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The concept of insight into psychosis has received scant attention in the psychiatric literature. Various types of insight are described after drawing on such sources as phenomenology, clinical observation and experimental psychology. It is proposed that insight is far from an all or none phenomenon but comprises three overlapping dimensions, namely, the recognition that one has a mental illness, compliance with treatment and the ability to re-label unusual mental events (delusions and hallucinations) as pathological. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

This commentary speaks to several issues that arise from the papers in this special issue. Two articles--Kessler (2002) and Mirowsky and Ross (2002)--focus on a major measurement issue: dimensional versus diagnostic-type assessments. One topic requires greater attention: the correspondence of these measures with the underlying states they supposedly measure--constructs in the psychometric tradition and empirically defined illnesses in the medical or psychiatric tradition. Conclusions about the nature of these unobserved states remain tentative at this time. Three articles--Keyes (2002), Schwartz (2002), and Umberson, Williams, and Anderson (2002)--address the expansion of mental health outcomes. The existing reliance on emotional distress is problematic for sociological research because a single disorder is not a good proxy for estimates of the overall mental health consequences of social arrangements. Although these papers present diverse and sometimes conflicting perspectives, collectively they demonstrate that no one approach to outcomes is best for all research questions. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

The first part of this paper is a response to several recent critiques of labelling theory. The second part assesses the State of the evidence on the labelling theory of mental illness. The majority of the studies reviewed support the theory. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

This paper argues that the question of the relationship between religiosity and mental health has been miscast because both religiosity and mental health have been understood in the discipline from a distinctly modernist perspective. This modernist perspective is characterized by a metaphysic of substances and by empiricism, and it insists that all scientifically interesting relationships must be efficient causal relationships among substances. From this perspective the only legitimate questions revolve around which way the causal arrow points. The paper argues that this framing of the question and the modernist perspective which gives rise to it fail as adequate accounts of either phenomenon and, thus, of their relation. Further, in some fundamental sense the perspective fails to take either religiosity or psychopathology seriously. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

Hypotheses relating family socio-cultural background to behavioral retardation of children are examined in this paper. Data obtained from a stratified-random sample of all Anglo and Mexican-American households in a southern California city of about 100,000 population are used in the research. Generally, the data support the existence of a relationship between family socio-cultural factors of ethnicity, social status, community of origin, and residential mobility and the behavioral retardation of children. When ethnic groups are considered separately, more variance is explained by socio-cultural factors for Mexican-Americans than for Anglos. For both Mexican-Americans and Anglos, the single most important variable explaining families with and without a behaviorally retarded child is mother's education. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

This paper introduces and applies an operationalization of mental health as a syndrome of symptoms of positive feelings and positive functioning in life. Dimensions and scales of subjective well-being are reviewed and conceived of as mental health symptoms. A diagnosis of the presence of mental health, described as flourishing, and the absence of mental health, characterized as languishing, is applied to data from the 1995 Midlife in the United States study of adults between the ages of 25 and 74 (n = 3, 032). Findings revealed that 17.2 percent fit the criteria for flourishing, 56.6 percent were moderately mentally healthy, 12.1 percent of adults fit the criteria for languishing, and 14.1 percent fit the criteria for DSM-III-R major depressive episode (12-month), of which 9.4 percent were not languishing and 4.7 percent were also languishing. The risk of a major depressive episode was two times more likely among languishing than moderately mentally healthy adults, and nearly six times greater among languishing than flourishing adults. Multivariate analyses revealed that languishing and depression were associated with significant psychosocial impairment in terms of perceived emotional health, limitations of activities of daily living, and workdays lost or cutback. Flourishing and moderate mental health were associated with superior profiles of psychosocial functioning. The descriptive epidemiology revealed that males, older adults, more educated individuals, and married adults were more likely to be mentally healthy. Implications for the conception of mental health and the treatment and prevention of mental illness are discussed. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

This paper examines three questions regarding the relationship between marriage and mental health, specifically depression and alcohol problems. First, does marriage lead to improved mental health compared to never marrying? Second, do any mental health benefits of marriage primarily accrue to men? Third, what qualitative aspects of marriage are related to psychological disorder? We explore these questions in a longitudinal sample of young adults sampled at age 21 and again at age 24. We find no indication that marriage reduces depression. Married people do report fewer alcohol problems than the never-married but this could be due to the selection of less problematic drinkers into marriage. We also fail to find that men receive disproportionate mental health benefits from marriage. Finally, we find that marital conflict is associated with problem drinking for men and depression for women. The results indicate the importance of considering stage in the life cycle and gender-sensitive indicators of psychological disorder in studies of marriage and mental health. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

