Some reflections of countertransference in the treatment of criminals

Most of the literature on countertransference reactions with criminals has emphasized negative emotions such as hatred, rage, and fear. This article discusses reactions that have been relatively neglected, such as fascination and envy. Fantasies of leading a life of excitement are frequently evoked. Recognizing these fantasies and emotions and accepting them as attractive can increase our understanding of the offender and his life. The lure of criminality, despite its severe consequences, become more understandable. Accepting these emotions can bring a challenge to life, and a reevaluation of one's morals and values. A balance between the reality of "normal" life and fantasy is ultimately accepted.     

Assessing functional outcomes: an overview

Assessment of functional outcomes requires, first, a good working definition and, second, sufficiently reliable and valid measures from which to choose. With the advent of new or refined conceptualizations of patient outcomes, the functional domain has expanded to address not only routine activities of daily life but also the richly diverse aspects believed to constitute quality of life. This article defines and places the concept of functional outcomes within a context of various published and proposed classification schemes, and supports an expanded definition on the basis of these schemes, emerging models of health care that combine biomedical with social science approaches, and the visionary contributions of respected colleagues in the field.     

Rethinking the concept of acculturation: Implications for theory and research.

This article presents an expanded model of acculturation among international migrants and their immediate descendants. Acculturation is proposed as a multidimensional process consisting of the confluence among heritage-cultural and receiving-cultural practices, values, and identifications. The implications of this reconceptualization for the acculturation construct, as well as for its relationship to psychosocial and health outcomes, are discussed. In particular, an expanded operationalization of acculturation is needed to address the “immigrant paradox,” whereby international migrants with more exposure to the receiving cultural context report poorer mental and physical health outcomes. We discuss the role of ethnicity, cultural similarity, and discrimination in the acculturation process, offer an operational definition for context of reception, and call for studies on the role that context of reception plays in the acculturation process. The new perspective on acculturation presented in this article is intended to yield a fuller understanding of complex acculturation processes and their relationships to contextual and individual functioning. (PsycINFO Database Record (c) 2010 APA, all rights reserved)     

Rediscovering differential psychology?

Comments on the original article, "Many forms of culture," by A. B. Cohen (see record 2009-04471-003). Cohen offered an eye-opening review of how culture means much more than ethnicity within a nation or differences between nations. After developing a much-expanded definition of culture, he concluded, “I have lamented the fact that psychology has focused on some important cultural differences, but not others” (Cohen, 2009, p. 202), and he went on to explain how deeply this expanded definition can impact our psychological research. Without naming it, Cohen (2009) apparently rediscovered the now-forgotten concept of “differential psychology,” which actually surpasses his own expanded definition of culture. Anastasi (1937) defined differential psychology simply as “the scientific study of differences between groups” (p. 59). One look at her book’s table of contents shows that this definition goes far beyond race and ethnicity, to include all sorts of group differences based on gender, social class, education, religion, age, and family. These all qualify as cultural differences under Cohen’s (2009) expanded definition. (PsycINFO Database Record (c) 2010 APA, all rights reserved)     

Involuntary admission and posttraumatic stress disorder symptoms in schizophrenia patients

Koro is a culture-specific psychiatric disorder occurring primarily in Southeast Asian cultures. It is manifested by acute anxiety associated with the fear of genital retraction, accompanied by fear of death induced by the thought that complete disappearance of the genital organ will result in death. Koro has been described in non-Asian patients as well, leading to a debate concerning the culture-specific nature of the syndrome. Giving a psychopathological, nosological definition of this peculiar syndrome is also problematic. In this paper, we report a case of koro in a young, Korean female patient. We briefly present the etiological factors related to the development of the syndrome and the most significant psychopathological characteristics.     

Correlational relationship between shock intensity and corticosterone secretion on the establishment and subsequent expression of contextual fear conditioning.

A role for corticosterone in the consolidation of contextual fear conditioning has previously been proposed. In this study, physiological evidence was found to support this view. The extent of conditioned fear and the levels of plasma corticosterone in rats, after context exposure at training and at different posttraining times (24 hr and 7 days), depended on the intensity of the unconditional stimulus (footshock). In each experimental session, a positive correlation was found between the magnitude of corticosterone levels and the fear-related behavioral inhibition exhibited in the context. Results support the involvement of corticosterone on the processes that occur during consolidation in determining the strength at which the contextual fear conditioning is stored as a long-term memory. (PsycINFO Database Record (c) 2010 APA, all rights reserved)     

Protection against myocardial ischemic/reperfusion injury by inhibitors of two separate pathways of Na+ entry

Critics of Kohlberg's moral theory today focus on the content of his theory and more specifically on its justice-orientated moral concept. This has led to the well-known 'justice-care debate'. The purpose of this article is to critically examine the validity of Kohlberg's moral theory for research in nursing ethics from a caring perspective (referring to the content) as well as from a cognitive-structural perspective (referring to the basic assumptions of the model). The analysis points to the usefulness and value of the cognitive-structural model to empirically study nurses' ethical behaviour; the content of Kohlberg's model, however, needs to be adapted by adding a caring perspective as well as some personal and situational variables. An adjusted version of Kohlberg's model is proposed and discussed.     

