The most important information conveyed by language is often contained not in the utterance itself, but in the interaction between the utterance and the comprehender's knowledge of the world and the current situation. This dissertation uses psycholinguistic methods to explore the effects of a common type of inference--causal inference--on language…

Individuals diagnosed with head and neck cancer (HNC) not only face a potentially life-threatening diagnosis but must endure treatment that often results in significant, highly visible disfigurement and disruptions of essential functioning, such as deficits or complications in eating, swallowing, breathing, and speech. Each year, approximately…

Objective: This study examined the relation of process variables to the outcome of group drug counseling, a commonly used community treatment, for cocaine dependence. Method: Videotaped group drug counseling sessions from 440 adult patients (23% female, 41% minority) were rated for member alliance, group cohesion, participation, self-disclosure,…

The presence of suppression (and multicollinearity) in multiple regression analysis complicates interpretation of predictor-criterion relationships. The mathematical conditions that produce suppression in regression analysis have received considerable attention in the methodological literature but until now nothing in the way of an analytic…

Epileptic encephalopathy with continuous spikes and waves during slow sleep is an age-related disorder characterized by the presence of interictal epileptiform discharges during at least greater than 85% of sleep and cognitive deficits associated with this electroencephalography pattern. The pathophysiological mechanisms of continuous spikes and…

This study explored the prevalence of violent behaviors in patients who are addicted to drugs. A sample of 252 addicted patients (203 male and 49 female) who sought outpatient treatment was assessed. Information on violent behaviors, sociodemographic factors, consumption factors (assessed by the European version of the Addiction Severity Index…

Research has shown both childhood physical and sexual abuse to be associated with later suicide attempts, although some studies have not supported these findings. However, few studies have investigated differences in physical and sexual abuse histories among single and multiple suicide attempters. The goals of the current study were two-fold: (a)…

A retrospective cohort of discharged patients from all public psychiatric hospitals in Hong Kong (1997-1999) was linked to suicide data from Coroner's court. Patients hospitalized shorter than 15 days had significantly lower suicide rates than longer stay patients. The results were fairly consistent across immediate/late post discharge periods,…

The frequency, origin, and interpretative implications of elevation differences on the Minnesota Multiphasic Personality Inventory-2 (MMPI-2) clinical and restructured clinical (RC) scales were examined. Two large clinical samples consisting of 1,770 outpatients and 2,438 inpatients were used for this study. Three potential factors…

Psychological factors associated with deliberate self-harm (DSH) as seen in an African population in Uganda are described. A case-control study design was employed in which a Luganda version (predominant language in the study area) of the modified European Parasuicide Interview Schedule I (EPSIS I) was used to collect data. The controls were…