bluuebunny/crossref_metadata_2025 huggingface dataset:
Migration, traumatic bereavement and transcultural aspects of psychological healing: Loss and grief of a refugee woman from Begameder County in Ethiopia
Authors: Schreiber Shaul
Published: July 2011

Post‐traumatic stress disorder (PTSD), grief and bereavement may be manifested in a variety of ways in different populations and cultures. Following is the description of an Ethiopian immigrant woman from the county of Begameder whose baby died during the long exodus from Ethiopia and who, because of the different environmental conditions in ‘the new land’, could not undergo traditional purification rituals. Subsequently she suffered various cultural signs and symptoms of PTSD due to complicated bereavement and, on top of that, was seen as ‘impure’ by both her family and herself. For two years her symptoms were attributed to a severe form of bronchial asthma and she did not respond to treatment. When eventually brought to psychiatric attention, she was erroneously diagnosed as suffering from psychosis and treated inappropriately. Accurate anamnesis, combined with adequate counselling, provided the correct diagnosis, and a combination of supportive psychotherapy, traditional healing and purification rituals resulted in a resolution of the syndrome. Thirty months of follow‐up showed that the results of the treatment were stable and satisfactory. The specific aspects of cultural manifestations of grief and mourning, the meaning of hallucinations not in the context of psychosis, purification rituals, the role of traditional healing among immigrants from a totally different culture, and the difficulties that helpers may have interpreting and making sense of the immigrants' behaviour and complaints are discussed.
Male genital self‐mutilation: A case report
Authors: Shimizu Akira , Mizuta Ichiro
Published: July 2011

A review of the literature on self‐mutilation of male genitalia and/or auto‐castration reveals that they are infrequent and usually related to psychoses or toxic states. In this report the authors present a case of a 17‐year‐old non‐psychotic Japanese male who mutilated his genitalia under clear consciousness because of a conflict over his frequent masturbation.
Musical responsiveness and blocked capacity for intimacy: A comparison of music and psychology students
Authors: Babbage S. J. , Valentine E. R.
Published: July 2011

The hypothesis that music serves a compensatory emotional need, specifically that blocked capacity for intimacy would predict musical responsiveness, was examined in musicians and psychologists. Music and psychology students completed a musical preference scale and measures of personal relationships and capacity for intimacy. Degree of musical responsiveness was significantly related to a blocked capacity for intimacy in music students but these measures were non‐significantly negatively related in psychology students. For the latter group, musical preference (i.e. degree of liking for different kinds of music) and measures of blocked capacity for intimacy were significantly negatively related to reported time spent listening to music. The results for music students are consistent with the Freudian hypothesis of sublimation and extend the work of Machotka in the realm of visual arts to that of music. The results for psychology students, however, indicate that for them music is not serving an aesthetic function in the sense defined by Wallach (1959). The most plausible explanation for the difference between music and psychology students is in terms of anxiety as a mediating variable.
Psychoanalytic applications in medical settings
Authors: ARUNDALE JEAN
Published: July 2011

Book reviewed in this article:

The Imaginative Body: Psychodynamic Therapy in Health Care. Edited by Aleda Erskine & Dorothy Judd.

Psychoanalytic Therapy in the Hospital Setting. By Paul Janssen.
Erotic transference and a threatened sense of self
Authors: Kotze Beth , Meares Russell
Published: July 2011

In this study of erotic transference the phenomenon is defined in the manner of Freud (1915) and Blum (1973). It involves a circumscribed behaviour which consists of an erotic preoccupation with the therapist which often has the quality of an obsession. It is prolonged, usually for months or years, is relatively immutable, and can be seen as a milder variant of de Clerembault's syndrome.

It is suggested that the psychic purpose of the preoccupation is to maintain a threatened sense of self. The erotic content of the preoccupation is likely to be a consequence of the sexualization of the early relationship with caregivers, which was impingeing and disruptive of self‐development. In an illustrative case, the disturbance of this development was considered to include an impediment to the development of the transitional field, the mother herself replacing the transitional object.
A longitudinal study of the grief of mothers and fathers of children with intellectual disability
Authors: Bruce Elizabeth J. , Schultz Cynthia L. , Smyrnios Kosmas X.
Published: July 2011

As a follow‐up to a single‐point‐in‐time study which suggested support for the proposition that grieving is an ongoing feature of parenting children with intellectual disability, the present investigation reports findings based on annual interviews conducted over a three‐year period. Longitudinal outcomes on measures used to define grief largely confirmed the original findings. Of particular interest were (a) indications of the presence of grief over time (b) the finding that the 49 mothers and 49 fathers report similar intensity of continued wishing for what might have been, and (c) the conclusion that the responses of the mothers on the Impact of Event Scale and to current levels of distress when thinking about time of diagnoses are significantly more intense than those of the fathers. Attention is drawn to patterns emerging from gender‐related differences. Resulted are discussed within the framework of four mandates for research and practice, with particular reference to psycho‐educational support through groupwork.
Psychological treatment of emotional problems by general practitioners
Authors: Cape John D.
Published: July 2011

