Hostname: page-component-cd9895bd7-hc48f Total loading time: 0 Render date: 2024-12-24T22:45:20.741Z Has data issue: false hasContentIssue false
  • English
  • Français

Factors Predictive of Outcome in Neurosis

Published online by Cambridge University Press:  29 January 2018

Andrew Sims
Andrew Sims*
Affiliation:
All Saints Hospital, Lodge Road, Birmingham, B18 5SD; University of Birmingham
Get access Rights & Permissions [Opens in a new window]

Summary

A follow-up study was conducted on 146 patients, all the first admissions of one year with the diagnosis of neurosis, admitted as in-patients and day-patients to a hospital giving a general psychiatric early treatment service in Birmingham. Tracing exceeded 97 per cent. Various methods of treatment had been used. Patients were followed up with an interview at their home 12 years after discharge. There were two interviewers, a social worker and a psychiatrist. Assessment at follow-up was on a five-point graded scale in which contributions to the total outcome were made by the social and symptomatic state of the ex-patient.

Twenty-six statistically significant predictive factors were found from the detailed initial information when a graded rating for total outcome at follow-up was compared with presence or absence of the factor. When individual factors were combined, unsatisfactory marital and sexual relationship, poor material management, unsatisfactory social state, and unsatisfactory early environment were predictive of poor outcome. Tests for validity and reliability of the method were carried out.

Type
Research Article
Information
The British Journal of Psychiatry , Volume 127 , Issue 1 , July 1975 , pp. 54 - 62
Copyright
Copyright © Royal College of Psychiatrists, 1975 

Access options

Get access to the full version of this content by using one of the access options below. (Log in options will check for institutional or personal access. Content may require purchase if you do not have access.)

