The development of conscious control in childhood

Developmental data suggest that the growth of executive function in childhood can be understood in terms of the development of consciousness. According to the "levels of consciousness" (LOC) model, there are age-related increases in the highest degree of self-reflection or LOC that children are able to muster in response to situational demands. These increases in LOC with age have consequences for the quality of experience, the potential for recall, the complexity of children's explicit knowledge structures, and the possibility of the conscious control of thought, emotion, and action. The hierarchical LOCs identified by this analysis are also useful for understanding the complex structure of conscious experience in adults, and they provide a metric for measuring the level at which consciousness is operating in specific situations.     

McGraw and the Development of Unaided Walking

McGraw's research and theoretical principles concerning early neuromotor development are reexamined in light of contemporary research—primarily for unaided walking. McGraw studied emergence of higher order control of neuromotor behavior with special emphasis on development from the neonate's reflexive repertoire to the onset of purposive behavior toward the end of the first year. Contemporary research supports and clarifies her observations providing greater detail about the factors involved in the formation of higher order control and amplifying the role of experience, particularly for decreasing disorganization during periods of transition. The development from reflexive to instrumental control is clarified as an alternative to the disorganized phase and to the “disappearance” of “reflexive” behaviors. A cognitive metamorphosis at the end of the first year not only explains the onset of qualitatively new behaviors, including purposive neuromotor actions, but provides the infant with characteristics that define our species: unaided walking, functional object use, and naming. Possible mechanisms underlying this transition are discussed in terms of the emergence of a higher level of consciousness.     

Psychotherapeutische Kurzintervention bei somatisierenden Patienten im Krankenhaus

The manual describes the psychotherapeutic procedure for somatizing patients who are admitted to hospital for diagnostics and therapy of unclear physical complaints. An essential goal of the psychotherapeutic interventions is to achieve an understanding for the disease, in which body, psyche and social relationships are experienced as interrelated. By addressing the health fears and subjective concepts about the onset and maintenance of his physical complaints, the patient feels that he is being taken seriously and understood. Connections between physical symptoms and the suppression of undesirable affects like anger, rage and disappointment are verbalized and understood in greater depth, based on body perception exercises and a symptom diary. The positive experience of understanding and symptom relief obtained in the psychotherapeutic sessions is used for the main goal of the intervention: to motivate the (out- and in-)patient for a regular psychotherapy. Experience up to now has shown that three to five sequential sessions of about 45–60 minutes suffice to attain this therapy goal. Implementation is most successful within an established consultant or liaison service in close cooperation with the ward doctors.     

Qualifizierung und Qualit?tskontrolle in der forensischen Psychiatrie

At the end of the last decade severely violent and sexual crimes by previously convicted persistent offenders initiated a discussion about the necessity of quality control in the forensic psychiatric practice in Switzerland. Subsequently, measures similar to those in Germany were adopted, e.g. the implementation of a specialisation in forensic psychiatry. In addition, they included the creation of commissions with the duty of evaluating the dangerousness of serious offenders, the implementation of a standardized and certificated postgraduate training in forensic psychiatry and guidelines for the qualification of forensic assessment experts and the quality of reports. The following article presents the implemented measures and discusses their possible consequences for the quality of forensic psychiatric work.     

Einige (neuere) Bemerkungen zur freien Assoziation

Three aspects of free association, namely the technical aspect, the aspect of content and the processual aspect, are examined in terms of the ideological development of this concept, which is still central for psychoanalysis. Further, it is shown that the theoretical conception of free association and of its claim and scope as well as the communication of the fundamental rule have changed in the course of time. New studies in basic research could lead to a reassessment of free association.     

Großgruppenidentität und psychosoziale Abwehr

The following considerations have their source in more than 25 years experience with intercultural contacts in teaching and research in China and with psychoanalytic therapies with patients from foreign cultures. They may broaden the inner space of the psychoanalyst by a new dimension, which is not systematically reflected due to the integration of each in the own large group identity but influences the unconscious aspects in the work with people from foreign cultures. The concepts of psychosocial defence (S. Mentzos), of large group identity (V. Volkan) and of the ethnic unconscious (G. Devereux) are helpful instruments for understanding restrictive countertransference reactions, which handicap not only the work in the psychoanalytic setting, but also all intercultural relations.