American Journal of Psychiatry

JONES, WARREN L.

doi: 10.1176/appi.ajp.125.8.1115pmid: 5794852

WARREN L. JONES M.D. 1 1 Private practice at 301 E. Colorado Blvd., Suite 530, Pasadena, Calif. 91101, instructor with the Southern California Psychoanalytic Institute The test of an individual's growth is his capacity to relate effectively and intimately to significant others. A challenge in adult life is to achieve a marriage that contains creative communication. It is necessary for an individual to be intact as a person in order for him to develop a capacity to relate empathically and knowingly with a mate. If this relating is mutual, a synergism of gratifying stimulation to each is the outcome. The psychiatrist's activity in conjoint therapy is to facilitate empathic communication and to assist with the working through of regressive, defensive investments within the marital relationship.

CAPPON, DANIEL

doi: 10.1176/appi.ajp.125.8.1048pmid: 5794849

DANIEL CAPPON M.B., D.P.M. 1 1 Clinical professor of psychiatry, University of Maryland School of Medicine, Baltimore, Md. The author reports a study of orientational percept (OP) distortions using 20 depersonalized and derealized patients and matched controls. His findings tend to support a heuristic theory of abnormal (verbal) behavior relating reports of OP distortions to the symptoms of depersonalization and derealization. The indices of OP and of depersonalization, derealization relate reliably to other more established predictors of psychiatric states and to the verbal behavior of patients and controls.

PENICK, S. B.; CARRIER, RUSSELL N.; SHELDON, JUDITH B.

doi: 10.1176/appi.ajp.125.8.1063pmid: 4893840

S. B. PENICK M.D. 1 , RUSSELL N. CARRIER M.D. 2 , , and JUDITH B. SHELDON R.N. 3 1 Director of research, Carrier Clinic Foundation, Belle Mead, N. J. 08502 2 President, the Carrier Clinic 3 Research assistant, Carrier Clinic Foundation, Belle Mead, N. J. 08502 Earlier studies of the effectiveness of metronidazole in treating alcoholism have reported divergent findings. The authors tested the drug vs. placebo in a long-term, double-blind study of 100 alcoholic patients; the drug failed to demonstrate a significant positive effect on abstinence. The only positive finding was a "metronidazole effect"—a decreased desire for and tolerance of alcohol—which was slightly linked with treatment success. The authors suggest that metronidazole may be useful as an adjunct to therapy with patients who develop this effect.

SABSHIN, MELVIN

doi: 10.1176/appi.ajp.125.8.1005pmid: 5794844

MELVIN SABSHIN M.D. 1 1 Professor and head, department of psychiatry, University of Illinois College of Medicine, P.O. Box 6998, Chicago, Ill. 60680 The author describes the opposition to community mental health that has developed among various professional and nonprofessional groups, indicating the reasons for their opposition. He believes that while coalitions will develop among several of the groups, there will be no unified anti-community mental health "movement." Community mental health advocates can help to meet the challenges of their critics by carrying on research and developing an adequate theoretical base for various forms of intervention.

RALPH N. WHARTON

doi: N/Apmid: N/A

MACK, JOHN E.

doi: 10.1176/appi.ajp.125.8.1083pmid: 4893842

JOHN E. MACK M.D. 1 1 Assistant clinical professor of psychiatry, Harvard Medical School, 74 Fenwood Rd., Boston, Mass. 02115 There is a great need to deepen our understanding of the psychological forces which motivate individuals whose actions in the public sphere affect the lives of all of us. T. E. Lawrence, because of an extraordinary gift of psychological insight and a compelling need for introspection brought about by his emotional suffering in World War I, has proved to be an excellent subject for such study. In this essay the author concentrates on one aspect of his psychology, the problem of self-esteem, and the relationship between this problem and Lawrence's public actions.

GRINSPOON, LESTER

doi: 10.1176/appi.ajp.125.8.1074pmid: 5794850

LESTER GRINSPOON M.D. 1 1 Associate clinical professor of psychiatry, Harvard Medical School, and director of psychiatry (research), Massachusetts Mental Health Center, 74 Fenwood Rd., Boston, Mass. 02115 Although institutions may take impressive steps to safeguard the physical health of their highest decision-makers, they tend to ignore and in fact exclude provision for safeguarding vital interpersonal needs. The successful executive experiences a restriction of freedom in his relationships with other people, lessened objectivity and candidness among his subordinates, and increasing isolation and loneliness. There is no easy way for decision-makers and institutions to compensate for these psychosocial constraints, but the importance of devising some means seems clear.

SARBIN, THEODORE R.

doi: 10.1176/appi.ajp.125.8.1024pmid: 5794846

THEODORE R. SARBIN PH.D. 1 1 Professor of psychology and of criminology, University of California, Berkeley, Center for Advanced Studies, Wesleyan University, Middletown, Conn. 06457 Social, or folk, typing can be used to identify individuals who occupy relatively undifferentiated social positions and thus cannot be adequately distinguished from other members of a collectivity by means of role characteristics. The author discusses the hippie as a folk type resembling that of the early gnostics and offers some speculations, based upon observations of the fate of similar historical groups, about the ultimate destiny of the hippie type.

ALBERT SATTIN

doi: N/Apmid: N/A

VIDAVER, ROBERT M.

doi: 10.1176/appi.ajp.125.8.1013pmid: 5794845

ROBERT M. VIDAVER M.D. 1 1 Director of psychiatric education, State of Maryland Department of Mental Hygiene, 301 W. Preston St., Baltimore, Md. 21201, assistant clinical professor of psychiatry, University of Maryland School of Medicine, and instructor in psychiatry, Johns Hopkins University School of Medicine, Baltimore Alternative pathways to traditional graduate education and the national emergence of community college curricula leading to associate of arts degrees in a variety of human service fields are discussed in relation to Maryland's mental health technician program. Emphasizing the need, initially, for "generalist" skills, the author proposes an open-ended system for the technicians' continued educational and professional growth through subspecialty in-service courses, opportunities for advanced collegiate education, and administrative channels for lateral and vertical mobility.