Direct manipulation of physiological arousal in induced anxiety therapy - biofeedback approach.

This study investigated the role of physiological arousal in the affect induction phase of Induced Anxiety therapy by using biofeedback to facilitate arousal. Twenty-one college students who were suffering from free-floating anxiety were assigned randomly to one of three groups: (1) a no-treatment control group simply completed the measures before and after therapy; (2) a conventional Induced Anxiety group went through five standard Induced Anxiety sessions; and (3) biofeedback Induced Anxiety group went through a similar procedure except that biofeedback was used in the affect induction phase to facilitate heart rate increase. It was found that the biofeedback procedure did result in a greater heart rate increase during the affect induction phase arousal than did the conventional procedure (.01 level of significance), but did not facilitate subjective emotional arousal. Biofeedback Induced Anxiety resulted in a greater reduction of trait anxiety as measured by the Multiple Affect Adjective Check List than did the no-treatment group or the conventonal Induced Anxiety group. The conventional Induced Anxiety group did not differ significantly from the no-treatment control group.     

Heritability of type A behavior

Ninety-three pairs of monozygotic and 97 pairs of dizygotic middle-aged, American, male twins were studied to estimate the heritability of Type A behavior--a coronary heart disease-prone behavior pattern. Participants were given the interview assessment of Type A behavior. In addition, they completed four psychological test batteries: the Thurstone Temperament Schedule, the Jenkins Activity Survey, the California Psychological Inventory, and the Gough Adjective Check List. Type A behavior measured by interview was found to be nonheritable. Psychological test scales which significantly correlated with Type A behavior, however, generally had significant heritability estimates. Only the Adjective Check List scales, which significantly correlated with Type A, showed nonsignificant heritability estimates. Selected items from these Adjective Check List scales may provide a method for assessment of Type A behavior possibly free from genetic influence.     

Alpha wave biofeedback training therapy in alcoholics.

This investigation evaluated the therapeutic efficacy of alpha-wave biofeedback treatment for alcoholics. Twenty-five Ss were compared to a matched control group before and after administration of a 3-week alpha-wave biofeedback regimen on a wide variety of criteria that included State-Trait Anxiety, the MMPI, Multiple Affect Adjective Check List, Zuckerman's Sensation Seeking Scale, Watson's Anhedonia Scale, the Brief Psychiatric Rating Scale, and baseline alpha. The experimental Ss received 10 hour-long alpha training sessions. The experimentals showed more improvement than did controls on alpha production and two anxiety measure. Contradictory results appeared on two suspicion/paranoia measures. Alpha training appeared useful in the treatment of anxiety, but not other problems. However, the absence of significant correlations between amount of change on alpha and the anxiety measures suggests that the improvement may be due to a placebo effect.     

Two short versions of the multiple affect adjective check list

In an attempt to fulfill the original purpose of the Multiple Affect Adjective Check List (MAACL), two shorter versions were devised. One version was simply a subset of the original items. A second version provided one 6-point semantic differential scale for each of the subscales of the standard MAACL. Concurrent validity was assessed for three separate college student populations and one drug patient population. Also, construct validity was assessed for both versions by measuring changes in negative affect during a single Induced Anxiety session. Correlations between the standard and subset version for total negative affect ranged between 0.49 and 0.99. Correlations between the standard and semantic differential versions for total negative affect ranged between 0.53 and 0.81.     

PHYSIOLOGICAL AND SITUATIONAL FACTORS IN PSYCHOPHARMACOLOGICAL EXPERIMENTS

Some psychological and physiological reactions to introduction of chlordiaze-poxide hydrochloride to an experimental situation involving a conformity trial were investigated. Groups of four subjects were selected with either considerable previous acquaintance (Friends) or little acquaintance (Strangers). In each group, two subjects were given an injection of the drug and two an injection of saline. Conformity to false group feedback was measured on a Crutchfield-Gerard apparatus and arousal was measured in terms of the plasma free fatty acid (FFA) level. Self-ratings of mood were obtained using the Nowlis Adjective Check List. It was found that the experimental manipulations of group composition or drug injection did not yield clear-cut results unless the subjects were divided according to initial ratings of anxiety. Subjects initially more anxious, who were administered the drug and who were tested as Strangers, showed greater conformity to group pressure and a continuous increase in physiological arousal. These conditions were interpreted as being cumulative sources of strain, under which subjects concentrate on monitoring themselves to the exclusion of attending to surrounding events.     

Correlates of depressive mood among normals

In order to determine the correlates of depressive mood, members of a women's volunteer organization were surveyed by a mailed questionnaire that included the Depression Adjective Check List (DACL) Form E and 14 depression-related measures. Correlations are presented and discussed. Highest correlations are with measures whose relationship to depressive mood are most clear.     

