The Lie/Bet Questionnaire for screening pathological gamblers: a follow-up study.

This study follows up one in which was derived a two-item screening questionnaire for pathological gambling. In the previous study, the two-item screening questionnaire had sensitivity of .99 and specificity of .91. In this study, testing 295 men (116 pathological gamblers and 179 controls) and 128 women (30 pathological gamblers and 98 controls), sensitivity was 1.00 and specificity .85. In the previous study, the predictive value of a positive result was .92 and of a negative result .99. In this sample, the predictive value of a positive result was .78 and of a negative result 1.00. These results indicate the two questions represent a useful screening device for a DSM-IV diagnosis of pathological gambling.

The Lie/Bet Questionnaire for screening pathological gamblers.

A 2-item questionnaire was derived from 10 DSM-IV criteria for pathological gambling. Subjects were 362 men, 191 classified as pathological gamblers and 171 as nonproblem-gambling controls. The two items were significant in sensitivity and negative predictive value and significant in specificity and positive predictive value.

Violence: a public health issue in New Jersey.

Violence should be viewed from biological, psychological, ethnological, and anthropological perspectives. Consideration of theories on biopsychosocial vulnerabilities and cultural and environmental factors have implications for diagnostic, therapeutic, and rehabilitative approaches.

Early response to clozapine in schizophrenia.

Forty schizophrenic patients were treated with clozapine for 5 weeks. Patients were then classified as treatment responders or nonresponders according to a priori established criteria. After only 1 week of treatment, the responders showed a significant decrease on the Brief Psychiatric Rating Scale (BPRS) total score and the psychosis and tension subscale scores. Higher BPRS scores at baseline and larger improvements in BPRS scores after the first week predicted a more favorable outcome in this trial and yielded good classification accuracy.

Past, present, and future of psychiatry in New Jersey.

Society faces moral and practical choices of treatment for mental illness: warehousing, neglect, or appropriate treatment. Mental and physical health care must be available to all Americans. There must be a balance between cost containment and patient needs.

Does spousal participation in Gamblers Anonymous benefit compulsive gamblers?

Extent of gambling-free periods was compared for 90 compulsive gamblers, 44 with spouses who participated in Gamblers Anonymous and 46 with spouses who did not. Although the results were in the direction of a beneficial effect of spousal participation, the relationship was statistically nonsignificant.

The Rotter I-E scale as a predictor of relapse in a population of compulsive gamblers.

Profile surveys, completed Rotter I-E scales, and questionnaires on past relapse behavior were collected from 108 New Jersey compulsive gamblers who attended Gamblers Anonymous, and an attempt was made, based on the findings, to predict incidence of compulsive gamblers' relapse. Relationships between I-E scores and extent of relapse-free periods, and I-E scores and relapse, with the variables of religious background, age, marital status, education, type of work, and childhood physical abuse were investigated. In every instance the relationship found was statistically non-significant.

Comparison of two locus of control scales in predicting relapse in an alcoholic population.

A 3-mo. follow-up was made of 64 male veterans who were discharged from a 21-day Alcohol Detoxification Treatment Program at the Veterans Affairs Medical Center at Lyons, NJ. Scores on the Rotter I-E and Alcohol Responsibility Scales were significantly correlated with tendencies toward a more external direction among the 13% who relapsed, significant on the I-E scale and nonsignificant on the Alcohol Responsibility Scale. When tests were compared as possible predictor variables of alcoholic relapse, the difference in favor of the I-E scale was statistically nonsignificant.

Urinary osmolality in lithium and non-lithium treated psychiatric patients.

A study was conducted to determine the prevalence of urine concentrating defect in 57 psychiatric patients who were treated with lithium and 42 patients who were not treated with lithium. Analysis of results indicated that there was no statistically significant difference between the lithium treated and control groups in their random 12 hour fluid deprivation urine osmolality, 0.5 greater than p greater than 0.1, t-test. The authors suggest that impaired urinary concentrating ability occurs frequently in both lithium and nonlithium treated psychiatric patients. This isolated finding alone is insufficient to warrant the diagnosis of lithium nephrotoxicity.