IRVIN D Yalom

Fifteen married, nulliparous women were studied longitudinally over two menstrual cycles. Changes in menstrual symptoms (pain, water retention, autonomic reactions), mood (anxiety, aggression, depression, pleasantness, activation), and sexual arousal were measured. Results indicated that these variables changed cyclically in relation to the menstrual cycle; that the 15 women were generally consistent from one cycle to another in their degree of symptomatology; that this consistency was ...

Two groups of boys exposed prenatally to exogenously administered estrogen and progesterone were studied on several parameters of psychosexual development. Subjects were twenty 6-year-olds and twenty 16-year-olds whose diabetic mothers received these hormones to prevent pregnancy complication. Hormone-exposed boys were compared with same-aged boys whose mothers had not received exogenous hormones and matched for age and socioeconomic class.Sixteen-year-olds exposed to estrogen and ...

THE TRANSIENT mild depression occurring post partum (the "postpartum blues") is so ubiquitous and ostensibly benign that it has not often been deemed worthy of serious study. Consequently, considerable uncertainty exists about the basic characteristics and significance of this syndrome. In females, the study of stress in the life cycle demands attention to endocrine-behavioral interaction, since some of the times of greatest life stress (ie, menarche, pregnancy, and menopause) occur ...

The effects of weekly supportive group meetings for women with metastatic carcinoma of the breast were systematically evaluated in a one-year, randomized, prospective outcome study. The groups focused on the problems of terminal illness, including improving relationships with family, friends, and physicians and living as fully as possible in the face of death. We hypothesized that this invention would lead to improved mood, coping strategies, and self-esteem among those in the treatment ...

"Ask not for whom the bells toll; they toll for thee." John Donne's admonition, though written 350 years ago, endures with astonishing freshness; it speaks to something self-evident, to a truth that is well known to many who have experienced bereavement--that the death of a significant other has the potential to hurl the survivor into a confrontation with his/her own death. A confrontation with death--should we seek it? There is evidence in the clinical literature that in terminally ill ...

OF THE many variables influencing the course of group therapy, one of the most salient is the cohesiveness of the group. This is the report of a research inquiry into one of the important determinants of cohesiveness in therapy groups.Cohesiveness in Small Groups Whatever their structure or function, all small groups may be described in terms of their cohesiveness, which has been defined as "the attraction of membership in a group for its members"1 or "the resultant forces acting on ...

CHRONIC ulcerative colitis is an enigma today, despite many years of study and voluminous publications by persons of diverse interests and backgrounds. As Lepore stated in 1965: ". . . its etiology remains unknown and its treatment unscientific."1 Since Murray's paper in 1930,2 which noted the connection between emotional factors and both mucus colitis and ulcerative colitis, there have been many inquiries into the psychological functioning of ulcerative colitis patients. In general, ...

Our study of Hemingway is not an attempt to explain the man or his art, but rather to illuminate the underlying forces which shaped the content and structure of his work. This artist in particular warrants study: not only was he a stylistic genius of far-reaching literary influence, but he was both mirror to and architect of the 20th-century American character. Hemingway struggled all his life with severe characterologic problems and, in a severe paranoid depression, committed suicide. ...

Clinical and research evidence indicates that the recently bereaved represent a large at-risk population. Bereavement groups constitute a particularly efficient preventive intervention for this high-risk population and thus represent excellent preventive mental health practice. In this paper, we report specifically on the technical and thematic considerations of four bereavement groups that met weekly for eight weeks. Group members were recruited from a consecutive series of individuals ...

WILL an explanatory session preparing prospective patients increase the efficacy of group therapy? This article describes a controlled research project designed to answer this question.The query springs from many sources. Laboratory and clinical group research has demonstrated the crucial importance of early meetings in shaping the future course of a group.1 Group norms established early in the life of the group tend to persist, outliving even a complete turnover in the group ...

A SIGNIFICANT problem of outpatient group therapy is the typically high early attrition rate. Patients who prematurely terminate group therapy derive little, if any, benefit from their therapeutic experience and frequently hinder group progress. This article is based on an intensive study of all patients who dropped out of nine therapy groups in a university hospital outpatient clinic. Through this study we hoped to derive information pertinent both to the group selection procedure and ...

TIME and again group therapy outcome has proven to be a quagmire for clinical researchers. Reviews of evaluation studies have served primarily to underscore the pitfalls involved, which include not only all those encountered in individual therapy evaluation but several idiosyncratic to group therapy.1-3 Satisfactory outcome measures have not been developed; numerous studies have indicated that many prepost psychometric tests, of value in individual therapy outcome studies, do not ...

A total of 209 university undergraduates entered 18 encounter groups which met for a total of 30 hours. Thirty-nine subjects dropped out of the groups, while 170 completed the group experience. Of these, 16 subjects were considered "casualties"—defined as an enduring, significant, negative outcome which was caused by their participation in the group. The most reliable method of identifying casualties was to solicit the opinions of the other group members; the leader was not a valuable ...

Three interactional therapy groups of alcoholic patients (N = 20) were formed, and treatment outcome after eight months and again after 12 months of therapy was compared with the outcome of 17 neurotic patients in comparable therapy. Outcome assessment was obtained from three sources: patient, therapist, and independent judge, using both nomothetic and ideographic measures. The results indicated that although more alcoholic than neurotic patients terminated therapy within the first six ...