Thesis--M.D., University of Hong Kong, 1979. / Also availalbe in microfilm.

published_or_final_version / Medicine / Master / Doctor of Medicine

Univ., Diss.--Innsbruck, 2005.

Thesis (M.A.)--The Master's College, 2006. / Includes bibliographical references.

Thesis (Ph. D.)--University of Wisconsin--Madison, 1981. / Typescript. Vita. eContent provider-neutral record in process. Description based on print version record. Includes bibliographical references (leaves 133-141).

Thesis (Ph. D.)--University of Wisconsin--Madison, 1983. / Typescript. Vita. eContent provider-neutral record in process. Description based on print version record. Includes bibliographical references (leaves 114-126).

Thesis (M.D.)--University of Hong Kong, 1979. / Also available in print.

Trier, Universiẗat, Diss., 2001.

M.Sc. / Anorexia Nervosa (AN) is a debilitating psychiatric illness characterised by a morbid fear of weight gain and/or of eating, despite obvious emaciation. Poor understanding of the aetiology and pathophysiology of AN has, however, hindered the development of effective interventions. Nonetheless, over the past decade, neurocognitive endophenotypes have been increasingly researched as promissory, clinically-relevant and heritable characteristics which might predispose the development and persistence of AN, the elucidation of which might well lead to improved treatment strategies. In particular, mental inflexibility, which can be measured on set-shifting (SS) tasks, is frequently reported in subjects with AN, and is believed to reflect underlying subtle dysfunction of corticostriatal brain circuitry. This study investigated whether SS difficulties were present in a sample of South African anorectics. The Wisconsin Card Sorting Test (WCST) was used to measure SS ability in 10 young women with current AN, and in 10 matched healthy controls (HC). This study also measured eating-related psychopathology, Body Mass Index (BMI), and depressive, anxiety, and obsessive-compulsive symptomatologies, and obtained as well an estimate of intelligence, in case these factors might independently influence WCST performance. Contrary to prediction, anorectics performed significantly better on the WCST than did individuals from the HC group, making a smaller number of incorrect responses and proportionately fewer perseverative errors. Controlling statistically for the aforementioned potentially-confounding variables did not change these results. This is the first study to have shown superior SS performance in an AN group, and suggests that SS might be intact, or adequately compensated for, in younger, less-severely affected patients with a concomitantly shorter illness duration. Further studies, on larger samples of similarly-aged anorectics, with less severe pathology and shorter illness duration, are necessary to explore the generalizability and implications of this unexpected finding.

M.A. (Clinical Psychology) / The aim of this study was to determine whether a group of patients with anorexia nervosa would differ from a group of well-adjusted adolescent girls in terms of certain personality traits. In a survey of the literature the general symptoms, incidence, treatment methods and prognoses were discussed. Anorexia nervosa was found to be a complex syndrome consisting of many physical and psychological symptoms. Integrated treatment methods were found to produce the best results, although the prognosis was found to be relatively poor. The background factors were discussed, with special emphasis on the family background and premorbid personality factors. In a discussion of the etiology, the psychodynamic approach was stressed. The traditional psycho-analytical theories were discussed initially, followed by a more detailed discussion of the control theory. The premise of this theory is that the anorexia nervosa patient ceases to eat in an effort to obtain control over her own body as well as her environment. Due to a lack of comparative empirical studies, it was decided to utilize the Rorschach test to compare eleven patients with anorexia nervosa with eleven well-adjusted adolescent girls with regard to certain psycho-dynamic characteristics...