[Medical hypnosis in cases of herpes labialis improves resistance for recurrence. A pilot study]. / Hypnotherapie bei Herpes labialis verbessert Rezidivneigung. Eine Pilotstudie.

The present study examined the effectiveness of a hypnotherapeutic treatment program for patients suffering from recurrent orofacial herpes infections. Twenty-one patients were randomly allocated to either an experimental group (n=10) or a control condition (n=11). During five weekly individual therapy sessions the participants received symptom-oriented treatment. In addition, they learnt how to improve their stress coping skills and their management of aversive emotions. The final assessment took place 6 months after treatment. Besides documentation of the frequency and intensity of symptoms, questionnaires were administered to assess stress coping mechanisms (SVF), skin disease-related subjective strain (MHF) and perceptions of control (KKG). A significant reduction of disease intensity could be confirmed. Individual scales of the SVF and MHF also revealed significant results. For an effective treatment of severe herpes infections a mere focus on physical changes appears to be insufficient. A common reflection of a person's sensuality and expectations of closeness and distance seem to influence treatment success remarkably.

[Clinical hypnosis. Current status of theory and empirical aspects]. / Klinische Hypnose. Gegenwärtiger Stand der Theorie und Empirie.

Hypnosis as a traditional healing method, in its more recent development, has generated a multitude of techniques. These serve as practical tools which can be combined with other therapy techniques for the treatment of medical, psychosomatic and neurotic disorders. Based on 80 group studies (to date) the empirical evidence for the effectiveness of hypnosis is considerable and proves its clinical impact in various areas of application. As a theoretical foundation a number of hypotheses have been formulated, which describe hypnosis as a complex phenomenon with biological, cognitive and social aspects.

[A concept of social support for acute schizophrenic patients. Time series analysis of daily fluctuations of psychotic markers]. / Ein Konzept der sozialen Unterstützung für akut Schizophrene. Zeitreihenanalysen täglicher Fluktuationen psychotischer Merkmale.

Findings of 12 single case studies which documented and analyzed the course of features typical in an acute psychotic episode during a milieu-therapeutic treatment are reported (criteria: DSM-III-schizophrenia). Three different stages in treatment are distinguished (relaxation-activation-integration). Each stage can be described as a decrease in stimulus protection with a concurrent continual increase in psychosocial demands. The purpose of this study is to verify whether stable differences in psychotic characteristics exist between the disparate stages, and whether stage assignment is sensitive to changes in psychotic features. The results of the statistical data analysis according to the ARIMA-intervention-model demonstrate a significant reduction in psychotic features in relation to treatment stages (10 and 8 out of 12 time series respectively). Hypothetical changes were specified as starting abruptly and as being permanent.

[The Anger Processing Scale. I. Item analysis and reliability determination]. / Die Argerverarbeitungsskala. I. Itemanalyse und Reliabilitätsbestimmung.

An inventory for assessing different anger-coping strategies was designed. The initial item pool contained 51 items and was presented to a heterogeneous group of 412 subjects. Factoranalytic and itemmetric analyses resulted in a 28 item anger-coping inventory. The factors spontaneous behaviour, controlled affect, guilt and social inhibition were identified. Internal consistency data of the factors (cronbach-alpha) varried between 0.67 and 0.81. In a second analysis the 28 item scale were presented to a heterogeneous group of 100 subjects. In the following analysis the complete factor structure could be replicated, except for three items. This inventory can be used as an instrument for assessing different anger-coping strategies. Clinical application is discussed.

Symptomatology and psychological aspects of male sexual inadequacy: results of an experimental study.

Forty-two male patients and their sexual partners were studied. Sixteen of the patients had psychogenic erectile failure (eight each with the primary and secondary forms), 16 were premature ejaculators, and 10 had diabetes-related impotence. Because of the higher mean age of the diabetics, two control groups were used, an age-matched older group (eight healthy males and their partners) and an age-matched younger group (16 healthy males and their partners). The results for the various groups on a semi-standardized interview about sexual behavior and on five psychological assessment scales were compared. Of the 88 questions on the semi-standardized interview, 11 permitted assignment of the patients to the correct group. The diabetics suffered from "prevailing erectile impotence." They viewed themselves as being less disturbed sexually than the other patients did, although on the basis of their symptoms their impotence was actually more severe. The patients with psychogenic erectile impotence had a "situational" sexual disorder in which sexual anxiety played an important role. They viewed themselves as more insecure than the diabetics and the controls and they overidealized their partners and mothers. There appear to be two subgroups of premature ejaculators: The E1 group of patients seemed to be less "neurotic" than the E2 group. On the psychological measures the latter was quite similar to the group of patients with psychogenic erectile impotence. All patient groups except E1 were significantly more depressed than the control groups.