Plato's Child and the Limit-Points of Educational Theories

This paper analyzes how the figure of the childhas been used to authorize a series ofboundaries that have constituted thelimit-points of educational theories orphilosophies. Limit-points are the conceptualboundaries that educational theories produce,move within, respond to, and make use ofbecause the perception is that they cannot beargued away or around at the time. A method ofcomparative historico-philosophy is used tocontrast limit-points in Platonic figurationsof the child and education with childcenteredand eugenic theories of the late nineteenth andtwentieth century West. The figuration of thechild in both periods is imbricated in formingboundaries around a power-motion-reason nexusand in delineating what necessity and justicemean. The meaning-space that the child canoccupy in relation to such concepts has shiftedwith them and has been important to depictingUtopian and cosmological imaginings atdifferent historical moments and forauthorizing in turn what counts as anappropriate and/or realistic educationalphilosophy.     

Concurrent and predictive electrodermal correlates of symptomatology in recent-onset schizophrenic patients.

Electrodermal activity and symptomatology were interrelated in a group of 56 male and 13 female recent-onset schizophrenic patients. Electrodermal activity was indexed by the frequency of nonspecific skin conductances responses and the number of trials to habituation of the skin conductance orienting response. Symptomatology was assessed by the Brief Psychiatric Rating Scale (BPRS) on two separate test occasions. The first test occasion was during the inpatient period when psychotic symptoms were prevalent and medications were variable. The second test occasion was several months later during an outpatient period when symptoms were stabilized and medications held constant. Electrodermal activity was positively and significantly related to a number of symptoms in male patients, most reliably the BPRS factors Activation and Hostility/Suspiciousness. These relationships were most consistent during the outpatient period. Of particular theoretical interest, greater electrodermal activity during the inpatient period was associated with greater outpatient psychopathology. The results suggest that heightened inpatient electrodermal activity is predictive of poor short-term symptomatic recovery in recent-onset, acute, male schizophrenic patients.     

Lateral asymmetries in electrodermal responses to nonattended stimuli: a reply to Walker and Ceci

Walker and Ceci (1983) pose a number of interesting and potentially important criticisms and alternative explanations regarding the laterality finding and hypothesis of Dawson and Schell (1982). The present evaluation finds each of the criticisms and alternative explanations to be inadequate. We then distinguish between two alternative interpretations of the Dawson and Schell hypothesis, one based on inherent functional properties of the two hemispheres and the other based on the notion that each hemisphere is a partially independent pool of processing resources. Walker and Ceci's fundamental objection seems to apply only to the first interpretation.     

The role of glutamate in anxiety and related disorders

Anxiety, stress, and trauma-related disorders are a major public health concern in the United States. Drugs that target the gamma-aminobutyric acid or serotonergic system, such as benzodiazepines and selective serotonin reuptake inhibitors, respectively, are the most widely prescribed treatments for these disorders. However, the role of glutamate in anxiety disorders is becoming more recognized with the belief that drugs that modulate glutamatergic function through either ionotropic or metabotropic glutamate receptors have the potential to improve the current treatment of these severe and disabling illnesses. Animal models of fear and anxiety have provided a method to study the role of glutamate in anxiety. This research has demonstrated that drugs that alter glutamate transmission have potential anxiolytic action for many different paradigms including fear-potentiated startle, punished responding, and the elevated plus maze. Human clinical drug trials have demonstrated the efficacy of glutamatergic drugs for the treatment of obsessive-compulsive disorder, posttraumatic stress disorder, generalized anxiety disorder, and social phobia. Recent data from magnetic resonance imaging studies provide an additional link between the glutamate system and anxiety. Collectively, the data suggest that future studies on the mechanism of and clinical efficacy of glutamatergic agents in anxiety disorders are appropriately warranted.     

Epistemology and School Counseling

Because a counselor's interactions with his clients should be an out-growth of his philosophical commitments, he must grapple with certain epistemological questions: (a) Can human beings know the extramental world or merely their own ideas? (b) Is human knowledge a valid representation of the extramental world? (c) Can human beings reach agreement about the nature of extramental realities? The counselor can assume two possible stances. First, there is the “realist” position which states that there is an extramental world, we can achieve valid knowledge of it, and the knowledge of various observers can agree. Second is the “phenomenalist” position: There is an extramental world, but no one can achieve valid knowledge of it, nor can various observers easily agree regarding its nature. The realist counselor should help his client perceive his problem situation as it “really” is and as it appears to others. The phenomenalist counselor cannot do this instead, he can only try to enter the client's subjectivity and to help him deepen and enrich his unique perception of the problem situation.     

The Role of Sexual Trauma in the Treatment of Chemically Dependent Women: Addressing the Relapse Issue

A review of the literature indicates a high incidence of sexual trauma among women who seek treatment for substance abuse. Additionally, clients who have experienced sexual trauma appear to be more susceptible to relapse, the return to substance abuse. This article explores issues surrounding sexual trauma and chemical dependency. It aims to provide direction for relapse prevention with a relapse-prone population. Application of traditional milieu substance abuse treatment for sexual trauma survivors is explored. Recommendations for working with sexual trauma survivors who are also substance abusers are presented, as are suggestions for research.     

Expert testimony in pornography trials: A role for the social scientist

This article attempts to clarify the concepts of law, pornography, and the special role of the expert witness in pornography. Different conceptual frameworks taken by experts in this field are addressed, as are the shortcomings of various approaches. Finally, the critical role of ethics in giving expert witness testimony in pornography is discussed.