Observed Interactions in Families of Adolescent Suicide Attempters

Family interactions of 71 adolescents hospitalized following a suicide attempt were compared with those of 29 psychiatric controls, using observational methods and a 2‐year prospective, longitudinal design. Parent–adolescent dyadic interactions were coded for emotional validation and invalidation, and problem‐solving constructiveness. There were no between‐group differences for parents. However, adolescents who had attempted suicide displayed more emotional invalidation than controls. Within the suicide attempt group, maternal constructive problem solving predicted greater declines in youth suicide ideation, and a similar trend was observed for fathers. Adolescents who displayed more unconstructive problem solving with fathers were more likely to reattempt suicide during the follow up.     

Relation between electrical and mechanical muscle activity in myotonia

The relationship between electrical and mechanical muscle activity was investigated in the case of twenty patients with myotonia congenita. Statistically significant correlations were found to exist between the myotonic discharge spasm and the phases of tension and relaxation in the mechanogram. In vitro examination for 9-anthracene carbonic acid of individual muscle fiber bundles and the examination of a patient with recessive generalised myotonia revealed that the incidence of myotonic discharge spasms is accompanied by development of tension in the muscle. These findings lend support to the assumption that in both forms of myotonia it is the electrical activity that induces delay of contraction, and thus accounts for the pathological muscle behavior in myotonia.     

The projective process: inferences derived from structural analysis.

It is hypothesized that projection is an organizational process involving a synthesis of psychological functions which results in a response which in uniquely representative of a class of important psychological experiences. Implications of this interpretation are discussed.