Family therapy research: What are the most important variables?

This report summarizes the results of a nearly day-long session of a group of experienced and distinguished family therapy practitioners and researchers. The task the group set for itself was to begin delineating the most important variables to attend to in understanding family therapy and evaluating its effectiveness. With full recognition that such a task could be only partially and tentatively accomplished in the time allotted, a great many such variables were outlined.     

The sociology of knowledge and its enemies

My objective in the following study is to present and analyze the objections to the ‘classical argument’ in the sociology of knowledge raised by Leo Strauss and Karl Popper. Building on this expository account, I will attempt to demonstrate (1) that the opposition of Strauss and Popper is more apparent and polemical than real, (2) that the position taken by Strauss and Popper on the viability of a sociology of knowledge is essentially no different from that taken by the discipline's founders: Max Scheler, Karl Mannheim, and Georg Lukács, (3) that whatever the merits of Strauss and Popper's contentions, they become relevant only in the context of a radicalized version of the sociology of knowledge which developed subsequent to their formulation, and (4) that the sociology of knowledge has needlessly and deplorably become the battleground for meta‐theoretical disputes that are irrelevant to its practice.     

Asymmetrical effects of reward and punishment on attributions of morality

The authors found that 3 experiments revealed that compliance with a pro-social request for an anticipated reward as opposed to a threatened punishment resulted in greater inferences of personal morality. In Experiment 1, participants received information about a teaching assistant (TA) who was either promised a reward or threatened with a punishment when asked for compliance. The participants perceived the TA as more moral for complying given the positive incentive as opposed to the negative incentive. Experiment 2 replicated this finding in a different culture, using different vignettes and incentives. Last, in Experiment 3, the results revealed that a perceived actor's real intentions mediated the effect of incentive valence on dispositional causation. That is, given a reward relative to a punishment, participants were more likely to assume that the agent would have helped even if no incentive had been offered.     

Quality of Life in Patients with Recurrent Vasovagal or Unexplained Syncope: Influence of Sex, Syncope Type and Illness Representations

Health-related quality of life (QoL) is reduced in patients with recurrent vasovagal (VVS) or unexplained (US) syncope. Little is known regarding these patients’ QoL as pertains to their capacity to attain their life goals. Factors influencing QoL, such as sex, syncope type and illness representations have not been studied. Our objective is to examine the relationship between illness representations and QoL, as well as possible sex and syncope type differences. One hundred and four patients undergoing tilt-table testing (TTT) for recurrent syncope were interviewed one month before TTT, using questionnaires. Data were analysed using ANCOVAs, a-priori Helmert contrasts for illness representations, and regressions. Patients with US had a poor QoL compared to those with VVS [F(1, 91) = 10.46; p < 0.01], particularly in men (p < 0.01). Patients with higher perceived syncope severity showed an impoverished QoL relative to those with less severe perceptions [F(1, 91) = 5.47; p < 0.05]. A hierarchical regression revealed that illness representations mediate the impact of lifetime number of syncope on QoL. In conclusion, QoL is reduced in these patients, and is influenced by illness representations. Helping patients change their perceptions about their syncope may be an efficient way to promote QoL.     

Suicide and Drug Abuse in the Medical Community

ABSTRACT: In the United States each year the equivalent of an average-size medical school graduating class commits suicide, with the highest incidence occurring in the decade following the completion of training. Of these suicides, 20% to 30% are associated with drug abuse and 40% with alcoholism. Various problem areas are considered. Role strain, leading to excessive drug use in an attempt to increase work efficiency, is coupled with a denial of the physician's own dependency needs and gratification. The problem of identity occurs in relation to the exaggerated sense of duty and obligation the physician feels in attending to the demands of the patients and their families. Medicine as magical thinking is also discussed, revealing the physician's belief in his own immunity, which is strenuously tested when he actually sets up in practice. The community's high regard for the physician further complicates the situation. Too little has been done about working with emotional problems of medical students during their training and after they begin to practice. Unfortunately, physicians feel uncomfortable in turning to colleagues for help; rather, they tend to isolate themselves, resorting to alcohol and drugs. One should question the selection of medical students and their overall training, not only in terms of academic learning but also with more consideration for the stresses and strains of the future career.