The efficacy of massage on short and long term outcomes in preterm infants

Purpose

Premature infants lack the tactile stimulation they would have otherwise experienced in the womb. Infant massage is a developmentally supportive intervention that has been documented for several decades to have a positive effect on both full term and preterm infants. The purpose of this study was to assess the short and long term benefits of massage on stable preterm infants.

Methods

A quasi experimental design was used, 66 infants were recruited from two university hospitals with tertiary level NICUs; 32 infants received the massage therapy by their mothers. Data collection by a researcher blind to the infants’ group assignments included weight at discharge, pain responses on the PIPP scale at discharge, length of stay in hospital, neuro-developmental outcome (Bayley scores) and breastfeeding duration at 12 months corrected age.

Results

Infants who were massaged had significantly lower scores on the PIPP after a heel-stick compared to before the massage and had lower PIPP scores at discharge compared to the control group. Massaged infants had higher cognitive scores at 12 months corrected age. Weight gain, length of stay, breastfeeding duration and motor scores did not differ between groups.

Conclusion

Stable preterm infants benefit from massage therapy given by their mothers and may be a culturally acceptable form of intervention to improve the outcomes of preterm infants.     

Transference-Focused Psychotherapy for Borderline Adolescents: A Neurobiologically Informed Psychodynamic Psychotherapy

In this article we first contextualize and then outline a model of TFP adapted for working with adolescents with Borderline Personality Disorders. We discuss how to take the normal developmental challenges of adolescence, such as separation-individuation in consideration, and how to support this in the context of the therapeutic work, while at the same time stimulating curiosity through clarification and confronting the adolescent with self-defeating and destructive patterns and dangerous behavior. Furthermore, we give examples of working with split–off parts of self and other representations through clarification to increase self-awareness and confrontations with contradictions within the adolescents communication and nonverbal behavior, with the aim of facilitating the integration of identity.     

论清代中叶巴黎外方传教会对四川天主教徒的管理和改造

清代中叶是四川天主教会发展的重要阶段.负责四川教务的巴黎外方传教会强调造就耶稣的忠实信徒,通过神父和会长对教徒进行双层监管,要求教徒遵守中国礼仪禁令,向教徒灌输宗教思想,并在一定程度上约束教徒的经济行为.这些措施一方面有利于坚定教徒的宗教信仰,增加教会的凝聚力和促进教会发展;另一方面其明显的保守和内敛特征实际上是意图割断教徒与教外群众的政治、文化和经济联系,从而造成民教分离.     

Trust in organismic development, autonomy support, and adaptation among mothers and their children

The current studies examined relations between mothers’ trust in organismic development, autonomy supportive parenting, and adaptation among mothers and their young children. Study 1 showed that trust in organismic development was distinct from optimism, neuroticism, and social desirability whereas it correlated with having relaxed expectations for developmental milestones and making fewer social comparisons about one’s child. Study 2 used observational methods to demonstrate a significant link between trust in organismic development and mothers behaving in an autonomy-supportive rather than controlling manner toward their 1-year-old child during puzzle solving activities. Study 3 used a 1 year prospective design to show that trust in first time mothers was associated with better maternal and child adaptation over time, controlling for initial levels of adaptation and child temperament. Study 4 explored possible social/political antecedents of trust in organismic development by comparing the beliefs of first time mothers from Canada and Norway. The four studies suggest that trust in organismic development fosters autonomy supportive parenting practices and positive maternal and child adaptation. These findings are discussed from the perspective of self-determination theory.

情绪自动化加工的证据与争议

情绪信息对人类的生存非常重要, 研究者一直在探讨情绪产生的本质问题：情绪的产生是“自动”的吗？已有的大量实验证据表明, 情绪可以被快速识别, 甚至在非注意条件下或者无意识条件下, 情绪信息也可以被大脑(尤其是杏仁核)识别。大量实验结果分析了情绪自动化加工的表现, 并探讨了情绪自动化加工的大脑机制：皮层下通路。视觉信息在视网膜接受后, 经上丘脑与枕核传递至杏仁核, 这条通路被称为皮层下通路, 负责情绪信息的快速化加工。但是新的研究对已有的实验范式与技术手段进行了质疑, 反驳情绪的自动化加工, 并质疑皮层下通路存在的可能性。为了进一步理清情绪加工的本质与大脑机制, 今后的研究应当采用更为严格地控制意识、注意资源的实验范式, 以及采用更精确、更高时间与空间分辨率的技术手段。     

“Who Thinks I Need a Perfect Body?” Perceptions and Internal Dialogue among Adolescents about Their Bodies

The main aim of this study was to provide a detailed examination of the nature of the messages that adolescent boys and girls receive about their bodies. Forty adolescent boys and 40 adolescent girls participated in an in-depth interview to gain an understanding of the range of potential ‘sources’ of body-related messages. Messages were organized around the source of these messages (self, mother, father, brother, sister, female friends, male friends, media). There were consistent gender differences in the way that adolescents received and interpreted messages about their bodies. Overall girls received more positive and more negative messages than boys did. Boys reported having received virtually no negative messages from most people. The content of internal dialogue among adolescents revealed that messages about the body could be interpreted, distorted, and deflected. The implications of these findings for preventing body image-related problems and disordered eating among adolescents are discussed.     

赢分与输分运动员面孔表情和身体姿势情绪的加工机制*

本研究采用中国运动员赢分和输分后的表情, 通过行为学和脑电技术比较面孔表情和身体姿势的加工机制。实验1探讨了赢分与输分面孔和身体的效价和强度, 实验2考察了图片的情绪类型(中性、快乐、悲伤、愤怒、恐惧、厌恶), 实验3采用脑电技术比较了赢分和输分情绪的神经机制。3个实验的行为结果表明, 相比面孔, 身体信息更能区分赢分和输分的效价, 而且身体姿势传递的情绪内容相对单一, 面孔表情传递的情绪内容相对复杂和多样化。脑电实验的结果表明, 身体的情绪信息能更早地被大脑识别, 表现在N170成分上, 面孔表情的情绪效应, 反映在EPN成分上。在加工的晚期, 面孔和身体条件下, 均观测到胜利比失败表情诱发了更大的LPP成分。结果表明, 大脑在多个阶段对身体姿势进行情绪评估与分类, 为行为上身体对效价的高区分性提供了证据。