Guns,Impulsive Angry Behavior,and Mental Disorders: Results from the National Comorbidity Survey Replication (NCS-R)

Analyses from the National Comorbidity Study Replication provide the first nationally representative estimates of the co-occurrence of impulsive angry behavior and possessing or carrying a gun among adults with and without certain mental disorders and demographic characteristics. The study found that a large number of individuals in the United States self-report patterns of impulsive angry behavior and also possess firearms at home (8.9%) or carry guns outside the home (1.5%). These data document associations of numerous common mental disorders and combinations of angry behavior with gun access. Because only a small proportion of persons with this risky combination have ever been involuntarily hospitalized for a mental health problem, most will not be subject to existing mental health-related legal restrictions on firearms resulting from a history of involuntary commitment. Excluding a large proportion of the general population from gun possession is also not likely to be feasible. Behavioral risk-based approaches to firearms restriction, such as expanding the definition of gun-prohibited persons to include those with violent misdemeanor convictions and multiple DUI convictions, could be a more effective public health policy to prevent gun violence in the population. Copyright © 2015 John Wiley & Sons, Ltd.     

The professionalization of psychology within the apartheid state 1948-1978

When the National Party came to power in South Africa in 1948 it inherited an ageing colonial psychiatric system underpinned by British-based mental health legislation promulgated in 1916. This situation remained substantially unchanged until the late 1960s, despite the apartheid government's far-reaching attempts to restructure other aspects of the social landscape. The 1966 assassination of South Africa's prime minister by a schizophrenic parliamentary messenger led directly to a series of commissions of enquiry into the management of mental health services, followed by new mental health legislation in 1973 and the compulsory registration of clinical psychologists. The increasing professionalization of psychology, and the apartheid state's policy in relation to the profession, are considered in the light of local and international influences. Unlike the Nazi and Soviet governments, the apartheid state did not seek to create a new psychology and psychiatry in its own image but was instead motivated by a desire to emulate Western models and to identify and control the dangerous individual.     

Cognitive impairment in dementia: correlations with atrophy and cerebrovascular disease quantified by magnetic resonance imaging

This project assessed the contributions of atrophy and cerebrovascular disease (CVD) to cognitive impairment in dementia. Ten individuals with clinically diagnosed pure VaD were age-, sex-, and education-matched to individuals with AD. All participants underwent neuropsychological testing and MRI which were processed to generate quantitative indices of atrophy and CVD. A linear regression, including thalamic lesion and vCSF volumes, predicted cognitive status (R2 = .74; p < .0005). Three VaD subgroups were identified: thalamic lesion (n = 4), hippocampal infarcts (n = 3), and other (n = 3). In participants without thalamic lesion, vCSF predicted general cognition (R2 = .48), hippocampal atrophy predicted memory impairment (R2 = .33), and white matter lesions predicted executive dysfunction (R2 = .48). Both atrophy and CVD burden correlated highly with cognitive impairment and should be simultaneously assessed in studies of brain-behaviour relations in dementia.     

“An Unchanging God in a Changing World”: Sexual Practice and Decision-Making among Christian Women in South Africa

Journal of Religion and Health - This study explored the relationship between sexual health and religion among young, Pentecostal Christian women navigating the transition to adulthood in...     

South African International Migration and its Impact on Older Family Members

In this article, we explore the impact of South African families’ emigration on parents/grandparents who must renegotiate their lives in their loved ones’ physical absence. We adopted a transnational perspective in a bigger qualitative project to consider both sides of the migratory spectrum. Here we focus on elderly family members who remain behind—a group largely neglected in prior research. Our findings illustrate the complex emotions and relational changes experienced by elderly people whose families emigrate. New technologies bridge distances, allowing new ways to connect and take care of each other, and of re-imagining transnational relationships and what constitutes family life, but these bridges cannot negate the loss experienced by those remaining. People have to make sense of the emigration and forge new relational bonds with remaining family members. Our findings stress grandparents’ meaningful role in a family system and highlight some gendered and racial differences in families’ experiences.     

Ethical and social dilemmas in community-based controlled trials in situations of poverty: a view from a South African project

All psychological and social research presents ethical dilemmas, many of which centre around the difficulties which flow from the power imbalances between those conducting the research and the research respondents or participants. Issues of power are magnified in research undertaken in contexts of poverty, and there is a burgeoning literature on ethical issues in research in developing countries. In this article, we augment the existing literature by focusing on the experiences of an assessor working in a controlled trial of a mother-infant intervention in a poor South African community. We consider issues of community expectations, the presentation to our project of physical health problems, the issue of HIV/AIDS, cultural beliefs which impact on the research, child protection issues, and the tensions between research assessment and ubuntu--a cultural norm which requires helpful engagement with others. We suggest that our experiences may assist with the development of further research.     

Perspectives in psychology

The Psychological Record -