No abstract

The present study examined the effect of season of the year on depression and other moods. Previous work, primarily cross sectional or retrospective in design and involving clinically depressed or seasonally affective disordered samples, has suggested that mood changes as a function of season. However, the literature also shows conflicting and/or inconsistent findings about the extent and nature of this relationship. Importantly, these prior studies have not adequately answered the question of whether there is a seasonal effect in nondepressed people. The present study employed a longitudinal design and a large sample drawn from a normal population. The results, based on those participants for whom mood measures were collected in each season, demonstrated strong seasonal effects. Beck Depression Inventory (BDI) scores were highest in winter and lowest in summer. Ratings on scales of hostility, anger, irritability, and anxiety also showed very strong seasonal effects. Further analyses revealed that seasonal variation in BDI scores differed for females and males. Females had higher BDI scores that showed strong seasonal variation, whereas males had lower BDI scores that did not vary significantly across season of the year.

This study confirms seasonal variation in blood lipid levels and suggests greater amplitude in seasonal variability in women and hypercholesterolemic individuals, with changes in plasma volume accounting for much of the variation. A relative plasma hypervolemia during the summer seems to be linked to increases in temperature and/or physical activity. These findings have implications for lipid screening guidelines. Further research is needed to better understand the effects of a relative winter hemoconcentration.

The influence of patient and clinician ideology on clinical judgment was studied. Therapists each rated two cases. One case had been altered to reflect either an extreme left-wing or extreme right-wing ideological orientation and the other case reflected no ideological commitment. Limited support was found for three hypotheses concerning therapist response to these cases. It is suggested that patient ideology, therapist ideology and their interaction influence clinical judgment and that clinicians need to be sensitive to possible "ideological countertransference."A patient walks into a therapist's office and says that he is anxious, depressed, and wants counseling. He has prayed, fasted and, attended healing services for relief, and though he still believes that only those in his small religious sect are saved, he thought he would try counseling with a "non-believing" therapist. What influence does the patient's ideology have on the therapist'sWe would like to thank

The present study presents and evaluates a procedure for controlling overeating through reinforcement. Overweight psychiatric patients were placed on an 1800-calorie-a-day diet for regular meals but were not restricted in their use of the canteen or vending machines. 3 groups were employed: (a) a behavior modification condition in which S lost money (the source of cigarettes, beverages, supplies, food, etc.) for failure to lose weight; (b) a group therapy condition in which 5 was under social pressure and social reinforcement for weight loss; and (c) a control group which was only on the diet. Weight loss was evaluated for 6 wk. of treatment and 4 follow-up nontreatment wk. The findings indicated that both behavior modification procedures and group therapy produced weight loss during the treatment phase. The behavior modification group, however, continued to lose weight during the follow-up period while the group therapy 5s regained the weight they had lost.