In the Journal of Personality and Social Psychology (73:6 pp. 1213-1223), researchers found that the frequency of serious assaults was related to the number of days where the temperature was over 90°F. Property crime and rape showed no relationship to temperature. The results hypothesis that poor body heat regulation may contribute to some incidents of reactive violence or attacks that result from perceived provocation. Under these circumstances, a criminal mitigating circumstances might be reported. The findings also have implications for crime prevention in indoor environments, such as the controlled climates of prisons and workplaces. Following up on suicide attempts serious enough to warrant treatment at Utrecht in Holland, researchers examined 274 patients who had presented to emergency rooms and had no major psychiatric illness, substance abuse history or propensity for parasuicide (see glossary). One group was referred for a very brief psychiatric hospitalization to a specially designed supportive unit that intensively focused on the conflicts contributing to the attempt; the other group was referred to an outpatient clinic or other established intervention. The findings, published in the British Journal of Psychiatry (171: pp. 35-41), indicated the special psychosocial intervention program provided no greater insurance against future suicide attempts than a less rigorous approach. These findings have implications for malpractice questions of what should be done when a suicide history is established. . . . The Journal of Clinical Psychology (53:7 pp. 744-755) featured a study of 492 personal injury plaintiffs that established baselines for each of the MMPI-2 clinical scales, validity scale, the PTSD scale. The sample demonstrated high point pairs most commonly with 13/3 1. This profile, according to Graham (MMPI-2: ASSESSING PERSONALITY AND PSYCHOPATHOLOGY New York: Oxford University Press 1993) is characterized by excessive denial and blaming others or relying on medical explanations for problems. Graham adds that the 13/ 31 individual is commonly resentful but overcontrolled, expressing hostility in passive ways. . . .
Memory problems of several populations were explored by researchers at the University of Iowa, who published their findings in the Journal of Clinical and Experimental Neuropsychology (19:4 pp. 500-14). The performances of six groups: severe head injured, mild to moderate head injured, head injured in litigation, physically preoccupied patients, those probably faking illness, and depressives were compared on a variety of psychological testing measures. Twenty five percent of fakers were identified with a specificity of 100% with a Benton Visual Retention Test number correct of less than 3, digit span section of the WAIS-R score of less than 5, Rey Auditory Verbal Learning Test (AVLT) score greater than 2 on Index 1, and greater than 8 true positives on the AVLT. Distress worsened the performance of the faking group. Litigation alone was not a predictor for worse performance on memory tests... The December American Journal of Psychiatry (154:12 1696-1702) published a follow up survivors of a mass shooting in a cafeteria that claimed the lives of 23., employees, and nearby residents completed questionnaires documenting symptoms before and after the event, and one year later. They provide insight into how and when symptoms of post traumatic stress disorder (PTSD) arise. Those with PTSD immediately after the diagnosis whose condition resolved were more likely symptoms of hyperarousal (insomnia, hypervigilance, exaggerated startle, insomnia) and reexperiencing (nightmares, flashbacks, intrusive recollections) of the trauma. Those whose conditions began in a mild form and were more obvious after a year primarily demonstrated increases in avoidance and numbing (detachment, amnesia, blunted expression, avoiding reminders). No predictors for recovery including the severity of illness at time of the shooting, were found. A more optimistic note: PTSD noticeably diminished in prevalence over time. . . . The European Archive of Psychiatry and Clinical Neurosciences (247: pp. 252- 258) published a German study enumerating the side effects of light therapy when combined with depression medication. The combination of Imipramine with light in a group of fourteen did not lead to any great increase in any significant physical effect; the most frequent was sweating.
Gestures of self-harm unlikely to be lethal.
