Bi‐ocularity,the functioning mind of the psychoanalyst

With the use of clinical material the author discusses the importance of a ‘bi‐ocular’ mode of attentiveness, one pole of which rests on the psychic process of reverie and the other on ‘analysing’. This is necessary to foster the development of a psychic space in which experiences which were ‘in the shadow’ or unrepresented, can come to the fore and be given shape first pictorially and later ideationally. This requires staying with and fostering the ambiguity of the different times and spaces without collapsing them into the clear, logical and explanatory. It requires the psychoanalyst to make space for that which is ‘other’, other than just apparently here and now, and other than just ‘you and me’, while maintaining the analytic ‘fire’ in a situation in which there is ‘no model in real life’, a place maximally geared to that which is not apparent.     

The metaphorical,the metonymical and the psychotic aspects of obsessive symptomatology

This paper is an attempt to suggest an integrative formulation of obsessive symptomatology, based on the integration of Lacanian and object‐relations points of view. This formulation manifests a singular interaction between three aspects of obsessive symptomatology, which I call “the metaphorical aspect”, “the metonymical aspect” and “the psychotic aspect”, and which are intertwined with a varying degree of dominance. The singular interaction between them has crucial influence on the capacity for symbolization and reflection, and therefore has immense implications concerning analytical work. The theoretical formulation will be followed by a detailed analytical illustration.     

Antisocial Process Screening Device Subscales Predict Recidivism in an Australian Juvenile Offender Sample

The present study is the first to examine the psychometric properties of the self-report Antisocial Process Screening Device (APSD-SR), and the predictive utility of its subscales for reoffending, among Australian juvenile offenders (N?= 308, M age = 17.00, SD?=?1.49). Exploratory factor analysis supported a modified three-factor structure in which four items loaded differently to prior studies. Total APSD-SR and modified subscale scores were positively associated with criminal history and mental health problems (e.g., internalizing and externalizing problems, alcohol and substance abuse/dependence). Survival analyses indicated that youth scoring high on the APSD-SR total score were faster to reoffend nonviolently (Hazard Ratio [HR]?= 1.31, p?=?.0003) and violently (HR?=?1.42, p?=?.0003) than those scoring low. Whereas the modified grandiose-manipulative subscale predicted faster time to nonviolent recidivism (HR?=?1.18, p?=?.026) as a single predictor, when all subscales were simultaneously entered into the model only callous-unemotional (CU) traits and impulsivity predicted nonviolent recidivism (HR?=?1.19, p?=?.026 and 1.22, p?=?.015, respectively), and only impulsivity predicted violent recidivism (HR?=?1.26, p?=?.014). Findings inform current understanding of the relative contribution of adolescent psychopathy dimensions to designating a particularly high-risk group of Australian youth in custody.     

Intuitive Probabilities and the Limitation of Moral Imagination

There is a vast literature that seeks to uncover features underlying moral judgment by eliciting reactions to hypothetical scenarios such as trolley problems. These thought experiments assume that participants accept the outcomes stipulated in the scenarios. Across seven studies (N = 968), we demonstrate that intuition overrides stipulated outcomes even when participants are explicitly told that an action will result in a particular outcome. Participants instead substitute their own estimates of the probability of outcomes for stipulated outcomes, and these probability estimates in turn influence moral judgments. Our findings demonstrate that intuitive likelihoods are one critical factor in moral judgment, one that is not suspended even in moral dilemmas that explicitly stipulate outcomes. Features thought to underlie moral reasoning, such as intention, may operate, in part, by affecting the intuitive likelihood of outcomes, and, problematically, moral differences between scenarios may be confounded with non‐moral intuitive probabilities.     

