Albert N. Allain

Attention, Learning, and Memory Performances and Intellectual Resources in Vietnam Veterans: PTSD and No Disorder Comparisons

Attention, learning, memory, and estimated intellectual potential were examined in 26 Vietnam veterans diagnosed with posttraumatic stress disorder (PTSD) and in 21 Vietnam veterans without mental disorders. Results revealed PTSD-associated cognitive deficits on tasks of sustained attention, working memory, initial learning, and estimated premorbid intelligence but not on measures of focus of attention, shift of attention, or memory savings. Cognitive task performances adjusted for estimated native intelligence remained negatively correlated with PTSD severity. An intellectual measure adjusted for cognitive task performances was negatively correlated with PTSD severity, even after the authors statistically controlled the level of combat exposure. Results suggested that although intellectual resources may constitute a vulnerability-protective factor for PTSD development, PTSD was associated with cognitive impairment independent of intellectual functioning.

Acute alcohol intoxication, negative affect, and autonomic arousal in women and men

The present study tested the hypothesis that acute moderate alcohol intoxication is associated with reductions in experimentally-induced negative affect among 64 moderately drinking adult women and men. The effort incorporated a balanced placebo design, multiple measures of affective responses including cardiovascular and electrodermal activity, and control for phase of the sexual cycle among nonoral contraceptive women. Negative effect and psychophysiological responses to intoxication following stress manipulation were a complex function of beverage, expectancy, and gender. Expectation of a moderate alcohol dose among women at the premenstruum was associated with higher levels of self-reported anxiety, whereas alcohol consumption guised as tonic seemed to be related to tension reduction. Alcohol tended to increase autonomic arousal among men, but there were no significant changes in negative affect. Moderate intoxication was associated with increased heart rate regardless of gender, and alcohol expectancy increased levels of skin conductance for men and women.

Assessment of PTSD and other mental disorders in World War II and Korean Conflict POW survivors and combat veterans.

Mental disorders were assessed in 326 prisoners of war (POWs) of the World War II (WWII) European theater, WWII Pacific theater, and Korean Conflict (KC) and in combat veterans of both wars. Diagnoses were identified using a structured diagnostic interview including a posttraumatic stress disorder (PTSD) module. POW trauma severity was measured by a trauma events index, captivity weight loss, and captivity duration. KC and WWII Pacific former POWs reported the most extreme trauma and, as hypothesized, showed highest prevalences of lifetime and current mental disorders and PTSD. POW subgroups exhibited greater psychopathology than combat veterans. PTSD was frequently associated with other mental disorders and found in high prevalences in all subgroups, pointing to the persistent, far-reaching impact of combat and POW experiences on mental health.

Trauma-induced weight loss and cognitive deficits among former prisoners of war.

Former prisoners of war (POWs) from the Korean Conflict and WWII reporting confinement weight losses of greater than 35% (n = 60) and less than or equal to 35% (n = 113) and non-POW combat veterans (n = 50) were compared on WAIS-R and Wechsler Memory Scale (WMS) Logical Memory indices. High weight-loss POWs performed more poorly than combat veterans on Performance IQ, Arithmetic, Similarities, and Picture Completion subtests, Witkin-Goodenough Attention-Concentration Factor, and WMS Immediate and Delayed Recall and more poorly than low weight-loss POWs on Arithmetic, Attention-Concentration Factor, and the WMS immediate memory measure. Low weight-loss POWs and combat veterans differed only on WMS immediate memory. Findings support the Thygesen, Hermann, and Willanger (1970) hypothesis that severity of POW confinement stress reflected by trauma-induced weight loss is predictive of long-term compromise in cognitive performance.

Psychological symptoms and psychiatric diagnoses in operation desert storm troops serving graves registration duty

This clinical report describes symptoms of psychological and physical distress and psychiatric disorders in 24 Army Reservists who served war zone graves registration duty in support of Operation Desert Storm. Troops underwent comprehensive assessment for evidence of psychopathology that might be associated with war zone duty as one component of a debriefing protocol scheduled during regular drill exercises eight months after their return to the United States. Troops endorsed items suggestive of high war zone stress exposure, common symptoms of anxiety, anger, and depression, and multiple health and somatic concerns. Almost half of the sample met criteria for post-traumatic stress disorder, and diagnosis of this disorder was strongly associated with evidence of depressive and substance abuse disorders. The gruesome aspects of body recovery and identification in a war zone setting were cited as stressor elements of significant negative impact.

The use of psychological test data to predict open-heart surgery outcome: a prospective study.

&NA; In an attempt to predict survival of open‐heart surgery, particularly among high risk subjects who undergo extra‐corporeal circulation (ECG) using pump oxygenation perfusion, a preoperative battery including intellectual, personality and neuropsychological instruments and also ratings of cardiac impairment, was administered to 15 control (cardiac surgery without ECG) and 72 experimental (ECG) subjects. Subjects were divided into survivor (S) and fatality (F) groups, and preoperative test data were analyzed using multivariate stepwise discrimination techniques. In a variety of analyses, at least 86% and as high as 100% of subjects were correctly classified as survivors or fatalities on the basis of variables sampled, indicating the outcome of cardiac surgery may be predicted preoperatively with a high degree of accuracy.

Person and Situation Correlates of Post-Traumatic Stress Disorder among Pow Survivors

131 former POWs assigned PTSD diagnoses were distinguished from 62 of their nondiagnosed counterparts by greater stressor severity reflected in measures of confinement weight loss and psychological and biological hardship as well as person characteristics of less socioeconomic advantage and lower military rank.

Incarcerated and Street Heroin Addicts: A Personality Comparison

This investigation examined the personality characteristics of unincarcerated street addicts as compared with two groups of prisoners: those admitting a history of heroin addiction and inmates who had never experimented significantly with opium derivatives. Although the three groups did not differ on such variables as age, education, or level of intellectual functioning and were markedly antisocial as measured by felony convictions and test indices, unincarcerated heroin addicts showed significantly more personality deviance on the MMPI than either prisoner addicts or nonaddict prisoners.

Psychometric prediction of PTSD among POW survivors.

Reports indicate a high prevalence of posttraumatic stress disorder (PTSD) in former World War II (WWII) and Korean Conflict prisoners of war (POWs), but little information is available on the utility of psychometric instruments for assessment of PTSD among survivors of severe trauma. This study determined the extent to which a psychometric battery, distinguished PTSD and non-PTSD diagnosed groups

MMPI Indices of Personality Change following Short- and Long-Term Hospitalization of Heroin Addicts

The present investigation examined test-retest MMPI profile patterns for two highly similar groups of hardcore heroin addicts: 30 clients admitted to 6-mo. hospitalization in the NIMH Clinical Research Center, Fort Worth and 28 addicts confined approximately 6 wk. in an inpatient hospital setting. MMPI changes following hospitalization were characterized by decreases in scale scores on almost every clinical scale with higher elevations on scales reflecting ego strength and personal guardedness. Elevations on Scales Pd and Ma remained relatively constant over intake and discharge conditions, while scores on Scales Hs and Hy were particularly sensitive to changes in circumstance. Although both conditions produced diagnostic signs of general improvement, changes in personality functioning appeared to be most dramatic in the shorter, more intensive treatment condition.