Harry J. Sivec

Dissociative and neuropsychological symptoms: the question of differential diagnosis

Abstract Recent literature raises questions about the relationship between dissociative symptoms and neurological disorders. In this article, we consider issues pertinent to the differential diagnosis of dissociative disorders. We discuss DSM-IV dissociative disorders and their assessment, as well as symptom overlap between dissociative disorders and a number of neurological conditions (primarily temporal lobe epilepsy, TLE), which resemble dissociative symptoms. We argue that dissociative symptoms may be conceptualized as anxiety based, defensive responses to prior physical and/or psychological trauma. In tabular format, we propose a tentative scheme to assist clinicians in making diagnostic decisions.

Relationships Between Hand Test Variables and Maladjustment in School Children

Twenty-two Hand Test variables significantly differentiated a group of children referred to school psychologists for social and emotional maladjustment from a control group matched on age and sex. Eleven variables emerged from a subsequent stepwise discriminant analysis, resulting in a 80.85% hit rate. Results are interpreted as providing statistical support for the use of the Hand Test as a screening and/or ancillary projective technique in assessing school children.

Hand test AGG and AOS variables: relation with teacher rating of aggressiveness

The purpose of this study was to determine the extent to which the Hand Test (Wagner, 1983) variables Aggression (AGG) and the Acting Out Score (AOS) were able to differentiate a group of children who were identified as aggressive and referred for psychological assessment by their teachers from a nonreferred, control group. Hand Test scores of 37 children who had consecutive referrals for psychological assessment because of aggressiveness were compared to the Hand Test scores of 37 children, matched on age and sex, from a nonreferred group. Through the use of an analysis of variance, AOS and AGG were found to significantly differentiate between the two groups. Spearman (rho) correlations between AGG and AOS scores with aggressive-referred status were rho = .45, p = .0001, and rho = .32, p = .006, respectively. Also, diagnostic efficiency statistics demonstrated moderate to high overall correct classification rates for AOS > or = 0 and AGG > or = 2 in identifying children in the aggressive-referred group. The results of this study provide support for the validity of the AGG and AOS scores in the assessment of aggressive behavior in children and demonstrate the utility of the Hand Test to identify aggressive tendencies in children.

Concurrent and Discriminant Validity between the Hand Test Pathology Score and the MMPI-2

Using an outpatient sample (N = 43), this study assessed the concurrent validity of the Hand Test pathology summary score (PATH) with an objective measure of psychopathology, the MMPI-2 clinical scales. The PATH score did exhibit several significant relations to the MMPI-2 clinical scales. In addition, there is support for divergent validity as none of the MMPI-2 validity scales (L, F, and K) were significantly related with PATH.

Raw scores vs percentage conversions in factorial solutions for projective test variables.

Factor analytic solutions for raw scores and corresponding percentage conversion scores derived from Rorschach and Hand Test variables were directly compared. Number of factors, total and individual communalities, and test overlap were sufficiently different to question either approach as preferable for summarizing interrelationships among projective tests and test variables. Most of the substantial loadings tended to be either artifactual, relatively uninformative, or appeared on one factor analysis but not the other.