Prolonged institutional rearing is associated with atypically large amygdala volume and difficulties in emotion regulation

Early adversity, for example poor caregiving, can have profound effects on emotional development. Orphanage rearing, even in the best circumstances, lies outside of the bounds of a species-typical caregiving environment. The long-term effects of this early adversity on the neurobiological development associated with socio-emotional behaviors are not well understood. Seventy-eight children, who include those who have experienced orphanage care and a comparison group, were assessed. Magnetic resonance imaging (MRI) was used to measure volumes of whole brain and limbic structures (e.g. amygdala, hippocampus). Emotion regulation was assessed with an emotional go-nogo paradigm, and anxiety and internalizing behaviors were assessed using the Screen for Child Anxiety Related Emotional Disorders, the Child Behavior Checklist, and a structured clinical interview. Late adoption was associated with larger corrected amygdala volumes, poorer emotion regulation, and increased anxiety. Although more than 50% of the children who experienced orphanage rearing met criteria for a psychiatric disorder, with a third having an anxiety disorder, the group differences observed in amygdala volume were not driven by the presence of an anxiety disorder. The findings are consistent with previous reports describing negative effects of prolonged orphanage care on emotional behavior and with animal models that show long-term changes in the amygdala and emotional behavior following early postnatal stress. These changes in limbic circuitry may underlie residual emotional and social problems experienced by children who have been internationally adopted.     

Three modes of psychotherapy and their requisite core skills

The field of psychotherapy suffers from the lack of an integrative meta‐perspective on the large variety of existing psychotherapies and on the therapeutic skills involved. In the present paper, it is suggested that the development of a more comprehensive view of this field may be facilitated if we differentiate between three modes of psychotherapy, which require different therapeutic core skills: (a) an educational mode, which requires teaching skills; (b) a reparative mode, which requires analytic‐conceptualising skills to identify some kind of disordered functioning, in combination with specific relational‐technical skills to repair this dysfunction; and (c) a developmental mode, which involves engaging in a therapeutic relationship with patients to facilitate their personal growth, and which requires non‐directivity skills. In addition, some therapeutic skills (e.g., awareness and communication skills) may be more or less important in all modes of treatment. Concrete manifestations of the three different modes of psychotherapy are discussed in terms of five different theoretical perspectives on psychotherapy: the common factors, the humanistic‐experiential mindfulness cognitive‐behavioural (CBT) and psychodynamic perspective. The common factors model is criticised as being insufficient in several respects. Finally, it is argued that if personal therapeutic skills are essential to the effects of psychotherapy, then empirical research on psychotherapy needs to be re‐oriented towards a person‐oriented study of therapist skills in action, in the context of a study of the interaction between therapist and patient.     

The conceptualisation of the psychical in psychoanalysis

This article aims to clarify the psychoanalytic conceptualisation of the psychical, which includes a discussion of the relationship between consciousness and the unconscious. The unconscious is conceived of as being on the border between the so-called 'ego's conscious intending' and a rudimentary body-ego experiencing. Phenomenological ideas on the essence of consciousness are used in order to help delineate the crucial differences between consciousness and the unconscious. Only consciousness is characterised by an awareness of itself, that is; self-consciousness. Furthermore, consciousness is characterised by an intentional, synthesising capacity, whereas the functioning of the unconscious, in its most radical form, is the opposite ofthe intentionality of consciousness. It is argued that the unconscious pre-supposes certain pre-sexual processes, in the form of a body-ego's formation of continuity, coherence and wholeness. The body-ego belongs to the sphere of consciousness/self-consciousness, even if self-consciousness is only given implicitly in the body-ego and not as a fully fledged ego cogito . Attention is drawn to neglected issues in psychoanalytic theorising, namely self-consciousness and the constitution of existence. The importance of this neglected area for the psychoanalytic process is illustrated with clinical examples.     

