Executive Control Functions in Degenerative Dementias: A Comparative Review

This paper reviews the literature concerning executive control impairments in degenerative dementias. The construct of executive control functioning is examined, as is the neuroanatomy of frontal–subcortical networks, believed to underlie executive function (EF) impairments. The pattern of EF impairments in Alzheimer's disease (AD) which affects temporal and parietal brain regions most severely is contrasted with observed executive dysfunctions in patients with dementias involving degeneration of primarily frontal and frontal–subcortical brain areas. EF impairments are present in each of these types of dementing illnesses. Although EF impairments are present in AD, they are less prominent than the memory disorder in the neuropsychological profile of the disease and tend to become more pronounced later in the course of the illness. In contrast, patients with frontal or frontal–subcortical dementia may demonstrate executive dysfunction, which occurs earlier in the disease progression and may be initially more severe.     

The Rorschach Ego Impairment Index: prediction of treatment outcome in a child psychiatric population

In this study, we investigated the treatment utility of the revision of Perry and Viglione's (1991) Rorschach Ego Impairment Index (EII-2) in a sample of 53 child psychiatric inpatients. Parent ratings of symptomatic functioning on the Devereux Scales of Mental Disorders (DSMD; Naglieri, LeBuffe, & Pfeiffer, 1994) were obtained at admission, 30 days postdischarge, and 120 days postdischarge. EII-2 scores correlated with initial symptom elevations on the Critical Pathology at admission. EII-2 scores did not predict short-term response to treatment. However, EII-2 scores demonstrated moderate correlations with long-term outcome and relapse. EII-2 was related to prediction of worsening of symptoms between 30-day and 120-day follow-up as measured by Reliable Change Index scores that were computed for the Externalizing, Internalizing, Critical Pathology, and Total DSMD scales.     

Interapy: treatment of post-traumatic stress via the internet

This paper describes the theoretical background and procedures (including psycho-education, screening, treatment protocol and outcome measurement) involved in a protocol-driven internet treatment of post-traumatic stress and grief in a group of people who have suffered from mild to relatively severe trauma. The paper examines the results of 3 outcome and process studies, which were carried out initially in a student population and subsequently in the general population of highly traumatized people. In the latter study, participants in the experimental condition (n = 69) improved significantly more than participants in the waiting list control condition (n = 32), with respect to trauma-related symptoms and general psychopathology. The effect sizes were large. More than 50% of the participants treated showed reliable change and clinically significant improvement after treatment for avoidance and depression. Treatment proved most beneficial for participants who had suffered from intentional trauma and those who had not previously discussed the traumatic events with significant others. Content analysis of the publications indicates a remarkable increase in cognitive coping during treatment. The possibilities for future research into internet-driven treatment of post-traumatic stress symptomatology are discussed, including the proposal to study the effects of sending a final written letter to a significant other person.     

School-based care and support for the intellectually disabled learners at risk for sexual abuse: South African teacher carer perspectives

This study examined the functionality of a school-based care and support program for the intellectually disabled learners who have a history of sexual abuse. Participants were 28 teachers from four special educational needs schools in the Gauteng Province, South Africa (females = 80%; age range 30 to 55 years). The teachers participated in a focus group discussion on the extent to which the school-based care and support for learners with intellectual disability worked to the intended goals and procedures. Thematic analysis of the data suggested the school care and support program to work to purpose within the school system and with partner non-governmental organisations; but less so with the local school district personnel.     

Language,life praxis and scenic understanding in psychoanalytic therapy

Freud held that the repressed unconscious arose from the separation of thing‐presentations from word‐presentations. The author divests these terms of the implication that they are objectively existing entities by citing some of Freud's other texts. Thing‐presentations are memory‐traces of (as yet) non‐language‐based interactions – that is, precipitates of actions that have been experienced and models of future actions. Scenic understanding, which, on the basis of participation by the therapist in the patient's play, treats all material presented by the patient by an approach analogous to the interpretation of dreams, is therefore the royal road to the unconscious.     

Supererogation,Sacrifice, and the Limits of Duty

It is often claimed that all acts of supererogation involve sacrifice. This claim is made because it is thought that it is the level of sacrifice involved that prevents these acts from being morally required. In this paper, I will argue against this claim. I will start by making a distinction between two ways of understanding the claim that all acts of supererogation involve sacrifice. I will then examine some purported counterexamples to the view that supererogation always involves sacrifice and examine their limitations. Next, I will examine how this view might be defended, building on comments by Dale Dorsey and Henry Sidgwick. I will then argue that the view and the argument in favor of it should be rejected. I will finish by showing how an alternative explanation for the limits of moral obligation avoids the problems facing The Sacrifice View.     

Psychology and “The Babe”

Psychologists and baseball players were among those Americans who formed professional associations in the last quarter of the nineteenth century. Psychologists used laboratory tasks to quantify mental and behavioral processes while sportswriters and baseball organizers measured individual and team performance. The most popular baseball player of the 1920s, George Herman “Babe” Ruth, possessed superior batting skills that were evident in the statistical indices of baseball performance. In 1921, he was brought to the psychological laboratory at Columbia University to perform standard laboratory tasks in an effort to discover the basis for his success in hitting home runs and to suggest the potential of tests for identifying future baseball stars. Baseball's addiction to quantitative indices of performance was thus brought together with a new science devoted to quantitative assessment and a desire to make such assessments useful. The attempt to analyze the basis of Ruth's batting skills is part of the history of applied psychology, sport psychology, and popular interest in the science of psychology. © 1998 John Wiley & Sons, Inc.