Family factors associated with self‐harm in adults: a systematic review

The aim of this study was to systematically review the literature pertaining to family dynamics in the adult self‐harming population. PsycINFO, Medline, Cumulative Index to Nursing and Allied Health Literature (CINAHL) and Applied Social Sciences Index and Abstracts (ASSIA) were searched for studies containing two keywords, one relating to self‐harm and the second relating to a family relationship. The final search was run on 4 August 2017. The electronic search yielded a total of 2,623 studies; 119 texts were selected for full review and twenty‐seven articles were included in the analysis. Thematic analysis was used to synthesize the results. Results indicated that insecure parental attachments, neglectful, overprotective, disempowering and abusive parenting were associated with self‐harm. Similarly, insecure attachments and abusive relationships with romantic partners were linked to self‐harm. Finally, self‐harm was found to be related to poor family functioning.     

Many moral buttons or just one? Evidence from emotional facial expressions

We investigated whether moral violations involving harm selectively elicit anger, whereas purity violations selectively elicit disgust, as predicted by the Moral Foundations Theory (MFT). We analysed participants’ spontaneous facial expressions as they listened to scenarios depicting moral violations of harm and purity. As predicted by MFT, anger reactions were elicited more frequently by harmful than by impure actions. However, violations of purity elicited more smiling reactions and expressions of anger than of disgust. This effect was found both in a classic set of scenarios and in a new set in which the different kinds of violations were matched on weirdness. Overall, these findings are at odds with predictions derived from MFT and provide support for “monist” accounts that posit harm at the basis of all moral violations. However, we found that smiles were differentially linked to purity violations, which leaves open the possibility of distinct moral modules.     

Ecological and ethical issues in virtual reality research: A call for increased scrutiny

We argue that moral judgment studies currently conducted utilizing virtual reality (VR) devices must confront a dilemma as a result of how virtual environments are designed and how those environments are experienced. We first begin by describing the contexts present in paradigmatic cases of naturalistic moral judgments. We then compare these contexts to current traditional (vignette-based) and VR-based moral judgment research. We show that, contra to paradigmatic cases, vignette-based and VR-based moral judgment research often fails to accurately model the situational features of paradigmatic moral judgments. In particular, we compare and contrast six recent VR studies to support our view that only simulations high in context-realism and perspectival-fidelity can produce “virtually-real experiences.” After analyzing the constituents of a virtually-real experience, we go on to propose guidelines for the creation of VR studies. These guidelines serve two purposes. First, we aim to increase the ecological validity of such studies to advance our understanding of moral judgments. Second, we believe that such guidelines should inform how Institutional Review Boards assess VR research. We show that our guidelines are urgently needed, given the current lax review standards in place.     

自发性观点采择对宽恕不同程度人际伤害的影响

设计并采用“换位体验”的社会互动范式,结合自陈报告法和情感错误归因程序的内隐态度研究范式,通过2个实验比较了面对不同程度的人际伤害,自发性观点采择和语言劝说这两种不同的人际伤害消解方式分别对外显和内隐宽恕的影响。结果发现：无论面对何种程度的人际伤害,（1）与自发性观点采择相比,语言劝说可以有效的促进外显宽恕;（2）自发性观点采择可以有效减少负面内隐态度,促进内隐宽恕,而语言劝说会提高负面内隐态度,阻碍内隐宽恕。该研究结果说明不同人际伤害消解方式对内隐和外显宽恕的影响是不同的,同时也证明了观点采择可以在人际互动中自发产生,并且会对人际关系产生隐性影响。     

Causalité juridique et imputabilité médicale : l’incidence de l’approche juridique du lien de causalité sur la pratique expertale en droit de la réparation du dommage corporel

Traditionally, a “direct and certain” causal link was required between fault and harm in order to engage an individual's compensatory liability. However, upon reading case law, it is possible to note that causality no longer necessarily has to be either direct or certain. Indeed, although the presence of a previous condition long enabled the exclusion of a direct link between a harmful event and its aftereffects, the French Court of Appeal (Cour de Cassation) now considers that pathological predispositions must no longer be taken into account (in respect of an exclusion or a reduction in the right to compensation) if these were latent, and only revealed by the harmful event. Similarly, on occasion the plaintiffs support their claims with bundles of evidence and arguments that can but force magistrates to set aside the absence of absolute certainty on a scientific level. Presumptions of accountability have even been put forward in some areas of personal injury compensation (traffic accidents and workplace accidents). The conduct and content of forensic expertises are then disrupted, both for the expert and for the victim's lawyer.     

Working with chronic and relentless self‐hatred,self‐harm,and existential shame: a clinical study and reflections (Paper 2 of 2)

This second of two papers focuses on the shame which emerged in the first 14 years of analysis of a woman who was bulimic, self‐harmed, and repeatedly described herself as ‘feeling like a piece of shit’. To explore this intense and pervasive shame I draw on Jung's and Laplanche's emphasis on experiences of unresolvable, non‐pathological ‘foreignness’ or ‘otherness’ at the heart of the psyche. Images, metaphors, elements of clinical experience, and working hypotheses from a number of analytic traditions are used to flesh out this exploration. These include Kilborne's use of Pirandello's image of shame as like a ‘hole in the paper sky’ which, I suggest, points to a crack in subjectivity, and reveals our belief in the efficacy of the self to be illusory. Hultberg's observations on shame as having an existential mode (function) are also explored, as is the nature of analytic truth. Using these ideas I describe my patient's process of finding some small but freeing space in relation to her shame and self‐hatred. Through enduring and learning from her shame in analysis she realized that it was part of a desperate unconscious attempt to draw close to her troubled father and so to ‘love him better’.     

Wickedness,Idleness and Basic Income

Res Publica - This paper critically analyses the position that basic income schemes foster idleness and thereby create harm. The view is based on an alleged empirical link between idleness and...     

Motivational Interviewing in Primary Care

Healthcare systems are in the process of reforming themselves to better meet the needs of people with, or at risk of developing, chronic diseases and long term conditions. One goal of these efforts is the coproduction of activated, informed, engaged and motivated patients and citizens. The clinical, public health and financial benefits of achieving such a goal may be dramatic. Motivational Interviewing (MI) is a proven and practical front-line approach which can help deliver this goal whilst also helping to deliver such policy objectives and intermediate outcomes as increased levels of patient centered care, participatory or shared decision making, evidence-based healthcare and improved clinician-patient relationships. Until now, MI has been passively diffusing through the system as a result of the innovation and early uptake by insightful individuals and organizations. If healthcare systems want to breakthrough to higher levels of performance, investment in the conscious and deliberate implementation of MI into front-line settings may prove helpful.     

Human physical aggression as a function of alcohol and threat of harm

The present study investigated the effect of threat of physical harm on the aggressive behavior of intoxicated and nonintoxicated subjects. Forty male undergraduates competed in a reaction time task in which they could deliver shock to an increasingly provocative opponent. In the threat condition, subjects could be hurt by the opponent (they wore a shock electrode), while in the no-threat condition, they could not be hurt by the opponent (the electrode was removed prior to the competition). The results indicated that under conditions of low provocation, the intoxicated subjects behaved more aggressively than the nonintoxicated subjects in both the threatening and nonthreatening condition. However, under conditions of increasing provocation, only the intoxicated subjects in the threatening condition increased their shock settings.