THE WORLDWIDE BURDEN OF INFANT MENTAL AND EMOTIONAL DISORDER: REPORT OF THE TASK FORCE OF THE WORLD ASSOCIATION FOR INFANT MENTAL HEALTH

Children worldwide experience mental and emotional disorders. Mental disorders occurring among young children, especially infants (birth –3 years), often go unrecognized. Prevalence rates are difficult to determine because of lack of awareness and difficulty assessing and diagnosing young children. Existing data, however, suggest that rates of disorders in young children are comparable to those of older children and adolescents (von Klitzing, Dohnert, Kroll, & Grube, 2015 ). The lack of widespread recognition of disorders of infancy is particularly concerning due to the unique positioning of infancy as foundational in the developmental process. Both the brain and behavior are in vulnerable states of development across the first 3 years of life, with potential for enduring deviations to occur in response to early trauma and deprivation. Intervention approaches for young children require sensitivity to their developmental needs within their families. The primacy of infancy as a time of unique foundational risks for disorder, the impact of trauma and violence on young children's development, the impact of family disruption on children's attachment, and existing literature on prevalence rates of early disorders are discussed. Finally, global priorities for addressing these disorders of infancy are highlighted to support prevention and intervention actions that may alleviate suffering among our youngest world citizens.     

Psychotherapeutische Kurzintervention bei somatisierenden Patienten im Krankenhaus

The manual describes the psychotherapeutic procedure for somatizing patients who are admitted to hospital for diagnostics and therapy of unclear physical complaints. An essential goal of the psychotherapeutic interventions is to achieve an understanding for the disease, in which body, psyche and social relationships are experienced as interrelated. By addressing the health fears and subjective concepts about the onset and maintenance of his physical complaints, the patient feels that he is being taken seriously and understood. Connections between physical symptoms and the suppression of undesirable affects like anger, rage and disappointment are verbalized and understood in greater depth, based on body perception exercises and a symptom diary. The positive experience of understanding and symptom relief obtained in the psychotherapeutic sessions is used for the main goal of the intervention: to motivate the (out- and in-)patient for a regular psychotherapy. Experience up to now has shown that three to five sequential sessions of about 45–60 minutes suffice to attain this therapy goal. Implementation is most successful within an established consultant or liaison service in close cooperation with the ward doctors.     

Destruktivit?t in Paarbeziehungen Paartherapeutische Behandlungsm?glichkeiten

Streitende Paare, die in destruktiven Kommunikationsmustern gefangen sind lösen oft schwierige Situationen in einer Paartherapie aus. Die Kommunikationsmuster reichen von verbalen Entwertungen und Beschimpfungen bis hin zu gewalttätigen Auseinandersetzungen. Damit der Therapeut bzw. die Therapeutin handlungsfähig bleiben, müssen sie über Erklärungsmodelle zur Entstehung und Aufrechterhaltung destruktiver Interaktionszirkel verfügen. Darüber hinaus benötigen sie Handwerkszeug und konkrete Interventionsmöglichkeiten zur Deeskalation bzw. zur Unterbrechung dieser destruktiven Muster.     

The multifactor offender readiness model

There has been a resurgence of interest in the rehabilitation of offenders. Research has consistently shown that rehabilitation programs for offenders, when they adhere to general principles of program design and delivery, will achieve significant reductions in recidivism. In this paper, we suggest that even greater reductions in recidivism can be achieved when readiness is addressed at the level of the individual offender, the program, and the context. A comprehensive understanding of readiness allows for fuller engagement in treatment, thus increasing probability of good treatment outcomes. We describe person, program, and context factors in a model of offender treatment readiness and discuss implications of the model for both assessment of offenders and for modification of low readiness.     

An antisymmetric psychometric function on a logarithmic scale

This very brief report introduces a psychometric function, very suitable for psychophysical data that displays Weber-like behaviour, because it is antisymmetric on a logarithmic scale.     

??Hier bin ich Mensch, hier darf ich??s sein!????Partaking in the Nanoworld

Images from the nanoworld are not at all disorienting or bewildering, as one might expect from contemplating the strange and surprising features that arise where classical physics comes to an end and quantum effects begin to appear. Instead, we see the traces of explorers in a world that appears to be infinitely malleable. The paper shows that the capability to visualize processes and phenomena at the nanoscale is a matter not only of research technologies and the advancement of observational techniques, but also a matter of developing a visual setting that exhibits knowledge and practice, surprise and control. The surface is such a stage and so is the landscape: they invite us to become immersed and move around like someone who goes for a walk. In order to appreciate this pictorial, as well as discursive, setting we turn to “strollology” as a method of reconstructing the world that is experienced in the manner of walking. With the notion of imagescape this method is applied to the modes of partaking in the nanoworld and its specific features. Rather than articulate theoretical or metaphysical presuppositions these nanoscapes serve to validate the very idea of nanotechnology.     

The influence of presession factors in the assessment of deviant arousal

Three adult male sex offenders with developmental disabilities participated in an evaluation of presession factors that may influence levels of sexual arousal measured with a penile plethysmograph. We evaluated the effects of presession masturbation (1 participant) and arousal-suppression strategies (2 participants). Results showed that presession masturbation lowered arousal levels and both participants suppressed arousal to varying degrees. These outcomes suggest the potential for consideration and manipulation of presession factors as treatment components for sex offenders with developmental disabilities.     

Panel: What could be Jungian about Human Rights work?

The question of whether Jungian analysts should move beyond the consulting room to engage with mental health issues that pertain to the collective is the focus of this paper. Two narratives are presented: one from the view point of a psychiatrist in Occupied Palestine, the other from the conflicted situation which faces an Israeli analyst. Despite the strong ambivalence that is experienced on both sides, there is a willingness to meet and to take a standpoint without necessarily coming to a resolution. A third position is offered by describing experiences from the South African perspective. The African notion of Ubuntu is offered as a moral entry point that states that community goes beyond one's own; from this point of view, Jungian analysts can do no other than to act.     

Modelling relations between sensory processing, speech perception, orthographic and phonological ability, and literacy achievement

The general magnocellular theory postulates that dyslexia is the consequence of a multimodal deficit in the processing of transient and dynamic stimuli. In the auditory modality, this deficit has been hypothesized to interfere with accurate speech perception, and subsequently disrupt the development of phonological and later reading and spelling skills. In the visual modality, an analogous problem might interfere with literacy development by affecting orthographic skills. In this prospective longitudinal study, we tested dynamic auditory and visual processing, speech-in-noise perception, phonological ability and orthographic ability in 62 five-year-old preschool children. Predictive relations towards first grade reading and spelling measures were explored and the validity of the global magnocellular model was evaluated using causal path analysis. In particular, we demonstrated that dynamic auditory processing was related to speech perception, which itself was related to phonological awareness. Similarly, dynamic visual processing was related to orthographic ability. Subsequently, phonological awareness, orthographic ability and verbal short-term memory were unique predictors of reading and spelling development.     

Keep an eye on your hands: on the role of visual mechanisms in processing of haptic space

The present paper reviews research on a haptic orientation processing. Central is a task in which a test bar has to be set parallel to a reference bar at another location. Introducing a delay between inspecting the reference bar and setting the test bar leads to a surprising improvement. Moreover, offering visual background information also elevates performance. Interestingly, (congenitally) blind individuals do not or to a weaker extent show the improvement with time, while in parallel to this, they appear to benefit less from spatial imagery processing. Together this strongly points to an important role for visual processing mechanisms in the perception of haptic inputs.