Aspects of cognitive functioning in schizotypy and schizophrenia: evidence for a continuum model.

This research consisted of two studies, the fundamental aim of which was to delineate the pattern of relationships between measures of cognitive task performance and both symptom subtypes in schizophrenia and their corresponding schizotypal personality traits in healthy individuals. Study 1 compared these relationships in healthy individuals using the Schizotypal Personality Questionnaire (SPQ) and Study 2 assessed the relationships between symptomatology assessed using the Scale for the Assessment of Positive Symptoms and Scale for the Assessment of Negative Symptoms (SAPS/SANS) and cognitive task performance in a group of patients with schizophrenia. The contribution of fluid intelligence to task performance was also examined.

Do measures of schizotypal personality provide non-clinical analogues of schizophrenic symptomatology?

This study tested the assumption that measures of schizotypal personality provide non-clinical analogues of the heterogeneous symptomatology found in the schizophrenic disorder. The Oxford-Liverpool Inventory of Feelings and Experiences (O-LIFE) was administered to schizophrenic patients and healthy controls, and measures of symptomatology from the Scale for the Assessment of Positive Symptoms (SAPS) and the Scale for the Assessment of Negative Symptoms (SANS) were assessed in the patient group. Schizophrenic patients scored significantly higher than controls on O-LIFE measures of positive, negative and disorganised schizotypy, while no difference in Impulsive Nonconformity was observed.

Anxiety sensitivity, cognitive biases, and the experience of pain.

It is becoming increasingly apparent that the tendency to be fearful of anxiety-related sensations, known as anxiety sensitivity, is closely associated with pain experiences. The aim of the current study was to determine the mechanisms by which such a relationship exists. Selective attentional and interpretative biases for negative material were compared as potential mediators of the anxiety sensitivity-pain relationship.

Relation of transliminality and sensation seeking.

The Revised Transliminality Scale and Zuckerman's Sensation Seeking Scale (Form V) were administered to 83 psychology undergraduates. Weak positive correlations suggested that participants scoring high on the Transliminality Scale tended to be more experience seeking and, overall, more inclined to score sensation seeking.

Establishment of a nurse-run acupuncture treatment for hayfever. By Mary Anne Cochrane [corrected].

This interview describes how the need to set up an acupuncture clinic for the treatment of hayfever, was identified in a large teaching practice in south-east London. It then details the preliminary consultations for establishing the service, while taking into consideration the UKCC (1992a,b, 2000) guidelines, especially in relation to nurses' accountability and recognition of boundaries. It examines the issues of training and consultation time, as well as costs to the practice, and evaluates the benefits and costs of treatment to the patient.