What is the Revised Fear Survey Schedule for Children measuring?

The Fear Survey Schedule for Children-Revised (FSSC-R) is a widely used self-report questionnaire that purports to measure the number of fears and the overall level of fearfulness in children. A number of studies have shown that the ten most common childhood fears can be found on the Danger and Death subscale of the FSSC-R, with upwards of 50% of children endorsing such fears. However, some researchers (e.g., H. McCathie & S.H. Spence, 1991; Behaviour Research and Therapy, 29, 495-502) have questioned the validity of these findings, suggesting that these items do not reflect actual childhood fears that children have or experience on a daily or regular basis. Rather, they suggest that children are responding to these fear items as if they were actually occurring to them in the here and now. The current study examined the occurrence of five Danger and Death fears from the FSSC-R (i.e., "Not being able to breathe", "Being hit by a car or truck", "Falling from high places", "Bombing attacks or being invaded", and "Fire or getting burned") in a sample of normal school children aged eight to 12 years (N=102). More specifically, we used three different methods to asses these fears: (1). prevalence as determined by the standard FSSC-R procedure, (2). prevalence as determined by a fear list procedure, and (3). actual occurrence or prevalence of these fears in the past week, as determined by a diary method. Results indicated that while these fears ranked high when using the standard FSSC-R procedure, they were considerably less common when using the fear list procedure, and had a low probability of actual occurrence on a daily basis, as well as possessing a short duration and low intensity. Implications for the assessment of fears and the use of self-report measures like the FSSC-R are briefly discussed.     

The Epistemic Value of Affective Disruptability

In order to explore how emotions contribute positively or negatively to understanding the meaning of complex socio-culturally specific phenomena, I argue that we must take into account the habitual dimension of emotions – i.e., the emotion repertoire that a feeling person acquires in the course of their affective biography. This brings to light a certain form of alignment in relation to affective intentionality that is key to comprehending why humans understand situations in the way they do and why it so often is especially hard to understand things differently. A crucial epistemic problem is that subjects often do not even enter a process of understanding, i.e., they do not even start to consider a specific object, theory, circumstance, other being, etc. in different ways than the familiar one. The epistemic problem at issue thus lies in an unquestioned faith in things being right the way they are taken to be. By acknowledging the habitual dimension of affective intentionality, I analyze reasons for this inability and suggest that being affectively disruptable and cultivating a pluralistic emotion repertoire are crucial abilities to overcome this epistemic problem.

     

Can Subjects Be Proper Parts of Subjects? The De‐Combination Problem

Growing concern with the panpsychist's ostensive inability to solve the ‘combination problem’ has led some authors to adopt a view titled ‘Cosmopsychism’. This position turns panpsychism on its head: rather than many tiny atomic minds, there is instead one cosmos‐sized mind. It is supposed that this view voids the combination problem, however I argue that it does not. I argue that there is a ‘de‐combination problem’ facing the cosmopsychist, which is equivalent to the combination problem as they are both concerned with subjects being proper parts of other subjects. I then propose two methods for both theorists to avoid the problem of subject‐subject proper parthood relations: a distinction between absolute and relative phenomenal unity, and a modification of the essential nature of subjects. Of these two options, I find the latter option wanting and propose that the first should be adopted.     

Do others judge us as harshly as we think? Overestimating the impact of our failures, shortcomings, and mishaps

When people suffer an embarrassing blunder, social mishap, or public failure, they often feel that their image has been severely tarnished in the eyes of others. Four studies demonstrate that these fears are commonly exaggerated. Actors who imagined committing one of several social blunders (Study 1), who experienced a public intellectual failure (Studies 2 and 3), or who were described in an embarrassing way (Study 4) anticipated being judged more harshly by others than they actually were. These exaggerated fears were produced, in part, by the actors' tendency to be inordinately focused on their misfortunes and by their resulting failure to consider the wider range of situational factors that tend to moderate onlookers' impressions. Discussion focuses on additional mechanisms that may contribute to overly pessimistic expectations as well as the role of such expectations in producing unnecessary social anxiety.     

