PubMed Health⌕ Search

Biomedical subjects

O F Wahl

Publications and source records attributed to O F Wahl.

13 recordsLinked to original sources
PubMed1995

Schizophrenia in popular periodicals.

To examine what the general public is learning about schizophrenia, all articles on schizophrenia listed in the Reader's Guide to Periodical Literature for all even-numbered years between 1964 and 1992 were read and rated. Hallucinations and delusions were the most commonly mentioned symptoms in the articles reviewed, biochemical dysfunction and heredity the most noted causes, and drugs the most cited treatment. The average yearly number of articles was relatively small, however (9.1), and only a minority of those appeared in general circulation magazines. In addition, community support was seldom included in discussions of treatment and specific misconceptions about schizophrenia were rarely addressed.

Community Mental Health Services↗
PubMed1993

Community impact of group homes for mentally ill adults.

The phenomenon of resistance to the establishment of group homes for mentally ill adults is well-documented. The extent to which such homes, once established, do or do not create problems for communities is less clear. The current study examined the impressions of residents of a group home neighborhood one year or more after the establishment of the home. Forty-one residents of group home neighborhoods and thirty-nine residents of control (non-home) neighborhoods responded to a survey about their impressions of how a group home had affected or (for controls) would affect their neighborhoods. More than one fourth of the group home neighbors did not even know that they were living near a home. Those who did know tended to report a negligible impact of the group homes on things such as property values, neighborhood crime, resident safety, and distressing incidents in the community. Most of these residents also indicated that they were satisfied with the group home in their neighborhoods. The actual experience of group home neighbors was far more favorable than what residents of the control neighborhood anticipated, despite lack of differences in demographic characteristics or overall attitudes toward community care of mentally ill persons. Results support the view that the feared consequences of group home establishment in residential neighborhoods do not occur and that such homes may gain reasonable acceptance after they are established.

Activities of Daily Living↗
PubMed1992

Mental illness topics in popular periodicals.

Recent emphases on educating the general public about mental illness have included the encouragement of the publication of plainly written, lay-oriented information about mental disorders and their treatment in popular periodicals. To examine the extent to which coverage of mental health topics in popular magazines is being accomplished, the present study looked at the numbers and types of articles related to mental health indexed in the Readers' Guide to Periodical Literature and changes in indexed articles between 1965 and 1988. The number of articles and number of headings related to mental illness and treatment have increased significantly since 1965, particularly those describing specific disorders. In addition, many of the changes in headings used by the Readers' Guide are consistent with changes in the field (e.g., the introduction of new diagnostic categories) and with desired changes in terminology (e.g., using less stigmatizing terms). These general findings are encouraging for mental health education advocates, although more detailed analysis of the content of articles is needed to be sure that the increased periodical information available to the public is accurate and up-to-date.

Health Education↗
PubMed1992

Psychotic versus nonpsychotic misdemeanants in a large county jail: an analysis of pretrial treatment by the legal system.

There are significant numbers of mentally ill men and women in jail and the level of their psychopathology is often serious. Once in jail, the psychotic individual is subjected to conditions conducive to further decompensation and higher suicide rates. If this is the case, the duration of confinement--that is, the duration of exposure to this toxic environment--is not trivial. Of further concern, from the standpoint of due process, would be the duration of confinement prior to any determination of guilt or innocence. Therefore, it makes sense to examine what happens to jailed psychotic individuals as they wait for trial. Our experience suggested that pretrial jail time, even for minor offenses, is lengthy. The central hypothesis of our study, then, was that psychotic men, charged with misdemeanor offenses, would be incarcerated for significantly longer periods of time, prior to trial, than their nonpsychotic fellows. Descriptive data was also collected.

Adult↗
PubMed1992

Are gender effects being neglected in schizophrenia research?

Research on schizophrenia published in four professional journals--Journal of Abnormal Psychology, Archives of General Psychiatry, Journal of Nervous and Mental Disease, and American Journal of Psychiatry--over a 5-year period from January 1985 through December 1989 was examined for gender composition of subject samples and gender analyses of findings. Results indicate a continued predominance of male subjects in schizophrenia research, with males outnumbering females two to one, and frequent neglect of possible gender differences within mixed-sex samples. Possible explanations for the male bias are considered and greater research and editorial attention to possible gender effects are urged.

