Hope Against Hope in Cancer at the End of Life

Hope has many facets to it in the context of cancer. This article outlines an instrumental case study for a patient with aggressive lymphoma who rapidly deteriorated to the point of dying. How her and her family’s hope was managed is outlined here from various perspectives. Interviews were carried out with the patient’s family, medical consultant-in-charge (attending physician) and nurses caring for her at the end of life. The findings outline the transition from hope for cure to hope for a good death and the role that the patient and family’s Christian hope played in this. Religiosity and spirituality of hope in terms of Christian hope is explored from the theological perspective. Practical aspects of care in the face of changing hope are discussed. Conclusions are drawn about reframing hope in a changing clinical situation with reference to theories of hope. The importance of acknowledging hope, coping, spirituality and religiosity, especially at end of life, is emphasised.     

Models for letter cancellation performance and their implications for models of reading

Models for letter cancellation are developed, i.e. for tasks where subjects read a coherent piece of prose at the same time as trying to cancel every target letter they encounter. These models have two components (i) a model of how information is represented by the reader, (ii) a model of how this information is scanned to enable the reader to detect particular target letters. Models of representation range from a photographic image of the printed page to a sophisticated multi-level representation, and models of scanning range from a series of independent saccadic movements (like eye movements) to scans which take into account morphemic and syntactic structure.

Several predictions about the detailed pattern of letter cancellation data are developed on the basis of these models, and these are tested on a data base collected by Smith and Groat (1979). While some support for the simpler models is forthcoming, only the most elaborate models (multi-level representation, syntactically guided scan) can fully account for all the data. While instances can be found where the cancellation task is clearly disrupting the reading task, much of the data are consistent with the notion that the letter cancellation task is not excessively intrusive, and our analyses can thus give us significant information about normal reading.     

Proposal for a Distinctive Diagnosis: the Deliberate Self-Harm Syndrome (DSH)

ABSTRACT: Self-destructive behavior is a major clinical problem in psychiatry. A review of the literature reveals the existence of enough clinical data to identify a diagnostic entity, “The Deliberate Self-Harm Syndrome” (DSH). The authors present a diagnostic formulation of the DSH syndrome (in the DSM-III format) which consists of four essential clinical features, a group bof associteds features, clinical features, a group of associated features, a clinical course of typical onset in late adolescence, with multiple recurent episodes, with multiple methods of low lethality physical self-injury, extending over many years. On the basis of relatively exclusive association of clinical signs and symptoms a heuristic clinical entity is proposed.     

It’s not just “us” versus “them”: Moving beyond binary perspectives on intergroup processes

ABSTRACT

The social psychology of intergroup relations has emerged largely from studies of how one group of people (e.g., whites) think and feel about another (e.g., blacks). By reducing the social world to binary categories, this approach has provided an effective and efficient methodological framework. However, it has also obscured important features of social relations in historically divided societies. This paper highlights the importance of investigating intergroup relationships involving more than two groups and of exploring not only their psychological but also their political significance. Exemplifying this argument, we discuss the conditions under which members of disadvantaged groups either dissolve into internecine competition or unite to challenge the status quo, highlighting the role of complex forms of social comparison, identification, contact, and third-party support for collective action. Binary conceptualizations of intergroup relations, we conclude, are the product of specific sociohistorical practices rather than a natural starting point for psychological research.