Jerome M. Siegel

Emotional and social real-life problem-solving thinking in adolescent and adult psychiatric patients.

The ability of adult and adolescent psychiatric patients to solve emotional problems such as anxiety and depression as well as problems that arise within the social sphere was examined, as was the question of whether the abilities to solve problems in the emotional and social spheres are related. With IQ partialled out, patients and controls did not differ on emotional problem-solving ability, but did differ on social problem-solving ability. Emotional problem-solving ability was found to be related to intelligence, while social problem-solving ability was not. Emotional problem-solving may require more abstract ability than social problem-solving, and normals may need only social problem-solving for adjustment.

Mmpi Characteristics of Good and Poor Social Problem-Solvers Among Psychiatric Patients

In an attempt to delineate more precisely the relationship between problem-solving cognition in the social sphere and psychopathology, male (N = 83) and female (N = 107) psychiatric patients were divided into groups of good and poor problem-solvers on the Means-Ends Problem-Solving (MEPS) Procedure and contrasted on MMPI scales and indices of psychopathology. Poor problem-solvers among males, but not among females, were found to be (a) more clearly schizophrenic and socially inadequate, with significantly higher scores on the Pd, Sc, and Si scales; (b) more clearly psychotic on the Goldberg Index; and (c) more likely to have elevated F scale raw scores. The present findings explicate those of earlier studies in suggesting that male patients higher in social problem-solving ability are not only likely to be more socially competent, but also are more likely to be less severely impaired in terms of psychopathology. A possible explanation for the sex difference is that problem-solving cognition and psychopathology are not so directly related in females as in males.

Successful systematic desensitization in a chronic schizophrenic patient

Abstract This case study presents the successful systematic desensitization of anxiety engendered by auditory hallucinations in a chronic schizophrenic patient. A 21-month term follow-up indicated that the effects of the treatment persisted.

Internal-External Control and Anxiety following Success and Failure

This study investigated self-reported anxiety in internals and externals after failure or success on an experimental task. Results indicated that externals who had failed were lower in anxiety than externals who had succeeded, internals who had failed, and internals who had succeeded. These results were discussed within the framework of a social learning theory of anxiety.