Joseph L. Massimo

Fifteen years after treatment: a follow-up study of comprehensive vocationally-oriented psychotherapy.

This reprinted article originally appeared in American Journal of Orthopsychiatry, 1979, Vol. 49, No. 2, 240-245. (The following abstract of the original article appeared in record 2013-43131-006.) The fourth follow-up study of adolescent delinquent boys treated in a community-based program that combined job placement, remedial education, and psychotherapy indicates that the better overall adjustment of the treated group, compared to untreated controls, is maintained well into adulthood. It reaffirms the importance of developing sound, innovative means of reaching adolescents in crisis, and suggests the value of a fullscale replication of the original program.

THE RELATIONSHIP BETWEEN LEVELS OF GUILT IN THEMATIC STORIES AND UNSOCIALIZED BEHAVIOR.

Abstract Many previous studies on the relationship between inhibition of expression of hostility in thematic stories have focused on the severity of the punishment rather than the quality of the guilt expressed. Using a more subtle approach, it was found that an increase in the level and quality of guilt expressed in TAT stories was significantly associated with a reduction in unsocialized behavior. The results suggest that an analysis of guilt along dimensions of internalization, the concern for others, and the desire to change offers a way of dealing with thematic productions that is more consistent with our clinical observations and understanding.

Some Cognitive Dimensions of Interpersonal Behavior in Adolescent Delinquent Boys

Analyses of thematic stories applied to selected pictures by delinquent and nondelinquent adolescent boys reveal that the delinquents apparently are more concerned with interpersonal relationships. This concern is primarily hostile (either moving against or protecting oneself from people). Delinquents also rarely see authority figures as passively cooperative. This suggests that delinquents may develop a cognitive awareness and sensi tivity to people with many adaptive aspects. This may reflect the object hunger and desire for relationships, hostility and fear of such relationships, and the intense need to manipulate others in order to obtain gratification, all of which have been found to be delinquent characteristics.

Mobilization of community resources in the outpatient treatment of adolescent delinquent boys: A case report

Strategies for working with community groups must be developed if the principles of community mental health are to be put into practice. An experimental outpatient treatment program for adolescent delinquents that required the cooperation of two community groups, the school and businessmen, necessitated the development of certain procedures for mobilizing the groups around the implementation of treatment. The success of the program serves to highlight certain principles of working with community members.