This paper is concerned with the question of response biases in field studies of menial illness. Following a discussion of the possible influence of two response biases which may affect the validity of social science measures-social desirability and acquiescence-the results of a pilot study concerning a psychiatric inventory used by several investigators are presented. Analysis of data from this study reveals that people's evaluation as to the "social desirability" of the inventory items is related both to their position in the status hierarchy and to their reports as to whether or not they have experienced the various symptoms constituting the psychiatric inventory. Thus, the relationship between socioeconomic position and mental health is affected by people's evaluations as to the desirability of mental health inventory items. However, the findings also confirm that the existence of a relationship between socioeconomic position and disorder is not just a result of the hypothesized distortions arising from a response bias. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

This paper coin pares the conceptions of mental illness held by a group of psychiatrists and a random sample of the general public in the same locality. The hypothesis was that the public, but not the psychiatrists, would tend to consider troublesome behavior as being more indicative of mental illness than non-troublesome behavior. Statements representing five pairs of troublesome non-troublesome types of behavior were rated by both groups as indicators of mental illness. Analysis of the data, using the statements at face value and with a weighting system, did not support the hypothesis. Both public and psychiatrists appear to have similar views but not in the expected order. Most notably, manic behavior ranked very low among the conceptions of mental illness. This finding accords with recent reports of a decline in the incidence of manic- depressive psychoses. Is this decline due to changes in modern society that alter public and psychiatric conceptions of mental illness? [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

Justice-involved youths are more likely to have mental health problems than peers in the community. Therefore, it is important to develop an understanding of the antecedents of mental health problems in this group. The present study examined the association between childhood trauma and mental health problems in juvenile justice-involved adolescent males (N = 422), comparing childhood-onset with adolescent-onset offenders. Childhood-onset offenders were more likely than adolescent-onset offenders to report mental health and substance use problems, as well as childhood maltreatment. Via structural equation modeling, we found that childhood trauma predicted mental health problems in both offender groups. Multigroup analysis revealed a moderation effect of offender group: The association between trauma and mental health problems was stronger in adolescent-onset offenders than in childhood-onset offenders. Thus, mental health problems were more prevalent in childhood-onset offenders, but these problems were less well-explained by childhood trauma in childhood-onset than in adolescent-onset offenders. Theoretical and practical implications are discussed. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

U.K. Reserve Forces, principally the Territorial Army (TA), have been increasingly used since the end of the cold war , but there have been some concerns about their mental health problems and also possible unwillingness to remain in service. This article reports on the retention issues of 191 TA personnel who deployed to Iraq from 2003 to 2006. Qualitative data were thematically analyzed from three complementary studies. The authors found that, in 2003, negative aspects of Army organizational culture were reported as the prime reasons for TA personnel wishing to leave the military. In particular , Reservists reported their being unaccepted and underutilized. In contrast, by 2006, TA personnel were generally reporting being satisfied with their work as a Reservist and felt integrated with Regular colleagues. Those who stated they wanted to leave the military now reported it was primarily because of poor military family welfare support. These results suggest that although the British Army appears to have successfully managed the changing role and integration of the TA on operations, family welfare needs further consideration as an important influence on retention. Since the end of data collection for this study, new measures focusing on welfare have been introduced. Future work will assess the impact of these changes. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

Despite high prevalence rates of mental illness, jails often lack validated measures for detecting it, and many of the screening instruments used do not adequately identify depression and trauma-related disorders in women. The authors assessed the validity of the K6 in identifying major depression and PTSD among 515 jailed women, comparing it to two valid and reliable screening tools, the PHQ-9 and the Short Screening Scale for DSM-IV PTSD. The K6 identified 37% of women as having serious mental illness using the customary cut score of 13, with an ROC-AUC value of .92 in detecting major depression or PTSD. However, this cut score misclassified a substantial proportion of women; therefore, a modification of this score may be warranted. Lowering this cut score would increase the number of women identified but may be justified by incarcerated women's high rates of exposure to trauma and the consequences of unmet mental health needs. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

