The proposed study has one central purpose, to determine if the Comprehensive System (CS), an empirically valid system for scoring and interpreting the Rorschach Inkblot Test, can effectively discriminate between individuals diagnosed with borderline personality disorder (BPD) and those diagnosed with bipolar disorder. Previously conducted, peer-reviewed studies since 1985 have uncovered CS variables that were statistically significant in BPD and in bipolar groups when examined separately. However, there have been relatively few such investigations, making the body of research with CS variables small in this area. It would be valuable to know whether or not the CS is a useful tool in distinguishing between these two disorders. A second goal of the current study is to uncover variables that help diagnose both bipolar disorder and BPD as separate entities. Some CS variables have not been previously studied with regard bipolar disorder or BPD. Additional research with variables known to be useful in identifying these disorders will cross-validate findings that already exist. Moreover, if the Rorschach could help classify individuals with these disorders and uncover distinct differences between them in their test results, these data would also lend support for the idea that these are indeed two different disorders, a tertiary goal of the current study. / text

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This thesis tests the hypothesis proposed by Liemkuhler (1994) relating to the development of a cluster of personality styles among ADHD adolescents. Liemkuhler suggests that it is a neurobiological dysfunction, through its interaction with psychodynamic and cognitive processes that predisposes the ADHD adolescent to the development of certain personality styles. An absence of appropriate intervention and support increases the risk of these personality styles developing into clinical syndromes. To determine whether differences in personality styles do exist between ADHD adolescents and adolescents without ADHD, the NED Five Factor Inventory (NEDFFI) was group administered to a sample of 25 adolescents who were previously diagnosed as having ADHD (referred to as the ' research group') and 25 controls (referred to as the ' control group') who were matched for age and educational level. Five testable hypotheses were formulated for each of the five personality scales. A comparison of each of the five scales between the research group and the control group yielded no significant result to support Liemkuhler's hypothesis. However, a comparison of the five scales within each group (either the research group or the control group) produced several significant differences. Significant correlations were also found between scales for each group. On the basis of these results it is suggested that specific differences in the facets (traits) that are measured by each of the five personality scales may exist for each group, as opposed to overall group differences in personality styles. It is further proposed that the facets that are tapped may be explained on the basis of assumed differences in the neurobiological and cognitive functioning of both groups. It is tentatively concluded that the results may provide partial support for Liemkuhler's hypothesis. However, it is acknowledged that the complexity of Liemkulher's argument warrants further and more detailed research. / Thesis (M.Sc.)-University of Natal, Pietermaritzburg, 2003.

Children with alcohol-related neurodevelopmental disorder or attention deficit/hyperactivity disorder differ on neuropsychological tasks and measures of eye movement control. M.Sc. Thesis, Queen’s University, Kingston, Ontario, Canada, January 2010. Background: Alcohol-related neurodevelopmental disorder (ARND) accounts for the majority of diagnoses associated with prenatal alcohol exposure. Unfortunately, ARND frequently poses a significant clinical challenge as these patients lack the visible physical characteristics associated with alcohol teratogenicity. Moreover, the cognitive and behavioural disabilities are complex and overlap with those of attention deficit/hyperactivity disorder (ADHD). Furthermore, co-morbid ADHD is prevalent in children with prenatal alcohol exposure. While early and accurate diagnosis provides the best prognosis for those affected, there is a lack of tools for differential diagnosis between these two disorders. The goal of this study was to test the hypothesis that children with ARND exhibit different performance from children with ADHD on computer-based neuropsychological tests and eye movement tasks. Methods: Our study group was composed of 42 children with ARND and 31 children with ADHD aged 8-15 years, male and female. Children completed four tasks selected from the Cambridge Neuropsychological Test Automated Battery (CANTAB®) that provided measures of attention, planning, strategy and spatial working memory. Subjects also performed pro- and anti-saccade tasks, and eye movements were recorded using a mobile eye-tracking system. Results: Children with ARND demonstrated elevated decision times on a visual matching test of attention and longer response times on a task of spatial working memory, although the two groups had similar errors scores. Also, compared to children with ADHD, children with ARND had greater anticipatory errors in both the pro- and anti-saccade tasks. Conclusion: This study demonstrates that there are measurable differences in executive function and eye movement control between children with ARND or ADHD. Greater deficits in visuospatial processing in ARND may underlie these differences. These findings demonstrate that the neurobehavioural phenotypes of children with ARND or ADHD have distinct features, which may be accounted for by differences in the patterns of brain injury underlying these two disorders. / Thesis (Master, Neuroscience Studies) -- Queen's University, 2010-01-15 15:15:47.738

