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K H Fross

Publications and source records attributed to K H Fross.

9 recordsLinked to original sources
PubMed1979

Panic-fear research in asthma and the nuclear conflict theory of asthma; similarities, differences and clinical implications.

Recent research with the MMPI panic-fear scale has identified personality traits implicated in the psychological maintenance of the medical intractability of asthma. Intensity of prescribed medication, length of hospitalization, and rates of rehospitalization have been found to relate to MMPI panic-fear scores independent of the objective medical severity of the illness as indexed by longitudinal pulmonary functions. In the present study, MMPI panic-fear scores are related to separation and protection conflicts arising in childhood. While the nuclear conflict theory of asthma maintains that such conflicts occur in nearly all asthmatics and form a genetic component of the asthma, the present study finds that childhood separation and protection conflicts occur in a minority of patients, but may be instrumental in maintaining the medical intractability of the illness.

Adolescent↗
PubMed1979

Psychosexual aspects of the panic-fear personality types in asthma.

Numerous earlier studies have demonstrated the close relationship between MMPI Panic-Fear categories and various medical outcome measures in asthma. The present study relates MMPI Panic-Fear categories to psychosexual development. Specifically, High Panic-Fear patients demonstrate oral preoccupations, Low Panic-Fear patients demonstrate anal preoccupations, while Moderate Panic-Fear patients do not demonstrate pre-Oedipal preoccupations. Thus, MMPI Panic-Fear categories, useful in predicting medical outcome measures, have now been related to developmental levels, with the explanatory power of developmental concepts as well as their implications for psychological treatment.

Adolescent↗
PubMed1978

Panic-fear in asthma: rehospitalization following intensive long-term treatment.

The panic-fear personality scale related to rehospitalization rates of asthmatics during two successive 6-month periods following intensive long-term treatment. High and Low Panic-Fear patients were nearly twice as likely as Moderates to be rehospitalized. Neither longitudinal pulmonary function measurements, physicians' judgments about the medical severity of the asthma during treatment, nor the presence or absence of maintenance oral corticosteroids at discharge were related to rehospitalization. The available information suggests that High Panic-Fear patients react to asthma with symptom exaggeration and helplessness, while Low Panic-Fear patients employ an equally maladaptive strategy best characterized as symptom minimization and denial. It is possible that both of these extreme response styles may affect adherence to prescribed medical regimens and are equally detrimental as indicated by rehospitalization following intensive long-term treatment.

Adolescent↗
PubMed1978

Patient and physician characteristics influencing medical decisions in asthma.

The present study explores the complex interplay of objective indices of illness-severity and personal characteristics of patients and physicians as they influence judged illness-severity and medical decisions concerning length of hospitalization and intensity of prescribed oral corticosteroids in a chronic asthmatic population. The results indicate that, depending on the physician's personal characteristics, he may: a) confuse his patient's psychological physical distress, resulting in medical judgment and decisions being influenced by patient personality; b) accurately distinguish between psychological physical distress but treat a psychological problem as though it were a medical problem; c) judge and treat the patient's illness objectively, regardless of the patient's personality. These findings stress the importance of expanding the present biomedical model of medicine to include a better appreciation of how social, psychological, and behavioral factors influence the medical decisions about treatment and the resulting outcome.

Adolescent↗
PubMed1977

Panic-fear in asthma: generalized personality trait vs. specific situational state.

Previous studies have found that both ASC and MMPI Panic-Fear scale scores are related to the maintenance of the medical intractability of asthma. Despite the large overlap of these two scales, they measure somewhat different aspects of "Panic-Fear". The ASC measures a situational response (state variable) to breathing difficulties, while the MMPI measures a more stable, diffuse, and global personality characteristic (trait variable). The present study analyzes the relationship between these state and trait variables as they relate to the intensity of prescribed discharge medication. The results indicate that it is the trait variable which is more important in the maintenance of the medical intractability of asthma. The state variable is implicated in maintaining the illness only to the extent that it is a specific manifestation of the trait variable.

Adolescent↗