No abstract

Data are reported from an exploratory study looking at the prevalence of sleep problems (broken sleep and limited hours of sleep) in a population of handicapped children. Some degree of difficulty occurred in over a third of the population. There were strong associations with age, a range of serious daytime behavioural difficulties and indices of family stress. Some support for distinct subgroups (night waking, limited hours) was obtained. The implications of these findings are discussed.

This study was designed to provide a prevalence rate of childhood abuse in patients being treated for alcohol and other drug problems, and to compare the extent of trauma symptoms that were present in substance abusers with and without childhood histories of physical, sexual, and emotional abuse. One hundred male veterans completed a standard test battery that included the Trauma Symptom Checklist and the Dissociative Experiences Scale. Clinical information pertaining to history of childhood abuse was obtained from the subjects' medical charts. Results demonstrated that 34% of the sample reported a history of childhood abuse. Although this group did achieve higher mean scores on all the scales, in comparison to the nonabused group, statistical significance was absent. Implications of these findings are discussed and future research is suggested.

The present study surveyed the attitudes of psychiatrists and psychologists with regard to the existence of dissociative and multiple personality disorders. Questionnaires were sent to psychiatrists and psychologists in all VA Medical Centers. A total of 1,120 VA psychologists and psychiatrists completed the surveys. More than 97% of respondents indicated that they believed in dissociative disorders, while 80% reported a belief in multiple personality disorder. Belief in multiple personality disorder was related significantly to profession, age, and years of experience.

A principal components analysis with a varimax rotation was performed on the Dissociative Experiences Scale using a substance abuse population. Results based on a combination of the eigenvalue greater than 1 criterion and factor interpretability indicated that a four‐factor solution best fit the data. Implications for interpreting the Dissociative Experiences Scale with substance abusers were discussed.