Since the pioneering work of Balint (1964; Balint & Norell, 1973) there has been little empirical study of general medical practitioners' psychological treatment of patients presenting with emotional problems. In this study 88 patients presenting to GPs for help with emotional problems were interviewed at home about their experiences of their consultations with the GPs. Their audiotaped consultations were then analysed using four different coding systems: a content coding system devised for the study, two verbal response mode systems (Byrne & Long, 1976; Stiles, 1982), and ratings of the doctor's empathic understanding and concern and warmth. Less than half the average consultation was found to comprise psychological treatment broadly defined as any discussion and listening to patients' psychosocial concerns. Although psychological treatment generally was associated with positive patient experiences, the strongest effects found were for listening interactions (where patients described their problems in their own words with non‐directive encouragement from the doctor) and for rated doctor empathy. The results are discussed in relation to the work of Balint (1964) and associated findings in empirical studies of psychotherapy.
Psychological responses to a marine disaster during a recoil phase: Experiences from the Estonia shipwreck
Authors: Taiminen Tero J. , Tuominen Taina
Published: July 2011

The sinking of the car ferry, Estonia, was one of the world's most devastating marine disasters that has ever occurred in peace time. Altogether 138 passengers and crew members were rescued, and 38 of them were taken to the Turku University Central Hospital in Finland. The present article describes the various psychological reactions among the survivors during the first three days of the recoil phase.
A short measure of social and separation anxiety
Authors: Gilbert P. , Allan S. , Trent D.
Published: July 2011

Separation and social anxiety have often been seen to relate to different social fears. This paper outlines a pilot study on a short separation and social anxiety scale in relationship to depression. Results suggest an acceptable factor structure and reliability. Both separation and social anxiety were found to be associated with depression and submissive behaviour. The association of social anxiety to depression was particularly strong in a depressed group.
Pain patients' bias in the interpretation of ambiguous homophones
Authors: Pincus Tamar , Pearce Shirley , Perrott Alisa
Published: July 2011

This study describes an investigation into the interpretation of ambiguous homophones by chronic pain patients and non‐pain control patients. Participants were presented auditorily with a list of homophones and asked to write down the word they had just heard. Following a two‐minute distraction task they completed a free‐recall task. A significant bias towards pain interpretation was exhibited by the pain patients and this effect appears to be independent of anxiety and depression. Both groups reported awareness of the ambiguity of some words, and the analysis was repeated for each participant excluding the words reported to be ambiguous. Pain patients still showed the bias towards pain interpretation. The free‐recall task also demonstrated a memory bias for pain stimuli in pain groups. The results provide further evidence that chronic pain is associated with biases in the processing of information. Future research should aim to investigate the role of these biases in the maintenance of chronic pain.
Daily events and somatic symptoms: Evidence of a lagged relationship
Authors: Sheffield David , McVey Cynthia , Carroll Douglas
Published: July 2011

In order to examine the lagged relationship between daily events and somatic symptoms, 48 students completed the Students Assessment of Daily Experience Questionnaire and the Somatic Symptoms subscale of the General Health Questionnaire for five days. Undesirable events were correlated with somatic symptoms three to four days later.
Containers, mental space and psychodynamics
Authors: Rosenbaum Bent , Garfield David
Published: July 2011

The concept of the container has a place within cognitive science as well as within psychodynamic theories. Cognitive semantics has shown that many metaphors giving meaning to daily life‐events use the container as a basic reference point. Psychoanalytic theory, most notably, Freud's psychosexual developmental model, illustrates how the container of the body results in meaning. Object relations theory in psychoanalysis has shown how patients with borderline personality disorder behave according to the dynamics of container and containment. Both the cognitive and the psychodynamic conceptions of containers are clinically relevant. The fundamental notion of the container leads to an exploration of ‘container dynamics’ both in cognitive semantics and in psychodynamic work. A model of the cusp may be of help in the description of the dynamics at the border of the container. Furthermore, the descriptions of the patient's communication of emotion and thoughts may involve three interacting dimensions: an effective‐perceptual dimension, a phantasy dimension and a socio‐interactive dimension. The interaction between these dimensions has implications for dealing with container dynamics and the process of containment.
A process view of the self
Authors: DeWaele Martin
Published: July 2011

This paper further develops the concept of the self as experiential being, and its relevance for an understanding of psychopathology. It is proposed that the self, or ‘I’, processes and regulates its experiences by means of three modalities that are dynamically interrelated throughout life: exchanges/boundaries, internal mirroring/affective awareness, and the representational space. It is further proposed that pathology develops when these processes of self‐regulation go wrong. As a result, different psychopathological positions are identified which, in the case of severe disorders, require a distinctive initial approach to therapy.

