Sidney Merlis
Biographic Data
| ID | 7115693 |
|---|---|
| NAME | Sidney Merlis |
| GIVEN NAMES | Sidney |
| FAMILY NAME | Merlis |
| SIGNATURE | MERLIS S |
| AFFILIATIONS | Research Division, Central Islip State Hospital |
| VERIFIED | No |
| TOTAL WORKS | 17 |
| TOTAL CITATIONS | 1 |
| AUTHOR COUNT | 17 |
| EDITOR COUNT | 0 |
| FIRST PUBLICATION YEAR | 1968 |
| LATEST PUBLICATION YEAR | 1976 |
| H-INDEX | 1 |
Chemotherapeutic Choices of Native and Foreign Psychiatrists' Preferences for an Acute Psychotic Episode
To gain further understanding of psychiatrists' prescription preferences, samples of native and foreign psychiatrists specializing in chemotherapeutic treatment were presented with a standard case of a male experiencing an acute psychotic episode for whom they were asked to develop a treatment program. The current paper considers the degree of concordance in chemotherapeutic preferences. These data have shown little consensus. No “Tower of Babel”…
Public perception of ex-mental patients
Data are presented from two studies which show that perceptions of ex-mental patients appear to derive from a lack of information and that the provision of information alters the perception of former patients. Perceived unpredictability of behavior and dangerousness seem to form a dyad that causes the public to fear the mentally ill. More positive perceptions of mildly ill ex-mental patients were obtained when subjects were given short paragraphs…
Early Cigarette Smoking and Drug Use
This paper considers some recently reported cigarette smoking and drug-use data which indicate teenage smokers have a greater probability of using or becoming involved with illicit drugs than non-smoking peers. It is suggested that the epidemiological concept of high risk groups be applied to relationship between the use of socially approved substances like tobacco by young people and subsequent drug experiences because it acknowledges the empiri…
Interrelations among Psychological Needs of Suburban Heroin Addicts
Among the 15 variables assessed by the EPPS for 59 male and female applicants to a suburban methadone maintenance program the pattern, direction and magnitudes of correlations between need states were significantly different from those of the normative sample. The implications of the tendency of addicts to associate positively a number of incompatible needs for: (1) counseling, (2) generating interpersonal conflict, and (3) understanding the addi…
Psychological Need Structures of Law Enforcement Officers
Hypothesizing that a relationship exists between personality and occupational choice, the Edwards Personal Preference Schedule was employed to assess need differences for a sample of 33 metropolitan police officers, Edwards' adult male, and male college normative groups. Comparison with the adult male population indicates this police sample score higher on needs for achievement, exhibitionism, and heterosexuality. They score lower on needs for ab…
Some Comments about the Personality Comparison of Incarcerated and Street Heroin Addicts
This note questions the assumption that the greater personality deviance seen in the MMPI profiles of street heroin addicts than in those of incarcerated heroin addicts is a function of environmental and situational differences between these samples. The street addicts' elevations on the scales comprising the neurotic triad may instead represent a drug effect
Indications of Psychopathology in Applicants to a County Methadone Maintenance Program
The MMPI was completed by 74 applicants to a Suffolk County methadone maintenance program. All had measurable psychopathology as reflected in T scores of 70 or above on one or more of the original clinical scales. Data demonstrated heterogeneity in MMPI protocol code types, character structure, and psychopathological indications. Comparisons with previously reported data for addict samples committed to federal and state treatment units indicates …
Personality Characteristics of Urban and Suburban Heroin Abusers
Sutker and Allain (1973) suggest that nonincarcerated heroin addicts who are involved in the “street life style” would tend to obtain elevated scores on the Hs, D, Hy and Pd scales of the MMPI. If these findings were cross-validated, then personality descriptions of addicts would have to be modified accordingly. Also, improvement measured by decreases on the Hs and Hy scales soon after entering a drug-free environment may be a result of milieu di…
Comparison of Intercorrelations of Scale Scores from the Opinions about Mental Illness Scale
Intercorrelations among scores on the 5 factorially derived dimensions of the Opinions About Mental Illness Scale (OMI) were computed for 77 female psychiatric attendants at a large state mental hospital. Four rs were significant. However, rs were smaller and, in some cases, directionally different from those in previous studies. Type of institution sampled, temporal factors, and changes in attitude were suggested as possible explanations for the…
Personal Adjustment and Authoritarian Attitudes toward the Mentally ILL
The relationship between authoritarian attitudes, which reflect the belief that mentally ill persons comprise an inferior class requiring coercive handling, and personal adjustment was examined for 77 female psychiatric aides at a large state mental hospital. Correlations and analysis of variance suggested the lack of a systematic association between the two variables
Raven Progressive Matrices Avoidable Errors as a Measure of Psychopathological Ideational Influences upon Reasoning Ability
The Raven Progressive Matrices protocols of 88 narcotic addicts, divided into four MMPI profile pattern groups, were scored for avoidable errors. Ss having psychotic-like profiles (428′ and 987′) made significantly more avoidable reasoning errors than Ss with sociopathic patterns (42′ and 49′). These data were interpreted as evidence of the sensitivity of avoidable error measures to disturbances in consistency and accuracy of comparative and anal…
