Prior exposure to extreme pain alters neural response to pain in others

In the extant literature examining the brain mechanisms implicated in pain perception, researchers have theorized that the overlapping responses to pain in the self and in others mark the human capacity for empathy. Here we investigated how prior exposure to extreme pain affects pain perception, by assessing the dynamics of pain processing in veterans who were previously exposed to severe injury. Forty-three participants (28 pain-exposed and 15 controls) underwent whole-head magnetoencephalography (MEG) while viewing photographs of limbs in painful and nonpainful (neutral) conditions. Among controls, an early (0–220 ms) “pain effect” in the posterior cingulate and sensorimotor cortices, and a later (760–900 ms) “pain effect” in the posterior cingulate cortex, superior temporal gyrus/insula, and fusiform gyrus were found, indicated by enhanced alpha suppression to the pain versus nonpain conditions. Importantly, pain-exposed participants exhibited an atypical pain response in the posterior cingulate cortex, indicated by a normative response to pain, but no pain-to-no-pain differentiation. This may suggest that individuals exposed to extreme pain may perceive neutral stimuli as potentially threatening. Our findings demonstrate alterations in pain perception following extreme pain exposure, chart the sequence from automatic to evaluative pain processing, and emphasize the importance of considering past experiences in studying the neural response to others’ states.     

Young Israelis' Reactions to National Trauma: The Rabin Assassination andTerror Attacks

This study examined the cognitive and emotional reactions of 477 Israeli high school students to the assassination of Prime Minister Yitzhak Rabin (immediately after the event as well as 5 months later) and to a series of terror attacks. The respondents' reactions to the two events were compared as a function of gender and political orientation. About 50% of the respondents who changed their political views immediately after the assassination reverted to pre-event attitudes 5 months later. Emotional reactions to the assassination showed substantial fading after 5 months, with extent of fading unaffected by gender or political orientation. The intensity of emotional reactions was affected by political orientation: Although Rabin's supporters and his opponents reacted with equal intensity to the terror attacks, supporters reacted with the same intensity to Rabin's assassination, whereas opponents' reactions to the assassination were less intense.     

Sense of Coherence, Ways of Coping, and Well Being of Married and Divorced Mothers

The study examines sense of coherence and ways of coping as personality resources capable of helping divorced mothers deal with the divorce crisis. The findings show that although mothers from two parent families enjoy a higher sense of well being than divorced mothers, the well being of both groups was predicted by sense of coherence. They also show that mothers with higher sense of coherence used more effective coping strategies and derived more benefit from the strategies they used. The married and divorced mothers have a similar sense of coherence level. More study is needed to ascertain precisely how sense of coherence contributes to well being, as well as to the choice and effectiveness of coping strategies.     

Eating Attitudes and Dieting Behavior Among Religious Subgroups of Israeli-Arab Adolescent Females

Objectives The aim of the study was to compare the eating attitudes and behaviors, including weight concerns and dieting behavior, among three religious subgroups (Moslems, Druze, and Christians) and three age subgroups (12–13, 14–15, and 16–18 years old) of Israeli-Arab adolescent females. Methods The sample consisted of 1141 Israeli-Arab adolescent females, including 926 (81.2%) Moslem, 128 (11.2%) Christian, and 87 (7.6%) Druze schoolgirls in the seventh to twelfth grades. Participants were assessed using the EAT–26 questionnaire. Results The results showed that 75% of the students had a negative EAT-26 score (>20) and that 25% of the students had a positive EAT-26 score (<20). No significant differences were found in total scores, subscale scores, or scores above 20 between the age subgroups or the religious subgroups. The results demonstrated a high prevalence of disturbed eating attitudes and behaviors among Israeli-Arab adolescent schoolgirls. Discussion Higher prevalence of disturbed eating attitudes found among Israeli-Arab schoolgirls as compared to their Jewish counterparts. Although our sample is a communal based, there still remains an open question as to why the desired “slenderness culture” evident in the results is not reflected in the number of ED clinic referrals, among clinical population. These discrepancies were discussed in light of ethnicity-specific factors that may influence the perceived severity of eating disorders and the receptiveness of primary practitioners to address them.     

Hemispheric sensitivities to lexical and contextual information: evidence from lexical ambiguity resolution

The present study examined the manner in which both hemispheres utilize prior semantic context and relative meaning frequency during the processing of homographs. Participants read sentences biased toward the dominant or the subordinate meaning of their final homograph, or unbiased neutral sentences, and performed a lexical decision task on lateralized targets presented 250ms after the onset of the sentence-final ambiguous prime. Targets were either related to the dominant or the subordinate meaning of the preceding homograph, or unrelated to it. Performance asymmetry was found in the absence of a biasing context: dominant-related targets were exclusively facilitated in the RVF/LH, whereas both dominant- and subordinate-related targets were facilitated in the LVF/RH. Performance symmetry was found in the presence of a biasing context: dominant-related targets were exclusively activated in dominant-biasing contexts, whereas both dominant- and subordinate-related targets were facilitated in subordinate-biasing contexts. The implications of the results for both general and hemispheric models of word processing are discussed.     

Marital Quality and Global Well-Being Among Older Adult Israeli Couples in Enduring Marriages

In order to profile family therapy users in China, this study examined 612 cases of a family therapy center in Beijing, including demographic data and presenting problems. It was found that, different to the western experience, cases reviewed were predominately families who presented with problems concerning children and adolescents. Typically presenting relationship issues, individual users had lower intake than the family modality, and couples had the lowest among three modalities. The overall results would seem to evidence some Chinese cultural characteristics, such as prioritizing the filial relationship above the couple one, and a particular focus on the children.     

History Dislocated in a Nightmare: Responses to Commentaries

It is not a simple matter for analysts across nations, oceans, generations, and schools to be discussing Germans and Jews post WWII. I found the discussions of my paper moving and troubling; they offer powerful teachings on listening to the kind of dislocated traumatic tales that patients carry into analysis, however left me still wishing to return to the power of nationalism and ideology as major forces that shape psychic reality and argue against reducing this realm into the language of family drama and object relations. In reviewing my work with Nyx following these discussions, I suggest that by being “former enemies” to some degree we functioned transferentially as ambassadors of our collective, and of history. Our field teetered between falling under the spell of a tribunal to a reconciliation committee, while we were negotiating the possibility of historical redemption. My way of working with Nyx manifests an underlying assumption that ideology, as expressed through history, is one of the key factors that constitutes one’s psychic reality and is very important to engage with psychoanalytically. With that in mind I discuss some thoughts on why it is so difficult to signify the horrors of mass trauma and suggest some ethical considerations that can help us think about the difference between Wolff Bernstein’s invitations for us to hover on the rim of the Real, Bohleber’s commitment to historical precision, and Faimberg’s way of listening to the transference.     

Predictors of Parental Communication and Cooperation Among Divorcing Spouses

The present study seeks to identify parental communication and cooperation as predictors of successful co-parenting in Israel during the divorce process. Self-report questionnaires assessing three types of predictors (parent personality characteristics, social and contextual factors and child characteristics) were completed by 123 divorcing mothers and 94 divorcing fathers. Two stepwise hierarchical regressions, one for parental communication and one for cooperation, showed that gender (female) and use of negotiation to resolve conflicts were the major predictors of both. These variables affected co-parenting both independently and in interaction with the personality characteristics of defense mechanism use and optimism. The differential contributions support the hypothesis of communication and cooperation as separate components of successful co-parenting, and the value of studying both. Clinically, these findings may be used to help improve co-parenting during divorce.