Chronic low back pain and depression

It is not clear whether the psychological disturbances associated with chronic low back pain are the cause or the result of the chronicity. It is also not clear whether increasing duration of low back pain is associated with depression. Three groups of patients (N = 148), with recent (0-6 months), relatively longstanding (6-24 months) and chronic (more than 24 months) low back pain were given the MMPI, Multiple Affect Adjective Check List (MAACL), State Trait Anxiety Inventory (STAI) and Low Back Pain Questionnaire (LBPQ). Increasing chronicity is associated with significant increases on MMPI Hs, D, HY, PT and MA scales, and on STAI Trait Anxiety scale. These results suggest that chronicity leads to the development of psychopathological characteristics and that these characteristics include a heightened awareness of somatic functioning and the vegetative aspects of the depressive syndrome, but that there is no increase in depressive mood or in the perception of the pain itself.     

Family assessment: toward DSM-III-R relevancy

The assessment of family pathology never has been integrated into current individual diagnostic theory and DSM-III-R; it usually has followed idiosyncratic family treatment theories or has not been emphasized extensively. The purpose of the present study is to extend individual DSM-III-R personality disorder assessment to family assessment. The Personality Adjective Check List was given to 65 subjects along with a traditional family assessment inventory. The Personality Adjective Check List exhibited high reliabilities across all personality disorders and appropriate and substantial validity estimates against the traditional family assessment inventory.     

Comparison of the Salivary Changes Associated With a Relaxing and With a Stressful Procedure

This study examined the hypothesis that salivary characteristics could constitute objective measures of anxiety in response to anxiety-reducing or provoking interventions. Salivary parameters (volume, turbidity, pH, proteins, amylase, calcium, and chloride) of 16 normal volunteers were recorded along with psychophysiological (EMG, skin conductance level and responses, skin temperature, and heart rate) and subjective (Mood Adjective Check List) measures, before and after two contrasting experimental interventions: a relaxation procedure and stressful intellectual tasks. Multivariate and univariate analyses of variance indicated that salivary characteristics did not vary differentially whether a relaxing or stressing procedure was executed, while these contrasting interventions induced clearly opposite psychophysiological and subjective responses. However, the saliva collected before and after the stressing session was different from the sample collected before and after the relaxation session, suggesting that salivary characteristics are more related to the general apprehension and demands of a given situation than to an immediate stressing or calming intervention. It is concluded that the psychological meaning of salivary responses differs from that of the more classical psychophysiological parameters.     

汉族、少数民族医科大学生焦虑影响因素的研究

目的探讨医科大学生群体焦虑的现况与焦虑发生的相关影响因素,为医科大学生心理健康的教育提供科学依据。方法选择某重点高校医学专业800名大学生作为研究对象。采用焦虑自评量表（SA S）,青少年自评生活事件量表（A SLEC）对目标人群进行调查。结果医科大学生焦虑状况检出率为15.7%;少数民族大学生的焦虑状况均高于汉族大学生;少数民族大学生的焦虑状况存在显著的年级差异,随着年级的升高,其焦虑状况呈上升趋势;男生的焦虑状况明显高于女生;焦虑水平与生活事件呈显著正相关。结论不同民族医科大学生焦虑状态普遍存在,医科大学生的焦虑状况存在显著的民族和性别差异。     

Similarity of monozygotic and dizygotic twins in level and lability of subclinically depressed mood

Ninety-two adult twin-pairs were recruited through advertisements in the local media. Twin zygosity was determined by use of the self-report inventory developed by Nichols and Bilbro (1966). The level and lability of subclinical depression were assessed. Mood level was assessed by the Beck Depression Inventory and by the MMPI D, D30, and DR Scales. Mood lability was assessed by daily administrations over a 2-week period of the Depression Adjective Check List (DACL) and the Wessman-Ricks Elation-Depression Mood Scales. Monozygotic twins resembled one another more than dizygotic twins in most measures of both level and lability of mood, which provides modest evidence for a genetic influence on subclinical levels of depression. Implications of these findings for the continuity hypothesis of depression are discussed.     

Gestalt dialogues as a treatment for mild depression: time works just as well

In a treatment analogue design, 44 moderately depressed volunteer subjects were divided randomly into four groups: attention-placebo; Gestalt empty chair dialogues designed to be personally relevant and high in affect; dialogues designed to be personally irrelevant and neutral in affect; and groups in which strong affect was encouraged, but no dialogues enacted. Groups met 1 hour per week for 4 weeks. Each group was pretested, post-tested, and follow-up tested with an abbreviated MMPI, the Depression Adjective Check List, and experimenter questionnaires. A series of 4 X 3 ANOVAs indicated significant main effects for time across all dependent variables. Also, anxiety and social introversion decreased over time in all groups. No other main or interactional effects were significant. These results suggest that mild depression, as well as anxiety and social introversion, dissipated over time and remained lower regardless of whether the subject had any treatment.     

Induction and reversal of depression, anxiety, and hostility

Anxiety, hostility, and depression were induced and reversed by use of the Velton (1968) Mood Induction Procedure. Forty subjects were assigned randomly to one of four induction groups: Anxiety, Depression, Hostility, or Neutral. Mood states, measured by the Multiple Affect Adjective Check List (MAACL) were obtained before induction, after induction, and after reversal of moods. All mood induction treatments increased levels of all moods, but did not differentially increase a specific mood. Induced moods were reversed by using statements opposite to the induction ones. Mood induction was not correlated with previously administered Internal-External Locus of Control and Profile of Mood States questionnaires, but a high baseline MAACL score was correlated with low mood induction. Questions amenable to future research were raised.     

