Gruppenpsychotherapie für Brustkrebspatientinnen

Zusammenfassung  Der Brustkrebs erzwingt geradezu unsere Aufmerksamkeit mit seiner hohen Prävalenz—30% aller Krebsneuerkrankungen bei nordamerikanischen Frauen sind Brustkrebs—, und er ist die zweithäufigste Todesursache bei Frauen in Nordamerika. Weiße nordamerikanische Frauen haben ein Risiko von 1:9, im Laufe ihres Lebens an Brustkrebs zu erkranken. Es gibt zahlreiche Anknüpfungspunkte, darunter genetische und familiäre Prädisposition, primäre Krebserkrankung/Langzeitüberleben und rezidivierende oder metastasierende Krankheit. Brustkrebs ist eine Krankheit, bei der jede Form der Krebsbehandlung eingesetzt wird—Chirurgie, Chemotherapie, Bestrahlung, Hormontherapie und die viel versprechenden, kürzlich entwickelten immunologischen Interventionen. Zugleich ist die Brust als Körperteil kulturell hochgradig besetzt und als Symbol der Weiblichkeit, der Attraktivität, der Sexualität und der Fortpflanzung aufmerksam und emotional viel beachtet. In der vorliegenden Arbeit wird die Anwendung von Gruppenpsychotherapien auf dieses Spektrum klinischer Belange diskutiert.

Can Competition Ever be Fair? Challenging the Standard Prejudice

In this paper, we challenge the usual argument which says that competition is a fair mechanism because it ranks individuals according to their relative preferences between effort and leisure. This argument, we claim, is very insufficient as a justification of fairness in competition, and we show that it does not stand up to scrutiny once various dynamic aspects of competition are taken into account. Once the sequential unfolding of competition is taken into account, competition turns out to be unfair even if the usual fairness argument is upheld. We distinguish between two notions of fairness, which we call U-fairness, where U stands for the usual fairness notion, and S-fairness, where S stands for the sequential aspect of competition. The sequential unfairness of competition, we argue, comprises two usually neglected aspects connected with losses of freedom: first of all, there is an eclipse of preferences in the sense that even perfectly calculating competitors do not carry out a trade-off between effort and ranking; and second, competitive dynamics leads to single-mindedness because the constraints on the competitors choices always operate in the sense of increased competitiveness and, therefore, in the direction of an increased effort requirements. We argue (1) that competition is S-unfair even if it is U-fair, (2) that as S-unfairness increases, the ethical relevance of U-fairness itself vanishes, so that (3) by focusing as they usually do on U-fairness alone, economists neglect a deeper aspect of unfairness.     

New Factor Structure of the Interpretation of Intrusions Inventory with University Students

The Obsessive Compulsive Cognitions Working Group (OCCWG) created the Interpretation of Intrusions Inventory (III) to measure appraisals (interpretations) of mental intrusions. Validation attempts by the OCCWG suggest that the three appraisal mechanisms hypothesized to comprise the III are better described as a single construct. The underlying factor structure of the III was investigated with university students (n = 307). Confirmatory factor analyses were conducted on the theoretically-derived three-factor model and on the empirically-derived one-factor model of the III. Both models failed to adequately fit the data. Thus, an exploratory factor analysis was conducted, which produced a two-factor model consisting of appraisals of Responsibility and Importance/Control of Thoughts. The new factors exhibited good predictive validity, as they predicted the severity of obsessive-compulsive symptoms and subtypes of obsessive-compulsive disorder (OCD).

A Comparison of Stress Measures in Children and Adolescents: A Self-Report Checklist Versus an Objectively Rated Interview

A self-report checklist assessing the occurrence of stressful life events in children and adolescents' lives was compared to an objectively rated interview to determine whether the checklist would introduce over-reporting of events or over-rating of event severity as a function of child/parent depressive symptoms, cognitive vulnerability, or anxiety. Participants completed the Children's Life Events Scale (CLES), the Life Events Interview (LEI), and questionnaires assessing cognitive vulnerability and symptoms of depression and anxiety. Findings yielded a positive association between the checklist and the interview. Contrary to hypotheses, depressive symptoms, cognitive vulnerability, and anxiety were not associated with over-reporting of events. Anxiety was associated with over-rating of event severity in parents but not children. Findings suggest that the checklist and interview may be equally viable approaches to assessing the occurrence of life events. Findings have mixed implications with regard to assessing event severity, as subjective reports may be systematically influenced by anxiety.

