We attempted to use passive communal laughter to improve social support within a chronic schizophrenic inpatient population. Two identical wards were compared on classical measures of social support (emotional and functional), social network (size and dispersion), satisfaction, and the nature of the social relationships (source). The experimental group was exposed to video projection of humorous movies four times daily for 3 months, and the control group to video projections of other, assorted movies at the same rate. In the experimental ward a significant improvement was manifest in the category of "distinct individuals supporting each patient." The difference may have been due to an improvement in the relationship with the staff. No improvement was found on any of the other measures. We concluded that the positive atmosphere that humor creates affects the therapeutic alliance between staff and patients but does not affect other social networks because of the regressed nature of the schizophrenics' social relationships.

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Primary fibromyalgia syndrome (PFS) is a form of connective tissue rheumatism, characterized by diffuse chronic pain in periarticular tissue, for which no organic cause can be identified. The present study examined the personal and family history, clinical and psychodynamic features of 40 PFS patients, and compared them to a matched control group of patients suffering from rheumatoid arthritis. Depression, either in the past or at present, was seen significantly more often among PFS patients that among controls. Dependence and passivity, idealization of family relationships, obsessive-compulsive personality, maladaptive response to loss, and prepain ergomania were the psychodynamic features characteristic of PFS patients. It is suggested that PFS is a well-defined disorder, in which specific premorbid, familial, and psychodynamic characteristics result in a depressive disorder which takes the form of a physical symptom: pain.

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