David H. Rosen

The Role of Existential Meaning as a Buffer Against Stress

An ethnically diverse sample of 143 college undergraduates was used to test the hypothesis that a sense of existential meaning buffers against the effect of stress on depression and hope. Spiritual meaning as measured by the Spiritual Meaning Scale and personal meaning as measured by the framework subscale from the Life Regard Index-Revised were significantly negatively correlated with depressive symptoms and positively correlated with hope. Spiritual meaning, but not personal meaning, moderated the relationship between stress and depression such that there was a strong relationship between depression and stress for individuals with low levels of spiritual meaning but no relationship between stress and depression for individuals with high levels of spiritual meaning. It appears that, though both spiritual and personal meaning are inversely related to depression and positively related to hope, only spiritual meaning moderates the relationship between daily stress and depression.

The serious suicide attempt. five-year follow-up study of 886 patients

A five-year follow-up study was undertaken of a previously reported 1968 cohort of 886 people who had attempted suicide. The working hypothesis that those who had seriously attempted suicide (21%) would have a higher suicide rate on long-term follow-up was confirmed. During the five-year follow-up period, a total of 34 suicides were found, which represented 3.84% of the total number at risk. Of those who had seriously attempted suicide, 12 (6.45%) of 186 succeeded later; of the other (nonserious or less serious) attempters, 22 (3.1%) of 700 succeeded. The serious-attempter suicide rate was 2.1 times that of the others, and this difference was statistically significant (P less than .05). In addition, patients who made attempts that were judged serious on medical but not on psychiatric grounds were found to have a suicide rate significantly higher (P less than .05) than patients who had made suicide attempts that were not a serious medical threat.

Two-Minute Mental Health Care for Elderly Patients: Inside Primary Care Visits

OBJECTIVES: To assess how care is delivered for mental disorders using videotapes of office visits involving elderly patients.

Empirical Study on the Healing Nature of Mandalas

Mandalas were first used in therapy by Carl Jung, who found that the act of drawing mandalas had a calming effect on patients while at the same time facilitating psychic integration. There is a scarcity of controlled empirical studies of the healing impact of mandalas on mental health. Based on the efficacy of James Pennebaker’s written disclosure paradigm in promoting mental well-being (Pennebaker, 1997a, 1997b), the purpose of our study was to examine the benefits for those suffering from post traumatic stress disorder (PTSD) of processing traumatic events through the creation of mandalas. Benefits to participants were measured in terms of changes in the variables of PTSD symptoms, depressive symptoms, anxiety, spiritual meaning, and the frequency of physical symptoms and illness. Relative to those in the control condition, individuals assigned to the experimental mandala-creation group reported greater decreases in symptoms of trauma at the 1-month follow up. There were no other statistically significant outcome differences. Alternative modes of processing traumatic events (e.g., visually symbolically) may serve individuals who are either reluctant or unable to write about their experiences.

Are Jungian Preferences Really Categorical?: An Empirical Investigation Using Taxometric Analysis

The question of whether the Jungian preferences are categorical or continuous has been a debated issue. We empirically addressed this question using taxometric analysis. Two bootstraps taxometric methods (MAMBAC and MAXCOV-HITMAX) were used with three Jungian personality measures: the Singer–Loomis Type Deployment Inventory (SL-TDI), the Personal Preferences Self-Description Questionnaire (PPSDQ), and the Myers–Briggs Type Indicator (MBTI). Results suggested there is not a true, non-arbitrary taxon underlying Jungian preferences measured by any of these measures. In other words, the preferences appear to manifest as continuous dimensions. Possible future research and implications for the measurement of the Jungian constructs are discussed.

