Short-term Treatment Program Research Articles

A group treatment program for bulimia nervosa

Seventeen female patients diagnosed as exhibiting bulimia nervosa participated in a shortterm group treatment program. A combination of exposure with response prevention, life skills training, and psychodynamic group interaction was provided. Results in pretest vs. posttest scores on a battery of tests demonstrated improved control over eating behavior and lowered anxiety and depression.

Serious delinquent behavior as part of a significantly handicapping condition: cures and supportive environments.

The past 20 years have been productive ones for the field of applied behavior analysis. A brief review of our own efforts during this period reveals that we have accomplished several but not all of our goals for the Teaching-Family approach. In this context, we note that the setting of realistic and appropriate goals is important for the field and for society. Moreover, we suggest that the realistic goal for some persons with serious delinquent behavior may be extended supportive and socializing treatment rather than permanent cure from conventional short-term treatment programs. We base this suggestion on the accumulating evidence that serious delinquent behavior may often be part of a significantly disabling and durable condition that consists of multiple antisocial and dysfunctional behaviors, often runs in families, and robustly eludes effective short-term treatment. Like other significant disabilities such as retardation, autism, and blindness, the effects of this condition may be a function of an interaction of environmental and constitutional variables. We argue that our field has the wherewithal to construct effective and humane long-term supportive environments for seriously delinquent youths. In this regard, we explore the dimensions, rationales, logistics, and beginnings of a new treatment direction that involves long-term supportive family treatment. We contend that such supportive families may be able to provide long, perhaps even lifetime, socializing influences through models, values, and contingencies that seem essential for developing and maintaining prosocial behavior in these high-risk youths.

Factors influencing treatment outcome and patient satisfaction in a short-term psychiatric ward. A path analysis study of the importance of patient involvement in treatment planning.

Factors influencing treatment outcome and patient satisfaction in a short-term psychiatric treatment programme were analysed using a path analysis method. The programme used two models of treatment planning, one with and one without active participation of the patient in formulating a written treatment contract. A causal structural model, which explained 23% of the variance in the model, was used in the final analysis. The results indicated a positive relationship between a cooperation contract procedure and the level of expectations of improvement as well as high ratings of the importance of the patients own effort in treatment. The level of expectations of improvement were related to the symptom level at discharge and global improvement during treatment, indicating a better treatment outcome for the patients of the cooperation contract group, while the importance of own effort was not related to treatment outcome. Symptoms at discharge were mainly determined by symptoms at admission and global improvement, and also by expectations of improvement, initial psychic status and social background. The explained variance was 63%. Satisfaction with treatment was mainly determined by global improvement, symptoms at discharge and expectations of improvement. The explained variance was 60%. It is concluded that attention to patient expectations of improvement viewed as an important intermediate variable, is related to a an improvement in treatment outcome.

Treatment of disfluency: Future trends

Factors impeding the development of innovative stuttering treatment programs in the United States are described. The United States clinicians' obsession with employing learning paradigms to explain and treat stuttering is suggested as a major factor impeding the development of more effective treatment strategies. The perpetuation of the “frequency fallacy,” which suggests that disfluency counts are the single most valid measure of stuttering is one result of this fixation on learning models. The fear of early intervention is another. Future trends are discussed with respect to the adoption of more meaningful therapy goals, an increasing emphasis on early intervention, an awareness of the significance of metalinguistic skills to early intervention, the value of commercially produced therapy programs, an increased awareness of the limitation of short-term intensive treatment programs, the recognition of the life-long chronic stutterer, and the development of support systems for the adult stutterer.

A short-term intensive treatment program for the alcoholic.

This article presents a description of a short-term, intensive (3-4 weeks) treatment program for the chronic alcoholic. Recent studies suggest a trend toward shorter treatment programs. This condensation of treatment implies that treatment be reviewed and program philosophy restructured to meet the new time constraints. The treatment modalities of such an intensive program are discussed and early follow-up questionnaire data are presented. Findings indicate that: (1) sobriety decreased over time following discharge, (2) employment increased, and (3) 50% or more of the clients availed themselves of treatment-oriented services following discharge (i.e., Alcoholics Anonymous, group or individual psychotherapy).

An information processing system for the psychiatric emergency room

An information processing system for a psychiatric emergency room is described. Several studies are presented that show the utility of the system. In the first study, variables involved in diagnosis are explicated. The second study attempts to determine the characteristics that distinguish recidivists from nonrecidivists at an emergency room. The third study attempts to find patient variables related to success in short-term treatment programs. The final study is aimed at discovering whether there are psychopathological effects related to the use of inhalants. Together, these studies show the potential of a mental health information system for learning more about the nature of mental disorders and their treatment.

