Divided schizophrenics into reactive and process groups (20 males and 20 females in each group) on the basis of three criteria: Premorbid adjustment, role orientation, and paranoid‐nonparanoid status. All were administered the Defense Mechanism Inventory, which measures five clusters of defenses. Reactives had significantly higher scores than process patients on Turning against Self and Projection. Process patients had significantly higher scores on Reversal. No significant differences between groups were found on Turning against Object and Principalization, nor were there significant sex differences. The results support the probability of different defensive preferences for the reactive and process syndromes.
A comparison was made of the ability of 8 process-reactive measures to predict symptomatic improvement over 3- and 6-mo. time intervals in DSM-III diagnosed schizophrenics. The sample was predominantly process, chronic patients showing little improvement. This in turn appeared to be a function of the DSM-III definition of schizophrenia. The successful predictors were scores on the Maine scales, Social Attainment Scale, and the Prognostic Scale, though with different time intervals, outcome measures, or sexes. The process-reactive conception now appears more applicable to a schizophrenic spectrum than to DSM-III diagnosed schizophrenics.
Premorbid adjustment, paranoid symptomatology, and role orientation were examined as major predictors of moral judgment maturity in 40 male schizophrenics. In addition, control predictors included age, intelligence (block design and vocabulary), length of hospitalization, length of illness, social position (education and occupation), and severity of illness. A multiple regression equation of premorbid adjustment, block design and vocabulary combined, and education was the best predictor of moral judgment maturity. These results suggest the importance of cognitive and social skills in the development of moral judgment maturity in schizophrenics.
Psychiatrists, psychologists, and social workers were compared on their assessments of pathology, treatment techniques, and theoretical orientation for a typical hospitalized psychiatric patient. The purpose was to determine the relationship between treatment-team members' professional discipline and their clinical approach to a patient. Clinical discipline was significantly related to assessment, treatment, and theory. Psychiatrists favored medication, hospitalization, support, and brief, infrequent structured treatment focused on the present and external factors with an aim of social adaptation. Social workers were similar, but added types of treatment and longer, more frequent treatment. Psychologists were unique with an emphasis on psychoanalytically oriented psychotherapy aimed at personality change.
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