Typical-Atypical Interactions: One Patient’s Experience of Weight Bias in an Inpatient Eating Disorder Treatment Setting

Abstract

This article examines one patient’s experiences with weigh bias in an inpatient eating disorder treatment setting with a focus on interactions between the patient and her primary therapist. These therapeutic interactions had multiple unintended consequences, including bolstering feelings of denial, modeling of disordered behaviors, and disrupting the therapeutic alliance. Additional instances of weight bias with other treatment professionals, including an inpatient nutritionist and psychiatrist, are briefly discussed. The article ends with several brief recommendations for how clinicians can more skillfully approach issues of weight and size in the therapeutic alliance in order to resist size-related oppressions rather than reinforce them.     

The Effects of Attentional Focus Instructions and Task Difficulty in a Paced Fine Motor Skill

Abstract

An external focus of attention is considered superior to an internal focus for learning and performance. However, findings specific to changing the task difficulty are inconsistent. The present study used a reciprocal aiming task to determine the effects of attentional focus on motor performance using speed-accuracy paradigm. We constrained timing to examine how internal and external focus of attention influenced accuracy when task difficulty changes. The results indicated greater accuracy on the right target and greater consistency on both targets for the external focus condition, regardless of task difficulty. Our results uniquely demonstrated how instruction modified a speed-accuracy task.     

Introduction: the image of Islam in Russia

ABSTRACT

Russia has a long, complicated and, at times, contradictory relationship with Islam and Muslims. Islam is classified as one of the ‘traditional’ religions, along with Christianity, Judaism and Buddhism. Throughout Russia’s history across the centuries, the efforts by the state and Muslims to define their relationship have led to contradictory outcomes. This special issue grew out of a conference that took place in 2016, seeking to explore the complicated nature of the image of Islam in Russia from a multidisciplinary perspective. A collection of six contributions explore how Islam is viewed and projected in the public and media sphere in contemporary Russia, including state attempts to ‘manage’ the development of Islam, initiatives to transform the public image of Muslims and the charitable work of a mosque at the local level.     

Analysis and Discrimination of Surface Electromyographic Features for Parkinson’s Disease during Elbow Flexion Movements

Abstract

Parkinson’s disease (PD) is the second most common neurodegenerative disorder. Early intervention/treatment relies on early diagnosis of PD. There is increasing interest in methods based on electromyography measurements of PD patients because of its noninvasiveness. Thus, this study was to investigate electromyographic (EMG) characteristics of the upper limb between PD patients and healthy control subjects using EMG, and to distinguish PD patients from healthy control subjects according to the EMG information using a support vector machine (SVM) classifier. Sixteen right-handed PD patients and 25 right-handed healthy subjects participated in experiments involving elbow flexion movement. The frequency power, duration, skewness, recurrence rate, and correlation dimension of EMG signals and success rate for the right hand and the skewness of EMG signals for the left hand were found to be significantly different between the two groups. This information was subsequently used to distinguish PD patients from healthy control subjects using the SVM classifier to obtain a mean accuracy of 87.02%. Although the results may not be immediately available to use in clinical applications, the safety, simplicity and speed of the system still merits further consideration. Enhancing performance accuracy and examining PD patients in different stages of disease are anticipated in future investigations.     

自我嗓音吸引力的评价偏向及抑郁的作用

探讨自我嗓音吸引力评价的积极偏向及抑郁因素的作用。以34名女性和32名男性大学生为被试,采用主观评定法分别对自我、熟人和陌生他人的嗓音吸引力进行评价,同时施测贝克抑郁量表。结果显示:男性和女性被试均对自我嗓音表现出更高评价,随着抑郁分数的增高,女性对自我嗓音吸引力的评价会随之降低。结果提示嗓音吸引力评价的自我积极偏向具有稳定性并与抑郁关系密切,女性抑郁程度越高,自我嗓音吸引力评价越低。     

A structural equation model of intuitive eating with adolescents

IntroductionThe tendency to eat by paying attention and respecting the body's hunger and satiety cues is called intuitive eating. This eating behavior has been linked to positive health and well-being outcomes.ObjectiveThe purpose of this study was to test a global model linking intuitive eating with self-esteem, body esteem, media influence and including fear of negative appearance evaluation in adolescents’ boys and girls.MethodIn total, 740 adolescent high school students (51.5% girls; M age = 14, SD = 1.5) completed self-report questionnaires with measures of intuitive eating, body esteem, self-esteem, media influence and fear of negative appearance evaluation.ResultsStructural equation modeling revealed an overall excellent fit for the final four-variable model excluding the fear of negative appearance evaluation variable. Mediation analyses showed an indirect relationship between intuitive eating and body esteem via media influence, for girls but not for boys. Body esteem mediated the relationship between intuitive eating and self-esteem, for girls and boys.ConclusionA new model is proposed where intuitive eating is associated with self-esteem through body esteem and media influence. These findings suggest that regulating attitudes and behaviors toward food may be related to higher psychological well-being.