Biomedical subjects
Publications and source records attributed to R Olbrich.
The significance of training programmes was assessed in reducing cognitive deficits in schizophrenics. In a controlled clinical trial, which included 15 experimental and 15 comparison subjects, training was shown to be effective with regard to more complex cognitive functions rather than on an elementary level. Results are discussed with regard to theoretical and practical implications.
Explore the source record for details and available documents.
Institutions for treating alcoholics differ widely with respect to how restrictively they apply psychopharmacological agents and how rigorously they control patients for intake of alcohol. This study investigates the impact of such policies on relapse rates. During a three month inpatient treatment, 70 female alcoholics were assigned to one of four conditions: (a) strict surveillance of alcohol intake by means of breath tests and frequent checks of patient's rooms as well as injections of a placebo purportedly reducing craving, (b) no surveillance but placebo injections, (c) surveillance but no placebo injections, and (d) neither surveillance nor placebo injections. The amount of surveillance did not influence relapse rates. However, during inpatient treatment more relapses occurred among patients who received the placebo injections than among those who did not. Although this effect was no longer significant following treatment, the increase of relapse rates suggests caution in the application of nonspecific medication in the treatment of alcoholics.
Explore the source record for details and available documents.
Explore the source record for details and available documents.
The present paper examines in a group of 48 schizophrenics, whether spontaneous fluctuations (SF) in electrical skin conductance show a relationship to psychiatric symptomatology. Subjects participated in an experiment that delivered nonsignal auditory stimuli. Their clinical state was assessed by the Brief Psychiatric Rating Scale (BPRS) and the Nurses' Observation Scale for Inpatient Evaluation (NOSIE). An additional set of factors with a possible influence on SF rates was also taken into account. A stepwise regression analysis showed BPRS Activation and NOSIE Manifest Psychosis to be of significance, the BPRS subscale displaying a positive and the NOSIE subtest a negative partial correlation to SF frequency. Results are discussed with regard to their implication for experiments using tonic electrodermal measurement; they are also compared with the literature on phasic electrodermal arousal.
Explore the source record for details and available documents.
The present paper is concerned with Schachter's theory of emotion and with experiments evaluating its empirical significance. Three studies are examined, those by Schachter a. Singer (1962), Erdmann a. Janke (1978) and Marschall a. Zimbardo (1979). They differ considerably in their results. The view is taken, that the seemingly inconsistent findings could be related to a common denominator, with no immediate need of abandoning Schachter's basic ideas. In addressing this issue the concept of "cognitive-physiological incongruity" is introduced referring to altered relations between a person's bodily reactions and his cognitions. An attempt is made to show, that cognitive-physiological incongruity, assumed to be present in the experimental studies under consideration, accounts for most of their conflicting results.
This study is an attempt to interpret productive psychotic symptoms within the framework of attribution psychology. The fundamental principles of this approach were supplied by Schachter in his publications on attribution research (basing on his theory of emotionality). First of all, an outline of Schachter's somatocognitive theory of emotion is given where emotions are interpreted as a result of (unspecific) neurovegetative excitation and certain characteristics of the external situation (the so-called cognitions). Experimental findings in connection with this approach are described. The concept of "incongruence attribution" was developed by us using a central element of Schachter's concept as well as currently accepted principles of attribution psychology. "Incongruence attribution" points to situations in which an individual is confronted by somatic alterations without the presence of attributable external cognitions. The present article refers to two psychiatric cases where a somatocognitive incongruence existed in the form of excessive physical changes. The psychotic pattern of symptoms occurring in both patients is interpreted by us as a result of incongruence attribution. Finally, the article deals with an extension of these deliberations in the sense of a large-scale application of concepts of attribution psychology to the range of psychoses. Productive symptoms as seen in endogenous and exogenous psychoses should generally be interpreted as examples of incongruence attribution.
The present paper gives a description of a research project which tries to evaluate the significance of family support in reducing relapse rates in schizophrenic patients. Two different forms of support for relatives are compared, a discussion group and an approach furnishing a behavior training in addition. The report is supplemented by depicting some key conditions which should be taken into consideration when establishing a support system for relatives in a Mental State Hospital. This account is based on the data of 35 patients and 62 meetings with relatives collected during the pilot phase of the project.
Explore the source record for details and available documents.
Follow-up results of a behaviorally orientated treatment program for alcoholic women are presented. Sixty patients, carefully screened, were admitted on a special ward in groups of not larger than 12 for a period of 3 months. Abstinence was the declared goal of all individual and group treatments. More than 13 months after discharge interviews were carried out with 58 of the 60 former patients in their homes. Further information was collected from relatives and social workers. Forty per cent of those interviewed qualified as abstinent, 9% had improved, 3% were controlled drinkers, 5% had become worse and 43% had not improved. Specific aspects of the program are discussed.
In an attempt to evaluate the clinical significance of alcohol withdrawal, the rate of symptoms and incidence of treatment were determined in 84 female alcoholics following abrupt withdrawal. Results indicated that abstinence symptoms of an emergency type (delirium tremens, convulsions) only rarely occur and require active treatment, whereas those physical and emotional disturbances frequently seen in alcohol withdrawal need very little medical help. This finding is in contradistinction to current clinical opinion.
Explore the source record for details and available documents.
Explore the source record for details and available documents.
The "reduzierte Wechsler-Intelligenztest für psychiatrische Kranke (WIP)" by Dahl, a short form of the German version (HAWIE) of the Wechsler-Bellevue Intelligence Scale, comprising the subtests Information, Similarities, Picture Completion and Block Design was applied in a replication study to a heterogeneous group of 420 mental patients. Results show a sufficiently high level of agreement (multiple correlation) between the present test and the HAWIE-IQ. With this result and a sample independence of the correlation, two of the requirements of board clinical application of the WIP are met. On the other hand Dahl's assumption that the WIP represents the optimal (quadruple)combination of subtests of the full scale was not confirmed. Criticisms of the WIP in the literature are discussed. On the basis of previous studies and the present investigations it is held that the WIP is a useful contribution to measurement of general ability in a clinical setting.
Explore the source record for details and available documents.
Disinhibition of rapid eye movement (REM) sleep (e.g. shortening of REM latency, heightened REM density) is frequently encountered in patients with a major depressive disorder (MDD). Administration of cholinomimetics prior to or during sleep leads to a more pronounced advance of REM sleep in depressed patients compared to healthy controls and patients with other psychiatric disorders. The present study tested whether the cholinergic REM induction test (CRIT) with 1.5 mg RS 86 (an orally acting muscarinic agonist) differentiates patients with MDD (n = 40) from those with schizophrenia (n = 43) and healthy controls (n = 36). The most pronounced shortening of REM latency after cholinergic stimulation occurred in patients with MDD. However, a significant number of patients with schizophrenia also displayed short REM latencies (REM latency < 25 minutes) under placebo conditions and after cholinergic stimulation. REM density measures more clearly differentiated patients with MDD from those with schizophrenia. It is concluded that a subgroup of patients suffering from schizophrenia displays signs of a muscarinic receptor supersensitivity.