Emotions Profile Index (EPI) Pattern for Paranoid Personality Types
The possibility of defining an emotion profile consistent with personality type was examined in this cross-validational study. The procedure contrasted a sample of newly admitted acute paranoid schizophrenic patients, who were identified by clinical procedures and judgment, with a group of narcotic users who were defined as paranoid personality types on the basis of their responses to self-report inventories. When the resulting Emotions Profile I…
A New Approach to Measuring Short-Term Memory in Geriatric S S
The short-term memory of 20 geriatric Ss in a state hospital was evaluated with a new method. Ss were asked to place figures of a doll family into various rooms of a doll house, and then asked to recall their placement. Since S is asked to recall his own placement, initial level of learning is assured. Pilot data suggest the measure is reliable even with Ss suffering from both psychiatric and physical illness
Predicting Response to Psychoactive Drugs
Performance Errors on Ravens Progressive Matrices (1938) by Sociopathic and Schizotypic Personality Types
In an attempt to identify the existence of reasoning errors in psychiatric patients, the performance of male narcotic users defined as sociopathic ( N = 36) and schizotypic ( N = 34) by MMPI profile patterns was analyzed for avoidable errors on the Ravens Progressive Matrices (RPM). An avoidable error was defined as a failure to solve an item whose difficulty level was within the testee's range of ability as measured by his performance. Construct…
Affective Differential
Narcotic addicts comprising 2 diagnostic groups as defined by MMPI profile types (49′ sociopathic and 468′ paranoid) were selected to test the validity of emotion profiles gleaned from affective differential ratings, the affective differential methodology and the assumption that patients with different character structures have measurable differences in emotion profiles. Comparisons were made between the patient groups and between profiles gleane…
Ravens Progressive Matrices (1938)
The Ravens Progressive Matrices (RPM), a test of intellectual ability, was administered to 396 male narcotic users. Norms are given, and concepts basic to the validity and reliability of the RPM tested. Significant shifts were found in item order in sets A, B, C, and D. Differences were not considered crucial for each set, which was progressively more difficult than the preceding set; thus the total structure of the test was supported by the samp…
Public perception of ex-mental patients
Data are presented from two studies which show that perceptions of ex-mental patients appear to derive from a lack of information and that the provision of information alters the perception of former patients. Perceived unpredictability of behavior and dangerousness seem to form a dyad that causes the public to fear the mentally ill. More positive perceptions of mildly ill ex-mental patients were obtained when subjects were given short paragraphs…
Performance Errors on Ravens Progressive Matrices (1938) by Sociopathic and Schizotypic Personality Types
In an attempt to identify the existence of reasoning errors in psychiatric patients, the performance of male narcotic users defined as sociopathic ( N = 36) and schizotypic ( N = 34) by MMPI profile patterns was analyzed for avoidable errors on the Ravens Progressive Matrices (RPM). An avoidable error was defined as a failure to solve an item whose difficulty level was within the testee's range of ability as measured by his performance. Construct…
Affective Differential
Narcotic addicts comprising 2 diagnostic groups as defined by MMPI profile types (49′ sociopathic and 468′ paranoid) were selected to test the validity of emotion profiles gleaned from affective differential ratings, the affective differential methodology and the assumption that patients with different character structures have measurable differences in emotion profiles. Comparisons were made between the patient groups and between profiles gleane…
Ravens Progressive Matrices (1938)
The Ravens Progressive Matrices (RPM), a test of intellectual ability, was administered to 396 male narcotic users. Norms are given, and concepts basic to the validity and reliability of the RPM tested. Significant shifts were found in item order in sets A, B, C, and D. Differences were not considered crucial for each set, which was progressively more difficult than the preceding set; thus the total structure of the test was supported by the samp…
Predicting Response to Psychoactive Drugs
Raven Progressive Matrices Avoidable Errors as a Measure of Psychopathological Ideational Influences upon Reasoning Ability
The Raven Progressive Matrices protocols of 88 narcotic addicts, divided into four MMPI profile pattern groups, were scored for avoidable errors. Ss having psychotic-like profiles (428′ and 987′) made significantly more avoidable reasoning errors than Ss with sociopathic patterns (42′ and 49′). These data were interpreted as evidence of the sensitivity of avoidable error measures to disturbances in consistency and accuracy of comparative and anal…
Emotions Profile Index (EPI) Pattern for Paranoid Personality Types
The possibility of defining an emotion profile consistent with personality type was examined in this cross-validational study. The procedure contrasted a sample of newly admitted acute paranoid schizophrenic patients, who were identified by clinical procedures and judgment, with a group of narcotic users who were defined as paranoid personality types on the basis of their responses to self-report inventories. When the resulting Emotions Profile I…