Repeated Suicide Attempts by the Intravenous Injection of Elemental Mercury

The case of a patient who repeatedly injected himself intravenously with elementary mercury in suicide attempts is presented and the toxicological effects of this chemical form and route of exposure of mercury are examined. A review of the literature reveals that elemental mercury, when injected as opposed to inhaled, causes few of the effects typical of mercurialism; pleuritic chest pain was frequently reported, whereas renal and central nervous system involvement were less common. Evidence of premorbid psychiatric disturbances was found in ten of fourteen non-cardiac catheterization exposures to intravenous elemental mercury. Findings in our patient were consistent with these observations. One additional and noteworthy finding in our case was that documented deposits of elemental mercury in the right parietal lobe of the brain did not correlate with any specific deficits on neuropsychological testing. Consultation-liaison psychiatry plays an important role in the treatment and care of these complex patients.

Depression in patients referred for psychiatric consultation: A need for a new diagnosis☆☆☆★

The authors analyzed 329 referrals for psychiatric consultation from medical and surgical wards. They found depression to be the most prevalent diagnosis (34%), with Major Depression being the most common DSM-III subtype (49%). Depression was predominant in the elderly (p less than 0.05), in women (p less than 0.05), and in patients with a high degree of psychosocial stressors (p less than 0.01). There were significant differences among the DSM-III subtypes of depression in some of these correlates. The authors emphasize the importance of DSM-III in differentiating among the subtypes of depression in referred patients but they suggest the need for a new diagnosis for depression in the physically ill.

Reliability and validity of scores from the Singer-Loomis Type Deployment Inventory

This paper focuses on the Singer-Loomis Type Deployment Inventory (SL-TDI), which is an alternative to the Myers-Briggs Type Indicator (MBTI). The SL-TDI utilizes a continuous, non-forced choice format and therefore is a more accurate representation of Jungs personality theory of psychological types. The purpose of the study reported here is to evaluate the reliability and validity of scores from the SL-TDI. Specifically, the goals were to (a) provide estimates of the internal consistency of SL-TDI scores; (b) evaluate the divergent validity of SL-TDI scores by examination of their relationships with the scores on a social desirability responding measure; and (c) examine the test-retest stability of scores from the SL-TDI. Strong support was found for both the reliability and validity of SL-TDI scores.

Empirical study of Kanji as archetypal images: understanding the collective unconscious as part of the Japanese language

Chinese characters originated as a semiotic system independent from spoken language and in the Japanese language they function non-phonetically with speakers exhibiting right-hemispheric advantage in their processing. We tested the hypothesis that Chinese characters are archetypal images and therefore part of our collective unconscious memory. Our study builds on the first empirical study of archetypal memory of Rosen et al. (1991) which demonstrated that archetypal symbols presented matched with their correct meaning were better learned and recalled. In a series of three experiments we used 40 Chinese characters instead of the archetypal symbols used by Rosen, et al. (1991). The results provided empirical evidence that Chinese characters matched with their correct meaning were significantly better recalled than the ones that were mismatched. Thus, we demonstrated that there appears to be unconscious knowledge of the meaning of the Chinese characters which was triggered as a result of priming when the characters were correctly matched with their meaning. On this basis, we suggest that Chinese characters exhibit the same cognitive qualities as archetypal symbols. Thus, in the Japanese language an archetypal image is integrated non-phonetically into the system of language and signifies the concept independent from the phonetic signifier and is equal to it.

Depression in Medical Students: Gene-Environment Interactions

This study investigated the interaction of genetic, environmental, and psychological factors in predicting depression and anxiety symptoms in medical students. First-year medical students (n = 141) completed measures of anxiety, depression, hope, and spiritual meaning at three time points during the first year. Buccal samples were utilized to genotype each individual at the s/l variant in the promoter region of the serotonin transporter gene (5-HTTLPR). A subset (n = 91) completed a measure of recent stressors. Mean levels of depression increased during year one of medical school. Presence of the s/s genotype in the promoter region of the 5-HTT gene was associated with greater increases in depression, but only in association with higher numbers of recent stressors. Spiritual meaning and hope were found to counteract genetic susceptibility to stress-related depressive symptoms in the more vulnerable s/s group.