Group Therapy for Loss: Attachment,Intersubjectivity, and Healing

Loss is a fundamental human experience that can impact a person’s mental health in diverse ways. While this experience is potentially formative, harmful manifestations can fracture one’s sense of self and undermine relational health. In this article, we present a rationale for process-oriented group therapy focused on healing relational injuries associated with loss. We draw on attachment, self-psychology, intersubjectivity, and Yalom & Leszcz’s (2005) model of group psychotherapy to explore how group processes allow clients to work through losses and relational frustrations in the here-and-now. A case vignette and discussion offer practical insight on the ways in which loss manifests in the room and demonstrate the uniqueness of the group setting for reparative processing.     

退步原来是向前

从契此的“手把青苗插满田,低头便见水中天,六根清净方为道,退步原来是向前”偈中,反映了退让并不是完全的消极,有时反而是一种积极的进取,从而揭示出丰富的人生哲理。     

Small wonders of the Indian market

Heavy competition in India in almost all product categories, due to diversification by large and medium companies and increased entry of multinationals, has restricted the growth of domestic companies. Previously, large companies enjoyed high profit margins by targeting premium priced products in the upper strata of Indian society. High levels of competition from equally reputed brands have not only decreased the companies' market share but also created price wars, reducing profit margins and limiting market growth. This has motivated companies to consider the lower classes and the rural segments, which they had previously ignored. By targeting these segments with products in small packs at lower price points, companies have experienced great success. At the same time, small packs also pose some challenges for the companies. This paper explains the importance of small packs for market expansion in various product categories within the Indian market, drawing on several examples to support the views of the authors. Copyright © 2004 Henry Stewart Publications.     

Working towards a new psychiatry - neuroscience, technology and the DSM-5

This Editorial introduces the thematic series on 'Toward a New Psychiatry: Philosophical and Ethical Issues in Classification, Diagnosis and Care' .     

Koffka's effect is mediated by figure thickness at the joining region

Three-quarters of a century ago Gestalt psychologist Kurt Koffka described a remarkable effect: when a contiguous gray ring is placed on a background half one shade of gray, half another, the ring appears homogeneous. However, if the ring is divided, the two halves of the ring appear different shades of gray, the half of the ring on the darker background appearing lighter than the half of the ring on the lighter background. The Gestalt principle of continuity is used to explain this effect. But what microscopic principles might be mediating this effect? Recently we found sufficiently thin rings (annuli) appear heterogeneous even when geometrically continuous. Here, using crescent-shaped figures instead of the circular annuli used for the traditional Koffka effect, we show that this effect of thickness of the ring is mediated by the thickness at the boundary of the region where the halves of the figure are joined.     

苏辙“示疾而病”的禅学思想

＂多病则与学道者宜,多难则与学禅者宜＂,苏辙却因有＂喜汝因病悟,或免终身著＂的示疾而病的禅学思想。＂示疾而病＂的苏辙以维摩自喻,在深层意义上,是他借维摩诘而表现其忧以天下、以乐天下的人格理想。     

Novel n-back spatial working memory task using eye movement response

We created a novel eye movement version of the n-back task to measure spatial working memory (WM). Rather than one continuous trial, discrete trials were presented in order to develop a simpler WM task. In Experiment 1, we varied the visibility of the final stimulus to maximize the difference in performance between 0-back and 1-back tasks (WM effect). In Experiment 2, we administered the optimized task to children. In Experiment 3, we further simplified the task. Both adults and children easily completed our task, displaying significant WM effects. Further, similar WM effects were obtained in our original and simplified n-back spatial WM tasks, demonstrating flexibility. Because WM deficits are often an early feature of disease and a marker of disease progression, our saccadic measure of spatial WM may be particularly useful in hard-to-test populations, such as patients and children, and may have application in brain-imaging studies that require discrete trials.     

Demographic faultlines: a meta-analysis of the literature

We propose and test a theoretical model focusing on antecedents and consequences of demographic faultlines. We also posit contingencies that affect overall team dynamics in the context of demographic faultlines, such as the study setting and performance measurement. Using meta-analysis structural equation modeling with a final data set consisting of 311 data points (i.e., k [predictor-criterion relationships]), from 39 studies that were obtained from 36 papers with a total sample size of 24,388 individuals in 4,366 teams, we found that sex and racial diversity increased demographic faultline strength more than did diversity on the attributes of functional background, educational background, age, and tenure. Demographic faultline strength was found to increase task and relationship conflict as well as decrease team cohesion. Furthermore, although demographic faultline strength decreased both team satisfaction and team performance, there was a stronger decrease in team performance than in team satisfaction. The strength of these relationships increased when the study was conducted in the lab rather than in the field. We describe the theoretical and practical implications of these findings for advancing the study of faultlines.     

Overcoming adolescents' resistance to anti-inhalant appeals.

This research was concerned with factors that affect adolescents' evaluations of persuasive anti-inhalant messages and the association of these evaluations with usage intentions. Sixth and 7th graders (N=894) received anti-inhalant messages that varied as a result of the factorial combination of message source (doctor or peer), suggested harm (social or physical), and target (message was addressed directly or indirectly to receivers). Manipulated variables were crossed with inhalant-user status (resolute nonuser, vulnerable nonuser, and user). Significant (p<.01) target and status effects on message evaluation were found. Significant interactions of status with each of the manipulated variables also emerged. Users were resistant to threatened physical harms, but suggested harms did not differentially affect resolute nonusers or vulnerable nonusers. Users and vulnerable nonusers evaluated the message more positively when targeted indirectly (p<.05). Vulnerable nonusers were more receptive to peer sources, whereas users preferred adult sources. Message evaluation was significantly associated with inhalant usage intentions (r=-.22), and this association held even after the contributions of sex, sensation seeking, acculturation, prior use, familism, and assumed peer usage were accounted for in a multiple regression analysis (overall R(2)=.24).