References

Beiser, M. (1971) A psychiatric study of ‘normal’ adults. American Journal of Psychiatry, 127, 1464–72.Google Scholar
Bovill, D. (1972) A trial group of psychotherapy for neurotics. British Journal of Psychiatry, 120, 285–92.Google Scholar
Brill, N. Q. & Beebe, G. W. (1955) A Follow-up Study of War Neuroses. Washington.Google Scholar
Gaine, T. M. & Hope, K. (1967) Manual of the Hysteroid-Obsessoid Questionnair. (HOQ). London.Google Scholar
Garter, A. B. (1949) Prognosis of certain hysterical symptoms. British Medical Journal, i, 1076–9.Google Scholar
Eitinger, L. (1956) A follow-up study of neuroses. Acta Psychiatrica et Neurologica Scandinavica Supplementum 106, 265–75.Google Scholar
Eysenck, H. J. (1952) The effects of psychotherapy: an evaluation. Journal of Consulting Psychology, 16, 319–24.Google Scholar
Eysenck, H. J. & Eysenck, S. B. G. (1964) Manual of the Eysenck Personality Inventory. London.Google Scholar
Giel, R., Knox, R. S. & Garstairs, G. M. (1964) A five year follow-up of 100 neurotic out-patients. British Medical Journal, ii, 160–3.Google Scholar
Goldberg, D. P. & Blackwell, B. (1970) Psychiatric illness in general practice. A detailed study using a new method of case identification. British Medical Journal, ii, 439–43.Google Scholar
Greer, H. S. & Cawley, R. H. (1966) Natural History of Neurotic Illness. Sydney.Google Scholar
Gunderson, E. K. E. & Arthur, R. J. (1968) Prognostic indicators in psychosis and neurosis. Journal of Abnormal Psychology, 73 (5), 468–73.Google Scholar
Guttman, E. & Thomas, E. (1946) Public Health and Medical Subjects No. 93: Ministry of Health Reports: A Report on the Readjustment in Civil Life of Soldiers Discharged from the Army on Account of Neurosis. London: H.M.S.O. Google Scholar
Hamilton, D. M., Varney, H. I. & Wall, J. H. (1942) Hospital treatment of patients with psychoneurotic disorders. American Journal of Psychiatry, 99, 243–7.Google Scholar
Hardcastle, D. H. (1934) A follow-up study of one hundred cases made for the Department of Psychological Medicine, Guy's Hospital. Journal of Mental Science, 80, 536–49.Google Scholar
Harrington, J. A. & Mayer-Gross, W. (1959) A day hospital for neurotics in an industrial community. Journal of Mental Science, 105, 224–34.Google Scholar
Harris, A. (1938) The prognosis of anxiety states. British Medical Journal, ii, 649–54.Google Scholar
Hastings, D. W. (1958) Follow-up results in psychiatric illness. American Journal of Psychiatry, 114, 1057–66.Google Scholar
Hoch, P. H., Cattell, J. P., Strahl, M. O. & Pennes, H. H. (1962) The course and outcome of pseudoneurotic schizophrenia. American Journal of Psychiatry, 119, 106–15.Google Scholar
Jansson, B. & Alstrom, J. (1967) The relation between prognosis, symptoms and background factors in suspected schizophrenic insufficiencies in young people. Acta Psychiatrica Scandinavka, Suppl. 198, 1–96.Google Scholar
Kay, D. W., Garside, R. F., Roy, J. R., Beamish, P. (1969) Endogenous and neurotic syndromes of depression: a 5- to 7-year follow-up of 104 cases. British Journal of Psychiatry, 115, 389–99.Google Scholar
Kedward, H. B. & Cooper, B. (1966) Neurotic disorders in urban practice: a three year follow-up. Journal of the College of General Practitioners, 12, 148–63.Google Scholar
Kerr, T. A., Schapira, K., Roth, M. & Garside, R. F. (1970) The relationship between the Maudsley Personality Inventory and the course of affective disorders. British Journal of Psychiatry, 116, 11–19.Google Scholar
Kerr, T. A., Gurney, C., Schapira, K. & Roth, M. (1970) Measurement and prediction of outcome in affective disorders. Proceedings of the Royal Society of Medicine, 63, 235–8.Google Scholar
Kringlen, E. (1965) Obsessional neurotics: a long term follow-up. British Journal of Psychiatry, 111, 709–22.Google Scholar
Ljungberg, L. (1957) Hysteria: Clinical, Prognostic and Genetic Stud. (Chapter on Prognosis). Acta psychiatrica et Neurologica Scandinavica Suppl. 112, 37–48.Google Scholar
Lo, W. H. (1967) A follow-up study of obsessional neurotics in Hong Kong Chinese. British Journal of Psychiatry, 113, 823–32.Google Scholar
Luff, C. C. & Garrod, M. (1935) The after-results of psychotherapy in 500 adult cases. British Medical Journal, ii, 54–9.Google Scholar
Miles, H. H. W., Barrabee, E. L. & Finesinger, J. E. (1951) Evaluation of psychotherapy, with a follow-up study of 62 cases of anxiety neurosis. Psychosomatic Medicine, 13, 83–105.Google Scholar
Noreik, K. (1970) A follow-up examination of neuroses. Acta psychiatrica scandinavka, 46, 1, 81–95.Google Scholar
Perley, M. J. & Guze, S. B. (1962) Hysteria—the stability and usefulness of clinical criteria. A quantitative study based on a follow-up period of 6 to 8 years in 39 patients. New England Journal of Medicine, 266, 421–6.Google Scholar
Pollitt, J. (1957) Natural history of obsessional states. A study of 150 cases. British Medical Journal, i, 194–8.Google Scholar
Roberts, A. H. (1964) Housebound housewives—a follow-up study of a phobic anxiety state. British Journal of Psychiatry, 110, 191–7.Google Scholar
Saenger, G. (1970) Factors in recovery of untreated psychiatric patients. Psychiatrk Quarterly Supplement, 44, 13–25.Google Scholar
Sims, A. C. P. (1973a) Importance of a high tracing rate in long-term medical follow-up studies. Lancet, ii, 433–5.Google Scholar
Sims, A. C. P. (1973b) Mortality in neurosis. Lancet, ii, 1072–6.Google Scholar
Sims, A. C. P. (1974) An investigation into factors predictive of the prognosis in neurosis: A follow-up study of hospital patients. M.D. Dissertation, University of Cambridge.Google Scholar
Sims, A. C. P. & Gooding, K. M. (1975) The psychiatric outcome of ‘normal’ people at follow-up. Journal of Psychiatric Researc. (In Press).Google Scholar
Subotnik, L. (1972) Spontaneous remission: fact or artifact. Psychological Bulletin, 77, 32–48.Google Scholar
Terhune, W. B. (1949) Phobic syndrome; study of 86 patients with phobic reactions. Archives of Neurology and Psychiatr. (Chicago), 62, 162–72.Google Scholar
Wallace, H. E. R. & Whyte, M. B. H. (1959) Natural history of the psychoneuroses. British Medical Journal, i, 144–8.Google Scholar
Weisker, A. & De Boor, C. (1968) A follow-up study of the prognosis on spontaneous outcome of neurotic diseases. Psych. (Heidelberg), 22, 5, 340–64.Google Scholar
Ziegler, L. H. & Heersema, P. H. (1942) A follow-up study of 111 non-hospitalized depressed patients after 14 years. American Journal of Psychiatry, 99, 813–17.Google Scholar
Submit a response

eLetters

No eLetters have been published for this article.