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Biomedical subjects

J Welkowitz

Publications and source records attributed to J Welkowitz.

33 records · Page 2Linked to original sources
PubMed1988

Modification of the Beck Depression Inventory for use with a deaf population.

Research on depression in deaf individuals has been hampered by difficulties in assessment that result from the linguistic problems many deaf persons have with the English language. We report preliminary psychometric data on a modification of the Beck Depression Inventory in which it was simplified linguistically for use with the deaf population. Internal consistency of the revised version of 56 hearing college students was good and very close to that of the original version in a separate sample of 56 hearing students. Mean scores on the two versions were also very similar. Internal consistency of the revision in a sample of 102 deaf college students was moderately good, but lower than in the hearing sample. The results are considered encouraging for further instrument development.

Adult↗
PubMed1988

Emotional and non-emotional facial behaviour in patients with unilateral brain damage.

Aspects of emotional facial expression (responsivity, appropriateness, intensity) were examined in brain-damaged adults with right or left hemisphere cerebrovascular lesions and in normal controls. Subjects were videotaped during experimental procedures designed to elicit emotional facial expression and non-emotional facial movement (paralysis, mobility, praxis). On tasks of emotional facial expression, patients with right hemisphere pathology were less responsive and less appropriate than patients with left hemisphere pathology or normal controls. These results corroborate other research findings that the right cerebral hemisphere is dominant for the expression of facial emotion. Both brain-damaged groups had substantial facial paralysis and impairment in muscular mobility on the hemiface contralateral to site of lesion, and the left brain-damaged group had bucco-facial apraxia. Performance measures of emotional expression and non-emotional movement were uncorrelated, suggesting a dissociation between these two systems of facial behaviour.

Apraxias↗
PubMed1988

Posed facial emotional expression in brain-damaged patients.

Posed emotional facial expression was examined in brain-damaged adults with right (RBD) or left (LBD) hemisphere cerebrovascular lesions and in matched normal controls (NC). Subjects were videotaped while posing eight facial expressions (positive and negative) under two elicitation conditions (verbal command and visual imitation). Expressions were rated by four naïve judges for intensity, category accuracy, and valence accuracy. RBDs were significantly more impaired than LBDs or NCs on category and valence accuracy, while LBDs posed expressions with significantly more intensity than RBDs or NCs. These findings held for positive emotions only. The results for category accuracy replicate an earlier report (Borod et al., 1986) which utilized a different rating procedure. Finally, expressions posed to visual imitation were rated as more intense and more accurate than those posed to verbal command.

Brain Damage, Chronic↗
PubMed1987

Clinical predictors of response to antidepressants in elderly patients.

A group of 42 patients, ages 55 and above, suffering from major depression were examined in an attempt to isolate clinical variables that would predict response to antidepressants. These patients were part of a placebo-controlled, double-blind study and were given either nortriptyline or phenelzine for 5-7 weeks. There was no significant difference in response rates between patients subclassified as endogenous or nonendogenous by either RDC or Newcastle criteria. No difference in response rates was found between the DSM-III melancholic and nonmelancholic subtypes. Neither drug preferentially treated a subtype. None of the 21 variables representing symptoms, demographic traits, or characteristics of the depressive illness were found to be significant predictors of antidepressant response.

Aged↗
PubMed1986

Comparative efficacy and safety of MAOIs versus TCAs in treating depression in the elderly.

This comprehensive study investigated both the role of antidepressant drugs in the treatment of affective disorders of later life and their safety with careful clinical and pharmacological monitoring. A 7-week double-blind comparison was made of the efficacy and safety of nortriptyline (a tricyclic), phenelzine (a monoamine oxidase inhibitor), and placebo. The results indicated a response rate of approximately 60% for both nortriptyline and phenelzine versus a 13% response rate for placebo. Anticholinergic side effects were more frequently reported in the nortriptyline group. Orthostatic symptoms were reported with similar frequency in both drug groups. Overall, both drugs were well tolerated.

Aged↗
PubMed1985

The Depressive Experiences Questionnaire: revision and validation.

The present study presents a new, unit-weight scoring system for the Depressive Experiences Questionnaire (DEQ). One hundred thirty-one college students completed the DEQ, the Bem Sex-Role Inventory (BSRI), and the Beck Depression Inventory (BDI). The revised DEQ scales were shown to have substantial levels of internal consistency. The three subscales of the revised DEQ were significantly correlated with the BSRI masculinity and femininity scales but not with gender. Significant correlations were also obtained between DEQ anaclitic, DEQ introjective scales and the BDI.

Adult↗
PubMed1981

Attribution of psychological characteristics from masked and unmasked conversations.

A specific contribution of this study was the development of a procedure for separating the semantic and physical parameters of conversation. This procedure permits testing of the hypothesis that coverbal dimensions of conversation, that is, patterns of sounds and silence, convey information to independent listeners about the psychological states of speakers engaged in conversation. The masking procedure destroyed intelligibility of the conversation, but not the sequences of sounds and silences. Listeners rated speakers on three dimensions--warmth, anxiety, and dominance--under two conditions--masked and unmasked. Significant correlations were found between the ratings under both masked and unmasked conditions and between the ratings and a number of physical parameters of speech.

