Psychotherapy clients as human phenomena

In this article, clients of psychotherapy are viewed as human phenomena. Viewing them as such reestablishes the true subject matter of psychotherapy. The psychotherapy project includes understanding as opposed to explanation, as one of its essential components. As psychotherapists engage in understanding their clients, they find themselves focusing on subjectivity and interiority, both their clients' and their own. Viewing psychotherapy clients as human phenomena to be understood, in contrast to viewing them as cases to be explained, shifts the therapist's focus to a more complex and interpersonally engaged process, which includes the therapist's interior life as well as the client's. Phenomenology provides the means for articulating the true subject matter of psychotherapy, and shifts the focus from a medical model approach to a human science approach.     

Risk assessment of neglect and maltreatment in infants and toddlers. Chances of early preventive intervention

The German child protection system lacks of interdisciplinary and standardized procedures for screening and diagnosing child maltreatment as well as for service delivery. Evidence based assessments of risk-screening in combination with consensus-based models for risk-judgement seem to predict the best possible results. A central part of determining whether an infant is at risk is to evaluate various domains of parental competencies and skills. In particular assessment procedures based on attachment research have proven to be practically and methodologically relevant. These include interactive and video-based observational methods as well as parental representations as sources of information for risk assessment. Attachment based intervention and treatment programs are effective, especially with regard to enhancing paternal sensitive behavior. However, these programs need to be adapted to delivery for specific risk groups. Overall an interdisciplinary approach with regard to the programs as well as to the training of the professionals has to be taken into account.     

Research in geriatric psychiatry and the care of the aged

First of all, to take care of the aged, the medical profession, as well as the public, has to assume the same obligation in the caring for the aged as in the same manner as other age groups. Second, good mental care is very closely linked to adequate treatment of physical illness. Third, judicious use of psychotropic drugs is as helpful in old age as at other ages. Fourth, psychotherapy must be crisis intervention combined with physical and social rehabilitation. Fifth, psychotherapy has to be directed primarily against depression and it has to realize that the elderly demonstrate not only biologic drives but also goal-seeking behavior, as Adler and Parsons emphasize. Sixth, mental health service facilities must be established in hospitals as well as in the community. Integration of health and social services should be the keyword. Seventh, the aged have to be taught to live as full-fledged members of society, which must be changed to meet the needs of the elderly.One can pessimistically say that this program is impossible to work out, especially in a large and desperate city like New York. I would answer with an adage I learned many years ago: The pessimist is usually right, but the optimist is the only one who can achieve results.     

Restricted associations of aphasics and schizophrenics.

Matched groups (N = 25) of fluent and nonfluent aphasics, brain-damaged and normal controls as well as schizophrenics were requested to name (1) as many animals and (2) as many things that are typically yellow as possible within 5 min. The main results of Gloning & Müller (1972) as to smaller numbers of correct responses, higher percentages of repetitions, shorter association clusters, and higher popularity in aphasics could be replicated for animal task. Comparing the data from both tasks for fluent and nonfluent aphasics with the various control groups led to considerable doubts as to what extent these results follow directly from quantitative differences in verbal output or have to be interpreted as qualitative differences in memory storage, retrieval, and self-editing processes.     

Venous thromboembolism in African-Americans: A literature-based commentary

Among the cardiovascular diseases and after ischemic heart disease and stroke, venous thromboembolism (VTE) is the third leading cause of death in the U.S. (3). Although VTE is seen across most ethnic groups in the U.S. as well as throughout the world, the rate varies. In the U.S., American Indians/Alaskan Natives as well as Asians have been reported to have a significantly lower rate of deep vein thrombosis (DVT) and pulmonary embolism (PE) as compared to blacks and whites. In sharp conrast blacks appear to have much higher rates than whites. Although these rate differences are thought in part by some to be attributable to disparities in diagnosis and care as well as genetics, it nevertheless is important to define as well as to understand the true incidence and impact so that both public health and clinical resources can be maximally utilized. The purpose of this commentary is to review the VTE burden in the U.S. with respect to ethnicity in terms of clinical demographics and genetics with particular emphasis on blacks.     

