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Inability to Concentrate

Published online by Cambridge University Press:  29 January 2018

F. G. Spear  and
R. Green
F. G. Spear
Affiliation:
Middlewood Hospital, Sheffield
R. Green
Affiliation:
Royal Hospital, Sheffield
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Extract

Introduction

“I can't concentrate, doctor” is a common complaint among psychiatric patients. The phrase is usually applied in a general sense to describe a state in which the patient has ceased to read the newspapers or watch the television and can no longer cope adequately with his work. In clinical practice the performance of the “serial sevens” test has been thought to give an indication of impairment of this function, whatever it may be (Mayer-Gross, Slater and Roth, 1960). As the symptom is so common, a measure of its severity may be of some value. This paper describes an attempt to develop such a measure and discusses the possible implications of its failure.

Type
Research Article
Information
The British Journal of Psychiatry , Volume 112 , Issue 490 , September 1966 , pp. 913 - 915
Copyright
Copyright © Royal College of Psychiatrists, 1966 

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References

Clark, P. R. F. and Spear, F. G. (1964). “Reliability and sensitivity in the assessment of well-being”. (Abstract). Proceedings of Annual Conference of the British Psychological Society. Bull. Brit. psychol. Soc., 17, 18A.Google Scholar
Mayer-Gross, W. Slater, E. and Roth, M. (1960). Clinical Psychiatry (2nd Ed.). London: Cassell.Google Scholar
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