The dependent patient in a psychiatric inpatient setting: relationship of interpersonal dependency to consultation and medication frequencies.

To examine the relationship between interpersonal dependency and medical service use in a hospital setting, the number of medical consultations and psychotropic medication prescriptions were compared in matched, mixed-sex samples of 40 dependent and 40 nondependent psychiatric inpatients. Results indicated that dependent patients received more medical consultations and a greater number of medications than did nondependent patients with similar demographic and diagnostic profiles. Implications of these results for theoretical models of interpersonal dependency and for previous research on the dependency-help-seeking relationship are discussed. Practical implications of these findings for work with dependent patients are summarized.

Dependency and suicidality in psychiatric inpatients.

One hundred fifty-two psychiatric inpatients (91 women and 61 men) completed widely used objective (i.e., self-report) and projective measures of interpersonal dependency; scores on these measures were compared to two indices of suicidality derived from patients' chart records (i.e., number of past suicide attempts and physician judgments of suicidality at admission). High objective dependency scores were associated with high suicidality scores in women and men, even when level of depression was controlled for statistically. Projective dependency scores were unrelated to both suicidality indices.

Construct validity of the Rorschach Oral Dependency (ROD) Scale: relationship of ROD scores to WAIS-R scores in a psychiatric inpatient sample.

Three-hundred and two psychiatric inpatients (166 women and 136 men) completed Masling, Rabie, and Blondheim's Rorschach Oral Dependency (ROD) Scale and the Weschler Adult Intelligence Scale Revised (WAIS-R). As predicted, ROD scale scores were unrelated to WAIS-R scores in subjects of either sex. These findings support the discriminant validity of the ROD scale as a measure of interpersonal dependency, and suggest that deficits in intellectual ability do not underlie the dependency-related behaviors (e.g., suggestibility, conformity, interpersonal yielding) that are associated with high scores on the ROD scale. Implications of these findings for research on the dependency-academic performance relationship are discussed, and suggestions for future studies assessing the convergent and discriminant validity of the ROD scale are offered.

Expression and regulation of constitutive and acute phase serum amyloid A mRNAs in hepatic and non-hepatic cell lines.

'Acute phase' and 'constitutive' SAA (A-SAA and C-SAA, respectively) mRNA levels were measured in hepatic and non-hepatic cell lines after treatment with monocyte conditioned medium (MoCM), with or without dexamethasone (Dex). A-SAA mRNAs were detected in MoCM-treated hepatoma cell lines (PLC/PRF/5, HuH7, HepG2, and Hep3B), a fibroblast cell line (MRC5), six epithelial cell lines (RT4/ 31, SW13, Hela Ohio, HCT-8, CaCo2, and KB), and an endothelial cell line ECV304. In KB cells, Dex alone caused a dramatic increase in A-SAA mRNA levels. C-SAA was detected in all hepatic and non-hepatic cell lines. Two differentially regulated size classes of C-SAA mRNA were detected in the hepatoma cell lines. A-SAA mRNA levels were measured in ECV304 cells treated with IL-1 beta, IL-6, TNF alpha and Dex, in various combinations, and revealed different profiles to those seen for hepatic cells. The extent of polyadenylation of A-SAA mRNA in ECV304 and KB cells differed whereas the polyadenylation of C-SAA mRNA remained constant. These data suggest that the parameters that determine the steady state mRNA levels and post-transcriptional regulation of A-SAA and C-SAA mRNAs are different and are cell type specific.

Dependency and alexithymia in psychiatric inpatients.

Research has demonstrated that alexithymic persons show a kind of defensive pseudonormality on psychological tests, minimizing problems and refusing to acknowledge psychological symptoms. The present study investigated whether alexithymic individuals are also unwilling to acknowledge the presence of a personality trait that is perceived by most adults as being undesirable (i.e., dependency). A mixed-sex sample of 372 psychiatric inpatients (209 women and 163 men) was screened for level of alexithymia; they completed self-report and projective measures of dependency. As predicted, there were significant negative correlations between alexithymia scores and scores on self-report measures of dependency in subjects of both sexes, but no significant relationships between subjects' alexithymia scores and their scores on the projective dependency measures. Apparently, alexithymic and nonalexithymic persons have comparable underlying dependency needs, but alexithymic persons are unwilling to acknowledge these needs on self-report tests.

Radioimmunoassay for the determination of alosetron in human urine and saliva.

