Early Communications in the War Against Terrorism: An Integrative Complexity Analysis

Integrative complexity reflects the degree to which the source of a communication perceives several dimensions and points of view relevant to the topic (differentiation) and the degree to which such characteristics are seen as related to each other (integration). During international crises, bilateral decreases in the integrative complexity of communications frequently precede the outbreak of war; a unilateral decrease reliably precedes surprise strategic attacks. In the current study, complexity was scored in the messages of selected leaders from before to approximately a month after the terrorist attacks of 11 September 2001. Even this limited database replicated some of the complexity patterns found previously, as well as showing some novel characteristics. This was the first application of the method to hostilities other than inter–nation or civil wars.     

Direct Selling Ethics at the Top: An Industry Audit and Status Report

Unethical conduct by salespeople contributes to loss to the bottom line directly through misuse of expense reports and indirectly through lost customers who are disenchanted with questionable business practices. Self-regulation by industry has become an important strategy in improving the ethical environment of the industry as well as to establish standards that meet or exceed existing statutory or regulatory requirements. Audits of industry regulatory programs provide a mechanism to uncover weaknesses, heighten awareness of the importance of ethics and allow for improvements to be made and risks reduced. This study audits the Direct Selling Industry's code of ethics as it complies with the Federal Sentencing Guidelines (FSG) and establishes a benchmark against which subsequent ethics research in the Direct Selling Industry can be compared.     

Privileged Communications and the Counselor

Privileged communication laws may exempt counselors from testifying in judicial hearings. Many counselors are not covered, however, and many exceptions to the laws exist.     

Brief Communications

Abstract

Evidence-based psychotherapy is typically based on treatment outcome for the “average” patient in aggregate designs; reports on individual non-responders are rarely published. In this observational study, we explored factors that might have contributed to non-response in long-term dynamic group psychotherapy. Eight patients (14%) who did not change were compared with 48 treatment responders on clinical variables, and their case stories were retrospectively scrutinized for explanatory factors. The non-responders had less initial distress, stayed for shorter durations in therapy, and were more dissatisfied with their group and therapists. Based on detailed case stories, attempts are made to tease out idiographic hypotheses why each patient did not change during group analysis.     

Brief Communications

Abstract

This paper describes the theoretical foundations and components of an intensive group treatment program for individuals diagnosed with personality disorders. The Chrysalis Community Day Treatment Program integrates aspects of three empirically supported therapies: Transference-Focused Psychotherapy and Mentalization-Based Therapy, both psychodynamic psychotherapies, and Dialectical Behavior Therapy, a cognitive-behavioral therapy. Each of these modalities is structured for the treatment of individuals suffering from the symptoms of borderline personality disorder, and each of the treatments addresses problems that occur across a wide spectra of beliefs, capacities, and behaviors. The program is comprised of expressive, psycho-educational and skills-training groups, and participants attend three days per week, for 15 weeks. Preliminary evaluation is promising, reflecting decreases in self-injurious behavior, suicide attempts, psychiatric hospitalizations, and psychiatric symptoms at a one-year follow-up.     

Inner Communications Following the Near-Death Experience

Inner communications following the near-death experience (NDE) have been reported by a number of authors. Although such communications are similar in some ways to the hallucinations heard by individuals with mental illness, they differ in that their effects are predominantly positive, whereas the hallucinations in mental illness exert predominantly negative effects. This article describes three individuals who reported experiencing inner communications subsequent to their NDEs. I suggest that these inner messages may be a form of intuition, and encourage further research into this phenomenon.     

An Inferential Conception of the Application of Mathematics

A number of people have recently argued for a structural approach to accounting for the applications of mathematics. Such an approach has been called “the mapping account”. According to this view, the applicability of mathematics is fully accounted for by appreciating the relevant structural similarities between the empirical system under study and the mathematics used in the investigation of that system. This account of applications requires the truth of applied mathematical assertions, but it does not require the existence of mathematical objects. In this paper, we discuss the shortcomings of this account, and show how these shortcomings can be overcome by a broader view of the application of mathematics: the inferential conception.     

Reports and Brief Communications

Abstract

A Balint Seminar at the Therapeia Society in Finland     

Reports and Brief Communications

Abstract

New member of the EFTS: Institute Mexicano de Psicoanalisis, A.C. (IMPAC)     

"对话"与哲学的沟通--哲思随笔

在读柏拉图对话文体的哲学著作时,好像自己也置身于与哲人的对话之中.而那睿智和深邃的哲思,就在对话中自然地流淌.哲人已逝,但著作尚存.对于已逝哲人,后人只能借研读其著作与之对话.就是还在世的当代哲学家,能与之直接对话的机会也不多.真正与之对话,也只能研读其著作.现在的问题是:当人们在研读哲人的著作时,是否意识到是一种与哲人的对话?有自觉的对话意识与没有这种意识会有什么不同?甚至可以发问:存在不存在这种对话的可能?对话如果可能,那么这种对话可能包括哪些内涵?     

跨文化的文本理解与交往

"文本"(Text)的理解是当代哲学解释学的重要主题.当今世界全球性交往日益密切,在"跨文化研究"这门和哲学密切相关的新兴交叉学科中,包括"跨文化交往"与"文化间性"(Intercultuliarity)的研究中,跨文化的"文本"理解已是国外文化哲学、语言哲学乃至篇章语用学研究的一个重要课题,颇有理论价值与现实意义.