There is also the unique degree to which humans evolve an ‘inner space’ in which to create representations of themselves interacting with other figures and with things in their world. Also, these creations can be close to reality in form or completely changed to fit fantasy wishes.

John D. Sutherland (1993, p.24)
How does marriage protect women with histories of affective disorder from post‐partum relapse?
Authors: Marks Maureen , Wieck Angelika , Checkley Stuart , Kumar Channi
Published: July 2011

Interviews were carried out at 36 weeks antenatal with 63 married couples, in 36 of which the woman had a history of affective disorder and in 27 the woman had no previous psychiatric history. The men's attitudes to their wives were assessed using expressed emotion methodology. Also assessed were psychiatric history, neuroticism, satisfaction with the marital relationship and attitudes to sex, pregnancy and parenthood in both the woman and her partner. Women with psychiatric histories who did not relapse in the six months following delivery had partners who were more positive about them than partners of high‐risk women who remained well and control women. This effect is explored further by examining which characteristics of the man and which of the woman contributed to his critical and positive comment score. Criticism of his wife was associated with each partner reporting less marital satisfaction and also with the man's psychiatric history. No characteristic of the woman contributed to her partner's criticism. In contrast, the men's positive comments about their wives were associated with the woman's satisfaction with key aspects of her femaleness. Positive husbands had wives who were pleased to be pregnant, happy with their pregnant bodies and enjoying the sexual aspect of the marital relationship. In women with psychiatric histories the time which had elapsed since her last psychiatric admission also influenced his positive comments.
Natural cognitive coping strategies in schizophrenia
Authors: McNally Sandra E. , Goldberg Joel O.
Published: July 2011

Recent attention has focused on cognitive‐behavioural treatment (CBT) for psychotic thinking. These interventions may be especially appropriate for drug‐resistant patients or as an adjunct to pharmacotherapy. However, CBT for schizophrenia was developed in the absence of any systematic investigation of personal self‐statements that psychotic individuals develop on their own. The current investigation explored the natural cognitive strategies of 10 community‐based persons with schizophrenia. An exploratory interview was employed as the method of inquiry. A data bank of 344 statements was obtained from which 55 pertained to coping strategies. The results were interpreted using the grounded theory method (GTM) of qualitative analysis. Systematic analysis of the meaning units yielded a major category called coping self‐talk which pertained to cognitive strategies (the focus of this research report). This category was composed of nine lower‐level categories; that is, nine types of self‐talk that persons with schizophrenia use actively in their own efforts toward managing psychotic symptoms were identified. These naturalistic coping strategies could provide useful guides for directing cognitive interventions.
Attachment and psychotherapy: An overview
Authors: Mace Chris , Margison Frank
Published: July 2011

Attachment theory has an important role in clarifying personality development, and attachment style is increasingly recognised as a key intervening variable between personality and the response to psychotherapeutic interventions.

Recent developments in attachment theory and its relationship to practice are reviewed as an introduction to a series of papers on Attachment and Psychotherapy.
Adult attachment processes: Individual and couple perspectives
Authors: Bartholomew Kim
Published: July 2011

This paper overviews a new approach to understanding the range of difficulties experienced in close attachment relationships in adulthood. Drawing on the work of Bowlby, four prototypic adult attachment patterns are defined in terms of the intersection of two underlying dimensions, the positivity of the person's self‐image and the positivity of the person's image of others (Bartholomew, 1990; Bartholomew & Horowitz, 1991). The distinct interpersonal difficulties associated with each attachment pattern are described. Findings are presented indicating that individual differences in attachment have implications for the quality of adults' romantic relationships, and that attachment theory may be helpful in understanding violent spousal relationships. Five current issues in the study of adult attachment are addressed: the stability of attachment patterns, the associations between attachment and general personality factors, the relative merits of categorical and prototype assessments of attachment, the identification of multiple attachments in adulthood, and the specificity of adult attachment patterns. It is suggested that the four‐category model of adult attachment is especially sensitive to the range and complexity of attachment‐related difficulties experienced in adulthood.
Attachment in an interpersonal context
Authors: Birtchnell John
Published: July 2011

