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Biomedical subjects

K V Wild

Publications and source records attributed to K V Wild.

7 recordsLinked to original sources

Combined psychotherapy and pharmacotherapy for depression. A systematic analysis of the evidence.

To determine whether combined psychotherapy and pharmacotherapy is superior to alternative therapies for unipolar depression, we reviewed all controlled studies of outpatients treated for unipolar depression reported between 1974 and 1984. To accomplish this, we developed a new statistical approach that is specific in its method of evaluating the quality of each study and specific about the weights given to each outcome. The combined active treatments (drugs plus psychotherapy) were appreciably more effective than the placebo conditions but only slightly superior to psychotherapy alone, pharmacotherapy alone, or either of these combined with a placebo.

Adolescent

Psychodynamic variables as predictors of psychotherapy outcome.

Predicting the outcome of psychotherapy is a central concern in psychiatry. Twenty-one medical students seeking psychotherapy were evaluated on a number of psychodynamic and process variables using self-report scales and scales completed by the therapist before, during, and after psychotherapy. There were significant differences between patients and a comparison group on eight variables before therapy. Ten psychodynamic variables (six representing ego defense mechanisms) and four process variables were found to be highly correlated with outcome measures; the process variables were the best predictors of outcome. The data support the use of psychodynamic and process variables as predictors of outcome in psychoanalytically oriented psychotherapy.

Adult

Learning dynamic psychotherapy: a longitudinal study.

The authors investigated the evolution of psychotherapeutic skills over time in a group of psychiatric residents in their third year of training. A 29-item Supervisors Evaluation Scale measuring psychotherapy skills was developed. Each resident who began his or her clinical experience in conducting individual analytically oriented psychotherapy was rated by his or her supervisors on this scale toward the beginning of training and again 8 months later. Statistically significant changes were found for 7 of the skills measured. The authors feel that these may reflect those aspects of psychotherapy which the beginning therapist can readily learn with supervision and experience.

Attitude of Health Personnel

Early noncognitive change in Alzheimer's disease and healthy aging.

Recent studies in Alzheimer's disease have focused on behavioral disturbances in the more advanced stages of the illness rather than behavioral and personality changes occurring early in the disease course. We present a new instrument, the Oregon Noncognitive Inventory for Dementia (ONID), that was developed specifically for patients in the early stages of dementia, to identify subtle behavioral alterations that may precede the more severe cognitive changes of Alzheimer's disease. Mildly demented Alzheimer's patients were compared with age-matched healthy subjects on the ONID. Caregivers of these patients reported significantly more of the behaviors addressed by the ONID than did relatives of the healthy elderly. The results indicate that changes in behavior and personality can be reliably reported by family caregivers of patients with mild dementia. Future clinical applications of the ONID might include measuring change in drug trials, longitudinal studies of the progression of change, and differentiating Alzheimer's disease from other dementias based on a characteristics pattern of change.

Activities of Daily Living