Cultural competence and psychotherapy: Applying anthropologically informed conceptions of culture.

The authors apply two contemporary notions of culture to advance the conceptual basis of cultural competence in psychotherapy: Kleinman's (1995) definition of culture as what is at stake in local, social worlds, and Mattingly and Lawlor's (2001) concept of shared narratives between practitioners and patients. The authors examine these cultural constructs within a clinical case of an immigrant family caring for a young boy with an autism-spectrum disorder. Their analysis suggests that the socially based model of culture and the concept of shared narratives have the potential to broaden and enrich the definition of cultural competence beyond its current emphasis on the presumed cultural differences of specific racial and ethnic minority groups. (PsycINFO Database Record (c) 2010 APA, all rights reserved)     

Postpartum depression

Depression following childbirth (postpartum depression) is a common psychiatric illness of women, postpartum. We review Japanese and English literature on postpartum depression. Problems with definition, study design and validity of the diagnosis prevented comprehensive understanding whether postpartum depression is a distinct subtype of endogenous depression. In general, postpartum depression seems to be the same illness as depression at other times in life. The biological and psycho-social pathogenetic factors, unique to the puerperal period, are not yet known. Clinicians caring for women and infants should learn to screen their patients for this multifactorial (genetic, temperamental, and environmental) disorder, and try to integrate a multidisciplinary (pharmaco-, psycho-, socio-, familial) approach.     

Concealed lung abscess in critically ill, mechanically ventilated patients

This article reports on phenomenological research designed to discover how caring was taught in a nursing education program. The basic questions were: 1) What is the meaning of caring to the faculty and students; 2) How do the faculty communicate this meaning to the students; and 3) How does this meaning shape the experience of the students? Data were collected from a small associate degree nursing program using: a) semi-structured interviews with all faculty and a selected group of students, b) classroom observations, and c) review of documents. Data were analyzed for and found to have content explaining the meaning of caring, how caring was being taught, and what students were learning about caring as the essence of nursing. Implications derived speak to the need for faculty and administrators to have caring as a way of being if they wish to communicate caring as the essence of nursing to students.     

Is the quest for evidence-based care detrimental to children's nursing?

Evidence-based care and the expanded role of the nurse are inexorably linked. Facets of this are found in every specialist area of nursing. Children's nurses are no exception and they have proved their commitment to family-centred care over a period of many years. However, within the ranks of nurse educationalists now employed by the universities and not the NHS new tensions have emerged. The research-led ethos of the universities demands that nurses demonstrate expertise in the field of scientific enquiry. Although the philosophy of caring and research are not incongruent, there exists the potential that family empowerment may take a back seat to academic prowess. This article examines the background to this dilemma.     

The impact of vulnerability to and severity of a health risk on processing and acceptance of fear-arousing communications: A meta-analysis.

This meta-analysis of studies of the persuasive impact of fear appeals evaluated the contribution of our stage model of the processing of fear-arousing communications relative to other fear appeal theories. In contrast to other theories, our stage model (a) specifies the cognitive processes underlying persuasion through fear-arousing communications, (b) proposes that threat-induced defensive processing does not interfere with the effectiveness of fear-arousing communications but actually contributes to it, and (c) predicts that vulnerability and severity manipulations have differential effects on measures of attitude as compared with intention and behavior. To evaluate these predictions, the authors expanded on previous meta-analyses by assessing the independent as well as joint effects of vulnerability to and severity of a risk, both on information processing and on measures of persuasion (attitude, intention, behavior). Overall, findings were consistent with the stage model. The theoretical and practical implications of these findings are discussed. (PsycINFO Database Record (c) 2010 APA, all rights reserved)     

Localization of the sequence-determined DNA bending center upstream of the streptokinase gene skc

This study illustrates some characteristics of the quality of life in old age when ageing is seen as a continued human development. In the Kungsholmen Project 87 healthy elderly persons were asked about the quality of their lives. Allardt's definition of quality of life was used as the conceptual framework for the content analysis. The findings indicate that the dimensions of loving and being, as Allardt describes them, take on a different meaning and the material things in the having dimension become less important. The differences point to another meaning of the quality of life in old age. The emphasis is on health and independence, contentment and a peaceful life, personal integrity in terms of a moral and a caring attitude. The findings tend to be in accordance with the successful ageing as described in Erikson's theory of psychosocial development and in Tornstam's theory of gerotranscendence. To gain a deeper understanding of this complex phenomenon, qualitative methods which go beyond definitions are required.     