Affect↗
PubMedDate not supplied

Parameters of emotional processing in neuropsychiatric disorders: conceptual issues and a battery of tests.

Components of emotional processing were examined in psychiatric and neurological populations: communication channel (face/voice), processing mode (expression/perception), and emotional valence (positive/negative). These were assessed with an experimental affect battery which was administered to schizophrenic, unipolar depressive, right-brain-damaged, Parkinson's disease, and normal control right-handed adults. For expression, subjects were taped while producing facial and vocal emotional expressions. Judges rated the expressions for accuracy and intensity. For perception, subjects were asked to identify and discriminate facial and vocal emotions. Using correlational techniques, relationships between facial and vocal channels and between expressive and perceptual modes were explored. The test battery has good psychometric properties and discriminates among diagnostic groups.

Adult↗
PubMedDate not supplied

Spontaneous expression of facial emotion in schizophrenic and right-brain-damaged patients.

The primary neuropsychological theories of schizophrenia have emphasized disturbed dominant hemisphere functioning, although schizophrenics (SZs), particularly those with flat affect, may have deficits resembling those of patients with damage to their right hemisphere. SZs, right-brain-damaged patients (RBDs), and normal controls (NCs) were videotaped while talking about a pleasant and an unpleasant experience. Raters viewed the video recordings of facial activity with the audio portion turned off and assessed the intensity of emotion, the amount of positive emotion, and the amount of negative emotion. Compared to controls, both patient groups were judged as less expressive and as displaying more negative than positive emotion. In particular, the patients seemed to have difficulty with the expression of positive feelings. For the SZ group, these findings may be related to anhedonia or to poor social functioning, which are often features of the illness. The findings for the RBD group are contrary to previous studies which have suggested that the right hemisphere is specialized for negative emotion.

Adult↗
PubMedDate not supplied

Interpersonal communication in the context of dementia.

The assessment of dementia draws, primarily, on measures of memory and language. However, dementia also affects interpersonal and social functioning. Therefore, objective assessment of interpersonal interaction may provide relevant and sensitive measures of the severity and type of dementia. We examined the vocal acoustics and interpersonal interactions of a group of patients with Parkinson's disease and mild to moderate dementia. Objective measures of performance during a semistructured interview correlated with clinical ratings made independently by a neurologist. Our findings indicate that dementia affects interpersonal abilities in specific ways that can be objectively measured using computer analyses of speech patterns.

Aged↗
PubMedDate not supplied

An automated system for the analyses of temporal speech patterns: description of the hardware and software.

A system (WELMAR II) is described for analyzing time patterns of speech on small computers. Temporal speech patterning refers to the pacing of the sounds and silences that make up a stream of speech. The system is particularly useful for research involving clinical populations since it has been shown that speech rhythms are sensitive to interpersonal influence, to dimensions of personality, and to psychological pathology.

Humans↗
PubMedDate not supplied

The usefulness of DST in predicting response to antidepressants: a placebo-controlled study.

Seventy-two out-patients, 55 years or older, suffering from major depression were treated with either nortriptyline or phenelzine for seven weeks under placebo-controlled double-blind conditions. The dexamethasone suppression test (DST) was administered at baseline and at weeks 3 and 7 of treatment, and its usefulness in predicting and/or paralleling clinical response was examined. No correlation was found between baseline DST results and treatment response with antidepressants. Of 13 patients whose abnormal baseline DSTs normalized during treatment, six were responders and seven were nonresponders (P = 0.24). However, all (seven) patients whose DSTs persisted to be abnormal throughout the seven weeks did not respond. The authors conclude that the DST has not been shown to have practical value as an indicator of impending recovery from major depression in the elderly, but its failure to normalize may have ominous prognostic significance.

Aged↗
PubMedDate not supplied

Obsessive-compulsive disorder and comorbid anxiety problems in a national anxiety screening sample.

Questionnaire data were obtained from 5867 participants attending a national anxiety screening program. These participants were selected from more than 15,000 respondents on the basis of never having received treatment for a mental health problem. A screening instrument was designed to assess five anxiety disorders (obsessive-compulsive disorder, posttraumatic stress disorder, social phobia, generalized anxiety disorder, and panic disorder). The present study focused on those participants meeting full or partial screening criteria for obsessive-compulsive disorder (n = 3212), with those not meeting criteria for obsessive-compulsive disorder (n = 2655) serving as a comparison group. Significant relationships were found between questionnaire scores on both interference with daily living, readiness for treatment, and the number of comorbid anxiety problems. These findings shed light on the extent to which undiagnosed and untreated persons with obsessional or compulsive symptoms, or both, are experiencing, as well as the factors that may lead them to seek formal psychiatric or psychological treatment.

Adult↗