Daniel E. Bates’s research while affiliated with University of California, Irvine and other places

1.(1) In a double-blind, drug-placebo study, a group of 42 emotionally disturbed, male criminals incarcerated at a treatment center with an average age of 25 ± 6 and an average educational level of 8 ± 2, were randomly assigned for a 6-month period to 300 mg of diphenylhydantoin daily by mouth or to a placebo in the form of 24 mg of diphenylhydantoin daily.2.(2) Five-minute tape-recorded speech samples, elicited by standardized instructions to “talk about any interesting or dramatic life experiences,” were obtained before drug administration and for a 6-month period postdrug. The typescripts of these speech samples were blindly scored, by content analysis technicians unfamiliar with the purpose or nature of this study, for anxiety, total hostility outward, overt hostility outward, covert hostility outward, hostility inward, and ambivalent hostility according to the method of Gottschalk (Gottschalk and Gleser, 1969; Gottschalk et al., 1969).3.(3) There were no significant differences between the drug and placebo groups in the magnitude of these anxiety or hostility scores over the 6-month period, as assessed by comparison of the slopes for all the affect scores overtime.4.(4) These findings confirm the observations of several other investigators that diphenylhydantoin has a weak effect, if any, as an antianxiety or antihostility agent, even when administered over a 6-month period of time of a group of aggressive, antisocial, criminal offenders.5.(5) The relationship and relevance of scores of psychological states derived from the content analysis of speech to manifest behavior is dicussed.

Sixty eight patients who came voluntarily to a crisis intervention clinic were randomly assigned to one of two groups. Those in the first group received immediate intervention therapy while those in the second were put on a waiting list. By the end of six weeks (and after minor changes in the makeup of the groups were taken into account) there was no significant difference in the psychiatric morbidity scores of the two groups; both had improved. The authors used a variety of pretreatment and posttreatment measures and found that the best predictor of a patient's condition at the end of six weeks was his pretreatment psychiatric morbidity score. The authors conclude that individuals vary in both their reactions to life crises and their therapeutic needs and that the central issue may not be the recovery itself, but the difficulty and pain with which it is achieved.

A study is described illustrating the use, in neuropsychopharmacologic studies, of an objective measure of psychological states, such as anxiety, through the content analysis of 5 minute samples of speech. In this report, the psychoactive drug tested was a new benzodiazepine, lorazepam. It was found to exert significant antianxiety effects (p < 0.05) as measured by the content analysis method when administered parenterally at a dosage of 5.0 mg. compared to anxiety changes occurring after no drug or 3.0 mg. of lorazepam. Interesting physiological changes in relation to drug dose and anxiety inhibition were followed and are also reported.

Assigned adult criminal offenders to 3 drug groups in order to assess the effect on achievement strivings as measured by the Gottschalk-Gleser Achievement Strivings Scale. 16 Ss received 15 mg. of an amphetamine, 7 received 50 mg. chlorpromazine, and 14 received a placebo. Achievement striving scores were taken prior to the administration of drugs and again at 2- and 4-hr postdrug periods. Results indicate a significant increase in achievement strivings on the 1st postdrug testing for the amphetamine group when compared to the placebo group. This difference disappeared by the 2nd postdrug testing. There was no significant difference between chlorpromazine and placebo groups on either of the postdrug administrations. (15 ref.) (PsycINFO Database Record (c) 2012 APA, all rights reserved)