Ein dramatischer Verlauf einer Demenz

Delirium and dementia are two of the most common causes of cognitive dysfunction in the elderly. In patients with dementia, there is a high risk that changes in location – and especially being admitted to the hospital – may result in serious deterioration of brain function, e.g., delirium. With this case report, the authors emphasize the importance of a thorough medical history, behavioral observation, and progress monitoring in the diagnosis of dementia, while at the same time also question the sense, responsibility, and resource use in daily hospital routine.     

Developing civic engagement in university education: predicting current and future engagement in community services

One of the important goals of education is for students to learn to be responsible civic participants. Thus, the time students spend in college is invaluable. It is important that students learn to participate and be responsible citizens of their community during their time in college (Giles and Eyler in Mich J Community Serv Learn 1:77–85, 1994). In this study, a program to help achieve this important educational goal is presented and evaluated. This involved the examination of the impact of actual participation in a community service activity on students’ changes in attitudes and future intentions. A path model based on predictions drawn from place attachment theory was developed and tested to examine how participating in a community service activity affected students’ place attachment and interests in community service. Two-hundred-and-nine university students participated in the study. Results confirmed the hypothesized model. Implications for enhancing student involvement in their communities and encouraging their development into responsible citizens were discussed.     

Developmental patterns of emotion regulation in toddlerhood: Examining predictors of change and long‐term resilience

Emotion regulation is critical for optimal functioning across a wide range of domains and may be even more important for individuals in high‐risk environments. While evidence suggests that childhood is generally a period of emotion regulation growth and development, research is needed to examine factors that may contribute to deviations from a typical trajectory. In a prospective study of 1,905 children, latent class growth analysis (LCGA) was used to identify trajectory groups of emotion regulation across toddlerhood (age 14–36 months), examine predictors of those trajectory groups from child temperament, parenting behaviors, and environmental risk, and explore predictions of resilience in 5th grade from the identified groups. LGCA supported a three‐class model, with a Stable Incline group, a Decline group, and a Catch‐Up group. Child negative emotionality, positive and negative parenting, and environmental risk predicted group membership. These trajectory groups in toddlerhood were predictive of child resilient functioning in the 5th grade. Our findings highlight the importance of utilizing developmental models of emotion regulation and provide implications for prevention and early intervention services to enhance emotion regulation development in early childhood.     

Psychological Coping and Behavioral Adjustment Among Older Adults in Times of COVID-19: Exploring the Protective Role of Working Memory and Habit Propensity

Journal of Adult Development - The impact of the COVID-19 pandemic on mental health, well-being, and behavior is likely influenced by individual characteristics that determine one’s capacity...     

The unreachable object? Difficulties and paradoxes in the analytical relationship with borderline patients

The author investigates the main difficulties the analyst encounters in borderline patient analysis, focusing on the specific way in which such patients put the analyst's mental functioning to the test and highlighting the most salient elements of the transference-countertransference dynamic. The author picks out several of the paradoxes that characterize the analytical relationship with these patients, who are constantly seeking contact with the object, which is inevitably traumatic for them. On the basis of highly detailed clinical material, the author demonstrates how - no matter which theoretical-clinical model is adopted - a specific technical problem with these patients is how to manage their intense destructiveness. With these patients, countertransferential difficulties are inevitably predominant because of the looming threat of the destruction of the analytical relationship. Maintaining a balance between the recognition-legitimization of primary narcissistic mirroring needs and the recognition-control of narcissistic demands and attacks on the analytical link is as crucial as it is complex. The paper examines the most important therapeutic and anti-therapeutic factors, highlighting the importance of countertransference analysis and self-analysis as ways of accessing as yet unrepresented elements of the patient and analyst respectively. Particular attention is given to the role played by the analyst's subjectivity and to the enactment.     

Language experiences and vocabulary development in Dominican and Mexican infants across the first 2 years

We longitudinally investigated parental language context and infants' language experiences in relation to Dominican American and Mexican American infants' vocabularies. Mothers provided information on parental language context, comprising measures of parents' language background (i.e., childhood language) and current language use during interviews at infants' birth. Infants' language experiences were measured at ages 14 months and 2 years through mothers' reports of mothers' and fathers' engagement in English and Spanish literacy activities with infants and mothers' English and Spanish utterances during videotaped mother-infant interactions. Infants' vocabulary development at 14 months and 2 years was examined using standardized vocabulary checklists in English and Spanish. Both parental language context and infants' language experiences predicted infants' vocabularies in each language at both ages. Furthermore, language experiences mediated associations between parental language context and infants' vocabularies. However, the specific mediation mechanisms varied by language.     