Attachment theory is essentially a child‐centred theory which is not readily adaptable to the relating of adults. Dependence is proposed as the adult equivalent of attachment. Both attachment and dependence have both a closeness‐seeking component and an upwardly directed component. From this observation emerges a theory of relating constructed around a horizontal axis concerning closeness seeking versus distance seeking and a vertical axis concerning upwardly directed behaviour versus downwardly directed behaviour. By the insertion of four intermediate positions, an octagonal arrangement of relating objectives is created which resembles the interpersonal circle. The theory differs from orthodox interpersonal theory in the clear distinction which is drawn between positive relating and negative relating. Three classes of negative relating are described. As in attachment theory, continuities are established between the relating of animals and the relating of humans. It is tentatively shown how the 10 DSM‐IV personality disorders might be accommodated within the structure of the octagon. Psychotherapy based upon interpersonal theory is described. Two instruments for measuring negative relating are described: the Person's Relating to Others Questionnaire, which is a general measure of relating, and the Couple's Relating to Each Other Questionnaire, which measures specifically interrelating within couples. The usefulness of these in measuring change in psychotherapy is illustrated.
Wisconsin Card Sorting Task (WCST) errors and cerebral blood flow in obsessive‐compulsive disorder (OCD)
Authors: Lucey J. V. , Burness C. E. , Costa D. C. , Gacinovic S. , Pilowsky L. S. , Ell P. J. , Marks I. M. , Kerwin R.W.
Published: July 2011

We compared Wisconsin Card Sorting Task (WCST) performance in 19 obsessive‐compulsive disorder (OCD) patients and 19 individually matched healthy controls. Measures of intelligence and mood were taken into account for all participants. Within the patient group, factors such as duration and severity of symptoms (as assessed using the Yale‐Brown Obsessive‐Compulsive Scale, Y‐BOCS) were considered. We explored the relationship between OCD WCST errors and regional cerebral blood flow (rCBF) on brain dedicated, high resolution, single photon emission tomography (SPET). We used uptake of 99mTc‐hexamethylpropylamine oxime (HMPAO) on SPET to estimate rCBF, and regional values were quantified as ratios of cerebellar blood flow. WCST results confirmed OCD patients were significantly impaired when compared with age‐ and sex‐matched healthy volunteers. Patients made significantly more trials, more perseverative errors, and more null‐sorts. OCD patients Y‐BOCS 'obsessive' subtotal significantly correlated with many WCST errors. Furthermore OCD WCST null‐sorts correlated significantly with SPET OCD left inferior frontal cortical rCBF (r(18) = .47, p = .05) and left caudate rCBF (r(18) = .72, p = .01). The implications of these findings are discussed in the context of other studies which examine functional imaging and neuropsychology in OCD.
Follow‐up study of British military hostages and their families held in Kuwait during the Gulf War
Authors: Bisson Jonathan I. , Searle Margaret M. , Srinivasan Michael
Published: July 2011

On 2 August 1990 Iraq invaded Kuwait and held hostage all its inhabitants. Amongst those forced to stay were 71 British servicemen and their families who were held hostage for up to four and a half months. This study investigated the mental health status of this group of individuals at 6 and 18 months after the final hostage was released. Participants completed the Impact of Event Scale and the 28‐item version of the General Health Questionnaire at both 6 and 18 months. In addition they completed a questionnaire regarding background factors, the dimensions of the trauma and the effects of their hostage experience. The Impact of Event Scale scores changed little over time whereas the General Health Questionnaire scores reduced significantly (p = .001) over the 12‐month period suggesting that despite ongoing intrusive and avoidance phenomena levels of psychological distress did reduce. Those variables most strongly associated with a poor psychological outcome were witnessing physical violence and perceived deterioration in physical and mental health. Poor outcome at 6 months was strongly correlated with poor outcome at 18 months.
The contribution of adult attachment style to the adjustment to infertility
Authors: Mikulincer Mario , Horesh Netta , Levy‐Shiff Rachel , Manovich Rachel , Shalev Joseph
Published: July 2011

This study examines the contribution of adult attachment style to the adjustment to infertility. Both husbands and wives of 80 infertile couples undergoing medical treatment completed the Attachment Style Scale, the Mental Health Inventory and the Dyadic Adjustment Scale. One year later, data were collected on whether women became pregnant. Diagnosis of male infertility was significantly more distressing than diagnosis of female infertility. Significant differences were found among attachment groups: secure persons, either men or women, reported more well‐being, less distress and more dyadic adjustment than avoidant and anxious‐ambivalent persons. Partners of secure persons also reported significantly higher levels of well‐being and dyadic adjustment and significantly lower levels of distress than partners of anxious‐ambivalent persons. However, these effects of attachment style were significant mainly when male infertility was diagnosed. Husbands' secure attachment made a significant positive contribution to pregnancy likelihood and this effect was mediated by adjustment measures. Results are discussed in terms of attachment theory.
Can social cognitive models contribute to the effectiveness of HIV‐preventive behavioural interventions? A brief review of the literature and a reply to Joffe (1996; 1997) and Fife‐Schaw (1997)
Authors: Abraham Charles , Sheeran Paschal , Orbell Sheina
Published: July 2011

