No abstract

This study examines the system dimensions of need, barriers to receiving services, and utilization within a single mental health service area. The gap between estimates of service need and service utilization is conceptualized as due to a set of specific barriers covering the access attributes of availability, accessibility, acceptability and affordability. Data from community telephone surveys (N = 2183) of mental health need are analyzed to determine the relationship between the system dimensions of need, barriers and utilization. Respondents were able to distinguish among different types of service barriers. Those in the service gap were potentially more influenced by barriers than the rest of the sample, as were, paradoxically, those who had utilized services within the past year. The implications of these findings for service provision and system design are discussed.

Abstract. Tourette Syndrome (TS) is an uncommon developmental disability characterized by repetitive and involuntary verbal and motor tics. A survey of all known affiliates of the Tourette Syndrome Association of Ohio was conducted. A total of 431 questionnaires was returned, and behavioral problems were found to be pervasive in Tourette people. Some 53.1 per cent of the sample had sought some form of counseling for these problems, but this IntroductionTourette Syndrome (TS) is an uncommon developmental disability of neurological origin characterized by a variety of repetitive, recurring, and involuntary movements or tics. Tics can be verbal as well as motor, and are often seemingly bizarre and intrusive. Coprolalia, the involuntary uttering of obscenities, is present in one-third' to one-half3 of TS sufferers.TS symptoms are first manifested between the ages of two and 16, and although they may wax and wane over time,

A large sample of patients (N = 763) with Tourette syndrome (TS) responded to a questionnaire dealing primarily with symptoms, treatment history, and associated disorders. The shrinking duration between symptom onset and diagnostic confirmation confirms that diagnostic awareness of TS is increasing. A significant proportion of the sample identified several common factors that occurred in the year before symptom onset. A significantly lower proportion of subjects whose initial symptoms included facial tics reported a positive response to haloperidol. Obsessive characteristics were associated with age and were more common in females. Patients with attention deficit disorder (ADD) had earlier age at onset of TS symptoms and were diagnosed earlier than patients without ADD. In general the data provide some support for a stress-diathesis model and also support previous suggestions about the genetics of Tourette syndrome and related conditions.

Presentation of a masking stimulus enhances, rather than detracts from, detectability of certain multisegment targets. Present theories of backward masking cannot account for this "backward enhancement" effect, which resembles another puzzling phenomenon, previously reported as target recovery or disinhibition. An explanation in terms of interaction between retinal excitatory and inhibitory fields is offered.