Child, family, and childcare predictors of delayed school entry and kindergarten retention among linguistically and ethnically diverse children

Concern about kindergarten retention is on the rise within the current climate of high-stakes testing and escalating kindergarten expectations. Kindergarten retention has been linked in previous research to various risk factors such as poverty, low maternal education, single parent status, minority status, English language learner (ELL) status, and male gender. However, these factors are also associated with poor school readiness and low kindergarten performance--the very reasons children are retained in the 1st place. This study teases apart unique and combined predictors of delayed entry into kindergarten and kindergarten retention with a large (n = 13,191) ethnically diverse, at-risk sample of children. Delayed kindergarten entry was rare for this sample but more likely among boys, native English speakers, those with poorer school readiness, less maternal education, and greater resources, and those who attended childcare rather than public school prekindergarten (pre-K) at age 4 years. Boys were more likely to be retained in kindergarten, but only because of their poorer school readiness. After strong effects for age 4 school readiness were controlled, only poverty, ELL status, and preschool program attendance predicted retention. ELL students were less likely to be retained than were native speakers, and those who attended public school pre-K programs were less likely to be retained, compared with those in childcare at age 4 years. After controlling for children's actual performance in kindergarten their 1st time, Caucasian children and children with lower language and social skills at age 4 years were more likely to repeat kindergarten.     

The inner witness

The inner witness is a mechanism that develops in response to a reasonable experience of infantile helplessness, the resulting maternal impingement and the presence of a sufficient experience of a third. Being crucial to the subject's capacity to shift between the first person and the third person of experience, it also has an essential role in coping with trauma. Three types of testimonial narrative are differentiated in terms of the presence of the inner witness in their syntax. The first mode is one in which the inner witness is accessible, enabling the imaginary shift between the voice of the victim and the voice of the witness. The second mode, which remains a 'first-person' mode of report, preserves and enacts the traumatic memories and the traumatic features. The third, psychotic mode attacks both the first and the third person, separating the subject from both his memories and his sense of selfhood. This mode can evolve as a reaction to an adult massive trauma, but is more likely to emerge as a result of early traumatization. The above ideas and their implications for recovery are illustrated by a case study and through a reading of Samuel Beckett's Waiting for Godot.     

Exposure to Violence and Socioemotional Adjustment in Low-Income Youth: An Examination of Protective Factors

Using a sample of 391 low-income youth ages 13–17, this study investigated the potential moderating effects of school climate, participation in extracurricular activities, and positive parent–child relations on associations between exposure to violence (i.e., witnessing violence and violent victimization) and adolescent socioemotional adjustment (i.e., internalizing and externalizing problems). Exposure to violence was related to both internalizing and externalizing problems. High levels of participation in extracurricular activities and positive parent–child relations appeared to function as protective factors, weakening the positive association between exposure to violence and externalizing problems. Contrary to prediction, school climate did not moderate associations between exposure to violence and socioemotional adjustment. Further, none of the hypothesized protective factors moderated the association between exposure to violence and internalizing problems.     

The effect of rebranding generic medicines on drug efficacy and side effects

Objectives: Subjective age is an important correlate of health, well-being, and longevity. So far, little is known about short-term variability in subjective age and the circumstances under which individuals feel younger/older in daily life. This study examined whether (a) older adults’ felt age fluctuates on a day-to-day basis, (b) daily changes in health, stressors, and affect explain fluctuations in felt age, and (c) the daily associations between felt age and health, stressors, or affect are time-ordered.

Method: Using an eight-day daily diary approach, N = 43 adults (60–96 years, M = 74.65, SD = 8.19) filled out daily questionnaires assessing subjective age, health, daily stressors, and affect. Data were analysed using multilevel modelling.

Main outcome measures: Subjective age, health, daily stressors, affect.

Results: Intra-individual variability in felt age was not explained by time but by short-term variability in other variables. Specifically, on days when participants experienced more than average health problems, stress, or negative affect they felt older than on days with average health, stress, or negative affect. No time-ordered effects were found.

Conclusion: Bad health, many stressors, and negative affective experiences constitute circumstances under which older adults feel older than they typically do. Thus, daily measures of subjective age could be markers of health and well-being.     

Family Therapy in the Heart of Europe

The article introduces the situation of family therapy and systemic practice in the Czech Republic. It gives an overview of family therapy history and development in the country. Both historical and political background including major transformation events in the last couple of decades are presented so as to explain the contextual frame for major challenges, which Czech family and systemic therapists have been facing in this part of Europe. The current situation of family therapy in the Czech Republic is described in detail with regard to leading figures, major schools, training issues, international exchange and clinical practice in various settings.