Mental health services in the county jail: a critical partnership?

This study was designed to provide a description of individuals incarcerated in a county jail and referred for mental health services. A standardized intake form was completed for 598 inmates who had contact with the mental health counselor. Analysis of the mental health status of inmates suggests that the presence of a counselor in the jail may serve an important function. Specifically, inmates referred to the counselor were not in acute distress. This suggests they may be better served by an on-site counselor rather than through the traditional method of being transported to the hospital emergency room or community mental health center for evaluation.

Factors influencing placement recommendations for hospitalized individuals with chronic mental illness.

This study was undertaken to identify factors that may preclude a patient's discharge from a community mental health center and result in the patient being labeled "unplaceable." Placement recommendations differed between the state hospital staff and a mental health professional employed by the center to evaluate 28 patients. A measure designed to assist in the assessment of patients' competencies suggested the professionals' recommendations were more related to patients' skills in areas associated with community living than were those of the state hospital staff. Follow-up indicated that 15 patients discharged according to the professionals' recommendations maintained community tenure. Use of a more psychometrically sound and comprehensive assessment concerning discharge and placement may improve likelihood of success.

Clients' functioning and need for case management.

This paper describes the transition and reorganization of a Community Support Service, previously functioning as a traditional management program with high caseloads. Through the development and use of a tier system, based on functioning, clients were provided service commensurate with need.

Effects of emotional illness and age upon the resolution of discrepant messages.

To determine their ability to interpret messages, normal and disturbed children, adolescents, and adults (ns = 10) were shown videotaped statements containing discrepant verbal and nonverbal components and statements containing consistent verbal and nonverbal components. No significant differences were observed between subjects in response to the consistent messages regardless of age or mental status; however, pronounced differences occurred under the condition with discrepant messages. Among normal subjects a developmental shift was observed, i.e., an inverse relation was found between age and reliance upon verbal content. Younger normal subjects relied upon the verbal content of a message in interpretation, while adults relied upon the nonverbal elements. Disturbed subjects regardless of age relied primarily upon the verbal content of the discrepant message.

Effect of context on perception of emotion among psychiatric patients.

The purpose of this research was to examine the extent to which verbal statements of context influence psychiatric patients' perception of photographs of emotion (fear, anger, sadness, and happiness). The major findings showed that, when photographs were paired congruently with context statements, there were significant changes in agreement among subjects on two of the four emotion stimuli. There was significantly less agreement on the meaning of facial expressions when the stimuli for fear, anger, and happiness were accompanied by incongruent verbal statements than when they were viewed alone. These data appear to have implications for practitioners working with this population.

The interlocking treatment system: a model for the delivery of state hospital-CMHC services.

A state hospital began a program in 1975 to integrate the treatment services of the hospital with those of six community mental health centers. The interlocking treatment system that resulted made use of mini-teams of hospital and center staff to recommend referrals to the hospital, develop inpatient treatment programs, and supervise the client's return to the community. The linkages between the hospital and the centers helped ensure continuity of care for clients and to ease their return to community living. A study of hospital wards participating in the system and those not participating showed that participating wards discharged significantly more clients over an 18-month period.

Judgment of emotion among chronic schizophrenics.

This study investigated accuracy of judgment as to posed facial expressions and nonverbal scenes of various emotions. Ss were 16 male and 16 female chronic schizophrenics and a normal control group of equal size and sex composition. The results revealed that normal Ss were significantly more accurate than schizophrenics in identifying emotions from both posed photographs of the face and nonverbal videotape scenes. S sex was not found to affect differentially the schizophrenic or normal Ss' response accuracy to both the photographs and videotapes. Further, it was observed that both groups' accuracy improved when given multiple-choice alternatives to select from as contrasted to their open-ended free responses; this was especially true for the schizophrenic group. Teaching patients to identify and practice expressing discrete emotions was suggested.

The effects of videotape models on the behavior of chronic schizophrenics.

The effects of "good" and "poor" peer models on the task performance of 45 chronic schizophrenic males were investigated. The findings revealed that patients who viewed a good peer model did significantly better on a subsequent task than patients who viewed either a poor model or no model. The use of peer models in the treatment of chronic schizophrenics was suggested.