Degree Department

A Comparison of Psychological and Physiological Components of Migraine and Combination Headaches (open access)

A Comparison of Psychological and Physiological Components of Migraine and Combination Headaches

To aid in understanding headache etiology and symptomatology, psychological and physiological variables were examined in patients with migraine and combination headaches (combined migraine and muscle-contraction headaches). One hundred patients being evaluated for treatment of their headaches at The New England Center for Headache participated in this study. They were assigned to the migraine or combination group, based on diagnoses made by three headache specialists—a psychologist, a psychiatrist, and a nuerologist. Personality data from the MMPI and frontalis electromyographic readings reflecting muscle tensions across three stimulus conditions were compared between the two groups. Subjects were also asked to rate the perceived level of stress elicited by the three conditions.
Date: December 1981
Creator: Weeks, Randall E.
System: The UNT Digital Library
Group Rational Emotive Therapy Versus Usual Group Therapy in Residential Treatment of Alcoholism (open access)

Group Rational Emotive Therapy Versus Usual Group Therapy in Residential Treatment of Alcoholism

The goal of this experiment was to determine whether group rational emotive therapy would prove superior to usual group therapy in improving the psychological functioning of male alcoholics in an inpatient treatment facility and to determine if memory dysfunction would impede therapeutic progress. Four areas of psychological functioning were discussed for their relevance to etiology, recidivism, and treatment evaluation; they were depression, self-conception, social anxiety, and cognitive functioning. Further, rational emotive therapy as a potentially superior treatment for alcoholism was discussed and outcome research was reviewed.
Date: December 1981
Creator: Whitley, Michael D.
System: The UNT Digital Library
Lecithin Therapy for Tardive Dyskinesia (open access)

Lecithin Therapy for Tardive Dyskinesia

Drug-induced tardive dyskinesia, an irreversible involuntary movement disorder caused by neuroleptic drugs, may reflect cholinergic hypofunction in the corpus striatum. Therapeutic results have been reported in trials of choline and lecithin, nutritional substrates which may enhance cholinergic neurotransmission. Lecithin's effects on dyskinetic symptoms were examined in 50 male patients in a double-blind, placebo-controlled trial. Patients were randomly assigned to treatment or control groups; 31 patients were retained in the analytic cohort. Experimental patients were treated with 60 gm/day lecithin (55% phosphatidyl choline) for 11 days. Symptom frequency was rated from videotapes made at baseline, 3 and 11 days of treatment, and 1 week follow-up.
Date: December 1981
Creator: Beckham, Barbara
System: The UNT Digital Library
The Effect of Cognitive Development and Premarital Sexual Permissiveness on Adolescent Pregnancy (open access)

The Effect of Cognitive Development and Premarital Sexual Permissiveness on Adolescent Pregnancy

A literature review revealed 15 variables as commonly studied as associated with adolescent pregnancy. The research showed conflicting results in many of these areas. Twenty-one pregnant and 20 non-pregnant adolescents were tested using the Arlin Test of Formal Reasoning (ATFR) and the Reiss's Premarital Sexual Permissiveness Scale. Pregnant participants were expected to score lower than non-pregnant participants on the ATFR; and, the low permissives (based on responses to the Reiss's Premarital Sexual Permissiveness Scale) were expected to score higher than high permissives on the ATFR. However, the results did not support the hypotheses. Several areas were examined for exploratory purposes. There was a significant difference between high permissives and low permissives for parent/peer orientation for sexual behavior attitudes. Additional exploratory demographic information was collected using a General Information Questionnaire.
Date: December 1988
Creator: Powers, Pamela Kay
System: The UNT Digital Library
Orgasm Consistency, Causal Attribution, and Inhibitory Control (open access)

Orgasm Consistency, Causal Attribution, and Inhibitory Control

A group of 44 high-orgasm-consistency and 34 low-orgasmconsistency women were administered the Harvard Group Scale of Hypnotic Susceptibility, a Sexual Behavior Questionnaire, and the Fall Back Task. Excitatory and inhibitory controlling attitudes as manifested in hypnotic susceptibility, reported control of thinking and movement during coitus, causal attributions, and attitude toward alcoholic beverages were related to orgasm consistency. Women experiencing expectancy disconfirmation for coital outcomes attributed outcomes to unstable factors, supporting the application of Weiner's achievement model to the domain of coital orgasm. High and low consistency women showed different patterns of causal attribution for coital outcomes. High consistency women's attributions fit their reported sexual experiences, while low consistency women's attributions suggested the presence of self-esteem enhancing cognitive distortions.
Date: December 1981
Creator: Bridges, Charles Frederick
System: The UNT Digital Library
Pregnancy-Resolution Correlates: An Exploratory Study into Demographic and Personality Variables (open access)

Pregnancy-Resolution Correlates: An Exploratory Study into Demographic and Personality Variables

This study was designed to explore possible demographic and personality correlates of pregnancy-resolution alternatives. A total of 146 female college students were given the Marlowe-Crowne Social Desirability Scale, the Intrinsic Extrinsic Religious Orientation Scale, a demographic questionnaire, and a Pregnancy-Resolution Questionnaire. The data were analyzed by means of the chi-square statistic and discriminant analysis.
Date: December 1983
Creator: Nystrom, Bruce D. (Bruce David)
System: The UNT Digital Library
Indices of Criminal Thinking: Criminals v. Noncriminals, Males v. Females, and Anglos v. Chicanas/Chicanos (open access)

Indices of Criminal Thinking: Criminals v. Noncriminals, Males v. Females, and Anglos v. Chicanas/Chicanos

Assessment research of forensic populations has largely dealt with finding differences within criminal types. Fourteen of the studies reviewed found no significant differences between types of criminals on test performance. Two of these fourteen found no differences between criminals and noncriminals . The Criminal Thinking Model developed by Yochelson and Samenow proposed a continuum of criminality with every person falling somewhere between the two poles of responsibility and irresponsibility. Perhaps one reason previous research failed to discriminate differences was because they had failed to first establish if criminals differed from noncriminals.
Date: December 1983
Creator: Diaz, Petra Alvarez
System: The UNT Digital Library
A Stress-Inoculation Treatment Procedure for Test Anxiety in Elderly Students (open access)

A Stress-Inoculation Treatment Procedure for Test Anxiety in Elderly Students

The major purpose of this study was to evaluate the efficacy of a stress-inoculation treatment and an equally credible attention-placebo control in alleviating self-reported test anxiety and in facilitating intellectual performance in nontraditional (aged 50 and over) college students. Many studies have demonstrated the efficacy of cognitive-behavioral approaches in the treatment of test anxiety among young college students. The literature suggests that persons returning to school after a long absence who have subsequently enrolled as college students experience greater test anxiety and decrements in test performance in evaluative situations than their younger counterparts.
Date: December 1982
Creator: Kooken, Robert A. (Robert Andrews)
System: The UNT Digital Library