Patricia Vassar

Differences between posttraumatic stress disorder patients with delayed and undelayed onsets.

In an effort to determine whether they differ from one another in important ways, the authors compared posttraumatic stress disorder (PTSD) victims who reported delayed onsets with those who claimed undelayed onsets of PTSD symptom self-ratings, MMPI clinical and validity scale scores, stress histories, and repression measures. The number and the sizes of the differences did not exceed chance expectations and did not support the establishment of separate delayed- and undelayed-onset PTSD categories in the diagnostic manual, nor did they support the hypotheses that the delay, when it appears, is attributable to the magnitude of the trauma, the severity of the symptoms, repression, or a limited stress history.

The Definition of Posttraumatic Stress Disorder in Alcoholic Vietnam Veterans: Are the DSM-III Criteria Necessary and Sufficient?

The authors evaluated the validities of the DSM-III elements defining posttraumatic stress disorder (PTSD) in alcoholic Vietnam veterans by studying the relationships of each to qualification for a PTSD diagnosis under DSM-III standards, the history of a major stressor (3 or more months of combat), and the presence/absence of enough other problems to meet the symptomatic DSM-III requirements for this diagnosis. Elements dealing with the reexperiencing of traumas, diminished pleasure, detachment from others, hyperalertness, sleep disturbance, guilt over behaviors required for survival, and avoidance of stimuli reminiscent of traumas showed substantial correlations with eligibility for a PTSD diagnosis. However, items dealing with emotional expressiveness, response to intimacy, survival guilt, impaired memory, and trouble concentrating either failed to correlate with qualification for a PTSD diagnosis or yielded marginal results. One (“lacking direction”) of 10 additional symptoms sometimes termed as “post-Vietnam syndrome” behaviors correlated with eligibility for a PTSD diagnosis as well. The present results and those described in earlier studies suggest that several modifications in the DSM-III definition of PTSD are desirable.

Suicide and the MMPI: A Cross-Validation of Predictors.

Compared a suicide-completion group to a psychiatric control sample on the 13 traditional MMPI scales, three experimental item pools, and eight profile patterns earlier described as indicative of suicidal tendencies (N = 84). Also compared the frequencies with which the groups endorsed each of the 566 MMPI items. The number of resulting significant differences was less than chance. The results argue against the use of the MMPI to predict suicide at this time.

The relationships of post-traumatic stress disorder to adolescent illegal activities, drinking, and employment

The authors compared the self-reported incidences of adolescent legal problems, drinking, employment, and church attendance in psychiatric patients (N = 116) with and without post-traumatic stress disorder (PTSD) and normals (N = 28). The differences did not exceed chance expectations. The data raise doubts about the validity of the theory that PTSD is at least partially a result of pre-traumatic personality maladjustment.

The relationships of anhedonia and the process-reactive dimension to season of birth and infectious disease incidence in schizophrenia.

This project was designed to test two hypotheses drawn from a new formulation explaining the exaggerated winter birthrate among hospitalized schizophrenics. The first is that the supposed exaggerated winter birthrate among process schizophrenics actually represents a reduction in spring-fall births caused by prenatal exposure to infectious diseases during the preceding winter— i.e., a high prenatal death rate in process preschizophrenic fetuses. The second is that the level of negative symptoms in survivors at risk for schizophrenia who were born after winters with high infectious disease rates is exaggerated. The findings provided some tentative support for this formulation. Compared with counterparts born after low-disease winters, schizophrenics born after winters with high disease incidences tended to show lower (more reactive) scores on a measure of the process-reaction dimension but higher anhedonia scores.

Childhood stress disorder behaviors in veterans who do and do not develop posttraumatic stress disorder

The purpose of this study was to test a variation of the stress-evaporation theory, which maintains that posttraumatic stress disorder (PTSD) symptoms are simply exacerbations of behaviors present before the trauma. Retrospective childhood self-ratings were made by 63 PTSD patients, 53 psychiatric controls, and 28 normals on 13 PTSD-like symptoms. The results did not support the hypothesis, and they give more support to the residual-stress model than to the stress-evaporation theory.

The comparative validities of six MMPI repression scales

The validities of six MMPI repression scales were compared using each of the other five and an independent measure as criteria (N = 190). The data gave little support to the Eichman, Welsh, and Haan Repression scales as operational definitions of this construct. The results for the Little-Fisher Denial, Byrne et al. R-S, and Haan Denial scales showed more promise.

THE MMPI'S OF LEFT- AND RIGHT-HANDED SUBJECTS

Previous research has suggested that left-handedness relates to delinquency and violence. In an effort to pinpoint the nature of this apparent relationship, we compared the MMPIs of 72 left- and 687 right-handed men 60 yr. old or less on an alcohol treatment ward. No significant differences appeared. The results are compared to earlier research and hypotheses for further research are suggested.

Performance asymptotes in schizophrenia: a further test of the Broen-Storms theory.

Broen and Storms have developed a theory that attributes schizophrenic cognitive deficit to the combination of high drive levels and low response strength ceiling. The authors tested four hypotheses drawn from the theory in a multiple-choice paired associates learning study (N = 90). The hypotheses were that schizophrenics would demonstrate faster acquisition of reinforced (dominant) responses, lower peak performances, and greater declines in post-peak performance than would two comparison groups. They also hypothesized that all three groups would manifest declines in number of dominant responses after peak performance levels were reached. None of the hypotheses was supported. These results, and the majority of the earlier research on the Broen-Storms hypothesis, cast doubt on the utility of the theory.