A recent debate in the British Journal of Medical Psychology has considered the role of social cognitive models, such as the theory of reasoned action and the theory of planned behaviour, in understanding HIV‐preventive behaviour. In this paper we clarify some of the assumptions involved in applications of social cognitive models. We briefly review available evidence on the capacity of such models to predict HIV‐preventive sexual behaviour and outline a number of criteria for judging their predictive success. The importance of behavioural prediction for the development of effective HIV‐preventive behavioural interventions is discussed and recent evaluations of interventions based on these models are reviewed. We conclude that the models are effective in predicting HIV‐preventive behaviours and provide empirically supported theoretical guidance on psychological changes likely to result in HIV‐preventive behaviour change. In addition we argue that, to date, evaluations of theoretically specified interventions are encouraging. Further development and rigorous testing of HIV/AIDS interventions based on social cognitive models is recommended.
Vulnerability factors in the anxiety disorders
Authors: Bennet Angelina , Stirling John
Published: July 2011

Groups of non‐clinical individuals scoring high and low on a measure of trait anxiety were compared to a group of people with a history of clinical anxiety on measures of locus of control of behaviour and reported parental rearing practices (group size = 30 in each group). The Parental Bonding Instrument (Parker, Tulping & Brown, 1979) was used to assess parental overprotection and care. A scale relating to parental sensitization was also used in this study. It was hypothesized that the high‐trait anxiety group would produce similar results to the anxiety‐disorder group on locus of control and parental overprotection, and similar results to the low‐trait anxiety group on parental care and parental sensitization. The hypotheses were, in most cases, supported and a relationship between trait anxiety and parental overprotection was suggested. The results also suggested that parental sensitization may be particular to anxiety disorders.
The role of unrecognized ambivalence: The mirroring of family conflicts within the professional and legal network
Authors: Etchegoyen Alicia , Adams Melissa
Published: July 2011

This paper raises some questions about the deleterious effects of unrecognized (unconscious) ambivalence running through child care systems, the Children Act and the adversarial legal system. It is postulated that unrecognized ambivalence may become one of the powerful unconscious dynamics contributing to the mirroring of the family conflicts within the professional network. A detailed clinical example, in which we acted as expert witnesses within a child psychiatry hospital team, is used to illustrate how the denial of ambivalence in a highly complex case, that of a large family involved in care proceedings, led to a state of polarization between the family and a team of professionals which was replicated and amplified within the wider welfare and legal system. It is our view that a state of polarization is likely to produce ‘all or nothing decisions’ which may not be in the best interest of both children and parents.

It is argued that the adversarial nature of the legal process and some underlying assumptions in the Children Act, may contribute to ambivalence being unrecognized. Then it is suggested that ambivalence is inevitable both for professionals and families, particularly in highly complex cases, but with its recognition, a resolution may take place. The conclusions contain some suggestions to promote this process.
A comparison of the long‐term effectiveness of distraction and focusing in the treatment of auditory hallucinations
Authors: Haddock Gillian , Slade Peter D. , Bentall Richard P. , Reid Daniel , Faragher E. Brian
Published: July 2011

Cognitive‐behavioural interventions for patients experiencing neuroleptic resistant auditory hallucinations have fallen into two main categories: those which encourage distraction as a coping strategey, and those which encourage patients to focus on or expose themselves to their hallucinations. A 20‐session distraction treatment was compared with an equal length focusing treatment for 19 patients who were experiencing chronic auditory hallucinations. Patients were followed‐up for approximately 2 years. No differences were observed between the groups for outcome on symptom severity overall, although the focusers showed a greater belief that their voices were their own thoughts at the final follow‐up point. When the two groups were combined, there was a significant reduction in the frequency of hallucinations and the disruption to life caused by them during treatment, although this was not maintained at follow‐up. During treatment, there was a significant increase in self‐esteem for focusers but a significant decrease for distracters. At 2‐year follow‐up, both focusers and distracters showed a reduction in self‐esteem in comparison to the end of therapy. The results show no overwhelming advantage of one treatment over the other and confirm previous observations of the difficulty of treating hallucinations with cognitive‐behaviour therapy (CBT). However, there was some indication that CBT influenced some important clinical variables and further investigation is warranted.
Evolutionary epidemiology and manic depression
Authors: Wilson Daniel R.
Published: July 2011