The fears of the counsellors: a qualitative study

The author begins this paper with the claim that fear is a relatively under-researched topic in counselling despite its prevalence. Ten counsellors were interviewed concerning their fears encountered in their therapeutic work. Participants were also asked what they had found to be helpful and unhelpful when attempting to deal with these fears. Fears reported are categorised into fears of losing control, fears of being separated from a group by way of disapproval or rejection, and fears of physical and/or sexual assault. Substantive quotations are provided from the interviews. The author concludes with the contention that a deeper consideration and enhanced understanding of counsellors' fears will assist counsellors and their supervisors to accord fear an appropriate and healthy respect without becoming unduly frightened in the process.     

Fears of death and fears of dying in the counter-transference

It is commonplace for people to say they are not afraid of death but they are afraid of dying. I discuss unconscious aspects of fears of dying and fears of death which are revealed in counter-transference experiences in therapy with people suffering from terminal illnesses and with older people. Studying the counter-transference shows that fears of dying, which usually refer to lingering and disabling illnesses, unconsciously are linked with fears of dependency and the apprehension that if one becomes dependent then no-one will want to look after you. This apprehension is often a residue of failures in the early dependency relationship which can be re-enacted in adult life through projective identification when therapists and carers may be induced to abandon the caring role. Despite the ubiquitous denial, fears of death surface in the counter-transference, often obliquely but always with a particular terror for the survival of the self. This unconscious terror confirms Freud’s insight about the denial of death that what is unthinkable is the annihilation of the self. I conclude with a discussion about the importance of setting an ending date in therapy with those who are old or terminally ill.     

Components of dental fear in adults?

The functional relatedness between dental fear and multiple other fears was studied in a normative sample of 285 undergraduates. Rachman and Lopatka's work on the inter-dependence of multiple fears within individuals, as well as Lang's bioinformational theory of emotion, provided a theoretical background for this investigation. Fears about social contact, pain, mutilation (e.g. injury, blood, disfigurement), and being closed-in were assessed within the realm of verbal report; they were studied as possible components and/or concomitants of the dental fear construct. Multiple regression analyses with these variables utilized the Dental Fear Survey total score as a criterion variable. Fear of pain was found to be the most significant predictor of dental fear in both males and females. For females only, mutilation fear was the next strongest determinant. Fear of being closed-in was an additional significant dental fear predictor for both sexes. The possible role of social fears in the manifestation of dental fear was not confirmed and awaits further investigation. Results were consistent with the idea that there may often be a moderate degree of functional dependence between dental fear and the other fears identified here.     

Altruistic love in psychoanalysis opportunities and resistance

Many patients manifest a desire to help the analyst. This is usually understood as being derivative of defensive aims or in the service of other primary motivations. This paper argues for the developmental and clinical importance of primary altruistic aims, which are often warded off by the patient because of his or her fears of exploitation or rejection. Several pathogenic beliefs and varieties of psychopathology result from the failure of the patient's caretakers to allow the child to contribute to their welfare, to “take”; the child's “help.”; Similarly, some patients require tangible evidence that they are having a positive impact on their analyst. Ordinary “good‐enough”; technique often reinforces the patient's view that he or she has nothing to offer. A full appreciation by the analyst of the importance to patients of having their altruistic gestures and concerns recognized and accepted can open up possibilities for analytic progress and therapeutic growth. Various sources of resistance to and misunderstanding of these dynamics are explored, ranging from ethical concerns to certain traits that cluster in the personalities of analysts.     

Paruresis

The paruretic disorder, a special subtype of social phobia, is presented. It has been almost completely neglected by German research. The disorder manifests in an inability to urinate in public rest rooms. The corresponding fears concern the loss of visual and/or acoustic privacy. Based on considerations about its etiology and pathogenesis a cognitive behavior-therapeutic intervention is recommended. This is illustrated by a case vignette of a 29-year-old male patient.     

RESPONSIBLE AGENCY: A HUMAN DISTINCTIVE?

