Familientherapie

In the field of family therapy besides the emphasis on the autonomy of the different schools (behavioral, psychodynamic, systemic), partly motivated by professional politics, a growing openness for concepts developed in other approaches can be observed. Approaches and results of attachment and affect theory and research find their way into the conceptualization of family processes and family therapy. Processes in the “self” of the therapist are taken into the discussion of therapeutic processes in systemic therapies. Furthermore, new fields of application of family therapy approaches have developed: parents-infant therapy and counseling, therapy of the elder, family medicine and coping with the consequences of the “human genome project”. New research on the empirical validation of relational dynamic concepts and on the evaluation of family therapies show a trend to see the claim for making treatments as short as possible in very relative terms. It is assumed that the family therapeutic approach will become more important in the future.     

Die Therapeutenrotation

For seven years, the so-called “rotation of therapists”, has been a central part of OLITA, the outpatient longterm intensive therapy for alcoholics. Thus far, the participation of several equally responsible therapists in the treatment of a patient has rarely been seen as a defined therapeutic approach. The present work discusses whether the “rotation of therapists” has any essential influence on the success of OLITA. It considers both, potential advantages and disadvantages for patients and therapists and tries to identify conditions under which this approach appears to promote therapeutic interactions. Following an overview of the present knowledge regarding the therapeutic interaction in addiction therapy, a method is described which may be seen as the precedent of the “rotation of therapists”, the multiple psychotherapy. Finally, the practical procedure in OLITA is outlined as well as its theoretical background. New areas of application for the “rotation of therapists” are discussed.     

Cell-mediated immune hypersensitivity is stronger in the left side of the body than the right in healthy young subjects.

More frequent appearance of herpes zoster infection on the left side of the body has been noted. In women, breast cancer occurs more frequently on the left side. It has been suggested that the left neocortex is involved in neuroimmunomodulation via the dopaminergic system. In this study, our purpose was to investigate the possible difference in cell-mediated hypersensitivity between right and left body sides using the tuberculin test with 22 male and 36 female healthy high school students. In the present study, the cell-mediated hypersensitivity was higher in the left side of the body than the right. This difference was slightly more apparent in the girls and may be related to brain asymmetry in neuroimmunomodulation.     

Blood lactate recovery and perceived readiness to start a new run in middle-distance runners during interval training.

The aim of this study was to establish to what extent ratings of perceived readiness to start a new run are dependent on recovery of blood lactate and heart rate during passive recovery between interval runs (4 x 2000 m) of increasing intensity by 15 male college-level middle-distance runners. The Perceived Readiness Rating scale was administered at each minute of recovery. Blood lactate concentration was measured immediately after runs at Min. 3 of recovery after the first and second runs, and, in addition, at Min. 6 of recovery after the third and fourth runs. Heart rate was recorded continuously during the runs and during recovery. The obtained correlation between blood lactate recovery and perceived readiness ratings after the third and fourth runs were -.36 and -.56, respectively (p<.05). Consequently, blood lactate concentration recovery appears to influence the middle-distance runners' perceived readiness estimation to begin a new run. The Perceived Readiness Rating applied by us appears useful in the training of middle-distance runners.     

What Predicts Adolescent Violence in Better-Off Neighborhoods?

Predictors of repeated violent delinquency across ages 13–19 were investigated in a longitudinal sample of 420 urban adolescent males living in high- compared to low-socioeconomic status (SES) neighborhoods. Adolescents in high-SES neighborhoods were significantly less likely than their counterparts in low-SES neighborhoods to engage in serious and violent delinquency. Results indicated that risk factors for later repeated violence among adolescents in high-SES neighborhoods, such as physical aggression, may be biologically based, whereas risk factors for later violence among adolescents in low-SES neighborhoods, such as poor parent–adolescent communication and early intercourse, appeared to be context-dependent. Having positive attitudes toward problem behavior and delinquent peers increased risk for later violence regardless of neighborhood SES type. Theoretical and practical implications of the findings are discussed.     

Zum Matching bei ambulanter Psychotherapie mit Psychosepatienten

In an outpatient setting the matching of patient and psychotherapist is essential as there is – in most cases – no protecting institutional frame. Because of the disturbance in his symbolic function the psychotic patient tends to act out his basic conflict between self- and object-related tendencies. As the patient strives for differentiation and separation, naturally, struggle is involved on various levels. The therapist must feel up to all aspects of this struggle including the more concrete ones. Also psychotic patients always induce an intricate interplay of narcissistic transference and countertransference. The psychotherapist should have the capacity to gain distance from his narcissistic countertransference, which as a rule should find support through supervision. It is necessary that in the patient there exist remnants of relatedness to his fellow-men and also a minimum amount of ego-strength and structure that enables him to cope with a cycle of more or less periodical appointments.     

Happiness Trends Under Democracy: Where Will the New South African

Five years after South Africa's first democratic elections in 1994, life satisfaction and happiness still reflect societal divides sowed by apartheid social engineering. The paper reports the indicators: life satisfaction, happiness and expectations for the future, from national surveys conducted between 1983 and 1999 for the South African Quality-of-Life Trends Project. Post-election euphoria, which saw all South Africans happy and satisfied with life for a brief moment in 1994, raises the question where the new set-level of subjective well-being will eventually come to rest. In 1999, in spite of some gains in living conditions, the level of life satisfaction of blacks has not risen above the mid-point and happiness is only slightly above the mid-point. Meanwhile, whites, who have forfeited their political dominance, continue to score above the mid-point on happiness and life satisfaction. The paper draws on the literature, particularly on quality-of-life trends in reunified Germany and paradoxical trends in African-American life satisfaction when discussing the dynamics underlying South African subjective well-being. It is argued that coping mechanisms may play an important role in determining levels of subjective well-being in the complex situation of South Africa.     

Examination of adolescents' negative thoughts, depressive mood, and family environment.

The focus of this study was the relationship among adolescents' negative thoughts, depressive mood, and family environment. Three hundred eleven students (aged 16 and 17 years) in public and private schools served as subjects. They were administered the Family Environment Scale, the Automatic Thoughts Questionnaire, and the Beck Depression Inventory. Family cohesion was found to be related to the degree of negative thoughts and depressive mood of the adolescents, but perceived control within the family was not.