The reformulation of epidemiological prevalence rates as evolutionary frequency rates puts medical genetics within an explicit framework of Darwinian theory. Yet an enduring and still current assumption of genomic medicine is that genes associated with disease are necessarily maladapted. Indeed, it seems it could hardly be otherwise. However, evolutionary epidemiology has begun to uncover important and surprising counter‐exemplary case‐studies. Thus, the present aim is to first outline this emerging sub‐discipline of ‘evolutionary epidemiology’. Then, a major psychopathological syndrome—manic‐depression—is examined in some detail within the purview of evolutionary epidemiology. Its medical genetics are those of an adaptive polymorphism in the human genome. Hence, genes associated with what is now a major public health problem accrued as they conferred selective advantage in phylogeny. Why should manic‐depressive etiogenes have been selected? A preliminary anatomic‐functional model, assembled from facts of human paleoneuropsychiatry, more adequately contextualises manic‐depressive genomics and phenotypy. In this model, manic‐depression finds its heuristic origins in a hierarchy of behavioural strategies stabilised in phylogeny and embedded at serial levels in the brain (Hawk‐Dove ESS). A proportion of the population has variant genotypy which appears to have been favoured in social competition phylogenetically but express more pathogenic phenotypy in the current environment. The paper closes with a brief consideration of clinical practices and ethical issues as alternative considerations emerge with the syndrome recast in a more positive Darwinian light.
Emotional disorders in evolutionary perspective
Authors: Nesse Randolph
Published: July 2011

Understanding emotional disorders requires understanding the evolutionary origins and functions of normal emotions. They are special states, shaped by natural selection to adjust various aspects of the organism in ways that have tended to give a selective advantage in the face of the adaptive challenges characteristic of a particular kind of situation. They are designed to maximize reproductive success, not happiness. Negative emotions such as anxiety and low mood are not disorders, but, like the capacity for pain, evolved defences. Excessive anxiety or low mood is abnormal, but we will not have confidence about what is excessive until we understand their functions better than we do. Emotional disorders arise often from social emotions because of the conflicts inherent in social life, and because of the strategic advantages of demonstrating commitments to follow through on threats and promises. An evolutionary understanding of individuals in terms of their relationship strategies and the social emotions offers great promise for psychotherapists.
The brain and communication are basic for clinical human sciences
Authors: Gardner Russell
Published: July 2011

This article focuses on basic concepts modelled on medical science for the human sciences. This reformulates problems experienced by people who consult counsellors, psychologists, psychiatrists, social workers and other human science clinicians as located in the brain. These troubles can be described as difficulties in social life and human communication, on the one hand, and as varied brain physiology, on the other. These problems and their solutions are not traditionally biological but restrictive views of biology need modification as the brain is obviously the central organ for not only the medical specialities of neurology and psychiatry but for all professionals concerned with social interactions. The human genome determines the brain of each person: each such brain constitutes the latest iteration of ancestral genomes that include species precursor to humans and primates, extending back to unicellular life forms. The genome that determines the human brain confers remarkable flexibility or learning potential. Yet many factors influence what is learned and experienced. Understanding this entails comparing and contrasting humans and non‐humans. The genomes of chimpanzees and gorillas differ little from that of humans so most basic plans determining behaviour must be shared. Yet contrasted to these animals, the human brain is three times greater in mass and the human cerebral cortex has four times more area. This increased brain correlated with more social interaction; humans are the story‐telling animal, producing, consuming and otherwise using small and large tales intensely and incessantly. But do communicational features resemble each other across species? Communicational propensity states in humans compare to those of non‐humans. So do those of normal people and psychiatric patients. Psychiatry's efforts at systematic description and nosology provided guidelines to the ethology of ancient but still active communicational propensity states called PSALICs (Gardner, 1988). This double acronym refers to their normal function and prehuman origins; they are defined from a three‐legged base in that each exists in psychiatric patients, normal people and non‐human animals. This article describes the following psalics: alpha, audience, in‐group omega, mating, nurturant, nurturance‐eliciting, out‐group omega and spacing‐avoidant. The article describes psalics' varied expression in people. This basic science formulation and an across‐species comparisons approach has implications for treating patients and clients.
Psychoanalytic psychotherapy with men with intellectual disabilities: A preliminary outcome study
Authors: Beail Nigel
Published: July 2011

Psychotherapy has been demonstrated to be an effective form of treatment for people with psychological problems. However, there is considerable resistance to attempts to generalize these findings to people with intellectual disabilities. Such therapeutic disdain has a long history without any empirical foundation. Recently it has been argued on philosophical grounds that people with intellectual disabilities should have access to the same services as everyone else. Furthermore, that people with intellectual disabilities should be actively targeted as they are more likely to have psychological difficulties than non‐handicapped people.

The therapeutic literature concerning people with intellectual disabilities is overwhelmingly behavioural. More recently various psychotherapeutic approaches have been explored as alternatives to behavioural interventions. Publication of several case studies in the late 1980s and early 1990s has provided some evidence for the benefit of various psychotherapeutic approaches with people with intellectual disabilities. However, there are no outcome studies.

