Treatment with medications affecting dopaminergic and serotonergic mechanisms: effects on fluency and anxiety in persons who stutter

Medications with dopamine antagonist properties, such as haloperidol, and those with serotonin reuptake inhibitor properties, such as clomipramine, have been shown to improve fluency. To examine the degree to which each of these two pharmacological mechanisms might independently affect fluency, a selective serotonin reuptake inhibitor, paroxetine, and a selective dopamine (D-2) antagonist, pimozide, were evaluated. Both types of medications also affect mood and anxiety, factors that could influence fluency levels. Therefore, we also evaluated the medications’ effects on generalized and speech-related anxiety and the relationships between changes in anxiety and changes in fluency in 11 subjects with a history of developmental stuttering. The randomized, double blind, placebo-controlled crossover study that was designed had to be terminated prior to completion due to severe side effects following withdrawal from paroxetine. Even with a reduced sample size (n = 6), significant improvement in percent fluent speaking time (p = 0.02) was found using a telephone task between baseline and pimozide (n = 6), with average duration of dysfluencies significantly shorter (p = 0.04) but no significant difference in the estimated number of dysfluencies per minute. This significant improvement was associated with non-significant increases in generalized anxiety, but non-significant decreases in speech-related anxiety. No significant differences were found in fluency between baseline and paroxetine (n = 5). These preliminary results suggest that fluency improvement is more likely to be mediated by dopaminergic rather than serotonergic mechanisms. Due to its side effects, however, pimozide may be considered a risk for treatment of stuttering.

Educational objectives: As a result of reading this paper the reader will describe and explain: (1) how medications may affect fluency and the rationale for selecting medications for treatment trials; (2) the interrelationship between fluency and anxiety; and (3) factors important in developing clinical trials using medications.     

Multitask investigation of individual differences in hemispheric asymmetry

Right-handed subjects (N = 120) participated in four different laterality tasks designed to measure aspects of cerebral hemisphere asymmetry: identification of dichotically presented consonant-vowel syllables (CVs), examination of the effects of concurrent repetition of CVs and concurrent anagram solution on finger-tapping by the right and left hands, lateralized identification of CVs presented tachistoscopically to the left and right visual fields, and left/right biases on a free-vision face task involving judgments of emotion. Ear differences in the dichotic listening task were related to the pattern of lateralized interference in the dual-task finger-tapping paradigm. There were no other significant relations between pairs of tasks, but when the present results are considered in the light of other recent experiments, there appears to be a relation between lateral bias on the free-vision face task and visual field differences in tachistoscopic identification. The pattern of results has implications for hypothesized individual differences among right-handers in cerebral dominance for verbal processes, input pathway dominance, and asymmetric arousal of the two cerebral hemispheres.     

Guarding confidentiality in clinical groups: the therapist's dilemma.

This study examines the confidentiality practices of highly experienced, well-trained group psychotherapists. A provocative finding was that practitioners rarely inform prospective clients of confidentiality limitations. Their reluctance to do so appears to be based upon the belief that it might discourage persons from entering treatment, as well as having negative ramifications for the therapeutic process (e.g., members may be less likely to talk about unprotected topics). The prevalence and content of breaches in confidentiality are explored. Ethical, legal, clinical, and educational implications of these and other findings are addressed. Research recommendations are offered.     

乌托邦是我们时代的哲学范畴

布洛赫被誉为20世纪“乌托邦哲学家”。在他看来,乌托邦是20世纪一个重要的哲学一马克思主义范畴,乌托邦远没有限定在社会领域里,它也存在于艺术中,特别是存在于受表现主义影响的诗人和画家中。具体的乌托邦是一种斗争原理、一支社会力量,它预示政治上的未来远见、新事物的未发现状态。更美好生活的乌托邦不仅照亮未来,也照亮当下。一个马克思主义者不应传播悲观主义。     

In a context of time: the impact of delay and exposure time on the emergence of memory context effects

Psychological Research - Research on context-mediated facilitation of recognition memory distinguishes between the effects of reinstating the exact same context previously associated with a target...     

马克思,直路,具体的乌托邦

俄国没有参与资产阶级革命,革命后的俄国出现了绝对的沙皇主义、独裁、恐怖、个人迷信和警察国家.斯大林主义使马克思主义面目全非,损害了马克思本人的形象.马克思恩格斯的无产阶级贫困化理论、危机理论已宣告无效,马克思主义中依然有效的是辩证法,即矛盾学说.资本主义矛盾可精确地理解为总体异化、自我异化.继承天赋人权遗产将决定共产主义的自由面孔.直路的矫形外科是社会主义的最紧迫的任务,而人道的社会主义包含有作为最高人权的直路.马克思主义并非不是乌托邦,而是具体的乌托邦.     

Flow: Beyond Fluidity and Rigidity

The term flow refers to a particular type of experience characterized by feelings of fusion with an on-going activity, effortlessness and fluidity. This article concerns the results of an empirical investigation and phenomenological analysis of this type of experience. The analysis yields a distinction between three phenomenological structures, identified as arising in different combinations within concrete experiences of flow. These results are discussed in relation to the theories of Alfred Schutz and Erving Goffman regarding the organization of experience in everyday life, and in relation to the theory of Otto Friedrich Bollnow regarding moods in everyday life. The results of the analysis are also discussed in relation to different uses of the flow concept in a variety of contexts found in recent theoretical contributions. These differences of usage and approach are explained in the light of the results of the phenomenological analysis, which distinguishes qualitatively different varients within the phenomenon termed flow experience. In conclusion, the need to adopt a broader concept of experience in sociological analysis is emphasized, as well as the need for further empirical studies of the contextual frames of different variants of flow experiences.     

Emergence of a Social Inquiry Group: A Story of Fractals and Networks

This article relates the emergence of a group of faculty researchers utilizing complexity science approaches. The narrative emerges from three projects combining research into complexity, communities, and technologies. Details of how the research was initiated, and the nature and quality of the conversational method, are provided. In addition, theoretical concepts that were consciously applied and others that arose through insights from the data as it was collected are discussed. Although this is like most real narratives, a never-ending story, it concludes with a presentation of some of the ideas that separate complexity-informed research from other paradigms.