Surviving without the asylum: an overview of the studies on the Italian reform movement

Article Abstract:

In Italy, the mental hospital has been abandoned as a source of treatment for cases diagnosed after 1978, as outlined in Public Law 180 of that year. Deinstitutionalized patients have been placed in sheltered facilities or now live in the community. Empirical evaluations of the impact this has made indicate that most discharged psychiatric patients have made a successful shift in terms of adjustment to treatment in community mental health clinics (CMHCs). By 1984, 248 residential facilities had been set up throughout Italy, housing nearly 3,000 ex-mental patients. Rehabilitation programs were also set up within and independently of CMHCs. A study of patients discharged from one of Italy's largest asylums found that 40 percent lived in community-type lodgings, 43 percent were in geriatric or private nursing homes, and 5 percent were in private boarding homes. An evaluation of the social and clinical characteristics of 1,716 patients being treated in 35 CMHCs and randomly selected over a 30-day period, demonstrated that the majority were from lower economic classes and tended to be uneducated and unemployed. Seventy-five percent lived with their families. Their diagnoses included schizophrenia (37 percent), major affective disorders (13 percent), anxiety or depressive neurosis (26 percent), organic disorders (5 percent) and alcohol or drug abuse (4 percent). Twenty-nine percent of the patients were found to be receiving inadequate care. While former mental institutions primarily relied on custodial care and psychotropic drugs, CMHCs were shown to rely more on mixed treatment approaches, psychotherapy and rehabilitation. The effects of abandoning the asylum upon homeless, severely debilitated and violent psychiatric patients in Italy have not yet been evaluated. (Consumer Summary produced by Reliance Medical Information, Inc.)

Care and treatment, Italy, Usage, Evaluation, Laws, regulations and rules, Asylums, Psychiatric hospital patients, Psychiatric facilities, Deinstitutionalization

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A state-of-the-art reference-text on eye movement control

Article Abstract:

The second, revised and enlarged edition of ''Movements of the Eyes'' (1988) by R.H.S. Carpenter is an impressive documentation of research in the area of eye movements, visual perception and visual cognition. The topics and writing style are geared towards graduate students, medical students, or readers interested in physiological psychology. The first section of the book is devoted to function, and discusses various types of eye movements and relevant behavioral data. The second section includes a comprehensive and detailed discussion of the physiology of the muscles of the eyes and the neurophysiology of the eye movement system. A third section explores interrelated complex phenomena, including the conscious awareness of eye movements and visual perception (e.g. of direction and distance). The book covers a great deal of material, but tends to favor behavioral research involving low-level tasks such as pursuing a moving target or attempting to maintain fixation on an object. Higher order perceptual processes such as pattern recognition are glossed over. Nevertheless, the book presents an impressive documentation of research on behavioral and physiological data on eye movement control and is an excellent information source for researchers and interested readers in cognitive psychology. (Consumer Summary produced by Reliance Medical Information, Inc.)

Physiological aspects, Eye, Eye movements, Perception, Perception (Psychology), Bibliography, Visual discrimination, Ocular motility disorders

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Childhood traumas: an outline and overview (editorial)

Article Abstract:

Psychological trauma (i.e., sexual abuse, natural disaster) in childhood appears to be important in the development of a number of serious disorders in both children and adults. Four characteristics related to childhood trauma have been identified and it appears that they may last well into adulthood. The characteristics are visualized or other repeatedly perceived memories of the traumatic event, repetitive behaviors, trauma-specific fears (i.e., fear of dogs after an attack by a dog), and changed attitudes about people, life, and the future as a result of the trauma. There are two types of childhood trauma. Type I traumas include full, detailed memories. Type II traumas include denial and often rage. There are times that both types may be present in response to different aspects of the same trauma. Childhood trauma must always be kept in mind as a possible underlying cause of psychological disturbance seen later in life. (Consumer Summary produced by Reliance Medical Information, Inc.)

Psychological aspects, Complications and side effects, Abused children, Psychic trauma in children, Childhood trauma (Psychology), editorial

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