Ultrastructural localization of the secretory aspartyl proteinase in Candida albicans cell wall in vitro and in experimentally infected rat vagina

Modern treatments for cancer are resulting in cancer patients living longer with the risk of the disease returning at a later stage. Many patients who experience a recurrence blame themselves (Mahon et al., 1990), while those in remission live with the constant fear that the cancer may return. Although fear of recurrence is recognised in the literature, few researchers have focused on this aspect as a precursor to psychological distress. This paper reviews the literature about fear of recurrence and its measurement. Leventhal's Self Regulation Model of Illness is presented to help understand patients' reactions to cancer and fears for the future. The authors propose a formulation for fear of recurrence and examples of interventions that are indicated.     

The ontogeny of fear-potentiated startle: Effects of earlier-acquired fear memories.

Research has shown that learned fear emerges in a response-specific sequence. For example, freezing is observed at a younger age than is potentiated startle (P. Hunt & B. A. Campbell, 1997). The present study shows that the age at which a specific learned fear response emerges is influenced by the animal's early experiences. Specifically, fear potentiation of startle emerges earlier in development if the rat is given prior fear conditioning to a different stimulus. Some constraints of this "facilitation" effect are determined in follow-up experiments. This facilitation effect may provide a novel way of testing the development of the neural circuits underlying learned fear. (PsycINFO Database Record (c) 2010 APA, all rights reserved)     

Identification of a new P450 subfamily, CYP4F1, expressed in rat hepatic tumors

This study focused on the belief of some nurse educators that caring cannot be taught directly and is learned by students from faculty role-modeling and faculty student interactions in clinical, classroom, and other situations. The purpose was to further explore these beliefs to determine if nursing students perceived that they learn caring behaviors through observing role-modeling by faculty, as well as to explore students' perceptions of other means by which they learn about caring. Since opportunities for faculty to model nurse caring behaviors in the clinical setting are varied and serendipitous, a videotaped scenario simulating a patient care situation, using professional actors, was created and shown to nursing students. The videotape was seen by 137 BSN and ADN students who then recorded their perceptions on a two-page open-ended questionnaire developed by the researchers. Results from this study indicated that students do learn about caring from faculty role-modeling, as well as from health care staff they encounter, often in a very paradoxical way. Many interesting and unintended results also occurred through the use of this research approach.     

Nurses' conceptualizations of caring attitudes and behaviours

This paper outlines a study, which provided a pilot for part of a larger research project, to investigate nurses' conceptualizations of caring. The report gives an overview of previous work related to defining the concept of care before outlining the study undertaken. A sample of nine qualified nurses was used and Kelly's repertory grid technique employed to elicit constructs within the concepts of caring attitudes and caring behaviours. Grid data were analysed using cluster analysis and nine common themes were identified. These themes were largely supportive of previous research studies. It is proposed that in developing a theory of care, a synthesis should occur between nurses' conceptualizations of the concept and their professional practice.     

Magnetic resonance imaging relaxation times and gadolinium-DTPA relaxivity values in human cerebrospinal fluid

The purpose of this qualitative phenomenological study was to explore the lived-experience of childhood cancer survivors with regard to their patterns of interaction with family and the environment using Newman's theory of Health as Expanding Consciousness, which proposes that experiencing a devastating event promotes an expanded consciousness. The sample consisted of five young adults, ages 23 to 26 years, who had experienced childhood cancer and now are considered to be cured of their initial cancer. A hermeneutic dialectic approach was used, with each subject being asked to respond to one open-ended question, "What are the most meaningful events in your life?" The interviews were analyzed for evidence of expanded consciousness, changing relatedness, and other universal themes. Individual patterns emerged and themes were identified that supported Newman's theory, such as optimism and hope, stronger bonds to family and friends, increased capacity for empathy, a desire to help others, and deeper feelings for the value of life. The intensely personal and professional relationship that develops between pediatric oncology nurses and their patients can only be strengthened by the knowledge that these patients generally grew up to be caring and empathetic individuals, perhaps as a result of the nurses' loving care for them. This research also provided support for Newman's theory as a sound paradigm for nursing practice.     

Environmental Process Engineering: Building Capacity for Sustainability

The chronic problems resulting from unsustainable production and consumption, as well as acute environmental problems from accidents and inadequate waste treatment, are continuing challenges for environmental engineering professionals. This paper explores the change in the role of educators from transferring knowledge to building the capacity of future engineers to meet these challenges. Progress in understanding and managing the interactions between the industrial, natural, and social systems for sustainable development is being made in a number of disciplines. Help in distilling this knowledge for environmental engineers can come from environmental process engineering (EPE) as a subdiscipline of chemical and environmental engineering. By applying the fundamentals of process engineering to environmental problems, EPE can help bundle together the diverse work from different environmental compartments. Many references to EPE can be found in university programs in Germany and the United States, but what is meant by EPE is not usually explicitly defined, and often refers to a collection of environmental unit operations. An expanded definition of EPE in the context of the current reform movements in engineering education is proposed. Trends in education and research in Germany and the United States are discussed within the framework of the societal and industrial transition toward sustainable development.