The mortality of psychoanalysts

The mortality rate for male psychoanalysts was compared to that for the general white male population; for male physicians; and for male psychiatrists and neurologists. For psychoanalysts the rate was found to be significantly lower than for any of the other three groups. Several possible explanations for this low mortality rate are considered. Two major factors may be the careful screening of candidates for psychoanalytic training and their personal analysis. Possible methods of controlling for these factors are suggested.     

Antisemitism in psychoanalyses. On the identity of Austrian psychoanalysts today

Jews living in present day Austria represent "uncanny"--repressed and dangerous--instinctual wishes as well as reminders of the mass murder in which the previous generation of non-Jews was implicated. This results in an intensification, rather than an abatement, of antisemitic prejudice. Non-Jewish analysts partake of this dynamic as well.     

How treating psychoanalysts respond to psychotherapy research constraints.

The psychoanalytic community increasingly recognizes the importance of research on psychoanalytic treatments, yet a significant number of psychoanalysts continue to believe that research is either irrelevant to psychoanalysis or impossible to accomplish. Psychoanalysts who accept the value of research express concern that intrusions required by research protocols create significant distortions in the psychoanalytic process. The authors, all psychoanalysts, are studying the outcome of a brief (twenty-four-session) psychodynamic treatment of panic disorder. They report their experiences and struggles with the intrusions of videotaping, working with a treatment manual, and time-limited treatment. This research process required them to question old beliefs and to confront feelings of disloyalty toward their analytic training and identity, particularly with regard to keeping a "clean field" and routinely performing long-term analysis of character. The therapists' psychoanalytic knowledge, however, emerged as crucial for them in managing specific research constraints. Despite concerns about providing inadequate treatment, therapists were found to engage patients with psychoanalytic tools and focus in vibrant and productive therapies that led to significant improvements in panic symptoms and associated quality of life. The authors suggest that psychoanalysts have been overestimating the potential damage of research constraints on psychoanalytic process and outcome.     

The myth of the near-death journey

I examine in this article the meaning and developmental potential of the near-death experience (NDE) as a stimulus to inner exploration. The NDE as a prototype of the transcendent contact encounter offers a model for an evolutionary theory of religion. My own experiences and contemporary portrayals of NDEs suggest that the experience is a vehicle for the mythic renewal of our idea of death as a journey rather than as a termination, and may be a stimulus for spiritual revolution.     

悟道为宗立德为先--如何做一名"合格道士"的体会

这次由市宗教局组织的爱国主义专题教育课程,内容是“如何做一名合格道士”,这是一个老话题,但在新世纪、新形势、新环境中,当有更丰富的内容,寓于更深的内涵。道士古时称为有道之士,当今应释为悟道之士,得道之士,守道之士,弘道之士。要做好一名道士,非一时一事的体现,要经过长期不懈的努力和追求,要立志、有进取心、有恒心、有奉献精神。悟道是为了得道,要经过艰辛卓绝的探寻,从徐福到东海寻长生不老之药,到郑隐炼丹而发明火药的不平常过程;从葛洪弃官而终生寻道,世称“小仙翁”,到陶弘景辞官入茅山,人称“山中宰相”,皆以道为一生追求的宗…     

The effects of moral judgment and moral identity on moral behavior: an empirical examination of the moral individual

Recognizing limitations in classic cognitive moral development theory, several scholars have drawn from theories of identity to suggest that moral behavior results from both moral judgments and moral identity. The authors conducted 2 survey-based studies with more than 500 students and managers to test this argument. Results demonstrated that moral identity and moral judgments both independently influenced moral behavior. In addition, in situations in which social consensus regarding the moral behavior was not high, moral judgments and moral identity interacted to shape moral behavior. This interaction effect indicated that those who viewed themselves as moral individuals pursued the most extreme alternatives (e.g., never cheating, regularly cheating)--a finding that affirms the motivational power of a moral identity. The authors conclude by considering the implications of this research for both theory and practice.     

When theory and practice diverge: gender-related patterns of referral to psychoanalysts.

This study tests the hypothesis that female analysts, relative to male analysts, receive a disproportionately small percentage of male referrals. Referral patterns for 170 analysts from four institutes accredited by the American Psychoanalytic Association were examined. One thousand, five hundred and ten patients referrals were studied. The findings were extremely robust and offered dramatic confirmation of our hypothesis. The major implications of the study are as follows: (1) Women analysts receive relatively few adult male referrals, making it difficult for them to gain requisite clinical experience with men. (2) Analysts and nonanalysts alike demonstrate a reluctance to refer male patients to female analysts. (3) Adult referrals, including those made by analysts, are significantly influenced by the issue of gender match between patient and analyst. (4) Analysts' behavior with regard to making referrals does not correspond to explicit clinical theory regarding how analysts make referrals--specifically, the extent to which gender influences the referral process is not adequately described by theory. We believe that these findings are of some concern from the standpoint of analytic education and that they also raise questions regarding unacknowledged aspects of how gender match between patient and analyst enters into clinical decision making.(ABSTRACT TRUNCATED AT 250 WORDS)     

The role of moral commitments in moral judgment

Traditional approaches to moral psychology assumed that moral judgments resulted from the application of explicit commitments, such as those embodied in consequentialist or deontological philosophies. In contrast, recent work suggests that moral judgments often result from unconscious or emotional processes, with explicit commitments generated post hoc. This paper explores the intermediate position that moral commitments mediate moral judgments, but not through their explicit and consistent application in the course of judgment. An experiment with 336 participants finds that individuals vary in the extent to which their moral commitments are consequentialist or deontological, and that this variation is systematically but imperfectly related to the moral judgments elicited by trolley car problems. Consequentialist participants find action in trolley car scenarios more permissible than do deontologists, and only consequentialists moderate their judgments when scenarios that typically elicit different intuitions are presented side by side. The findings emphasize the need for a theory of moral reasoning that can accommodate both the associations and dissociations between moral commitments and moral judgments.     

The dual moral self: moral centrality and internal moral motivation

In this study, the relationship between two aspects of the moral self, moral centrality and internal moral motivation, was analyzed. It is argued that these 2 aspects are conceptually distinct but nonetheless empirically related. Based on a cross-sectional study of 205 adolescents (M age = 14.83 years, SD = 2.21 years) it was found that moral centrality and internal moral motivation, even though substantially correlated, interacted in predicting moral emotion expectancies. Even though moral centrality was unrelated to adolescents' age it predicted a longitudinal increase in internal moral motivation over a 1-year interval. Overall, the findings call for a differentiation of moral centrality and internal moral motivation as 2 distinct but interrelated aspects of moral self-development that follow different developmental trajectories and are differentially related to age. At the same time, the study points out that adolescence may be less important for the development of the moral self than commonly assumed.     

The authority of the moral sense

The Journal of Value Inquiry -