While agent responsibility appears to be one of the clearest examples of a human distinctive, practices of holding responsible are bound up with social expectations and emotional reactions, many of which are shared with other social animals. This essay attends to the ways in which what Peter Strawson first identified as the reactive emotions, including notably anger, resentment, and indignation, are key to making sense of both the shared and distinctive features of responsible human agency. Like human beings, other social animals express a range of reactive emotions in response to others’ conformity with or violation of implicit social expectations and norms; human beings sometimes reflect on these reactive attitudes and their justifiability, asking whether and when it is appropriate to hold others accountable, blame, and/or punish them. We should recognize that we often praise and blame others for attitudes and desires which they have not chosen and over which they have no direct control, and that this is appropriate.     

The causes and costs of crime and a controversial cure

In spite of recent modest decreases, the epidemic of crime that began in the United States in the early 1960s has left us with a rate of violent crime that is still some 300% higher than it was 40 years ago. The usual suspects--poverty, the easy availability of street drugs and handguns, violent television programs--cannot account for this ominous trend. The fact that African Americans are responsible for nearly half of this violence, although they constitute only about one-eighth of the U.S. population, is the principal reason why the great improvement in race relations made over the past half-century has reached an asymptote. White fears, and Black resentment of these fears, are a grave threat to further progress. It is argued here that the main reason for this epidemic of crime and violence is the rapid recent increase in the proportion of the young people aged 15 to 24 who have grown up unsocialized. It is argued further that most of these feral youngsters are sociopaths, defined as genetically normal children whose failure of socialization was due to their being domiciled with an immature, overburdened, unsocialized, or otherwise incompetent parent or parents.     

On the determination of autistoid organizations in non-autistic adults

Psychogenic autistic phenomena occurring in non-autistic adults are being increasingly discussed in the psychoanalytical literature. The author endeavours to determine autistoid organizations, which are understood to be a particular form of pathological retreat. Together with the use of autistic objects, two-dimensional levelling out, the failure of unconscious communication, and of projective identification, a characteristic of these retreats is that they are meant to afford protection against paranoid-schizoid fears of the external and unintegrated states of the internal world. The formation of such autistic reactions should be sought not only in traumatic separations and the inadequate containment of primary objects, but also in constitutional weakening. Intolerance accompanying projective identification and damage to primal fantasies/preconceptions are discussed. In conclusion, a clinical illustration with autistoid and hypochondriacal retreats clarifies some of the aspects discussed.     

PSYCHOTHERAPY AS PHASE-SPECIFIC INTERACTION

I am writing this paper to help myself, and hopefully some readers, to a better understanding of why some analysands in certain phases of the analysis develop the idea that they are homosexuals or that their analyst is homosexual. My basic thought is that even if these ideas have their individual roots and differ from case to case, they are also dependent on certain phenomena that are included in the analytic encounter and specified by different gender constellations constituting the analytic couple. I will present two examples from my own practice. From these two vignettes, I will draw some conclusions which are supported by my general psychoanalytic experience. The first example concerns male analysands. I have often seen male patients develop the fantasy that they “in reality” are homosexual. This fantasy is so common that it is a rule in my experience. I see it as a product of the fact that the psychoanalytic constellation consists, as in my case, of two men. The second example concerns female analysands. In a few cases with female analysands, I have seen the fantasy emerge that I, the analyst, am homosexual—a fantasy not seen in my male cases. Another difference is that I can't see this as a rule like the fantasy of the male analysands. In both the male and the female cases, I see the homosexual fantasies as a protection against discovery of the mother-transference to me. However, the fantasies have found different expressions depending on the specific gender constellation of the analytic couple: man and man and woman and man, respectively.     

Balance,wholeness, and healing in christianity

The nature of the spiritual journey inevitably leads us to examine our fears, doubts, and conflicts, in life and in our spiritual communities. Psychology and a true spiritual theology acknowledge an unconscious part of ourselves that is the reservoir for suppressed fears, pain, and anger. Unless these conflicted emotions and related experiences or imaginings are sought out and examined, an authentic spiritual search is denied. The result will be a superficial cognitive belief-system, predicated exclusively on shoulds, oughts, and constant accommodation. To make free, intelligent, mature decisions in our search, we need always to ascertain what we want that will bring fulfillment and spiritual and emotional freedom. This can only be done if we truly own the repressed, hidden, negative memories and behavior that often become self-destructive unconscious determinants. The psychological reality is that unless we look at the shadow part of ourselves, the part that is repressed, denied, hidden and which we often find discomforting, it will surface eventually in a more unhealthy, destructive fashion.     

