Unforgetting and Excess,the Re-creation and Re-finding of Suppressed Sexuality

This essay addresses the American term romance, or passion, so as to reflect on the reasons for its fading in a long-standing relationship. It is suggested that passion is overcoming: excitement is linked to a kind of “oedipal triumph” over internalized parents, incorporated in a prohibiting superego. In a somewhat analogous manner, bodily pleasures become revitalized and resuscitated by breaking the barriers erected around them by “forgetting,” the oblivion that grows with development and socialization.

“Unforgetting” is a complex process, deeply involved with the vicissitudes of inner objects, or structures, which can be achieved during a couple's romance as a narrative over time.     

Disentangling the Relationships Among Self-Reflection,Insight, and Subjective Well-Being: The Role of Dysfunctional Attitudes and Core Self-Evaluations

Central to many psychological schools of thought is the notion that self-reflection leads to self-insight which, in turn, leads to enhanced well-being. However, empirical research has found that although self-insight is typically associated with well-being, self-reflection is frequently not associated with self-insight or well-being. Past attempts to understand this conundrum have tended to focus on the role of ruminative self-refection. Using a different approach this study investigates the roles of dysfunctional attitudes and positive core self-evaluations. Using data from 227 participants, two key findings are reported: first, dysfunctional attitudes suppress the relationship between self-reflection and self-insight; and second, positive core self-evaluations mediate the relationship between self-insight and subjective well-being. These two findings imply that a path exists from self-reflection to subjective well-being through self-insight and positive core self-evaluations. This path model was found to be a good fit. Implications for future research and positive psychological practice are discussed.     

Reflection-Impulsivity and Locus of Control in Emotionally Disturbed Children

Impulsive and reflective emotionally disturbed children were compared on their perceived locus of control. Contrary to prediction, there were no differences in locus of control for these two groups.     

Feasibility of a Telephone Intervention for HIV Patients and Their Informal Caregivers

Objectives: To assess the feasibility of a telephone intervention for HIV-positive patients and their caregivers. Methods: HIV-positive participants, some co-enrolled with their informal caregiver, enrolled in this randomized study. Intervention-arm participants (124 patients and 76 caregivers; dyads assigned to same arm) received up to 12 scheduled calls from an interventionist over 6 months. Results: An average of 7.6 (SD = 3.0) calls to each participant was completed; 66.5% received at least 6 calls; 43.0% received more than 75% of the intervention (defined as ‘study adherent’). Having a higher T-cell count was associated with call adherence (p = .014); cocaine use was associated with reduced call adherence for both patients (p = .019) and caregivers (p = .083). Common telephone themes included problems with mood, relationships, finances, housing, and work; interventions (e.g., referral for mental health care) were initiated in response to these. Participant satisfaction was high, and many reported benefits from the intervention. Conclusions: Using a telephone intervention with HIV-positive patients and their caregivers is a feasible and potentially beneficial intervention.     

Depression, anhedonia, and psychomotor symptoms: the role of dopaminergic neurocircuitry

The heterogeneity of major depression suggests that multiple neurocircuits and neurochemicals are involved in its pathogenesis. Anhedonia and psychomotor symptoms are, however, particularly characteristic features of major depression and may provide insights into its underlying psychobiology. Importantly, these symptoms appear to be mediated by dopaminergic mesolimbic and mesostriatal projections, the function of which is, in turn, influenced by key gene variants and environment stressors. Indeed, there is growing evidence of the way in which the dopaminergic system is associated with cognitive-affective disturbances in depression, and provides a useful target for therapeutic interventions. At the same time, a range of other systems are likely to contribute to the psychobiology of this condition.     

Contents of Volume 16

Volume Contents

Contents of Volume 16     

“Upbuilding Examples” for Adults Close to Children

Both in formal situations (as school teachers, football trainers, etc.) and in many, often unpredictable informal situations (both inside and outside institutions)—adults come close to children. Whether we intend it or not, we continually give them examples of what it is to live as a human being, and thereby we have a pedagogical responsibility. I sketch what it could mean to let ourselves “be built up”, in a Kierkegaardian sense, on the foundation of unconditional love, presupposing that this love is possible for all human beings. Kierkegaard’s Upbuilding discourses invite each reader to engage in a dialogue with the possibilities in the text. Thereby the reader may become aware of his or her present situation in life and see possible alternatives. These discourses or “talks” (taler in Danish) exemplify a manner of indirect communication which perhaps may be transferred to encounters with works of art in general: How could I let examples in literature, pictures, films and music invite and challenge me—to ask myself who I am right now and who I ought to be? My aim is to present an alternative to the instrumental advices that adults are given today. I attempt to clarify the leading concept “upbuilding examples”, sketch the difference between upbuilding, education and Bildung, refer to works of art that seem to have upbuilding possibilities, and consider why upbuilding examples should be studied and how they could be studied in small self-governed groups of adults.     

Effects of BIM-22015, an analog of ACTH4-10, on functional recovery after frontal cortex injury.

Male rats, 90-100 days old, with frontal cortex lesions were given either subcutaneous sterile water (SW) as a vehicle control or 1, 10, or 100 micrograms of BIM-22015 every other day for 20 days. Brain-injured subjects tested in the Morris water maze with either 10 micrograms BIM-22015 or SW took significantly more trials than sham-operated rats to locate a submerged platform eight consecutive times within 60 s. The animals given 1 or 100 micrograms BIM-22015 took significantly fewer trials to reach criterion than brain-injured animals in the other drug treatment groups. On a percentage of savings, measured 8 days after reaching criterion, the brain-injured subjects given 1, 10, or 100 micrograms BIM-22015 did not differ from sham-operated rats. In contrast, the brain-injured animals given SW took longer to find the submerged platform than they did during the initial training. To assess long-term effects of the ACTH analog treatment, rats were trained on a delayed spatial alternation task 30 days after receiving the last injection. On this task, brain-injured rats treated with the 10-micrograms dose performed significantly better than those given sterile water. Acetylcholinesterase (AChE)-labeled neurons counted in the nucleus basalis magnocellularis indicated that rats with frontal cortex damage given the 10-micrograms treatment did not differ from the sham controls and had significantly more AChE-positive neurons than injured counterparts treated with SW or 100 micrograms.