ABSTRACT
OBJECTIVE: The aim of this study was to determine whether impairment in visual information processing measured by backward masking was related to high threshold values in the Defence Mechanism Test (DMT) in patients with schizophrenia. METHOD: A total of 20 patients with schizophrenia according to DSM-IV, most of whom were out-patients, were studied with backward masking and a modified version of the DMT (DMTm). RESULTS: Nine of the patients showed an impairment in backward masking. There was a relationship between impairment in backward masking and the DMTm with either no or a late C-phase (correct perception in DMTm) in the first series, and a late perception of the peripheral person in the second series. There was no relationship for the other 14 threshold values. The patients did not have high threshold values in the DMTm as was expected. CONCLUSION: In this sample consisting mainly of out-patients, there were few relationships between impairment in backward masking and high threshold values in DMTm. Their visual information processing was not as disturbed as expected. Most previous studies on both backward masking and the DMT in patients with schizophrenia have been conducted among in-patients, who could be expected to be more disturbed than the out-patients in the present study. The results of studies on in-patients with schizophrenia must not be generalized to include out-patients, and vice versa.
Subject(s)
Cognition/physiology , Defense Mechanisms , Psychological Tests , Schizophrenia/diagnosis , Visual Perception/physiology , Adult , Female , Humans , Male , Perceptual Masking , Psychiatric Status Rating Scales , Schizophrenic Psychology , Sensory Thresholds , Severity of Illness Index , Time FactorsABSTRACT
In a longitudinal study of couples expecting their first child many women experienced a diminished sexual desire, most commonly in the third trimester. Among men it was common only during the third trimester. Decrease in sexual desire influenced sexual frequency and in turn sexual satisfaction. During the first and second trimester there was no relation between the perceived change in sexual desire between women and men. The same was true for sexual satisfaction during the first and third trimester. In women there was a relation between experienced change in sexual behavior during pregnancy and background variables such as age, education, rapport with parents, mood, and worry concerning pregnancy and parturition. This was most marked during the first and third trimesters. In the men, only age, rapport with parents, and worry concerning the fetus were related to changes in sexual behavior.
Subject(s)
Pregnancy/psychology , Sexual Behavior , Adult , Age Factors , Educational Status , Female , Humans , Libido , Longitudinal Studies , Male , Parent-Child Relations , Stress, Psychological/psychologyABSTRACT
In a prospective study of expectant couples 20% of the men suffered from the couvade syndrome. About 80% of both women and men hold their newborn infant to the left and 20% to the right, irrespective of handedness. Compared with others, men with the syndrome more frequently developed a right-side preference in child holding. Right-holding men more often had sons than daughters. Right-holders with the couvade syndrome were more often attached to and more closely identified with their mothers than were right-holding non-sufferers.
Subject(s)
Functional Laterality , Parent-Child Relations , Somatoform Disorders/psychology , Female , Humans , Identification, Psychological , Infant, Newborn , Male , Parents/psychology , Prospective Studies , SyndromeABSTRACT
In a prospective study of couples expecting their first child, 20% of the men suffered from the couvade syndrome. They were older than the unaffected men, and more often had older parents. More of them showed attachment to and identification with their mothers. Men with the couvade syndrome suffered from a greater number of mental symptoms during the pregnancy than did the unaffected men. The couvade syndrome was also commoner when the woman was anxious about the pregnancy as well as parturition.
Subject(s)
Psychophysiologic Disorders/psychology , Adult , Age Factors , Anxiety/psychology , Child , Female , Humans , Identification, Psychological , Male , Mother-Child Relations , Pregnancy , SyndromeABSTRACT
In a prospective study 81 randomly selected parents awaiting their first baby were interviewed early during pregnancy and again during the week after delivery. About 80% of the women and their partners were found to hold their child to the left, and 20% to the right, irrespective of handedness. There was no relation between side preference in child holding in the couples. Common to both sexes is the trend that left-holders are more attached to and identified with the parent of their own sex whereas right-holders are more attached to and identified with the parent of the opposite sex. Right-holders have also more often had mental symptoms prior to pregnancy and were concerned about the pregnancy, delivery and health of the child at birth.
Subject(s)
Functional Laterality , Parent-Child Relations , Coitus , Father-Child Relations , Female , Humans , Identification, Psychological , Infant, Newborn , Male , Mother-Child Relations , Object Attachment , Parents/psychology , PregnancyABSTRACT
In a prospective study a number of women and their husbands were interviewed early on in the pregnancy, in the week after delivery and again 4 months later. The couvade syndrome, in which the father-to-be suffers from somatic symptoms of psychogenic origin connected in some way with his wife's pregnancy, was investigated. Sixteen of the 81 men who participated in the study fulfilled the syndrome criteria. The most common symptoms were weight gain, toothache, loss of appetite, and "other aches". The men with the couvade syndrome had more mental symptoms during the pregnancy period. The syndrome had no relation to the somatic or mental symptoms of the women. It is proposed that the couvade syndrome might be a somatic expression of anxiety.