THE EFFECTS OF REARRANGING WARD ROUTINES ON COMMUNICATION AND EATING BEHAVIORS OF PSYCHOGERIATRIC PATIENTS

Several aspects of ward routine were changed to study the effects of environmental manipulation on the behavior of 21 psychogeriatric patients. Furniture was rearranged to be more conducive to conversation (i.e., grouped around tables instead of along corridor walls), and mealtime routines were changed to allow patients more time to eat, more freedom in choosing the composition of the meal, and more pleasant surroundings. Patients were divided into experimental and control groups, and data were collected on the frequency of verbal and tactile communication and degree of skill in eating behavior. Following baseline, environmental changes were introduced across behaviors. Results show that the frequency of communication increased for the experimental group, as compared to both baseline and the control group. Eating behavior also improved significantly for the experimental group. The study shows that minor changes in the physical environment can promote therapeutic change in the behavior of patients diagnosed as senile dementia.     

SILHOUETTE EFFECTS IN NIGHT DRIVING

JOHANSSON, G. & RUMAR, K. Silhouette effects in night driving. Scand. J. Psychol. , 1971, 12, 80–89.–In order to investigate within what areas on the road silhouettes, as framed by the light from a meeting car, can be of help to the driver, a series of experiments has been performed. The experiments employed two stationary opposing cars standing at given distances from each other, these distances (100–400 m) being determined by pre-experiments. On the area between the cars "iso-silhouette" curves were measured using a special method for a number of silhouette relevant conditions. Factors favouring silhouette effects were found to be: narrow road, short distance between the cars, high road surface reflectance, inner bend, the driver's eyes being high above the road, particles in the atmosphere, large spread of the meeting headlight beams.     

Liquid-specific stimulus properties can be used for haptic perception of the amount of liquid in a vessel put in motion

We investigated whether people can use haptic liquid-specific information made available by shaking the vessel containing the liquid. In experiment 1 we studied to what extent people can discriminate between liquid and solid substances and determine the amount of substance in the shaken vessel, as well as the effects of exploratory procedures on these abilities. Exploratory procedures including horizontal shaking of the vessel produced accurate identification of the content and more precise judgments for a liquid than for a solid, but vertical lifting produced an overestimation of the amount of liquid. In experiment 2 we demonstrated that people can discriminate between the amount of liquid and the amount of solid in the same vessel. Three theories of what liquid-specific stimulus properties are picked up by shaking the vessel are preliminarily examined.     

Peer groups and substance use: examining the direct and interactive effect of leisure activity

This paper explores the relationships among adolescent leisure activities, peer behavior, and substance use. We suggest that peer group interaction can have a differential effect on adolescent deviant behavior depending on the type of leisure pattern adolescents engage in. We analyze data from a representative national sample of Icelandic adolescents, exploring the variations in the use of alcohol and illegal drugs among three different patterns of leisure activity, controlling for parental ties and school commitment. The findings show that alcohol and substance use varies significantly across the three leisure patterns. Moreover, it was found that the well-known relationship between adolescent substance use and having substance-using friends is significantly contingent on the type of leisure pattern. Our findings suggest that it is important to take into account different peer leisure activities in order to understand adolescent substance use. Finally, we discuss the implications of the findings for prevention work with adolescents.     

Perceived angle of oscillatory motion

The general background of these experiments was the fact, known from e.g. trapezoidal window experiments, that rotary motion under certain conditions is perceived as oscillation. The aim was to identify the variables that determine the perceived angle of this oscillatory motion. Different shapes and different methods of generating the stimulation were used. No effect was obtained when varying the degree of trapezoidality of trapezoids, the location of the axis of rotation, the size of the stimulus pattern and the speed of the change. Both the occurrence and the perceived angle of oscillation was effected, however, by the width-height ratio of the stimulation, a decreasing ratio giving increasing occurrence of oscillation and decreasing perceived angle.     

MEASUREMENT OF EYE MOVEMENTS DURING A MICHOTTE LAUNCHING EVENT

The verbal responses and the eye movements of subjects viewing a Michotte launching event were recorded. The subjects were divided into two main groups: those reporting launching on every exposure and those giving no launching response at all. These two groups were compared with regard to several eye movement variables. They did not differ on the first exposure but did so on repeated exposures, indicating that what a subject perceives on the first exposure influences his eye movements on the following exposures.