Franklin C. Shontz

Body image and its disorders.

The body image is not a body organ, a psychological picture, or a little-person-in-the-head. It is best described in terms of the functions it serves and the levels at which it is experienced. The body functions as a sensory register, an instrument for action, a source of drives, a stimulus to the self and others, a private world, and an expressive instrument. The four levels of body experience are schemata, self, fantasy, and concept. A complete description of a body image disorder identifies the source of the disorder and its effects on the functions and levels of experience. Behavioral treatment for body image disorder may develop basic sensory-motor capacities, teach specific skills, promote interpersonal relations with others having similar problems, or use traditional psychotherapeutic techniques, depending upon the needs of the individual patient.

Drug-induced ego states. I. Cocaine: phenomenology and implications.

The ego state experienced by chronic users of cocaine is described in terms of sensorimotor functioning, cognitive functioning, emotionality, spatiality , temporality , causality, and materiality . At low use levels the state is pleasurable, but at high levels fear, anxiety, and paranoia increase, and ultimately reality contact breaks down. Q-sort, Semantic Differential, and other data suggest that low-level users take cocaine to overcome personal insecurities and relieve boredom. Heavy users take it to support overvaulting ambitions and intense strivings for self-sufficiency. Psychotherapy with such persons must deal with their counterdependency , anger, and despair, and with their underlying sense of betrayal . These persons have unacknowledged needs for spiritual experience that must be dealt with openly. A description of persons most vulnerable to heavy use of cocaine is provided, and recommendations for research and social policy are presented.

Psychopathology and Chronic Drug Use: A Methodological Paradigm

Four carefully matched groups, each containing nine male, chronic users of a specific type of substance, were compared with each other and with a group of nine nonusers. Each person was elaborately studied in a representative case research, but this report presents only data from two tests of intelligence (the Revised Beta and the WAIS) and two tests of personality (the MMPI and 16 PF). Extensive descriptive information is presented to characterize the participants. Groups were found not to differ on scores on intelligence tests, and the MMPI was found to reveal more group differences than the 16 PF. Users of barbiturates and sedative-hypnotics were most severely maladjusted, followed by users of opiates, users of cocaine, users of amphetamine and its congeners, and nonusers. Differences also appeared between combined users of stimulants, combined users of depressants, and nonusers, as well as between all drug users (as a group) and nonusers. This research is offered as a methodological paradigm for evaluating future studies. It illustrates how the representative case method may be expanded to permit comparisons among groups.

Perceived positive and negative effects of life-threatening illness

Abstract The assumption that the psychological effects of disease and disability are entirely negative was examined using three groups of subjects with varying degrees of contact with life-threatening illness. It was predicted that subjects with life-threatening illness (closest contact) would perceive more positive features in their lives than would parents who had children with life-threatening illness, or hospital employees. Questionnaires about the effects of physical disability and disease included items selected from existing instruments and items composed to form opposites of selected items. Subjects were randomly assigned to receive questionnaires in one of three orders (positive items first, negative items first, or items randomly intermixed). Results confirmed the hypothesis; subjects who had closest contact with illness perceived more positive effects than the other two groups. Positive effects were primarily in social, family and emotional areas.

Adaptation to Chronic Illness and Disability

Although the procedure is unusual, this chapter begins by finding fault with its own title. The practice is justified because it suggests a new way of thinking about an important matter. The phrase “adaptation to chronic illness and disability” seems harmless enough and is consistent with common usage, but it could be taken to imply that the topic of this chapter is how people alter themselves to accommodate to impersonal physical conditions. Psychologically, that implication leaves much to be desired.

Correlates of sensation seeking by heavy, chronic drug users.

Product-moment correlations among number of drugs used and several measures of constructs related to sensation seeking were examined for four matched groups of chronic drug users and two supplementary groups of nine persons each. Number of drugs used correlated positively with all scores on the Sensation Seeking Scales, the Extraversion and Neuroticism Scales of the Eysenck Personality Inventory, and the Change Seeker Index. The pattern is consistent with the proposition that a need for stimulation or change underlies experimentation with a large number of chemical substances. The general pattern of correlations among tests resembled that reported by other investigators. The construct validity of the General Score from the Sensation Seeking Scales is enhanced by these findings. The data suggest that this score measures much the same construct as the Change Seeker Index.