The association between marital status and health among men has been well documented, but few studies track health trajectories following family structure transitions among unmarried fathers. Using the Fragile Families and Child Wellbeing Study this article examines trajectories of paternal mental health and self-rated health, focusing on transitions into and out of residential relationships with the child's biological mother or a new partner during a five-year post-birth period (N = 4,331). Continuously married fathers report higher time-specific self-rated health and fewer mental health problems than continuously single fathers, controlling for underlying health trajectories. The disparity, however does not increase over time, providing little support for the marital resource model during these years. Static group differences suggest that resources fathers carry with them into unions may buffer them from the negative effects of union dissolution. The implications of these findings for cohabitation, as well as selection and causation arguments, are also discussed. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

The study examined relations between caregiver- and child-reported proactive and reactive aggression and psychopathic characteristics (callous/unemotional traits, narcissism, and impulsivity) in a sample of 105 children (69% male) rangingfrom 6 to 12 years of age (M = 9.61, SD = 1.83) who were admitted to a child psychiatric inpatient facility. Caregiver reports of aggression suggested that proactive and reactive aggression were similarly related to callous/unemotional traits and narcisism but that only reactive aggression was associated with impulsivity. In contrast, child reports of proactive aggression, but not reactive aggression, were associated with all three psychopathic characteristics. Theoretical and clinical implications are discussed. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

The duration and conditions of penal confinement (i.e., segregation) in use by our prisons, and regularly upheld by the courts, are so extreme and so harmful that ultimately such confinement should be prohibited as a matter of law and policy. Correctional officials, and the courts, tend to conflate the need to insulate some inmates from each other with the use of a 23/7 regimen of segregation, devoid of social interaction. Inmates suffering with mental illness or who are at risk from such confinement and juveniles are the exceptions, and they have had some success in the courts. This article reviews the relevant history of penal isolation, Supreme Court decisions and other case law, and the evidence of harm caused by extreme penal isolation. It is proposed that the law relating to the acceptable uses of mechanical restraints serve as an analogy for the basic reform in the use of penal isolation. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

Results of a systematic survey of the clinical status of supermax residents, showing the association of mental health issues with disruptive behavior, are followed by eight brief case studies. The survey covers 131 inmates selected at random from Washington;s supermax facilities, representing almost half the residents. From interviews with 87 of these inmates, combined with reviews of medical and institutional behavior records, it is concluded that 45% of supermax residents suffer from serious mental illness, marked psychological symptoms, psychological breakdowns, or brain damage. With this empirical grounding, an argument is presented that the concept of disturbed behavior, notwithstanding its lack of a clear diagnostic reference, is needed if we are to understand interactions between prison settings and the mental health issues of prisoners. The clinical profile and histories of disturbed prisoners provide reasons to establish greater flexibility in prison classification and disciplinary procedures, especially those that determine how long prisoners stay in supermax. Institutional obstacles to flexibility are diagnosed, and the possibility of shrinking supermax populations is proposed. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

Although clergy remain a popular source of advice and assistance for persons dealing with mental health issues, there is little solid empirical evidence about this type of help-seeking. Using data from a special mental health module in the 1996 NORC General Social Survey, we examine popular attitudes toward the role of clergy as frontline mental health workers. Among the key findings: (1) Regular church attenders are more likely to approve of this role, as are biblical literalists, while Catholics are less prone to regard clergy as an appropriate source of mental health assistance. (2) Older persons (ages 60 and over) are much more likely to endorse a mental health role for clergy, while the effects of other sociodemographic characteristics are minimal. (3) Clergy are seen as less appropriate sources of help in cases of certain specific problems, e.g., schizophrenia, and for persons who are perceived to pose a danger to others, Implications of these findings and study limitations are discussed, and several important research directions are identified. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

The article discusses the prognosis of attention-deficit hyperactivity disorder (ADHD) in children. It has been noted that it is the most prevalent and best researched of all the childhood mental illnesses. Neurobiologically based, the notion over the years has been that ADHD is a childhood disorder in which symptoms lessen over time but is seen to be persistent during adulthood. However, positive results are emerging from cognitive approaches to the treatment of adult ADHD.