Borderline and schizotypal personality constructs were compared as predictors of dissociation for 971 nonclinical university undergraduates who completed 11 self-report behavior inventories. Structural equation modeling and multiple regression were used to (a) test the hypothesis that the quantitative interaction of borderline and schizotypal constructs would be the strongest predictor of dissociation and (b) evaluate each construct alone as well as their additive effect for prediction of dissociation. The interaction hypothesis was rejected; the quantitative interaction was only a substantively trifling and statistically nonsignificant predictor of dissociation. In a commonality analysis, the additive borderline and schizotypal effect was equivalent to schizotypy alone and marginally larger than the borderline effect alone for the prediction of dissociation. However, all three effects separately were substantial predictors; thus, dissociation is an untenable discriminator for the borderline and schizotypal constructs. Finally, when schizotypy was compared directly to the borderline construct such that the common variance was distributed dependent upon comparative predictive power (i.e., beta weights), schizotypy was greatly superior to the borderline construct for dissociative predictability. Consequently, reconsideration of the existing paradigm that dissociation is more strongly associated with the borderline construct than with schizotypy is warranted. / Department of Psychological Science

Ward's method of cluster analysis was utilized to partition the clinical profiles of 74 students completed at a midwestern university's school psychology training clinic. The Conners' Continuous Performance Test and the Parent Rating Scale of the Behavioral Assessment System for Children provided the clustering variables. The neuropsychological literature predicted three groups; ADHD - Primarily Inattentive Type, ADHD - Primarily Hyperactive-Impulsive Type, and ADHD - Mixed Type based on errors of omission and commission on measures of vigilance, along with parental rankings on internalized and externalized behavior.Cluster Analysis 1 (N = 74) identified three clusters but failed to support the initial hypothesis. Clusters differentiated between clinical, at risk, and average range behavioral rankings, especially on those behaviors that are immediately noticeable and conflict with structured situations.Cluster Analysis 2 (n = 26) was limited to those with initial referral questions of an attentional disorder. All procedures of analysis 1 were repeated with this subset. Three clusters supported the inattentive and hyperactive profiles predicted. / Department of Educational Psychology