Hairpulling and Skin Picking in Relation to Affective Distress and Obsessive-Compulsive Symptoms

The current study examined the frequency and associated distress of both hairpulling and skin picking behaviors in 1,324 college students using the Massachusetts General Hospital Hairpulling Scale (MGHHS) and Skin Picking Scale (SPS). In this sample, many participants reported significant distress secondary to both hairpulling and skin picking. Participants who endorsed relatively frequent hairpulling or skin picking (N = 72) were scheduled for a follow-up testing session to further assess the relationship between these behaviors and measures of affective distress. Compared to a control sample, the follow-up sample endorsed significantly more symptoms of anxiety and stress reactivity, and had higher scores on a measure of obsessive-compulsive symptoms.

Influence of temporal context on value in the multiple-chains and successive-encounters procedures

This set of studies explored the influence of temporal context across multiple-chain and multiple-successive-encounters procedures. Following training with different temporal contexts, the value of stimuli sharing similar reinforcement schedules was assessed by presenting these stimuli in concurrent probes. The results for the multiple-chain schedule indicate that temporal context does impact the value of a conditioned reinforcer consistent with delay-reduction theory, such that a stimulus signaling a greater reduction in delay until reinforcement has greater value. Further, nonreinforced stimuli that are concurrently presented with the preferred terminal link also have greater value, consistent with value transfer. The effects of context on value for conditions with the multiple-successive-encounters procedure, however, appear to depend on whether the search schedule or alternate handling schedule was manipulated, as well as on whether the tested stimuli were the rich or lean schedules in their components. Overall, the results help delineate the conditions under which temporal context affects conditioned-reinforcement value (acting as a learning variable) and the conditions under which it does not (acting as a performance variable), an issue of relevance to theories of choice.     

An example of formalizing recent mathematical results in Mizar

This paper describes an example of the successful formalization of quite advanced and new mathematics using the Mizar system. It shows that although much effort is required to formalize nontrivial facts in a formal computer deduction system, still it is possible to obtain the level of full logical correctness of all inference steps. We also discuss some problems encountered during the formalization, and try to point out some of the features of the Mizar system responsible for that. The formalization described in this paper allows also for contrasting the linguistic capability of the Mizar language and some of the phrases commonly used in “informal” mathematical papers that the Mizar system lacks, and consequently presents the methods of how to cope with it during the formalization. Yet, apart from the problems, this paper shows some definite benefits from using a formal computer system in the work of a mathematician.     

TPS: A hybrid automatic-interactive system for developing proofs

The theorem proving system Tps provides support for constructing proofs using a mix of automation and user interaction, and for manipulating and inspecting proofs. Its library facilities allow the user to store and organize work. Mathematical theorems can be expressed very naturally in Tps using higher-order logic. A number of proof representations are available in Tps, so proofs can be inspected from various perspectives.     

Links Between Antisocial Behavior and Depressed Mood: The Role of Life Events and Attributional Style

Comorbidity between antisocial behavior and depression in adolescence is widely recognized. This paper examines whether links with depressed mood differ among three subtypes of antisocial behavior: oppositionality, physical aggression and delinquency. In addition we examine two possible contributors to these links: negative life events that are dependent upon the individual's actions and depressogenic attributional style. Data are drawn from the G1219 large-scale community twin and sibling sample, and include 2409 questionnaire responses from youths aged between 13 and 19 living in the United Kingdom. Depressed mood was independently associated with both oppositionality and delinquency, but not with physical aggression. Dependent negative life events were strongly implicated in the association between delinquency and depressed mood, whereas depressogenic attributional style was implicated in the associations of both oppositionality and delinquency with depressed mood. Oppositionality remained a significant predictor of depressed mood after accounting for attributional style and life events whereas delinquency did not. The pattern of associations was largely similar in boys and girls. We discuss these results in terms of developmental models of the links between antisocial behavior and depressed mood.