A large literature has examined the role of "secondary" stressors, such as problems with finances, social support, residential mobility, and children, in producing the well-documented association between divorce and a variety of psychopathological conditions. Much less attention, however, has been paid to variation in the "primary" disruption experience. We address this omission using data from the National Survey of Families and Households to investigate the interrelationships among depression, initiator status, and spousal infidelity. While we find little evidence of direct effects of initiator status or spousal infidelity on post-divorce depression, the importance of these characteristics emerges when they are considered in an interactive context. Specifically, while divorce initiation is associated with reduced depression among individuals with unfaithful spouses, initiation is associated with increased depression in the absence of spousal infidelity. Taken together, our findings suggest that characteristics of the divorce experience may interact in complex ways to produce variation in mental health outcomes. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

The possession of severe mental illness, mainly schizophrenia and affective psychosis, may be perceived in positive terms. We have identified a group of patients, most of them with a history of previous psychotic disorder, who present with deliberately created symptoms and behaviour, and who are defined as having instrumental psychosis. Because most such patients have had a psychotic disorder in the past the symptoms are very like those of a real psychosis. A parallel is drawn with the fictional anti-hero of the Czech nation, the Good Soldier Svejk, who demonstrated both real and instrumental psychosis. A rating scale, the ‘pseudopsychosis inventory’, was devised to identify the main components of this disorder and was applied in 15 consecutive patients presenting with putative psychotic disorders in whom assessment could be made by two raters within five days. The inter-rater reliability of the items of the scale was good (intra-class correlation coefficient 0.68). An epidemiological study with this scale in 45 patients with a putative psychotic disorder suggested the presence of instrumental psychosis in 2. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

Interactive service jobs are an increasingly important feature of the occupational landscape. Despite over a decade of rising employment within this segment of the economy, researchers are only beginning to specify the occupational conditions of service sector jobs and the mechanisms through which such conditions may affect mental health. Here we examine the experience of inauthenticity on the job as useful not only for understanding workers' responses to particular facets of interactive service work but also for identifying the conditions under which such work may lead to increased psychological distress. Findings show that inauthentichy mediates the relationship between interactive service work conditions and depressed mood. Additionally, having to be good at people-handling skills tends to be associated with increased feelings of inauthenticity at work whereas working more frequently with other people and having control over one's work tend to reduce the likelihood of such feelings. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

The article focuses on the role of family, mental health care practice and general practice to manage schizophrenia in Great Britain. In controlling the florid symptoms of schizophrenia, neuroleptic drugs have proven highly effective. Patients and their carers have got good assistatance from education about the nature of schizophrenia to recognize the signs and symptoms of the disorder as well as the patterns that emerge over time.

Work is believed to be important for the mental health of men and women. With limited empirical support, social scientists have argued that employment is important as both an income source and a source of "extraeconomic" benefits as well. The latter include social status, an interpersonal context, and psychologically rewarding activities. Although jobs in the middle and upper status range appear to be obvious sources of extraeconomic benefits, this is less apparent at the lower margins where jobs are less socially desirable. The analyses described here examine the economic and extraeconomic benefits of employment among one portion of the marginal labor force-ex-felons. Drawing on data from TARP, a field experiment involving about 2000 arc-felons released in Texas and Georgia in 1976, a nonrecursive model of the functions of employment was formulated and tested. Using three-stage least squares, employment was found to reduce affective distress among ex-felons by providing both income support and extraeconomic benefits. Furthermore, there were some feedback effects in that affective stress was found to reduce subsequent work activity, further aggravating feelings of displacement and stigmatization among unemployed ex-felons. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

Evidence from a large national survey indicates a significant positive relationship between spouses employment and psychological distress among married men in this country. Employment outside the home is associated with improved mental health among married women. Investigating the determinants of these effects shows that the mental health advantage of employment for women is due to objective changes in their life situations as they move out of the home and into the labor force. We have a less clear understanding of the relationship between spouse's employment and psychological distress among men, but inferential evidence suggests that traditional sex role orientations explain part of this effect. There is no evidence that objective burdens associated with increased housework or childcare responsibilities play a part in the elevated rates of distress reported by husbands. These conclusions are brought together in a discussion of trends in the relationship between sex and psychological distress. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

The article focuses on the effects of household crowding in urban areas. Among the pathological consequences catalogued by the authors are poor mental health, withdrawal, a lack of effective planning, deteriorated physical well-being, poor familial relations and child care. Not incidentally, the number of people in the household has conceptual and analytical implications for the lack of privacy and demands, the two other independent variables. As the number of people increases arithmetically, the complexity of interaction increases as an exponential function. Hence, the degree to which number of people is related to the experiential variables is an important consideration. Unfortunately, the analysis is presented in a way that does not permit us to evaluate the relations between the experiential variables and the components of people-per-room. Curiously, after demonstrating that people-per-room is highly correlated with number of people in the household, the authors do not control for number of people in their analysis. Perhaps the findings would have been very different had they done so.

