No abstract

Fifty-six fifth-and sixth-grade children, manifesting depressive symptoms as judged by teachers and in response to a self-report Depression Battery were assigned to one of the following 10-week intervention conditions: Role Play (treatment), Cognitive Restructuring (treatment), Attention Placebo, or Control. Both quantitative and qualitative improvements were observed for several children in the Role Play and Cognitive Restructuring treatments, though the gain was more dramatic in Role Play.This study evolved from the concerns of teachers, social workers, and school psychologists who requested guidance in dealing with an increasing number of withdrawn, self-deprecating, under-achieving boys and girls (Miezitis, Friedman, Butler, & Blanchard, Note 1). Though these children were not sufficiently disturbed to be withdrawn from school, their depressive affect, ideation, and behavior were interfering with social-emotional and intellectual development.Two methods of intervention were assessed in the study: Role Play and Cognitive Restructuring. In each case, the program consisted of 10 1-hour sessions held weekly with groups of seven children. The children were taken from class to meet with the group leader in a separate room in the school.

The Matching Familiar Figures Test performances of 53 children in Grades 5 and 6 identified as being depressed on the basis of self-report questionnaires were compared to performances of 53 nondepressed children. The depressed group had longer latencies, made more errors, and was less efficient, even when intellectual differences were taken into account. Implications of these findings for the concept of childhood depression are discussed.

No abstract

Ninety male schizophrenics were classified into three groups, matched for age, intelligence, and chronicity. The groupings reflected three levels of probability of cerebral damage as indicated by a battery of psychological tests. It was found that these three levels of probability were significantly related to position on the processreactive dimension. Differential performances on such tests seem to be related to other, meaningful differences among schizophrenics.