Neutrality in the analysis of action-prone adolescents

An adolescent patient's action during analysis reflects both neurotic conflicts and the developmentally determined task of establishing an integrated self-representation. Concern for the consequences of the action often provokes the analyst to respond, covertly, with interventions intended to change the action through influence rather than understanding. This can lead to a distortion of the analytic process which, in itself, may be an enactment of the developmental conflict. Examination of such interventions reveals a lack of analytic neutrality and an unconscious participation in the patient's neurotic and developmental conflicts. Clinical material from the analyses of two fourteen-year-old girls and a sixteen-year-old boy is presented to illustrate and support this hypothesis.     

Followup of psychoanalysis five to ten years after termination: III. The relation between the resolution of the transference and the patient-analyst match

As part of a long-term followup study of the outcome of psychoanalysis, we examined the relation between the extent of resolution of the transference at termination and the characteristics of the patient-analyst match. For twelve of the seventeen patients interviewed five to ten years after termination of psychoanalysis, the researchers found that the patient-analyst match played a role in the outcome of the analysis. Illustrations of the influence of the match in cases where the transference was resolved and those where it was not are presented.     

Followup of psychoanalysis five to ten years after termination: I. Stability of change

Seven out of 17 patients interviewed in a long-term followup of psychoanalysis showed either improvement in psychological functioning or a retention of psychological gains they had made during the course of psychoanalysis. Six patients deteriorated in their psychological functioning, but their gains were restored with subsequent treatment. Four patients deteriorated in psychological functioning without restoration, whether or not treatment was reentered. Neither analysts' assessments at the time of termination nor patients' assessments of themselves or assessments based on psychological tests one year after termination predicted which patients would improve or retain psychological change. No causal generalizations about factors related to psychological change can be made from these data. Different factors in interaction are suggested to account for the stability and instability of psychological change.     

Psychophysiological outcome of cognitive, behavioral and psychophysiologically-based treatments of agoraphobia

Psychophysiological process and outcome phenomena were analyzed to examine differential temporal patterns within and across cognitive, behavioral and physiologically-based treatments of agoraphobia. Eighty-eight severe and chronic agoraphobics with panic attacks (DSM-III) were randomly assigned to one of three treatments: Paradoxical Intention, Graduated Exposure or Progressive Deep Muscle Relaxation Training. Protocol therapists, whose treatment integrity was objectively monitored, conducted 12 two-hour weekly sessions. All subjects received programmed practice instructions concurrent with their primary treatment. Analyses revealed numerous significant reductions on in vivo psychophysiological measures for the relaxation condition, a few improvements for the exposure treatment and no effects for the paradoxical intention modality. The mediating role of pretreatment physiological reactivity in treatment outcome and follow-up status was examined and revealed no significant associations. Synchrony-desynchrony patterns were found to vary widely according to both treatment phase and the time interval between assessments. No between-group differences were observed on the proportion of synchronizers. However, synchronizers exhibited superior outcome and follow-up compared to desynchronizers on all domains except the physiological measures. Conceptual, methodological and clinical implications of these findings are discussed with recommendations for future research.     

Ethical and malpractice issues in hospital practice

Ethical and malpractice issues arising in hospital practice are reviewed. Topics include (a) preparation and authorization to carry out clinical responsibilities, (b) personnel procedures, (c) financial and political forces influencing hospital policies, (d) billing procedures, (e) clinical procedures for responding to patients' needs, (f) confidentiality, (g) discrimination, (h) internship and training issues, (i) sexual abuse of patients, and (j) staff conflicts influencing patient care.     

Processing distinctions between stems and affixes: evidence from a non-fluent aphasic patient

In this paper, we study the ability of a non-fluent aphasic patient, BN, to comprehend morphologically complex words when they appear in utterance contexts. We first establish that he is insensitive to the contextual appropriateness of both derived and inflected words. In a further experiment we show that he has no difficulty processing the stems of complex words and conclude that his problem is with the bound morphemes themselves. We then ask whether this problem is due to his inability to access either the phonological form of a morphologically complex word or its semantic and/or syntactic content. We find that only the access of semantic and syntactic content is impaired. We conclude from these six studies that: (a) BN presents a counter-example to the claim that non-fluent patients have particular difficulty with those aspects of morphology which have a syntactic function; (b) BN processes both derived and inflected words by mapping the sensory input onto the entire full-form of a complex word, but the semantic and syntactic content of the stem alone is accessed and integrated into the context. The semantic and syntactic implications of the suffix are never evaluated. This implies separate representation of the stems and suffixes of some types of morphologically complex words.     

Search behaviour of cats (Felis catus) in an invisible displacement test: cognition and experience

An invisible displacement test was administered to cats in order to test the hypothesis that search behaviour in this species is influenced by their limited capacity for object permanence as well as by their previous experience with the environment. Experiment 1 compared three groups of cats in a five-choice hiding task in which the hiding places could be discriminated by their spatial positions. Two groups received a visible displacement training before the invisible displacement test and one group did not. Experiment 2 compared two groups of trained subjects in the same task, but the hiding places could be discriminated by spatial and visual cues. The results confirmed that cats are unable to solve problems with invisible displacements. The visible displacement training improved their performance, but was not sufficient to make them succeed. Experience with the hiding potential of the covers also gives more persistence to search behaviour. Finally, the distribution of search attempts is not determined by the proximity to the target and is influenced only partially by the subjects' previous experience. Like Stage 5 infants, cats rely mainly on their immediate perception. They search for an object in the last location they have seen it disappear or under the nearest cover from this location.     

Gender, social competence, and symptomatology in schizophrenia: a longitudinal analysis

The relationship between gender and social skill measured by performance on a role play test was examined in a sample of 57 schizophrenics, 33 affective disorder patients, and 20 nonpatient controls. Female schizophrenics were more skilled than male schizophrenics, but no gender differences were present in the affective patients or the controls. Longitudinal analyses conducted on the schizophrenic group indicated that the superior social skill of women was stable over the year following a symptom exacerbation. Symptoms and social adjustment improved for both men and women over the year, but did not differ according to gender. The implications of the results for gender differences in the long-term outcome of schizophrenia are discussed.     

TRADUCTION ET VALIDATION CANADIENNE-FRANÇAISE DE L'ÉCHELLE DE L'ESTIME DE SOI DE ROSENBERG*

Since the early days of psychology, the self-concept and more specifically global self-esteem has been addressed by numerous researchers in the field. Among the widely used instruments for measuring global self-esteem, Rosenberg's Self-Esteem scale (RSE) has displayed high levels of validity and reliability (Harter 1983; Wylie 1974). Through a brief (10 items) and direct approach, the RSE can be answered quickly by different age and social groups. Considering the good psychometric properties of the RSE mentioned above, and the importance of self-esteem for research in psychology, the purpose of the present four studies was to translate and validate in French the RSE Internal consistency (study 1) and confirmatory factor analyses through LISREL VI (study 2) were conducted with a French-Canadian junior college student population in order to verify the internal consistency and the unidimensional factorial structure of the scale. In addition, the construct validity (study 3) and temporal stability (study 4) of the scale were assessed. Although the present findings are preliminary in nature, they nevertheless support the reliability and validity of the Rosenberg's Self-Esteem scale in French.