The development of a radioimmunoassay (RIA) for the sub-ng ml-1 determination of alosetron, a potent and selective 5HT3 receptor antagonist, in human urine and saliva is described. The antiserum was raised in Soay sheep following primary and booster immunizations with an immunogen prepared by conjugating alosetron-p-azobenzoic acid to bovine serum albumin (BSA). The radioligand consisted of alosetron specifically 125-iodinated on the 2-position of the imidazole group. The mean (+/- standard deviation) theoretical sensitivity (minimum detectable dose corresponding to the imprecision of the zero standard) of the RIA is 3.2 +/- 2.6 pg ml-1 (n = 12) of alosetron in assay diluent (0.1% m/v gelatine-0.05% m/v sodium azide in 0.1 mol l-1 phosphate buffer solution, pH 7.4). The working calibration range using 0.1 ml samples of saliva and 20-fold diluted urine is 0.10-6.40 ng ml-1 of alosetron. Urine samples were diluted prior to assay to overcome adverse matrix effects; consequently, the lower limit of quantification for undiluted urine is 2.0 ng ml-1 of alosetron. Inter- and intra-assay bias and imprecision over the working calibration range were generally < +/- 12% and < 13%, respectively, except at the 0.10 ng ml-1 alosetron level, where the corresponding values were < +/- 17.3% and < 20.2%. The antiserum was free from adverse cross-reactivity with either a synthetic precursor of alosetron or with four major metabolites of the drug.(ABSTRACT TRUNCATED AT 250 WORDS)

Construct validity of a self-report measure of alexithymia in a psychiatric inpatient sample.

This study examined the construct validity of a widely used self-report measure of alexithymia in a mixed-sex sample of 101 psychiatric inpatients (62 women and 39 men). Contrary to expectations, scores on Shipko and Noviello's (1984) alexithymia scale (SNALEX) were: (1) correlated positively with a Rorschach index of verbal productivity; (2) unrelated to a Rorschach index of adaptive use of fantasy; (3) correlated negatively with scores on the MMPI L and K scales and correlated positively with scores on the MMPI F scale; and (4) correlated negatively with subject age. In addition, SNALEX scores were correlated negatively with scores on Klieger and Kinsman's (1980) alexithymia scale (KKALEX) in subjects of both sexes. These results do not support the construct validity of the SNALEX as a measure of alexithymia is psychiatric inpatients.

Parental perceptions and psychopathology.

Various theories of personality and psychopathology hypothesize that there should be a relationship between parental perceptions and level of psychopathology. However, there has been relatively little research investigating the parental perceptions-psychopathology relationship, and much of the research in this area has been methodologically flawed. The present study tested four hypotheses regarding the parental perceptions-psychopathology relationship, using a parental representations measure that circumvents many of the problems that have characterized previous research on this topic. Results indicated that psychiatric patients (N = 66): a) viewed both parents more negatively than did members of a matched sample of 66 normal subjects; b) expressed significantly greater ambivalence regarding both parents than did normal subjects; and c) described both parents at a more primitive conceptual level than did normal subjects. As predicted, there was a parallel relationship between perceptions of the parents and overall level of psychopathology within the inpatient sample. The findings are discussed in the context of traditional trait-oriented personality theories as well as more recent social learning theories of personality.

Oral-dependence and gender: factors in help-seeking response set and self-reported psychopathology in psychiatric inpatients.

Psychoanalytic theory suggests that orality and being female are positively related to adopting a help-seeking stance in the world. This may result in inflated scores on self-report psychological tests. These hypotheses were investigated using Rorschach-based, oral-dependence scores (Masling, 1986), the Minnesota Multiphasic Personality Inventory (MMPI) help-seeking F minus K index (Gough, 1950; Meehl, 1951), and the MMPI clinical and supplementary scales. High orals are found to be more likely than low orals to adopt a help-seeking response set which in turn results in inflated scores on a number of MMPI clinical scales. Contrary to stereotypes, women are no more likely than men to be help seeking or oral dependent. Several other significant findings, including that orality is positively related to MMPI Scale 2 (Depression) scores for women, not men, are also discussed.

The construct validity of the MMPI alexithymia scale with psychiatric inpatients.

Relatively few studies have addressed the issue of the Minnesota Multiphasic Personality Inventory (MMPI) alexithymia scale's construct validity. In this study, the validity of the scale is supported by the finding of a significantly lower percentage of alexithymic individuals in a large sample of psychiatric inpatients than in samples of patients with a variety of physical disorders (i.e., migraine headaches, asthma bronchitis/emphysema, and hypertension). Validity of the scale is further supported through a comparison of the alexithymic and nonalexithymic psychiatric inpatients on a series of Rorschach and MMPI variables. As predicted, alexithymics were less verbally productive, displayed less ability to fantasize, and demonstrated greater defensive pseudonormality. Results suggest the measure may be of value in studies of psychiatric patients as well as those with physical disorders.

Anality and Type A coronary-prone behavior pattern.

The extent of overlap between the descriptively similar Type A coronary-prone behavior pattern and the psychoanalytic anal character was investigated empirically. Pearson product-moment correlations were computed on the scores of three samples of male introductory psychology, students on the Kline Ai3 anality scale and the Jenkins Activity Survey. As predicted three positive correlations resulted, two significant and the third a trend with an overall combined significant probability for the three samples (p < .005). The implications of these findings for the Type A literature are discussed.