Mood and emotional disorders in Multiple Sclerosis: a literature review

INTRODUCTION: Even though mood and emotion are closely related concepts, they differ in some ways. This article aims to review the main mood and emotional disorders most often found in Multiple Sclerosis (MS). STATE OF ART: Studies related to four fields are presented and discussed: assessment tools and methodological problems; prevalence, etiology and symptoms of mood as well as emotional disorders in MS; relationship between cognition and emotion. Beside these main subjects, we tackle some interesting questions which concern patients as well as clinicians, such as the risk of depression and protective factors, the relationship between depression and fatigue and the impact of beta-interferon on depression. PROSPECTIVES: We focus on a new promising trend aiming to link neuroimaging data to psychological variables. CONCLUSIONS: These four fields cover a large portion of the questions about mood and emotional disorders in MS. Due to their frequency as well as to their impact on quality of life, specific attention should be given to these disorders.     

Circles outside the circle: Expanding the group frame through dance/movement therapy and art therapy

Much has been written about basic concepts of group theory as applied to group psychotherapy. Though there are many theories, there is agreement about several basic concepts that can be found in groups regardless of the theoretical perspective. Much has also been written regarding how basic concepts of group theory can be found and applied to all kinds of groups, not just psychotherapy groups. This paper focuses on the possibilities of a group theory class in a graduate creative arts therapy program as an optimal setting in which to convey not only understanding of group theory as therapy, but also as an avenue for awareness of social justice, relating to society as a large group. The paper demonstrates the use of movement and art-making as the vehicles to understanding of group theory as it relates to therapy, social, and environmental issues, and will focus on the use of dance/movement therapy and art therapy as vehicles for increasing awareness and effecting change.     

Stress- and glucocorticoid-induced priming of neuroinflammatory responses: potential mechanisms of stress-induced vulnerability to drugs of abuse

Stress and stress-induced glucocorticoids (GCs) sensitize drug abuse behavior as well as the neuroinflammatory response to a subsequent pro-inflammatory challenge. Stress also predisposes or sensitizes individuals to develop substance abuse. There is an emerging evidence that glia and glia-derived neuroinflammatory mediators play key roles in the development of drug abuse. Drugs of abuse such as opioids, psychostimulants, and alcohol induce neuroinflammatory mediators such as pro-inflammatory cytokines (e.g. interleukin (IL)-1β), which modulate drug reward, dependence, and tolerance as well as analgesic properties. Drugs of abuse may directly activate microglial and astroglial cells via ligation of Toll-like receptors (TLRs), which mediate the innate immune response to pathogens as well as xenobiotic agents (e.g. drugs of abuse). The present review focuses on understanding the immunologic mechanism(s) whereby stress primes or sensitizes the neuroinflammatory response to drugs of abuse and explores whether stress- and GC-induced sensitization of neuroimmune processes predisposes individuals to drug abuse liability and the role of neuroinflammatory mediators in the development of drug addiction.     

Speech behavior and neurotic personality structure. Is there a neuroses-specific communication behavior in the psychoanalytic situation]

Speech behaviour of the patient and the analyst is considered with regard to the psychoanalytic situation and its regulating factors such as transference and countertransference. It appears that the scientific viewpoint of the researching analyst determines the conception as well as the interpretation of a possible connection between verbal behaviour and neurotic personality structure. If the psychoanalytic situation is regarded as a means to investigate the patient and his symptoms, his verbal behaviour seems to depend on the unconscious motives forming his neurotic structure of personality. On the contrary, if the psychoanalytic situation is regarded as a communicative situation, the verbal behaviour of the patient as well as of the analyst depends rather on their 'here-and-now' transference relationship in a certain phase of the psychoanalytic process.     

ADHD in preschool children: parent-rated psychosocial correlates

Twenty-five children (21 males, 4 females; mean age 4.8 years) with attention-deficit-hyperactivity disorder (ADHD) participated in this study in addition to 25 typically developing children (21 males, 4 females; mean age 4.9 years). Parental ratings of the preschool children and preschool child self-ratings were examined within the framework of three domains: behavioral disturbance, social competence, and familial environment. Compared to their typically developing peers, preschool children classified as having ADHD were rated by their parents as significantly more aggressive, more demanding of parental time, less socially skilled, less adaptable to change in routine, and as exhibiting more noncompliance. In contrast to these parental ratings, preschool children with ADHD perceived themselves as equally competent, and as socially accepted as their peers. Parents of preschool children with ADHD rated themselves as less competent parents, and as experiencing a restricted parenting role. Although parenting a preschool child with ADHD was viewed as stressful, the parents did not rate general family functioning to be adversely affected.     

