A Field Guide to Cinetherapy: On Celluloid Psychoanalysis and Its Practitioners

This paper addresses the strange bedfellowship between psychoanalysis and cinema since the century's turn. Its specific focus is the idiosyncratic psychoanalysis/psychotherapy practised in mainstream cinema and television. Cinetherapists have consistently fallen into one of three categories: Dr. Dippy, a focus of derision, weirder than his patients; Dr. Evil, Hollywood's psychiatric version of the mad, bad scientist; and the unfailingly benevolent, self-sacrificing Dr. Wonderful. The prevalence of these stereotypes has waxed and waned according to shifting cultural circumstances. The study concludes with reflections on the possible impact, deleterious or otherwise, of distorted filmic images of the impossible profession.     

An investigation of monitoring for sleep-related threat in primary insomnia

In Study 1, individuals with primary insomnia (n=32) and good sleepers (n=38), recruited from a university population, completed a semi-structured interview. The interview assessed monitoring for sleep-related threat, negative thoughts and safety behaviours, at night and during the day. Compared to good sleepers, individuals with insomnia reported more frequent monitoring at night and during the day, more negative thoughts associated with monitoring at night and during the day, and the use of more safety behaviours associated with monitoring at night. A path analysis showed that the total monitoring frequency was significantly positively related to the score for total negative thoughts, which in turn, was significantly positively related to the total number of safety behaviours used. Study 2 aimed to test the generalisability of these findings in a clinical sample of individuals with primary insomnia (n=23). The results indicated that the clinical sample also engaged in monitoring for sleep-related threat, experienced negative thoughts and used safety behaviours. Further, more severe insomnia was associated with more negative thoughts and the use of more safety behaviours associated with monitoring at night. Together, these results are consistent with the proposal that monitoring for sleep-related threat functions to maintain insomnia by triggering negative thoughts and the use of safety behaviours. Future research is required to verify the proposed causal status of monitoring, using prospective designs and experimental manipulations.     

Correcting distorted perception of sleep in insomnia: a novel behavioural experiment?

Patients with primary insomnia overestimate their sleep onset latency (SOL) and underestimate their total sleep time (TST). The present study aimed to test the utility of a novel behavioural experiment designed to correct distorted perception of sleep among patients diagnosed with primary insomnia. Individuals with primary insomnia were asked to wear an actigraph and keep a sleep diary for three nights. On the following day, half were shown the discrepancy between the data recorded on the actigraph and their sleep diary (Shown-Discrepancy Group), the other half were not shown the discrepancy (No-Demonstration Group). Participants were then asked to wear the actigraph and keep a sleep diary for three further nights. Following the behavioural experiment, the Shown-Discrepancy Group estimated their SOL more accurately and reported less anxiety and preoccupation about sleep compared to the No-Demonstration Group. The theoretical and clinical implications of these findings are discussed.     

Body asymmetry affects conjugate lateral eye movement

A. H. Baker (1989) and A. H. Baker and A. I. Ledner (1990) reported that asymmetrical visual stimulation affects conjugate lateral eye movement (CLEM). In the present article, the authors explored whether asymmetrical body position similarly affects CLEM. The authors assessed CLEMs twice in a counterbalanced design. In the control (symmetric) condition, each participant sat in a completely symmetrical position facing a wall devoid of any asymmetrical features. In the experimental (asymmetrical) condition, half the participants rotated their heads 68 degrees clockwise relative to their bodies to face the experimenter, and the other half rotated their heads 68 degrees counterclockwise, also to face the experimenter. CLEM was predominantly toward the body's position in the asymmetrical condition rather than toward the body's position in the symmetrical condition.     

Attempts to control unwanted thoughts in the night: development of the thought control questionnaire-insomnia revised (TCQI-R)

The attempted control of intrusive, uncontrollable thoughts has been implicated in the maintenance of a range of psychological disorders. The current paper describes the refinement of the Thought Control Questionnaire Insomnia (TCQI; Behav. Cogn. Psychoth. 29 (2001)) through its administration to a sample (n=385) including good sleepers and individuals with insomnia. Several items with poor psychometric properties were discarded, resulting in a 35-item revised TCQI. Factor analysis revealed six factors; aggressive suppression, cognitive distraction, reappraisal, social avoidance, behavioural distraction, and worry. The attempted management of unwanted thoughts was compared across individuals with insomnia and good sleepers, and the impact of these strategies on sleep quality, anxiety and depression was investigated. With the exception of cognitive distraction, individuals with insomnia, relative to good sleepers, more frequently used every thought control strategy. The strategies of aggressive suppression and worry, in particular, appeared to be unhelpful, with the use of these strategies predicting sleep impairment, anxiety and depression. The strategy of cognitive distraction appeared to be helpful, with the use of this strategy predicting better sleep quality.     

Misperception of sleep can adversely affect daytime functioning in insomnia

This experiment was designed to investigate the relationship between subjective perception of sleep and daytime processes in primary insomnia. Twenty-two individuals with primary insomnia received positive or negative feedback about their sleep, immediately on waking, on three consecutive mornings. The positive feedback was that last night's sleep was good quality. The negative feedback was that last night's sleep was poor quality. Objective sleep on each of the three nights was estimated by actigraphy and did not differ across the three nights or the two feedback conditions. Negative feedback (based on 32 nights of data) was associated with more negative thoughts, sleepiness, monitoring for sleep-related threat, and safety behaviours during the day, relative to positive feedback (based on 34 nights of data). These results indicate that the impaired daytime functioning reported by insomnia patients is maintained, at least in part, by subjective perception of sleep.     

Eating Disorders in Men: Current Considerations

Over the past two decades, there has been a change in the way men think about their bodies. The media portrays images of men with muscular bodies and a six pack abdomen. These images can create body dissatisfaction in males. With the change in the way that the media and society in the United States look at men, so has the drive for men to achieve this ideal body image. Eating disorders, body dysmorphia, and strict exercise and diet regimens seem to plague young men as do the images in advertisements. Although eating disorders in men are similar to what women experience, men seem to strive for more body mass whereas women try to obtain thinness. Gay men and heterosexual men seem to experience eating disorders in the same way although there are differences between how they perceive their bodies. This paper outlines how the media contributes to body dissatisfaction in men. In addition to understanding how the media affects men, it is important to review and possibly revise out understanding of eating disorders and body dysmorphia symptoms to gain a solid understanding of how these symptoms appear in men today.