Loneliness,Interpersonal Distrust,and Alexithymia in University Students1

Loneliness has been linked to emotional knowledge and interpersonal distrust, but it is unknown whether it is mediated or moderated by these variables. Using self‐report measures, the relationship between loneliness, interpersonal distrust, and alexithymia was investigated in undergraduate students (N = 224). Analyses showed a direct relationship between alexithymia and social, family, and romantic loneliness. We also found that interpersonal distrust partly mediates this relationship, and that alexithymia and interpersonal distrust interacted to predict social and family loneliness. These findings suggest that links between the different facets of alexithymia, interpersonal distrust, and loneliness are complex and multifaceted, and they are discussed with regard to interventions for young adults.     

Book reviews

Islam: a challenge for Christianity (Concilium 1994/3). Hans Kung & Jurgen Moltmann (Eds), 1994. London, Concilium; Maryknoll, SCM Press; London, Orbis Books. 163 pp., pb. £8.95, ISBN 0–334–030269.

Cultures in Conflict: Christians, Muslims and Jews in the age of discovery. Bernard Lewis, 1995. New York, Oxford University Press. 101 pp., hb., $16.95, ISBN 0–19–509026–8.

Beyond Faith and Infidelity: the Sufi poetry and teachings of Mahmud Shabistari. L. Lewisohn, 1995. Richmond, Surrey, Curzon Press. 344 pp. pb. £14.99, 0–7007–0343–8.

The Prophet's Pulpit: Islamic preaching in contemporary Egypt. [Comparative Studies on Muslim Societies, 20]. Patrick Gaffney, 1994. Berkeley and Los Angeles, University of California Press. 367 pp., hb. £40.00, ISBN 0–520–08471–3, pb. £15.95, ISBN 0–520–08472–1.

Sufi and Scholar on the Desert Edge: Muhammad b. CA1i al‐Sanūsi and his Brotherhood. K. S. Vikor, 1995. London, Hurst & Co. 310 pp. hb. £37.50, ISBN 1 85065 218 X.

Children of Islam. Marie Parker‐Jenkins, 1995. Stoke‐on‐Trent, Trentham Books Ltd. 162 pp., £12.95, ISBN 1–85856 034 9.     

Developing insight through supervision: relating, then defining

By the use of tape recordings, I attempt to understand the main ways in which a supervisor helps the supervisees to gain insights into their work with their patients. Through this research I became aware that insights come into being by way of a process involving unconscious identity and differentiation. I have use supervisory examples to illustrate the ways in which the supervisor interacts with the supervisee.     

The interviewing computer: A technology for gathering comprehensive treatment information

The interviewing computer is a practical device for gathering comprehensive information on mental health patients. The complex decisions of a treatment science will require a large body of patient facts and an automated interviewing system to elicit such facts, covering the patient’s intake assessment, therapeutic progress, and follow-up stages of treatment. Evidence suggests that the computer interview may equal or excel the interview accomplishments of some clinicians who are unknowledgeable about asking certain clinical questions, forget to ask these questions, or fail to record crucial patient facts. The documentation of each patient’s treatment episode is essential for a treatment science, and the computer interview may represent a technology for achieving this information goal.     

'Paradox: a pivotal point in therapy'

This paper describes a family who had been known to the professional caring agencies for some five years. At the time of treatment, the family had fifteen-year old twin sons whose frequently aggressive behaviour was the focus of the referred problem. It was agreed that the author would attempt to work with this family should they be re-referred, with a view to offering an alternative mode of treatment. A structural framework of therapy was tried, but very shortly therapeutic attempts to help solve the problems were assimilated by the family and seemed to serve only to ensure their continuation. At this point, a powerful paradoxical intervention was tried in order to free both family and therapists from perpetuating a 'more of the same'. This tactic allowed time for treatment from a more structural base to continue. In this context, consideration is given to the nature of pathological and therapeutic double binding. Some of the difficulties inherent in attempting new methods of treatment from within a traditional casework setting with its statutory responsibilities are also discussed.     

Cognitive masking in rapid sequential processing: The effect of an emotional picture on preceding and succeeding pictures

This experiment assessed the effect of an emotional pictorial input on the processing of preceding and succeeding pictorial inputs. Thirty-nine individual pictures were successively presented for 165 msec, with a 500-msec dark interval between each item. The 20th input item was either an emotional or a neutral picture; the remaining 38 items were neutral sketches. Postinput recognition data indicated a processing disruption of several pictorial items following the emotional as compared to the neutral input and a possible processing disruption of the item immediately preceding the emotional stimulus. The outcome suggests nonindependence in the processing of separate picture inputs in rapid sequential presentations.