Invariant template matching in systems with spatiotemporal coding: A matter of instability

We consider the design principles of algorithms that match templates to images subject to spatiotemporal encoding. Both templates and images are encoded as temporal sequences of samplings from spatial patterns. Matching is required to be tolerant to various combinations of image perturbations. These include ones that can be modeled as parameterized uncertainties such as image blur, luminance, and, as special cases, invariant transformation groups such as translation and rotations, as well as unmodeled uncertainties (noise). For a system to deal with such perturbations in an efficient way, they are to be handled through a minimal number of channels and by simple adaptation mechanisms. These normative requirements can be met within the mathematical framework of weakly attracting sets. We discuss explicit implementation of this principle in neural systems and show that it naturally explains a range of phenomena in biological vision, such as mental rotation, visual search, and the presence of multiple time scales in adaptation. We illustrate our results with an application to a realistic pattern recognition problem.     

Management of dead bodies as a component of psychosocial interventions after the tsunami: A view from Sri Lanka

Even if predicted, disasters may not be completely averted due to reasons beyond human control. There is always likely to be a degree of loss, human as well as material. Therefore, the correct strategy is to limit the damage and minimize the harm. Such damage control exercises should be mindful about the psychological costs of the disaster. Identification of dead bodies and the missing, as well as providing a dignified burial, is a crucial part of the overall management of a disaster. It will alleviate the long-term psychological as well as legal consequences. Hence, a comprehensive forensic service including modern genetic capabilities is a must for disaster response. Development of a comprehensive and efficient psychosocial intervention at community level after a disaster should recognise the importance of dead body management as an integral part of it. The guiding principles of psychosocial interventions are: to be multi-sectoral and multi-level; to include immediate, mid-term and long-term interventions; to be socially and culturally sensitive; to recognize the functionality of existing social and healthcare systems; to adopt a public mental health approach; and to be informed by evidence-based planning and implementation proven to be locally effective.     

Evolutionary robots with on-line self-organization and behavioral fitness.

We address two issues in Evolutionary Robotics, namely the genetic encoding and the performance criterion, also known as the fitness function. For the first aspect, we suggest to encode mechanisms for parameter self-organization, instead of the parameters themselves as in conventional approaches. We argue that the suggested encoding generates systems that can solve more complex tasks and are more robust to unpredictable sources of change. We support our arguments with a set of experiments on evolutionary neural controllers for physical robots and compare them to conventional encoding. In addition, we show that when also the genetic encoding is left free to evolve, artificial evolution will select to exploit mechanisms of self-organization. For the second aspect, we shall discuss the role of the performance criterion, als known as fitness function, and suggest Fitness Space as a framework to conceive fitness functions in Evolutionary Robotics. Fitness Space can be used as a guide to design fitness functions as well as to compare different experiments in Evolutionary Robotics.     

Brain injury from cardiac bypass procedures

Patients who undergo coronary artery bypass grafting (CABG) are at increased risk for brain injury. Surgical techniques have advanced so that the risk of neurological sequelae is decreased, but there remains significant morbidity and mortality related to the postoperative period as well as to the surgery itself. In addition, patients who undergo CABG have comorbidities or demographic factors that may increase their likelihood of developing neurological complications. Pathophysiological mechanisms of cerebral injury after CABG range from hemodynamic compromise to embolization, either intraoperatively or postoperatively. Biochemical markers such as S100 and neuron-specific enolase may play a role in the prediction of outcome after CABG, and because of this may help elucidate other potential risk factors. Specific neurological sequelae are discussed, such as stroke, with summaries of the apparent risk factors, as well as encephalopathy, seizure, and both short- and long-term cognitive deficits. Changes in surgical technique have led to some improvements, but there is no definitive information yet as to the role of some of these, such as the use of off-pump CABG. Other techniques such as the use of an arterial filter are discussed, as are their potential benefits in the prevention of neurological complications.     