This paper reports an outcome study of individual psychoanalytic psychotherapy provided in normal clinical practice for 25 men with intellectual disabilities who were referred for behaviour problems. Of the 25 participants in the study, 20 completed treatment. In most cases the problem behaviour was eliminated and this was maintained at six months follow‐up.
Guilt proneness and expressed emotion in relatives of patients with schizophrenia or related psychoses
Authors: Bentsen Håvard , Notland Tor Helge , Munkvold Ole‐Georg , Boye Birgitte , Ulstein Ingun , Bjørge Heidi , Uren Gunvor , Lersbryggen Annette B. , Oskarsson Kirsti H. , Berg‐Larsen Rolf , Lingjærde Odd , Malt Ulrik Fredrik
Published: July 2011

Objective. Knowledge of what predicts relatives' expressed emotion (EE) may contribute to improved family work in schizophrenia. In the present study we examined guilt proneness as a determinant of EE components.

Method. In a Norwegian sample of 46 recently hospitalized patients (schizophrenia or schizophreniform disorder) and 69 relatives, relatives' expressed emotion was assessed by means of the Camberwell Family Interview, and guilt proneness by means of the Revised Mosher Guilt Inventory (RMGI).

Results. Confirmatory multiple regression analyses showed that hostility‐guilt (RMGI) was negatively related to high levels of criticism and hostility and, for men, positively related to emotional overinvolvement. There was a strong positive relationship between relatives' guilty conscience (RMGI) and emotional overinvolvement if the patient had a diagnosis of schizophrenia.

Conclusions. Our analyses indicate that relatives’ guilt proneness may be a determinant of their criticism, hostility and emotional overinvolvement towards a schizophrenic family member. This personality trait should be taken into account in family work which aims at modifying relatives’ expressed emotion.
Subjective body‐image dimensions in normal and anorexic adolescents
Authors: Gila Araceli , Castro Josefina , Toro Josep , Salamero Manel
Published: July 2011

The subjective body dimensions of adolescent anorexic patients and adolescents from the general population were studied by means of a new technique that combines certain characteristics of the ‘body‐site estimation’ and the ‘whole‐image adjustment’ procedures. The technique used (Subjective Body Dimensions Apparatus‐SBDA) reveals the individual's idea of the size of the different parts of his/her body, and produces a life‐size global silhouette. Eighty‐five female anorexic patients (ages 12 to 18) were compared with 427 adolescents from the general population. The technique showed acceptable test‐retest stability. The comparison group overestimated their thorax, waist and hips, and anorexic patients overestimated all parts of their body but their thorax, waist and hips especially. For all parts of the body, the anorexic group showed greater over‐estimation (p < .0001) than the comparison group.
Oral pessimism and depressive symptoms: A comparison with other correlates of depression
Authors: Maltby John , Lewis Christopher Alan , Hill Andrew P.
Published: July 2011

The need to examine alternative explanations for findings in psychoanalytic theory is often suggested but rarely practised. The aim of the present study was to examine Lewis' (1993) prediction that oral pessimism is important to the aetiology of depression within the context of social psychological, cognitive and personality explanations of depression. One hundred and sixty Northern Irish university students completed measures of depressive symptoms, oral pessimism and oral optimism, optimism, neuroticism, coping style, attribution style and self‐esteem. Results show that oral pessimism, neuroticism and the use of stable attributions are dominant in accounting for variance in a measure of depression and support Lewis' (1993) finding that oral pessimism is important in depressive symptoms.
The effect of stimulus familiarity on the use of criteria and justifications in children's social reasoning
Authors: Davidson Philip , Turiel Elliot , Black Allen
Published: July 2011

Early studies of moral judgement described young children's thought as undifferentiated and oriented toward external features of transgressions. However, more recent evidence suggests that young children distinguish between domains of social transgression and justify moral judgements with reference to the transgression itself, rather than to external features such as rules, authority directives, or sanctions. The present study hypothesized a possible explanation for this discrepancy: that undifferentiated reasoning occurs with the use of unfamiliar stimulus events or stimulus events not clearly differentiated with respect to social domain. Sixty‐one 6‐, 8‐, and 10‐year‐olds were interviewed about four types of social transgression: familiar moral, unfamiliar moral, familiar conventional, and unfamiliar conventional. Assessments were made of several dimensions of judgement hypothesized to be criterial for the differentiation of social domains; responses were also analysed for types of justification used. For familiar stimuli all age groups showed a differentiated understanding of moral and conventional issues, both in judgement and in justification. Younger subjects showed less differentiation in judgement than older subjects when stimuli were unfamiliar. Age differences were also found in the types of justification given, both for familiar and for unfamiliar moral issues. The findings indicate that stimulus familiarity is a more significant factor in the moral reasoning of younger than of older children.
Mathematical abilities of deaf school‐leavers
Authors: Wood David , Wood Heather , Howarth Patricia
Published: July 2011