A New Approach to Measuring Short-Term Memory in Geriatric S S
The short-term memory of 20 geriatric Ss in a state hospital was evaluated with a new method. Ss were asked to place figures of a doll family into various rooms of a doll house, and then asked to recall their placement. Since S is asked to recall his own placement, initial level of learning is assured. Pilot data suggest the measure is reliable even with Ss suffering from both psychiatric and physical illness
Comparison of Intercorrelations of Scale Scores from the Opinions about Mental Illness Scale
Intercorrelations among scores on the 5 factorially derived dimensions of the Opinions About Mental Illness Scale (OMI) were computed for 77 female psychiatric attendants at a large state mental hospital. Four rs were significant. However, rs were smaller and, in some cases, directionally different from those in previous studies. Type of institution sampled, temporal factors, and changes in attitude were suggested as possible explanations for the…
Personal Adjustment and Authoritarian Attitudes toward the Mentally ILL
The relationship between authoritarian attitudes, which reflect the belief that mentally ill persons comprise an inferior class requiring coercive handling, and personal adjustment was examined for 77 female psychiatric aides at a large state mental hospital. Correlations and analysis of variance suggested the lack of a systematic association between the two variables
Some Comments about the Personality Comparison of Incarcerated and Street Heroin Addicts
This note questions the assumption that the greater personality deviance seen in the MMPI profiles of street heroin addicts than in those of incarcerated heroin addicts is a function of environmental and situational differences between these samples. The street addicts' elevations on the scales comprising the neurotic triad may instead represent a drug effect
Indications of Psychopathology in Applicants to a County Methadone Maintenance Program
The MMPI was completed by 74 applicants to a Suffolk County methadone maintenance program. All had measurable psychopathology as reflected in T scores of 70 or above on one or more of the original clinical scales. Data demonstrated heterogeneity in MMPI protocol code types, character structure, and psychopathological indications. Comparisons with previously reported data for addict samples committed to federal and state treatment units indicates …
Personality Characteristics of Urban and Suburban Heroin Abusers
Sutker and Allain (1973) suggest that nonincarcerated heroin addicts who are involved in the “street life style” would tend to obtain elevated scores on the Hs, D, Hy and Pd scales of the MMPI. If these findings were cross-validated, then personality descriptions of addicts would have to be modified accordingly. Also, improvement measured by decreases on the Hs and Hy scales soon after entering a drug-free environment may be a result of milieu di…
Early Cigarette Smoking and Drug Use
This paper considers some recently reported cigarette smoking and drug-use data which indicate teenage smokers have a greater probability of using or becoming involved with illicit drugs than non-smoking peers. It is suggested that the epidemiological concept of high risk groups be applied to relationship between the use of socially approved substances like tobacco by young people and subsequent drug experiences because it acknowledges the empiri…
Interrelations among Psychological Needs of Suburban Heroin Addicts
Among the 15 variables assessed by the EPPS for 59 male and female applicants to a suburban methadone maintenance program the pattern, direction and magnitudes of correlations between need states were significantly different from those of the normative sample. The implications of the tendency of addicts to associate positively a number of incompatible needs for: (1) counseling, (2) generating interpersonal conflict, and (3) understanding the addi…
Psychological Need Structures of Law Enforcement Officers
Hypothesizing that a relationship exists between personality and occupational choice, the Edwards Personal Preference Schedule was employed to assess need differences for a sample of 33 metropolitan police officers, Edwards' adult male, and male college normative groups. Comparison with the adult male population indicates this police sample score higher on needs for achievement, exhibitionism, and heterosexuality. They score lower on needs for ab…
Chemotherapeutic Choices of Native and Foreign Psychiatrists' Preferences for an Acute Psychotic Episode
To gain further understanding of psychiatrists' prescription preferences, samples of native and foreign psychiatrists specializing in chemotherapeutic treatment were presented with a standard case of a male experiencing an acute psychotic episode for whom they were asked to develop a treatment program. The current paper considers the degree of concordance in chemotherapeutic preferences. These data have shown little consensus. No “Tower of Babel”…
Public perception of ex-mental patients
Data are presented from two studies which show that perceptions of ex-mental patients appear to derive from a lack of information and that the provision of information alters the perception of former patients. Perceived unpredictability of behavior and dangerousness seem to form a dyad that causes the public to fear the mentally ill. More positive perceptions of mildly ill ex-mental patients were obtained when subjects were given short paragraphs…
Psychology (17 works) · Clinical Psychology (15 works) · Clinical Psychology (14 works) · Psychiatry (12 works) · Social Psychology (12 works) · Social Psychology (11 works) · Personality (9 works) · Minnesota Multiphasic Personality Inventory (6 works) · Developmental psychology (5 works) · Drug (4 works)