Luminography--an alternative assay for detection of von Willebrand factor multimers

A luminescence assay was adapted for detection of von Willebrand factor multimers subsequent to SDS-agarose gel electrophoresis and electroblotting onto nitrocellulose. The method is as fast as chromogenic detection methods and appears to be as sensitive as autoradiography without the disadvantages of the latter.     

The effect of satiety on responses of gustatory neurons in the amygdala of alert cynomolgus macaques

An alert cynomolgus macaque was fed a sweet solution to satiety as the activity of a gustatory neuron in the amygdala was recorded to that solution and to four other taste stimuli. This experiment was conducted a total of 14 times in two monkeys. The responses of individual neurons to the satiety stimuli were suppressed by as little as 1%, and as much as 100% by the induction of satiety (mean suppression = 58%). Nine of the 14 cells responded to the satiety solution with excitation, and their responses were suppressed by a mean of 62% by satiety. Five neurons responded with inhibition, and their responses were suppressed by a mean of 50%. Responses to other taste stimuli, not associated with satiety, were affected to a lesser extent. The amygdala is a taste relay between the primary gustatory cortex, where satiety has no influence on responses to taste stimuli, and the lateral hypothalamic area where the effect of satiety is total. The data presented here indicate that the amygdala is a functional as well as anatomical intermediary between these two areas, and serves as a stage in the process through which sensory stimuli are imbued with motivational significance.     

Bivalent ligand containing curcumin and cholesterol as fluorescence probe for Aβ plaques in Alzheimer's disease

A recently developed bivalent ligand BMAOI 14 (7) has been evaluated for its capability to label and detect aggregated β-amyloid (Aβ) peptide as a fluorescent probe. This probe contains curcumin as the Aβ recognition moiety and cholesterol as an anchorage to the neuronal cell membrane/lipid rafts. The results demonstrate that 7 binds to the monomers, oligomers as well as fibrils of Aβ42 with low micromolar to submicromolar binding affinities. This chemical probe also has many of the required optical properties for use in imaging and can rapidly cross the blood-brain barrier (BBB) in vivo. Furthermore, 7 specifically binds to Aβ plaques in both AD human patients and APP transgenic mouse brain tissues. Collectively, these results suggest that 7 is a strong candidate as an Aβ-imaging agent and encourage further optimization of 7 as a new lead to develop the next generation of Aβ-imaging probes.     

Sibling relations between individuation and attachment: attempt at a conceptualization

Although sibling relationships can be considered as one of the most durable and intensive relationships, not much research in developmental psychology and family research has been done on this issue. The strong focus on parents, more specifically on mothers, stood in the way of adequate conceptualization and understanding of the function and contribution of siblings to individual development and family interaction. In this contribution a conceptualization of sibling relationships is presented. Siblings as objects of aggressive and sexual feelings as well as the function of siblings in the family system, for example, as parentification and negative identity is emphasized. In addition, the different qualities of sibling relationships, for example, envy, rivalry, similarity, and difference, are emphasized. The function of siblings as love objects is stressed, and the role of siblings as support as well as teaching object is illustrated. Finally, it is emphasized that, similar to relationships between parents and child, the quality of sibling relationships changed over time and leads, for example, to a detachment between sibling relationships during adolescence.     

Management of dead bodies as a component of psychosocial interventions after the tsunami: a view from Sri Lanka

Even if predicted, disasters may not be completely averted due to reasons beyond human control. There is always likely to be a degree of loss, human as well as material. Therefore, the correct strategy is to limit the damage and minimize the harm. Such damage control exercises should be mindful about the psychological costs of the disaster. Identification of dead bodies and the missing, as well as providing a dignified burial, is a crucial part of the overall management of a disaster. It will alleviate the long-term psychological as well as legal consequences. Hence, a comprehensive forensic service including modern genetic capabilities is a must for disaster response. Development of a comprehensive and efficient psychosocial intervention at community level after a disaster should recognise the importance of dead body management as an integral part of it. The guiding principles of psychosocial interventions are: to be multi-sectoral and multi-level; to include immediate, mid-term and long-term interventions; to be socially and culturally sensitive; to recognize the functionality of existing social and healthcare systems; to adopt a public mental health approach; and to be informed by evidence-based planning and implementation proven to be locally effective.