Is alcoholism regarded as a disease? If so, what are the consequences of this definition? These issues are of major importance to policy makers, mental health professionals, and to alcoholics. However, much of the research regarding these topics has used public opinion polls and doesn't consider role relationships. The present study examines hypothetical role relationships between "normals" and alcoholics. Comparison of answers about alcoholics with those about (1) epileptics or (2) blind persons indicates distinct differences between the stereotypes of and the acceptance of these groups. Alcoholics generally are attributed unfavorable characteristics and a vast majority of the respondents reject them in close relationships. Responses toward the other groups are considerably more favorable. In addition to the between-group differences, additional differences in attitudes are related to the characteristics of the respondents. This finding suggests that although lay perspectives are usually overlooked by service programs, these neglected perspectives are important. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

The hypothesis, suggested by associations found in previous research, that stressful gife events play a direct etiological role in psychological disorders was investigated. Preexistent methodological problems which permitted no clear inference regarding this role were treated. Competing hypotheses which posited that the life event-psychological disorder associations represented confounded relationships among events, pathology, and sociocultural factors were examined and controlled. Data used were from a survey of mothers of 732 children ranging in age from 11 to 23 years old, who constituted the follow-up sample collected five years later from an original sample of 1,034 children randomly selected from a cross-section of Manhattan households. Event scores differing as to the change and undesirability stress conceptions, each objectively and subjectively defined, were studied. No significant differences were found between correlations of event scores with behavioral pathology prior to and after the events. Multiple regression analyses which added event scores after controlling for stressful life processes demonstrated that events made no minimally meaningful contribution to the prediction of any disturbed behavior. The confounding hypothesis rather than the etiological hypothesis was supported and discussed. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

The emergence of community mental health as an important system of mental health care delivery has presumably put into practice an ideology that results in what Dinitz and Beran have referred to as "boundary busting." In a previous article (1971), Dinitz and Beran have asserted that community mental health--unlike previously-established systems--has a greatly expanded domain. They conclude that this will erode the boundaries of systems such as traditional mental health and legal systems. This research is an attempt to assess empirically the existence, extent and variations in boundary busting in the role definition of community mental health workers. In a nation-wide sample of community mental health workers, it was found that considerable boundary busting existed from a personal-professional perspective, but was relatively restricted when organizational factors and medical training were taken into account. The analysis suggests both some support for, and some qualification upon, the conclusions of Dinitz and Beran. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

Social factors unrelated to psychopathological processes are hypothesized to influence the clinical assessment of "dangerousness" in prospective mental patients. Data support the hypothesis in that age, sex, marital status, history of treatment, and status of caller requesting professional intervention are all related to the attribution of "dangerousness." However, the association holds only when the prospective patient has demonstrated "disruptive and disorderly behavior" and, it is assumed, the possibility of dangerousness is being seriously considered. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

Among relatives of formerly hospitalized patients, attitudes toward the etiology of mental illness, the mental hospital, the normaley of former patients, and the responsibility of patients for their condition were assessed by means of short, structured scales. These attitudes were found to be associated with education, age, and verbal ability. There was no relationship, however, between these attitudes and social class, independent of education. The analysis suggests that "enlightened" attitudes toward mental illness can be more parsimoniously accounted for on the basis of differential verbal skills than on the basis of differences in "style of life." Attitudes of relatives were also found to be associated with the post hospital behavior of the patients. Difficulty may be anticipated in implementing procedures to modify the attitudes of patients' family members, for their attitudes appear to be "rooted" in a set of diverse elements that includes socialization as well as situational variables. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

The article presents information on changes related to mental illness and its treatment. It concentrates on the areas of mental illness and personal maladjustment. It focuses on whether folk beliefs concerning causes of mental disorder, folk attitudes toward the victims of disorder, and folk prescriptions for treatment give way to concepts and attitudes based on modern science. It analyzes changes that are taking place in generations of people and the conclusions be drawn by sociologists, social workers, and psychiatrists. It is concluded that the public have become more open to accepting modern and scientific viewpoints about mental illness. It is stated that the psychiatrist is being considered by the public as a logical person to handle cases of mental disorder.