Female↗
PubMed1989

Impact of a television film on attitudes toward mental illness.

The possible impact of a prime time television film portraying a mentally ill killer was investigated. Groups of college students were shown the film with and without a film trailer reminding viewers that violence is not characteristic of mentally ill persons. A third group viewed a film not about mental illness. Postfilm responses to the Community Attitudes toward the Mentally Ill scale indicated that those who saw the target film expressed significantly less favorable attitudes toward mental illness and community care of mentally ill persons than did those who saw the control film, regardless of whether of not they received the trailer along with the target film. Results support concerns that media depictions add to mental illness stigma and also suggest that corrective information alone may be sufficient to counteract the stigmatizing impact of such audience-involving mass media portrayals.

Attitude↗
PubMed1989

Family views of stigma.

The views of 487 members of the National Alliance for the Mentally Ill (NAMI) concerning stigma were surveyed in 20 different States. Almost all identified stigma as a problem for their mentally ill relatives and for families in general. The most frequently cited effects of stigma on ill relatives were damage to self-esteem, difficulty making and keeping friends, difficulty finding a job, and reluctance to admit mental illness. The most frequently cited effects on families were lowered self-esteem and damaged family relationships. NAMI respondents identified popular movies about mentally ill killers, news coverage of tragedies caused by mentally ill people, casual use of terms like "crazy" and "psycho," and jokes about mental illness as prominent sources of stigma. The things families reportedly found most helpful in dealing with stigma were factual information about mental illness, interaction with other families with mentally ill relatives, support within the family, and research findings that establish a biological basis for mental illness. Mental health professionals received mixed reviews from family members. While not generally viewed as contributing to stigma, mental health professionals were seen as least helpful in dealing with stigma. Overall, survey results indicate that considerable concern about stigma exists among families with mentally ill relatives and that substantial numbers of family members experience the stigma of mental illness in one form or another and perceive that their ill relatives experience it as well.

Adaptation, Psychological↗
PubMed1980

Perceived sex differences in inpatients' psychopathology: some preliminary findings.

21 staff members from an inpatient psychiatric hospital were interviewed about their perceptions of symptomatological differences between male and female inpatients. Analysis of the interview data indicated significant staff agreement on 4 of 9 rated contrast categories and trends toward significance in two others. Staff described females as greater management problems, showing more emotion, being more troublesome and uncooperative, having poorer contact with reality, and being less willing to participate in social interactions than their male counterparts. These consistently perceived differences, it is suggested, likely lead to different ward atmospheres and difference staff expectations for male and female inpatients.

Affect↗
PubMed1980

Time estimation among schizophrenics.

Studies of time estimation among schizophrenics have sometimes been difficult to integrate with one another because of differing methodologies and inconsistent definitions. The present study should increase clarity by employing several methods of time estimation within the same study and maintaining a consistent definition of overestimation and underestimation across tasks. 26 schizophrenic and 26 control subjects were given three types of time-estimation tasks. Longer interval Estimation involved judging, at different points in the interview/testing session, how much time had passed. Verbal Estimation required subjects to judge the length of brief intervals signalled by the examiner. Operative Estimation required subjects to indicate when a specified number of seconds had passed. Schizophrenic subjects were significantly more inaccurate than controls in the Verbal and Operative Estimation tasks. Moreover, with overestimation defined consistently as judging more time to have passed than actually has, both Verbal and Operative Estimation results indicated schizophrenics were significantly more likely to overestimate. These results indicate support for the suggestion that schizophrenics have a disturbed sense of time, with real (clock) time experienced as passing more slowly than is actually the case. Long Interval Estimation produced quite different results, but it was felt that the retrospective and unfocused nature of the time judgments in this task made it a less valid indicator of ability to estimate.

Adolescent↗
PubMed1976

Handedness in schizophrenia.

26 schizophrenic patients (40 to 55 yr.), 21 non-schizophrenic patients (40 to 55 yr.), and 18 staff controls (25 to 40 yr.) from the same unit of a public psychiatric hospital were questioned about hand preference. Schizophrenics showed somewhat more confusion about hand preference than other subjects, but otherwise patterns of hand preference did not differ for the three groups. The inclusion of schizophrenics among those groups identified with laterality disturbances, then, was not supported.

Adult↗