The Differentiation of Narrative Styles in Individuals with High Psychopathic Deviate

The current study was designed to show the differentiation of narrative styles in individuals with high scores in Psychopathic deviate (Pd) scale and develop a method enabling identification of psychopathic personality traits based on linguistic indicators. 600 spontaneous narrations related to emotional topics have been examined for grammar, syntactic, and lexical indicators. The indicators have been selected based on a review related to language of psychopaths. The narrations were written by 200 persons who were also tested for psychopathic deviate and intelligence level, including prisoners diagnosed with antisocial personality disorder. Independent judges identified the linguistic indicators which were then counted for each person with the use of computer software. The configuration profiles of the linguistic indicators/narrative styles were established using k-mean clustering method. Then, ANOVA was performed to show which clusters differentiate the levels of psychopathic deviate. The findings show there are two configurations of language features (important: single features were not examined) associated with high levels of psychopathic deviate patterns. Two narrative styles were identified, labelled demonstrative-digressive-egocentric-emotional-dogmatic and reserved-focused on the topic-repetitive, which indicate high psychopathic deviate traits. The ROC curves were applied to establish the prediction of the narrative styles for high psychopathic deviate scores.

Features of emotional status in patient with unstable angina

Funding Acknowledgements Type of funding sources: None. Purpose to study emotional status at patients with unstable angina. Materials and methods 42 men with unstable angina in the age from 40 till 65 years (average age 55.8 ± 1.3 years) were examined. A level of anxiety and the depression were examined by the Hospital Anxiety and Depression Scale (HADS), personality characteristics - by the MMPI questionnaire. Results The patients with unstable angina had 5.4 ± 0.6 (from 2 till 12) score of anxiety level and 5.5 ± 0.6 (from 0 till 16) score of depression level accordingly. Besides 23.5 % of the patients with unstable angina had clinical and subclinical level of anxiety (score > 7 by HADS), 76.5 % of the patients with unstable angina had no anxiety (score ≤ 7 by HADS). However 35.3% of patients with unstable angina had clinical and subclinical level of depression (score > 7 by HADS) and 64.7 % of patients with unstable angina had no depression (score ≤ 7 by HADS). The patients with unstable angina had the such MMPI test parameters accordingly: on scale of Hypochondriasis – 54.2 ± 1.0 score; on scale of Depression – 44.8 ± 2.2 score; on scale of Hysteria – 52.4 ± 1.1 score; on scale of Psychopathic Deviate – 43.5 ± 2.0 score; on scale of Paranoia – 52.2 ± 2.5 score; on scale of Psychasthenia – 48.6 ± 2.4 score; on scale of Schizophrenia – 48.7 ± 2.2 score; on scale of Hypomania – 45.1 ± 1.2 score. Conclusion 23.5 % of the patients with unstable angina had clinical and subclinical level of anxiety and 35.3% - depression. These patients need correction of anxiety and depression, that should be considered in treatment and rehabilitation.

A psychological study of people who seek orthodontic treatment: Comparison with untreated controls

Objective Improvement in appearance is an important motivation for orthodontic treatment; nevertheless, not all patients with malocclusion seek treatment; therefore, the aim of this study was to compare the psychological state of patients with moderate to severe malocclusion who seek orthodontic treatment with patients who suffer from similar malocclusion but do not seek treatment. Materials and Methods Minnesota multiphasic personality inventory-2 questionnaire which assesses psychological states of people were given to 100 subject with moderate to severe malocclusion who were undergoing orthodontic treatment and 100 subjects with similar malocclusion who did not request orthodontic treatment. All subjects had similar demographic variables. Clinical scales measured by the test included: Hypochondriasis, depression, hysteria, psychopathic deviate, paranoia, psychasthenia, schizophrenia, and hypomania. The questionnaire consisted of 71 questions, and the subjects had to mark “True” or “False” in response. The scores were transformed into T-scores by a trained psychologist. The results were evaluated by independent t-test. Results and Conclusion The results of the test showed that both treated and untreated subjects were in similar psychological state and were psychologically normal; therefore, it is likely that other factors affect patients’ willingness for seeking orthodontic treatment rather than their psychological state.

Investigation of schema modes currently activated in patients with psychiatric disorders

Objectives: To investigate schema modes currently activated in individuals with psychiatric disorders and to attain a greater understanding of healthy and dysfunctional schema modes in this population. Furthermore, we wish to ascertain if individuals who fulfil criteria for clinical (psychiatric) disorders with the Minnesota Multiphasic Personality Inventory (MMPI), also manifest dysfunctional modes and weaker healthy modes on the Schema Mode Inventory (SMI).Method: Fifty individuals were administered the MMPI and SMI during routine psychological assessments between September 2008 and June 2010.Results: Both healthy schema modes (Happy Child (HC) and dysfunctional schema modes (Compliant Surrender (CS), Detached Self-soother (DSS) and Demanding Parent (DP)) were evident in this population. Positive correlations were noted between several dysfunctional schema modes from the Child, Maladaptive Coping and Maladaptive Parent domains of the SMI and several scales of the MMPI including: Depression (D), Psychopathic deviate (Pd), Masculine feminine (Mf), Paranoia (Pa), Psychasthenia (Ps), Mania (Ma), Schizophrenia (Sc), and Social introversion (Si) (p < 0.001). A negative correlation (p < 0.001) was found between the Healthy Adult (HA) and Happy Child (HC) schema modes of the SMI and the Hypochondriasis (Hs), Depression (D), Psychopathic deviate (Pd), Psychasthenia (Pt), and Social introversion (Si) scales of MMPI.Conclusion: This study demonstrates the presence of several dysfunctional schema modes in individuals with a wide range of clinical (psychiatric) disorders and a strong correlation between dysfunctional schema modes and clinical disorders of the MMPI. The SMI can aid in the assessment and understanding of individuals with a wide range of psychiatric disorders and can also form the basis for Schema Focused Therapy (SFT), a therapy showing promise for a number of clinical conditions, particularly borderline personality disorder.

Moral Reasoning, Interpersonal Skills, and Cognition of Rapists, Child Molesters, and Incest Offenders

54 inmates were subdivided into four groups and classified according to their index offense. The groups included Rapists ( n = 14), Incest Offenders ( n = 9), Child Molesters ( n = 11), General Offenders ( n = 20). Nonoffenders ( n = 20) were included as a control group. Psychometric tests including the Test of Nonverbal Intelligence, the Defining Issues Test, Survey of Interpersonal Values, Porteus Maze, and Minnesota Multiphasic Personality Inventory were administered to all inmate and control groups. Analysis showed the rapists and child molesters scored higher on moral reasoning on the Defining Issues Test; also rapists' scores were more elevated on the Psychopathic Deviate and Paranoia scales of the Minnesota Multiphasic Personality Inventory than those of other offender and control groups. These results imply that rapists and child molesters have the ability to understand moral issues; however, given their personality orientation, they ignore these interpersonal social values.

Harris-Lingoes MMPI–2 Pd Subscales and the Assessment of Law Enforcement Candidates

This study analyzed the performance of 111 male law enforcement applicants on MMPI–2 Harris-Lingoes Psychopathic Deviate (Pd) subscales. Applicants' self-descriptions derived from their scores on these subscales showed greater confidence and resistance to authority and less social alienation and personal unhappiness than the MMPI–2 national normative sample. A multiple regression analysis indicated that Pd2 (Authority Problems) was the best predictor of K-corrected Pd scores for the sample of applicants.