Religious Knowledge and Its Use in Psychiatry

Clinicians' knowledge of and sensitivity to religious issues have been questioned. The present study measures religious knowledge and willingness to utilize such knowledge in clinical practice. We administered a 41-item questionnaire testing religious knowledge and willingness to utilize such knowledge to 28 psychiatric clinicians. The mean religious knowledge score was 61% of the total possible score. In spite of low scores, only 33% of clinicians consistently refrained from initiating discussions of religious issues. Results support a low level of religious knowledge but do not support a contention that clinicians are insensitive to religious issues.     

On the Art of Finding Arguments: What Ancient and Modern Masters of Invention Have to Tell Us About the "Ars Inveniendi"

This paper deals with what has been called "ars inveniendi" (art of finding) in antiquity, medieval and early modern times. A survey of different techniques of finding tenable and relevant arguments is presented (among them, the Topical tradition, Status theory, Debate theory, Encyclopedic systems, Creativity techniques). Their advantages and disadvantages are critically compared. It is suggested that a mixture of strategies of finding arguments should be used. Finally, a few remarks showing the relationship beween the strategies of finding arguments and creativity in general are given.     

Two observations about human reason

The first observation is that existential reason has two principal strata. While the function of lower reason is primarily reasoning or logic, upper reason ponders emotions, the meaning of existence, the transcendent. Those whose understanding of reason is confined to lower reason are handicapped in coping with emotional and spiritual suffering. Upper reason is a necessary intellectual facility in the resolution of such suffering. The second observation is of thedialectical nature of reason, with which clinicians and theologians trade when pondering reality and in dealing with those they counsel. Yet, many people, especially Americans, are oblivious to the “both-and” reality of existence. Consequently they are not realistic about life nor are they skillful in dealing with their resulting existential conflicts. They are lost when psychological problems cannot be satisfactorily resolved by lower reason; for only upper reason can perceive and creatively integrate the dialectical tensions of existential problems.     

Classification of situations specific to field and behaviour: The context of aggressive interactions in schools

Based on a social psychological concept of aggression, in which the processes of definition and judgement of acts of behaviour are credited with central meaning, the situational context of aggressive interactions was systematized for a specific field (school). It is assumed that the particular circumstances of a situation provide information for the interpretation of a particular action, and that this interpretation varies depending on these circumstances. In the following study, norm deviation, intent and injury, are used as central criteria for judging on action as aggressive in order to establish a taxonomy of social situations, presented as verbal scenarios, that is both field-and behaviour-specific. 686 school children aged between 13 and 19 years participated in this study. By using a multivariate analysis procedure, groups of situations were identified in which similar judgements of a particular action emerged. Both typical judgement patterns and corresponding situation characteristics were used in the interpretation of the resulting situation taxonomy.     

Social-consensual conceptions concerning the progress of aggressive interactions

The present study investigated social consensual conceptions concerning the appropriateness relation between an initiative aggressive action and the reaction to it. To this end subjects were asked to choose between four configurations of mediatory information between B's initial act and A's reaction (i.e. ‘A's offence at B's behaviour’, ‘inappropriateness of B's behaviour’, ‘A's personal standards’, ‘A's fear of negative consequences’), so as to combine identical initial acts with incompatible reactions (i.e. ‘escalation’, ‘breaking’ of, and ‘compensation’) into meaningful episodes. The statistical procedure used, configural frequency analysis, shows that as compared with the number of theoretically possible configurations, very few were selected by subjects (with a high degree of unanimaty) as being specific to a particular type of reaction. Apparently subjects have definite and uniform conceptions about the appropriateness of incompatible reactions to certain aggressive actions in interpersonal conflicts.     

Reduction of rating scale data by means of signal detection theory

A d’-index computed from ratings of psychological stimuli does not necessarily represent the unbiased psychological distance between these stimuli. Such ratings may not be considered as discrimination tasks in the signal detection sense, because the rater has to discriminate between the psychological impact of the stimuli on some internal continuum rather than between the stimuli as such. The rater therefore can use stimulus-specific criteria for his decisions. As a result, the d’-index computed from the rating data will be biased.     

Selbsthilfegruppen im Rahmen stationärer psychotherapeutischer Behandlungen

Psychosomatic in-patient treatment applies a combination of various methods in order to facilitate learning by insight and corrective emotional experiences in a therapeutic community. The establishment of a self-help group on the ward can be a useful complementary element in such a comprehensive approach. However, empirical research on this specific topic does not yet exist. Based on clinical experience, necessary preconditions as well as the pros and cons of integrating self-help into professional treatment are described. The assessment of 850 patients in a clinic for psychosomatic medicine and psychotherapy concerning a self-help group on the ward are presented. Relationships between patients’ evaluation of the self-help group and various other variables as well as the overall treatment effect were studied. Empirical data provide evidence of a differential effect of the self-help group on the ward: the majority of the patients experienced the self-help group as useful. Whether the patient is able to benefit from group therapy seems to be an intermediate variable and the therapists’ attitude towards self-help groups also seems to play an important role.     

Decade of the Mind

In the Fall of 2007, ten neuroscientists published a proposal for an interdisciplinary research initiative, the Decade of the Mind, that would focus on four "broad but intertwined areas": mental health, research on high-level cognitive functions, education, and computational applications (such as intelligent machines). I review the basic ideas behind the proposal and discuss the four proposed areas of research. I argue that for research on higher cognitive functions and in particular, for research and practice in education, the Decade of the Mind is a welcome initiative that may change our lives for the better. Therefore, the proposal, which is scientifically interdisciplinary in nature, has to be politically international.