Wissenschaftliche Prüfung und wissenschaftliche Anerkennung psychotherapeutischer Verfahren

The authors focus on the following questions: firstly, what anthropological preconceptions lie behind the nomological scientific viewpoints adopted by the scientific advisory board “psychotherapy”, secondly, to what extend a general efficacy of psychotherapy can be verified using the criteria it proposes. The authors demonstrate that in the proposed testing procedure humans are conceptualized as beings without consciousness and subjectivity. Furthermore, nomologically designed investigations cannot verify a general efficacy of new forms of psychotherapy, nor could they verify the general efficacy of those psychotherapeutic methods already approved by the insurance companies.     

Ein Plädoyer für die Menschenwürde

Dass wir heute einen so dringenden Ethikbedarf in der Medizin haben, hat – nach Elmar Waibl, Professor für Philosophie in Innsbruck – eine sonderbare, ja eine paradoxe Erkl?rung: Der Grund ist nicht ein Moralversagen der Medizin, sondern eine Moralüberforderung als Resultat des gro?en Erfolges der Heilkunst. überarbeitete Fassung eines am 20.9.2008 in Wien anl?sslich der 21. Jahrestagung der ?sterreichischen Alzheimer Gesellschaft gehaltenen Vortrages     

Reduction in rat phosphatidylethanolamine binding protein-1 (PEBP1) after chronic corticosterone treatment may be paralleled by cognitive impairment: a first study

Chronic stress is associated with hippocampal atrophy and cognitive dysfunction. This study investigates how long-lasting administration of corticosterone as a mimic of experimentally induced stress affects psychometric performance and the expression of the phosphatidylethanolamine binding protein (PEBP1) in the adult hippocampus of one-year-old male rats. Psychometric investigations were conducted in rats before and after corticosterone treatment using a holeboard test system. Rats were randomly attributed to 2 groups (n = 7) for daily subcutaneous injection of either 26.8 mg/kg body weight corticosterone or sesame oil (vehicle control). Treatment was continued for 60 days, followed by cognitive retesting in the holeboard system. For protein analysis, the hippocampal proteome was separated by 2D electrophoresis (2DE) followed by image processing, statistical analysis, protein identification via peptide mass fingerprinting and gel matching and subsequent functional network mapping and molecular pathway analysis. Differential expression of PEBP1 was additionally quantified by Western blot analysis. Results show that chronic corticosterone significantly decreased rat hippocampal PEBP1 expression and induced a working and reference memory dysfunction. From this, we derive the preliminary hypothesis that PEBP1 may be a novel molecular mediator influencing cognitive integrity during chronic corticosterone exposure in rat hippocampus.     

NK(3) receptor agonism promotes episodic-like memory in mice

The mammalian tachykinins are a family of closely related peptides including substance P, neurokinin A, neurokinin B and, recently, also hemokinin-1. They are present in the peripheral and central nervous systems, and bind to three known neurokinin (NK) receptors, the NK(1)-, NK(2)- and NK(3) receptors. In both rodents and humans, NK(3) receptors are expressed in brain structures which have been associated with learning and memory. Evidence for a role of NK(3) receptors in learning and memory has been found in NK(3) receptor knockout mice. Here, we investigated the influence of the NK(3) receptor agonist, senktide (0.1, 0.2 and 0.4 mg/kg), on the performance of C57BL/6 mice in a recently developed episodic-like memory task. Since a promnestic effect of senktide was expected, we employed an experimental protocol that provided sub-optimal learning conditions for episodic-like memory. The results indicate that senktide promotes episodic-like memory in mice in a dose-dependent manner, providing, for the first time, evidence for an involvement of NK(3) receptors in episodic-like memory.     

The association between life events and suicide intent in self-poisoners with and without a history of deliberate self-harm: a preliminary study

The associations between life events in the 12 months preceding an episode of self-poisoning resulting in hospital attendance (the index episode), and the suicide intent of this episode were compared in individuals for whom the index episode was their first, episode and in individuals in whom it was a recurrence of DSH. Results indicated a significant interaction between independent life events, repetition status, and gender in the prediction of suicide intent, the association between life events and intent being moderated by repetition status in women only. The results provide preliminary evidence to suggest the presence of a suicidal process in women, in which the impact of negative life events on suicide intent diminishes across episodes.     