Evaluating order-constrained hypotheses for circular data using permutation tests

Psychological researchers in different fields sometimes encounter circular or directional data. Circular data are data measured in the form of angles or two-dimensional orientations. As an example, experiments investigating the development of spatial memory and the influence of visual experience on haptic orientation perception are presented. Three permutation tests are proposed for the evaluation of ordered hypotheses. The quality of the permutation tests is investigated by means of several simulation studies. The results of these studies show the expected increase in power when the permutation tests for ordered hypotheses are compared to a common non-directional test for circular data. The differences in power between the three tests for ordered alternatives are small.     

Child sex moderates the association between negative parenting and childhood conduct problems

Although multiple dimensions of negative parenting behavior are associated with childhood conduct problems (CP), there is relatively little research on whether the association is equally robust in boys and girls. To improve the specificity of current models of negative parenting and offspring CP, we explored the potential moderating role of child sex in a sample of 179 5- to 10-year-old ethnically diverse boys and girls with and without attention-deficit/hyperactivity disorder (ADHD) who were assessed using multiple methods (i.e., rating scales, semistructured interviews) and informants (i.e., parents, teachers). Controlling for children's age, race-ethnicity, and ADHD diagnostic status (i.e., ADHD vs. non-ADHD), inconsistent discipline was positively associated with offspring aggression and rule-breaking behavior, whereas harsh punishment was positively associated with aggression, rule-breaking behavior, and oppositional defiant disorder symptoms. Furthermore, child sex significantly moderated the association of inconsistent discipline and aggression and rule-breaking behavior, such that inconsistent discipline was positively associated with CP for boys, but not for girls. Given the centrality of negative parenting to theories of and efficacious interventions for aggression and CP, we discuss these findings within a developmental psychopathology framework and consider their implications for intervention.     

The Evolution and Treatment of Korsakoff's Syndrome

Wernicke's Encephalopathy is an acute neuro-psychiatric condition caused by an insufficient supply of thiamine (Vitamin B1) to the brain. If undiagnosed or inadequately treated, it is likely to proceed to Korsakoff's Syndrome. Wernicke's Encephalopathy can result from dietary deficiency alone and this form is usually successfully treated, with little chance of Korsakoff's Syndrome supervening. On the other hand, thiamine deficiency associated with alcohol misuse/dependence may require up to 1 gram of thiamine IV in the first 24 hours to be treated successfully. The reasons for this difference in treatment will be discussed. Thiamine diphosphate acts as a co-factor for a number of thiamine-dependent enzymes. Thiamine deficiency leads to a reduction in the activity of these enzymes, and this leads to alterations in mitochondrial activity, impairment of oxidative metabolism, decreased energy status and eventually selective neuronal death. The damage caused by the combination of thiamine deficiency and alcohol metabolism probably interferes with adequate thiamine transport at a number of sites in the body, including the blood-brain barrier, as well as causing damage to the apoenzymes which then require higher concentrations of thiamine to work normally. The accumulated damage is likely to render the use of oral thiamine therapeutically inadequate since the body is unable to produce high enough concentrations of thiamine in the blood to traverse the blood-brain barrier. Some individuals are probably genetically predisposed to develop Wernicke's. Long before individuals with alcohol misuse or dependence develop Wernicke's Encephalopathy the neurons and other cells of the body are functioning sub-optimally because of the inadequate supply of thiamine and the neurotoxic effect of alcohol. This relative deficiency initiates a series of pathological changes which accumulate and further interfere with the supply of thiamine and its utilisation at a time when the requirements are increased. The best treatment for Korsakoff's Syndrome is timely recognition of Wernicke's Encephalopathy and appropriate intervention and prevention.     

Further evidence for addition and numerical competence by a Grey parrot (Psittacus erithacus)

A Grey parrot (Psittacus erithacus), able to quantify sets of eight or fewer items (including heterogeneous subsets), to sum two sequentially presented sets of 0–6 items (up to 6), and to identify and serially order Arabic numerals (1–8), all by using English labels (Pepperberg in J Comp Psychol 108:36–44, 1994; J Comp Psychol 120:1–11, 2006a; J Comp Psychol 120:205–216, 2006b; Pepperberg and Carey submitted), was tested on addition of two Arabic numerals or three sequentially presented collections (e.g., of variously sized jelly beans or nuts). He was, without explicit training and in the absence of the previously viewed addends, asked, “How many total?” and required to answer with a vocal English number label. In a few trials on the Arabic numeral addition, he was also shown variously colored Arabic numerals while the addends were hidden and asked “What color number (is the) total?” Although his death precluded testing on all possible arrays, his accuracy was statistically significant and suggested addition abilities comparable with those of nonhuman primates.