Elder abuse by family caregivers: Processes and intervention strategies

This study of 104 family caregivers who provided care to 119 elderly kin discusses the stress and conflict that can result when the older person, the caregivers, and the family are unprepared to fulfill the caregiving tasks. Sources of stress that contribute to physical and psychological abuse of the elderly are examined. Suggestions such as setting guidelines, establishing support groups, providing respite and household care, and increasing awareness about the aging process and elder abuse are offered as mechanisms for preventing abusive interactions and increasing the quality of life for the elderly and their families.Revision of a paper presented at the 1986 Groves Conference on Marriage and the Family, London, England.     

Using psychodynamic concepts in strategic family therapy: A suicidal adolescent case

This paper describes the treatment of a suicidal adolescent with strategic family therapy. The cotherapists conceptualized the case psychoanalytically and systemically. They propose that their understanding of psychodynamics enhanced their ability to tailor their interventions to the family's unique style and capacities. Rather than dismiss psychodynamic concepts as irrelevant to strategic family therapy, they maintain that an appreciation of individual members' ego strengths, defenses, affects, and unacknowledged impulses leads to the construction of more effective metaphors and a set of interventions more isomorphic to family patterns.     

Third-Party Consent Searches: Legal vs. Social Perceptions of “Common Authority”1

We investigate the degree of correspondence between legal concepts underpinning third-party consent searches (a co-resident permits police search of shared living space and belongings) and laypersons' sociocultural expectations. In accord with the legal concepts, we hypothesized that laypersons would be able to distinguish between authority over (1) exclusive-use vs. common-use areas, and (2) personal effects in exclusive-use vs. common-use areas. But, we also expected that (3) the interpretation of “common authority” would be influenced by the presence vs. absence of the co-resident, and (4) the type of intruder (social, commercial, civil authority, or criminal justice authority) would influence responses to requests for entry. These hypotheses were tested using a fully between-subjects, factorial design (N= 160). Results supported our first three hypotheses. Subjects understood the concept of a warrantless search and distinguished between “exclusive use” areas and “common authority” areas at the level of rooms within the shared residence. Subjects' interpretation of “common authority” for third-party consent purposes was influenced by physical presence of the co-resident. If the co-resident was absent, “common authority” was interpreted as independent consent power. There was no consensual interpretation of “common authority” when the co-resident was present and protested the proposed search. Results suggest situational dependence of lay understandings of “common authority” over jointly used areas.     

Inferential procedures for correlation coefficients corrected for attenuation

A model and computational procedure based on classical test score theory are presented for determination of a correlation coefficient corrected for attenuation due to unreliability. Next, variance-covariance expressions for the sample estimates defined earlier are derived, based on application of the delta method. Results of a Monte Carlo study are presented in which the adequacy of the derived expressions was assessed for a large number of data forms and potential hypotheses encountered in the behavioral sciences. It is shown that, based on the proposed procedures, confidence intervals for single coefficients are reasonably precise. Two-sample hypothesis tests, for both independent and dependent samples, are also accurate. However, for hypothesis tests involving a larger number of coefficients than two—both independent and dependent—the proposed procedures require largens for adequate precision. Results of a preliminary power analysis reveal no serious loss in efficiency resulting from correction for attenuation. Implications for practice are discussed.Support for the research reported in this article was provided by the Natural Sciences and Engineering Research Council of Canada. The authors acknowledge with thanks the constructive comments of the editor and three anonymous reviewers.     

The unforgivable humiliation: A Dilemma in couples' treatment

Therapists sometimes encounter cases of intense marital discord in which the disaffected spouse seems unable to specify the reason for his or her discontent except in the vaguest, most general terms. Such cases may be extraordinarily difficult to treat, as the disaffected partner may seem impervious to any attempt at negotiation, to the point of dissolution of the marriage. The reason for the disaffected spouse's intransigence may seem unclear to the other spouse, to the therapist, and even to herself/himself. We hypothesize an explanation for this phenomenon in terms of the disaffected partner's experience of having suffered humiliation at the hands of the other spouse and offer a plan for treatment, citing case materials.     

Critical incidents: Life events for experienced family therapists

Summary The results of this investigation suggest that therapists' professional style and clinical use of self patterns are impacted by critical life events occurring in their personal life. Many subjects reflected on how changes in their family constellations (both family of origin and family of procreation) were important to their professional development. They frequently mentioned that marriage, children, divorce, and illness or death of a loved one impacted their personal and, then, their professional lives. The important life events of becoming a parent or losing a significant loved one was specifically mentioned as strongly influencing changes in one's professional direction and therapeutic style.Becoming a parent caused the interviewees to reevaluate their expectations of their own parents, their client families and themselves. Changes in career aspirations, interactional patterns, and the capacity to be consistent and calm were explored and understood differently. Many subjects described how this transition in their own life shifted their primary focus and altered many of their existing relationships. In particular, female therapists with younger children related how their sense of being female changed. They sought out other women for intimate contact more frequently, they understood their own mothers better, and they frequently were less judgmental of mothers in their client families.Along with creating their own families, death of a parent was keynoted as having a strong impact on the subjects' personal and professional lives. They described questioning (and frequently changing) the amount of time they spent working and the type of work they did. Many began to push for more emotionally intense relationships personally and therapeutically. Detailing how their therapeutic goals for a family now included connection-making rather than just problem solving, they described being much more willing to share their vulnerabilities and personal needs with clients.     

Biochemical pathogenesis of post-traumatic epilepsy

Head trauma is often followed by epilepsy and may be related to the breakdown of red blood cells and hemoglobin within the CNS. Injection of hemoglobin or iron salts into the rat cortex is known to induce a chronic epileptic focus. We observed the formation of superoxide anion (O₂) and hydroxyl radical (·OH) after ferric chloride injection into the rat cerebral cortex and suggest that these radicals, especially ·OH, may be responsible for the initiation of lipid peroxidation in neuronal membranes and for the accelerated production of guanidine compounds in the brain, which may in turn lead to epileptogenicity. Then, we found that treatment with epigallocatechin (EGC) or a phosphate diester of vitamins E and C (EPC), which are potent ·OH scavengers, significantly inhibited the formation of malondialdehyde and epileptic discharges in the iron-induced epileptic focus. This study was supported by a grant-in-aid for scientific research from the Japanese Ministry of Education, Science, and Culture.