John Paul Brady

The Scalability of Sexual Experiences

Sixty-eight male graduate students completed a questionnaire relating to their past sexual history in the course of an extensive survey and experimental study on sexual attitudes and preferences. The items of the questionnaire were subjected to a scalogram analysis and found to conform to a Guttman scale, suggesting that the sexual experiences of this group follow a fairly fixed cumulative pattern. This was true for the subgroups of single Ss and married Ss, and for the group as a whole.

Behavioral versus pharmacological treatments for essential hypertension--a needed comparison.

&NA; Comparison of mild‐to‐moderate essential hypertension patients treated for 6 weeks by antihypertensive medication versus metronome‐conditioned relaxation versus biofeedback versus a mild exercise control procedure showed that those on medication achieved the greatest decrease in blood pressure. The relaxation and biofeedback groups decreased more than the mild exercise group, as predicted, but not significantly more. The differences in benefits of the groups were not a function of group differences in initial blood pressure levels nor in compliance. Nor did the groups differ in the side effects that are usually associated with medications. A second phase of 6 weeks with another treatment or combination of treatments did not add significantly. Some characteristics of patients moderately predicted treatment benefits, for example, high scores on the Jenkins Activity Survey Scales (1) [Type A, S or H], for the relaxation and biofeedback treated patients predicted which patients received greater benefits.

hypnotically Induced Visual Hallucinations

&NA; Hypnotized subjects who reported vivid hallucinations of a visual situation which would ordinarily elicit optokinetic nystagmus (e.g., gazing at a rotating drum having vertical black and white stripes) demonstrated nystagmus under these conditions. They and other subjects were unable to feign nystagmus in the waking state, either by imagining the situation or by direct efforts to simulate the eye movements. Thus, an objective criterion is provided for the presence of visual hallucinations. This technique to ascertain the presence of visual hallucinations may be a powerful tool for the study of a number of related problems, including analysis of some of the parameters of hypnotic visual hallucinations and study of the psychology and physiology of hallucinations in general.

THE PLACE OF BEHAVIOR THERAPY IN MEDICAL STUDENT AND PSYCHIATRIC RESIDENT TRAINING: Two Surveys and Some Recommendations

To ascertain the current place of the theory and practice of behavior therapy in the curricula of medical schools and residency training programs in the United States, questionnaires were sent to 89 4-year medical schools and a random sample of psychiatric residency training programs. Although most respondents in both surveys indicated that some course material is offered in their program, in most instances the exposure is elective and the number of hours involved small. It is recommended that both medical students and psychiatric residents be given more opportunity in this area. Also, priority should be given first to learning the methods of behavior therapy—the application of principles of learning to the analysis of disorders of behavior—and second to experience with specific behavior therapy procedures.

The Effect of Hydrocortisone Infusion on Hypnotically Induced Anxiety

&NA; In a double‐blind study, experimental subjects were infused with heavy loads of plasma hydrocortisone while control subjects received an appropriate placebo. Anxiety was then induced in all subjects by means of hypnotic suggestions. No mean differences between groups were found on three psychological measures of anxiety. The data suggest that anxiety tended to persist after its hypnotic relief in the subjects receiving the hormone infusion and was more rapidly dispelled in placebo subjects. Tentative conclusions are: (1) the anxiety stimulus has a prepotent effect on the subjective anxiety level, and the effect of plasma hydrocortisone alone is relatively small; (2) a highly elevated level of the hormone may mediate a prolongation of the duration of the anxiety experience.

ANALYSIS OF A SIMPLE AVOIDANCE SITUATION. II. A MODEL.

A mathematical model has been constructed to describe experimental data recorded in a study of a simple avoidance situation. The theoretical description makes use of the concept of the effective number of shocks. The model explains the existence of oscillations encountered in previous experiments.

On the use of tat card 12m as an indicator of attitude toward hypnosis

Abstract The results of investigations reported in this paper, and others which are summarized, indicate that responses to TAT Card 12M do not predict attitude toward hypnosis in female subjects, though such predictiveness has been reported for male respondents. The basis for this Werential predictiveness may be that the latter give a significantly greater proportion of themes involving hypnosis than do female subjects. A plausible explanatory hypothesis, based on perceptual theory and the stimulus properties of the card, is advanced.