Recommendations for the Treatment of Hypochondriac Patients

Hypochondriasis is a debilitating condition in which patients are persistently preoccupied with the possibility of being seriously ill. Its is a costly problem for the health care system whose treatment has not received systematic attention until recently. Although based on few controlled studies, results indicated that various brief cognitive-behavioral techniques produce significant changes in illness fears and attitudes. A list of therapeutic questions that require further study is presented and some indications for both therapists and patients are given.     

Evidence for preserved representations in change blindness

People often fail to detect large changes to scenes, provided that the changes occur during a visual disruption. This phenomenon, known as "change blindness," occurs both in the laboratory and in real-world situations in which changes occur unexpectedly. The pervasiveness of the inability to detect changes is consistent with the theoretical notion that we internally represent relatively little information from our visual world from one glance at a scene to the next. However, evidence for change blindness does not necessarily imply the absence of such a representation---people could also miss changes if they fail to compare an existing representation of the pre-change scene to the post-change scene. In three experiments, we show that people often do have a representation of some aspects of the pre-change scene even when they fail to report the change. And, in fact, they appear to "discover" this memory and can explicitly report details of a changed object in response to probing questions. The results of these real-world change detection studies are discussed in the context of broader claims about change blindness.     

Implicit Cognition and Addiction

ABSTRACT— Extensive recent research has begun to unravel the more implicit or automatic cognitive mechanisms in addiction. This effort has increased our understanding of some of the perplexing characteristics of addictive behaviors. The problem, often, is not that substance abusers do not understand that the disadvantages of continued use outweigh the advantages; rather, they have difficulty resisting their automatically triggered impulses to use their substance of abuse. Existing interventions may help to moderate these impulses. In addition, new techniques aimed at directly modifying implicit cognitive processes in substance abuse are being developed.     

Predictors of injurious assault committed during or after drinking alcohol: a case-control study of young offenders

Studies of causal links between alcohol and aggression are often handicapped by threats to internal and external validity. Case-control methods employ an event-level analysis that can reduce some of these validity threats by the use of within-subject controls. This study used a case-control approach, asking 39 male inmates in a Young Offenders' Institution to compare drinking behaviour before incidents where they reported commission of an injurious assault and a matched incident where they did not. After controlling contextual differences, participants reported personally drinking more heavily and heavier drinking within their group, but not being more impaired when an assault was committed. The assault incidents were more likely to involve spontaneous, rather than planned, drinking and a higher proportion of males in the group. They were less likely to involve drinking in a pub. Our confirmation of previous findings using a case-control methodology strengthens those findings. Limitations of this methodology are also discussed.     

Men and women are different—official

A number of topics connected with the problem of men's consciousness are discussed: the inexpressive male; the attachment to answers; the problem of the male ego; nagging; and intimacy. A case is made out that men need to pay much more attention to these matters than they do at present. This is true both in the field of personal relationships and also in the larger field of relationship to the planet     

Characteristics of individuals with fear of spiders

Abstract

This paper reports the results of two studies which investigated some of the factors that differentiated individuals with fear of spiders from those without such fears. The main results suggested that (a) there was little evidence that fear of spiders in nonclinical subjects is normally acquired through direct conditioning experiences; (b) there was some evidence for a familial component to spider fears; (c) there was no support for the view that individuals reporting a fear of spiders were especially sensitized to the movement cues possessed by spiders; (d) fear of spiders was not associated either with higher levels of trait anxiety or with an increased predisposition to other fears in general; but (e) fear of spiders did appear to be associated with increased fear of other animals, but only animals that are normally considered fear-evoking or disgust-evoking. These results provide little support for a traditional conditioning view of spider fears, and they are not entirely consistent with some preparedness accounts of the acquisition of specific fears. However, the results do suggest that fear of spiders is part of a functionally integrated set of animal fears, and it is argued that the present results could be better understood by attempting to integrate predator-defence and disease-avoidance models of animal fears.