Enhanced encoding of nonverbal cues in bipolar illness in males

Twenty-five affectively bipolar males were found to possess an enhanced ability to encode nonverbal cues when compared to matched controls. This ability was present during both manic and euthymic phases.     

A Study of the Use and Interpretation of Standardized Suicide Risk Assessment: Measures within a Psychiatrically Hospitalized Correctional Population

The reliability, validity, and utility of the Adult Suicidal Ideation Questionnaire (ASIQ), Beck Hopelessness Scale (BHS), Beck Scale for Suicide Ideation (BSS), and Reasons for Attempting Suicide Questionnaire (RASQ) with correctional mental health populations was evaluated. Evidence was found indicating good to excellent reliability for all measures. Each of the measures significantly differentiated multiple attempters from single attempters and nonattempters, providing evidence of convergent and divergent validity. Logistic regression and receiver operating characteristic analyses revealed strong associations between multiple attempts and the ASIQ, BSS, and RASQ, but not the BHS. Implications for suicide risk assessment processes in correctional settings are discussed.     

Visual illusory productions with or without amodal completion.

A new type of illusory contour is presented whose appearance is generated by the graphic representation of groups of human figures interacting in a coordinated manner with external reality. When numerous pictorial indicators of cause-effect relationships are provided, and appropriate techniques and sufficiently ambiguous observation conditions are used, hallucinatory objects congruent with expectations linked to the meaning of the configurations appear. There is thus a high-level semantic component that is active in the formation of visual illusory contours and is even capable of interacting with other known factors: brightness contrast, the number of elements, the degree of alignment of the elements, etc. This new type of illusory contour fits current definitions and can be experimentally modified. The variations in subjective clarity scores are presented for a study in which twenty subjects observed nineteen experimental figures, certain variables of which were manipulated. The issue is worthy of further experimental investigation.     

Resolving Ethical Dilemmas in Suicide Prevention: The Case of Telephone Helpline Rescue Policies

The ethical basis of suicide prevention is illustrated by contrasting helpline emergency rescue policies of the Samaritans and the AAS and the U.S. National Suicide Prevention Lifeline network. We contrast moralist, relativist, and libertarian ethical premises and question whether suicide can be rational. Samaritans respect a caller's right to decide to die by suicide; U.S. helplines oblige emergency intervention during an attempt even against the caller's will. We analyze the effect of emergency rescue when there is high suicide risk but an attempt has not been initiated. We examine links between values and actions, needs for empirical evidence to guide practice, and propose vigorous dialogue about values in the gray zone of moral practice.     

Hope as Grounds for Forgiveness

It is widely assumed that Christianity enjoins its followers to practice universal, unconditional forgiveness. But universal, unconditional forgiveness is regarded by many as morally problematic. Some Christian scholars have denied that Christianity in fact requires universal, unconditional forgiveness, but I believe they are mistaken. In this essay, I show two things: (1) that Christianity does enjoin universal, unconditional forgiveness of a certain sort, and (2) that Christians, and perhaps other theists, are always justified in exercising unconditional forgiveness. Though most philosophers treat forgiveness as grounded in our beliefs about the offender's current state, I argue that we might more fruitfully ground forgiveness in hope for the wrongdoer. Christianity's commitment to the existence of an omnipotent God who is concerned about the moral status of His creatures always justifies such hope and thus always justifies forgiveness.     

Willingness of Mentally Ill Individuals to Sign Up for a Novel Proposal to Prevent Firearm Suicide

The study goal was to determine whether a significant number of high suicide risk individuals would confidentially put their own names onto a list to prevent future gun purchases. An anonymous written survey was administered in an inpatient psychiatric unit and two outpatient psychiatric clinics at an academic medical center. Two hundred forty individuals were approached to fill out the survey, of whom 200 (83.3%) did so. Forty‐six percent of participants stated that they would put their own name onto the list. This novel suicide prevention proposal, a Do‐Not‐Sell List, would appeal to many people at high risk for suicide.