Results of a longitudinal evaluation of court-mandated DWI treatment programs in Phoenix, Arizona.

This article evaluates rehabilitation activities of the Alcohol Safety Action Program in Phoenix, Arizona. The short-term rehabilitation study called for random assignment of persons arrested for driving while intoxicated (DWI) to short-term treatment and control (minimum-exposure) conditions. A test battery, the Life Activities Inventory, was developed to permit assessment of treatment outcome in terms of a number of dimensions of client behavior. The results of this analysis raise doubts about the effects of short-term treatment on the behavior of DWI offenders referred by the courts, for men in three types of short-term treatment programs showed few differences in drinking patterns, drinking-related behavior and social adjustment at 6 months, 12 months and 18 months after treatment.

A short-term treatment programme for migraine: behavioural analysis and a combination of self-relaxation and finger-temperature feedback

A short-term treatment programme for migraine: behavioural analysis and a combination of self-relaxation and finger-temperature feedback

Participants' reactions to components of a rapid-treatment workshop for sexual dysfunction.

As part of a follow-up evaluation participants in a short-term rapid-treatment program for sexual dysfunction were asked to respond to items soliciting their reactions to program procedures and exercises. These questions were not designed as the sole evaluative instrument for the work, but rather as an additional attempt to explore an important process variable--participants' attitudes toward treatment. This article includes a description of the intervention procedures and summary tablets of participants' reactions. Findings suggest that attitudinal information collected directly from participants can be valuable in evaluating and modifying the therapeutic process.

Problem-solving communication training: A behavioral approach to the treatment of parent-adolescent conflict

Abstract A short-term behaviorally-oriented treatment program for parent-adolescent conflict is described. The problem-solving communication training program has been designed to teach family members: 1) effective skills for seeking independence; 2) methods of communicating without antagonizing and alienating each other; 3) methods for resolving specific disputed issues; 4) ways of identifying, challenging and restructuring inappropriate attitudes; and 5) methods for relating in an adult-adult manner rather than an adult-child manner. The general content of the treatment program is described, procedures for treatment are presented and an illustrative case study is reviewed.

Treatment of somnambulism in military trainees.

Of 12 otherwise health individuals facing honorable discharge from the military because of intractable sleepwalking, six chose to participate in a short-term treatment program involving hypnosis. Four of these reported total alleviation of symptoms. Therapeutic design and treatment implications are discussed and a brief review of the literature is presented.

Strategy of multiple-baseline evaluation: illustrations from a summer camp.

Control of two different classes of desirable summer camp behavior was demonstrated in a multiple-baseline design. The advantages of the multiple-baseline strategy in short-term treatment programs were discussed.

The changing drug scene: 1970-1972.

Using the same questionnaire, the authors surveyed drug use at a military installation in 1970, 1971, and 1972. Oven the three years, the total percentage of respondents reporting previous drug use increased: the amount of use and number of current users also increased. For most drug types, the increases occurred between 1970 and 1971; heroin use, however, increased each year. The authors question the usefulness of specialized short-term drug treatment programs.

On resistance to discharge

The past two decades have seen a pronounced shift away from custodialism in hospital treatment and toward short-term admissions to general hospital psychiatric units. A major impetus for this trend has been an increasing awareness that dependency on a psychiatric hospital may perpetuate chronic illness. Psychiatrists have tried to limit chronicity by limiting substantially the time spent in the hospital, and by discharging the patient back to the community as soon as possible. Unfortunately, hospital dependency remains a serious problem even for short-term intensive treatment programs. The effectiveness of the hospital is often undermined by a struggle, usually covert, between patient and staff, in which the patient tries to prolong his hospital stay, while the staff, in mounting exasperation, tries various maneuvers to get him out of the hospital. The purpose of this paper is to describe patterns of resistance to discharge encountered in patients treated on an 18-bed psychiatric unit of a teaching hospital, and to explore the issue of hospital dependency in some depth. During the year from July 1, 1971 to June 30, 1972, 70 patients were admitted to this unit with an average stay of 67 days. Sources of financial support included Blue Cross, Major Medical, New York State Medicaid, Medicare, and personal finances. Of these patients, 26 (37%) showed significant resistance to discharge from the hospital, distributed as follows among the various diagnostic categories: 13 of 28 schizophrenics, seven of 17 borderline states, five of eight character disorders, and 2 of 12 affective disorders. Several patterns emerge from the case material. Resistance can take the form of refusal to accept realistic goals, covert sabotage of the mobilization process, blatantly negativistic behavior, either in the hospital or while out on pass, or recrudescence of symptoms when discharge becomes imminent. Each of these forms of resistance will be illustrated in brief case discussions.

A Short-Term Treatment Program in a Child Guidance Clinic

A Short-Term Treatment Program in a Child Guidance Clinic