Three faces of context and their implications for career: A study of public sector careers cut short

This paper examines the impact of context on careers. It is based on a study of senior managers in an English local authority. It offers two important contributions: first, an empirical contribution examining how context matters to individuals in their career-making in the setting of the UK public sector. Our findings point to three aspects or faces of context: proximal events, ideology and enduring structural features. The first, context as ideology, attends to meaning-making that is collective in nature, and that incorporates concepts of power, domination, subordination and resistance. Our second refers to the enduring structural features. These are on-going trends and developments, predictable and traceable over the medium to long-term which offer rules and resources, thus structuring opportunity and constraint. Finally, the third face, context as proximal events, refers to (often unexpected) contingencies that arise at particular moments. Although bounded both spatially and temporally, they can significantly impact on career decision making. The second contribution of the paper builds upon this empirical base to develop theoretical and conceptual understanding of the link between career and context, illustrating the interconnectedness of the various faces of context and the dynamic ways in which these influence career-making over time.     

Dishabituation in Aplysia can involve either reversal of habituation or superimposed sensitization

Dishabituation has been thought to be due either to reversal of the process of habituation or to a second process equivalent to sensitization superimposed on habituation. One way to address this question is by testing whether dishabituation and sensitization can be dissociated. Previous studies using this approach in Aplysia have come to different conclusions about the nature of dishabituation, perhaps because those studies differed in many respects, including (1) whether they also observed transient behavioral inhibition, and (2) whether they used test stimuli that activated the LE siphon sensory neurons or as yet unidentified sensory neurons. To attempt to resolve the apparent contradictions between the previous studies, we have explored the importance of these two factors by performing a parametric study of dishabituation and sensitization of gill withdrawal in a simplified preparation that does not exhibit transient behavioral inhibition, using two different test stimuli that are known to activate the LE (Touch) or unidentified (Not Touch) sensory neurons. We find that dishabituation and sensitization in this preparation have similar time courses and generally similar functions of shock intensity. However, under one condition, with the Not Touch stimulus 2.5 min after the shock, dishabituation has a reverse effect of shock intensity. Additional analyses suggest that dishabituation with the Not Touch stimulus 2.5 min after the shock is due to reversal of habituation, whereas 12.5 min after the shock, dishabituation is due to superimposed sensitization. These results thus suggest that dishabituation may involve either process in the same preparation, and begin to define the conditions that favor one or the other.     

COMT genotype influences prefrontal response to emotional distraction

Early studies of genetic effects on brain activity have been conducted to investigate primarily either the influence of polymorphisms in dopaminergic genes, especially the catechol-O-methyltransferase (COMT) gene, on prefrontal cognitive processes such as working memory, or that of polymorphisms in the serotonin transporter gene on the amygdala response to threatening stimuli. Here, we address genetic influences on the neural systems underlying cognitive-affective interactions. Specifically, we assess the effect of the COMT val¹⁵⁸met polymorphism on frontal regulation of attention under emotional distraction. Healthy volunteers were scanned while performing a house-matching task with affectively negative versus neutral distractors. Effects of val allele load were examined on frontal regions associated with attentional control and emotion regulation, and on parahippocampal regions associated with perception of houses. As we predicted, val load correlated positively with activity in control- and task-related regions during performance under emotional distraction. These findings provide an initial step toward identifying genetic contributions to interindividual variability in recruitment of mechanisms that regulate affective processing.     

Effectiveness of dialectical behaviour therapy for borderline personality disorder in an inpatient setting

This study evaluates the effectiveness of dialectical behaviour therapy (DBT) for borderline personality disorder (BPD) in an unselected, comorbid population seeking 3-month inpatient treatment. We studied 50 consecutively admitted individuals (44 women, six men) with BPD as defined by DSM-IV at three time points (at admission, at discharge, and at the 15-month follow-up). For the clinical diagnoses, we used the Structured Clinical Interview for DSM-IV (SCID) and compared the frequencies of comorbid axis I and axis II disorders at admission and at the 15-month follow-up. Overall, participants showed a high degree of comorbidity. Psychopathology was significantly reduced at post-treatment and at follow-up. Effect sizes for outcome measures were within the range of those of previous studies. Our findings support the notion that the results of the DBT efficacy research can be generalized to an inpatient setting and to patients with BPD disorder with high comorbidity.     

Psychodynamic focal group treatment for psychosomatic inpatients--with an emphasis on work-related conflicts

Conflicts arising from the work setting have remained a neglected issue in psychotherapy. To address this, the present study investigated the effectiveness of a manualized focal group treatment for psychotherapeutic inpatients suffering from vocational strains and conflicts and identified predictors of outcome. Cohorts of patients were assigned either to a treatment (N=144) or control condition (N=135). The group therapy intervention was found to be highly accepted by participants who were also more optimistic about returning to work and more favorable in their evaluations of treatment than patients in the treatment-as-usual condition. Group climate was found to be a predictor of favorable outcome. The findings suggest that a group therapy intervention with a strong emphasis on motivations and attitudes about work may be particularly suitable to deal with vocational conflicts and strains.     

Mortality salience, martyrdom, and military might: the great satan versus the axis of evil

Study 1 investigated the effect of mortality salience on support for martyrdom attacks among Iranian college students. Participants were randomly assigned to answer questions about either their own death or an aversive topic unrelated to death and then evaluated materials from fellow students who either supported or opposed martyrdom attacks against the United States. Whereas control participants preferred the student who opposed martyrdom, participants reminded of death preferred the student who supported martyrdom and indicated they were more likely to consider such activities themselves. Study 2 investigated the effect of mortality salience on American college students' support for extreme military interventions by American forces that could kill thousands of civilians. Mortality salience increased support for such measures among politically conservative but not politically liberal students. The roles of existential fear, cultural worldviews, and construing one's nation as pursing a heroic battle against evil in advocacy of violence were discussed.     

LOVING THE PATIENT AS THE BASIS FOR TREATMENT

The author’s conviction is that a successful treatment is based on feelings of love by the therapist/analyst toward his or her patients. One should differentiate between love that is based on biological erotic-sexual drives and emotional love without erotic biological drive. The treatment process, especially for severely disturbed personalities, should be regarded as a process of new birth and new kind of development. Thus what the patient needs most is a kind of parental “primary love” (according to Balint). This paper presents a full report of a session through which the basic love to the patient is illustrated as enabling the treatment.Yecheskiel Cohen, Ph.D., is a member of the Israeli Psychoanalytic Society and the International Psychoanalytic Association.A version of this paper was presented at a conference of the Israel Psychoanalytic Society, May 2004.     

Attentional dysfunction, social perception, and social competence: what is the nature of the relationship?

The aim of this study was to examine the nature of the relationship between attentional dysfunction and social competence deficits in patients with schizophrenia. Attentional functioning, social perception, and social competence were assessed in 56 inpatients. Measures of vigilance and span of apprehension were administered to assess attentional functioning. Social perception was assessed with an audiovisual measure of affect recognition. Social competence was rated from a role-play task. Span of apprehension and auditory vigilance emerged as specific predictors of social competence. Affect recognition was tested as a mediator and a moderator of the relationship between attentional dysfunction and social competence. Affect recognition was found to moderate the relationship between span of apprehension and social competence.