Data are reported on the mathematical abilities of 414 deaf and 465 hearing school‐leavers. Analyses of test scores show that deafness is associated with a significant decrement in mathematical achievements. Paradoxically, however, degree of deafness is not strongly related to test performance within the deaf sample. The educational significance of these results is discussed together with their implications for theories of the relationships between language and mathematical reasoning. The test answering strategies of both deaf and hearing children are also analysed and the results suggest that both groups display similar test‐taking behaviour. The implications of this result for the relationships between language and metacognition are explored.
Children's judgements of causality, responsibility and punishment in cases of harm due to omission
Authors: Schleifer Michael , Shultz Thomas R. , Lefebvre‐Pinard Monique
Published: July 2011

This study investigated causal and moral reasoning in children 5, 7, 9, and 11 years old. The first of two experiments looked at judgements of causality, responsibility, and punishment as a function of necessary or non‐necessary conditions. Children of all ages made use of necessity information in their causal attributions and, to a lesser extent, in their moral attributions. The second of the two experiments investigated excusing conditions in regard to the same three dependent variables. The mitigating factors of voluntariness and foreseeability were manipulated using the same stories (in necessary condition) from Expt 1. All children except the five‐year‐olds made consistent use of the voluntariness information in their causal and moral reasoning. This factor showed significantly increased usage with age. Foreseeability was used in a consistent manner only by seven‐year‐olds; children both younger and older tended to ignore this variable as a mitigating factor. The results of both experiments are discussed in comparison with analogous work done with college students.
Perception of shape by the new‐born baby
Authors: Slater Alan , Morison Victoria , Rose David
Published: July 2011

Two experiments are described in which the new‐born baby's ability to discriminate between simple shapes or forms was investigated. An infant controlled habituation procedure was used in both experiments and, following habituation of response to one (the familiar) stimulus, the index of discrimination was differential attention to the stimuli when given paired presentation of novel and familiar. In Expt 1 it was found that new‐boms will readily discriminate between a triangle, a square, a cross and a circle. Experiment 2 indicated that these discriminations are made on the basis of differences in shape rather than on differences in contour density. It was found that the infants actively selected between the stimuli on the paired presentation trials. The findings are discussed in relation to views of infant attention and stimulus selection, and demonstrate that some degree of shape perception is present from birth.
Prehensile development in Down's syndrome and non‐handicapped preschool children
Authors: Hogg J. , Moss S. C.
Published: July 2011

A variety of experimental studies has suggested that Down's syndrome children perform at an inferior level relative to expected performance for their Mental Age. Comparative studies addressing this question have typically employed MA‐matching procedures of questionable validity and have utilized experimental measures of unknown ecological validity. In the present study 24 pairs of Down's syndrome preschool and non‐handicapped children were matched to MA as assessed by the Mental Scale of the Bayley Scale of Infant Development. An item‐by‐item analysis of the relative pattern of passes and fails on the scale indicated that despite the overall MA‐match, the way in which the global score was achieved differed in the two groups. Non‐handicapped children performed significantly better on subscales representative of fine motor development than the Down's syndrome children. The latter tended to compensate by doing somewhat better on language items, though not significantly so. All children executed a series of simple manipulative tasks analogous to a typical nursery toy (placing rods in holes). The imbalance in the matching appeared to carry through to performance on this task since the non‐handicapped children tended to execute both phases of the task more quickly than their Down's syndrome peers. With regard to prehension, however, the groups did not differ with respect to sophistication of grip, though in one case the Down's children employed a more advanced palmar grip. Hand measurements were taken to see if this difference could be accounted for by greater maturation in the Down's syndrome group. This was found not to be the case, and the possible influence of greater experience of the relatively older Down's syndrome children is considered. Multiple influences on fine motor skill and its development are discussed, and alternatives to MA‐matching considered.
Relations between mother‐child interaction and behaviour in preschool
Authors: Hinde Robert A. , Tamplin Alison
Published: July 2011

Observational data on mother‐child interaction were compared with data on child‐peer and child‐adult interactions at preschool for children at 42 months and again at 50 months. Direct parallels between home and school data were few, but each school variable was associated with a pattern of home variables. For example, several types of negative interaction at school were associated with lack of involvement with the mother and maternal hostility and/or maternal permissiveness coupled with lack of maternal hostility. Sex differences in the relations between home and school data were abundant.
Children's ability to discriminate between types of proposition
Authors: Russell James
Published: July 2011

In this experiment 192 children between 5 and 10 years were tested for their ability to discriminate between sets of 30 sentence pairs which differed on one of four dimensions. These dimensions were: general/particular, absolute/relative, objective/subjective and physical/intentional. Half of the children had the basis of the distinction explained to them after each trial and half of them did not. Performance did not rise above chance level in the latter case, but in the former discriminative ability was clearly evident at the 7–8‐year age level for all distinctions and at the 5–6‐year age level for the general/particular and the physical/intentional distinctions. It is suggested that the objective/subjective and the absolute/relative distinctions were difficult for the youngest children because these properties indicate a division between non‐mental and mental states.