Sexualdelinquenz bei Schizophrenie

Studies suggest a complex relationship between schizophrenia and sexually offensive behaviour. This study aimed to preserve first findings of sex offence features and behaviours exhibited by psychotic men in Germany. Furthermore a typology of the schizophrenic offender group was developed. A comparative trial design was used to differentiate the psychotic and non psychotic offender group. A checklist was developed and applied to the records of 64 male restricted hospital order in-patients in Berlin with an index conviction for a contact sex offence against a woman. Social isolation, antisocial behaviour, psychosexual variables and adverse childhood experiences are found for schizophrenic and sexual offenders in general. Different sexual offensive behaviours appeared in the schizophrenic subgroups. Negative symptoms of schizophrenia as well as antisocial traits had a great impact on schizophrenic sexual offending. A heterogeneous group of psychotic offenders can be supposed.     

Debiasing the hindsight bias: The role of accessibility experiences and (mis)attributions

Two studies tested the role of accessibility experiences and attributions in debiasing the hindsight bias. Participants listed 4 or 12 thoughts about how a college football game, or the 2000 US Presidential election, might have turned out differently. Listing 12 thoughts was experienced as difficult, suggesting to participants that there were few ways in which the event could have turned out otherwise. Hindsight biases increased under this condition, unless participants attributed the difficulty of the thought generation to their own lack of knowledge, which resulted in a trend in the opposite direction. The interplay of accessible content, accessibility experiences and attribution in mental simulation is discussed.     

Behavioral phenotyping of a murine model of Alzheimer’s disease in a seminaturalistic environment using RFID tracking

Neurodegen erative disorders such as Alzheimer’s disease (AD) are increasingly threatening public health. Most animal models of AD consist of transgenic mice that are usually housed singly or in unisexual groups in small barren cages. Such restricted environments, however, prevent the mice from showing a variety of speciesspecific behaviors and consequently may constrain comprehensive behavioral phenotyping. On the other hand, allowing the animals to freely organize their lives in a spacious physically and socially enriched environment makes behavioral phenotyping laborious and time consuming. Radio frequency identification (RFID) using a network of antennae and small glass-coated transponders labeling each individual allows for gathering spatiotemporal information about a large number of individuals in parallel. The aim of this project was to use the RFID technique to facilitate the characterization of mice carrying a genetic disposition to develop AD-like pathology and of their wild-type conspecifics in a spacious seminaturalistic environment.     

“How many bad apples does it take to spoil the whole barrel?”: Social exclusion and toleration for bad apples

In social dilemmas, where personal welfare is in conflict with collective welfare, there are inherent incentives to act non-cooperatively. Moreover, there is evidence that the example of a few uncooperative group members (“bad apples”) is more influential than the example of comparable numbers of cooperative members (a bad apple effect). Two studies are reported that examine the functional relationship between the number of likely bad apples and individual cooperation, and whether and when the threat of social exclusion for uncooperative behavior may effectively counter the temptation to follow the example of such “bad apples”. It is shown that (a) the threat of exclusion is sufficient to counter the temptation to follow a few bad apples’ example, (b) such threats cannot, however, overcome the cooperation-degrading effects of large numbers (e.g., a majority) of bad apples, and (c) the effectiveness of such threats may be greater in relatively smaller groups.     

Forensisch-psychiatrische Versorgungsstrukturen in Deutschland: Ein Vergleich zwischen Alten und Neuen Bundesländern

Differences and similarities of the forensic mental health hospitals in the New Federal States (NFS) (former East Germany) and the Old Federal States (OFS) (former West Germany) were assessed. The focus of the study was set on institutional features of these hospitals as well as on characteristics of the detained patients. Data were based on a survey conducted in 2006. Specifically designed questionnaires were sent to the mental health departments of the State Ministries, and to all forensic mental health hospitals (response rates 100% and 62%). The general finding is that structures of forensic mental health services in NFS and OFS, e.g. the number of beds per million inhabitants and institutional features, have become similar since the German reunification. The health staff-patient relation is equal for some professions, whereas for other professions this relation is even better in NFS. Differences exist regarding the forensic mental health law of the Federal States. Moreover, the proportions of some delicts and diagnoses in the detained clientele differ. In NFS, the need for forensic aftercare facilities is even more urgent than in OFS. In both parts of the country there is a need for the development of some aspects of quality assurance for both forensic mental health hospitals as well as governmental institutions. Generally, the evaluation of quality of structures, processes and results is yet impossible for many fields of forensic mental health care, because there is no sufficient data base.     

Psychiatrischer Beitrag

Ohne Zusammenfassung     

The nonverbal manifestations of cognitive processes in clinical listening

Nonverbal behaviors were observed during communicative sequences in videotaped clinical interviews. The interviews were conducted by two groups of physicians-in-training with contrasting cognitive profiles as determined by well-known laboratory tasks prior to the interviews. In each phase of the communicative sequences, significant differences emerged between the two groups for various types of nonverbal behaviors. Differences also emerged between the two groups of interviewers in their questioning patterns and in the nature of the narrative elicited from their interlocutors. A correlational analysis revealed consistent patterns of behaviors across phases of the communicative sequences. The findings provide additional evidence for the intimate connection between nonverbal behavior and cognitive activity and point to nonverbal behaviors as objective measures of the processes underlying clinical listening.     

Coincidence of attention deficit disorder and atopic disorders in children: Empirical findings and hypothetical background

ADDH children are often reported to display signs of allergies to various substances and/or atopic (AT) symptoms (i.e., atopic eczema, hay fever, or asthma). Since, at least for a subgroup of these children, a common biological background for both ADD and atopy may be assumed that may involve brain catecholamines, our hypothesis was that in a group of AT children (mainly atopic eczema) signs of ADD should appear more often than in controls. Parental hyperactivity ratings revealed a significantly higher frequency of ADD symptoms in the AT group, and laboratory tests sensitive to attentional capacity and inhibitory functions showed poorer performance in the AT children, the findings being similar to those reported in hyperactives. Thus, our results add support to the assumption of a common predisposing factor for both AT and ADDH in a subgroup of children.