Attempted suicide among young rural women in the People's Republic of China: possibilities for prevention

This article reports on a sample of 147 women under age 35 living in rural areas in China who had attempted suicide and were treated in the emergency room of hospitals in four different locations. The interview instrument took 2 to 3 hours to complete and included audiotaped in-depth interviews with the patient and family members (separately); detailed evaluation of the circumstances surrounding the attempt, life events, and the family environment; and a formal psychiatric evaluation by an attending-level psychiatrist. Overwhelmingly, the method used by the attempters was poisoning with highly lethal pesticides and organic fertilizers. The women's suicidal behavior was characterized by high levels of impulsivity; little effort to seclude themselves before and after ingesting poison; and low rates of mental illness, including depression. Detailed suggestions are made about ways to implement suicide prevention strategies within the particular social and economic context of China.     

Parents' Experiences with Genetic Counseling After the Birth of a Baby with a Genetic Disorder: An Exploratory Study

Little is known about factors determining which families utilize genetic counseling services. We conducted semistructured interviews with parents of four children born with cystic fibrosis (CF) and ten with Down's syndrome (DS) to ascertain reasons for using, or not using, genetic counseling services in the state of Victoria, Australia. We also explored the usefulness of genetic counseling for the families who had experienced it, and the perceived role of genetic counseling. All mothers of children with CF see a genetic counselor as part of a structured education program following diagnosis through newborn screening. Information overload was identified by them as an important problem. There is no specific program for families of children with DS. Six of them had received genetic counseling and four had not, either because it was not specifically offered to them or because they did not pursue it in the context of misconceptions about its purpose. The timing of the offer of genetic counseling is important and needs to take into account parents' coping strategies after diagnosis. Several parents commented on the favorable aspects of counseling, including getting information they needed to deal with the diagnosis and relief of guilt. Better awareness of genetic counseling by referring physicians, and providing counseling at more than one visit, may contribute to a more effective service.     

Desire,Domination, Sadism,and the Degradation of Love: Reply to Commentaries by Joyce Slochower and Christopher Bonovitz

In her response to commentaries by Joyce Slochower and Christopher Bonovitz, the author further clarifies her understanding of countertransferential sadism and how it compares to other enactments. She addresses Slochower’s concern about psychoanalytic restraint in the relational frame. The author responds to Bonovitz, who used a Fairbairnian perspective to comment on the clinical material she presented, and she considers how Fairbairn’s concepts of the libidinal ego, the rejecting object and the internal saboteur apply to analytic sadism. Finally, she contemplates whether the sadistic enactments described in her paper can be viewed as a prelude to the expansion of analytic love.     

Weight Loss Is Not the Answer: A Well‐being Solution to the “Obesity Problem”

Americans have been gaining weight in recent decades, prompting widespread concern about the health implications of this change. Governments, health practitioners, and the general public all want to know: What is the best way to reduce the health risks associated with higher body weight? The dominant weight‐loss solution to this “obesity problem” encourages individuals to lose weight through behavior change. This solution rests on the assumptions that higher body weight causes health problems, that permanent weight loss is attainable, and that weight loss improves health. But comprehensive reviews of the scientific evidence find mixed, weak, and sometimes contradictory evidence for these premises. We suggest that a different solution to the “obesity problem” is needed – a solution that acknowledges both the multifaceted nature of health and the complex interaction between person and situation that characterizes the connection between weight and health. Thus, we use the lens of social psychological science to propose an alternative, well‐being solution to the “obesity problem”. This solution has the potential to improve health by encouraging eating and exercising for optimal health rather than weight loss, by developing interventions to reduce weight stigma and discrimination, and by helping higher body‐weight people cope with the stress of stigma and discrimination.     

A Cross-Sectional Analysis of Coaches’ Observed Emotion-Behavior Profiles and Adolescent Athletes’ Self-Reported Developmental Outcomes

This investigation explored the relationship between coaches’ emotions and adolescent athletes’ psychosocial development. Participants were 9 male soccer coaches and their female athletes (N = 134, M_age = 14.54). Systematic observation was used to assess coaches’ emotions during practice and athletes completed questionnaires evaluating developmental outcomes. Cluster analyses revealed 2 groups: “calm, inquisitive coaches” (n = 6) and “intense, hustle coaches” (n = 3). Athletes of calm, inquisitive coaches reported significantly more prosocial behaviors and less antisocial behaviors directed toward opponents than athletes of intense, hustle coaches. Thus, coaches’ emotions during practice may be associated with young athletes’ moral behaviors.     

Using latent class growth analysis to form trajectories of premorbid adjustment in schizophrenia

Premorbid adjustment varies widely among individuals with schizophrenia and has been shown to bear significantly on prodrome and onset characteristics, and on cognition, symptoms, and functioning after onset. The current analysis focused on the Premorbid Adjustment Scale, a retrospective measure assessing social and academic function at several time points from early childhood to illness onset. In an effort to explore discrete developmental subtypes, we applied latent class growth analysis to data from the Premorbid Adjustment Scale in our sample of individuals with schizophrenia (N = 208), finding three latent trajectory classes. The first of these classes showed consistently adequate-to-good social and academic functioning before onset; the second showed initially good function and deterioration with time until onset; the third showed poor functioning in childhood that deteriorated further during the years up to diagnosis. The classes differed significantly in terms of age of onset, processing speed, and functioning after onset. There were no significant differences in symptomatology. Our findings illustrate a potentially powerful methodological approach to the problem of heterogeneity in schizophrenia research, and add weight to the notion that aspects of premorbid history may be useful for subtyping schizophrenia patients. The potential implications of this subtyping strategy, including those pertaining to potential genetics studies, are discussed.