A reappraisal of medieval mysticism & hysteria

This paper examines the historical association between medieval mysticism and asceticism and the psychopathological condition of hysteria. We first review the particular forms of medieval mysticism and asceticism that seem to have inspired modern psychiatrists and reductive historians to dismiss these phenomena as indubitably neurotic behaviours. Then we review the concept of hysteria as it evolved during the last two centuries for points of convergence with mysticism. Finally, we question the validity of value-laden diagnostic formulations in the domain of personality assessment. A few highly dramatic but culturally endorsed religious behaviours occuring in an otherwise well functioning individual does not constitute a basis for any psychiatric diagnosis, let alone a condemnatory characterological one such as hysteria. We propose a perspective for looking at medieval mystical states of mind and behaviours in context that moves beyond ahistoric assumptions that employ modern Western standards as the yardstick for medieval health and illness.     

A PET meta‐analysis of object and spatial mental imagery

Neuroimaging studies have described the functional neuroanatomy of mental imagery. Taken separately, specific studies vary in the nature of the task used and are limited by statistical power and sensitivity. We took advantage of a multistudy PET database of 54 subjects acquired in our laboratory to reveal the neural bases of spatial versus object mental imagery tasks. Our first goal was to evaluate to what extent the activated foci elicited by both object and spatial studies overlap. A second aim was to compare activations elicited by spatial imagery tasks to those elicited by object imagery tasks. We also explored applying regression analyses to the relationships between the scores on the Mental Rotations Test (MRT) and changes in regional cerebral blood flow (rCBF) during spatial and object imagery tasks. This meta‐analysis yielded the following observations: (1) both spatial and object imagery tasks shared a common neural network composed of occipitotemporal (ventral pathway) and occipitoparietal (dorsal pathway) regions and also by a set of frontal regions (related to memory); (2) the superior parietal cortex was more strongly implicated during spatial imagery; (3) object imagery specifically engaged the anterior part of the ventral pathway, including the fusiform, parahippocampal, and hippocampal gyrus; (4) object imagery activated the early visual cortex, whereas spatial imagery induced a deactivation of the early visual cortex; (5) blood flow values in some of the regions noted above were positively correlated with scores on the MRT: the higher the subjects performed on the MRT, the more pronounced the rCBF was in these regions. These results may reconcile some of the apparent discrepancies among previous studies concerning the activation of early visual cortex in mental imagery. They also contribute to a better knowledge of the neural bases of object and spatial mental imagery.     

Dislike and Envy as Antecedents of Pleasure at Another's Misfortune

Previous research related to pleasure at another's misfortune has focused on the role of envy and competition in inducing such feelings. Additionally, some views assume that this emotion is restricted to mild misfortunes. In this paper, we propose that other-directed negative emotions (e.g., dislike and anger), independent of envy, can give rise to pleasure at another's misfortune and the misfortune can be severe when these other emotions are causal. In addition to providing support for this view in three studies, pleasure at another's misfortune was also associated with different factors when other-directed negative emotions as opposed to envy served as its eliciting condition. For example, given that dislike caused pleasure at another's misfortune, the misfortune was more likely to be perceived as deserved, any misfortune was pleasing, and the observer was more reluctant to help than given envy as the cause.     

The values of psychoanalytic psychotherapists at two points in time (1979 vs. 1993): A cross-over comparative study

Our purpose in this study is to view theories of psychotherapy from a general social-political context, especially insofar as they pertain to values. Beginning with Weisskopf-Joelson’s (1980) thesis that theories of psychotherapy may be “perceptual houses” with their own unique value structures, we studied the values of psychoanalytic psychotherapists within the framework of Rokeach’s ( 1968) system. Through the Rokeach Value Survey, we examined the values held by a group of psychoanalytic trainees in 1979 and those held by a group of practicing psychoanalysts in 1993. Because neither group of subjects can be regarded as randomly representative of the universe of psychoanalysts, we regard the resultant data as evocative and informative rather than definitive. Nonetheless, we examined the extent to which value profiles for the psychoanalytic trainees of 1979 were similar or dissimilar to those of practicing psychoanalysts in 1993. Such comparisons at the least provide some general indication as to whether values have shifted in the universe within this time period. Findings are presented about specific patterns of values, and implications are discussed. There appears to be more consistency than difference in values among the psychoanalytically-oriented psychotherapists we studied, lending support to this discipline’s designation of a “perceptual house” insofar as its values are concerned.     

Beneficial factors in family discussion groups of a psychiatric day clinic: perceptions by the therapeutic team and the families of the therapeutic process

This paper reports a pilot investigation of the perception of helpful events by the therapeutic team and the families in two family discussion groups (FDGs) of a psychiatric day clinic. All participants of the FDG, including therapists and observers, filled in questionnaires measuring events helpful for the individual, for the family and for the group after each FDG session. The results showed that the therapeutic team and the families diverged in their overall perception of which factors were important in family discussion group therapy. The therapeutic team saw the relational climate and the structural aspects of the group (including group involvement and support from the group), and specific therapeutic interventions as more helpful than the families. The process aspects in the group members (including the experiencing of communality and gaining insight) were, on the other hand, more frequently mentioned by the families than by the therapeutic team. The clinical implications of these findings and suggestions for future research are discussed.