Obsessive Compulsive Disorder (OCD) is classified as an anxiety disorder characterized by distressing persistent unwanted ideas or impulses (obsessions) and urges and/or compulsion to do something to relieve the associated anxiety caused by the obsession. The thematic content of the obsessions are highly variable, ranging from symmetry, contamination to aggressive concerns. Compulsions tend to be linked to the obsessions, but can also be idiosyncratic to the intrusive thought. According to the cognitive model, Obsessive-compulsive disorder (OCD) is maintained by various belief factors such as an inflated sense of responsibility, overestimation of threat and the over-control of thoughts. Despite much support for this hypothesis, there is a lack of specificity. This series of studies sought to determine the relationship between a number of cognitive beliefs and appraisal processes and obsessive-compulsive symptoms. This thesis presents the results of three studies. The first study was designed to investigate the hypothesis that certain beliefs are more prevalent in OCD, compared with other anxiety disorders. The second study expands on earlier findings by examining whether the six metacognitive beliefs proposed by the Obsessive Compulsive Cognitions Working Group, (OCCWG; 1997, 2001, & 2003) correlate with specific symptom-based OCD subtypes. The final study addresses some of the methodological weaknesses inherent in retrospective self-report measures by replicating the study using experimental techniques. Most importantly, this research was conducted from within the theoretical framework of Rachman (1993) and Salkovskis (1989) models which emphasise the misinterpretation of significance of the intrusive thoughts. The first study explored the relationship between thought-action fusion (TAF) and inflated responsibility beliefs across individuals diagnosed with obsessive compulsive disorder (OCD), an anxiety disorder other than OCD (anxious controls; AC), and a non-anxious control group (NAC). It was hypothesized that the OCD group would evidence significantly higher inflated responsibility and TAF scores, compared to the AC and NAC groups. In this study, non-clinical and clinical participants were recruited for research. The non-clinical group was comprised of undergraduate students (n = 22: mean age = 26.8; SD = 9.2). The clinical groups included 20 participants with OCD as their primary diagnosis (mean age = 32.1; SD = 11.9) and 21 individuals diagnosed with another anxiety disorder (mean age = 32.2; SD = 10.9). To measure inflated responsibility beliefs and thought action fusion, self-report questionnaires were administered to the participants. The results of this study demonstrated that inflated responsibility beliefs, while present in other anxiety disorders, were significantly higher in participants with OCD, even after controlling for depressed mood and TAF levels. No group differences emerged between the OCD and anxious groups on measures of TAF. Thus, it can be tentatively concluded that inflated responsibility beliefs may have a more robust relationship with OCD than TAF beliefs, which appear to act as a general vulnerability factor occurring along a continuum of anxiety disorders. The second study examined the associations between the six OCD-related beliefs: control of thoughts, importance of thoughts, responsibility, intolerance of uncertainty, overestimation of threat and perfectionism and five empirically derived OCD subgroups. Clinical participants with a primary diagnosis with OCD (n = 67: mean age = 38.0; SD = 11.7) were recruited over a period of two years from the Anxiety Disorders Unit. Participant responses were cluster analysed to form five stable groups: aggressive obsessions-checking compulsions (n = 22: mean age = 26.8; SD = 9.2); contamination obsessions-cleaning compulsions (n = 22: mean age = 26.8; SD = 9.2); symmetry concerns-ordering/arranging compulsions (n = 22: mean age = 26.8; SD = 9.2); hoarding obsessions-hoarding compulsions (n = 22: mean age = 26.8; SD = 9.2); and miscellaneous obsessions -miscellaneous compulsions (n = 22: mean age = 26.8; SD = 9.2). The second found that intolerance of uncertainty was significantly related to the contamination subgroup. While responsibility and threat estimation beliefs were higher in the aggressive-checking subgroup, these differences did not reach statistical significance. No other significant results were found, however, there was a non-significant trend for perfectionism beliefs to be higher in symmetry-ordering and hoarding subgroup. Following the results of this study, questions remained about whether the lack of significant findings reflected the generality of these beliefs or were due to methodological differences. This led to the development of the final study presented in this thesis. The purpose of the final study was to investigate whether the second study was limited by the method of assessment (e.g. self-report questionnaires). This study was unique, as it was the first of its kind to experimentally manipulate all six beliefs in empirically derived OCD subtypes. Twenty participants (mean age = 45.0; SD = 11.0) were chosen from the second study to form the following priori groups: contamination (n = 4: mean age = 44.5; SD = 9.5); aggressive (n = 6: mean age = 46.5; SD = 7.2); hoarding (n = 4: mean age = 47.2; SD = 6.9); and symmetry (n = 6: mean age = 41.8; SD = 17.4). Six behavioural experiments designed to reflect one of the six OCCWG beliefs were specifically developed and administered to the groups. Baseline scores were obtained using self-report questionnaires. The study found strong support for the use of experimental paradigms over self-report measures, as several significant interactions between cognitive beliefs and OCD symptom-based subtypes were found. Specifically, the hoarding subgroup evidenced significantly higher overall thought action fusion scores compared to those in the contamination group. The symmetry subgroup exhibited significantly higher anxiety than the aggressive group during the perfectionism task and demonstrated significantly higher scores on several items measuring perfectionism compared to the contamination group. Finally, over-estimation of threat beliefs was significantly higher in the contamination thoughts. No statistically significant group differences were found for controllability of thoughts, responsibility and intolerance of uncertainty. In conclusion, these studies collectively showed that in some cases of OCD certain beliefs appear highly applicable, whereas in others they are not. This finding may explain why some OCD patients have poor treatment outcomes as the beliefs and appraisals were highly variable across groups. These findings are of both theoretical and clinical significance because they add to the growing understanding that OCD may consist of distinct clusters of symptoms with different underlying motivations and beliefs. This finding is of clinical significance because treatment guidelines for OCD can become more specific, factoring into the therapy situation these underlying beliefs and appraisal processes. Lastly, the findings regarding inflated responsibility deserve special mention, given the significance of this construct in contemporary cognitive models. The results of the present studies were mixed with regard to responsibility as only the first study found a significant result. It appears that, like the other belief domains proposed by the OCCWG, responsibility may not be specific to all types of OCD and current cognitive models may benefit was shifting the emphasis to other belief domains.