Some characteristics of body size estimation.

Groups of male and female Ss estimated the sizes of 10 body parts and of 3 non-body-object stimuli. They also provided ratings of their degree of satisfaction with 40 body parts and somatic characteristics. Women were found to overestimate body part sizes; mens judgments of body part sizes tended to be more veridical. No sex differences in size estimation tendencies were evident for non-body-object stimuli. Women tended to show less stability, i.e., higher average errors, of body part size estimations than men; this difference was not apparent on non-body-object size estimation responses. Body-part size estimation tendencies and non-body-object size estimation tendencies generally correlated about .40, a value high enough to suggest important common psychological processes, but not sufficiently great to alter the statistical conclusions. Scores on the body acceptance scale did not correlate significantly with size estimation tendencies. No difference in over-all level of body acceptance existed between sexes, but females had higher response-variabilities than males. Important sex differences seem to exist in body cognition. Men show greater veridicality of responses at the level of sensorily-mediated perception of the body. Women demonstrate a greater degree of differentiation among body parts and functions. Body-part size estimation responses appear to be sensitive to variations in the measurement conditions under which they are obtained; differences among the findings of independent researches may be a function of procedural dissimilarities. The presence or absence of visual stimulation appears to be an important factor which influences results.

Trends in research on the Rorschach: Review and recommendations

Abstract Meta-analyses have shown that the Rorschach and the Minnesota Multiphasic Personality Inventory (MMPI) have roughly equivalent psychometric properties. Assessment continues to be stressed in psychological training, and the Rorschach continues to be emphasized in courses on assessment. The most frequently used test battery includes the Wechsler Adult Intelligence Scale-Revised or Wechsler Intelligence Scale for Children-Revised, the MMPI, and projective devices such as the Rorschach or Thematic Apperception Test. A survey of the literature from 1983 to 1991 showed that research on the Rorschach concerns mainly issues of formal diagnosis and evaluation of the psychometric properties of the instrument. Such research does not evaluate the Rorschach as it is usually employed to arrive at decision about individuals. More appropriate research models are recommended, in which Rorschach data are added to or deleted from other assessment information in order to evaluate the influence of the inclusion of the Rorschach on judgments made by competent clinicians about relevant issues in individual cases.

Drugs and Personality: Dependence of Findings on Method

Past studies on relationships between drug use and personality are open to criticism on theoretical and methodological grounds. Properly conducted research may show relationships that have been previously undiscovered. The present studies examined 45 carefully selected, noninstitutionalized men in four matched groups of heavy, chronic drug users and a nonuser comparison group. A variety of instruments, all of which presumably measure the propensity to seek novel and varied sensations, were administered. When used to evaluate hypotheses derived from Optimal Level of Arousal (OLA) theory, data from this study showed an association between the trait measured and drug(s) of choice among men committed to the heavy, chronic use of particular substances. However, the association was not that anticipated by OLA theory. Instead, it appeared that, among heavy, chronic users, drug preference and sensation seeking are related to extraversion and introversion. The findings were consistent with a theory of psychological individuation that was developed from thorough clinical assessment of every individual in the research program.

Ego development, dragon fights, and chronic drug abusers.

Developmental antecedents of adult behavior are described for four matched groups of chronic drug users (cocaine, amphetamine, opiates, barbiturates, and sedative-hypnotics) and a comparable group of nonusers, each group having been studied intensively for approximately 1.5 years. Integration is provided by a theory that views psychological development as a series of ego transformations, which appear metaphorically in legend and mythology as dragon fights. Each group is characterized theoretically by a core conflict, an upper limit on individuation, and a typical character. Results imply that radically new approaches to psychological treatment may be needed, especially for chronic users of barbiturates, opiates, and cocaine.