"Enhanced" interrogation of detainees: do psychologists and psychiatrists participate?

After revelations of participation by psychiatrists and psychologists in interrogation of prisoners at Guantánamo Bay and Central Intelligence Agency secret detention centers, the American Psychiatric Association and the American Psychological Association adopted Position Statements absolutely prohibiting their members from participating in torture under any and all circumstances, and, to a limited degree, forbidding involvement in interrogations. Some interrogations utilize very aggressive techniques determined to be torture by many nations and organizations throughout the world. This paper explains why psychiatrists and psychologists involved in coercive interrogations violate the Geneva Conventions and the laws of the United States. Whether done with ignorance of professional ethical obligations or not, these psychiatrists and psychologists have crossed an ethical barrier that may best be averted from re-occurring by teaching medical students and residents in all medical specialties about the ethics principles stemming from the 1946–1947 Nuremberg trials and the Geneva Conventions, together with the Ethics Codes of the World Medical Association and the American Medical Association; and, with regard to psychiatric residents and psychological trainees, by the teaching about The Principles of Medical Ethics With Annotations Especially Applicable to Psychiatry and the Ethical Principles of Psychologists and Code of Conduct, respectively. In this way, all physicians and psychologists will clearly understand that they have an absolute moral obligation to "First, do no harm" to the human beings they professionally encounter.     

Pragmatism, Pluralism, and Psychotherapy Relationships: An Interview with John C. Norcross, Ph.D.

John C. Norcross has made significant contributions in the areas of the transtheoretical model of change, psychotherapy integration, and empirically supported psychotherapy relationships. This interview explores the contributions of pragmatic philosophy and his personal upbringing to his work as a psychotherapy researcher and practitioner. Dr. Norcross discusses the status of the psychotherapy integration movement, the work of the Task Force on Empirically Supported Psychotherapy Relationships, and future trends in psychotherapy over the next 25 years. He emphasizes the importance of a methodological rigor that recognizes the unique characteristics of the psychotherapy relationship. He describes his current interest in the psychotherapy of psychotherapists, illustrating it with his personal challenges in balancing work and home.     

Notes on the phantom. Supplements to Freud's metapsychology

The author discusses secrets--phantoms--that are unconsciously passed on within a family from one generation to the next. They are experienced as foreign bodies and are not physically processed. A special technique is needed to decode them in the analytic process.     

Overcoming Anthropocentrism: Heidegger on the Heroic Role of the Works of Art

In this paper I argue that although Heidegger's Being and Time and 'The Origin of the Work of Art,' seem to deal with different topics, there is continuity between these two texts. In the latter Heidegger was trying to solve a central problem that arose in the former: how to account for authentic existence and at the same time overcome the anthropocentrism of traditional philosophy.
In Being and Time Heidegger tries to overcome traditional philosophy, by redefining human existence in non-Cartesian terms. Yet, his treatment of the problem of the Self preserves one of the main tenets of that tradition: its anthropocentrism. This anthropocentrism is implicit in Dasein and further reinforced by the notion of the hero as the paradigm and channel of authentic existence.
In 'The Origin of the Work of Art,' Heidegger solves that problem. Placing man at the periphery and the work of art at the centre of his endeavours, gives works of art a special status similar only to that of heroes. Works of art open up new horizons for generations to come by drawing in advance the paths for authentic behaviour.
This shift is more than merely methodological. Heidegger overcomes not only the anthropocentrism of his previous analysis but also the instrumentality that derived from that anthropocentrism, thus revealing the essence of things.     

Framing in terms of ‘high-risk groups’ versus ‘risky practices’ and prognoses of HIV infection

A quasi-experimental field-study (n = 314) investigated the consequences of framing the problem of HIV infection in terms of ‘risky practices’ versus ‘high risk groups’. It was reasoned that respondents in the risky practices frame would be more conscious of the risks to people in general leading them to make more pessimistic prognoses of HW spread than those for whom the issue had been framed in terms of high risk groups. This hypothesis was strongly supported on three related indices, and results also indicated more pessimistic prognoses by female than male respondents. The implications of these findings for framing AIDS related issues are discussed.     

Self-evaluation maintenance and the perception of friends and strangers

A self-evaluation maintenance (SEM) model was used to make predictions about the positivity of perception of the performance of friends and strangers. The model predicts that when the target of perception is close (i.e., a friend) the target's performance should be perceived more positively on dimensions of low personal relevance (to the perceiver) and less positively on dimensions of high personal relevance. If the target is psychologically distant (i.e., a stranger), this tendency should be attenuated. Thirty-four female subjects were given positive and negative feedback on a social sensitivity and an esthetic judgment task. One task had greater relevance for some subjects and the other task had greater relevance for the remaining subjects. Subjects rated their perception of a friend's and a stranger's performance on these tasks. The patterning of positivity in perception conformed to the pattern predicted by the SEM model. Subjects' awareness of their behavior as well as individual differences in self-esteem and repression-sensitization were also examined and discussed.     

Association between self-concept and body weight, gender, and pubertal development among male and female adolescents

This study examined the effects and interactions of gender, pubertal status, and body weight on the self-concept of 462 young adolescent Australian students from two different schools. All students enrolled in Years 7 and 8 completed the Self-Perception Profile for Adolescents, which includes several self-concept subscales and ratings of the importance of each subscale. The self-concept subscales ranked as most important by male and female students were Close Friendship, Scholastic Competence, and Job Competence. Females rated their ability to form close friendships significantly higher and of greater importance than did males. Standard body weight was related to students' Physical Appearance subscale scores, with higher weight students having lower self-concept, and postmenarcheal females having the poorest opinion of their physical appearance. Higher body weight males had lower scores on Athletic Competence, Job Competence, and Behavioral Conduct than did other males. Overweight females and normal weight males considered athletic competence to be more important than did other students. Pubertal status was related to students' scores on Athletic Competence, with postpubertal males who were not overweight scoring highest, and on Physical Appearance, with postmenarcheal females having the lowest opinion of their appearance. The mean self-concept score was significantly related to students' standard body weight, and there was an interaction between gender and puberty, with postpubertal males having the highest and postmenarcheal females the lowest self-concept score. The discrepancy score suggested that females felt they had failed to meet their ideal self-concept significantly more than did males. The results suggest that school programs should be implemented to provide exercise and job skill training suitable for all students, especially those who are overweight. These programs, while taking into account students' pubertal status, should aim to improve self-image without resulting in feelings of failure.     

The inner group: Its manifestation in drawings and in the actual group

This article presents an analysis of drawings together with information regarding the person's biography and style of participation in the group. The symbolic rendering in condensed visual form sheds light on our understanding of the specific individual's inner group and related mode of behavior in the real group. The rich clinical material offers a new source of insight into this important realm of group studies.She is Professor at the Hebrew University, Jerusalem, founder and first President of the Israeli Group-Analytic Society, honorary Member of the French Group-Analytic Society (Paris); and full Member of Group-Analytic Society (London).