Alex D. Pokorny

Self-derogation and psychosocial adjustment.

The present investigation sought to verify hypotheses relating to the relationship between self-derogation and selected indices of psychosocial adjustment derived from theoretical statements, clinical observations, and empirical studies (of narrowly defined populations) in the general area of self-attitudes. It was hypothesized that self-derogatory attitudes would be related to reports of psychophysiological manifestations of anxiety, depressive affect, and utilization of psychiatric and other medical helping resources during the year preceding the interview of the subjects. The study group consisted of a random sample (N = 500) of the adult population of Harris County (including the city of Houston), Texas, selected by a three-stage probability sampling design. Data were collected by personal interview survey techniques. Self-derogation was determined by scores on a factorially derived scale. Indices of psychosocial adjustment included self-reports of psychophysiological symptoms, scores on a depressive affect scale, and reports of utilizing psychiatric and other medical resources (for purposes pertinent to experiences of psychophysiological symptoms or depressive affect) during the preceding year. In all instances the hypotheses were confirmed. These data together with consideration of the literature upon which the study was based suggest the possible utility of an explanatory model based on the concept of negative self-attitudes as a general theory of psychosocial deviance.

Drug therapy in depressions: Controlled evaluation of imipramine, isocarboxazide, dextroamphetamine‐amobarbital, and placebo

An evaluation of imipramine, isocarboxazide, dextroamphetamine‐amobarbital, and placebo was carried out in 204 patients with depressive syndromes in thirty‐two Veterans Administration Hospitals. Treatment with a fixed dosage schedule was followed for 3 weeks, the dosage becoming flexible during an ensuing 9 week period. Evaluation of responses was made by three rating scales specially derived for depressed patients.

Suicide following psychiatric hospitalization.

The hypothesis was tested that following psychiatric hospitalization, those subjects who subsequently completed suicide would be distinguished from those who did not by the interaction of two circumstances: a state of defenselessness at the time of hospitalization, and experience of adverse life events following release from hospital. Subjects were 40 male VA psychiatric inpatients: 20 who completed suicide following release, and 20 controls matched on age, race, and time at risk in the community. Defenselessness (the incapacity to defend against distressful negative self-feelings) was defined in terms of scores derived from the extended Brief Psychiatric Rating Scale administered shortly after the patients hospitalization. Adverse life events were eight events characterized simultaneously as undesirable, unlikely to have been initiated by the subject, and having a score of 30 or above on the Social Readjustment Rating Scale. In confirmation of the hypothesis, it was found that completed suicide subjects were significantly and appreciably more likely both to have had high defenselessness scores at the time of hospitalization and to have experienced adverse life events during the posthospitalization period, whereas neither circumstance in the absence of the other was predictive. The findings support the position that suicide is a response to experiences with self-threatening implications, in the face of personal incapacity to defend against, adapt to, or cope with such experiences.

Self Derogation and Childhood Broken Home.

Findings are reported regarding the relationship between the level of self-derogation of adult subjects and the prior experience of a broken home during childhood. Data were collected by survey research methods from a sample (N=500) of the adult population of Harris County (including the city of Houston), Texas. The data were analyzed to determine the particular characteristics of the broken home situation (those relating to resultant living arrangements, cause of broken home, subjects age at time of broken home, parental remarriage, and subjects age at time of parental remarriage) which were associated with high self-derogation scores relative to subjects from intact families. Results are reported for the total sample and for subgroups differentiated by the race, sex, and social class of the subject.

Aging and Self-Attitude: A Conditional Relationship

NUMEROUS studies may be cited which report significant associations between independent measures of negative self-attitude (self-derogation in its most extreme form) and “psychopathological” patterns. These patterns include anxiety, depression, alcoholism, drug abuse, paranoid schizophrenia, suicide, juvenile delinquency, psychopathy, and homosexuality (Wylie, 1961; Parker and Kleiner, 1966; Arieti, 1967; Rubington and Weinberg, 1968; Gordon and Gergen, 1968; Kaplan and Pokorny, 1969; Kaplan and Meyerowitz, 1970) whether the latter patterns are interpreted as expressions of, or modes of adaptation to, self-derogatory feelings. In view of these observations, it has been suggested that investigations of factors associated with the development of negative or positive selffeelings (Wylie, 1961; Hamachek, 1965; Rosenberg, 1965; Coopersmith, 1967) would at the same time contribute to the understanding of the etiology of various forms of psychologically (and socially) defined deviance (Kaplan, 1970). Among the variables which investigators have hypothesized to be related to self-attitude is aging. Unlike the reports focusing upon the negative consequences of the aging process for aspects of mental health status (Hoch and Zubin, 1961; Srole, et al., 1962; Davis, 1965; Ford, 1965; Cameron, 1967; Mayo Clinic, 1967; Ziller and Grossman, 1967) in the case of self-attitude other investigations have indicated that older age groups tend to be more positive in self-feelings than younger age groups (Parker and Kleiner, 1966, 178, 187; Grant, 1969, 717). Data reported in a national survey by Gurin and his associates (1960) are also consistent with this conclusion in that older subjects were less likely to indicate felt inadequacy in performance of marital and parental roles. Grant (1969) suggests that the association of older age with positive self-attitudes admits of several interpretations including the view that aging is perceived as a desirable stage in life and involves voluntary withdrawal from many life activities. The result might also be interpreted as reflecting an increase in the “tendency toward denial” or “confirmation of a need to expand continually one’s horizons.” However, not all studies investigating the relationships between aging and self-attitudes have reported the same results. Some reports have indicated that no significant relationship was observed between age and self-feelings (Downing and

INFLUENCE OF DISTRACTION ON THE REPRODUCTION OF SPOKEN WORDS BY SCHIZOPHRENICS

Twenty-six schizophrenic and 26 nonschizophrenic patients with normal hearing acuity were presented with 140 words with instructions to repeat each word as rapidly as possible. Twenty words were presented in each of seven treatment conditions: two with no extraneous distraction, two with no sound distraction but instructions for selective performance, and three with sound distraction: white noise, alternating paired tones, backward speech. In each treatment, the volume of the distracting sound was increased from 50 to 80 db SPL in increments of 10 db each five words. The responses were scored independently by four judges who did not know whether a subject was schizophrenic or not. A reproduction that was clearly a different word from the stimulus was considered a failure. Schizophrenics failed to reproduce stimulus words at a significantly higher rate than did nonschizophrenics under every condition, and, with the exception of backward speech, neither the nature nor the level of distraction caused significant changes in performance in either group. There was no evidence of drifting attention by the schizophrenics; they followed instructions requiring selective performance as well as nonschizophrenics, and their short term recall was also just as good.

Nailfold capillary plexus and familial schizophrenia.

This was an effort to repeat in a controlled experiment Marieqs findings that the normally invisible subpapillary plexus was visible in more familial than nonfamilial schizophrenics. Newly admitted white male schizophrenic veterans were given detailed physical and mental examinations, including a blind evaluation of the relative visibility of the nailfold plexuses. Although the familial schizophrenics had more visible plexuses than the nonfamilial ones, the difference was small. The two categories were compared on 46 variables relating to background, mental status, treatment status, and physical condition with almost no positive results. The demonstrated difference in the nailfold plexuses seems to be of little nosological value.