Prevalence and correlates of sexual morbidity in long-term breast cancer survivors

Objective: Breast cancer survivors report adverse sexual effects (sexual morbidity) such as disrupted sexual function, sexual distress and body dissatisfaction. However, most studies have failed to evaluate the persistence of these effects in long-term survivors. The present study comprehensively assessed the prevalence and predictors of sexual/body image problems among survivors three or more years post diagnosis.

Design/outcome measures: Eighty-three breast cancer survivors completed surveys a median of seven years post diagnosis. Survey items probed demographic, diagnostic and clinical information, in addition to sexual activity, sexual function (Female Sexual Function Index [FSFI]), body image, and distress regarding body changes and sexual problems (Female Sexual Distress Scale-revised; FSDS-R).

Results: Seventy-seven percent of all participants and 60% of sexually active participants qualified for sexual dysfunction based on the FSFI. Between 37 and 51% met criteria for female sexual dysfunction, based on two FSDS-R clinical cut-offs. Body satisfaction was worse than normative values, while body change stress was mid-range. Notable sexual morbidity predictors included mastectomy, which was associated with worse sexual/body change distress, and post-treatment weight gain, which predicted greater body dissatisfaction/body change stress.

Conclusions: Breast cancer survivors report substantial sexual morbidity years after treatment, especially after mastectomy or post-treatment weight gain. Breast cancer patients and their providers should be aware of these potential sexual effects.     

Change and Stability in Attitudes Toward Violence During ISAF Service

A Swedish contingent to the International Security Assistance Force (ISAF; N = approx. 320) was studied before and after deployment to Afghanistan to assess if the mission and experiences on it affected attitudes toward violence. Attitudes toward war violence and penal violence were assessed across t = 1 and t = 2, as were the effects of combat exposure on change and stability in attitudes. It was hypothesized that the attitudes would remain stable across the deployment due to their importance to the soldierly identity, but that experiences of combat exposure would cause an increase in the propensity toward change. Results demonstrate that attitudes did not change between the pre- and postdeployment stages. Unexpectedly, increasing levels of combat exposure did not predict higher rates of change, but rather increased stability in attitudes toward violence. The results demonstrate that in terms of the willingness to use force, peacekeeping deployments do not have detrimental effects on soldiers.     

The role of beliefs and values in the evolution of planetary consciousness

Science has yet to realize some of the profound differences in thinking that are entailed in modern physics. Among these include differences in our beliefs about relationships. The ideas of a discrete planetary consciousness come to the fore as we see how living and non‐living systems operate. Planetary values such as non‐violence are discussed. After this, there is an introduction to the quantum and quantum electromagnetic relations that exist among the brain and the earth.     

Receiving slaps,receiving words. The violence of separation in a public service time limited psychotherapy group for adolescents

The authors propose a reflection on a time-limited psychoanalytic group for children, adolescents and families, run in a public service. Some patients in the group give accounts of violent relationships and traumatic experiences. The accounts of violent, interpersonal and intrapsychic relationships influence the group’s capacity of thinking, which leads to difficulties in the processing of symbolic aspects. The fundamental question is that of whether it is possible to work in a time-limited, institutional, psychoanalytical framework, in which psychotherapists have to attempt to give meaning to experiences which take place in a repetitive present, in a space/time in which the prospect of a conclusion appears to be inconceivable. By means of a clinical example, and with particular emphasis on the first sessions and the dream brought up by a patient who has been a victim of domestic violence, the authors discuss the possibility of modifying, chiefly from within, the feeling of the immutability of early psychic material, which is itself intrinsically violent.     

Building Self-Efficacy Through Women-Centered Ropes Course Experiences

This paper describes our experiences as facilitators in adventure-based ropes course training. It summarizes experiences with different groups that raise rich and complex issues about the use of adventure-based learning for personal growth and professional development. These groups include women executives, women living in public housing who have formed a women's resource group, adolescent women in treatment, adolescents from currently diverse backgrounds, graduate students, and women who have been sexually abused. These groups reflect the diversity of female participants who have engaged in ropes course training. Although participants are diverse, deep commonalities exist in the kinds of issues they are addressing in ropes course programs. Positive changes in women's abilities to take risks, practice assertive leadership, solve problems effectively, and feel more competent in general, can result from participation in a ropes course experience. In this article, the reader will see how one fixed ropes course element can be used to create a variety of metaphors for diverse groups of participants.     

Prostitution and the Invisibility of Harm

Abstract

The harm of prostitution is socially invisible, and it is also invisible in the law, in public health, and in psychology. This article addresses origins of this invisibility, how words in current usage promote the invisibility of prostitution's harm, and how public health perspectives and psychological theory tend to ignore the harm done by men to women in prostitution. Literature which documents the overwhelming physical and psychological harm to those in prostitution is summarized here. The interconnectedness of racism, colonialism, and child sexual assault with prostitution is discussed.     

“The Test of a Civilization Is the Way that It Cares for Its Helpless Members”: Violence Against Older Women

Violence against women is a major health risk nationally and internationally. However, despite its impact, violence against older women remains an understudied area. Abuse of older women is frequently unrecognized unless encompassed under “elder abuse.” The purpose of this article is to (1) provide a summary of current research on violence against older women, (2) describe methodological biases in research on violence against older women, (3) discuss methodological biases that have kept the problem of violence against older women hidden from view, and (4) propose new directions for feminist research, advocacy, and therapy.     

Knowledge and Attitudes of Occupational Therapy Practitioners Regarding Wife Abuse

ABSTRACT

The purpose of this study was to determine if occupational therapists possess the ability to identify wife abuse by measuring their knowledge and attitudes about such abuse. A sample of 202 occupational therapists answered an average of 65% of knowledge questions correctly. Respondents were found to have empathic attitudes towards wife abuse and its victims, but were only slightly positive about the role occupational therapy should play in the identification of wife abuse. Knowledge and attitudes regarding wife abuse and the role of occupational therapy in its identification were all found to be significantly positively correlated.     

Occupational Therapy's Role with Victims of Domestic Violence

ABSTRACT

Occupational therapists encounter individuals who are victims of domestic violence in many different settings. The role of the occupational therapist with each client depends on that client's specific needs, the treatment setting, and the skills and beliefs of the therapist. This article presents a theoretical argument for why the occupational therapist should choose to be involved in the treatment of domestic violence. The Model of Human Occupation provides a framework for understanding functional issues related to domestic violence. Methods of assessment and treatment are presented using this model. A continuum of levels of involvement including referrals for resources or treatment, direct and indirect treatment and program consultation is offered. Each level is illustrated with case vignettes demonstrating the therapist's role. Issues related to the challenge of working in domestic violence and reasons that women may refuse intervention are also discussed.     

This is your brain on violent video games: Neural desensitization to violence predicts increased aggression following violent video game exposure

Previous research has shown that media violence exposure can cause desensitization to violence, which in theory can increase aggression. However, no study to date has demonstrated this association. In the present experiment, participants played a violent or nonviolent video game, viewed violent and nonviolent photos while their brain activity was measured, and then gave an ostensible opponent unpleasant noise blasts. Participants low in previous exposure to video game violence who played a violent (relative to a nonviolent) game showed a reduction in the P3 component of the event-related brain potential (ERP) to violent images (indicating physiological desensitization), and this brain response mediated the effect of video game content on subsequent aggressive behavior. These data provide the first experimental evidence linking violence desensitization with increased aggression, and show that a neural marker of this process can at least partially account for the causal link between violent game exposure and aggression.