Depression und Paarbeziehung

The close relationship between depressive disorders and couple relationships has been well proved empirically.Conflicts and problems within the couples'relationship can be a significant trigger for depression. In additition, the quality of the relationship is often markedly impaired by depressive disorders, in many cases far beyond the depressive phase.The couples'relationship also influences significantly the course of depressions, especially when the disorders are not yet chronic.The link between depression and couples'relationship seems to be stronger and more evident for women than for men. Furthermore there seem to be patterns of interaction in couples with a depressed partner, which differ from those in healthy or other clinical comparison groups or distressed couples without depression.These patterns need further exploration with regard to different subgroups of depressed patients and phases of depression.Couples' therapy has been proved to be effective in the treatment of depression on the symptomatic and on the relationship level.Conjoint assessment and counselling sessions with depressed patients and their partners should be conducted regularly.For patients suffering from an ‘anaclitic’,‘sociotropc’form of depression couples' therapy in a more narrow sense is usually indicated. In the treatment of depressives of the ‘autonomous’ ‘introjective’ type partners should be included into treatment for the assessment and the working through of specific conflicts concerning the relationship.     

Health Downturns and Predictors of Suicidal Ideation: An Application of the Baumeister Model

Suicidal thoughts and attempts have been studied from a number of perspectives, but only recently has an attempt been made to incorporate many different psychological perspectives into one framework. Baumeister (1990) has integrated personality and social psychological perspectives into one sequential model, moving from instigating events to a final stage of suicidal thoughts. Employing a sample of older adult subjects undergoing the stresses of a recent health downturn, this study tested a four-stage model of suicidal ideation based on many of the components proposed by Baumeister. Structural equation modeling achieved a good fit to the data. Results are discussed in terms of the importance of including life events, particularly poor health, and cognitive variables such as confusions in thinking, in understanding suicidal ideation.     

Whose Side Are You On? Exploring the Role of Perspective Taking on Third-Party’s Reactions to Workplace Deviance

We introduce perspective taking as an antecedent of third-party reactions to different forms of workplace deviance. Varying the perspective taken by third-parties, the target and the type of workplace deviance, we show that third-parties who take the perpetrator’s perspective perceive the incident as less of a moral violation, make less internal, and more external attributions for the perpetrator’s behavior, which in turn reduces endorsement of punishment. Findings were consistent across four studies, and the mediating mechanisms supported by the instrumental variable method and the concurrent double randomization design.     

Eine Technik f��r alle St?rungen?

Psychodynamic psychotherapy is helpful for patients, if it is modified according to the disorder. The dichotomy between concentration on the symptom on the one hand and concentration on conflicts and regulation disturbances on the other does not come up to the requirements of treatment for many disorders. Combining the symptom orientation with the work on conflicts, regulation disturbances, transference and resistance can not only promote insights oft emotional impact but often solely make them possible. Modifications of technique are to be reflected concerning their impact on the therapeutic relationship, the dynamics of transference and countertransference, the experience of conflict and the regulation problems and to be directed at in the therapy as far as possible. General principles of technique are illustrated by the example of the treatment of a patient with anorexia nervosa.     

Personal Control in Chronic Pain Sufferers During Acute Interpersonal Stress

Among individuals with Rheumatoid Arthritis (RA), pain-associated stress can severely impact wellbeing. Psychological attributes, such as a sense of personal mastery, may attenuate the effects of chronic pain on life quality. We tested the hypothesis that a high sense of mastery would predict lower pain, perceived stress, fatigue, and mean arterial pressure (MAP) than would a low sense of mastery during an acute, interpersonal stressor.Seventy-four individuals with RA completed a psychophysiological laboratory session involving MAP measurements, as well as self-ratings of stress, joint pain, and fatigue. Measurements were collected before, during, and after an interpersonal stressor. To assess personal mastery, exploratory and confirmatory factor analyses were conducted on the Pearlin Mastery Scale based on recommendations by Reich and Zautra (1991)The Pearlin Mastery Scale yielded two distinct factors: fatalism and control. Both fatalism and control were significant predictors of the wellbeing variables. Individuals with a highly fatalistic style demonstrated higher general levels of mean arterial pressure (F(1) = 3.41, p<.1) and reported greater joint pain (F(1) = 4.72, p<.05) across all periods. Individuals with a high sense of control also evidenced lower MAP (F(1) = 3.73, p<.1) and reported less stress (F(1) = 7.44, p<.01) and fatigue (F(1) = 5.16, p<.05). Neither fatalism nor control were related to objective measures of disease severity (r's = -.10, p=NS and -.02, p=NS, respectively).RA patients with a high level of personal mastery, as evidenced by scores on two distinct indices, experience lower MAP, and report less pain, stress and fatigue. Although fatalism and control were not related to objective disease state, they seem to play an important role in the experience of wellbeing for people with RA.     

Spiritual Development: Han F. De Wit's and Stanislav Grof's Differing Approaches

For both Han F. de Wit and Stanislav Grof, spirituality constitutes an essential part of humaneness; a life built on materialism is deemed an impoverished life. For de Wit, spirituality yields courage, compassion, joy, clarity of mind, and consequently wisdom. For Grof, personal spiritual experiences gained during altered states of consciousness are of central interest. After defining spirituality, these views, built on long-term personal experiences of the authors and those of others, are explicated in detail. Both authors describe their respective approaches to spiritual development. In either approach, third-person knowledge and judgments (e.g., on humanness) have to be supplemented by first-person knowledge and judgments arrived at appropriately (e.g., on humaneness).     

Development of a Structured Psychiatric Interview for Children: Agreement Between Child and Parent on Individual Symptoms

To test the reliability of children's reporting as compared with that of their mothers, a highly structured psychiatric diagnostic interview was used with 307 subjects, ages 6 through 16. Another interviewer gave each mother a similar interview about the child. Responses of each mother-child pair to 168 questions were compared using the kappa statistic. Highest agreement was found on questions concerning symptoms that are concrete, observable, severe, and unambiguous. Mothers tended to report significantly more behavioral symptoms, and children more subjective symptoms. Reasons for low kappas and asymmetrical reporting of symptoms are discussed.