Criticizing groups from the inside and the outside: an identity perspective on the intergroup sensitivity effect

Research on group criticism has demonstrated that criticisms are received less defensively when made by an ingroup member than when made by an outsider (the intergroup sensitivity effect). Three experiments tested the extent to which this effect is driven by social identity concerns or by judgments of how experienced the source of the criticism is. In Experiments 1 and 2, Australians who criticized Australia (ingroup critics) were met with less defensiveness than were foreigners who criticized Australia (outgroup critics), regardless of the amount of experience the foreigner had with Australia. Furthermore, the effects of speaker type on evaluations were mediated by perceptions of the extent to which the criticisms were intended to be constructive but not by perceptions of experience. Finally, Experiment 3 indicated that although experience does not help outgroup critics, a lack of experience can hurt ingroup critics. Recommendations are provided as to how people can reduce defensiveness when making group criticisms.     

A short history of ideo-motor action

The ideo-motor theory, which is currently receiving heightened interest in cognitive psychology, looks back on a long history. Essentially two historical roots can be presented. A British one, initiated by Laycock (1845) and Carpenter (1852), which was developed in order to explain ideo-motor phenomena by means of cerebral reflex actions. A second and older root is the German one by Herbart (1816, 1825), Lotze (1852), and Harless (1861), which considered the ideo-motor principle a fundamental mechanism of all intentional human behaviour. Both roots converged in James' (1890) Principles of Psychology before they fell into oblivion due to the dominance of behaviorism in the first half of the 20th century. The few empirical ideo-motor studies of the early 20th century are briefly described. Finally, similarities and differences in the history of the ideo-motor theory are delineated and a perspective is given covering research questions that could be examined in the future.     

Verbesserung psychischer Allgemeinfunktionen durch Psychotherapie

Zusammenfassung  Im Rahmen einer bundesweiten Fragebogenuntersuchung, die eine systematische Replikation der 1994 in den USA durchgeführten Consumer-Reports-Study für Deutschland darstellte, wurden mit Hilfe des ins Deutsche übersetzten Originalfragebogens Psychotherapiepatienten, u. a. nach einer Verbesserung der Zielsymptomatik sowie nach Veränderungen unspezifischer psychischer Allgemeinfunktionen, wie Beziehungsfähigkeit, Arbeitsfähigkeit, Fähigkeit zur Stressbewältigung, körperliches Wohlbefinden, Lebensfreude, persönliche Entwicklung, Verständnis für andere, Selbstwertgefühl und Stimmungslage, durch die Behandlung befragt. Bei der Auswertung der Antworten zeigte sich, dass eine psychotherapeutische Behandlung nicht nur zu einer deutlichen Symptombesserung, sondern auch zu einer Besserung dieser unspezifischen psychischen Allgemeinfunktionen führt. Und je länger die Behandlung erfolgt war, desto größer fielen die Besserungsraten aus. Der Vergleich der unterschiedlichen psychotherapeutischen Verfahren offenbarte marginale Unterschiede zwischen Psychoanalyse, tiefenpsychologisch-fundierter Psychotherapie und Verhaltenstherapie.

Psychological measures as predictors of military training performance

The predictive validity of 7 ability tests, the Big Five, and the Rorschach method administered to 71 male applicants at the Naval Special Forces (NSF) of Norway was evaluated based on pass/fail results in training. The findings showed: (a) small correlations between the ability tests, the Big Five scales, and the success criterion; (b) Rorschach variables measuring stress tolerance, reality testing, cognition, and social adjustment correlated significantly (r =.25 to.48) with pass/fail results in training, and (c) logistic regression analysis revealed that 3 of the Rorschach variables accumulated incrementally in the prediction of training completion when entered after the ability tests and the Big Five scales, thus supporting the merit of using Rorschach variables for predicting NSF training performance     

Rorschach administration: a comparison of the effect of two instructions given to an inpatient sample of drug addicts

The effect of administering the Rorschach Inkblot Method under two instructional sets was compared on three classes of outcome variables: the frequency with which subjects asked questions about the test; the frequency of brief protocols (fewer than 14 responses); and 17 traditional Rorschach structural summary scores. Sixty subjects, obtained from three inpatient psychiatric clinics treating drug addicts, randomly received either the short pre‐testing instruction “What might this be?” originally developed by Herman Rorschach and recommended in the Comprehensive System, or a longer and more elaborated instruction, which for many years has been the standard instruction in Norway. Compared with the Norwegian instruction, the short instruction produced significantly more questions to the examiner about the test. For the other outcome measures no differences were observed.