Borderline Personality Disorder (BPD) is a serious psychiatric disorder characterised by turbulent interpersonal relationships, impaired self image, impulsivity, and a recurrent pattern of unstable affect which is usually evident by early adulthood. It has a community prevalence rate of two per cent, and approximately nine per cent of people diagnosed with BPD commit suicide. This suggests that BPD has one of the highest lethality rates of all psychiatric disorders. The course of the disorder shows a steady improvement over the course of early adulthood with the majority of cases remitting by middle age. This positive but incomplete long-term recovery is thought to be a naturalistic outcome that is independent of treatment effect. The reported study sought to test selected components of a multidimensional developmental neuropsychological model of executive functioning in BPD. The model proposed that BPD is characterised by impairments to four neuropsychological executive functions. These include working memory, response inhibition, affective-attentional bias, and problem-solving. The model further proposed that impaired executive functioning in BPD occurs as a result of the failure of ‘experience-dependent’ maturation of orbitofrontal structures. These structures are closely associated with the development of the ‘cognitive executive’. The study incorporated a cross-sectional design to analyse data from a BPD group, a Depressed Control Group, and a Medical Control Group. The overall findings of the study returned limited support for the original hypotheses. There was no evidence of deficits in working memory, response-inhibition, or problem-solving. In contrast, the BPD group returned some evidence of deficits in affective-attentional bias. Therefore, the results suggest that executive functioning remains largely intact in BPD. This also suggests that people with BPD have the working memory resources necessary to facilitate abstract cognition, have the capacity to effectively plan and execute future-oriented acts, and are able to perform appropriate problem-solving functions. These problem-solving returns are also particularly significant because a number of the tasks utilised in the study are known to be associated with so-called ‘frontal-executive’ function. These unremarkable findings challenge the view that people with BPD might experience some form of subtle neurological impairment associated with frontal-lobe compromise. The Stroop measure of affective-attentional bias provided the only supportive evidence for the proposed model, and these findings can be accounted for by at least two different explanations. The first suggests that BPD might be characterised by a hypervigilant attentional set. The specific cause of hypervigilance in BPD is unknown, but some candidate factors appear to be the often-reported abuse histories of borderlines, insecure attachment histories, and deficits in parental bonding. The second interpretation suggests that the Stroop findings reflect a form of ‘response conflict’ in which BPD participants experience difficulties overriding tasks that rely on the enunciation of automatic neural routines. As a result of these findings, further research on the role of arousal, priming, hypervigilance, and response-conflict in BPD is required. It is likely that the Stroop findings reflect a basic, ‘hard-wired’ attentional mechanism that consolidates by early adolescence at the latest. As a result, the Stroop findings have implications for both the prevention and treatment of BPD. A number of prevention strategies could be developed to address the attentional issues identified in the present study. These include assisting children to more effectively regulate arousal and affect, and assisting parents to communicate affectively with children in order to enhance self-regulation. The treatment implications suggest that interventions directed at affective-attentional processes are required, and further suggest the need for new pharmacotherapies and psychological treatments to modify dysfunctional attentional process. Affective neuroscience will have an increasingly important role to play in the understanding of BPD, and the next quarter century is likely to witness exciting advances in understanding this most problematic of disorders.

Diss. (sammanfattning) Göteborg : Göteborgs universitet, 2007. / Härtill 4 uppsatser.

Thesis (Ph. D.)--Auburn University, 2008. / Abstract. Vita. Includes bibliographical references (p. 49-57).