Eating disorders as psychosomatic illness the implications for treatment

Abstract

This paper describes a body of theory which points to the possibility that eating disorders can be seen as psychosomatic illness, which is to say a symbolization of affect via the body rather than with words. The author concludes from this that eating disorders may respond better to non-verbal experiential therapies than they do to verbal therapy. She then describes four years of work with groups of eating-disordered women using non-verbal experiential therapies and suggests that the improvement in their symptoms may be the result of these methodologies and that her hypothesis merits further testing and exploration.     

On the mereological structure of complex states of affairs

The aim of this paper is to elucidate the mereological structure of complex states of affairs without relying on the problematic notion of structural universals. For this task tools from graph theory, lattice theory, and the theory of relational systems are employed. Our starting point is the mereology of similarity structures. Since similarity structures are structured sets, their mereology can be considered as a generalization of the mereology of ordinary sets. In general, the mereological systems arising from similarity structures turn out to be not Boolean but Heyting systems. Employing Armstrong??s notion of thick particulars, similarity structures are shown to capture the mereological structure of complex ??chemical states of affairs?? such as ??being butane?? or ??being isobutane??; structural universals are not needed.     

Psychodynamic focal group treatment for psychosomatic inpatients--with an emphasis on work-related conflicts

Conflicts arising from the work setting have remained a neglected issue in psychotherapy. To address this, the present study investigated the effectiveness of a manualized focal group treatment for psychotherapeutic inpatients suffering from vocational strains and conflicts and identified predictors of outcome. Cohorts of patients were assigned either to a treatment (N=144) or control condition (N=135). The group therapy intervention was found to be highly accepted by participants who were also more optimistic about returning to work and more favorable in their evaluations of treatment than patients in the treatment-as-usual condition. Group climate was found to be a predictor of favorable outcome. The findings suggest that a group therapy intervention with a strong emphasis on motivations and attitudes about work may be particularly suitable to deal with vocational conflicts and strains.     

Freud, psychoanalysis and the psychosomatic problem

According to the author an unbroken hallucination of the pleasure principle is underlying the vision of mankind as in biotechnical medicine as well as in a concept of science that is reduced to technical progress. Psychosomatics is to overcome the false rationality of such thought.     

On the influence of affective states on intuitive coherence judgements

Recent research has shown that coherence judgements of semantically related word triads are facilitated by a subtle positive response triggered by their increased fluency of processing. Such positive affective response serves as a cue indicating semantic coherence. However, we argue that the fluency of processing is not the only source of affective response that can influence intuitive judgements. The present study investigated differential influences of mood and affective valence of solution words on intuitive coherence judgements. We show that affective cues resulting from processing fluency can be strengthened or weakened by inducing positive or negative affective response through the activation of solutions to semantically coherent triads. Also, mood is shown to impact the breadth of activated associations therefore affecting not only judgements of semantic coherence but also solvability of word triads. We discuss the implications of our findings for how people might form intuitive judgements of semantic coherence.     

On the influence of affective states on intuitive coherence judgements

Recent research has shown that coherence judgements of semantically related word triads are facilitated by a subtle positive response triggered by their increased fluency of processing. Such positive affective response serves as a cue indicating semantic coherence. However, we argue that the fluency of processing is not the only source of affective response that can influence intuitive judgements. The present study investigated differential influences of mood and affective valence of solution words on intuitive coherence judgements. We show that affective cues resulting from processing fluency can be strengthened or weakened by inducing positive or negative affective response through the activation of solutions to semantically coherent triads. Also, mood is shown to impact the breadth of activated associations therefore affecting not only judgements of semantic coherence but also solvability of word triads. We discuss the implications of our findings for how people might form intuitive judgements of semantic coherence.