PubMed Health⌕ Search

Biomedical subjects

M L Raulin

Publications and source records attributed to M L Raulin.

11 recordsLinked to original sources

A ten-year longitudinal study of intense ambivalence as a predictor of risk for psychopathology.

The predictive validity of the Intense Ambivalence Scale was examined in a 10-year longitudinal study of 362 psychometrically identified psychosis-prone and control participants. Elevated scores on the Intense Ambivalence Scale predicted psychotic-like and depressive symptoms, and the development of psychotic illnesses at the 10-year follow-up assessment (after the removal of variance for membership in the psychosis-prone and control groups). Elevated scores on the scale were also associated with substance abuse, schizotypal symptoms, and impaired functioning at both the initial and follow-up assessments. The Intense Ambivalence Scale did not differentially enhance the predictive power of the Perceptual Aberration or the Magical Ideation Scales.

Depressive Disorder↗

Long-term impact of clozapine and psychosocial treatment on psychiatric symptoms and cognitive functioning.

OBJECTIVE: The long-term effects of a combination of clozapine and psychosocial treatment were evaluated in a sample of treatment-refractory state hospital patients with schizophrenia. METHODS: A repeated-measure design was used. Thirty-one patients with schizophrenia received both clozapine and an enhanced psychosocial treatment program. Data were collected at baseline and at one-year, two-year, and three-year follow-ups. Psychiatric symptoms, cognitive functioning, dyskinetic movements, and discharge rate were evaluated. RESULTS: Significant reductions in psychiatric symptoms and improvement in cognitive functioning were found. Differences in the pattern of reductions in positive and negative symptoms over the course of the study were noted. The majority of subjects improved sufficiently to be discharged. CONCLUSIONS: Clozapine, when combined with psychosocial treatment, is effective for treatment of patients with schizophrenia who are not responsive to other medications.

Adult↗

Effect of hearing enhancement on mental status ratings in geriatric psychiatric patients.

OBJECTIVE: This study looked at the impact of hearing deficits on the assessment of psychopathology in geriatric psychiatric patients. METHOD: Psychiatric functioning and speech discrimination were measured in 21 elderly psychiatric patients in a crossover design. RESULTS: Patients displayed less psychopathology when tested wearing a functioning hearing aid. CONCLUSIONS: Gradual hearing loss may confound the assessment of psychopathology in geriatric psychiatric patients.

Aged↗

Perceptual organization and schizotypy.

The preattentive visual information processing of hypothetically psychosis-prone college subjects was evaluated using three different paradigms, target detection (n = 57), visual suffix effect (n = 57), and configural superiority effect (n = 68). It was hypothesized that anhedonic subjects would show the same perceptual organization deficits reported in process schizophrenics and that perceptual aberration-magical ideation subjects and depressed subjects would perform similarly to control subjects. In each study, anhedonics performed similarly to each comparison group, even though there was adequate power to detect performance differences if they existed. A framework for understanding the visual information-processing deficits of schizophrenics and high-risk subjects is proposed.

Adult↗

Perception of implicit relationships between personality traits by schizotypic college subjects: a pilot study.

The perception of trait relationships was measured in both schizotypic and control college subjects (N = 46) by use of a similarity rating method. Schizotypic and control subjects were selected on the basis of their scores on four scales of schizotypy: Physical Anhedonia, Perceptual Aberration, Intense Ambivalence, and Somatic Symptoms. Schizotypes as a group were more variable in their ratings of trait relationships than were controls. When each scale was considered separately, only perceptual aberrators as a group were as consistent in their ratings of trait relationships as control subjects. These findings support the hypothesis that schizotypes fail to share the semantic trait structure accepted by most normal subjects and may be a possible explanation for previous findings of social deficits in schizotypes.

Adult↗

The chronic cerebral effects of cannabis use. I. Methodological issues and neurological findings.

This paper examines the research evidence relating sustained use of marijuana to chronic cerebral impairment. Evidence from both American and cross-cultural studies is reviewed, with a particular emphasis on methodological problems in the research. The focus of this paper is on neurological findings while another paper focuses on neuropsychological findings. On the basis of available research, it was concluded that there is no evidence that marijuana produces gross structural cerebral changes and little evidence that it leads to functional impairment, although subtle impairment cannot be ruled out.

Atrophy↗

The chronic cerebral effects of cannabis use. II. Psychological findings and conclusions.

This paper examines the research evidence on the question of whether sustained use of marijuana may produce chronic cerebral impairment as measured by neuropsychological measures. Evidence from both American and cross-cultural studies suggests that marijuana probably does not produce chronic cerebral impairment, although subtle impairment cannot be ruled out. Several suggestions for new lines of research are discussed including prospective studies, effects of cannabis use on later aging processes, and true experimental studies.

Aging↗

The development and initial validation of a scale to measure social fear.

Developed a true-false scale to measure Social Fear, which Meehl argues is a sign of schizotypy, using procedures to maximize reliability and minimize response set bias (N = 910). Interviews with selected Ss (N = 44) confirm that the scale measures social fear, and the scale was found to correlate with previously developed schizotypy scales (N = 252).

Adult↗