An Evaluation of Finger Pulse Volume as a Psychophysiological Measure of Anxiety

The present experiment explored the utility of finger pulse volume (FPV) as a measure of anxiety. Subjects were exposed to either a threatening or nonthreatening situation, and indices of physiological arousal (pulse rate (PR) and FPV) and self-report of anxiety (Affect Adjective Checklist (AACL)) were collected. Results indicated that FPV was responsive to changes in experimentally induced anxiety and significantly correlated with PR and AACL, although the strength of these relationships was not substantial. Relevance for psychophysiological theory and the clinical observation of anxiety is discussed.     

French-language validation of the DACL and MAACL-R

The objective of this methodological pilot study was to make a contribution to the French-language validation of the Depressive Adjective Check List (DACL) Set 2 of Forms, E, F, G trait version (Lubin, 1981) and to that of the Multiple Affect Adjective Check List (MAACL-R; Zuckerman & Lubin, 1985). The importance of the study was to validate the French-language translation of these instruments to assess nonclinical depression or dysphoria and affect in two French- and English-speaking convenience sample groups. The Check Lists were administered to 183 Canadian subjects 60 years of age and over of both sexes from rural areas in the provinces of Quebec and Ontario, Canada. In order to ensure that the words chosen carried the same connotation as in the English language, a translation-retranslation technique was used. The data collected from this study suggest that the DACL Form G would be most valid to use with either language and/or site in the protocol for future studies.     

Need similarity in husbands and wives who are receiving methadone maintenance therapy

Investigated whether a common dimension of need similarity underlies marriages in which both partners are receiving methadone maintenance therapy. Thirty couples who were receiving methadone maintenance therapy for their heroin addiction were asked to complete the Marital Adjustment Test and Adjective Check List. A canonical correlation analysis was performed between the husbands' and wives' Adjective Check List need scores. One dimension was found that was related positively to the husbands' needs for Dominance, Affiliation, Heterosexuality, Exhibition, and Change, whereas the same dimension was related positively to the wives' needs for Achievement, Dominance, Endurance, and Intraception. It was concluded that Dominance revealed a complementary relationship in which the marriage was meeting the husbands' social needs and the wives' intrapsychic needs.     

Concurrent validity of a state depression measure for use in community surveys

Concurrent validity data for the Depression Adjective Check List (DACL Form-E) were obtained by correlating the DACL with 18 self-report and 18 family report measures that seem to be related to the depression construct. Of a sample of 611 consecutive adult applicants to an urban community mental health center, 387 cases on which there were complete data for patients and a family member were analyzed. Eighty-nine percent of the correlations for self-report measures were significant, whereas only 28% of the correlations of the DACL with family report measures were significant. In general, the results tended to confirm expectations.     

Psychological correlates of coronary heart disease

The Type A behaviour pattern and other measures of psychological traits and symptom states were assessed in 92 subjects (predominantly male) presenting for coronary angiography. These measures were correlated with three angiographic indices of coronary heart disease (CHD) severity and two clinical indices (angina and the duration of CHD). The only psychological measures associated with atherosclerosis (assessed by angiography) were indices of personality: Type A (the Jenkins Activity Survey), trait tension, trait anxiety and suppression of anger. It was concluded that these traits may have some role in the pathogenesis of coronary atherosclerosis. None of the measures of psychological symptoms showed a significant association with angiography indices. However, depressive symptoms and expressed hostility were associated with the severity of angina and duration of heart disease. It was concluded that these affects are the consequences of the physical disability of CHD.     

30例颈椎病患者心理卫生状况调查与分析

目的了解颈椎病患者心理卫生状况,为临床心理诊断及心理干预提供参考依据。方法采用症状自评量表(SCL-90)对30例慢性疼痛病人进行测试,并与正常人SCL-90常模进行比较。结果颈椎病患者心理健康状况低于常模,在SCL-90躯体化、人际敏感、焦虑、恐惧及精神病性等项因子分明显高于常模,且差异显著(P0.01或0.05)。结论颈椎病患者总体心理健康状况较差,有的存在明显的心理障碍。因此,颈椎病患者的治疗过程中,应重视患者的心理问题,给予必要的心理咨询和心理治疗。     

大学生自尊水平、抑郁状态与状态焦虑的关系

目的探讨大学生自尊、抑郁和焦虑水平的性别差异、文理科别差异及其关系。方法采用Rosenberg（1965）自尊量表、抑郁形容词核对表、状态焦虑问卷对216名大二学生进行调查。结果总体上,女大学生的自尊水平显著高于男大学生,焦虑水平显著低于男大学生;理科大学生的焦虑水平明显高于文科大学生;自尊、抑郁和焦虑三者之间均存在非常显著的两两相关。结论大学生的自尊、抑郁和焦虑存在不同程度的性别差井和文理科别差异以及三者间的密切关系。