in the human placenta.

Dually perfused human term placental lobules were exposed to forskolin, bovine parathyroid hormone (bPTH(1-34)) and human parathyroid hormone related-peptides, hPTHrP(1-34), hPTHrP(67-86)NH2 or PTHrP(107-138) for 15 min in the presence of 3-iso-butyl-1-methyl-xanthine (IBMX); control lobules were exposed to IBMX alone. Homogenates of these tissues were then assayed for cyclic adenosine 3',5'-monophosphate (cyclic AMP) and results normalized per mg of protein. Exposure to forskolin or bPTH(1-34) on both sides, and exposure to bPTH(1-34) at a concentration of 30 nM on the maternal side of the placenta or 120 nM on the fetal side of the placenta, significantly enhanced tissue cyclic AMP production compared with tissue exposed to IBMX alone. Exposure to hPTHrP(1-34), hPTHrP(67-86)NH2 and hPTHrP(107-138) at a concentration of 30 nM on both sides of the placenta had no significant effect upon tissue cyclic AMP production.

Cyclic AMP↗
PubMed1991

Money hidden and rediscovered in subsequent manic phases. A case of action dependent on mood state?

A manic-depressive patient hid 3000 pounds during one manic phase and subsequently, when his mood stabilised, could not remember where he had hidden it. He found the money during a subsequent manic phase a few months later. We suggest that this is not a clear case of state-dependent memory, since the patient at no point explicitly recollected where he had hidden the money. Instead we suggest that this represents state-dependent action. The links between this case and previous research on state-dependent memory are outlined.

Adult↗