Variation in cognitive functioning in nonorganic psychiatric disorders

A Critique of the Myers-Briggs Type Indicator and its Operationalization of Carl Jung's Psychological Types

Personality, as represented by the Myers-Briggs Type Indicator and its interpretative literature as a means of understanding behavior, is critically analyzed. Specifically, the dichotomous nature of the indices is criticized as is its operationalization of Jung's psychological types. This paper argues that Jung's stated intentions for understanding individual behavior suggest that personality variables exist in various levels of consciousness and unconsciousness which require study to consider the proportions with which each exists. The paper also considers a reconstruction of the measure of Jung's psychological types and reconsideration of the descriptions and characteristics of each personality function measured.

Neuropsychological screening in the psychiatric emergency room

In a pilot study, a neuropsychological minibattery of tests consisting of Trail-Making Test A (TMA), Trail-Making Test B (TMB), and the Visual Reproduction subtest (VR) of the Wechsler Memory Scale was administered to patients with common psychiatric diagnoses in a psychiatric emergency room (ER). Patients with adjustment disorders were not distinguishable from normal controls, while patients with affective disorders and schizophrenia were more impaired than both of these samples. It is suggested that this or a similar minibattery of tests can be of use as an adjunct screening device for differential diagnosis of adjustment disorder versus more serious psychopathology in psychiatric ERs.

Primary or depressive dementia: mental status screening

In the course of interviewing a patient, several aspects of everyday functioning must be covered to provide a range of observations necessary to suggest a provisional diagnosis. First organized by Adolf Meyer, the mental status examination consists of several techniques which, in recent times, have been shortened, structured and standardized to cover maximal ground in minimal time. In this article, the most popular scales are reviewed psychometrically for their capacity to detect, as first-stage instruments, cognitive impairment suggestive of primary dementia in the context of varying prevalence rates and confounding factors like sensory impairments, sociodemographics and depressive states. Several of the measures are found adequate in some respects though not in others, but all of the better ones, when used as front line implements during clinical intake, regularly improve detection over base rates. An analytical method modelled on ROC procedures is then described contrasting two of them before newer instruments are considered which aim to improve sensitivity at relatively little cost to specificity.