The Activities of The Scandinavian Societies

Freud's concept of the death instinct has given rise to many different interpretations which have often been contradictory. It is in fact already possible to discern two diametrically opposite meanings of this concept in Freud's work from 1920—Beyond the Pleasure Principle—in which he first introduced the concept of the death instinct. In this paper, it is argued that both these meanings are relevant in describing psychical life, although only one of these meanings actually qualifies for the concept “death instinct”. Beyond the Pleasure Principle was written in order to try to understand some everyday, as well as clinical phenomena which could not be explained by the so-called pleasure principle. Freud postulated something beyond the pleasure principle, which initially seemed to have to do with binding energy. I will preserve this idea and attempt to develop it within the context of a phenomenological analysis of time. The temporalization of the subject involves a very basic affirmation of existence, in that the subject experiences something constant, something that can be said to possess the quality of a gestalt. I propose that that which is beyond the pleasure principle—this binding of energy—should be understood as the opposite of the idea of a primordial death instinct striving towards death. In this case, that which is beyond the pleasure principle reflects an original affirmation of existence, which could be said to correspond to Freud's first meaning of the death instinct. The second meaning—for which the name “death instinct” seems to be applicable—concerns the discharge of energy, which from a temporal point of view shows itself as a tendency to dissolution. The concept of the death instinct in its various meanings is discussed in connection with phenomenological reflections on time, which is a different approach from Freud's attempt to ground the death instinct in biology.     

Subjectivity,Infantile Oedipus,and Symbolization in Melanie Klein and Jacques Lacan

Melanie Klein and Jacques Lacan have profoundly influenced the theory and practice of psychoanalysis, particularly outside the United States. This paper explores the similarities and differences between their theories, personalities, and influence on the European analytic community in the aftermath of World War II. Parallels are drawn between the paranoid-schizoid position and the imaginary order, as well as between the depressive position and the symbolic order.     

POST-TRAUMATIC STRESS REACTIONS AMONGST RESCUE WORKERS AFTER A MAJOR RAIL ACCIDENT

Abstract

Rescue tasks under heavy strain may act as traumatic events creating stress reactions among the rescue workers. After a major rail accident the rescue workers were examined by questionnaire at 3 and 7 months postaccident using the General Health Questionnaire-28 (GHQ), Impact of Event Scale (IES) and a structured questionnaire made for the purpose. Eighteen percent of the 77 rescue workers who participated in the study had GHQ-case-score and 10% had IES-case-score at 7 months using the usual GHQ-cut-off (4/5) and a low IES-cut-off (19/20). For the case-scorers there was a tendency towards increased GHQ- and IES-scores from 3 to 7 months. Five (6%) had post-traumatic stress disorders (PTSD) of low to moderate severity at 7 months.     

Obtained versus programmed reinforcement practical considerations in the treatment of escape-reinforced aggression

This investigation provides a preliminary examination of the difference between programmed and obtained reinforcement rates and its potential influence during treatment of aggression in a natural setting. Following a functional analysis that suggested that the aggression of a boy with autism was negatively reinforced, intervention was implemented by the boy's mother. Concurrent fixed-ratio (FR) 1 FR 1 schedules of escape were arranged for manding and aggression. When mands failed to compete effectively with aggression, obtained reinforcement ratios were calculated; these indicated that obtained reinforcement varied from the programmed schedule for aggression but not for mands. Increasing the rate of prompts for mands resulted in an increase in mands and a decrease in aggression to near-zero levels.     

Positive psychology progress: empirical validation of interventions

Positive psychology has flourished in the last 5 years. The authors review recent developments in the field, including books, meetings, courses, and conferences. They also discuss the newly created classification of character strengths and virtues, a positive complement to the various editions of the Diagnostic and Statistical Manual of Mental Disorders (e. g., American Psychiatric Association, 1994), and present some cross-cultural findings that suggest a surprising ubiquity of strengths and virtues. Finally, the authors focus on psychological interventions that increase individual happiness. In a 6-group, random-assignment, placebo-controlled Internet study, the authors tested 5 purported happiness interventions and 1 plausible control exercise. They found that 3 of the interventions lastingly increased happiness and decreased depressive symptoms. Positive interventions can supplement traditional interventions that relieve suffering and may someday be the practical legacy of positive psychology.     

Remembering experienced and reported events

Reported events are distinguished from personally experienced (autobiographical) events by being known from reports provided from some person or agency—for example, news reports. Memory for reported events has usually been ignored theoretically, or classified as ‘semantic’, though it is clearly concerned with specific, dated episodes. We discuss a number of differences between the information available to specify experienced and reported events, and the possible implications of such differences for remembering the events. A study of retrieval of the two types of events, prompted by cue words, showed that reported events take much longer time to retrieve but are dated as being equally old as experienced events. Effects of using emotion words as cues were similar for the two event types. These results suggest that reported events are forgotten (or become inaccessible) at the same rate as experienced events, but that memories are organized in such a way that reported events often have to be accessed indirectly through memories of associated autobiographical events.     

Aggression of police officers as a function of temperature: An experiment with the fire arms training system

The impact of temperature on police officers' tension, perception, and behaviour in police—offender interactions was investigated. It was hypothesized that increased temperature results in: (1) increased tension; (2) a negative impression of the offender; and (3) aggressive behaviour. The findings confirmed these hypotheses. Finally, some implications of the results are discussed.     

Compathy or Physical Empathy: Implications for the Caregiver Relationship

In this article a case is made for the importance of a previously overlooked phenomenon, physical empathy orcompathy,defined as the physical manifestation of caregiver distress that occurs in the presence of a patient in physical pain or distress. According to the similarity of a caregiver's response to the original symptoms, there can be four types of compathetic response: identical, initiated, transferred, and converted. Controlling for the compathetic response may involve narrowing one's focus and/or changing caregiver attitudes. Finally, we argue that while the compathetic response may be beneficial to the caregiving relationship, enabling the provision of appropriate and adequate humane treatment and care, the caregiver must at times shield against the compathetic response in order to provide care.     

Meaning Beyond Heroic Illusions? Transcendence in Everyday Life

Ernest Becker's theory of human evil is as devastating as it is incisive since he identifies the uniquely human capacity for transcendence as the source of evil. Anticipating our own death, we turn to elaborately constructed heroic illusions that give us meaning and the promise of immortality while treating those with different ideologies as opponents. This article summarizes Becker's interpretation of evil and discusses how transcendence is understood by contemporary thinkers such as Karl Rahner. It concludes by examining breakthroughs in personal relationships as transcendent experiences that are deeply meaningful but do not involve the construction of others as enemies.