This article looks into the factors and conditions affecting individual mental health. There are several aspects that are focused on in the study of mental health like: (1) genetic and biochemical variability; (2) stress and psychosomatic behavior; and (3) patterns of development. The theoretical contributions and research reports indicates various approaches wherein behavioral contexts are best exemplified in: (1) family and interpersonal competence; (2) age-mates and personal identity; and (3) social and cultural influences. The approaches are represented in attempts to describe, explain, predict, and control the psychological functioning of an individual by educational or therapeutic means through: (1) psychoanalytic formulations; (2) motivation and learning; and (3) cognitive approaches. Finally, the study has been designed to represent the current state of knowledge and research approaches bearing upon individual mental health, yet there are still implicit questions that are needed to be answered.

The article focuses on several studies that discuss the effects of the Second World War on mental health in community life. Various studies were conducted to identify the implications of government policies and political system. One such study examined psychological aspects of the social credit movement in Alberta. During the three-year period just before and after the close of the war, studies on the correlations of socioeconomic and class status were identified. It was noted that there was a direct relationship between mental health and cultural differences. Post war situation had a great impact on the mental health of children. Community plans were made to treat the mental hygiene of veterans and emotionally maladjusted people.

This article looks into the various aspects and conditions of a pre-psychotic personality. In the investigation of a pre-psychotic personality, investigators are hounded with several problems such as: (1) demarcation of the field; (2) limitation of the disorder to a prodromal period of a psychosis which may synonymous to psychoneurosis; (3) the so-called 'border-line' group; and (4) consideration of the disorder as equivalent to potentially psychotic but makes the term partially inclusive. In the administration of the research, several methods were applied such as: (1) clinical or case study methods; (2) questionnaire methods; (3) Rohrschach methods; and (4) psychoanalytic approach. Furthermore, people with such kind of disorder are classified as normals, neurotics, manic depressives, and schizophrenics. Furthermore, studies of the pre-psychotic personality have been handicapped by lack of objectivity and the absence of a sufficiently prolonged period of study. Finally, it is important to have a mental hygiene program that is focused more efficiently and effectively on the sources of mental illness.

So-called "drug psychoses" can be interpreted as the anxiety reaction of a naive user occasioned by his fear that the temporary symptoms of drug use represent a permanent derangement of his mind. Participation in a drug-using subculture tends to minimize such Occurrences, because other users present the person with alternative explanations of his experience that minimize its lasting effects. A comparison of LSD and marihuana use suggests that the number of drug-induced psychoses varies historically, being a function of the historical development of a subculture. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

The present study explores socio-cultural and social-psychological factors associated with the voluntary utilization of a psychiatric outpatient clinic among students on a large university campus. Students who sought psychiatric care as compared to those who did not were (1) more likely to come from groups who were less integrated into traditional social institutions in terms of role expectations, (2) more likely to belong to or identify with other students who were more cosmopolitan in value-orientation and less integrated into the general collegiate milieu, and (3) more likely to have friends with social-emotional problems and were more likely to discuss such problems with greater frequency. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

In psychiatric hospitals, sexual activity between patients raises special difficulties regarding consent. We undertook a questionnaire survey of inpatients in the mental health units of three hospitals to identify the nature and frequency of sexual activity. A contemporaneous staff questionnaire was used in an attempt to validate the patient reports. Of the 100 patients who participated (response rate 60%), 30 reported engaging in some form of sexual activity including 10 who had sexual intercourse. All sexual intercourse was consensual, but only 2 respondents used condoms. Staff questionnaires suggested levels of sexual activity congruent with patient reports. This survey underlines the conflict between an individual's right to sexual expression and the need to protect vulnerable patients. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

The article presents the author's response to the comments made by Walter R. Gove to his article on mental illness. According to the author, Gove refers to observations the author made on the defnitionaI process at two public California institutions in 1958-59. Most admissions during that period were involuntary, and his observations refer primarily to such patients. Moreover, according to the author his article dealt with the screening process, and his point was that what- ever serious screening took place occurred before hospital admission. The purpose of his article was to explain the contingencies under which the screening process varied. According to the author, some of the contingencies affecting the treatment process have changed in recent years, and hopefully they will continue to change further. To treat such processes as patient flow as static and independent of institutional influences is to miss a key sociological issue.